Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
Quote: While some have stated that the PC sound business has been hampered by the lack of competition, and to some extent this is likely true, Creative has raised its own bar with the launch of the X-Fi line of cards. In every area, the X-Fi Extreme Music has improved on the Audigy 2. If sound is important to you, by all means, invest in the X-Fi line. If you don’t hear the difference between an AM radio and a live performance, stick to the on-board solutions. In the end, for people like me, who use their PC for everything, I can’t really imagine a better jack-of-all-trades soundcard than the X-Fi Extreme Music.
Logitech Z-5450 Digital 5.1 Speaker System Review @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Review
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
“Radeon X1300 Pro is the fastest graphics chip inside the new low-end graphics chip family from ATI. We’ve got a reference sample for this model from ATI, so in this review we will compare its performance to other low-end graphic chips, especially Radeon X300 and GeForce 6200, and also with some mid-range chips (GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT) to see how is the performance of this new release by ATI.”
Klipsch iFi iPod Speaker System
Techwarelabs :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
The Klipsch iFi iPod music system it’s the best iPod speaker system we have ever heard. It is also the most expensive iPod speaker system we have ever heard. Does the sound quality justify the $400 price?
Will 3G Kill Radio? @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, November 29, 2005
“In the aforementioned cases, if you have a radio separate from a cell phone, that means you are carrying two devices. If you have an MP3 player that supports radio functionality, you still have two devices, a cell phone and an MP3 player. So what do you do to clutter-free yourself?”
How To Grow Your MP3 Music Library @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, November 28, 2005
Some people have 200 tracks, others have 50,000. But where do people get all their music? People with bulging MP3 collections surely can’t buy every track they own, so where do they get them? In this article, we will go over some of the common, legal ways to obtain music, and give you that music collection you have always dreamed of!
Samsung SyncMaster 740B 17″ LCD Monitor @ TechTastic.ca
TechTastic :: Saturday, November 26, 2005
NVIDIA 7800GTX 512MB Review @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, November 26, 2005
“What exactly is the purpose of releasing a new card when most games perform the same (after a certain threshold) and whatever increase in speed you get is only noticeable in “smart” applications that are designed to measure frames for the sole purpose of crowning the next champion. Does it stop us from producing faster cards? No. Do we wait for the games to catch up with the actual hardware? No. But yet, both NVIDIA and ATI continue to unleash their overpriced beasts to the enthusiast community.”
HIS X800GT IceQ II and X800 GTO IceQ II Review @ OcPrices
OcPrices :: Saturday, November 26, 2005
Quote: “Both of the cards on show today are the iTurbo models, which means that you have manufacturer-supported overclocking via HIS’s iTurbo overclocking utility. Many people are unsure about overclocking, since you can invalidate the warranty or cause damage. The nice thing about the HIS iTurbo models is that the cards are garunteed to hit the advertised overclock with no stability issues – or you can return it for a replacement. ”
XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB DDR3 XXX Edition
Hexus :: Saturday, November 26, 2005
As impressed as I was with the reference board in the preview on HEXUS.core, I’m the same again with XFX’s attempt. While the bundle could do with some work, the performance is spot on. While the clock increases are modest, they almost always turn in to real-world performance increases when the hardware is made to work and the CPU isn’t the bottleneck. Effectively, the performance is free.
HIS X800GTO IceQ II Turbo PCIe Review
Gamer’s Hell :: Saturday, November 26, 2005
I used ATITool, my ATI tweaking utility of choice. I had read that this card offers a ton of headroom, and now I have confirmed it. I was able to reach overclock speeds of 595MHz on the core and 610MHz (1.22GHz) on memory. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s almost a 50% overclock on the core and 25% on the memory!
SilverStone FN81 and FN82 @ Techgage
Techgage :: Saturday, November 26, 2005
Samsung SC-M105 Miniket 6 in 1 Multifunctional Digital Camcorder Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
DivX Makes Contribution to Independent High-Definition Filmmaking
Futurelooks :: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
So who said High-Definition is all about Television Broadcasts? High-Defnition technology is enabling filmmakers to express themselves in more detail than ever before. We check out the impact in this mini article.
Silverstone LC17 HTPC Case Review
Madshrimps :: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Quote: “Since their launch in 2003 we’ve seen many innovation and high quality products from Silverstone. Today we take a closer look at one of their most known case series: Lascala or LC for short. With more than 17 variations available their aim is to please almost everybody out there. The LC17 is one of their latest full size ATX HTPC cases, to accommodate standard size computer equipment the LC17 is one of the larger members of the LC family and it comes with the usual splendid looks.”
Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO² and GTO Ultimate Edition Review @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
“Those of you who are familiar with previous designs from Sapphire’s range of Ultimate Edition boards will find no surprises here – just like these previous efforts, the X800 GTO Ultimate Edition features a hefty (although admittedly less so than previous Ultimate Edition solutions) heat-pipe cooling arrangement which transfers heat away from the core to the heatsink on the top of the board. The obvious advantage of such a mechanism is that it requires no fans to cool the device, and as such offers silent running for anyone looking to build a silent or near-silent PC while still requiring a respectable amount of 3D gaming performance.”
Asus EN7800GT 2DHTV/256M/OSP/A Videocard
PCStats :: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
“One example of what the GeForce 7800GT is capable of is Asus’ EN7800GT 2DHTV/256M/OSP/A PCI Express x16 videocard. Built with the massive 320 million transistor GeForce 7800GT ‘G70’ core, the Asus EN7800GT packs in 256MB of GDDR3 memory. The card supports nVidia’s Scalable Link Interface (SLI) for dual videocard gaming like all current generation nVIDIA parts. The bright blue videocard incorporates twin DVI connectors so users can attach digital LCD displays. Component output (HDTV, Y, Pb, Pr) and S-Video output comes standard via a breakout-box. The software package includes a couple of games and some multimedia applications.”
NVIDIA’s 7800GTX 512MB Graphics Card @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, November 21, 2005
“The disappointment of NVIDIA not using the ‘Ultra’ suffix in its new graphics card is over with NVIDIA spoiling everyone’s party of ‘We told you so’ by keeping a low profile on the GTX 512MB instead of calling it the ‘Ultra’ version that many anticipated. While the 512MB tag is just enough to differentiate between NVIDIA’s top two products, it would’ve been a lot more impressive if we could flaunt the lack of value in our purchase with a 7800 Ultra, but unfortunately NVIDIA took that opportunity away from us. Oh well…”
nVidia ForceWare 81.94 Performance Analysis
TweakTown :: Monday, November 21, 2005
QUOTE: “nVidia’s Forceware 81.94 drivers are perfect for anyone utilizing high-end GeForce graphics cards especially those who are fortunate enough to be using a wicked GeForce 7800GTX SLI setup. There is no denying that we see a new nVidia driver once in a blue moon but when they hit the web, boy do we get to see some improvements and that’s a credit to nVidia for keeping things interesting.”
SilverStone PSU Muffler @ Techgage
Techgage :: Monday, November 21, 2005
PowerColor Radeon X800 GT @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Albatron 6600GT (single and SLI) Review @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
As a reviewer it is easy to always use the high-end stuff you get to review and forget about the mid-end and even low-end cards. Today though, I will test the Albatron 6600GT, a mid-level performance card that promises a nice performance/price ratio. I’m also testing it in SLI-configuration to see if it is worth getting a second GeForce6600GT instead of buying a completely new card.
XFX GeForce 6600 @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
“Those of you on a budget, but are still pretty serious about gaming should really look no further than the XFX 6600. I’ll have to admit that our expectations were pretty low when I was told that this was a mere 6600 but the card exceeded my expectations in almost every way. Performance was excellent, and despite not having any fancy copper/heatpipe cooling solution, the card overclocked very well as well.”
NVIDIA 1.0-8168 Drivers Leaked @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, November 14, 2005
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512 Preview
Bjorn3D :: Monday, November 14, 2005
Although the GeForce 7 Series has been very successful so far, we all knew NVIDIA was keeping something up its sleeve to respond to ATI’s 512MB Radeon X1800 XT. Many of you probably already know the name of NVIDIA’s response (a.k.a. NVIDIA’s new flagship card) and might even know what it looks like. Well, today is the official day that we can tell you all about it. Get ready for another hard launch as NVIDIA continues the trend it started to end paper launches, and say hello to the GeForce 7800 GTX 512.
GeForce 7800 GTC 512MB Review @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Monday, November 14, 2005
Today we are taking a look at NVIDIA’s Pre-Christmas high end booster with the GeForce 6800 GTX 512MB. While the GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB name gives away part of the basis for the product update, it certainly obscures the rest. Here we take a look at this new 7800 GTX model to see how it differs from previous GTX’s and how much performance it gains over them.
“The most notable difference with the new 512MB board is obviously the cooling solution. The fact that NVIDIA used a single height cooler on the original GTX was an indication that there may still be more performance in the core, had it been cooled more aggressively, and that’s the case with the new 512MB board, moving to a double height cooler solution. The cooling relies on a large fan in the centre of the board sucking air up and pushing it either side so that its partially vented out the back of the case and partially, internally, towards the front.”
DH Review: Nvidia 7800 GTX 512meg
Driver Heaven :: Monday, November 14, 2005
Its just over a month since ATI launched their X1800XT. The X1800 was ATI’s response to the very successful Geforce 7800GTX which Nvidia launched in June, and has since become a part which has proved very popular in enthusiast circles. For a very long time there were a lot of rumors that the X1800 would feature 24 or 32 pipelines when launched by ATI and completely blow the GTX away however such a part never became a reality and instead the product ATI launched was a 16 “pipeline” part with architecture and clock speeds which allowed it to exceed the performance of the 7800GTX in most titles, though not by a huge amount it has to be said…
…So with the XT making it into retail just last week we have our first look at a retail model in the form of the Sapphire Radeon X1800XT 512mb and we take our first look at Nvidias response to the X1800XT, the reference model Geforce 7800GTX 512mb.”
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GS @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, November 13, 2005
“With the 6800s dwindling away in the market, there was a huge gap in NVIDIA’s product portfolio, which catered to the enthusiasts. ATI, however, had the X1600XT catering to the very market that NVIDIA was nowhere close to; therefore, NVIDIA could not leave the hole unplugged for long.”
News: XFX GeForce 6600 DDR2 Review @ nV News
OCModshop :: Sunday, November 13, 2005
We have posted a review of the XFX GeForce 6600 DDR2 graphics card. Targeted at the budget gamer, the XFX GeForce 6600 DDR2 sports 256MB of memory running at 800MHz and 400MHz core clock speed. We also learned that the XFX GeForce 6600 DDR2 should begin to appear in online stores next week.
“A $100 graphics card certainly can’t be all things to all people. Naturally, the enthusiasts will be passing this right up for something far more powerful. But for the mainstream market, primarily those running on integrated graphics cards, this 6600 DDR2 is an excellent value-based solution. Even if you don’t game, the fact that this card sports dual DVI makes it a good choice for people who want to drive a pair of digital displays but don’t want to spend the money on a GeForce 6800 GT or better.”
Samsung HD-950 High Definition DVD player @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Sunday, November 13, 2005
“It’s almost that time of year again. It’s almost high time to surrender your wallet and fork over some cash for digital presents. Forget giving that special someone wine or jewelry; the age of HD DVD players is among us and Samsung’s HD-950 is just itching for your attention. Having reviewed one of the earlier models and its upgrades (HD-841 & HD-931), we now get to evaluate what Samsung has improved on. One significant change; it comes in black.”
ATI PowerPlay @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, November 13, 2005
Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19″ LCD Monitor review
Tech Spot :: Saturday, November 12, 2005
A couple of months ago, we received an email from Alienware PR people announcing the launch of the new Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19” LCD monitor. Under normal circumstances the press release would have been issued by Samsung, which wasn’t the case, so the product caught our attention immediately. The reason that Alienware issued such announcement was that the 930BF carried a 4ms response time, and as such it was a perfect fit for the gamers who usually buy their systems.
Even monitor manufacturers have recognized an important niche to be fulfilled in the gamers and enthusiast markets; no doubt the 930BF comes as Samsung’s response to aggressive product offerings from companies like Viewsonic and Philips, who have caught a lot of media attention by releasing ever-faster panels, supposed to improve your gaming experience (although I’m confident saying most of you no longer buy on that promise ;)).
HEXUS.beans :: ATi RADEON X1800 XT Hard-On Edition
Hexus :: Saturday, November 12, 2005
HEXUS has learnt that ATi Technologies has sent out an official communication to select Add-In-Board (AIB) partners, that endorses an increase in the clock frequencies at which products based on its flagship RADEON X1800 XT (R520) ASIC can be shipped at.
ATI v8.19.10 Linux Performance @ Phoronix Direct
Phoronix :: Saturday, November 12, 2005
HIS Radeon X800 GTO IceQ II Review
Hardware Secrets :: Saturday, November 12, 2005
“Radeon X800 GTO is the latest graphics chip released by ATI targeted to the mid-range market, located between Radeon X800 Pro and Radeon X800 GT and competing with GeForce 6600 GT from nVidia. This new chip officially runs at 400 MHz, while both Radeon X800 Pro and Radeon X800 GT run at 475 MHz. However, both Radeon X800 GTO and Radeon X800 Pro process 12 pixels per clock, while Radeon X800 GT processes only eight (the same amount as Radeon X800 SE). Radeon X800 XT can process up to 16.”
Saitek Audio A-350 Wireless Headphones @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, November 12, 2005
“Saitek, a company that started out as a heavily gaming centric manufacturer with an abundance of peripherals, has launched a new division with a focus in audio products including headphones and speaker units. What’s more? Saitek’s headphones and speakers look nothing like the traditional audio products you find on retail shelves. We focus our attention on Saitek’s A-350 wireless headphones today that boast a variety of devices in terms of compatibility and come with a lustrous finish.”
ATI Catalyst 5.11 Performance Analysis (X1K Edition)
Tweaknews :: Friday, November 11, 2005
QUOTE: “We did mention in our regular Catalyst performance analysis earlier in the day that one of the most important additions to the Catalyst 5.11 drivers was the inclusion of the X1800XL and X1800XT. This makes it the first official driver to support ATI’s new series of graphics cards and we found from our sample drivers that there was a slight difference in performance in some games, such as Doom 3 and Half Life 2. Have ATI fixed the issues as we eluded they might?”
Neoseeker Reviews the XFX 6600 DDR2
Neoseeker :: Friday, November 11, 2005
“XFX have done an awesome job with the 6600 DDR2. For $100 this card performs almost as well as what cost $200 this same time last year. Take note that almost all 6600 GT’s come with only 128 MB of RAM as well, versus the DDR2 which comes with 256 MB. The fact that XFX overclocks the card by 50 MHz and charges $20 less than Nvidia’s MSRP and still packs in Far Cry is almost unbelievable.
As competition for ATI’s X1300, this does extremely well. The card beats it in most benchmarks and overclocks well out of reach of the top model 1300. Nvidia have a very solid product with the 6600 DDR2, and XFX just makes the deal a little sweeter.”
High End Audio Cable Design – Part 2 @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, November 09, 2005
This section is intended to define some of the more commonly referred to electrical properties and the roles that they play in audio cables. Many people fail to realize that cables have electrical properties just like any other electrical component in their system. Understanding these electrical properties is a necessary part of the cable design process. The statement made by far too many audio companies that electrical properties do not matter in audio cables is simply false.
Mobile GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 4.1 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Currently covering more than 40 mobile GPUs, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare 14 different specifications for each and every GPU! We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly so do check back for the latest updates!
Leadtek GeForce 7800 Roundup at Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Wednesday, November 09, 2005
“In comparison, the GTX Extreme’s heatsink is a far more substantial affair. It is “two slot” design, meaning that one cannot place another other PCI/PCI Express device in a slot immediately below the one used by this graphics card. Unlike the other two, this heatsink has the fan directly over the processing chip but to compensate for this, it also has a large copper plate over which 4 large conducting heat pipes run.”
Sapphire Radeon X850XT PE AGP
techPowerUp! :: Monday, November 07, 2005
Today, we will take a look at Sapphire’s Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition for AGP. With nForce 4 for AMD and the i9XX chipsets for Intel, it seemed that the long era of AGP was over once and for all. However, about a year later, this is not quite the case, and many people still use AGP. Is there still some life left in the dying standard? Or would you be better off upgrading to PCI-Express right this minute?
ATI All-In-Wonder X800 XL Graphics Card
Designtechnica :: Saturday, November 05, 2005
‘ATI’s new All-In-Wonder (AIW) X800 XL picks up where the company’s X600 AIW card left off, which means a faster core processor, more multimedia capabilities and a heftier price. Surprisingly, the AIW X800 XL isn’t the company’s most expensive All-In-Wonder product though. Nestled in between the AIW X800 XT and the X600 PRO on the ATI product line, the AIW X800 XL offers impressive performance while still maintaining a somewhat modest price. But what is the main difference between the AIW X800 XL and the AIW 800 XT, and have multimedia capabilities really been improved over the previous year’s offerings?’
Gainward 7800 GT Golden Sample @ PureOverclock.com
Pure Overclock :: Saturday, November 05, 2005
Sapphire X800 GTO2 Limited Edition 256MB PCIe Video Card
PimpRig :: Saturday, November 05, 2005
We have a new review up on a remarkable limited edition card from Sapphire called the GTO2. Would you like a X850 XT performance level card for half the price of a X850 XT? I know I would… Here is a snip from the review: “The Sapphire X800 GTO2 was modestly launched recently and not much hooplah had surrounded the card until it’s secret was discovered. The X800 GTO2 is a 12 pipeline 256MB video card much like the vanilla X800. What is very much un-like the vanilla X800 is that the X800 GTO2 doesn’t run on the same ATI430 GPU. Instead, it runs on the ATI480 GPU. For the GPU model informed you will notice that is the same GPU core model used on the Sapphire X850 video cards which pack 16 pixel pipelines.”
HEXUS.preview :: S3 Graphics ChromeS20 overview
Hexus :: Friday, November 04, 2005
S3 Graphics has the potential, if executed perfectly from both hardware and software viewpoints, to seriously challenge NVIDIA and ATI’s dominance in the midrange 3D market and become the third major player in the sector. Only time and a complete review of the ChromeS20-series will tell if it’s achieved it. We await a hands-on test.
Albatron nForce4 K8SLI @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Friday, November 04, 2005
Sometimes us reviewer tend to forget that not everyone have the money to buy one of the latest and fastest cards available. Instead of a GeForce 7800GT or GeForce 7800GTX many instead have opted for cheaper, but yet capable, GeForce 6600GT.
But what if you have one of those and want to in a cheap way increase the graphics performance? NVIDIA has the solution with SLI. Pop in a second card and in theory get double the performance.
Today I am looking at one of the cheaper SLI-capable motherboards on the market, the K8SLI from Albatron.
News: S3 unveils DeltaChrome S20 series GPUs
The Tech Report :: Friday, November 04, 2005
S3 Graphics has just pulled back the curtains on its newest series of DeltaChrome-based graphics chips, the DeltaChrome S20 family. S3 turned to a new foundry partner, Fujitsu, to produce these chips. Fujitsu manufactures the GPUs using a low-K, 90nm fab process, and S3 claims this advanced fabrication process, along with S3’s own Power Wise power management techniques brought over from its mobile products, has helped the DeltaChrome S20 series achieve killer performance per watt. Read on for the details of S3’s new GPU family.
S3 Graphics Launches ChromeS20 Series @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Friday, November 04, 2005
A couple of nights ago I had a phone conference with a representative from S3 Graphics – the topic being the new ChromeS20 family of video cards. It’s a rather small family, actually, with only two (2) cards being announed, the ChromeS27 and ChromeS25. S3 is certainly trying to compete with ATI and NVIDIA with such features as Acceleram and MultiChrome Technology. Basically, AcceleRAM is the equivalent of TurboCache and HyperMemory (take your pick), and MultiChrome is the equivalent of SLI and CrossFire.”
S3 Chrome S25 & S70 Technology Overview
Tech Spot :: Friday, November 04, 2005
We recently talked to S3 Graphics, and VIA Technologies, regarding a new product line being unveiled today, coupling VIA chipsets with S3 video technology. Along with covering the product brief, we also discussed interesting features particular to the new lineup and talked about future expansion of the line. S3 has implemented some things wanted very greatly by the market, from embedded designs to media machines and even desktop users, and put them into their newest series, the S3 ChromeS20 family.
Initially, the ChromeS20 series will consist of two cards, being released initially this week in China, and releases for the U.S., Europe and Canada are set to occur soon, though they could not give a confirmed date. Whether this is from supply concerns or market concerns, he mentioned that we will probably see these products in the west during the month of November as well. The products are the ChromeS25 and the ChromeS27.
HIS X700 ICEQ 128MB @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Friday, November 04, 2005
“For the cost involved the X700 from HIS turned out to be quite a performer. When compared to a similar classed card from NVIDIA it outperformed at almost every task put before it. AGP is still a VERY viable option, and HIS has proven with the X700 that they haven’t forgotten about those of us that can’t shell out a couple weeks pay every time a new card is released.”
Silverstone LC17 @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Quote: The SilverStone SST-LC17 is an attractive case. For an HTPC/desktop solution, it offers very competitive cooling and does this well right out of the box. What it could stand to improve on though is the interior arrangement by either going to a micro ATX only design (and then rearranging the layout) or increasing the length one or two inches. Anyone who tries to take advantage of the full expansion capabilities of this case are likely to run into some frustration along the way. Sure things will fit, but it isn’t exactly easy sometimes.
HIS IceQII Radeon X800GTO Turbo PCI Express Videocard Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, November 02, 2005
HDR (High Dynamic Range) Technology Overview @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, November 01, 2005
“We’ve all played Half-Life and it’s sequel Half-Life 2. The difference between the two games, in terms of graphics, is tremendous, and now Valve has gone ahead and updated the gaming engine to give you a level of detail and realism that you thought wouldn’t be possible until perhaps the next round of game releases.”
Samsung DVD-V9500 High Definition DVD/VCR Combination Player
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, November 01, 2005
So you’re looking for a high-quality DVD player and a decent VCR, but have a limited shelf space? Samsung has the answer with “The One Unit Solution”. The Samsung DVD-V9500 has everything for everyone, including High-Definition Upconversion for your DVDs. All of this is packaged in a sexy black finish!
HIS X800GTO IceQ II Turbo 256MB Video Card @ BonaFideReviews
Bona Fide Reviews :: Tuesday, November 01, 2005
