Week of July 20, 2008

"EVGA is no stranger to video card enthusiasts, in fact they are celebrating their ninth anniversary this month. They have been leaders in innovation and customer service, with excellent features such as a lifetime warranty, 90-day optional step-up and 24/7 tech support. Today I have for review the EVGA GTX 260 video card, one of the latest in graphic card designs."

CLICK HERE FOR EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 260 SHOPPING & PRICING

"GeForce GTX 260 is the most affordable solution from the most high-end GPU family from nVidia, GeForce GTX 200, especially now that nVidia is promoting a massive price cut. XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX is an overclocked version of GeForce GTX 260. How does it compare to the standard GTX 260 and to its main competitors? Is it worthwhile paying a little bit more and getting this version instead of the standard GTX 260? Read on."

"In our meetings with heatsink manufacturers at Computex 2008 in Taiwan Frostytech received more than a few behind closed doors product previews. Today Frostytech tests the Nexus' HOC-9000 heatsink, a medium height lower noise cooler for Intel socket 775 and AMD socket 754/939/940/AM2+ processors. The HOC-9000 stands 128mm tall and features one low speed 120mm PWM fan held in place with flexible rubber posts. The cooler weighs upwards of 550grams, uses four 8mm diameter copper heatpipes and comes with a couple stickers you can plaster to the side."

The release of the HD4xxx series cards in the upcoming weeks means that ATI will have released their next generation card series. The 4850 is being released at a price point of $199, but nothing has been said about the mainstream version of that card that corresponds to the HD3650 being reviewed here. HD3650 fits into the $70-100 price range making it a mainstream choice for the consumer. The HIS card is an excellent example of the HD3650 as it has a high clock speed, good over-clock-ability, and the very high performance IceQ cooling system to keep the graphics chip cool even under load. The next few weeks should be interesting as new cards like the HD4850 and GTX260 reach the market, perhaps driving the prices of the higher performing cards like the HD3870 and 8800GT into this market. We’ll see how it turns out.

CLICK HERE FOR HIS Radeon HD3650 SHOPPING & PRICING

“So, do you NEED this heatsink? Should you rush out, and snap up the first one available? As much as I'm thinking Thermalright would love us to say yes to that, the answer is really no. For standard cooling needs, a regular old Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme will do the job just fine, and if you throw in, what, a $3 set of fan clips, an $8 tube of thermal grease, and a $12 fan, you're still running a surplus. Is that the point? Hardly. What this product is, is one of the best looking heatsinks that you can get a hold of, not to mention one of the best performing. When people see it through your case's window, not only will it say "I chose Thermalright", but it will also say "I spent a little extra, to get the best". It's a little something like I imagine the Voodoo 5 6000 was back in its time. You spend a little more, you get a little more, but hey, you'll enjoy it a lot more.”

CLICK HERE FOR Thermalright TRUE Black 120 CPU Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

As its "TOP" branding implies, the EN9800GTX TOP is overclocked from the factory. It's overclocked to 755 MHz for the core (reference speed is 675 MHz), 1175 MHz for the memory (reference speed is 1100 MHz), and 1840 MHz for the shader clock (reference speed is 1688 MHz). One interesting note is that this card is actually faster than the upcoming GeForce 9800 GTX+, but the EN9800GTX TOP is of course not a 55nm part like the 9800 GTX+.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS EN9800GTX TOP Graphics Card SHOPPING & PRICING

Alienware have always produced some of the sleekist sexiest laptops known to geekdom and with their latest M15x this tradition is set to continue. There is no doubt in my mind by looking at the sensual curves of the Alienware that they have crafted something rather special.

All things considered, I was impressed with the Kingston DataTraveler BlackBox. It performed admirably well even though it has to deal with on-the-fly 256-bit AES encryption. Also, the security process is relatively transparent in that all you have to do is put in your password and subsequently, the drive acts just like a normal USB flash drive. The build quality is excellent unlike some older DataTravelers I've owned; I soaked the drive in a cup of water for several minutes and it still worked.

CLICK HERE FOR Kingston DataTraveler BlackBox 2GB SHOPPING & PRICING

If you haven't guessed by now this unit is an 800 watt model. This much power should be enough to power a decent multi-GPU rig. The PP800 has the greatest amount of power output in Performance Power as the other models are 500 and 600 watts. Like most power supplies today the PP800 boast four 12 volt rails totaling up to 78 amps. A lot of power, a lot of ampere and an SLI certification is enough to warrant a good run on the old test bench.

"When it came to overclocking the Intel Core 2 Q9450 on the ASUS P5QL-E I ran into a few problems getting it stable anywhere above 2940MHz (420x7). Leaving all of the voltage settings on auto, I was able to get the FSB frequency all the way up to 400MHz with a multiplier of 7x. However, I did end up jumping to 1.355V on the CPU voltage to get it stable at 420MHz x 7 Multi giving me the speed of 2940MHz. If I tried to raise the FSB frequency any higher than 420MHz, no matter if the FSB termination voltage was raised to 1.36-1.40 volts or the CPU PLL to 1.4 volts, I would keep getting either a BSOD or just unstable results within 15 minutes of stress testing. I was very dissapointed seeing that I was only able to get 420MHz out of the board. I was aiming more towards 480 to 500MHz on the FSB Frequency."

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS P5QL-E SHOPPING & PRICING

Does the idea of having Blu-ray capabilities on the go excite you? How about the idea of having 1,000GB worth of storage at the tip of your fingers? Or having a 1920x1200 resolution to keep the best possible work-flow? The ASUS M70Sa has those and a lot more, in a beefy 17" package.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS M70Sa 17" Multimedia Notebook SHOPPING & PRICING

“It seems like ages have passed since we tested internal HDD, so we decided to introduce you one hard disk. Full name of this model, WD Caviar SE16 6400AAKS-00A7B0 reveals to eagle-eye so many things. This HDD has 16MB cache memory and 640GB capacity. Connection with motherboard is accomplished through SATA2 standard…”

CLICK HERE FOR WD Caviar Blue SE16 SHOPPING & PRICING

The GTX260 from XFX is an interesting beast in that it is highly overclocked from the standard reference GTX260 that many companies are selling. In some cases the card comes close in performance to the GTX280 in CPU limited situations like COD4 but offering high performance in every other situation. The XFX GTX260 XXX Edition comes with Call of Duty 4, making it an excellent buy for those wanting good performance as it outperforms the HD4870 card from ATI nearly across the board.

"AMD/ATI has released two new high-end graphics chips recently, Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon HD 4850, known by the codenames RV770 XT and RV770 PRO, respectively. As you can guess by the numbers, HD 4870 provides a higher performance compared to HD 4850 and currently is the fastest GPU provided by AMD/ATI - until Radeon HD 4870 X2, a video card featuring two HD 4870, is launched. In this review we will benchmark HD 4870 from Sapphire and compare it to its main competitors from nVidia. Is this video card a good buy? Check it out."

CLICK HERE FOR Sapphire HD 4870 Video Card SHOPPING & PRICING

Compared to the reference core clock speed of 625MHz, Sapphire's Radeon HD 4850 TOXIC boasts a 50MHz factory overclock, leaving us with a final core clock speed of 675MHz for this board. Memory clocks see a more impressive increase in speed however, with a factory clock of 1100MHz used here, some way above the 993MHz reference memory clock.

It is no secret that the last Razer keyboard we looked at, the Tarantula, was a complete disappointment. In terms of features it was excellent but actually using the keyboard was a far from fulfilling experience, I found it uncomfortable over long term use. Additionally the rearrangement of button order such as that used for Print Screen, Scroll Lock, etc was completely unnecessary.

CLICK HERE FOR Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard SHOPPING & PRICING

In the ongoing search and need for storage Jack takes a look at the PQI Cool Drive which weighs in at 8GB. The Cool Drive comes pre-loaded with webaroo and claims to be ReadyBoost capable. Jack tests the drives performance and gives you his conclusions on the overall experience with this drive.

CLICK HERE FOR PQI Cool Drive U350H SHOPPING & PRICING

" Tom has had quite a bit of experience and use from the original iPhone and of course he got the iPhone 3g, so he's taking a comparative look at both versions of the iPhone; "Besides the speed upgrade in using 3G, the iPhone 3G also has true built in GPS. Do these two features warrant upgrading from your original iPhone?" "

CLICK HERE FOR iPhone SHOPPING & PRICING

The Otterbox Defender Series case for the iPod nano offers some of the best protection out there. The Defender Series not only looks sleek, but keeps the grime and scratches of everyday wear and tear off of your iPod nano. There is the added bonus of protection during drops, saving you an embarrassing trip to the Apple store.
This special version, the Strength case, is pink in color and was exclusively designed for the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade. Ten percent of the purchase price is donated to the crusade, with a focus on the helping the medically underserved.

CLICK HERE FOR Otterbox Defender Case for iPod Nano SHOPPING & PRICING

We found an alternative to the 'Tote Around' syndrome in the Tagan Icy Box IB-285StU-B 2 1/2 inch Sata Drive enclosure. It's all-inclusive, wallet-type design is a breath of fresh air in the world of portable storage; and it manages to store large amounts of data and does it while providing a stylishness that you seldom see in carry along storage solutions.

There doesn't seem to be too much special with this particular silicon. For the same price there are too many other processor choices that offer better performance in every other area - an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 is virtually the same price (and probably less following the recent price cuts) and offers oodles more performance, and many of our readers can testify to building a very quiet PCs based on this CPU.

We all know OCZ as the company that never stops. It seems like every day I am receiving some kind of press release from them. Just recently there was a P.R. notice to introduce a new line of ram kits under the Fata1ty branding. Yet another line to add to their vast array of memory. That is good news for some as you can continue that black and red theme you have going on. Our test subject today is from a more familiar line know by OCZ fans, which is the Reaper series. The Reapers are known by its trademark black heat spreaders and copper heat pipes. Today we will take the Reaper PC3 12800 for a ride on our test bench and see what kind of potential they have.

CLICK HERE FOR OCZ Reaper HPC PC3 12800 SHOPPING & PRICING

"Rosewill has long had a reputation of providing a quality product for an affordable price. With that theme in mind, these guys have come up with a line of power supplies aimed at the enthusiast market. They still look at providing an affordable power solution, but this time around they have added features to keep those with extreme power needs happy.

The Xtreme series of power supplies weigh in at models from 630 watts to 850 watts. Today we will take a look at the little guy in the lineup, the 630 watt model to see what it can do with a reasonably intense system. Stability will be key so we will look not only the level of power but also at whether or not it can maintain this level with little to no fluctuations."

Asus recently contacted us with an interesting 3D graphics product that was intended to be nothing more than a proof of concept. The product was affectionately named Trinity and though it didn't necessarily conjure up visions of leather-clad vigilante-dominatrix-hotties for us, it certainly did have an intriguing design and board build. The Asus Trinity prototype is built on a trio of AMD ATI Radeon HD 3850 GPUs in CrossFireX mode for tri-GPU performance in a single slot.

"This card was the best overclockable card I have tested out of the three HD 4870 cards I have reviewed. The limits allowable in the Catalyst Control Center are 790MHz on the core and 1100MHz on the memory. I was almost able to max them out with the Sapphire HD 4870 reaching 785MHz on the GPU and 1095MHz on the memory, for an effective speed of 4380MHz. That is a very fast memory speed. Anything higher and the screen would artifact or I would get a BSOD, so the overclocked tests will be run at 785/1095MHz."

CLICK HERE FOR Sapphire HD 4870 SHOPPING & PRICING

"My digital media was scattered among various drives, computers, and discs. I wanted seamless central control over all of it, so I decided to use my Sony PlayStation 3 as a media hub, with my 40-inch Samsung HDTV as a monitor. Now I can view or listen to all my photos, videos, and music via my TV screen, no matter where they are. Here's a guide to building a digital media command center in your living room."

CLICK HERE FOR Playstation 3 SHOPPING & PRICING

"BigWater 780e (CL-W0169) is a liquid cooling solution from Thermaltake that goes into three 5 ¼" bays from your case and is compatible with nVidia's ESA technology, which allows you to monitor the system if you have an ESA-compatible PC. The main building block comes with the water tank, water pump, radiator and a 120-mm fan already assembled. All you need to do is to install the copper CPU block that comes with the product on top of your CPU, install (and cut) the hoses and pour the coolant liquid inside the water tank. Let's take a look on this cooling solution from Thermaltake."

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake BigWater 780e SHOPPING & PRICING

"The real win is having a $300 card: NVIDIA made a lot of money with the 9800 GTX before the 4850 forced them to sell it for $200. Now that bracket belongs to ATI, who, for the first time in years, is dictating hardware costs, not following prices set by NVIDIA. We'll have to wait for board partners to add innovation. So yes, the card isn't perfect, but like they say, it's lonely at the top."

CLICK HERE FOR Palit HD 4870 512MB Video Card SHOPPING & PRICING

"The Scythe Zipang is top-down heatsink with a huge ~140mm fan on top. A series of 6 copper heat pipes make this heatsink capable of cooling down an Intel Quad Core CPU as the lowest noise levels. We put it to the test and compare its performance to 45 other popular CPU coolers."

"In this review Frostytech is evaluating the Coolermaster GeminII S - a low height, lower noise, down-exhaust heatsink for Intel socket 775 and AMD socket 754/939/940/AM2+ processors. Coolermaster's GeminII S heatsink stands just 88mm tall and ships with a 120mm fan mounted to its frame. An extra set of brackets allow that fan to be replaced with two 92mm or 80mm fans; say if you want airflow blowing directly down onto adjacent memory slots. The GeminII S heatsink weighs 560grams, features five 6mm dia. copper heatpipes and cooling fins that descend to the CPU base."

CLICK HERE FOR Coolermaster GeminII S Heatsink SHOPPING & PRICING

"... With excellent image quality, a high resolution and a great price, the SyncMaster 245B is a great choice for anyone who wants a large monitor for their PC. "

Not long ago, I looked into a new line of units from BFG Tech, the LS series. Today, I'll have a look at the 550W model and see how it performs compared to the 680W. Efficiency is given as greater than 80% typical, and though they don't mention it, this model is 80 Plus certified. You will recall that big brother didn't quite manage to pull that off, and I'll be interested to see what happens on the load tester with this unit. Come in and join me, won't you?

CLICK HERE FOR BFG LS550 550W Power Supply SHOPPING & PRICING

Kingwin's EL-35EU-SBL Elite USB 2.0 and eSATA drive enclosure is a sharp looking product that could simply use some better software. If you want an eSATA drive enclosure and only need basic back up capabilities, already have back up software, or don't intend to use the back up capabilities, I could recommend this enclosure. If are looking for a back up system that offers configuration flexibility, this may not be a good choice for you.

CLICK HERE FOR Kingwin EL-35EU-SBL SHOPPING & PRICING

"Today, Vizo introduces a new product to their already burgeoning lineup: the SHE-260ST. This 2.5” external hard drive enclosure promises greater value, innovation, and most important of all, functionality than the rest of its competition. Having forged a solid reputation for producing quality computing accessories in the past, Vizo is intent on marketing this enclosure to both professionals and enthusiasts alike. Will the SHE-260ST make the grade? Can it withstand other highly successful and equally priced external enclosure solutions? Read on as we’ve done the hard work for you in order to find out!"

The Lian Li Tyr PC-X2000 is certainly an impressive piece of hardware, combining a gorgeous and unique design, an innovative layout, simply superlative noise levels and impressive cooling performance. However, there are a few minor blemishes on the face of this otherwise fantastic case, and sadly most of them are directed towards the case’s front fascia panel.

We don’t have the Khaos on the review table for you today but we do have another good looking case from NZXT, the Tempest. NZXT has this case labeled as the Airflow King. At first sight you can see this case may be able to live up to that slogan and if you can’t see the reason for this slogan then let me spell it out for you. This case can hold up to six 120mm cooling fans and the fans are placed in areas where they would blow over the motherboard, video card and hard drives.

CLICK HERE FOR NZXT Tempest Mid Tower SHOPPING & PRICING

"The picture quality too is as good as, if not better than, the video recorded from my media pc, though I think it maybe not quite as good as DVD quality but it WAS a rip from a DVD so it would have been compressed and therefore cannot be as good. I played it on all outputs, composite, svideo and component and they all worked fine with component giving the best results, as you would expect."

"The 9600 GSO has been out for a while now, but we haven’t really seen many of them around. The first one we saw was from Palit and carried with it a large 768MB of memory with quite a hefty overclock to boot. At the same time, it did have some issues in our test bed. While we loved the card, we probably didn’t really get to have as close a look as we normally would.

We all know that the 9600 GSO is nothing more than an 8800 GS with a new name, but how does the card sit in the current market? Is it something worth considering or should we just opt for the slightly more expensive 9600GT?"

As we will see later in the review, the NH-C12P is not a modified tower cooler or a hybrid anything, but rather has been designed from the ground up as down draft cooler and shouldn't suffer from many of the design flaws other heatsinks of this type are afflicted with. Now this is a lofty goal to say the least and while many have claimed to have done it, the end result is usually different than the marketing spin. However, if there is one company that we would trust to design from the ground up the perfect downdraft cooler it would Noctua.

CLICK HERE FOR Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

"Antec Three Hundred is an inexpensive mini-tower case for users demanding a small yet powerful case - according to the manufacturer there is enough room for you to install video cards from GeForce 8800 family in it -, featuring three 5 ¼" bays, six internal 3 ½" bays, one 120-mm rear fan, one top 140-mm fan (both with individual speed control), plus space for installing three extra 120-mm fans (two on the front and one at the side). Let's take an in-depth look on this latest release from Antec."

CLICK HERE FOR Antec Three Hundred Case SHOPPING & PRICING

“Most users are irritated with noise that their computer makes. Therefore, we can find on the market numerous “silent” solutions that will solve that particular problem. Yet, there is always “BUT”. With summer heats on the way it is just impossible to cool your processor with passive cooler. But, Cooler Master has a solution even to this problem…”

CLICK HERE FOR Cooler Master Hyper Z600 SHOPPING & PRICING

"iStar originally catered more towards IT professionals and the like, but in recent years, they have started creating products that the average consumer can use on a daily basis. Items such as ATX computer cases, hard drive coolers and external hard drive enclosures are all items now offered by iStar. Today we will be taking a look at one of iStar's new products, the T5F-SS, a mobile hard drive rack for use with any 3.5" SATA drive."

The board was stable throughout testing and performed about on average with other P45 boards we have seen. One cool feature of the board is the GreenPower utility which can save energy when enabled. This is similar in concept to the EPU on ASUS motherboards and the Dynamic Energy Saver on the Gigabyte motherboards. Performance on the board is similar to the ASUS P5Q Deluxe board also on the P45 chipset and that is a good thing. One thing I wish MSI would do was get rid of the OC jumper, but it does give headroom for high overclocking when it works correctly. This board has many features that will appeal to a variety of users and should be satisfactory as the beginning of your Intel P4 system. Not quite an Editor’s Choice motherboard, but a Hot Product indeed.

CLICK HERE FOR MSI P45 Platinum Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

"Like many of Xigmatek' coolers, the Achilles S1284 heatsink has an aluminum base with four wide copper heat pipes inset. Heat is conducted directly from the core of the K8 AMD or LGA775 Intel processor to the 8mm diameter heatpipes, the heatpipes then disperse that heat to a 115mm tall tower of aluminum fins above. "

CLICK HERE FOR Xigmatek Achilles S1284 Heatsink SHOPPING & PRICING

OCZ has released a revised version of their Vendetta CPU Cooler; this second generation features a larger 120mm fan and also Direct-Touch-Heatpipe design, maximizing performance at acceptable noise levels! Let's find out how it stacks up to the competition as we compare this new unit to 44 previously tested CPU Coolers.

CLICK HERE FOR OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

Matt takes a look at a unique device from CRU Data Port which gives you raid functionality in a single 3.5 inch space. Want to pack more punch into a smaller size? The CRU Data Port 25 may be the ticket. We filled the device with twin 5400 rpm Seagate drives and were stunned by the performance. Just how did the CRU Data Port Perform?

It's hard to find an easy solution to your data backup needs. Most are complicated, require one set of software and another storage method that wasn't really designed to go together. Flash Drives are good for smaller things and portability but what do you do if you need gigabyte after gigabyte of data, pictures, music or video stored at the end of the day but would like to get home some time this week?

The Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS full tower chassis will not frustrate, and will not disappoint. There are plenty of tool-less features included to simplify the installation process, and the only components that required a screwdriver were the motherboard and power supply. The design of the case is slick and attractive, but doesn't go over the top. The simple external styling is complemented by a spacious, well laid out interior that will show through the large side panel window when fully assembled.

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS SHOPPING & PRICING

"Today for review I've got the PP800 from NZXT, or the Performance Power 800Watt Power Supply, and it's a great choice for those looking to add a bit more juice to their systems. Some 800Watt power supplies are larger than standard, but the PP800 is the standard size and will fit in any case. The included two fans are virtually silent even under load and the PSU itself is very stable. "

EVGA offers a truly excellent overclocker with an unrivaled warranty and support, and in some ways it does offer things outside of the standard "feature-rich motherboards" that compete everywhere else. Not everyone needs six SATA, or cares about hippy power saving hoo-har. But given the lack of performance we can't get to "GRRRR brute force no BS mobo!!" because it's actually rather flaccid until you beat it with a stick.

CLICK HERE FOR EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

"Overclocking each processor is different. With five identical processors you will get five different results. With this Q9300, 456x7.5 was the point at which it was prime95 stable. It would run benchmarks at up to 470x7.5 but was nowhere near stable. Above 456 FSB, the amount of voltage to keep the chip running was significantly more than what other 45nm processors I have tested have taken at similar FSB and raw clock speeds. At 1.55 volts there was no point trying to even push further. The good news is that the CPU would do almost 450 FSB on the stock 1.215 volts. I left the volts at 1.34v during my testing just as a safeguard but have since lowered this to 1.31v at 456 FSB. Pretty low volts for the clock speeds I was able to pull from the little brother of the QX9770. Having a motherboard that will allow high front side bus speeds with a quad core processor is essential with the Q9300 CPU. Raw clock speed is limited because of the low 7.5 clock multiplier. In order to reach 3.6GHz you would need to hit 480FSB, something not all quad core CPUs will do, some, but not all."

CLICK HERE FOR Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 SHOPPING & PRICING

The OCZ Core Series delivers the performance and reliability of the latest SSDs at a price per gigabyte other high speed offerings can't begin to approach. OCZ Core Series Solid State Drives enable enhanced productivity in everyday computing and intensive multi-tasking applications. Perfect for notebooks, the Core Series is ideal for energy-efficient mobile computing to extend battery life, increase access time, and provide a durable alternative to conventional hard disc drives with superior shock resistance. High capacities and low power consuming NAND flash technology provide the necessary performance and battery life boosts generated by the proliferation of mobile gaming and new ultra-thin laptops. With fast access and seek times combined with excellent reliability, Benchmark Reviews tests to see if the OCZ Core Series SSD is going to be the answer for consumers demanding the latest storage technology.

CLICK HERE FOR OCZ Core Series SATA-II SSD OCZSSD2-1C64G SHOPPING & PRICING

And if you are to base your conclusion on first impression then a Super Talent flash drive that just may be what you are looking for. The new Pico Gold we received is the smallest of all the flash drives that we have tested including the very small PD18 from Adata. And the Pico Gold has another visual feature that may appeal to your bling side. This unit is gold plated. Yeah that's right gold plated. Ultra small and physically appealing are some pretty good traits to have but there is one more to boast about. Into the gold plated casing is 8GB of storage space. Now that we have your attention lets proceed on with the rest of the article.

Picking out a video card should be a little more exciting than finding the cheapest one on the, er, "shelf" and going about your build. Unfortunately for now, the available 4870s are all stock. Performance and profiles being identical, you gotta check out boring stuff like warranties. VisionTek goes farther than other ATI partners with a limited lifetime warranty, but they really like the limited section.

I continue my journey through the offerings of Seventeam Electronics once more this week with my look at one of the first 1000W units on the market, the ST-1000E-AD. Silverstone fans will recognize this unit better as the basis of the original OP1000. Let's see how kind Father Time has been to this platform.

The performance was where we'd expect a DDR3-1600 kit to fall. My PC feels snappier and more responsible. I don't have the pesky lagging issues because Photoshop has chewed up more memory than my old 2GB system could provide. If you're building a new machine and DDR3 is the way you're heading, I would consider picking up the Aeneon XTune DDR3 1600 4GB package. It may cost more but with Windows XP on the way out and Vista being the primary Microsoft OS, you'll want the extra bit of memory.

Todays product must be one of the oddest things we have reviewed ever- and I've seen alot! We are going to take a look at Speedlinks VOIP mouse, this little mouse is the size of a laptop mouse and it opens up to be a corded Skype Phone. You can either receive calls or just make a call yourself. The small display shows you who is online and it allows you to call straight from the phone, to me those features don't sound to bad but how well does it actually works is the question I ask myself.

"...The Gigabyte GA-EP45 DS5 has all the innovative features found on their high-end motherboards with the added bonus of the onboard TPM security feature. "

Things have really changed in the last couple of months, now when you go to the forums and see which cards are being talked about the most it is ATI/AMD. A major reason for this change is all in part to the arrival of the HD4850 and 4870 cards. So come on along as we put the 4870 through it's paces.

CLICK HERE FOR Sapphire HD4870 SHOPPING & PRICING

"Exercise-oriented video games aren't new, but Wii Fit is certainly the most technically advanced one yet. Fun games like snowboarding, Hula Hoop, and tightrope keep it from being tedious. The ingenious Balance Board tracks your center of gravity, and although we're skeptical about its fitness evaluation criteria, a few weeks of use has noticeably improved our balance. We wish you could save your own workout routines, and we advise against taking it too seriously as a fitness tool, but overall we're impressed with Wii Fit, and the Balance Board has lots of potential as a controller."

CLICK HERE FOR Nintendo Wii Fit SHOPPING & PRICING

“Though setup was definitely not as painless as the last product, the performance, compatibility, and acceptable thermal performance of this unit makes it a winner in my book. While it’s not something I would claim essential – an item which could make your computing experience infinitely better, I am saying that this unit is a good one to keep in mind. Especially, if it’s on sale, and let’s face it – the inclusion of Avast! Anti-Virus Home edition is a nice touch, and should you ever drop this drive while it’s containing mission critical data, the coupon for $200 off recovery from Disk Doctors will more than make up for the cost of the unit. In short, this product easily wins EagleTech another Approved award.”

OCZ Technology has laid claim to being the first company to bring a "brain-computer" interface to the retail market and they have aimed it squarely at the gamer. The device is called the NIA, which is an acronym that stands for Neural Impulse Actuator, and instead of buttons, sticks, gyroscopes or motion sensors, it reads the body's natural biosignals and translates them into commands that can be used to control PC games.

"AA was broken in the Radeon HD 2900. We can confidently say that AMD has fixed their AA performance woes in the Radeon HD 4800 series. Do not let the stigma of lacking AA performance concerning previous Radeon series sway your decision with the Radeon HD 4800 cards. The HD 4800 series is a new animal and the 4850 and 4870 cards are beasts and a great value."

"Kingston has managed to not only survive in the cut throat world of DRAM production, but to become one of the best memory technologies out there. When we first saw Kingston in our labs those many years ago, back when DDR was king, Kingston memory really didn’t impress us. Their yields were low, overclocking was practically non-existent and we had quite a few compatibility issues with some of their modules on a few boards.

Come 2006, HyperX memory really made a name for itself. With DDR2 modules overclocking to the 1200MHz level (or 600MHz clock cycles), this really got out blood pumping. And even today Kingston is used in a few TweakTown test beds; that’s just how well they have pulled themselves out of the dirt."

CLICK HERE FOR Kingston HyperX PC3-14400 2GB Memory Kit SHOPPING & PRICING

" Logitech is a company that should be well known to the readers of ASE Labs. The companies specializes in computer peripherals which include their line of mice and keyboards all the way to webcams. The focus of the review is the newest webcam from Logitech, the Quickcam Vision Pro which is billed to be Mac ready with ease. In reality, it works on every operating system. "

CLICK HERE FOR Logitech Quickcam Vision Pro SHOPPING & PRICING

Watch first hand the dedication which our TechwareLabs staff has to bring you real testing of products. When we received the BreathKey Digital Breath Alcohol Tester we knew the only way to truly test this product was to get drunk. Without hesitation three of our staff volunteered to test this product. See the results in our daring video footage of the testing in progress.

Leadtek was nice enough to send us a Winfast GTX-260 to take for a test drive. Having heard the cries of our readers we decided to take a different tack at this test drive and do a direct comparison between the Leadtek GTX-260 and an XFX 8800 GT Alpha Dog. Going more in depth with a head to head comparison between an old favorite and the new kid on the block.

"When we last looked ATI's HD 3650 architecture in Asus trim, we found the home theater-centric videocard wanting when it came to gaming. And while not geared towards the hardcore gamer, we expected a little more oomph than what we got. This time around we're getting down and dirty with HIS's HD 3650 with twice the amount of RAM than the last version we looked at. Will it be enough?"

Coolmax was kind enough to send over one of their more powerful power supplies. The CUQ1350 is the big dog from Coolmax and guaranteed to power the most extreme systems. The CUQ1350 is a small cry from the CUG950 we reviewed a few weeks ago. The CUQ series is not totally modular like the CUG but still modular. And a stunning brushed aluminum enclosure encloses all the power the unit has to offer. This is just some of what the new CUG1350 has to offer. What else does the CUG has to offer?

Digital video and digital photography have become inextricably entangled in the lives of people in the 21st century. Cameras are being inserted into everyday life wherever you turn. The webcam has become the least expensive option in participating on video sites like YouTube or engaging in video chat. Enter the Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000, the latest entry into Microsoft's LifeCam series. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will give the scoop on how this camera performs.

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"Toshiba's latest business notebook, the M300, won't blow your hair back with whiz-bang features and record-shattering performance, but it's a very solid package that covers all the basics one needs in a laptop that's somewhere between an ultra-portable and a desktop replacement. This 14.1" notebook is tastefully appointed in a Titanium Silver finish, weighs just 5.2lbs, and has one of the best keyboards we've ever sampled in a notebook. Though its trialware issues and long boot time are easily remedied, its lack of security features -either biometric or facial recognition - are disappointing on a laptop aimed at business users. Overall it's still a surprisingly well-polished machine that is extremely affordable and easy to live with."

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"This Moneual Lab MonCaso 972 HTPC case is definitely a must have for anyone willing to pay a premium price for the premium features of this HTPC enclosure. This case combines sleek looks with an amazing 7" LCD touch screen panel on the front of the case, that definitely sets this case above any other HTPC case I've ever owned. The LCD screen was bright, very colorful, and could support up to a 1024 x 768 resolution! I was impressed by the Windows Vista capable remote control, because it's basically a universal remote for your HTPC setup. The fact that this case can fit a standard ATX motherboard is really good, because it allows the user more options when they're deciding on which motherboard to purchase. The aluminum build of this case is solid, but it feels a bit heavy - especially with hardware in it. Speaking of hardware, installing everything into the case wasn't very easy, because it isn't tool-less. The biggest problem I have with this case is the lack of space between the end of your optical drive and the standard ATX motherboard. There was about a whole inch of space for me to fit my SATA power dongle into my DVD burner. I ended up having the dongle plug into the drive and push on the motherboard, so I wasn't very pleased with that."

“Since the number of motherboards based on AMD 780G chipset gets bigger and bigger, we decided to compare them forthright and to identify possible differences. Popularity of this chipset is shown in accessibility of motherboard based on it, superb integrated graphics and few more useful options. This kind of systems are great for multimedia computers because 780G will provide for this type of machines enough performances and of course, like any ATi, good display of colors…”

Cases are a dime a dozen these days in a crowded market where it seems like every company imaginable is vying for your attention and hard-earned dollars. Hiper has waded into this market face first and is banking on their design prowess to draw the customers towards the Osiris instead of competitors' solutions. Like the Anubis before it, the Osiris is a mid-tower case with Hiper not willing to test the waters of the full-tower enclosure market just yet.

Its a known fact that the general public loves their music. Anyone can see the success of car audio, satellite radio, MP3 players, CDs, records, and the like. Only recently has music become portable in a format that works for everyone from athletes to outdoor enthusiasts. One group of people has been consistently left out though people who love water sports and recreation. You cant take an iPod and traditional headphones underwater, and God forbid you drop your iPod into Puget Sound while kayaking. Now there is an alternative for the rest of us.

The modular cables with varying lengths offer a variety of and plenty of connectors with reach for any system. The EZ-Grip connectors and aircraft style connection points add style not found elsewhere. Six independent 12 volt rails with two of the four PCI-E connectors being 6+2 types ensure that this power supply will meet current and future power needs.

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"The Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DFNV memory kit was found to be a solid performing memory kit that was a joy to work with and overclock as it did nearly everything I wanted it to do. This was my first time trying out the Samsung ICs and I'm very impressed by what they can do when it comes to both frequency and timings. They do seem to like a ton of voltage, which might scare some off, but for others it won't be a big deal..."

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Today we’ll be looking at a three cards; from BFG its GeForce GTX 280 OCX, from Asus its GeForce GTX 280 Top and from Zotac its GeForce GTX 260 Amp!. All the cards involved utilise reference Nvidia reference coolers, but come with their core, shader, and memory clock speeds significantly increased over and above the reference versions. We’ll be running them through the same field of real world gameplay tests, and trying to ascertain if paying for a pre-overclocked card is really worth the extra cash involved.

“Gigabyte has truly stepped up to become a serious contender for the top manufacturer of quality motherboards. Gigabyte has aggressively pursued ways to produce the best choice in quality and enthusiast motherboards. They've brought us features like Dynamic Energy Saver, complete solid state computing, and some of the most consistent extreme overclocking to date. These kinds of features have culminated in to two recent Best Choice Awards at Computex 2008 for the GA-EP45-DQ6 and GA-EP45-DS5 Motherboards. All of that and more have been combined once again to bring us the Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Motherboard. There's plenty of features and bonuses to be had.”

CLICK HERE FOR GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

“We get used to test fast RAM memories from Kingston Company. Hyper X brand was, until now, associated with fastest RAM modules. Still, Kingston decided to utilize this very recognisable brand on other Kingston products. So, thanks to that we were introduced to Kingston DataTravel HyperX USB flash memory. Of course, right from the start, we figured that we got one very fast device (brand name can tell you a lot), but we couldn’t know, how fast…”

CLICK HERE FOR Kingston DataTraveler HyperX SHOPPING & PRICING

Introduced by NTI (NewTech Infosystems) the Media Maker 8 package has just about everything you need to capture, edit, burn and enjoy music, photos and videos. We enjoyed using the companys CD & DVD Maker which has been one of the most reliable, versatile disc burning packages weve found so getting the more robust suite seemed like a sure thing.

"Today on the desk we have Cyber Snipa’s latest in hardcore gaming accessories; the Tracer backlit mouse mat, Stinger Laser gaming mouse and the Gamepad v2. This lethal setup will fit right at home for most gamers looking to have some dedicated hardware to bring home the headshots. Now let’s look at the specs for each item.

Looking at the setup overall; I think Cyber Snipa are on to something good here. The dwarf keyboard is great for hardcore gamers and the mouse is a serious contender for anyone who needs a laser mouse. Coupled with a mouse mat that keeps the mouse gliding smooth, there’s no way you can loose, unless of course you’re like me and suck at games..."