Tech News November 2004

 

ASUS P4S800D-E Deluxe @ HEXUS
Hexus :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“…I have to admit I was surprised. In apps that are memory bound, the 655TX appears to be faster than Canterwood. The Springdale-PE on the DFI, backed up by a capable PAT BIOS means that we were emulating Canterwood. It has lower memory access latency, measured by Sciencemark, and it appears to have a touch more available bandwidth too. It’s not much, but it’s enough. With Canterwood the performance champion for P4, it appears we have a new champion when your app is memory bound in any way. Raw CPU performance is identical; 655TX ran the 3.2GHz Northwood without issue.”

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NoiseBlocker CoolScraper @ Virtual-Fusion
Virtual-Fusion :: Friday, November 05, 2004

“This heatsink prooved to be a top performer. That is beacause of its dimensions and the fan used, making it possible to achieve the best performance with a low noise solution. Even though it seems to be a bit large, the materials used in its conception (copper and aluminium) could make it wheight less than what I excpected…”

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Chaintech Zenith VE 915P Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“With the Zenith VE V915P motherboard, Chaintech is all about economy with class. They have produced a motherboard that won’t break the bank, but still has plenty of umph to it. Those of you looking to run RAID configurations will be disappointed. This is perhaps the only true drawback to the motherboard.”

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AnyDrive Car MP3 FM Transmitter Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Friday, November 05, 2004

“Today, I’ll be reviewing the Anydrive Car MP3 FM Transmitter. This unit will allow you to attach a USB flash drive, MP3 player, MD player, CD player, cassette player, or anything with an audio out and transmit it to an FM frequency for your car radio.”

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Source SDK Tools Available Now
Valve Software :: Friday, November 05, 2004
Valve has released the Source Software Development Kit (SDK) Tools via Steam. A precursor to the release of the full SDK, which will be released shortly after Half-Life 2 is made available, the Source SDK Tools release offers a comprehensive toolset for starting production on Source-based MODs, including Hammer, XSI EXP for Half-Life 2, compiling tools, the Source Model Viewer, documentation on programming, modeling, building materials, and more. For more information, please visit http://collective.valve-erc.com/

3R System R700 Bad Guy Case Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Friday, November 05, 2004

“With its sleek and futuristic design, the R700 came with two 120mm Omega fans and a side 80mm air duct providing perfect air flow inside the case. The iMON device turns the Bad Guy into a HTPC with a click of a button. You don’t even need to go near the Bad Guy to turn him ON! The paint job that the Bad Guy had is also respectable. Installing hardwares inside the Bad Guy was a breeze, thanks to its roomy space. However, you might want to put some attention to the shipper as the top panel tends to break off during shipment. Also, the 120mm fan will potentially suck in dust as no dust filter was provided. It was a great pleasure to work with a Bad Guy who eventually became my Good Pal. Non only the Bad Guy was sleek, it is also suitable for your latest LGA system.”

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Adaptec’s USB Dual TV Tuner available to OEM @ Everything USB
Everything USB :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“Adaptec is manufacturing a OEM USB-based dual TV tuner that that allow you to record one channel while watching another, or to record two different channels simultaneously. This is in contrast to to other typical USB tuners.

The TV tuner with dual hardware-based encoder already made its way to HP’s new zd8000 media center notebook, which is available for sales in the beginning of this month.”

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DFI LANParty UT nF3 250Gb Motherboard Review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“DFI LANParty UT nF3 250Gb is the best socket754 board that we’ve tested, with amazing overclock potential (reaching 297MHz with a SATA drive) and an abundant settings for even the craziest tweakers.”

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Modding: Single-Layer to Dual-Layer @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“Today we set out on a fun little project. We decided to test a mod that was floating around on the net making your single-layer burner turn into a Dual-Layer (DL) burner! Is this really a free upgrade? We will find out…”

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News – RaidMax RX-520XPW Review
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
Quote: Overall, the performance of this power supply is solid and my confidence in the build quality and the internal components justify the current high price of this product. If moneys not a problem, I recommend it for those users out there who feel safe knowing their power supply won’t be holding them back in the future and those that put a high demand on their system with a high-end GPU, extra storage, and overclocking.

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Morex Mini-ITX P4 Barebones System Reviewed @ Hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

Start out with a small stylish Morex 3677 Mini-ITX case then add into it a motherboard based on the Intel i845GV chip set which support processor speeds up 3.0 GHz and you end up with the Morex Mini-ITX P4 Barebones Systems. This unit is configurable from our sponsor with a number of choices including processor, hard drive, CD/DVD and memory. You get to build the system the way you want it adding more power if you think your application will demand it. The unit we are reviewing came pre-configured with a P4 – 2.8/533 Processor – 512 MB of PC3200 DDR – 24X CD – 20GB Seagate Hard Drive. Then it was just a matter of benchmarking the daylights out of this little box to see what it would do.

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Thermaltake Fanless 103 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

Summary: “Large heatsinks are quite a hit these days, and the Fanless 103 from Thermaltake is no exception. In fact, it’s so big that we just had to nickname it “Big Blue.” The largest question we have for Big Blue is: can it in fact take the pressure that other heatsinks with fans can handle, or will it slip into the background to be slowly forgotten like the real Big Blue?”

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PimpRig Review // mnpctech’s Tsunami Ultra Quiet Custom Case
PimpRig :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

Hot on the heels of the Tsunami stock case review posted this morning is a new review of the same base case after mnpctech has put his magic touches on one. mnpctech’s Tsunami Ultra Quiet Custom Case is a production model that aims to improve on the original by upping performance and reducing the noise even further. Here is a snip: “The mnpctech Tsunami that Bill sent had some killer airbrush work on it that is called “Silent and Deadly”. I get it completely; a Tsunami is a giant wave (as in the style of case), this is the Ultra Quiet so it’s silent, and the Killer Whale is a deadly predator in the water. The artwork is drop-dead beautiful.”

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FPGamerunner â Real Exercise for FPS Gamers
Everything USB :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“Movement is accomplished by walking (literally), and by holding buttons while walking you can also strafe and backtrack. Turn the handlebars for horizontal mouselook, and twist the throttle grip for vertical. To activate an item or fire your weapon, there are dedicated buttons and triggers at your fingertips.”

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MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“In this article, PCstats will be reviewing MSI Computer’s brand new 915P Neo2 Platinum motherboard which is built with the performance user in mind! This full-size ATX motherboard includes a comprehensive feature set, from IEEE 1394 (for your high speed external multimedia devices like HDDs, scanners, MP3 players, etc), to an additional IDE RAID controller, Gigabit PCI Express ethernet controller, and Intel’s Azalia onboard 7.1-channel audio.”

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Ultra 256 MB 8-in-1 MP3 Player @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

“I was very happy to see an included USB extension cable. For those of us who have our cases on the floor and do not have front USB ports, this is a lifesaver. Another foot or so of length would have greatly appreciated, as the cable just barely reaches the front of my system now. But again, the included cable is a great addition.”

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Corsair 4GB PC3200XL Memory Giveaway! @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

“Corsair and CoolTechZone proudly partners together to bring you one of the largest appreciation contests in the industry. We, Corsair and CoolTechZone, would like to take a moment and thank our consumership and readership that has supported us throughout the. “It is truly an honor to start a contest for individuals for supporting our work,” implied Gundeep Hora, Editor-in-Chief and CEO, CoolTechZone.”

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MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“While Intel chooses to market the 915P as a mainstream part, based on our results today we can see MSI’s 915P Neo2 Platinum is anything but ordinary. Out of the box, we had zero issues with the board (always an important thing), and once we got everything up and running, the board proved itself to be quite the speed demon.”

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HEXUS.net Review: ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
Hexus :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“It’s the features that drive this mainboard more than anything. The use of the 250Gb nForce3 variant, bringing with it GigE and those highly useful hardware firewall features for the home user, combined with plenty of USB2.0, FireWire400 and six SATA ports, means that ASUS push almost all the right buttons. Eight channel audio rounds things off.”

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Radian Heatsink Turbo Helix Heatsink Review @ Hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
Last week we reviewed Radian Heatsink’s Crown Helix heatsink for the LGA 775 platform and came away totally impressed with the result we obtained. This week we are looking at their offering for Socket 478 – named Turbo Helix. Can it perform as well as its larger counterpart did? Only the review tests will tell.

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Cooler Master Stacker Case Review @ OcPrices.com
OcPrices :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
Quote: “The engineers at Cooler Master have designed the Stacker to be very ‘open’. Not only can it support 8 fans, it also sports vents on every side of the case. Cooling is also aided by the Crossflow fan, which we will investigate later in this review. What surprises me is that Cooler Master had opted for the effective use of 12cm front intakes and back exhausts, yet only placed 8cm fans/mountings for the top and side vents. Looking at the design of the case, 12cm fans/mountings on the vents can be implemented with relative ease.”

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Plextor PX-712UF External DVD Writer Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

“We have analyzed several Plextor CD/RW/DVD/RW drives here at CoolTechZone recently. One thing that remains constant is quality. The smoothness of operation and attention to detail places these drives on top of the heap. One may wonder why these optical drives are among the most expensive on the market today. There are several factors, the major one being the previously mentioned high quality of build. They have added a nice software bundle that includes PlexTools, which can be considered a GUI, based BIOS for Plextor drives. PlexTools has various integrated features that can tune the drive for quiet operation or for highest possible performance. Most of the selections in the software package are full version of high-quality applications that other manufacturers do not include. The drive quality and software package lead to higher retail prices, but we feel that the premium is justified considering the product.”

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DH Exclusive Review: OCZ PC2 4200 Platinum Edition Rev 2
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“OCZ are without a doubt one of the worlds best memory manufacturers, of the many products I’ve reviewed in the past few years they have all been exemplary. OCZ have been diversifying over the last year, branching out into the power supply market and have even brought to the public a unique ram booster device. When I hear the name “OCZ” the first thing that comes to mind is “quality ram”. Today ill be looking at their new 533mhz 4200 Platinum Edition Rev 2 LTD DDR2 8-2-2-3CAS rated modules.”

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Techwarelabs Motherboard Contest
Tech ARP :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“If you own an ATI Radeon graphics card, chances are you would have heard of the Omega drivers. While most people choose to use the official ATI Catalyst drivers, the Omega drivers were developed for users who are a bit more adventurous and are looking to squeeze the best performance out of their graphics cards.

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Abit AA8 Duramax 925X Express Alderwood Motherboard Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“Ok, so you checked out the Intel D925XCV Alderwood motherboard and you are interested in the upgrade but you want something a little more overclocker friendly. Well, if that is the case, the AA8 Duramax is absolutely perfect for your situation. Without a single corner cut, ABIT packed every single enthusiast option they could into their entry into the Alderwood including extensive Windows and BIOS overclocking and monitoring, excellent cooling, industry leading uGuru technology and let’s not forget about the onboard high definition 8 channel audio and firewire.”

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ASUS Extreme AX800XT @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“If you’re a casual gamer, or simply not into 3D gaming, this card is probably not for you. Enthusiasts with deep pockets looking for a fast card with good image quality should definitely consider the ASUS Extreme AX800XT/2DT.”

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OCZ Announces ultra high performance PC-4200 EL DDR Platinum with 2.5-3-3 Timing
OCZ Technology :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004
OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the release of PC-4200 EL Platinum Series memory, an exceptionally high-performing DDR-533.

OCZ’s PC-4200 Platinum series with Enhanced Latency technology is designed to push the envelop of high frequency operation, and delivers extraordinary performance in even the most demanding computing environments. This memory is ideal for gamers, enthusiasts, and PC-users looking to push their systems to the highest possible level of performance, and is capable of achieving blazing speeds of up to 533MHz at CL 2.5-3-3-8.

Link: http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/press/2004/115

Simple Dual Channel PC3200 1GB Kit @ AMDReview.com
AMD Review :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“We have a review up on a 1 GB paired kit of Simpletech Dual Channel PC-3200 memory. It also serves as a nice little review of the company as well as this specific product.”

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Xtrac Mouse Pads Review
Mikhailtech :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“From a technological standpoint, there are several points that distinguish these pads. First is the top sheet. This is either cloth or plastic with a printed hexagonal pattern (except the Ripper XL, which doesn’t use a pattern). The underside uses either Sure Grip or Sure Grip II backing. Sure Grip is used on the 1/8″ thick pads and is basically a zigzag pattern of rubber rectangles. Sure Grip II is used on the credit card thin pads and while it doesn’t use any sort of pattern (due to thickness constraints), it still does a fine job of not slipping. Granted, it’s not as good as the thicker Sure Grip backing, but the difference is negligible and you do have other options.”

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AC Ryan Flexsleeve Kit @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“Tired of those ugly non-sleeved cables with their boring ho-hum appearance? Spice them up with an AC Ryan’s Flexsleeve kit. Each kit contains enough heatshrink, sleeve, and zip ties to cover an entire system.”

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