April 18th Tech Roundup

Motherboards & Processors
• Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-SH2 - Overclockers Club

Memory & Storage
• Corsair XMS2 DHX PC2-6400 4GB - Overclock3D
• Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red DDR2-800 4GB - OC Inside
• Super Talent Pico A 8 GB Flash Drive - Metku

Cooling
• Vizo Propeller II PCI Slot Fan - APH Networks

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W - Overclockers Club
• NZXT Tempest - ClubOC
• Thermaltake Xaser VI VG4000BWS - Big Bruin

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Canyon CNR-PC1 - InsideHW
• Gateway FX540XT - Computer Shopper
• Lamptron Aluminum Case Handles - techPowerUp!
• Lenovo ThinkPad X300 - HotHardware

Does Creative's EAX Reign Supreme?

For those who might have missed it, our resident audiophile, Rory Buszka, has posted an article that compares Creative's native EAX to ASUS' clone, called DS3D GX 2.0. Essentially, this article stemmed from a complaint that Creative sent their press release list which stated that ASUS was wrong in claiming that their Xonar cards supported their EAX technology, and technically speaking, that was correct.

I won't get deep into the whys and hows here, since Rory took care of that in his article, but the goal was simple: Can ASUS' GX 2.0 compare to native EAX? Would a casual gamer notice the difference? The results are somewhat surprising, because even though ASUS' solution wasn't perfect, it came amazingly close to actual EAX, minus the buggy drivers and all that nonsense.

Many posters in our forums have mentioned that we should have performed more testing, including performance, however, we should reiterate our goals. This was not a "Creative vs. The World" article, but rather a look at how the competition's EAX "emulator" and general gaming audio stacked up against the reigning king. So check it out, especially if you are in the market for a new audio card.

While ASUS support of EAX 5.0 isn't true "EAX" - they haven't licensed anything from Creative - the DirectSound3D GX 2.0 extension set aims to free the positional 3D audio market from Creative's grip by performing the same functions in EAX 5.0-enabled games, without the Vista compatibility issues of hardware-acceleration, and the half-baked ALchemy solution.

Source: Creative EAX vs. ASUS DS3D GX 2.0

TrackMania Nations Forever Released (It's Free!)

When you hear the word "free", do your ears perk up? If so, then you'll love the fact that TrackMania Nations' "sequel" is just that... free! With it comes 65 brand-new tracks, full ability to customize and edit those tracks and also the ability to play online with owners of the full-blown $40 game.

So what does "Forever" lack that the full version doesn't? Forever is maimed in that it allows Stadium races only, so for everything else, you'll need to fork over the money. However, this is one game I've never heard a bad thing about, from anyone, so chances are that this free offering will sell you. It's a quality game from a quality company who actually cares about... quality. If only we had more of that in this industry.

Many sites are hosting the game, but I tend to have good luck with either Gamers Hell or FileFront. For you Steam users, you can download the game that way. If you happened to have already owned TM on Steam, it should now be converted to Forever and auto-update next time you log on.

The latest version of anything-goes arcade/puzzle racer Trackmania is out, and it’s free. Unfortunately the Trackmania Nations Forever website is currently taking more of a hammering than would, if I had a hammer, the morning, and the evening, all over this land. Having eventually had it working long enough to reach the download page, turns out it’s actually a forward to Filefront. The download is 504 of your Earth megabytes.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Does Seagate Own SSD-Related Patents?

The big SSD-related news of late comes courtesy of Seagate, the world's largest hard-drive manufacturer, but it's not all good. We would hope that as the world's largest drive maker, then they themselves would be announcing their own SSD, but no. Apparently, all current SSD manufacturers are infringing on four Seagate-owned patents related to the technology.

News.com asks the question of whether or not Seagate actually owns the patents to what we know as an SSD, but at this point, it's difficult to know for sure since a single patent could have such a wide scope, and this is one product-type that would be difficult to sum up. With their recent lawsuit towards STEC, the answer might soon be seen.

Being a long-time fan of Seagate, I am hoping that they actually have a reason to sue. Even still, I find is strange that they seem to have no intention of releasing such drives themselves. Even if the CEO finds no use with them, where there is demand, sales will be seen. It's been well documented that while not perfect, SSDs do indeed have some incredible benefits.

So if the patent is so good why would Seagate go after STEC? To set an example. In the tech world, companies typically don't like to sign license and royalty agreements. Potential licensees often make the patent holder sue one or more companies first. If the potential licensees prevail, the conflict can fade away.

Source: C|Net News.com

April 17th Tech Roundup

Motherboards & Processors
• AMD Phenom 9850 Quad Core - Techware Labs
• ASUS P5E-VM - Neoseeker
• ASUS Striker II Extreme - ClubOC
• Overclocking Intel's Xeon X3320 - Tech Report

Displays & Video Cards
• ASUS EN9800 GTX 512MB - TweakTown
• ASUS EN9800 GTX 512MB - Virtual-Hideout
• ATI FireGL V8600 1GB Workstation - HotHardware
• XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB - Elite Bastards

Memory & Storage
• Thermaltake BlacX HDD Docking Station - APH Networks

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Altec Lansing PT 7031 - InsideHW
• Cyber Snipa Stinger - XS Reviews

Cooling
• Coolink Chipchilla Chipset Cooler - Hardware Canucks

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Antec Mini P180 - Bjorn3D
• In-Win B-2 Stealth Bomber Case - Hardware Logic
• Inter-Tech IT 9001 Silver Midi-Tower - TweakPC
• Lian Li V2010 Case - 3D Gameman

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Maingear Dash PC - Digital Trends