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Week Of April 20th, 2008
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Saturday April 26th,
2008
-dean
Weekend Edition
We have a new review up today covering
Inno3D's latest iChill product, the
9600 GT
Hurricane. This beast overclocked 29% over reference specs!
Need I say more?
Checking in with our sponsors we find
Sidewinder
Computers has what appears to be the
world's largest cooler in stock, the ThermalRight IFX-14.
Don't forget the
Enzotech MOS-C1 Forged Copper Mosfet Heatsinks for $10.
Case Cooler has
some simple and highly effective drive coolers in stock that won't crowd
your rig with the
Logisys Cooler as well as the
Vantec Cooler. They are also one of the few places where you
can find the
Tt V1
CPU Cooler in stock.
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Motherboard reviewage by the pros at
HardwareLogic.
With the super
cheap DDR2 memory currently on the market, you could spend a few dollars
more to get a kit that is rated closer to the 1200MHz level this board
advertises, and combined with a 1333MHz FSB processor, have a very
strong system, even against newer chipsets available. As DDR3 is still a
tough sell and DDR2 with its super low prices, this board should not be
overlooked.
ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP@n Motherboard action up today at
Overclocker's
Club.
As a full
featured motherboard, the P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP@n Edition is equipped
with the latest and greatest hardware and innovations. Supporting the
latest Intel 45nm CPUs, 8GB of DDR3 memory at speeds of up to 2000MHz
(overclocked, of course), dual 802.11n wireless LAN as well as dual
gigabit capability, the P5E3 Premium is just a fully loaded motherboard.
On a budget and still want the juice?
The
Virtual-Hideout says the
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Motherboard may be for you.
The Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Motherboard is an
aggressive, extreme, yet efficient platform. It's a shock to see
this board do so well and do it even better at more extreme
frequencies. It's more affordable than most P35 overclocking
motherboards and has plenty of the top end features a power user
could want. There is a large void out there for energy conscious
users who still want real power.
I remember when 'Go Green' meant ride
a Kawasaki. the
ASUS
P5K PRO Intel P35 Green Motherboard is the grill this weekend at
Big Bruin.
When people
think of energy efficiency they may have the misconception that it has
to equate to a lack of power and excitement. In terms of automobiles,
perhaps thinking that all hybrids are like a Prius. But what we have
with the P5K PRO is a sporty, high performance model that just happens
to have a smart design capable of saving energy.
Samsung SyncMaster T220 Widescreen 22 Inch LCD Monitor anyone?
64-bit
OS users listen up. TechPowerUp reviews the
Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red 800 MHz 4 GB Kit today.
Despite stock ratings at
800 MHz with CL4 timings at 2.2V this kit is capable of reaching 1120
MHz stable at CL5 and 2.2V. In addition, the Ballistix Tracer Reds were
completely stable at stock speed and timings with only 1.8V, making this
a great kit for those with limited voltage options.
HIS has always been a solid ATi board
partner.
Overclockers
Online shows off the value oriented
HIS Radeon HD3650 IceQ.
It is not a
top-of-the-line card but its performance should be satisfactory for all
but the most extreme of gamers. If you don't care for too much eye candy
or extremely high resolutions, this mid-range card should fit the bill
in terms of value. For its price, it is a great buy. Also, it supports
CrossFireX so you can upgrade later if desired.
When you run out of new ideas, just
tack on more memory.
Motherboards.org
has the skinny on the
eVGA GeForce 8800GT AKIMBO 1GB.
The EVGA 8800GT
1GB AKIMBO is an interesting card in many respects. The performance is
not up to the 9800GTX but it is close being that the two cards share the
same video chip just with 16 SPs disabled. The main selling point of
this card is the AKIMBO cooling solution as it kept the card noticeably
cooler during operation, about 15-20C cooler according to NVIDIA’s
temperature monitoring software.
The VGA DuOrb was already cool.
If you haven't seen the
Thermaltake DuOrb CPU Cooler, it's definitely worth a look.
The 3D Gameman
has one today.
The Thermaltake
DuOrb CPU Cooler is an all around winner. This is not surprising
considering the combination of two 80mm fans, many copper and aluminum
fins, 6 heatpipes and solid smooth copper base. What really makes this
cooler stand out is the unique design. Placing two quiet fans on top
really makes sense for CPU cooling, but it also allows cooling to other
computer components.
These all in one TEC (aka Peltier)
kits are hip and on some levels very effective.
Bjorn3D has the
CoolIT Freezone Elite on deck today.
The CoolIT
Freezone Elite offers performance on par with high end air coolers when
overclocked. This is a bit disappointing when you consider the effort
required to install this unit over a basic air cooler. At stock settings
though it is a different story and this unit defeats all contenders
easily though make sure you are wearing ear plugs if you crank it to the
max.
Letters from the HOA.
Vizo Propeller System Cooler at Overclocker's Club.
SilverStone Strider ST50F 500w PSU at Hardware Secrets.
GIGABYTE G-Power 2 Pro CPU Cooler at TweakTown.
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card at Hardware Canucks.
Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1 Headset at the OCIA.
Cyber Snipa Stringer Gaming Mouse at Pro-Clockers
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Friday April
25th 2008 - jeremy
The Makin' Up Edition
I was running a bit late yesterday so I
didn't quite get everything fit in there, so let's see if we can make some
of that up this morning.
Oh, also, TGIF!
Let's get it rollin this morning with
some sweet case reviews.
Pro-Clockers is
starting us off with the
Antec Mini P180 mATX Case.
We'll go ahead and follow that up with a
look at the
Cooler Master Cosmos S Case Review over at
Hardware Secrets.
Driver Heaven
shows us the
Cooler Master Centurion 590.
The Cooler master
Centurion 590 is by no means a bad case but it does have a feel and
appearance to match the modest price tag. The main chassis is spacious and
is well built but the front mesh is flimsy and easily damaged, in addition
to this, components are never held firmly by the tool free clips, such as
drives and add-in cards. Where the case does excel when compared to
similarly priced models is in the potential for cooling. Cooler Master
state that up to eight fans can be installed but we would suggest the
average user will be able to easily fit an additional four.
I've been in love with NZXT since I had
a chance to review the Zero.
I4U takes us on another
ride through a look at the
NZXT
Tempest PC Case.
The
Silverstone TJ09 has a pretty cool look to it.
Icrontic takes a look
at the specs and performance as well.
SilverStone's TJ09
is simply a great case. It is a very high quality, great looking unit that
is a joy to work with. Its side ventilation system, mid-level GPU and
oversized top exhaust are very unique features that really set it apart
from the rest of the crowd. For those who have been stuck working in
cramped cases, the TJ09 really opens your eyes to the benefits of extra
case real estate.
Last up on the case list for now is the
Ultra M988 Case over at
OC Mod Shop.
The
Elite Bastards
have got the
XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard on the chopping block.
Being a gamer, I love me some video
card. The 3d
Game Man checks out the
HIS HD3850 AGP Card. People still use AGP Cards?
Aph Networks keeps
us rolling on along this morning as they show off the
OCZ Reaper X HPC PC3-10666 Enhanced Bandwidth 2GB Kit.
Future Looks takes a few looks at the
Foxconn 9800 GTX 512N Extreme OC Video Card. That sounds like a
beast.
In the end, the
Foxconn 9800GTX-512N Extreme is a great video card. It
offers increased performance over the previous generation of nVidia
performance, and a minor increase over other standard 9800 GTX based
cards. The physical design is well thought out. Even the price tag is
right, given the right situation. The only downside is the spartan retail
package, but that’s nothing that hold back this card from an Editor’s
Choice award.
Tweak News calls
next with their
Intel QX9770 Quad Core Extreme 3.2GHz processor review.
Bjorn3d has a head to head for us this
morning. They pit the
OCZ
DDR3-1600 Platinum vs the Patriot DDR3-1866 Viper.
The OCZ 4GB
DDR3-12800 Platinum Kit has a slight upper hand in memory intensive tasks,
especially when using a 64 bit operating system such as Vista 64 than can
fully utilize the additional memory. If you're looking for sheer speed
then the Patriot 2GB DDR3-15000 Viper Kit takes a leading role when using
memory frequencies in excess 1684 MHz. Below the 1680 MHz mark where the
both products are tested in a mano-a-mano fashion in the synthetic
benchmarks the
OCZ
Platinum
Kit has a slight edge in all tests with the exception of the 2 Meg
calculations in SuperPi. In gaming there are generally only 1 or 2 FPS
separating the two products.
Asus gets some attention from
R&B Mods. Check
out the
ASUS TOP 9600 GT.
Inside HW keeps
things going as they check out the
Biostar TF8200 A2+ Motherboard.
Overclocker's
Club has a go at the
Gigabyte Radeon HD 2400 XT.
The HD 2400 XT
supports Windows Vista and the Aero interface, allowing you to have a
great computing experience. Gigabyte packs all of today's technology into
a nice little card that is inexpensive for anyones budget. The passive
cooling design makes it perfect for an HTPC or small office computer
running programs with ease. When compared to the HD3450, which is a newer
low profile, mid-range card, the HD 2400 XT held on strong and coming up
on top for some of the benchmarks. That is amazing for older technology,
which you hardly ever see.
Tech Power Up
has got the
Mushkin XP-800 AP 800W PSU.
Mushkin's new
XP-800 AP power supply is a well rounded high quality product that seems
to be positioned exactly the right way. It is not too big (1200W), which
would make it too expensive and its also not too weak (450W), which would
people make think "Oh I need more". In reality most gamers would be fine
with a high-quality 450W power supply. Since a lot of crappy PSU makers
overrate their PSUs it has become current practice to just assume about
double the power draw for your system to be on the safe side. On the other
hand a nice quote that I saw today from the great JonnyGuru says "We don't
all drive cars that can do 120 MPH so we can drive 120 MPH.". I do, I'm
German. Anyway... where was I?
Last up today,
Driver's Heaven
shows off the
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme & IFX-14 CPU Coolers.
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Thursday April
24th 2008 - jeremy
The Phenom X3 Edition
What a weird news day. There's a
ton of reviews of the AMD X3 Phenom Triple Core CPU, but not much else.
We'll knock out all the Phenom reviews this morning.
Let's go ahead and take a look at all
these Phenom reviews.
Tech Ware Labs
As you have seen
on the previous pages of benchmarks, the
AMD Phenom X3 8750 perform outstandingly. Compared to Intel's
Core
2
Duo
E6600
which is priced at $230, $45 more than the Phenom X3, the performance is
outstanding for its price. Being aimed for low cost computing, the phenom
X3 teamed up with AMD's new 780G chipset makes it possible to build a high
performance low cost machine.
icrontic
Hot Hardware
Viper Lair
As far as gaming
is concerned, we like the X3 8750. If pricing through the week levels out
closer to AMD's MSRP, it becomes very compelling. At this moment though,
I'd personally take the X4 9600 which will be a little more expensive, or
maybe even cheaper depending where you shop. From a strict dollar
standpoint, and let's just say that you're holding both boxes in your
hands, if the difference is $20, I would not hesitate to grab the Quad
core X4.
Overclocker's Club
Motherboards.org
Tweaktown
Phenom, while being a
good processor is in no way a replacement for the Core 2. If you’re still
after the highest performance you can
get, Core 2 is the choice for now. However, if you’re after a more
affordable option with an upgrade pathway for quite some time, Phenom is
what you’re after. If you’re an AMD Athlon 64 X2 user with an AM2 board, a
Phenom X3 will slot in with a BIOS update to recognize it; you won’t get
the benefits of HT3 but you will get a triple core or quad core processor
without having to change board, memory and graphics card.
Tech
Report
AMD Zone
Bit-Tech
Hexus
The Phenom X3 8750
makes things a little more interesting. It isn't a bad all-rounder, and
its one major drawback right now is its price. At present, it isn't priced
competitively enough against chips such as Intel's Core 2 Duo E8200. If
the Phenom X3 8750 was to see its price drop to sub-£110, the Phenom X3
series of chips would suddenly become a feasible alternative to Intel's
Core 2 Duo. Though, is that really the answer? Perhaps not.
X-Bit Labs
NeoSeeker
CHW
BJorn3d
In fact, the
triple-core Phenom is a nice idea and it is good to see that AMD sticks
with the AM2+ socket (at least for now) because it will offer customers
with older
Athlon64
X2 processor to upgrade to the triple-core version without a major system
upgrade. The K10 architecure scales quite well with multiple-cores,
consumes less power than the older Athlon 64 X2, and performs better.
However, it would be hard to recommend any one who may already have a
somewhat new Intel system with C2D (even the older 65nm version) to switch
to the triple core simply for the extra core at the moment.
We'll catch up with a bit more here shortly. |
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Wednesday April 23rd,
2008
-dean
First Edition
Starting the day out with a little
double your pleasure is always nice. Check out these
XFX GeForce 9800 GTX cards in SLI over at the
Hard|OCP.
What kind of
gameplay experience does GeForce 9800 GTX SLI provide? We evaluate two
retail XFX GeForce 9800 GTX video cards on an SLI platform and compare
those to GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 8800 GTX SLI, and AMD's Radeon HD
3870 X2 CrossFireX.
PC Stats has posted a practical guide on
installing RAID on a Desktop PC.
Life is good.
ASUS M3N-HT 780a SLi Motherboard action posted up today at
Overclocker's
Club.
Now you can run
that NVIDIA SLi rig with your Phenom X4 and kick some serious butt. The
ASUS M3N-HT has many upgradable options such as the ability to run
triple SLi if you have the cards available, or Dual SLi if you do not
want to spend that much on GPUs.
That's Captain Jack Sparrow to you
buddy!
Tagan Black Pearl Case anyone?
With massive
cooling potential and versatility, this chassis is made for extreme
enthusiasts looking to take their over-clocked computer equipment to the
very edge. Monster videocards? Water cooling? Multiple RAID array? 1Kw
power supply? This case fits it all and does it without compromise.
We've
seen a number of input products over the past few days online.
Tweaktown adds to
these with the
Logitech MX Air Cordless Mouse they have reviewed today.
There is one thing
that will hold the mouse back from flying off the shelves in my opinion,
and that is the price. Logitech has put this mouse in their luxury
range, and with a suitable luxury price tag; a tad too rich from most
people’s tastes, I can believe.
Luxury as
in 140 clams!
Priced
substantially less is the
Logitech G9 Mouse as reviewed by
TKArena.
Still another mouse review today with a gaming slant is the
Cyber Snipa Stinger Gaming Mouse over at the
OCIA.
The Cyber Snipa
Stinger is a laser mouse, which provides much more precise movement than
a standard LED optical mouse, and supports multiple dpi settings
including a default 400/800/1600/2000 with continually adjustable
sliders up to a max of 3200. With as high as 1000Hz (1ms) report rate,
the Stinger gives you over 7,000 frames per second with a tracking speed
of 45 inches per second. There are nine buttons with six of them being
programmable using the included macro editor.
Over this past weekend I had a chance
to play with some high end Bose headphones. It was then I began to
fully appreciate some of the quality audio speakers/phones on the
market.
Future Looks doesn't have any Bose units on deck but they do have
the
Saitek Cyborg 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset.
Saitek has
really outdone themselves with the Cyborg 5.1 headset. The sound quality
is absolutely tremendous and I was really impressed with how everything
sounded coming out of these headphones. They’re not nearly as big as
some other DJ-style cans, let alone those that provide 5.1 surround
sound, but the Cyborg has a performance level that sits pretty high in
my books.
CoolIT Eliminator CPU Cooler review on Technic3D. (Translated
from its original German.)
This just in from our friends at
TechARP on their
posting of a
Covering 343 desktop graphics cards, this
comprehensive comparison allows you to easily compare 18 different
specifications for each and every card. If you need to find out about
the specification of any card, just come over and check out our Desktop
Graphics Comparison Guide.
Give me the power Scotty!
Tuniq Ensemble 1200w PSU at
Think Computers.
This is one of the most stable power supplies
ThinkComputers has ever tested. It should be, too, given its $275+ price
tag. The efficiency of this power supply is also fantastic-gamers who
want top-notch power while trying to stay economically-minded should
seriously consider it.
Let's see what other PSUs are out for
review today. Take the
Nesteq EECS 700 Watt Ultra Quiet Power Supply that
Big Bruin has a go
with for one.
The bottom line is that the
"Enhanced Easy Connecting System" makes cable management quick and easy,
and Nesteq is justified in using the term "ultra quiet" to describe the
low noise operation of this power supply.
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Tuesday April 22nd,
2008
-dean
Morning Edition
O' Canada.
Hardware
Canucks looks at the high end with this review on the
BFG 9800GTX OCX Card. The OCX signifies a factory overclock.
To some of you a
10% increase over the stock 9800GTX will be something you will turn your
noses up at but you have to consider the overclock on this card is
completely covered by BGF’s Lifetime Warranty. So, for people who don’t
want to go into the trials (no matter how trivial they may be to
seasoned veterans) of overclocking this BFG card will offer the perfect
opportunity to get a smoother gaming experience without having to look
at the $600 9800 GX2.
Gigabyte EP35-DS4: DES in action today over at
Bjorn3D.
The GA-EP35-DS4
with DES is an interesting development in motherboards. Without
increasing price Gigabyte has re-released their entire mainstream and
enthusiast line of motherboards now equipped with the hardware to
support the Dynamic Energy Saver utility. Getting more (or rather less)
without paying more is certainly great, but is it worth it?
Posted for your Tuesday pleasure is a
MSI P7N SLI Platinum motherboard review at
NVNews. You
gotta love that cooling system on it.
As with the P6N motherboard, the P7N
Platinum features an elaborate copper heatsink/heatpipe chipset cooling
solution on a jet-black circuit board. The heatpipe arrangement runs
from the MOSFET's to the System Platform Processor (C55 SPP), the nForce
430i Media & Communications Processor (C51 MCP) and the nForce 200.
Here we have another review of the very hip
Thermaltake BlacX HDD Docking Station. This one is over at the
3D Gameman.
The Thermaltake
BlacX HDD Docking Station is by far the coolest HDD docking system
around. There are all kinds of HDD enclosures for 2.5" and 3.5" HDDs but
mounting the HDD into the enclosure with screws is needed. This means a
separate HDD enclosure for each HDD is required. This is not the case
with the Thermaltake BlacX HDD Docking Station because any SATA 2.5" or
3.5" HDD slides right in. No screwdriver is required so it's a tooless
operation…
Look to the
Hard|OCP,
Anandtech,
The Tech Report
and
Hot Hardware show off Western Digital's new
VelociRaptor VR150 HDD.
Looks like we have a number of cases
reviewed today across the hardware world. Let's line em' up.
SilverStone Kublai KL03 Case at Phoronix.
InWin B2 Stealth Bomber Case
at Think Computers.
Sunbeam Quarterback Case at Overclocker's Club.
Techgage asks
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 - The New Budget Superstar?
I'll admit that I
wasn't sure what to expect when I first received the
E7200, but I am left very impressed overall.
How could I not be? For what will retail for ~$150 USD,
the E7200 offers great performance, good overclocking
ability, cool temperatures and all of the other 45nm
benefits. Tell me, what's not to love?
Hexus looks at two 1000w power supplies today; one from Akasa and
one from Corsair. Check it.
In the unlikely event of
continually running the PSUs at 1kW - and, remember, our twin-card
GeForce 9800 GX2 rig 'only' pulls 574W under load - both supplies' fans
spin at acceptably low levels. You wouldn't hear them over and above the
system's noise, and running both with a 500W load makes them
near-silent, in our opinion.
Another high wattage PSU today is the
Corsair HX1000W PSU as reviewed by the
Hard|OCP.
Corsair has quickly become a
mainstay among enthusiast PSUs. Today it breaks new ground by joining
the 1 kilowatt club. Doing 1000w is easier said than done and doing it
well is tough. Is the HX1000W worth your consideration?
Stuff.
Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard at R&B Mods.
Noctua NH-U9B Cooler at BCC Hardware.
Noctua NH-U12P Cooler at Pro-Clockers.
OCZ Vendetta 2 Cooler at the OCIA.
OCZ Vendetta Cooler at Elite Bastards.
A-DATA PD17, PD18, and PD19 Mini USB Flash Drives at
Virtual-Hideout.
Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse at Future Looks.
Logitech MX5500 Revolution Keyboard at Overclocker's Online.
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Monday April
21st
2008 - jeremy
The Here We Go Again Edition
It seems like last week just ended, now
it's time to start yet another one. I need a vacation.
Let's see what we've got as far as news
goes. There sure doesn't look like too much going on.
XBit Labs starts us
up with a double take this morning. First up, they've got
Two GeForce 9500 GT in SLI.
Also, take a look at the
Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6.
This solution is
not very much different from Gigabyte Intel X38 based products that have
been available in the market for a while. The main improvements include
redesigned processor voltage regulator circuitry with DES technology and
better BIOS optimization. And while the new “economical” voltage regulator
may not be very the practical yet for computer enthusiasts, the BIOS of
the new GA-X48T-DQ6 is definitely a significant step forward and Gigabyte
engineers surely have to be given proper credit for that.
The crazy folks over at
Madshrimps have
also got a look at some 9600 GTs. Check out the
Leadtek 9600 GT SLI vs a 9800 GTX.
OCIA Keeps us moving
along as they look at the
Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN 2-Bay Dual eSATA External Enclosure.
Not to say that the MS2UTN+ is unattractive, in fact I think the
silver finish aluminum case and locking drive trays offer a very clean,
stylish appearance. If you check out some of the other MobileSTOR product
line you'll see that all of the models share pretty much the same styling.
They even use the same drive trays in all of them, although some of the
models do offer a black finish in addition to the silver version.
Benchmark Reviews
tries to show us the
Best Thermal Paste Application Methods.
Metku Mods takes a look at
the
Silverstonetek RFID Protected 2.5" SATA Enclosure.
All together the
Silverstone TS01B proved to work well as a 2,5" HDD enclosure and the
special feature works well. The better security doesn't show on the
performance of the HDD, so there's really no reason why not to use it.
Also using RFID keys instead of more traditional passwords is a nice
feature as atleast I'm struggling to remember even the passwords for
forums and email. Also the bundle that includes a nice protective leather
case and two USB-cables is very nice. The only downside of the enclosure
is the lack of eSATA connection, but this is a manufacturer's decission
and can't really be called a flaw.
R&B Mods has the
Supertalent 8GB USB Pico Flash Drive.
Burnout PC Has
some cool lookin little
Lamptron Laser LEDs.
TechARP Closes us up
today as they show off the
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 CPU Cooler.
The CoolerMaster Hyper212 works
quite well for a cooler in the US$/CAN 30 range. With a single fan, it was
able to deliver the performance level equivalent to that of the Scythe
Katana 2. For improved performance, you can add an additional fan to lower
the peak CPU temperature by 4-5 °C.
If you are concerned about the noise
level, we are glad to say that the noise level was more than acceptable
even with two fans running. That's possibly because the fans have
relatively slow spindle speeds of just 2000 RPM.
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