March
31, 2005
Patriot PDC1G3200+XBLK 1GB DC Kit
Author: Patrick
Ng
"As
the age of Samsung TCCD memory chips come close to an end,
companies are using what's left in their stock to produce low
latency DDR ram. PDP Systems is one of the lesser known memory
companies that followed the trend of TCCD. It's a surprise
to hear that their company has been around since 1985. Although
in existence for such a long time, they have provided memory
for a variety of components, ranging from Flash memory devices
to ATI graphics cards. Only recently has PDP Systems decided
to join the highly competitive memory market with the name
Patriot."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Flexiglow
Keyboard & Gaming Mouse
Author: Scott
Harness
"The
Flexiglow xRaider Gaming Mouse and xRaider Keyboard are both
good components although the obvious star of the show here
is the Gaming Mouse. In the looks department it is pretty good,
although I do think that perhaps the rear cycling LED should
have a switch of some kind to dictate a singular colour or
the cycling of the colour; it can get a bit tiresome/distracting
to the eyes now and then. That said, there is a good chance
you will have the palm of your hand covering it anyway."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Icemat Siberia
Headphones
Author: Björn
Endre
"With
all the talk about surround sound, 5.1 speaker systems and
7.1 speaker systems, it is sometimes easy to forget that in
some cases a pair of good headphones is to be preferred or
even a necessity. I, for instance, cannot turn up the volume
of my 5.1 system too high since I don't want to disturb the
neighbors or my wife. At the same time, I want to be able to
experience a good gaming session of World of Warcraft or Doom
3, and we all know that the sound is just as important as graphics."
Read
the full review here
March
29, 2005
Zalman VF700 AlCu Silent Video Card Cooler
Author: Norman
Tan
"With
Zalman's original video card cooler, the main goal was absolute
silent operation, with performance as an afterthought. This
suited silent PC enthusiasts well, but left many people with
poor performance on higher end video cards, and under overclocking.
Their new
cooler, the VF700 takes a similar approach to their 'flower'
shaped CPU coolers, fitted to a video card format. Although
you will lose one expansion slot, it is still incredibly quiet,
easy to install and performed..."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Foxconn Winfast NF4K8MC-ERS
Author: Stephen
Cooper
"Given
that the Foxconn Winfast NF4K8MC-ERS comes with a price point
of only $79.00, I’d have to say that this could be an
excellent upgrade solution for the budget buyer. For most enthusiasts,
or those users looking for a budget overclocking board, the
NF4K8MC-ERS will comes off a bit boring, as it well should.
Although Foxconn offers 250.0MHz on the FSB, they don’t
let the user adjust any of the core voltages."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
MGE XGbox Vortec 600W
Author: Stephen
Jimenez
"Today
we test their strongest power supply, the Vortec 600 watt power
supply. Will this 600 watt power supply be a power house, a
flash in the pan, or just flashy? We'll see if the Vortec 600w
can "push the limits of your system", as XG describes
it."
Read
the full review here
March
28, 2005
FireFox on Steroids (How-To)
Author: Doug
Shapero
"You
may have noticed that the browser will make one request to
a web page at a time, as do most web browsers currently on
the internet. This is due to Firefox's configuration for the
pipelines, which you can take advantage of that by making some
simple modifications to its configuration file."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Thermaltake Schooner
Author: W1zzard
"Thermaltake
has been creative - the Schooner is the first VGA cooler which
uses a heatpipe to transport heat to the outside of the case
where it is dissipated. The Thermaltake Schooner is the best
completely passive cooler we tested so far."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Leadtek WinFast TV USB II Deluxe
Author: Adam
Erker
"I can't
seem to get away from the vast expanse of multi-media madness
that has enveloped the lives of so many of my fellow geeks.
Not only do I have 5.1 surround sound, a 20.1' LCD monitor,
and a bunch of games to boot, now I have my TV in front of
me at the same time. Leadtek brings to the table the WinFast
TV USB II Deluxe external solution that will give you the joys
of cable TV, VCR, and an FM radio right on your desktop. How
do you fit so much into just a tiny little USB 2.0 box? Turn
off that TV and pay attention; we are just about to find out."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
D-Link DGL-4300 Wireless 108G Gaming Router
Author: Brook
Moore
"D-Link
has brought to market a product that is both powerful and easy
enough for most to understand (as long as you are willing to
read the manual some). Not only have they provided you with
a rather complete list of supported games, they have given
you the ability to manipulate this with your own settings if
you so desire."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Thermaltake Sonic Tower
Author: Patrick
Ng
"A fanless
CPU cooler doesn't always mean high temperatures. Thermaltake's
fanless Sonic Tower provides great performance at 0 dBA."
Read
the full review here
March
24, 2005
Sony PlayStation Portable
Author: Björn
Endre
"The
Sony PSP will undoubtedly be a success. It simply is a very
well made and capable portable console that should even lure
people who have been wary of getting a portable console interested.
The price of $280 might feel a bit steep for a portable console
but I think that for what you are getting it is a bargain.
With the Sony PSP portable gaming is taking a huge step from
the kiddie feel that it had with the earlier GameBoys and quite
frankly has grown up."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Samsung SyncMaster 920T LCD
Author: Scott
Mikules
"Samsung's
latest LCD monitor brings a bit more to the table with its
thousand-to-one contrast ratio, and as always, its ease of
use. Samsung's LCD monitors are seen more on the net and on
shelves of our popular computer stores everywhere. They always
sport quality and appearance like no other, and always have
a beautiful picture.
The SynMaster 920T comes equipped with Samsung's famous MagicTune
, and Magic Bright technology. This technology gives a higher
edge to its monitors by providing ease of use with high accuracy
color."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Gigabyte GV-RX80L256V Radeon X800XL Videocard
Author: Colin
Sun
"The
Gigabyte GV-RX80L256V videocard on the test bench today is
a silent videocard; a unique thing for any product wearing
a "Radeon" name, but there it is - not a single fan.
This brand-new videocard is built from the ground up around
the ATI X800 XL VPU, which is nicely hidden behind a complicated
heatpipe-based passive cooling system. The X800 XL VPU has
been matched with 256MB of GDDR3 RAM. The memory hums along
at a full 1 GHz speed on a 256-bit wide memory controller.
The GV-RX80L256V also supports TV/S-Video output as well as
component out for HDTV applications."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Power Supply Roundup: 6600GT SLI Stress Test
Author: Chris
Tom
"Power
supplies are often an overlooked component when building a
new system, and that can be a great mistake. Many just buy
a cheap case, and whatever supply that comes with it is good
enough. Then when they start overclocking, and adding components
they will blame the CPU, or another component for the failure.
I've seen it time and time again, and I always ask what power
supply and memory they are using. Typically when there is a
system stability problem and they answer some generic supply
or stick of memory then they just revealed the issue.
Now in normal
system building you should have a solid power supply, but we
all know that right? Today we look into what happens
when you take an SLI system with two power hungry video cards
and max out the amps running through it. Why? Well as gamers
we want to know what it takes to run an SLI system power wise
so much so that we measured the peak amperage during gaming use,
and found that cranking the settings up on Doom III at 1600X1200
just about does it. Yes, our SLI setup with the Asus A8N-SLI
Deluxe, an Athlon 64 3800+, and two eVGA GeForce 6600GTs pushes
a peak of 3.6 amps not counting a monitor. Considering that we
generally account for between 3-4 amps of power total for each
computer at our lan parties that number got our attention quick."
Read
the full review here
March
23, 2005
Gigabyte GeForce 6200 with TurboCache 256MB *Updated*
Author: Carl
Nelson
"When
we originally published our review of Gigabyte's GeForce 6200
TC last Tuesday, we made a mistake in choosing which card to
compare it to. Unfortunately, we became the latest victim in
ATI's confusing marketing methods and schemes.
Basically,
we thought we were comparing the 6200 TC to a similarly priced
ATI card. As it turns out, well, there is just too much
to explain here!"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Leadtek WinFast PX6600 GT TDH (Solo and SLI)
Author: Shane
Unrein
"Any
geek, regardless of how into gaming he is, can appreciate the
simple concept and logic behind NVIDIA's SLI technology. If
you want more gaming power, just add another video card. It
doesn't get any simpler than that, right? You of course have
to have the right ingredients -- SLI-compatible video cards
and an SLI-capable motherboard. I know this is one geek who
was excited to get his hands on an SLI motherboard and video
cards, preferably 6800 GTs or Ultras of course, but I'm happy
to review cards from the 6600 family, especially since the
majority of gamers will be looking at this more affordable
set of cards. I'm especially looking forward to seeing how
a 6600 GT SLI setup compares to a single 6800 GT."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Silex Pricom SX3700WB Wireless USB Device Server
Author: Trevor
Flynn
"Silex
Technology, out of Osaka Japan may not be a name you're familiar
with. However, they have been in the networking business on
the OEM side for well over a decade now.
They are
taking the splash into the retail channel with the Pricom series
of devices, which allow you to connect USB devices
to a LAN. The model we're looking at today supports 802.11b WiFi,
so you can connect a USB printer or hard drive to your wireless
network with it."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Foxconn Winfast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS
Author: Jeremiah
Bostwick
"Overall,
we found the Foxconn Winfast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS a solid, yet unspectacular
offering. For those who simply want a motherboard that is reasonably
priced, stable and just plain works, this is a great choice.
Those who live on the edge may be disappointed by the lack
of enthusiasts features."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Intel EM64T Technology Article
Author: Stephen
Cooper
"The
main additions to the IA-32 architecture lie with the need
for additional 64-bit registers. Intel has added eight new
general purpose registers, along with eight 128-bit Streaming
SIMD Extension registers. The pre-existing general purpose
registers have all been widened to 64-bits as well. With these
new registers comes a new opcode prefix, REX. The defaults
for 64-bit mode allow for a 64-bit address size, and a 32-bit
operand size."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Gigabyte GeForce 6200 with TurboCache 256MB
Author: Carl
Nelson
"What
if I told you that we're reviewing a 64MB video card that can
supports DirectX 9 and Pixel Shader 3.0? Well it's true! Well,
sort of...
Today we're
reviewing the GeForce 6200 with TurboCache from Gigabyte. Although
it only has 64MB of memory onboard, it can
actually access up to 256MB of system memory via the PCI-E bus.
And unlike AGP, the memory is fast going both ways. Find out
exactly how well this passively cooled $70 video card performs!"
Read
the full review here
March
21, 2005
Vantec UV Reactive Gear
Author: Scott
Harness
"To
be perfectly honest, the fact that the EZ-Grip Molex connectors
look good under UV light should be secondary to the fact that
they do exactly what they say on the tin; they make removing
your Molex plugs very easy and quick. I like that we get a
tool included to remove your old plugs as it makes the entire
process quicker all round."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
The XY Factor Case (Xfire and Yahoo)
Author: Scott
Mikules
"We
had a chance to sit down with Mike Cassidy, CEO of Xfire, and
ask him a few questions about the lawsuit, and a few questions
about their software, Xfire. A little over a month ago, Yahoo
announced it was suing Xfire, a free gaming tool that keeps
track of gamers online, alleging it is "willfully infringing
on a patent controlled by Yahoo". Xfire has since countersued
Yahoo and has given Yahoo a chance to allow Xfire to prove
itself by showing its source code to Yahoo, although they haven't
taken up the opportunity."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Thermaltake VA700 Shark Full Tower Case
Author: Norman
Tan
"Our
last Thermaltake review was of the "Damier" full
tower - yes it was named after the designer handbag. Needless
to say, the Louis Vuitton inspired case didn't sit too well
with us, and was one of a few low-scoring reviews we gave Thermaltake
in a row.
It's been a year since
we heard from Thermaltake, but it appears that they are now
confident they can impress us with their latest
tower case - the "Shark". This case has some interesting
features, and a slick look that surely got our attention. Find
out if Thermaltake has turned their game around from 2004!"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Xoxide X-Treme Case
Author: Scott
Sherman
"'Xoxide
is a popular PC and mod components store on the WWW. In addition
to fans, heatsink, cables and mod supplies, Xoxide also sells
its own branded cases. Read this review to learn more about
Xoxide's interesting and colorful X-Treme case....."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Cebit 2005 - Day 5
Author: W1zzard
"'we
just posted day five of our Cebit coverage with reports from
Club3D and Sapphire."
Read
the full review here
March
18, 2005
DFI LANPARTY
NF4 SLI-DR nForce4 SLI Motherboard
Author: Shane
Unrein
"DFI's
latest offerings come from the nForce4 family and were, not
surprisingly, some of the most anticipated nForce4 boards to
hit store shelves. Recent reviews show that DFI continues to
flex its muscle in all the right ways to leave users satisfied
and then some. But, it's time for us to do our own evaluation
and review of the new LANPARTY flagship board, the LANPARTY
NF4 SLI-DR, one of the most feature-packed boards ever created."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Cebit 2005 - Day 4
Author: W1zzard
"We
just posted day three of our Cebit coverage with reports from
AOpen, Foxconn, S3 and Soltek. Also in this report you will
find all R520 and ATI's SLI info we could get at Cebit."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
FireWire 1814 18-in/14-out FireWire Audio/MIDI Interface
w/ ADAT Lightpipe
Author: Michael
Carter
"Professional
level recording has made a huge leap in recent years, moving
out of the typical multi-million dollar studio, and into basements,
living rooms, and bedrooms. One of the leaders in making this
move possible is M-Audio (formerly Midiman). The flagship product
of the M-Audio line is the FireWire 1814, and it's a doozy.
So, let's dig into this review."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
ATI TV Wonder Elite
Author: Craig
Shyjak
"A good
quality TV-tuner seems to be hard to find these days. With
so many options on the market it is hard to pick a winner as
it were. ATI seem to have released a very solid TV-tuner card
with the TV Wonder Elite. Video quality was excellent. The
high quality comb filters and noise reduction built into the
Theater 550 Pro definitely shine in the screenshots."
Read
the full review here
March
16, 2005
The "Ultimate Motherboard" Part
I
Author: Stephen
Cooper
"The
main aspect that I look for in a solid motherboard design is
organization. Most users neglect the design of their motherboard,
until it comes time to do a little cable routing, or perhaps
hooking up some additional expansion bracket devices. The best
motherboards you can find almost always have one thing in common,
a solid design...."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
HIS X850 XT PE IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCIe
Author: Björn
Endre
"The
quest for more speed and more power keeps going on. Not content
with letting NVIDIA catch up to its Radeon X800 XT PE series,
ATI has launched a series of new PCI-Express (PCIe) based cards.
Today, we are reviewing a card from Hightech technology that
uses the new speed king chip from ATI, the Radeon X850 XT PE."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Logitech diNovo Cordless Desktop
Author: Carl
Nelson
"There's
no question that Logitech is the leader in gaming keyboards
and mice. That's not all they do however; the diNovo Cordless
Desktop we're looking at today aims at more than a few PC scenarios.
And it scores home-runs in some scenarios, and doesn't do so
well in others.
The diNovo
retails for about $125, which may seem like a lot at first.
However when you consider that it is replacing the
Bluetooth version that retails for around $250, you might take
another look."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
ATI Radeon X850XT-Platinum Edition
Author: Hubert
Wong
"On
average, the X800XT-PE is about 5% to 10%, give or take a couple
percentage points faster than the X800XT. Assuming you are
lucky enough to grab an ATI X800XT-PE, the difference will
be smaller. Basically, if benchmarks are your thing, the X850XT-PE
is the fastest card ATI has to offer."
Read
the full review here
March
14, 2005
Leadtek WinFast A6600GT (AGP GeForce 6600 GT)
Author: Ryan
Kerschner
"At
a time when a $500 video card is not uncommon, many PC enthusiasts
may find it hard to justify the need to spend that amount of
money on one piece of hardware. NVIDIA's 6600 GPU is aimed
at users who want some of the best performing hardware without
having to sell their first-born to afford it. Leadtek has taken
this technology and tossed it into a great package. The WinFast
A6600GT TDH offers performance that almost matches that of
the next generation's hardware, at a fraction of the cost."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Gigabyte K8VT890-9 Motherboard
Author: Carl
Nelson
"When
the K8T890 chipset was announced last summer, we had high hopes
for VIA's entry into the PCI-E realm. Had the timing been right,
they would have been the first out of the gates with a PCI-E
solution for Athlon64 CPU's.
Unfortunately,
things didn't quite work out that way. Thanks to its architecture,
we are going to see a flood of low end Socket
939's being released with this Northbridge, pairing it up with
a Southbridge that was originally introduced for Socket A motherboards.
Last week we reviewed one from Soltek, this week we're looking
at Gigabyte's solution, which carries an MSRP of just $83."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Icemat Siberia Computer Gaming Headset
Author: Jeff
Caldwell
"In
the world of gaming you almost always will annoy people with
the repetitive assault gun, the hundreds of grenade explosions
or any other combination of weaponry slamming out of your desktop
speakers. The desk-mounted microphone will always require yelling,
especially when the adrenaline is pumping. This will cause
people living with or even next to you to think you are borderline
insane and potentially a security hazard.
Thus, Icemat decided to give us a headphone/microphone combo
to keep our reputations from getting lower in the real world
and to make everyone around us think we are completely normal.
*twitch*."
Read
the full review here
March
11, 2005
Steelpad QcK+ Mouse Pad
Author: Björn
Endre
"We
review all kind of stuff here at Bjorn3D, but I cannot remember
us reviewing very many mouse pads before. Let's admit it, in
our quest to improve our computers, a lot of us probably forget
about the mouse pad and still use one of the cheap ones that
came with the computer or none at all.
If you lift your eyes a bit though, you'll quickly see that
there is a huge market out there, mainly amongst gamers, for
mouse pads that allow the gamers to get the best sensitivity
possible. Steelpad is a company that has a great reputation for
their mouse pads. Their main products are various mouse pads
in steel. I've tried a few, and they are really cool.
The mouse
pad I am reviewing today is however made out of a completely
different material. The Steelpad QcK+ is not only
a mouse pad made of thin cloth, it is also a huge mouse pad."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
asetek VapoChill LightSpeed [AC]
Author: Scott
Harness
"It
really is pretty amazing when you hear that single beep to
signify a successful POST of your system after an overclock,
and to hear it time after time no matter how high you raise
the FSB . absolutely magical. And I know mine isn't (currently)
one of the best overclocks out there! Other folks are going
higher, with 5GHz+ being very attainable thanks to the Vapochill
Lightspeed."
Read
the full review here
March
9, 2005
Samsung SyncMaster 920T
Author: Scott
Sherman
"Samsung
is a company that continues to release new models of LCD monitors
as technology for the monitors continues to improve. This is
usually good for consumers since they will get a monitor that
should be as good if not better than earlier models. The other
effect of this is usually as price drops, more people move
to LCD displays, lowering the overall cost for components.
The monitor
I am looking at today is the Samsung SyncMaster 920T. It is
one of the latest
19" offerings from Samsung."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
HardcoreWAR East 2005 Lan Party Coverage
Author: Trevor
Flynn
"In
a region full of LAN starved gamers, HardcoreWAR East 2005
was a breath of fresh air. With the backing of a major online
publication and some very generous sponsors, HardcoreWAR was
able to attract gamers from all over Eastern Canada.
Check out
our coverage of the event, including tournament winners, pictures,
and a special price for Best Canadian Hat."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
HIS ATI Radeon X800XL IceQII 256 Meg PCI Express Videocard
Author: Nathan
Glentworth
"It
looks great, it performs exceptionally well for a performance
value solution and it has included cooling not even seen on
more expensive x800/850XT alternatives. It didn't matter what
I threw at it, even at the highest quality and 1280x1024 resolution,
the card just toyed around with every benchmark and gaming
scenario and taunted my to push it some more."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
MS Fingerprint Reader
Author: Scott
Mikules
"Having
security at your fingertips certainly is a concept we have
all thought about over the years. That technology was introduced
a few years ago, and today it's possible.
Microsoft
and DigitalPersona teamed up to build a device that allows
such technology to be possible for consumers abroad. The
Fingerprint Reader Password Manager allows consumers to scan
in their fingerprints to access websites, and other username
and password protected applications."
Read
the full review here
March
5, 2005
SilverStone LC11 Home Theater PC Case
Author: Bryan
"Acrylic
windows, neon and strobe lights, Day-Glo colors, and vaguely
alien shapes may be appealing for desktop PC cases, but you
probably don't want a large, showy case as part of your home
theater setup, especially if you share your home with a significant
other who has significantly more style than you. Additionally,
home theater PC's need to be quiet. Fan and disk noise are
easy to overlook if you're blasting MP3's while blasting Ant
Lions, but white noise isn't welcome when you're watching a
movie, especially if it's a quiet passage involving romance
(I'm thinking of your significant other again). Purpose-built
home theater PC cases are becoming more readily available,
and today I look at SilverStone Technology's LC11 from their
LaScala line of home theater PC enclosures."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Author: Patrick
Ng
"When
it comes to cooling products, everyone's probably heard of
Thermaltake. Since 1999, Thermaltake has been manufacturing
cases and cooling products. I've never really used a Thermaltake
product before, so I can't really say much about their past
coolers. As companies began to implement heatpipes, Thermaltake
did the same with their new line of coolers. Today we have
the Thermaltake Big Typhoon up for review. Let's go ahead and
take a look at how this thing performs."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
A4Tech NB-30 Battery Free Wireless Optical Mouse
Author: Jeff
Caldwell
"Well
in today's review I will be looking at the A4Tech NB30 wireless
and batteryless mouse. This concept was confusing me from the
get go, and I couldn't possibly see how this would work well,
let alone work. Basically the mouse works by receiving electromagnetic
inductive energy, this eliminates any radio frequency interference
of a regular wireless mouse, and gives constant power without
warranting batteries; though only if the mouse is touching
the mousepad. I will bring you to the realm of the batteryless
mouse and show you what to know before you spend the money
on this new computer peripheral."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
A.C.Ryan RyanPower2 450w Modular PSU
Author: Joel
Weirauch
"Overall,
the AC Ryan 450w modular power supply is an excellent unit.
The only negative thing that I found about it is that there
were not enough mini 4-pin connections for my setup. Aside
from that, the voltage levels all stayed at proper levels,
the modular cable system makes my case look a whole lot cleaner,
and actually makes installation easier since I don't have to
hunt around for my cables."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Corsair XPert TWINXP1024-3200XL
Author: Scott
Mikules
"Corsair
is a company that takes its memory further than any other manufactures
on the market. How? Putting aside its massive overclocking
headroom; Corsair's memory was the first to show real-time
activity LEDs on the market. This time they have produced the
first memory that not only has real-time activity LEDs, but
now includes a programmable display via its software."
Read
the full review here
March
2, 2005
Thermalright SI-97 Heatsink
Author: Robert
E. Yawn
"Prior
to receiving this product, my technological standpoint on heat-pipe
technology was more one of curiosity rather than one of practicality.
Experience gained from working on laptops had increased my
interest, but I still saw heat-pipes as more of a necessary
evil than anything else. Why do I say necessary evil? Well,
I would never consider using a heat-pipe anywhere where there
was any other option.
Finally,
an opportunity to discover the true efficiency of heat-pipes
arrived from the good folks at CrazyPC.com in the form of the
Thermalright SI-97 Heatsink. Will this unique piece of CPU-cooling
hardware turn my beliefs on their head or will conventional wisdom
come out the winner? Read on to see who delivers the knockout
punch!"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Cooler Master Cool Drive Lite
Author: Hubert
Wong
"If
you're only interested in cooling, and your case already does
an adequate job of keeping your hard drive cool, this is not
a required purchase. On the other hand, the Cool Drive Lite
does shield some of the hard drive noise, and the included
fan is essentially silent so if you're building a silent PC,
you might want to give the Cool Drive Lite some consideration."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Intel 660
3.6Ghz & 3.73Ghz Extreme Edition 64bit
Pentium 4 Processor
Author: Nathan
Glentworth
"With
Windows x64 Edition nearing its' full release date, Intel has
released their 64bit capable 6XX and Extreme Edition line of
processors to tackle the new 64bit challenge and the nice thing
is if you own a Intel® 925XE Express or i915 based chipset
motherboard, 64bit computing is only a processor and a BIOS
flash upgrade away.
Let's see
what the new line of Intel processors have to offer..."
Read
the full review here
March
1, 2005
Leadtek WinFast PX6800 GT TDH (GeForce 6800 GT)
Author: Chad
Unrein
"Every
so often I like to do a review where I compare a high-end video
card to a top-shelf mid-range card so that consumers can see
what they get for usually about twice the price. The main focus
of this review will be the Leadtek WinFast PX6800 GT TDH, but
the secondary theme will be this comparison. I recently reviewed
the Gigabyte 6600 GT, which is definitely a great mid-range
card that many people would love to have. Thanks to Leadtek,
I now have a 6800 GT that will allow me to do this high-end
to mid-range comparison. Obviously, the 6800 GT should slap
around the 6600 GT like a freshman in a locker room. That will
not surprise anyone. The main thing I want to look at is if
the price premium that the 6800 GT demands is worth it. For
example, if 6800 GT performs less than 20% better than the
6600 GT on the majority of the benchmarks, perhaps paying twice
as much for the higher-powered GPU is not worth it."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Abit NF8
Author: John
Chen
"With
such a late release of the NF8 and the massive move to
Socket 939, it'll be tough to stay in the competition. Abit doesn't
worry though. Socket 754 is still a great and speedy platform
and Abit
promises that the NF8 will perform, and perform well. My question
is,
since their KV8 Pro became such a success, how is the NF8 going
to
compare to it's cousin motherboard?"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
ULTRA All in One MP3 Player
Author: Trevor
Flynn
"It's
been quite a while since we've given the dreaded "Goat
of the Month" award, but we are here to tell you that
our mascot Geoff The Goat is making his first appearance in
months.
The product
that we really wanted to like was the "All
in One" from Ultra Products. It really is more like a "Four
in One" unit, offering an MP3 player, flash drive (USB 1.1),
SD/MMC reader, and a voice recorder.
In some aspects,
it performs quite satisfyingly. In others, it just sucks...."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
MSI MEGA View 561
Author: Hubert
Wong
"One
of the benefits of the MEGA View 561 is that it is multipurpose.
While it's larger than the iPod, it's smaller than portable
DVD players. Add to the fact that you can pile on quite a few
movies on the 20GB drive, you save the additional hassle of
packing extra DVDs."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Zalman VF700-AlCu
Author: W1zzard
"After
the enormous success of the ZM-80 series, Zalman has now released
a new VGA cooler series, which does not use heatpipes and is
modeled after the CNPS7000 CPU cooler."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Mushkin PC4400 1GB DC Kit
Author: Luke
Ponio
"It
seems like every RAM company has at least one module based
on TCCD. Although it is used by most companies as low latency
DDR400, Mushkin rates this TCCD as high latency DDR550. This
is nice because you are guaranteed a high FSB, but you can
also tighten the timings if you don't mind lowering the FSB.
Mushkin also has a low latency DDR400 TCCD based RAM in their
product lineup, which is a little less expensive, but is not
guaranteed to run higher speeds."
Read
the full review here
