Saturday, March 22 2008 |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:56 PM (EDT) |
CPU3D is proud to present a full and comprehensive coverage of the Multiplay i33 LAN event, with a more than 1,500+ players attending. It is one of UK's largest LAN event and this time it's being held at Newbury Race Course. |
Samsung SyncMaster 2243BW 22" Wide Screen LCD @ HotHardware.com |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:56 PM (EDT) |
While the Samsung 2243BW may be aimed at business use, its specifications suggest that it should be capable of quite a bit more than just spreadsheets and word documents. With good viewing angles, a decent 5ms response time, good brightness and an excellent 1000:1 static contrast ratio, the 2243BW should be well equipped to handle any multimedia thrown its way. |
Aerocool I-Curve Mid-Tower PC Case Review @ DragonSteelMods.com |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:55 PM (EDT) |
"Today for review I've got the Aerocool I-Curve Mid-Tower PC case, it's a very sleek and sophisticated chassis that should appeal to everyone. It's available in black or silver and features a touch sensitive panel instead of buttons to power on your case, reset your system or turn it off. The I-Curve is a steel based chassis with an elegant aluminum, sand-blasted finish, bezel that should meet the needs of the average consumer out there for looks and functionality." |
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850 W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:55 PM (EDT) |
"Real Power Pro is the high-end power supply series from Cooler Master, featuring models from 550 W to 1,250 W. We reviewed the 850 W model (a.k.a. RS-850-EMBA), which features a big 135-mm fan, dual-transformer design and six +12V rails, being targeted to high-end systems featuring three or four video cards. According to Cooler Master this unit was labeled at 50º C and can deliver up to 1,000 W during peaks. Let's see whether this is true or not and also let's take a trip inside this unit." |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:55 PM (EDT) |
"ATSC is the new standard that will take over where NTSC finished. This standard will officially bring us into the digital revolution. With digital as we all should know by now, picture quality is quite amazing if you consider how far television has come. Once blurry, low quality images on our televisions are now crisp, vibrant, defined and high definition. |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:54 PM (EDT) |
"The Cyborg 5.1 headset is constructed very well. The unit itself does not feel flimsy at all and I think that's partly due to the fact that the sliders are made of metal instead of plastic. You'll find soft padding on top of the headset and felt-like padding on the ear cuffs. The cuffs can turn 90 degrees inwards and they can slightly turn outwards. If you look closely, you can see each speaker inside of the headset. The microphone jack is located on the left ear and isn't very noticeable." |
Soyo Topaz S 24-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor Review @ ThinkComputers.org |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:54 PM (EDT) |
“LCD monitors are pretty much common in all homes, it is not often you see someone with a CRT monitor anymore. With LCD's being very common the standard seems to be 19 and 20-inch displays. If you want something larger you can go with 22-inch display, but you are still getting the same resolution so the next step up is a 24-inch display. Soyo who we don't know for making LCD's just sent us their newly released Topaz S 24-inch Widescreen LCD monitor. Let's check it out!” |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:54 PM (EDT) |
Upgrading your rig can be such a pain can't it? Trying to figure out where technology is headed so you don't waste your money on obsolete garbage. With the speed at which progress takes place it is no wonder that many people find themselves searching for answers. Take for example the new DDR3 standard. Right now DDR2 is so inexpensive you can get 4GB for under $100 USD and that is just an awesome price. But DDR2 days are numbered and DDR3 is so expensive right now it just doesn't make much sense. What is an enthusiast to do? Thankfully Foxconn has a solution. They have taken Intel's X38 high-end chipset and installed it on a board capable of supporting DDR2 or DDR3. Now you don't need to worry about which standard to choose. Better yet when the time comes to migrate over to DDR3 you won't have to throw away your motherboard. But are things as rosy as they appear? We have seen these hybrid motherboards before and what they bring in compatibility they usually lack in raw horsepower. Come with me as I take the X38A from Foxconn out for a spin and see if this board can deliver where it counts or does it end up dead on the side of the road. |
Thermaltake BlacX Hard Drive Docking System Review @ Bigbruin.com |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:53 PM (EDT) |
The Thermaltake BlacX Hard Drive Docking System seemed like a great idea to me prior to getting my hands on one, and I am no less impressed after the review. While not a mobile solution, it is much more convenient than a traditional hard drive enclosure for those with multiple drives to be accessed from one location. |
Posted by Nathan @ 2:53 PM (EDT) |
In the past we have reviewed several cooling products from the Austrian company Noctua; we have tested their CPU coolers, chipset coolers and fans before and have been very impressed with the performance.Noctua have released an updated version of the very successful NH-U12 CPU cooler the NH-U12P. |
Friday, March 21 2008 |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:50 PM (EDT) |
"Since the merger of Sunbeamtech and Tuniq, we have seen many of their products share cross-company styling cues and design features. Sometimes it is difficult to say exactly which company is responsible for what. Take for example the patented Core Fan idea we first saw implemented on our Sunbeamtech Quarterback case review. Now we find that same technology applied to the third case design to come from the folks over at Tuniq, named simply "3"." |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:50 PM (EDT) |
"With so many different types of PC related products available, it's not surprising that many manufacturers go a little unnoticed in certain circles. That's why being a reviewer is interesting, as we get the latest and greatest from the big boys, and we also get to check out products from companies we've never heard of before. EvoG fall into this category for me, and they've been kind enough to send over their new MP1 mouse mat. It's a cloth based pad with a plastic surface that should provide speedy gameplay; hopefully without a cost to accuracy. Let's find out." |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:49 PM (EDT) |
We're writing to let you all know that we have just posted a new article at HotHardware.com in which we evaluate the features and performance of MSI's P35 Platinum Combo motherboard. As its name implies, this board is based on the P35 chipset for the Intel platform. But what makes it interesting is its somewhat unique ability to work with both DDR3 and DDR2 memory types and its funky "Circu-Pipe" cooling apparatus. |
Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones Review @ Hardware Secrets |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:49 PM (EDT) |
"Wiring is the bane of modern technology. Each new shining piece of equipment brings forth cables and wires that clutter rooms, tables, homes and offices. The 100% wireless future is still a utopia but at least you can try to get rid of a common wire: the headphone cable. There are several wireless headphones on the market and Logitech has just released one that's not only good for iPod owners but also for any sound system with a stereo minijack. The FreePulse Wireless Headphones use a small 33 ft. range Bluetooth transmitter that makes you say goodbye to one of the many cables that plague modern life. Plus, it also delivers quality sound and a comfortable listening experience." |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:48 PM (EDT) |
EVGA's e-GeForce 9600 GT SSC comes at increased clocks compared to the NVIDIA reference design. Also the cooler has been adjusted slightly to match the company's color theme and design. With a price premium of just $10 over the reference card it can can deliver in both performance per Dollar and performance per Watt. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:48 PM (EDT) |
Adding to our recent coverage of HTPC and Media Center PC's is another look at a HTPC focused chassis. The b-Envi from Bgears is a rather interesting case full of features and includes some extras we don't normally see that make this case both an eye pleaser and much more functional. |
S3G News: S3 Graphics Launches Chrome 430 GT in the U.S. Market |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:48 PM (EDT) |
Fremont, California, March 20, 2008 - S3 Graphics, a leading provider of graphics and visualization technologies, today announced the S3 Graphics Chrome 430 GT desktop cards, now available at online retail affiliate GStore (https://s3gstore.s3graphics.com/). |
EVGA NVIDIA 790i SLI Ultra / 9800GX2 1GB Review @ Motherboards.org |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:47 PM (EDT) |
The new 790i motherboard brings NVIDIA up to speed on many of the features that have left them a bit dragging behind Intel for the last two quarters and makes a strong comeback on the new 790i. DDR3 was one of the most lacking features in the 780i series and is addressed well in the 790i as it can handle up to 2000MHz EPP DDR3 memory without a hitch. This and PCIe 2.0 are the main new features to be seen here and they both bring a bit more performance to the table when combined with the right system parts that enable these features to shine.The new 9800GX2 is a great card for anyone who has a 24” or bigger monitor as the card really begins to rock in resolutions of 1920X1200 or larger. In these instances this card is the fastest single slot solution there is on the market currently and cannot be touched by ATI’s 3870X2 card. These are both hot products for the enthusisat and gaming crowd! |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:46 PM (EDT) |
External hard drive enclosures are a dime a dozen... kind of. VOX's solution delivers similar features as the others, such as USB 2.0 and FireWire connections, along with some backup software. In the end though, what should be a killer offering proved to be a very mediocre one. |
Mtron Pro 7000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD SATA7025 @ Benchmark Reviews |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:46 PM (EDT) |
Mtron offers the Pro 7000 SSD as a high performance storage device designed to solve the bottleneck of computing system by traditional hard disk drives. The Pro 7000 SSD can be a drop-in replacement to hard disk drives without any additional software installation. Customers may benefit instantly from the SSD's high random access performance and solve the legacy problem of access time bottlenecks traditional to hard disk drives. Benchmark Reviews tests the performance of the Mtron SATA7025 Solid State Drive to see if it's worth the high purchase price. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:46 PM (EDT) |
"I wanted to see how far I could get the memory to go, so I started playing with numbers. The highest overclock I could get was 1167MHz, but to get there I had to loosen the timings all the way to 5-8-8-22. At these timings, the scores were lower than the stock speeds so they were not usable as an overclock. The sweet spot that I found for the best performance was at 1120MHz with the stock timings of 5-5-5-18. This gave a slight improvement and was thoroughly stable. These are the scores I am going to use for overclocked benchmarking later in this review." |
Unconventional Review of Apple MacBook Air Notebook @ Xbitlabs |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:45 PM (EDT) |
Are you looking for thin and light notebook? Check out MacBook Air. And don’t be afraid of the Mac OS X, you can easily get rid of it if you like, which we are going to do within our today’s review. |
Thursday, March 20 2008 |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:07 PM (EDT) |
"Overclocking the old fashioned way was actually very easy, despite the E6750's 333MHz FSB. With little effort, we were able to reach 490Mhz on air, which is the exact same result we hit on the MSI P35 earlier this year. Default voltage wasn't enough for this though and we were required to increase the voltages to the max allowable for CPU and chipset." |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:00 PM (EDT) |
"Today I will be looking at the Apollo Aposonic Radeon HD 3850 512MB. It is a mid-range DX10 card, Crossfire ready, sitting in the notch between the geForce 8600GTS and the 8800GT. Will the HD 3850 make me turn my back on nVidia? Read on and see." |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:00 PM (EDT) |
The HIS Radeon HD 3870 IceQ3 uses the proven HIS IceQ3 cooling solution. It also comes with higher clocks out of the box which are among the highest we have seen so far from all manufacturers. The recent price drops from AMD make this card a solid choice for the sub-$200 segment. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:58 PM (EDT) |
As computers get more powerful, so will the demands for bigger and more powerful power supplies. Thanks to Specialtech, our CPU3D review team will be taking a look at the Xigmatek 1000W Modular PSU. Yes, 1000W of power should be more than enough for any high-end user or enthusiast. We put it throught some extreme tests on our HydroBox III system. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:57 PM (EDT) |
"The idea for this roundup actually spawned by the smile on my face from the mere $80 I paid for a Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 kit a few months ago. I decided to start looking to manufacturers to find affordable PC2-8500 kits. Kingston, Corsair and OCZ provided us with a few kits to put to the test. Ten gigabytes in total will be put through their paces in the Icrontic lab." |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:57 PM (EDT) |
" Even though my previous reviews on Kingston Technology products were about their flash division, Kingston still is very much an enthusiast RAM company. Their HyperX series now comes in DDR3 at very high speeds. While DDR3 is still very new, Kingston offers a kit that runs at a scathing PC3-14400 which is 1800MHz DDR. The KHX14400D3K2 is on the bench for review. " |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:56 PM (EDT) |
"As a follow up to the Heatsink Roundup on C2D, I've got another batch of tests using a Core2Quad Q6600 CPU, I've got twelve coolers in all being tested. I've eliminated a couple coolers I used for the C2D roundup though as they were not adequate to cool the C2D so they would not be able to handle the C2Q, but I've added Liquid Cooling and the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme to the testing charts. The same as before, you'll find testing involving the fans connected to the CPU header, connected to a Molex and of course coolers that are able to use no fan at all. " |
Glacialtech Altair 380 Media Center PC Chassis @ TechwareLabs |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:56 PM (EDT) |
Today we have a quick look at a relatively new player in the chassis market, Glacialtech. On the review bench we have the Altair 380 a Media Center/HTPC focused chassis that is tall on features and extras. Matt explains why the Altair 380 is an ideal choice to fit into your living room and wraps up the review with a few suggestions. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:55 PM (EDT) |
One of the biggest debates you will find on the Internet is the one over which is better out of Plasma Tvs and LCD Tvs. There are people that will argue for both cases in the plasma verus lcd war and in the end it may be down to personal choice. We take a look at some points, when selecting Plasma or LCD. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:54 PM (EDT) |
Need a stylish case with plenty of power included, but want to maintain a low noise level? Perhaps the Antec Sonata Plus 550 is the case for you. We will take a closer look at the Antec Sonata Plus 550 and see just what Antec has to offer in this stylish case. |
Sunbeamtech UFO Acrylic Cube Case (ACUF-T) Review @ HardwareLogic |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:54 PM (EDT) |
"With a history of well received items, Sunbeamtech has had their share of success with many well known items, the most popular being the Tuniq coolers and cases. Will their eye for detail continue on with their latest case offering? HardwareLogic looks into (and through) this alien attempt at a completely clear case..." |
OCZ Technology PC2-8000 Platinum Edition 4GB DDR2 Kit Review @ Bigbruin.com |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:53 PM (EDT) |
Rated at 5-5-5-18, the OCZ Technology PC2-8000 Platinum Edition 4GB DDR2 kit is quite impressive in terms of timings, speed, and capacity. Running at 1000MHz it was able to outperform competition in the form of DDR2 from Patriot and DDR3 from OCZ Technology. While overclocked to 1080MHz it was even able to outperform the DDR3 kit running at 1333MHz. |
TweakGuides Tweaking Companion for Vista (Version 2.0) @ Tweakguides |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:52 PM (EDT) |
The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion for Windows Vista has been significantly revised to Version 2.0, and includes all the changes from SP1. The most comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date guide to all things Vista, this free downloadable PDF contains over 250 pages of plain English descriptions of all of Vista's functionality, as well as every major performance and customization tweak. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:52 PM (EDT) |
Noctua has been known for serving up one of the best coolers on the market. I am sure most of us have heard of the NH-U12P. It was one of the top coolers on every website’s list. And coupled with their newest fan the NF-P12 there aren’t too many coolers that can come close. Now take this cooler and fan and throw in the NT-H1 and you have everything you need to cool that new processor. So do we have another compound that is capable of taking down the old king? |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:51 PM (EDT) |
"The Logitech Z Cinema Surround Sound speaker system is one of greatness. Not only do they look great, but they are also able to live up the their looks by providing clean bass hits and crisp high notes. They sounded great in all the different aspects of computer sound; they are able to suck you right into a movie and bring you right in the thick of battle in games. All music sounds great on these speakers, whether it be country music with the subtle guitar strokes and clean vocals or some rap music with the deep bass hits." |
DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G Intel LGA775 Motherboard Review @ ThinkComputers.org |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:50 PM (EDT) |
“Back when Socket A, and later Socket 939, were the preferred platforms for enthusiasts, one motherboard company emerged as the king of overclocking, DFI. DFI's LanParty boards had it all: colorful UV reactive components, excellent BIOS conducive to overclocking, rock-solid stability, and excellent reliability. Today we will be looking at the DFI LanParty UT IFCX3200-T2R/G. It is an LGA775 motherboard powered by the ATI RD600 chipset, and featuring ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 IE. This board has been around for some time but is still available, and at an excellent price, I might add. So rather than spend time comparing it to newer boards with newer chipsets that cost up to triple the price, I am going to attempt to review it on its own merits, and look at it more as an economy board rather than the upper-end board it was a year ago.” |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:50 PM (EDT) |
"I’ve never before found myself in the position where I’ve been this rushed off my feet to get an article online. This afternoon I was e-mailed the Quad SLI Vista Driver! - At the same time, a second 9800 GX2 rocked up in my hot little hands. It was clear what I needed to do. |
Wednesday, March 19 2008 |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:40 AM (EDT) |
"With a street price at under $200, the Logitech G51 speaker system is an incredible bargain." |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:39 AM (EDT) |
With the digital edition of the TripleHead2Go, hooking up three LCD's via DVI and VGA is possible. This allows you to drastically increase your desktop space and/or improve your gaming. Best of all, you don't need to add a second GPU, and not even an additional power outlet is required! |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:39 AM (EDT) |
"As its name implies, EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard is based on the latest high-end chipset from nVidia for the Intel platform. What is new on nForce 790i compared to its predecessor, 780i, is the support for DDR3 memories and PCI Express 2.0 support generated by the chipset itself - nForce 780i was in fact an nForce 680i with an additional nForce 200 bridge chip making the conversion between PCI Express 1.0 and PCI Express 2.0. Both chipsets support 3-way SLI mode, which allows three GeForce 8800 GTX's or three GeForce 8800 Ultras to be connected together, and Quad SLI, allowing two GeForce 9800 GX2's to be connected together and enjoining four GPU's, as each GX2 is powered by two GPUs. Two of its three PCI Express x16 slots are PCI Express 2.0 and this motherboard has also two Firewire ports, optical SPDIF output and more." |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:38 AM (EDT) |
The Antec P180 enclosure can not very well be called a brand new design, but what it can be referred to is "A case worthy of re-examining." That is exactly what we did, we examined this enclosure from top to bottom and I think you will agree after reading our review that this case has a lot of mileage left in it. |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:38 AM (EDT) |
"For all the things Razer are known for, one thing that's always present in their products is style. While they've had some big hits, and some unfortunate misses over the past couple of years, it's always there. Unsurprisingly then, their latest release, developed with THX, is not devoid of flare either. The Razer Mako is it's name, and though it might be an impressive looking setup, how does it sound? Well, I'm about to find out." |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:37 AM (EDT) |
"Kingston Technology produces all kinds of memory including RAM for a computer to flash memory. Kingston is pushing harder and harder into the consumer flash market. Kingston sent over their high speed SD flash memory for review and the SD2/2GB-U is really fast." |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:37 AM (EDT) |
"For most folks, the name Rosewill means peripherals. Whether you are looking for enclosures, switches, keyboards, KVM devices or external enclosures, Rosewill likely has something that fits the bill. They are also generally known for offering a product for a reasonable price, something that isn’t always a common practice in today’s marketplace. |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:36 AM (EDT) |
Joe has taken a look at the new Toast R-2 case from GMC for you and has his reactions as well as the unique pattented feature of this case. He explains why this case will fit into your love it or hate it category. |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:36 AM (EDT) |
Many of us want a really good looking case that can properly house our components and keep cool and running well. A lot of time you don’t need to pay so much to get this. Aerocool believes this as well. And with the whole money saving concept upon most of us comes the iCurve Plus. A mid size case with a fascinating look and features the average joe would love. Get ready to take a look at the iCurve. |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:35 AM (EDT) |
To find out to what extent the changes implemented with Penryn translate into dual-core performance gains, we benchmarked an E8500 engineering sample. The E8500 is the E8000 series top model. In this capacity we compared it with an E6850, the previous top-of-the line product. However, the E8500 is running at 3160 MHz and the E6850 at 3000 MHz. This means that differences between them cannot be entirely attributed to the new features that come with the E8000 series, but at least partially to the 160 MHz higher core frequency. In order to “isolate” the impact of the various changes Intel has implemented with E8000 we run all tests with a multiplier of x9 as well. |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:34 AM (EDT) |
Here are just a few of the release sites that are breaking the news about this new videocard. |
Tuesday, March 18 2008 |
UltimateReview.org New Review - Fujitsu Lifebook N6460 Laptop |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:12 AM (EDT) |
Fujitsu's new flagship desktop replacement laptop spoils graphics professionals with a stunning work environment and tons of storage. That's one big thing it has in common with its predecessor, the Life Book N6420, but the newer N6460 is also a better entertainment unit. We take a look at all of its features. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:11 AM (EDT) |
Any true gamer is always seeking to gain the advantage over their opponent. Razer seeks to give you that edge in the form of their new Lachesis mouse which boasts an amazing 4000dpi sensitivity. Bullseye the target has been eliminated! |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:11 AM (EDT) |
"Our first experience with the Performance One dates back to the P160W, which now stands out as an aberration in a series that took a turn towards elegant aesthetics and quiet computing. The metamorphosis began with the original P180, a chassis we felt had potential, but ultimately described as a "time sink" in terms of installation. Then came the P182, which brought with it an effective cable management scheme, but left us hot under the collar with its ho-hum cooling potential. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:10 AM (EDT) |
Ever fancy building a HTPC or media centre PC? If so, then you'll need a motherboard that has plenty of features and connectivity. The Abit I-N73HD could be worth considering. It utilises Nvidia's nForce 630i/7100 chipset, which features integrated graphics and supports Intel socket-775 processors, as well as DDR2 ram. The board also has built-in HDMI and HD audio outputs. |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:08 AM (EDT) |
We hope you all had a good weekend. We're writing this morning to let you know that we've just posted a new article at HotHardware in which we evaluate the features and performance of Western Digital's Caviar RE2 750 GB hard drive. Western Digital’s RE2 lineup is targeted at workstations and servers, which need lots of disk capacity along with top-notch RAID performance and long-life reliability. At its core, the RE2 lineup is identical to the SE16 lineup for the performance desktop, but the RE2 has a slightly different feature set, along with more robust MBTF (mean-time between failure) ratings and warranties. We test the drive standalone and in a dual-drive RAID 0 configuration. |
LAbesace CLASSIC for 13” Macbook Laptop Bag Review @ DragonSteelMods.com |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:07 AM (EDT) |
"When traveling with your laptop, protecting it from harm is imperative. Most people use a laptop bag for this purpose. A good laptop bag needs to be comfortable, spacious and most importantly well padded. Design is another important aspect; the bag should be aesthetically pleasing, since it will be seen with you when you are out and about. Today we will look at the latest bag from the French company be.ez. They have sent us the LAbesace CLASSIC, which is designed to fit the MacBook and any 13" or smaller sized laptop. " |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:07 AM (EDT) |
"HDTV broadcast becomes more accessible in many cities AutumnWave is bringing to the notebook/laptop users an easy way to capture the high quality must watch sports or your favorite TV programs on-the-go." |
Digit-Life Review: MSI GeForce 8800 GT Silent 512MB, MSI RADEON HD 3650 512MB |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:06 AM (EDT) |
"MSI 8800 GT That we review today belongs to the most popular group of slightly overclocked 8800 GT cards. The RADEON HD 3650, in its turn, is basically a RADEON HD 2600 made using a finer process technology. Its clock rates are lower than, but close to those of 2600 XT." |
Cooler Master Stacker 830 SE & Real Power Pro 1000w @ HardOCP |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:06 AM (EDT) |
"At the current pricing, the Cooler Master Stacker 830SE & Real Power Pro 1000w combination looks to be a one stop shop for a high end case and power supply that is a solid value. Considering "low end" 1000w PSUs will cost you around $200, and the Cooler Master Real Power 1000w comes in at $299.99 alone, $45 or $50 "extra" for a Stacker 830 case certainly does not seem like a bad deal." |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:05 AM (EDT) |
"While not as high-performing a D-SLR camera, the s8100fd has a lot of good things going for it, including the price." |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:05 AM (EDT) |
“So, where does the 8800 GT fit in terms of market niche? I'd say it's still well tuned for users looking for the best bang for buck. I mean, it's still a really, really good buy. The regular 8800 GTS, GTX, and Ultras are still quite a bit more with the GTX and Ultra still costing the most. The ASUS 8800 GT TOP Edition may cost a little more than the stock frequency versions, but the card packs a bigger punch thanks to its factory overclocked settings and the card is very quiet. And the card is fully warranted.” |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:05 AM (EDT) |
"After playing with the MA790FX-DS5 for a while, I was thoroughly impressed with the stability and the ease of overclocking the board has to offer. The high quality components and the layout of the board are second to none. The 790FX chipset is coming into maturity and will only get better with time. AMD users will have an excellent upgrade path if they choose to ride out the current storm with the X2 and Phenom CPUs currently lagging behind Intel's offerings." |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:04 AM (EDT) |
“Cooler Master's Cosmos case made waves last year because of its incredibly silent design, awesome size, and excellent accoutrements. This year, Cooler Master altered the Cosmos design and released a new model: the Cosmos S. Whereas the Cosmos case was a silent beast, the Cosmos S is designed to keep things inside as cold as possible, sacrificing silence for performance. After salivating upon seeing this case in Cooler Master's booth at CES, we had to get our hands on it. ThinkComputers blasts off to explore the unknown regions of this expansive case.” |
Posted by Nathan @ 5:04 AM (EDT) |
Seagate blessed Bjorn3D this week with their newest and largest 2.5 inch hard drive, the Momentus 5400.4 RPM 250GB (3.0Gb/s). First impressions out of the box left me thinking it was going to be much slower than a 7200 RPM hard drive. Boy was I wrong. Way wrong. I noticed that the interface was faster than the 7200 RPM but I wasn't sure how the RPM differences and interface differences would scale out. The Momentus 250GB hard drive is faster and is as quiet as the hard drive in my Dell Latitude 820 (TravelStar 7200 RPM 80GB 1.5Gb/s). These facts, and the 5 year warranty Seagate provides, make this a great buy if you are looking for a new drive. |
Monday, March 17 2008 |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:29 PM (EDT) |
"Panasonic Toughbook R7 is not your typical notebook. In fact, there is only one place you can find it in the U.S." |
Overclocking Intel's Core 2 Duo E8400 Xeon Counterpart, the E3110 @ circuitREMIX |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:27 PM (EDT) |
I'm sure all of our readers have seen all seen the online reviews of Intel's new Core 2 Duo E8400 and E8500 dual-core processors. They're big news. These new processors codenamed Wolfdale benefit from a die shrink from 65nm to 45nm, and improved architecture which results in better clock for clock performance compared to the Conroes. As well, L2 cache has been increased from 4MB to 6MB, and the bus speed bumped from 1066MHz to 1333MHz (quad-pumped). Initial reports from around the web place the E8000 series Wolfdales as great overclockers. Looking at many review websites and user experiences from forums, the E8400's and E8500's are hitting upwards of 4GHz with air cooling without much voltage increase. Adding this performance with a retail value of around $230CDN (~$230US), the E8400 is a great value. The current problem with the E8000 series is availability. There aren't many stores, if any, which have the E8400 or E8500 in stock. These processors are high in demand, and so far supply from Intel hasn't been able to keep up. |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:26 PM (EDT) |
Come on along as we take a look at the Sapphire HD3850 both as a single card and as we try two cards in Crossfire configuration. Some of the results may surprise you as it did us while other may make you shake your head. |
Posted by Nathan @ 6:25 PM (EDT) |
"Anticipating these delays, Art. Lebedev was successfully able to release another product based on the same OLED technology, the Optimus Mini Three. The Mini Three is billed as the world's first keyboard with OLED screens... although I wouldn't quite call it a "keyboard". The phrase "auxiliary keyboard-informer" used on Art. Lebedev's website is a much better description of its actual function." |
Sunday, March 16 2008 |
Thermaltake Xaser-VI VG400BWS (LCS) Case Review @ XtremeComputing |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:25 PM (EDT) |
"The model that I shall be looking at today is the VG400LBWS, or more specifically the 'Xaser VI Super Tower Black with Transparent Side Window With Embedded Liquid Cooling'. Yeah, that's quite a mouthful; but Thermaltake have made 8 variations of this same model case, so they have to distinguish between them properly somehow!" |
How Much Power Can a Generic 500 W Power Supply Really Deliver? @ Hardware Secrets |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:25 PM (EDT) |
"We decided to take a generic 500 W power supply and test it using the same methodology we use for "branded" units. The idea behind this review is to be as much educational as possible and answer a few very important questions: how much power a generic power supply can really deliver? What are the differences between a generic power supply and a "branded" unit? Is there any danger for my equipment to use a generic power supply? Why generic units cost so little? Read on and see our findings." |
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU Cooler Review @ DragonSteelMods.com |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:24 PM (EDT) |
"The Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU cooler is very popular among enthusiast circles as the reigning champion of CPU coolers and most people will quickly recommend a TRUE to someone asking. So today I've got the TRUE for review, and I've put it to the test using both C2D and C2Q processors, is it all that? Well you'll have to read on to find out... " |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:24 PM (EDT) |
Sleek-Audio SA6 is the name of a brand new pair of earphones with customizable performance. The earphones feature both a treble and bass tuning system that allows the user to alter the audio performance according to their needs and preferences. This is not done via electronics as one might expect, but by physically replacing parts of the earphone. |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:24 PM (EDT) |
"There are enough keys on the gamepad to provide everything you need to frag your opponent. They enlarged the standard movement keys to help with the cramping you can get in your hand. This new version has changed the color of some of the keys to help you recognize your options." |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:23 PM (EDT) |
"The Cosmos S offers a very impressive feature list, enough to satisfy any enthusiast for gamer. What's more, the build quality is excellent, and it looks absoultely great." |
ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:22 PM (EDT) |
ASRock continues to produce products that will tempt the enthusiast and power user crowds to consider using them for their upgrade path. This time, ASRock takes a mature Intel P35 Express chipset and adds the latest features to it to make a feature rich motherboard. The ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ motherboard uses all solid state capacitors, supports 45nm 1600MHz quad-core processors and has integrated 802.11g WiFi. Read on to see what this board can do and to see just how low the price is. |
Posted by Nathan @ 8:22 PM (EDT) |
"We’ve all heard about the GX2, so there isn’t much to say here; there’s no package so we’ll get stuck straight into the card and talk about its specifications before we get into the benchmarking. |
