Powerful Graphics At An Attractive Price & More

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 22, 2005 - 12:22 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

The PowerColor Radeon X800GT that 3DVelocity reviewed has 256 MB of DDR3 memory, and a 256 bit wide memory pipeline.  It's a PCIe 16x card, that might be perfect for you if you are looking to make the jump to PCIe, without paying a lot just in the videocard.  Plus, it performs well enough that you may be able to keep it in your system longer than you might expect from a middle of the road card.

"It's important to remember that mainstream users aren't people who don't want powerful graphics cards, th

Low Latency Vs. High FSB & More

Subject: Memory | September 22, 2005 - 11:55 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

One of the biggest tricks to overclocking is to make sure your RAM is happy, while at the same time ensuring the tightest possible timings, and the highest FSB you can hit stably.  sgOverclockers took 2 RAM DIMM's, and compared the benefits of trading a looser timing for a higher FSB, and vice versa.

"Ever since the advent of the Samsung TCCD and recently TCC5 modules which have allowed consumers to hit astronomically high FSBs at moderate timings, the question has come back into

Gigabyte's Newest Mobo's & More

Subject: Motherboards | September 21, 2005 - 07:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

The Intel 945 chipset is taking it's time hitting the store, but Techniz got their hands on an offering from Gigabyte that uses it.  See how well it performs with a Prescott, DDR2 and SATA2.

"The GA-8I945P Pro was featuring the new Intel® 945P Express chipset with Hyper-Threading Technology delivers significant performance gains with variety of new generation architectures including the DDR2 main memory, PCI-Express interface, and Serial-ATA 2 interface for improving storage performa

PSU's Need Testing Too & More

Subject: Systems | September 21, 2005 - 04:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

Virtual Hideout has a PSU tester shoot-out.  Not only do they review power supplies, they review the testers you can pick up to save yourself embarrasment at the return/troubleshooting counter of your favorite PC Store.  Following that are reviews of 2 actual PSU's.

"The Main thing I looked for was a tester that gave me the most options, yet remained easy to read and use.

New Version Of Firefox & More

Subject: General Tech | September 21, 2005 - 04:10 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

CNet has a writeup on the newly released 1.0.7 version of Firefox, which you can download from here.

"Firefox 1.0.7 was issued late Tuesday, a representative said.

Fast Cards, Faster Drivers & More

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 21, 2005 - 12:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

The Asus Extreme N7800GT that NGOHQ reviews may not be the fastest card based on NVidia chips, but it is certainly powerful, and signifiantly cheaper than the GTX, and it can still be setup in SLI.

"This card overclocked better than I expected, I was able to reach the core speed of 485 MHz and 1200 MHz on the memory. The card was 100% stable at that speed and no artifacts occurred.

Keeping Cool In Fall

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 21, 2005 - 11:57 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

Start your overclocking, t'is the season to squeeze some extra heat out of your PC, and start thinking about what you want other people to buy you.  The Guru of 3D has his hands on a Thermaltake Tai Chi, another giant heatsink that has been hollowed out and sold as a PC case.  If you can afford it, this case will not dissapoint. 

"Thermaltake recently released a new PC case.

Hot Home Theatre Hardware & More

Subject: Systems | September 20, 2005 - 07:28 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

To be honest, the front panel of ThermalTake's Tenor reminds of the old storage trays for VHS tapes, but much more stylish.  Brushed aluminium and blue LEDs will make sure that this component stands out in your home theatre, in a good way. Read all about it at Tweaknews.

"Thermaltake has done a great job of designing a kit that brings the user everything needed for a system that cools well, and is oh-so-quiet. The BigWater kit brings the bling, as well.

A Chipset With Great Graphics Grafted On & More

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 20, 2005 - 06:56 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

Integrated video cards on Nforce4 are here.  

 The GeForce 6100 is a 425MHz chip and the 6150 a 475MHz chip with added features, like a TV encoder.  The Tech Report has the full story, head on over.

"Today NVIDIA is announcing a new K8 chipset family that brings GeForce 6 graphics to the nForce4

platform.

PC Case With A Spacious Interior & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 19, 2005 - 12:14 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

With the size of components shrinking, the size of the cooling seems apparatus to grow.  With the norm quickly becoming huge heatsinks, 120mm fans, oversized videocards, or a radiator and waterpump, the size of your case can become an issue.   Gamepyre reviews the Lian Li PC76, a huge case, 24.79'(D) x 10.43'(W) x 22'(H), that should fit just about anyhing you want in it.

"After our exhaustive tour-de-force, there's one thing we've got to say about this case — it's big, really big — you wo

45lb Radiator Or Heavy PC & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 16, 2005 - 12:01 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

Titan's Robela Water Case is a simple watercooling solution, that will net you some good temperatures.  As just about everything is built right into it, you get to worry less about jumping into watercooling to see what it is all about.  The folks over at hi-techreviews show you just what this case is made of.

"What do you get when you take a full-size tower case and turn one side-panel of it into a radiator with two 120mm fans mounted on it? You get the new Titan Robela Water Case.

Heatsink Size Does Matter & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 14, 2005 - 12:22 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

SystemCooling reviews the ThermalRight SI 120, a much more compatible version of the XP 120, with almost no performance difference.  If you want your A64 to run at under 40C, but couldn't fit the XP 120 into your PC, then this may be the cooler for you.

"The new Thermalright SI-120 heatsink is a redesigned XP-120 that offers greater motherboard compatibility while still accommodating a 120mm fan of your choice.

Gateway FX400XL System Review

Subject: Systems | September 14, 2005 - 11:24 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged:

What's this?  A Gateway review at HardOCP?  That's right, they are evaluating the new Gateway system that packs a dual core Pentium D and a 6800 Ultra. 

I carry much more disdain for the mouse. Not only is it uncomfortable and not very functional, but it's also actually difficult to operate. It sounds ridiculous, but the effort required to push down the buttons is beyond what should be asked of someone. Besides the monitor, the consumer interfaces with the mouse more than any other item on the computer.

R520 Information Hits Anandtech

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 14, 2005 - 11:19 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged:

If you would like to get all the juciest information on the R520 before it gets released later next month, you can head over to Anandtech's "pre-NDA Extravaganza" and read up on a lot of it.  The meat of it is that we will only see a 16 pipe version of this core despite older rumors and that clock speeds on the XT (top model) are going to be at 600 MHz core and 700 MHz memory!  Oh and we will now have two more cards with 512 MB memory configurations stock from ATI by the looks of it.

At the top end is the Rad

Intel 975X Chipset to Support Both SLI and CrossFire

Subject: Chipsets | September 13, 2005 - 01:19 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged:

According to Digitimes Intel's upcoming 975X chipset will support both SLI and CrossFire dual graphics solutions, throwing yet another wrench into the world of multi-GPU systems.  Now perhaps an Intel platform for a gaming box looks a little better?

Intel's forthcoming high-end 975X chipset, which is expected to be launched in the first quarter of next year, will support both Nvidia's SLI and ATI Technologies' 'CrossFire' dual-graphics technology, according to sources at Taiwan motherboard makers.

Take the Time to Reflect

Subject: Editorial | September 12, 2005 - 06:11 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: blog

Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in history.  Chances are even if you didn't remember it on your own you were reminded by the shows on TV and the flags at half mast.  I ran into a suprisingly high amount of people over this weekend that seemed completely oblivious to what importance this date had for us. 

Though I don't want to get into a political rant here, but I can remember on the first anniversary of 9/11/01 how the country had changed in the course of one year.  In the months after 9/11 everyone was involved

iPod Nano Thrown From Car

Subject: General Tech | September 12, 2005 - 05:58 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged:

Well, all in the name of science at least...  The reviewers at ArsTechnica put the iPod Nano through an abundance of tests including a stress test that included being thrown from a car at 50 mph! 

Last Tuesday, Apple's solution came in the form of the iPod nano, a mini-mini-version of their current iPod color line. That's right, it's more miniature than the iPod mini, and the display is color!

New Low Cost Sun Opteron Servers

Subject: Systems | September 12, 2005 - 05:51 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged:

Sun has released a new series of Opteron servers today, going to a lower cost market with server setups starting under $1000.  The gang at Anandtech has a hands-on-preview of these new machines up today as well.

Another interesting position of Sun's new direction includes the prospect that end users will probably reconfigure the hardware (particularly the entry level components), as soon as they get them.