Content and news by Rob Williams

Fremont, CA (August 1, 2006) –Corsair® Memory, the worldwide leader in design and manufacture of high performance memory and cooling solutions, today announced the introduction of the Corsair HX Series power supply product line. The HX Series modular power supplies mark a new exciting first for Corsair. As the latest entrant into the power supply industry, Corsair’s best in class, high performance, ultra-efficient power supplies are expected to set new performance expectations for modular power supply solutions.

We knew it was going to happen! You can read the full press release here. You can read the first review over at Bjorn3D.

Cases & Enclosures
• Icy Dock MB122SKGF-1B and MB722SKGF-B Drive Enclosures – Big Bruin
• Icy Dock MB122 & MB452 Enclosures – Phoronix
• nMedia HTPC 300 Case – Think Computers
• Sansun Galaxy – Motherboards.org
• Thermaltake Muse LAN disk (NAS) – XtremeComputing
• Tuniq 2 Mid-Tower – 3D Gameman

Cooling
• Apack Zerotherm BTF80 and BTF90 CPU Coolers – Pro-Clockers
• Thermalright SI-128 CPU Cooler – DragonSteelMods

Memory & Storage
• Western Digital 6GB Passport Pocket Drive – XYZ Computing

Motherboards & Processors
• Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 – Legion Hardware

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620 Watt Power Supply – Bjorn3D
• Silverstone Zeus 850w ST85ZF Quad SLI PSU – Overclock3D
• Zboard Fang Gaming Board – XS Reviews

Displays & Video Cards
• ASUS EAX1900XTX – HotHardware
• Catalyst 6.7 Comparison – Technic3D

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• 5 Ways to Watch TV on the Computer – Big Bruin
• AlphaShield Pro Hardware Firewall Giveaway – 3D Gameman
• CoolerMaster & OCIA.net August Contest – OCIA
• Guide to Instant Messenger Clients – Digital Trends
• MBHW August Giveaway Sponsored by Spire – Motherboards.org
• Sony PSP – R&B Consoles
• Sony VAIO VGN-TX3XP – BIOS Magazine
• Vadim Fusion Cetus Overclocked Core 2 Duo System – Hexus

Linspire recently announced a free version of their popular distribution, appropriately called Freespire. Though early in testing, we take a hard look to see if this will be a distro you should be considering.

…users of XP Home can do an upgrade install to any of the four Vista versions. However, XP Pro users can only perform upgrade installs to Business or Ultimate. Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro x64 users can do no upgrade installs at all, and must perform clean installs (either on a fresh hard drive or an empty hard drive partition) for any Vista version.

If you are planning to upgrade to Vista, here is all you need to know. It’s interesting that XP Home offers four upgrade options, while XP Pro only offers two.

There has been a thread going at XtremeSystems for the past few days, regarding Futuremark still not allowing Conroe systems to have their scores uploaded. Originally, Futuremark stated that hardware in testing stages, or not readily available to consumers would not be qualified for submission. However, the NDA for C2D has been up for near two weeks, and they still have not opened the doors. I think the main irony here, is the fact that Futuremark does not allow submissions from ‘future’ hardware. Strange.

The key I had used to install Windows was a known pirated key, and required a modified version of winlogon.exe. This surprised me, naturally, since I don’t pirate software, especially Microsoft OS software that I have several legitimate copies of around the house.

We posted last week about WGA giving Paul a hard time, and it appears the copy he had actually was using an illegal key. Even though he purchased the copy online, it proved to be a pirated version. It goes to show… it’s incredibly easy to be fooled.

Kathryn Wright, WomenGamers’s consulting psychologist, earlier this decade found that 60 percent of male players who don female avatars, or on-screen personas, do it to gain an advantage in game play. An enthusiast with the online handle Jackpot649 nailed the zeitgeist in his response to the About.com query: ‘I’m a guy, but if I gotta look at an avatar all day, I’d sooner look at a female avatar. Plus, people give you more free stuff.

I don’t have a single doubt that this is completely true. To me, playing as the opposite sex is rather ‘sad’, but it almost makes sense if you want to have an immediate advantage in the game.

Over at Newsweek Steven Levy has a column commemorating IBM’s introduction of the first hard drive 50 years ago. The drive was the size of two refrigerators, weighed a ton, and had a vast 5MB capacity. They also discuss the future of data storage.

How ‘hard’ life would be without this great invention. Could you imagine if things haven’t changed much since then? You’d have a refridgerator next to your desk… that holds more than just your beer.

With Windows Vista, the operating system will make “shadow” (that is, backup) copies of files and folders for users who have “System Protection” enabled (the default setting). The feature will be called Previous Versions, and will be accessible via the right-click properties menu as “Restore previous versions.”

I have to admit that this feature could prove extremely useful, considering I have many times deleted or overwrote an all important file. However, as the article points out, this could also prove a huge security risk.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) shindig has been a staple of game industry life since the mid-1990s. However, we understand the larger exhibitors have jointly decided that the costs of the event do not justify the returns, generally measured in media exposure. Publishers believe the multi-million dollar budgets would be better spent on more company-focused events that bring attention to their own product lines rather than the industry as a whole.

There’s much debate onto whether there’s any credibility to this story, so take it with a grain of salt. If the E3 really was to be no more… it would be sad to see it go so suddenly. However, Ars Technica states that the ‘cancellation’ is actually a downsize. We will have to wait and see…

Sunnyvale, Calif. – July 31, 2006 – Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) today announced nationwide availability of the Telmex Internet Box Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) for citizens across Mexico. Developed by AMD, the Telmex Internet Box provides an increasingly broad range of customers with a complete Internet experience, including hardware, software, Internet service and support.

You can read the full release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec Fusion HTPC Media Center Enclosure – Virtual-Hideout
• Sansun Group Galaxy ATX Mid-Tower Case – 3DXtreme
• Vantec NexStar LX NAS HDD Enclosure – Virtual-Hideout

Cooling
• Logisys Dual Heatpipe VGA Cooler – DragonSteelMods
• Scythe Infinity Cooler – Technic3D
• Zalman Super Thermal Grease – Think Computers

Memory & Storage
• Crucial Ballistix 1GB PC2-5300 Tracer Memory – Extensive Mods
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB – MadBoxPC (Spanish)

Motherboards & Processors
• Foxconn C51XEM2AA nForce 590 SLI – Overclocker Cafe
• Intel Xeon 5150 Woodcrest – Phoronix

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Brando Flexible Full Sized Keyboard – DragonSteelMods
• Brando USB Bluetooth Chip – DragonSteelMods
• Oakley O ROKR Bluetooth 2.0 Eyewear – Bona Fide Reviews
• Razer Krait – techFEAR
• SteelPad 5L Gaming Surface – Overclock 3D

Displays & Video Cards
• ATi Catalyst 6.7 with Control Panel – NGOHQ

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• HyperKore System Giveaway – Modders-Inc

So we tally up the results from them we see NVIDIA obviously dominate everything, even in certain games if ATI is winning NVIDIA remains really close. Especially in low and mid-range performance systems ATI is under attack. But very interesting to see is are the high-end products from ATI perform with that new Cat 6.7 driver. Be sure to check that out. In short: the overall view thus generic performance among the majority of games without a doubt is looking fantastic for NVIDIA SLI. Nobody will deny that even for a second. But do remember what I already stated in the introduction. The last two or three sites have used the new Catalyst 6.7 drivers in their scores (they received them prior to the official release form ATI) and they clearly make a distinct performance difference. None the less. NVIDIA takes the lead by far. But there is much more to all this then a tally of results. Let’s talk a little about Image Quality, HDR+AA and so important … drivers.

We reported about part 7 yesterday, so I am not sure what happened to part 8! Check out the conclusion to the series at Guru3D.

Cooler Master enters the external hard drive enclosure market with their X-Craft series. Just like their cases, the X-Craft is very sturdy and once again does not disappoint. Everything from the tool-free design down to the extra USB/Firewire connectors and great looks make it a joy to use. The performance for both Firewire and USB is just as expected and the backup software, albeit very simple, gets the job done.

You can read the full review over at techPowerUp!.

Pick your poison ladies and gentlemen – CAS3 DDR2-800, or CAS4 DDR2-1066, either way this memory was smoking fast. Right out of the gate, there were some problems with overclocking, but when an additional power connector was attached to the board, they went right away and were not evident. All in all Mushkin did a fine job with these modules.

Check out the full review at Motherboards.org.

Today for review I have the Revoltec Hard Drive Silencer, most hard drives claim to be quiet but not many really are, or they are quiet at idle but get loud when being accessed and who really wants to hear their hard drive rattling around in their case? Not me, I like me system quiet. Last year I purchased a Maxtor 200Gig SATA drive, yes it’s silent at idle, but when it really gets going you can hear it rattling around in their, I learned to ignore it eventually but now I can silence it for good!

You can read the full review at Think Computers.

The A-Data Fingerprint drive is one of those love it or hate it
products. If the features satisfy your needs it is a miracle product,
but for the rest who are in need of a conventional USB drive with a
touch of security a standard USB drive and software encryption will
better suit the role as this is a pretty slow drive.

You can read the full review over at Overclockers Online.

There is a clear difference between these two power supplies. The CTG models are pretty plain looking, offer lots of power, and are not modular, so they are really targeted towards the server side of things. On the other hand, the CUG models look great, have a quiet 120mm fan, and are modular, so they are going to appeal to the gamer. What both of these power supplies have in common is their clean, stable, and quality power. Watch the Video to find out more…

Which PSU company isn’t trying to move into the 1KW market? Coolmax is not ready to sit down, that’s for sure. You can watch the review over at 3D Gameman.

Now, on to our experiences with the hardware. First and foremost I can’t help but be impressed at just how easy to set up and well mannered the SLI systems are. You just pop in the cards, install the driver, click the balloon to enable SLI and you’re off and running. While CrossFire is an extremely competitive platform it is still not to the level of SLI in user friendliness.

You can check out the latest installment os this multi-GPU journey at Legit Reviews.

After ATI’s successful launch last month of the fglrx 8.26.18
drivers, which had delivered an external events daemon (atieventsd) and
more, it is now time for us to discuss the changes in the newly released
8.27.10 Linux display drivers. Of the changes in this release include
X11R7.1 support, Fedora Core packaging scripts, and Radeon X1000 TV-out
support. As always, we have all of the details to share in our ATI fglrx
8.27.10 driver examination.

This release is worth it alone for the X11 7.1 support, but Phoronix goes on to tell us that there is a lot more to be had.