May
30, 2005
Shuttle XPC
ST20G5
Author: Ryszard
"All
wrapped up in the very stylish G5 XPC chassis, the ST20G5 has
a whole lot going for it. Until Shuttle pair nForce4 with the
G5 chassis, there's arguably no better teeny PC to place a Socket
939 CPU and a PCI Express graphics board into."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Corsair COOL
Watercooling Kit
Author: Stephen
Jimenez
"Corsair
continues their watercooling line with products from Swiftech.
Sure they didn't actually manufacture it but they do make a nice
bundle at a great price. Plus you get a green bracket that Swiftech
doesn't offer."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
PCI Express
technology backgrounder
Author: James
Morris
"PCI
Express isn’t just about increased bandwidth. It also offers
better power management, including native hot-plug support. And,
although the physical interface is not backwards compatible, the
driver architecture is. So PCI products can rapidly be moved over
to PCI Express with little rewriting of software needed to make
them work."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
THERMALTAKE
SVIKING BA400BWS BLACK COMPUTER CASE
Author: Jeff
Caldwell
"The
Thermaltake SViking series is a good buy, with a few exceptions.
The sharp edges were kept to a bare minimum and for the most part
the metal was rolled nice and neatly. The case offers a lot of
room for optical and hard drives. The cases airflow is designed
well, but mark my words, you won't be able to take the full speed
setting for long."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Ultra compact
IWILL 4-Way, dual-core Intel Xeon MP mainboard pictures
Author: David
Ross
"The
board is based around the 6th generation Intel 8500 core logic
and supports 4-way, 64-bit Intel Xeon Processors, and the chipset
also has full dual-core Xeon support. It has the ability to use
16 DDR2-400 ECC Registered Memory modules, supporting hot-swap,
memory raid – sparing/mirroring."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
ATI TV WONDER
USB 2.0
Author: Nathan
Glentworth
"As I
said earlier, for the money and the software included, if you
are in the market to turn your computer into a handy TV with A/V
functionality and don't have the ability to use a PCI version,
you really can't go wrong with this product. It is easy to install
and setup, comes with ATI exceptional multimedia software along
with GemStar's GuidePlus which on it own is worth over US$200
for its' subscription. The image quality is just as good as all
the TV wonder and All in Wonder videocard's that I have tested
in the past."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Intel Pentium
4 670 and Pentium D 820
Author: Tarinder
"To state
the obvious, where the Pentium D 820 thrives is in multi-threaded
applications that take full advantage of both its cores concurrently.
When that happens, its performance beats out the fastest and most
expensive single-core models with comparative ease. Above all
else, what the £200 Pentium D 820 does is bring real dual-core
goodness to the masses."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Corsair Xpert
3200XL and ECS PF88 Extreme 4 Reviews at motherboards.org
Corsair Xpert
XMS 3200XL Memory
Author: Tulatin
"Taking
the next logical leap from the design of the XMS pro modules,
Corsair chose to add on a parametric LCD display, as well as backlit
logos, all while maintaining the activity bars."
Read
the full review here
ECS
PF88 Extreme 4 Dual Platform Motherboard
Author: Benjamin
Sun
"ECS
has been a big name in the mid level motherboard market for years
and now wants to step up to the major leagues. The new PF88 is
a hybrid motherboard that allows the use of either LGA775 or Socket
9 CPUs via its A9S mini insertion board."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Intel Pentium
D Processor 820, Pentium 4 Processor 670 and 945 Express Chipsets
Author: Shane
Unrein
"Focusing
on the enthusiast and high-end workstation markets, Intel started
its multi-core desktop campaign last month by introducing the
955X Express chipset and Pentium Processor Extreme Edition dual-core
CPU. Today's release is aimed at the mainstream market, though.
The new mainstream chipsets are the 945G Express Chipset and 945P
Express Chipset (the 'G' variant providing onboard graphics),
and the three new mainstream dual-core processors are the Pentium
D Processor 820, 830 and 840, which run at 2.8GHz, 3.0GHz and
3.2GHz, respectively."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Hitachi Deskstar
ZK80 SATA 2 Hard Drive
Author: Shane
Unrein
"In the
technology world improvements in speed, quality, and price are
constant. Better, faster, and cheaper are key and true ideals
in the marketplace. One area that has seen massive gains in size
is the storage market but unfortunately the technology behind
it hasn't seen as many improvements until recently. Previously
tied down to the parallel interface Serial ATA drives are now
more and more becoming the standard and we look at one today,
Hitachi's Deskstar 7K80."
Read
the full review here
May
24, 2005
Thermalright
XP-90C Heatsink
Author: Mike
Hermon
"Three
or four degrees difference over the Zalman cooler may not seem
like much, but to an enthusiast that may mean the difference in
a decent overclock and a great overclock. Naturally when compared
to the stock cooler on the 3.4 there is no surprise in the huge
temperature difference, but it does give a great example of how
much more efficient the XP-90 is."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Dual CPU/GPU
SFF PC
Author: Ryszard
"Packing
support for NVIDIA's SLI technology via nForce4 SLI core logic,
along with support for dual-core Opteron, the ZMAXd2 crams even
more into the same space, doubling the CPU and graphics power
with help from a new 400W power supply, specially developed by
IWILL for the unit."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
OCZ Platinum
PC5000 DFI nF4 Special 1GB Dual Channel Kit
Author: John
Chen
"OCZ
surpasses themselves with their latest DDR entry. The Platinum
PC5000 is the fastest rated memory and provides cutting edge performance.
If you have the cash to spared, don't even think twice. But sadly,
we're not all rich."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Sapphire Factory
Tour
Author: W1zzard
"We had
the honor to be the first journalists to visit Sapphire's factory
where most ATI video cards are produced. This report will take
you through all stages of video card production and show many
interesting details on how a video card is build."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Gigabyte X800
& X800XL - Silent High End Video Cards
Author: Carl
Nelson
"Manufacturers
tend to take different approaches to retail video cards. Some
may focus on a nice bundle, with extra features. Others go a bit
further, like adding overclocking features and funky cooling solutions.
Most though, are content to just slap their logo on the heatsink
and call it a day.
Gigabyte is
one of the few who go a step further - most of their video card
lineup consists of silent versions on both the ATI and NVIDIA
side. Today, we're looking at two higher-end ATI based cards -
the X800 and X800XL. That's right; a 100% fanless X800XL - a 16
pipe card clocked at 400 MHz. Surprisingly, Gigabyte did not include
oven mitts in the bundle!"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Chaintech VNF4
Zenith Value Edition
Author: Stephen
Cooper
"Overall,
we were pleased with the BIOS that Chaintech has chosen to utilize
with the VNF4 Zenith VE. Given that the board really isn’t
geared towards the high-end crowd, I was slightly surprised to
see the voltage adjustment capabilities that we found. The voltages
that Chaintech supply should be more than enough to get a little
extra oomf out of that Athlon 64 and your RAM as well."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Sapphire Radeon
X850 XT PE VIVO AGP
Author: Shane
Unrein
"Enthusiasts
who are reluctant to or not in a hurry to upgrade to a PCI Express
platform must have rejoiced when the latest high-end ATI AGP cards
starting arriving on store shelves. If you really love ATI and
your AGP motherboard, then you can get a flagship Radeon card,
like Sapphire's Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition, which I happen
to have on the review bench today."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Cooler Master
Real Power 550W
Author: John
Chen
"Cooler
Master continues the Real Power series with a beefier 550W power
supply. It comes with 3 independent 12v rails, a PCI-E connector,
a wattage meter display, and a bright blue 120mm blue LED fan."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Thermaltake
TWV500
Author: W1zzard
"Thermaltake
has put together a nice package consisting of a PSU with modular
cables, a 5.25" drive bay real-time Watts Viewer and an additional
120mm case fan."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
PowerColor
X850 XT Platinum Edition VIVO AGP
Author: Rafal
Zak
"If you
recall, we've reviewed a PowerColor X800 PRO Limited Assassin
Edition back in October of 2004. It was based on ATI's R420 ASIC.
The card featured an AGP bus and 12 pipelines. At the end of 2004,
ATI had launched refresh parts and brought their mid-range market
up a notch by releasing a R430 chip on 0.11µ silicon process.
ATI's main focus was to fill the gap with a card that would compete
with GeForce 6800GT. It was a successful move to introduce X800
XL (R430) with 16 pipelines.
On the other side of the coin we have the high-end cards. ATI
did a refresh in this sector as well by releasing R480 which is
really an updated R420 chip on 0.13µ low-K silicon process.
The problem (if you can call that) was the newly released parts
targeted the PCI-e segment only. It took ATI a few months to realize
the AGP market is still huge and that they need to have a better
support for it. Having said that, AGP users are still getting
love from ATI when it comes down to high-end cards."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Abit AX8
Author: John
Chen
"While
VIA K8T890 chipset may be a little lacking in the performance
department, die-hard VIA fans will be glad to know that the AX8
is a great implementation of the chipset. It's budget oriented
and overclocks pretty nicely."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Seagate Barracuda
400GB 7200.8
Author: Hubert
Wong
"While
having a massive hard drive doesn't eliminate the need for backups,
it does give people more headroom for storage (along with making
many of us lazy about backups, but that's a subject for another
day). Apps and games are getting more bloated so the drive you
have now may be fine for your purposes, but you may hit a roadblock
before you know it."
Read
the full review here
May
19, 2005
2005 Electronic
Entertainment Expo E3 Coverage
Author: John
Chen
"May
18 was the first day of E3 2005. We head over and had quite a
bit of fun with all the games and such. Take a look and see all
our pretty pictures."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Gigabyte GO-B5232A
CD-RW and DVD-ROM Combo
Author: Patrick
Ng
"Gigabyte
is very well known for their high quality motherboards but they
also have a few other tricks up their sleeves. This CD-RW/DVD-Rom
combo is a great alternative from the ones we're used to seeing."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
MSI Megabook
S250
Author: Ryszard
"To sum
up this peek at MSI's mini marvel, it's the absolute perfect size
for my uses, outshining the horrible DTR models I've reviewed
for HEXUS by a massive margin. Plenty of disk space and rock solid
WiFi, along with great basic ergonomics have me putting the screen's
reflective nature to one side while I enjoy the size and lack
of weight of almost a perfect notebook for my needs. I'm a journo
with no need for on-the-go 3D performance. I just write, so all
I need is something tiny with plenty of pixels, good wireless
and a keyboard I'm happy to tap on for hours on end."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Sapphire Radeon
X300SE HyperMemory & Leadtek WinFast PX6200 TC TDH
Author: Shane
Unrein
"To make
a respectable profit in the video card industry, a company cannot
rely on its flagship cards to bring in high margins. Instead,
a graphics card company must produce mid-level and low-end cards
that will sell in big lots to OEMs. That's where the big money
is. Several months ago, ATI and NVIDIA decided to spice up the
low-end segment with their HyperMemory and TurboCache technologies,
respectively.
To put it
simply, these two technologies use system memory for graphics
processing. Rather than just using the RAM embedded on a HyperMemory
or TurboCache card, these cards also use up to a pre-determined
amount of your system's RAM. Both technologies store and access
graphics data in the system memory to provide a less expensive
way to get more overall video RAM. Companies would have liked
to do this earlier, but the AGP interface wasn't quite up to the
task. The PCI Express interface, on the other hand, is fast enough
to make it a reality.
With both
HyperMemory and TurboCache, the card comes with a certain (typically
small) amount of on-board memory, say 32MB. The card can then
scale up to a defined level of total memory by using system RAM.
ATI's HyperMemory cards come in two variations: the 128MB HyperMemory
version features 32MB VRAM on board, and the 256MB HyperMemory
version has 128MB VRAM on board. NVIDIA has so far chosen three
different configurations of TurboCache cards: the 128MB TurboCache
version has either 16MB or 32MB of local memory, and the 256MB
version sports 64MB.
The two cards
I'll be comparing in this review are the Sapphire Radeon X300SE
128MB HyperMemory and the Leadtek WinFast PX6200 TC TDH, a TurboCache
card supporting 256MB of total memory."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
E3 Day One
Coverage, Gallery, Albatron GeForce Trinity PC6600GT Review
E3
Day One Coverage
Author: Chris
Tom
"We have
posted our day one coverage from E3. We cover Sapphire, AMD, VIA,
EA, and Activision amongst others. Highlights include additional
details about the NanoCoolers liquid metal cooling technology
Sapphire revealed.
Read
the full review here
Sapphire is
planning on offering a high end board aimed at enthusiasts and
gamers. They don't want to be just another motherboard company,
and it will be interesting to see what they come up with. They
will also be offering a Intel based board on the high end.
We also have
a photo gallery up of day one of E3 with 214 pictures and rising
that will be updated throughout the show.
As technology
pushes farther than the needs of most people, mid-range products
have seen incredible performance at a fraction of the cost. Nvidia's
6600GT GPU has proven its self as more than able to handle today's
toughest games as we've gone through the cards of most vendors.
Today we look at one more 6600GT card, Albatron's Trinity PC6600GT
video card."
See
the gallery here
Albatron GeForce
Trinity PC6600GT
Author: Chris
Tom
"As technology
pushes farther than the needs of most people, mid-range products
have seen incredible performance at a fraction of the cost. Nvidia's
6600GT GPU has proven its self as more than able to handle today's
toughest games as we've gone through the cards of most vendors.
Today we look at one more 6600GT card, Albatron's Trinity PC6600GT
video card."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
More info on
Albatron AGP-to-PCIE-converter
Author: W1zzard
"we just
posted some more information on Albatron's AGP-to-PCI-Express
converter card, called ATOP. Which will allow the use of AGP video
cards in PCI-Express motherboards."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
FSP Universal
Adapter
Author: Nick
Haywood
"Coming
complete with 6 interchangeable DC output jacks, the Universal
Notebook Adapter is compatible with most popular notebook models
from brands such as Sony, Dell, IBM and Toshiba to name a few.
The interchangeable DC jacks will let you smugly allow others
to charge their lappies from your cable too… definitely
a ‘one-upper’ in the office."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
CATALYST 5.5
available
Author: Steve
Morris
"We have
just posted the 5th official certified CATALYST software package
for 2005. The CATALYST version 5.5 release includes the following:
1) An updated
Microsoft Certified WHQL CATALYST driver for Windows XP and Windows
2000
2) An updated
CATALYST CONTROL CENTER for Windows XP and Windows 2000
3) An updated
Microsoft Certified (WHQL) driver for Windows XP x64 Edition
4) An updated
CATALYST Multimedia Center software package
5) An updated
Linux driver
Full information
can be found in the release notes.
Issues fixed
for CATALYST Windows 32-bit edition:
•
3DMark05: Running the application under Windows XP for extended
periods of time no longer results in the operating system failing
to respond when using an ATI RADEON™ X700 PRO
• Ashli Viewer sample Wood: Display corruption is no longer
noticed when Anisotropic Filtering set to 4x or above
• AshliViewer v1.6.0: Running the application under Windows
2000 and launching a sample item found in the Programs &
Shaders no longer results in corruption being displayed in the
sample item
• City of Heroes: Playing the game under Windows XP with
an ATI RADEON™ Xpress 200 series installed no longer results
in the characters in the game appearing corrupted
• Freedom force VS The 3rd Reich: Playing the game under
Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 8500 installed no longer
results in the super hero character attributes appearing blank
• Imperial Glory Demo: Playing the game under Windows
XP with an ATI RADEON™ X800 installed no longer results
in the game failing to respond
• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Setting the
graphic option in the CATALYST™ CONTROL CENTER to Optimal
Quality, followed by launching the game and setting the resolution
option to 1600x1200, no longer results in a performance drop
being noticed
• Star Wars Knights of the old republic: Loading the Dantooine
level of the game under Windows XP no longer results in slow
game performance
• Setting the desktop display to 800x600 or 1600x1200
16/32bpp no longer results in the incorrect display resolution
information being provided when checking the video control panel
in the CATALYST™ CONTROL CENTER
• Setting the display device to 1080i no longer results
in the text on the custom format being illegible
• Setting a customized resolution for 720p now works properly
when maintaining the aspect ratio
• Moving the TV to desktop2 and selecting swap device
or double up no longer results in the CRT being in panning mode
and display corruption being seen on the TV
• Having a TV connected as the only display device and
clicking the OK button in the ATI displays tab found in the
Advanced section of the Display Properties results in a flash
of the TV image being noticed
• Connecting and enabling an HDTV and entering the properties
page for the HDTV no longer results in the D3/D4 options being
available in the D-Connector Control Panel
• The occasional Windows error messages no longer occurs
when booting into extended desktop under Windows XP when using
an ATI RADEON™ X300 or X600
• Corruption is no longer seen when connecting a secondary
display device and moving the primary display device to the
left of the secondary device, followed by disconnecting the
primary display device and then reconnecting it
• Previewing or launching the aquarium screen saver under
Windows XP Media Center Edition no longer results in the operating
system failing to respond
• RF online game compatibility issue with all ATI RADEON™
series
• Launching the CATALYST™ CONTROL CENTER help files
from the Start->All Programs->CATALYST™ CONTROL
CENTER now results in the localized version of the help file
being displayed
• CATALYST™ CONTROL CENTER: Running the French custom
install no longer results in a NewFeature1 component being listed
• The link found in the second and third help page for
the Change Desktop Settings found in the Japanese version of
the CATALYST™ CONTROL CENTER no longer cross-references
to an incorrect help page
• A black screen is no longer displayed when launching
AMCap and attempting to view video from the tuner when using
either the S-video or composite inputs
• Display corruption is no longer noticed on the TV when
setting the TV format to PAL-B and attempting to adjust the
flicker removal in the TV Advanced option
• Having a TV and CRT connected and clicking on Preview
Automatic adjustment in the Optimize Media Center no longer
results in both display devices displaying a black screen
Issues fixed
for the CATALYST Windows 64-bit edition:
•
All four display devices are now shown on the Display Properties
page under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Blink.exe running the application in stress mode over
an extended period of time under Windows XP Professional x64
Edition no longer results in a bugcheck in ati2mtag.sys
• The ATI Desktop Help window is no longer displayed when
rebooting the system after the ATI display driver installation
for the ATI RADEON X300 or X600 series under Windows XP Professional
x64 Edition
• Installing the display driver on an AMD Opteron or Athlon64
running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition no longer results
in the TV support not appearing in the Display Page of the control
panel."
May
17, 2005
GeIL Ultra-X
UTT BH5 Contest: 2 Weeks Left!
"GeIL's
new Ultra-X memory based on the Winbond UTT BH5 memory is getting
excellent reviews and results all over the world. Here's your
chance to get some for free!"
Get
the full details here
Also
in the news
Athlon 64 3200+
Venice Core Overclocking
Author: Chris
Tom
"Before
we get into testing the 3200+ lets look at the markings. This
is a week 16 part for 2005. The LBBLE batch code indicates a Venice
core CPU. ADA indicates the brand is an Athlon 64 desktop CPU.
3200 indicates a model number of 3200+. D signifies the Socket
939 packaging. A indicates a variable operating voltage. The next
A signifies the peak case temperature supported, but we do not
yet have the data on what that equals. 4 signifies a 512mb L2
cache size. BP indicates a revision E3 core."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
OCZ PC2-5400
Platinum EB
Author: W1zzard
"Right
now, DDR2 is only available to the Intel Platform. The biggest
drawback people are complaining about, is that DDR2 is running
at slower timings than traditional DDR. That is why OCZ, who have
always been designing products with the enthusiast in mind, came
up with a memory that can run at 667 MHz but at tighter timings
than the standard JEDEC Spec. The maximum clock we could get out
of the memory at 2.4V was DDR726 at Timings of 4-2-2-8."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Lite-On LVW-5045
160GB HDD+DVD Recorder
Author: Shane
Unrein
"To many
advertisers' dismay, VCRs changed the way people watched TV over
30 years ago. Recording a show and watching it later allowed viewers
to fast forward through commercials and watch only what they wanted
to watch. Today, it's only gotten better (or worse, depending
on what side of the commercials you are on) with products like
TiVo and home theater PCs.
If you aren't
quite ready to have a PC in your living room, then a TiVo or other
hard drive recorder would make a great DVR (digital video recorder)
for you. With its 160GB LVW-5045, Lite-On enters the hard drive
recorder market with an affordable offering that has a lot of
potential. The LVW-5045 not only features recording to hard drive
but also to DVD and CD media, building on the capabilities of
the LVW-5005 I previously reviewed."
Read
the full review here
May
16, 2005
Aspire X-QPack
Case
Author: Hubert
Wong
"Those
of you looking to build a SFF PC from scratch will want to give
the Aspire X-QPack a close look as it offers more in terms of
options from most pre-built SFF PCs. Overall, it's a decently
designed chassis though it doesn't stray too far from the basic
fundamentals of a "cube" SFF."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
E3 2005: Hip
Interactive line-up
Author: Nick
Haywood
"Recently
voted “Games Industry Newcomers of the Year" at the
MCV Industry Excellence Awards, Hip Games are showcasing four
titles to the assembled masses, covering a diverse range of interests
and with some major players such as George A Romero involved too!
So without further pre-amble, let’s have a look at what
Hip are up to."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
E3 2005: THQ’s
line-up
Author: Nick
Haywood
"The
expansion pack to Relic Entertainment's real-time strategy hit
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, features a deeper single-player
experience, a brand new fifth race – The Imperial Guard
– and even more intense Dawn of War action."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Corsair PC3200XL
v1.2: Why Not Name It PC4800?
Author: John
Chen
"Corsair's
TCCD v1.1 isn't known as a great overclocker. Their touched up
TCCD v1.2 features a "special" Brainpower PCB and one
low price. The result? High overclocking headroom for everyone."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
ASPIRE X-QPACK-AL/420
Black/Silver Aluminum MicroATX Computer Case w/ 420W PSU
Author: Joe
Anderson
"Did
I mention that I like big cases? Well, I do. I also like the Aspire
X-QPACK. It looks good without sacrificing functionality. It’s
compact, yet offers room for two 5.25 inch drives, two hard drives
and a floppy. It’s lightweight, but still quite sturdy.
The carry handle makes for easy portability and the cooling is
surprisingly good. With three windows, LED fans, LCD temperature
display, a 420W power supply with a dynamite finish and sleeved
cables, and five color choices it also gets big points as a pre-modded
case. In fact, the X-QPACK really challenges the modder to mod
the components inside the case, as so much of the interior is
visible."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Athlon64 3800+
Venice
Author: //mAr
"AMD
has released a new revision of their Athlon64 S939, the code name
is Venice. Venice is produced in 90nm, has 512KB Cache and is
clocked betwen 1.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz. We test it against the Winchster
and two Pentium4 systems."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
ASUS Extreme
N6800Ultra/2DT
Author: Tarinder
"ASUS
hasn't done anything really wrong with the EN6800 Ultra card,
but it's let an opportunity go begging to design the ultimate
GeForce 6800 Ultra, one that would use a custom heatsink, SmartFan,
and, perhaps, a cooler that takes up only a single slot. As it
is, it's a case of a reference card dropped into a regular, feature-rich
ASUS card package."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
ATI X800XL
512MB Video Card Review at motherboards.org
Author: Benjamin
Sun
"ATI
has finally crossed the 256MB boundary, but does it really make
all that much of a difference? We ran the ATI X800XL 512MB Edition
through a gauntlet of tests and have all the information you need.
This will be the first card that ATI does not sell directly and
will only be made by its manufacturing partners."
Read
the full review here
May
13, 2005
Point of View
GeForce 6600 GT
Author: Björn
Endre
"Being
a reviewer, it is sometimes easy to forget that not everyone can
afford all those high-end cards that we get to review. Not everyone
wants to spend as much on a video card as they do on the rest
of the system. NVIDIA and ATI of course know that and have released
a bunch of low and mid-end cards catering for every size of wallet."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Athlon 64 3500+
Venice Core Overclocking
Author: Chris
Tom
"While
the hottest CPU on the planet is the Athlon 64 X2 dual core it
is not the only new CPU from AMD. The Athlon 64 has hit another
revision with the Venice core at 90nm. It adds SSE3 support, acts
better with mismatched memory, and overclocking on it looks to
be
promising. Today we look at the Athlon 64 3500+ Venice core, and
compare it against the 3800+ Venice core, and the Athlon 64 X2
4800+
dual core in performance. Then we run it through the overclocking
wringer to see how far we can push it past the default 2.2GHz."
Read
the full review here
May
10, 2005
Far Cry 64
Bit benchmarks and 32 bit comparison
Author: Chris
Tom
"We first
set out sites on a 64 bit version of Far Cry back in February
at our Texas Gaming Festival Winter 2004 event. AMD was on hand
showing off the game before it was officially released. It has
been
over a year, and finally with the Windows XP 64 release coming
last
month, we finally have another Windows 64 bit game to add to
Chronicles of Riddick and Shadow Ops: Red Mercury Rising to add
to
our extensive 64 bit gaming tests we have doing since April of
last
year. Our previous tests of Unreal Tournament 64 bit Linux version
revealed that there was a just a straight port involved. Then
Shadow
Ops showed extra content had been added to the 64 bit version
in the
form of additional models, objects, and details. Now will Far
Cry
bring the performance gains we are hoping for?"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Intel find
their founder's words of wisdom
Author: Nick
Haywood
"Take
a glance back up the page and you’ll see that Gordon Moore
first made his prediction in 1965. He did this in a magazine called
‘Electronics’, a notable publication of it’s
time. Now, considering that this will be the fortieth anniversary
of Moore’s famous law, the bods at Intel thought it’d
be rather nice to get their hands on an original copy of said
magazine. All well and good, but where, exactly, do you start
looking for a 40 year old magazine that had a limited following
all those years ago and is unlikely to have survived the ravages
of time?"
Read
the full article here
Also
in the news
AMD Versus
Intel Dual-Core and ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Reviews on motherboards.org
AMD
Vesus Intel Battle of the Dual-Core CPUs
Author: Doc
Overclock
"Although
both Intel and AMD have entered the Dual-Core CPU arena, it was
the AMD 4800+ CPU, which showed the best results here in the lab.
We tested these CPUs against each other using the best and most
performance savvy parts we could get our hands on and with the
motherboards each camp felt were their best representatives for
their CPU."
Read
the full review here
ASUS
A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
Author: Doc
Overclock
"Asus
has once again made an outstanding board in the A8N Deluxe. Based
on the nForce4 SLI chipset this board has what it takes to please
even the most discerning user. S! upporting the new Dual-Core
CPUs from AMD is only one of the many outstanding features of
this board."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
MSI NX6600GT-TD128E
Author: Jeremiah
Bostwick
"MSI
has put out a very good product with their NX6600GT. It looks
good with the red PCB and the MSI standard gold heatsink. The
cards performed flawlessly through a barrage of tests with absolutely
no hiccups, and I've been using them for tons of games for hours
in my main machine for at least a good month."
Read
the full review here
May
9, 2005
AMD Athlon
64 X2 4800
Author: Ryszard
"The
key things to take from today's look at the 4800+ is that it's
generally no slower, but generally no faster either, than an FX-53
in single-threaded tests, yet it'll cost you a fair bit more.
I hope it's obvious that a dual-core processors benefits lie elsewhere,
with multi-threaded applications and real-world operating system
usage. Think HyperThreading."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
DVdoctor.review
- In-deep Canopus Edius SP system for HDV
Author: Peter
Wells
"However,
if the editor is one that transcodes to an intermediate I-frame
format for editing and compositing, there's a new challenge in
handling material with a datarate of around 14MBytes per second
for 1080i material at 50Hz. And all that's on top of the large
frame size of 1440x1080 pixels, as opposed to PAL DV's resolution
of 720x576.
A year ago,
when standard definition DV was king and even the most affordable
PC was able to cut it like butter, we thought that editing hardware
companies had had their day. Now, it seems, they're being called
on to save the day again."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Jetart JACSH1
Author: W1zzard
"Jetart
has built their own VGA cooler - a pretty full copper design with
a blue LED. Can they compete with the other coolers in terms of
performance as well?"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Plusdeck 2
PC Cassette Deck
Author: Björn
Endre
"It is
not that often that I come across a product that has such a narrow
target audience like the BTO Plusdeck 2. In short, it is a product
that allows you to play old cassette tapes on your PC, record
from cassette to PC and record music onto cassettes from the PC.
Considering a lot of today's young computer users haven't even
seen a cassette tape, you probably now understand why this isn't
a product for everyone."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Athlon 64 X2
4800+ Dual Core
Author: Chris
Tom
"At that
point Intel indicated that multi-core was the future, and MHz
no longer got the focus. At CES we heard much of the same about
dual core, and then it was fairly quiet other than rumored roadmap
and product launch changes for both AMD and Intel. Then came the
editors day at AMD where dual core Opteron and dual core Athlon
was covered, and Intel surely had gotten win as in less than a
week a handful of dual core P4 samples where sent to reviewers.
AMD's dual core Opteron quickly followed, and then AMD brought
the Athlon 64 X2 reviews up to today. Clearly there was a lot
movement going on behind the scenes, and as of now you can only
buy dual core Opterons out of all the products, and availability
is limited. AMD points to tremendous demand for dual core Opteron
for the lack of chips that are not promised to server vendors."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
GV-N62128DE
VGA card provides cost conscious 'upgraders' with NVIDIAR GeForce
6-series 3D graphics and PureVideoR Technology
"GIGABYTE
TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards, VGA
cards and other computing hardware solutions, today announced
the GV-N62128DE, a new AGP 8X graphics card based on the popular
NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6200 GPU. With its best-in-class performance
and extensive feature list, the GV-N62128DE presents a compelling
and cost effective upgrade option for users who need better graphics
than what is currently on offer from integrated graphics solutions.
."
Also
in the news
Kingmax SuperRAM
PC3200 1GB Dual Channel Kit
Author: John
Chen
"Although
Kingmax is relatively quiet in the enthusiast market, their budget
memory solution performs very well and offers a tiny bit of overclocking
headroom. You just simply can't beat the price for a 1GB set."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Shikatronics
Manhattan Edition USB 2.0
Author: Craig
Shyjak
"Performance
wise the Manhattan drive was good. A solid 8.1MB/s in our testing
is an excellent score for a USB flash drive. In real world use
I found the drive to be perfect for the person on the go. I often
have to grab a program of file off my computer while I am running
out the door on the way to work. The Manhattan drive allowed me
to do this and more."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Sony Ericsson
K750i
Author: Matt
Davey
"Sitting
pretty in a svelte black and gunmetal shell, the K750i is the
first in a new series of mobiles from Sony Ericsson to expand
on the multimedia craze that’s sweeping the market in mobile
communications. Many people have been waiting for the new series
of mobiles from Sony Ericsson, the K750i and the W800i handsets
are the two of note, the latter not due till the fourth quarter
of 2005. The K750i on the other hand is imminent, but the big
question is, was it worth the wait?"
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Centon Advanced
Gemini Low Latency PC3200 Overclocking Update
Author: John
Chen
"With
the DFI Ultra-D motherboard and loads of voltages in my hand,
I decided to go back to the Centon Advanced PC3200 Low Latency
memory and find the highest overclock. The screenshot shows that
Super PI passed without failure at 32M calculations. The Super
PI version is the Super PI mod1.4 which has been designed with
anti-cheat. The CPU-Z has been validated to prove that that screenie
is real and not fake."
Read
the full article here
Also
in the news
PNY Verto GeForce
6600 GT 128MB AGP
Author: Tarinder
"The
underlying technology is good enough to state that you cannot
buy a bad GeForce 6600 GT card. It's best-suited for playing games
at 1280x1024 with a modicum of image enhancement. That fits in
perfectly with the kind of customer it's aimed at, who'll most
likely be using a 17" TFT or 19" CRT that both tend
to run natively at that resolution. PNY's effort, by dint of its
bundle and warranty, is a pretty good choice for those who have
<£150 to spend on a graphics card right now, although
the addition of a custom, quieter fan and dual-DVI would be on
the top of my wish list for PNY's engineers, however. A solid
card based on sound tech."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Zalman VF700-AlCu
Author: W1zzard
"One
month ago we reviewed the Zalman VF700-AlCu. Now we test the VF700-Cu
which is a full copper design. The performance difference is definitely
there and users who have the choice should go for the copper version."
Read
the full review here
May
6, 2005
Soltek EQ3501-300P
SFF
Author: Hubert
Wong
"Overall,
we found the Soltek EQ3501-300P a solid system with a few flaws,
both minor and major depending on what you're looking for in a
SFF PC. The system itself is suitable as a full sized system replacement,
and if you're aware of the limitations and can work around them,
you'll be fine. Whether or not you like the appearance though
is up to you."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Details Of
ATi's Multi Video Processing Unit
Author: Steve
"The
system will run with a master card and slave card. The slave card
can be ANY ATI card on the market, which is just about as cool
as absolute zero, but (and it’s a big BUT).. the master
card, which will control the frame buffer, has to support MVP.
The ATI solution runs on a tiled based approach - which has a
minimum checkerboard size of 32 pixels square."
Read
the full article here
Also
in the news
ATi MVP - How
it will work... Interesting!
Author: Steve
"Sadly,
it seems that just like NVIDIA with SLi, ATI’s MVP solution
will come with a few rigid pre-set conditions before you can enjoy
the benefits… so not all that different from a bit of twin
action after all… In order to run the ATI AMR solution you’ll
first off need to have a compatible mainboard and then you’ll
2 cards, but not just any card."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Sunbeam Samurai
Case
Author: Rafal
Zak
"Overall,
Sunbeam's Samurai case is a well designed low-budget project.
If you are looking for cheap yet fancy case, you should give Samurai
a try. Although a power supply is not included in this unit, you
are free to choose any ATX power house you like."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Raidmax Virgo
811 Black Computer Case
Author: Josh
Williams
"All
said, I think this case is amazing for the price. It’s got
a clean look and great styling. Definitely a contender to consider."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Albatron TC6200Q
Author: David
Pankhurst
"The
TC6200Q is right in between the performance of the 915G and the
PCX5750. It does beat the PCX5750 in our Splinter Cell tests,
but in everything else it has a good margin in both directions.
It is playable at 800*600 in both UT2004 and Half Life 2, but
not really playable at any of the other resolutions/tests. With
the actual game tests, this card can play the games we had at
1024*768 with medium to high quality settings."
Read
the full review here
May
4, 2005
AMD, Tyan,
Suse Set Networking Record
Author: Chris
Tom
"We
have details about AMD, Tyan, and Suse setting a networking record
of 6.5 gigabits a second. 1 petabit of data total was transferred!.
A series of
tests conducted in April at the Neal Nelson & Associates benchmarking
laboratory measured a sustained data rate of 6.5 gigabits per
second from a single 2U form factor server powered by AMD Opteron(tm)
processors. One endurance test ran continuously for 48 hours and
transferred over 1,000 terabits (1 petabit) of user data between
96 FTP client machines and the single FTP server. These data rates
were achieved with the common IPV4 protocol and standard 1,500
byte packets."
Read
the full article here
Also
in the news
MVP of Dodger
Stadium: Crucial memory
"Crucial
memory will have some of the best seats at Dodger Stadium for
the next two seasons--nestled inside Shuttle XPC computers in
the luxury suites and clubhouse!
When Shuttle
was named the "Official PC of Dodger Stadium," who'd
they turn to for high-quality, dependable memory to power all
200 aluminum XPC machines being installed in the stadium? Crucial,
of course! Each system is loaded with 512MB of Crucial DDR memory
so that fans at the 81 regular-season home games can take a swing
at surfing the Web or checking e-mail while still enjoying the
game.
If you're
lucky enough to attend a game at Dodger Stadium, be sure to check
out the Crucial-boosted XPC machines. And if Shuttle computers
are more your game, why not get your memory from the same place
Shuttle turned to? Crucial offers a whopping 5,729 upgrade options
for about 195 Shuttle motherboards and systems."
Check
it out here
Also
in the news
NanoCoolers
confidential presentation
Author: W1zzard
"Most
of you may not have heard of NanoCoolers, yet. This company is
a relatively young Startup who has been working on improving cooling
technologies behind closed doors for quite some time. Now the
first details on their cool new products emerge: Liquid metal
will be used to transport heat from the source to a dissipator
using a completely noiseless pump system."
Read
the full article here
Also
in the news
InsaneTek Contest
- Win GeIL Ultra-X PC3200 BH5
"Yup
we just started up another contest for your pleasure. This time
you can win some great memory! This month's prize will be GeIL's
new Ultra-X PC3200 memory. This 1GB dual channel kit was recently
reviewed here and performed extremely well."
Get
the full details here
Also
in the news
Seagate Barracuda
7200.8 SATA NCQ Hard Drive
Author: Shane
Unrein
"When
it's time to shop for hard drives, one of the several names that
comes to mind right away is Seagate. And when it comes time to
recommending a disc drive, warranty is always one of the top concerns.
Seagate has the longest warranty around right now at five years.
Five years is much better than the one year warranty that the
industry started moving to a couple years ago. Seagate's move
to five years has resulted in other companies thinking twice about
their 1-year warranties."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
GeIL Ultra-X
PC3200 Winbond BH5 1GB Dual Channel Kit
Author: John
Chen
"Samsung
discontinued the TCCD chips in February. Many memory manufacturers
were forced to find alternatives for low latency operation. Luckily,
Winbond chips are being fabricated again under the same process
as the renowned BH5, allowing low latency operations of 2-2-2
at 200MHZ."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
D-Link GigaExpress
DGS-1008D
Author: Hubert
Wong
"The
D-Link GigaExpress DGS-1008D is about as close to plug-and-play
as networking equipment can get. Simply plug in the power, attach
a network cable from the PC to the switch (and another cable to
another PC or directly into your router) and you're set. It really
doesn't get much easier than this for home users as D-Link has
made the switch very easy to use. It's only a layer 2 switch though
(and marketed as such), so those looking for switches that can
do more such as encryption and application level switching will
need to look elsewhere."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
New Gigabyte
Bios Files With Athlon 64/Sempron Stepping E Support
Author: Chris
Tom
"Gigabyte
has released 5 new bios files that add support for the E stepping
of the new Athlon 64 Venice and Sempron Paris core. It is unknown
if they will also support dual core. Full
details and links to the bios files are here."
Also
in the news
Gigabyte X700
Video Card Review at motherboards.org
Author: Benjamin
Sun
"The
first thing I noticed upon opening the box of the card was the
cooling. Gigabyte installed a heat sink covering the VPU and a
small portion of the PCB instead of a cooling fan and heat sink
found on other cards. The card also has a heat pipe going from
the VPU to the rear heat sink covering the majority of the back
of the card."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS
Author: Stephen
Cooper
"As
far as the general layout and design of the NF4UK8AA-8EKRS goes,
I’d have to say that Foxconn has done a good job. They eliminated
any possible problems with loading and unloading RAM by placing
the x1 PCI-E connectors above the x16. The heatsink on the nForce4
chipset could provide some better cooling, but in the case of
elongated graphics cards this becomes impossible as the card will
end up overlapping the heatsink."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS
Author: Chris
Tom
"Foxconn
is a new name in the US market to motherboards, but they have
been around since 1974 when they first began manufacturing plastic
products. They make many items include CPU sockets. Last year
they picked up the WinFast motherboard name from Leadtek, and
began producing boards for the US market. Today we look at their
unique nForce 4 based NF4K8MC-ERS micro ATX board."
Read
the full review here
Also
in the news
Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS
Author: Chris
Tom
"Foxconn
is a new name in the US market to motherboards, but they have
been around since 1974 when they first began manufacturing plastic
products. They make many items include CPU sockets. Last year
they picked up the WinFast motherboard name from Leadtek, and
began producing boards for the US market. Today we look at their
unique nForce 4 based NF4K8MC-ERS micro ATX board."
Read
the full review here
