Tech News September 2004

 

Gigabyte 3D Rocket Pro Cooler
Short-Media :: Tuesday, September 07, 2004

“It’s massive. It looks like a cylinder head for a motorcycle and it clamps onto the CPU socket; most every CPU socket. Gigabyte’s 3D Rocket-Pro heatsink blew us away. It’s intimidating. It dwarfs other heatsinks. It looks like it weighs much more than a socket can handle. ”

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Medal of Honor Pacific Assault Screen Shots
Bjorn3D :: Tuesday, September 07, 2004

“Well at this point this demo brings a 6800U to knees if ran any higher than 1024×768 with 4xAA and 8xAF. I tried it with these settings and at 1280×1024 and it was a 12FPS slide show.”

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Gigabyte K8 Triton GA-K8NS Pro
Hexus :: Tuesday, September 07, 2004

“The K8NS Pro felt every inch the solid Gigabyte mainboard that they’re famous for. It didn’t miss a beat during testing, BIOS operation was flawless and stability was excellent. After that, and given that the ASUS K8N-E is just as good at those things, it’s the feature set that determines what you purchase for your Athlon 64 CPU these days, with performance being so derivative and tied to the CPU itself.”

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Liteon SOHW-832S 8×8 Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive Review @ 3DX
3dXtreme :: Sunday, September 05, 2004
“The Liteon 832S is an 8x DVD burner with 2.4x Dual Layer Burning capabilities. We at 3DXtreme have always been big fans of the products released by Liteon, let’s see if the 832S maintains the Liteon tradition and delivers another respectable product.”

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A-Top Technologies X-Blade Mid Tower Gaming Case Review @ Tech-Mods.net
Tech-Mods.net :: Sunday, September 05, 2004

“Well it’s no secret, home computer cases have stepped up a notch considerably we do not have to settle with what was once the beige normal look. There are now cases out there for everyone’s style and appeal. Call it pre-modded or call it computer cases with flair, either way the options of looks are on the rise. Today we will be looking at a mid tower case from A-Top Technology that has form and function with looks that may have not been seen before. The X-Blade Mid Tower Gaming Case has enough flash of chrome and lights to call it your own….”

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Abit NF7-S Rev2.0 Vs. NF7-S2 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, September 05, 2004
“The Abit NF7 series is undoubtedly a popular group of motherboards due to their overclocking potential, features, and performance. However, there has been some recent confusion between the Abit NF7-S2 and the NF7-S rev2.0. In this review, we will put both motherboards to the test, to see which one is better for your system.”

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Zalman Reserator 1 Fanless Water Cooling System Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, September 05, 2004

“The Reserator 1 has been designed to act as a passive radiator and unlike traditional water cooling kits does not use any fans in the process. The unit works by using convection and natural ventilation which is solely based on air movement for cooling. As heat is drawn away from the CPU to the ZM-WB2 Gold Water Block, the heated water is transferred into the Reserator 1 unit. The water travels through 3m worth of tubing where the aluminum fins remove the heat and transfer it into the air. The cooled water is then transferred out of the Reserator 1 and back to the PC where the cycle repeats itself.”

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Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard Review @ PC Stats
PCStats :: Sunday, September 05, 2004
“In this review, PCstats is testing a brand new Socket 939 motherboard from Gigabyte which is priced at around $350 CDN ($240 US). The Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 is powered by the nForce3 Ultra chipset, and includes an onboard Serial ATA RAID controller, IEEE 1394b Firewire, Gigabit LAN, a 10/100 NIC, 7.1 channel audio, dual BIOS chips and Gigabyte’s proprietory Dual Power System (DPS).”

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Zalman ZM-2HC1 Heatpipe HDD Cooler Review @ FrostyTech
Frosty Tech :: Sunday, September 05, 2004
“While fans are easily the quickest way to cool down a toast drive, they create noise. Passive heatsinks are a good option, but in and of themselves they aren’t really all that necessary. A better solution recently came to light in the form of Zalman’s ZM-2HC1 heatpipe hard drive cooling rack, primarily because it addresses the noise and vibration factor.”

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Ultra Products X-Connect Power Supply Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, September 05, 2004

“Ultra Products is finally catching people’s attentions. Their new power supply is a computer enthusiast’s dream come true. The unit itself is fully modular, meaning that you only use the connectors you need. It’s always hard to tuck away cables and find good hiding spots, thus Ultra has taken away that messy work. Not only is the power supply fully modular, it has its aesthetics as well.”

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Swiftech MCX 6400-V Heatsink Review @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Sunday, September 05, 2004

“There were NO clearance issues installing this heatsink on an MSI K8N Neo Platinum. The included backplate was not used, ONLY because the backplate on the MSI K8N Neo is glued on. I compared both plates and saw no visible difference — with the spacers included, as long as the threads go as deep as the backplate sent by Swiftech, there should be no complication.”

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Poseidon WCL 02 & 03 Cu Kit @ OCO
Overclockers Online :: Sunday, September 05, 2004
“To be honest with you, I have never heard of 3R System prior to this review. However, after taking a look at their website, I quickly familiarized myself with them. They were incorporated in the year 2000 in Seoul, Korea with the goal to provide cutting-edge enclosure and cooling solutions. Today, they have established themselves as a formidable contender in the enthusiast market. Currently, their flagship line of cooling solutions is the Poseidon series. In this review we’ll be taking a look at this family of products and see how they compare to similar offerings from 3R’s rivals.”

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Kingwin Mutant X Case Review @ OCC
Overclocker Café :: Sunday, September 05, 2004

“Kingwin has done an excellent job in bringing a sharp looking box to the low end of the pricing spectrum. While we don’t find a removable mainboard tray or aluminum construction we also don’t find a high dollar price tag. Kingwin has cut back without cutting corners to bring out a solid performer. LANers who normally shy away from steel cases may want to think twice here. Coming in at 9 kg, the Mutant X is not light but it isn’t too heavy to tote around. ”

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Logisys Glacier 500W PSU @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Friday, September 03, 2004

Summary: “Sick of the completely unoriginal generic power supplies that sit in the top of your case and create a horrible eye sore? Then we may have a solution for you, the Logisys 500W Aluminum Glacier Gaming Power Supply, which could suit your power needs perfectly.”

follow the yellow brick road

Thermalright XP-120 Review: New sound of Silence? @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Friday, September 03, 2004
Quote:”Thermalright introduces a new heatsink with support for 120mm fans, made from aluminum it´s light as a feather, but does it perform? We´ve installed the XP-120 on our test system with a variety of fans on top to see how it stacks up against the competition.”

follow the white rabbit…

News Flash – Futurelooks Gives it ALL AWAY – DOOM 3 and MORE!
Futurelooks :: Friday, September 03, 2004
“This has to be Futurelooks GREATEST contest yet! Step up and get a chance to win years HOTTEST and most anticipated PC Game: DOOM 3! We’ve got other great prizes packages as well so get in here and bring it home!”

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Anthony Burgess from QGC talks to HEXUS about Mir 3
Hexus :: Friday, September 03, 2004
Massively Multiplayer Online Games are a huge hit in the online gaming community, so MMOG fanatics will want to get the lowdown on the upcoming MMORPG game, The Legend Of Mir 3. HEXUS.net have been speaking to Anthony Burgess, CEO of QGC, getting all the details:

“Mir 3 is an isometric online RPG along the lines of Ultima Online. The legend of Mir series holds the record for the most number of players online at any one time, an impressive 900,000. Compare this to Everquest’s reported best of 600,000 odd and you can see its pretty huge.”

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Cooler Master CM Stacker Giveaway @ Systemcooling
SystemCooling :: Thursday, September 02, 2004
“Systemcooling.com has teamed up with our friends at Cooler Master to offer one of our coolest giveaways yet. This time around, one lucky winner is going to walk away with a shiny new CM Stacker case!! The only catch is that we’re gonna make you work for it this time. No more Mr Nice Guy :-D. See the forum thread for contest details. Good Luck!!!”

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A Look at ATI’s Catalyst Control Center @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Thursday, September 02, 2004
“ATI’s multi-monitor control has, for some time, come in the form of “HydraVision”, however that has aged over time and found not to be too user friendly, nor have many of the display controls found other hardware. Catalyst Control Center completely replaces HydraVision with the “Display Manager” and offers a few new modes of operation.”

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Tt BigWater H2O Kit Review @ The Overclocker Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, September 01, 2004

“To say I was impressed would be an understatement. Thermaltake has certainly done their homework here. Excellent performance both in raw cooling power and quiet operation, easy installation coupled with a $120 price tag make the BigWater a BigWinner. The only downside of this unit from Thermaltake’s point of view would be that it effectively kills the market for the Aquarius II and III units. I fully expect that as this kit gets more coverage from other review sites, its reputation will grow quickly as an exceptional water cooling kit at an exceptional price.”

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Intel Pentium 4 550 (3.4 GHz LGA775) Processor @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Wednesday, September 01, 2004
“Although its current processors are not quite outperforming the ability of these interfaces, Intel Corporation decided recently that it was time to introduce a new package for their flagship Pentium 4 line of processors in order to get ahead of the curve a little bit. The engineers at Intel chose a design that is quite different than any other mainstream CPU available today. The processor design itself has not changed; the packaging of the processor is what has changed. Intel is still using the recently released Prescott core (replaced Northwood) for their Pentium 4 line-up.”

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Zalman Reserator 1 (Review)
IpKonfig :: Wednesday, September 01, 2004

“Water cooling has made several changes within the last two years with introduction of easy kits, and external units, making them more portable also. But now Zalman comes out with their version of a fan-less watercooling kit, and from what we’ve seen–the only version currently on the market for the consumer side.”

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Thermaltake Silent PurePower TWV480 Power Supply @ Systemcooling
SystemCooling :: Wednesday, September 01, 2004

“PC power supply unit (PSU) manufacturers continue to look for ways to differentiate themselves from the crowd and make their products stand out. A recent trend has been the inclusion of a power meter, which provides the user with visual feedback of how much electrical power their system is using. The new Thermaltake Silent PurePower TWV480 Total Watts Viewer power supply features a digital watt meter mounted into a 5.25” bay panel. In addition, the package also includes two front panel fan speed controls for the PSU exhaust fan and an included 80mm case fan. The TWV480 PSU is available in two models: one with Active Power Factor Correction (W0043) and the one that we will be reviewing, which does not include active PFC (W0044).”

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QTechnologies Model 350G Power Supply & Acousti Products AcoustiFoam Standard Pack Review @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Wednesday, September 01, 2004

“Over the past few years, the manufacturers have paid much attention to the demands of computer enthusiasts for quieter systems, and have been developing “silent” power supplies. QTechnology is among these. Since 1998, QTechnology has worked hard to silence office and home computers with their “Ultra Silent” power supplies, CPU coolers, cases, and Acousti Products noise reduction materials.”

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