Content and news by Rob Williams

thanks to the US gov’t influencing other countries, we may be killing off all sorts of innovations worldwide. There’s an extremely weak rebuttal at the end from Fritz Attaway of the MPAA who claims that we wouldn’t have DVDs without the DMCA — which is flat-out false. Once again, it appears that the entertainment industry is defending the DMCA by conveniently shifting back and forth on what they claim it’s designed to do. If it’s supposed to have prevented internet copying, then it’s failed completely.

Check out the full read at TechDirt.

Foxconn officials have confirmed the company’s entrance into the graphics market today during Computex Taipei. As part of its announcement, Leadtek will simultaneously withdraw from the VGA market. Foxconn is the primary original equipment manufacturer for Leadtek video cards, and the withdraw of Leadtek’s presence is to reduce the cross-over between the two companies. For now Foxconn will only announce NVIDIA graphics cards for the launch.

No more Leadtek GPUs! Foxconn has been pushing out some incredible motherboards lately though, so hopefully we can expect the same quality from their GPUs. Check out the full article at DailyTech.

This product is the direct result of the immense success that was introduced two years ago, SLI. If it suits your budget then the GX2 most definitely is something to look out for. It’s friggin fast and offers every little feature the graphics industry offers at the moment. You’ll be playing games at a quality level and resolution that is just in one word: marvelous. During that gaming experience every few minutes you’ll need to wipe of a little drop of drool from your mouth; this solution offers a seriously exciting gaming experience. – Guru3D

Can we recommend this product to our readers? The answer is a resounding “Hell Yes”! We’d go so far as to say it will probably be a contender for product of the year, especially given the fact that it can run on many non SLI boards. Though the current number of compatible motherboards are somewhat smaller than we’d like to see for the general population, as you can see most of the enthusiast-level boards (both Intel and NVIDIA based) reside on that list. – Bjorn3D

Somehow, I didn’t really expect a “single” GeForce 7950 GX2 card to be a compelling product outside of a Quad SLI configuration. This puppy does have its warts, including the need for mobo BIOS updates and the SLI-like limitations for multi-monitor use that may turn some power users away. Still, the GX2 is remarkably tame overall. This card takes up no more space, draws no more power, and generates no more heat or noise than a Radeon X1900 XTX, but its performance is in another class altogether. – Tech Report

With its extreme performance, new driver suite with enhanced PureVideo capabilities, and broad platform compatibility, the GeForce 7950 GX2 is sure to get many hardcore enthusiasts worked up into a frenzy. We can’t wait to get a second one in the lab for some Quad-SLI testing. As it stands now, a single GX2, and especially a higher clocked model like XFX’s 570M XXX Edition is a very compelling upgrade to any single graphics card currently available. – HotHardware

Yes, it’s quick when games support it, but not all do. And to actually keep it running nice and stable is a considerated exercise in component and chassis choices that you really shouldn’t have to make (unless you’re a ‘traditional’ multi-GPU user of course, where your core logic choice and graphics vendor are fixed). If the rumoured £450 is right, including VAT, it’s a good bit cheaper than the discrete multi-GPU setups on test, for a healthy slice of the performance, but it’s very expensive for a single board and the caveats to run it make it almost impossible to sanely recommend. You’ll have to do that bit of decision making yourself. – Hexus

Something that can’t go overlooked is the future of this card. NVIDIA is promising us that Quad SLI is coming to the add in board market. While a few will be able to afford the $1200 entry price, it’s hard to ignore the possibilities that a system like that creates. Those with 30″ screens and money to spare will be able to justify purchasing such a system, but for anything less it’s extreme overkill. – Legit Reviews

Based on what I’ve experienced over the past three days, the GeForce 7950 GX2 is yet another top quality product from NVIDIA. The drivers and new driver control panel may need some fine tuning, but that didn’t prevent me from using the product, which I am giving our highest award. – nVNews

The expected stock price of the GeForce 7950 GX2 is about US$599 and that’s actually about the same price as when the GeForce 7900 GTX first debuted, or for that matter, equivalently priced to a pair of GeForce 7900 GT cards now. Considering its capabilities, quiet operation, decent thermal output profile and of course its added performance advantage, there’s hardly any other suitable contender to rival it on all aspects (let alone one). Verdict: Highly recommend, so long as your motherboard’s BIOS is updated enough to flawlessly work with the GeForce 7950 GX2. – Hardware Zone

The BFG GeForce 7950 GX2 is without a doubt the fastest graphics card on the market today. NVIDIA did their homework on the development of their second multi-GPU reference design, fixing the issues of PCB size and power usage that arose in the first iteration. We can’t wait for Quad SLI to hit its stride, but the GX2 is more than enough to tide us over. – PC Perspective

For enthusiasts looking for the ultimate in performance, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup clearly delivers significantly more performance. At the same time however one GeForce 7950 GX2 card runs faster than a single GeForce 7900 GTX. To further entice gamers NVIDIA’s pricing the GeForce 7950 GX2 very aggressively, we’ve been told to expect board prices to range from $599-$649. – FiringSquad

SANTA CLARA, CA—JUNE 5, 2006—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced the new NVIDIA® GeForce 7950 GX2, the world’s fastest graphics card , is available immediately from the Company’s add-in card partners. The GeForce 7950 GX2 performs as much as 72% faster than the leading single-GPU graphics cards on the market today by harnessing the power of two GeForce 7950 graphics processing units (GPUs) on one card.

You can check out the full press release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec Performance One P180 Mid-Tower Case – Viper Lair
• AplusCase CS-3010 Cubic Case – Technic3D
• Thermaltake Aguila ATX Chassis & 600w PurePower PSU – Virtual-Hideout

Cooling
• AquaComputer aquagraFX 7800 watercooler – PCMasters
• Scythe Mine Cooler Cooling – Technic3D
• Sytrin AirCon PAC-500 Preview – Phoronix

Memory & Storage
• Corsair XMS TWINX2048-3500LLPRO 2GB – HardwareXL
• OCZ Mini Kart 1GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive – Think Computers
• Thecus N4100: 2.000 gigabyte in a little cube – TweakPC

Motherboards & CPU’s
• AMD’s Quad-Core K8L & 4×4 Low-down – PureOverclock
• Intel Core 2 Duel E6800 – Overclockers Online

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• SoundGraph iMON 2.4G LT & DT – techPowerUp!
• Speedlink Medusa 5.1 ProGamer Headsets – Cooling-Station
• Thermaltake ToughPower 550watt Computer Power Supply – TweakNews
• Ultra X-Finity 500/600 Watt PSU – Pro-Clockers

Video Cards & Monitor
• Asus EAX1900XTX 512 – Xtreme Computing
• PowerColor X1800 GTO – Bjorn3D
• Sapphire Radeon X1900 XT – PC Masters
• X2gen MG19R8 19″ TFT LCD Display – Big Bruin

Etcetera & Contests
• Alienware Aurora 7500 Computer System – XYZ Computing
• Contest for Aquagate Mini R120 – Overclockers Online
• Lexmark X2470 – BIOS Magazine
• Logisys Meteor Light Kit – ModTheBox
• Podcast: Pirate Bay, Intel Core 2 Duo, and Dell’s New XPS Systems – Digital Trends
• rock Pegasus 330 thin-and-light laptop – Hexus
• Upgrading The Dell e1705 Notebook Graphics Card – Legit Reviews

If you are looking to upgrade to a dual core rig, but want to do it cheaply, then Intels 8** series may be for you. We are taking a look at the 820 D, a 2.8GHz chip with 2*1MB cache. What makes it a great value is the fact that it overclocks to almost 4GHz on air. But compared to other similar chips on the market, is this one worth your cash?

Back on May 23, we had delivered our launch-day preview of the
AMD Socket AM2, and with that, we had also taken a quick look at
ASRock’s AM2NF4G-SATA2 motherboard. Now that we have had the time to
complete our testing of this nForce 410 motherboard, we have the
remainder of our results available today.

Check out the full review at Phoronix.

Virtual-Hideout is at it again. Up for grabs this week is 4 Ripper XXL Desk Pad’s courtesy of XtracPads.com! These babies are huge and a must have for every computer user. Get over to the contest thread and get your entry on! Contest ends June 10th!

Check out the full details at Virtual-Hideout.

Overall, the OCZ PC4000 Gold GX XTC 2GB Dual Channel kit is a pretty impressive memory kit. The modules come with one of the most unique memory heatspreaders in the planet, which did a great job in keeping the modules cool. With a maximum stable overclock up to 265MHz at 3-4-3-8-1T, we gained another 15MHz without having to loosen or increase the voltage.Priced at around USD$203 / RM735, the OCZ PC400 Gold GX XTC 2GB kit is one of the cheapest DDR500 2GB kit in town.

Check out the full review at PC Modding Malaysia.

The Matrix Orbital MX620 is a wonderful mod to add to your system. You no longer need to have your desktop cluttered with programs telling you that you have mail, what the weather will be like tomorrow and all your system temps. The MX620 can display all this and more!

If you want to add some pizzazz to your PC, check out the full review at Modders-Inc.

HIS has taken a very sound and successful base in the Radeon X1800 GTO and made it even better. The IceQ3 cooler aside from its killer aesthetics, operated at near silence under load. Performance wise, frame rates blew the doors off a one generation old midrange card which really demonstrates that the increase in technology seen on current VGA cards is not just marketing hype. It is real world frames per second performance that provides speed and just as importantly, a very high level of quality in the images it renders. Add in the ability to BIOS flash this 12 pipeline card to have a full 16 pipes, adds bang for the buck value I can’t even begin to put a price on.

Head on over to Overclocker Cafe for the full review.

There is no question that flash drives have become extremely popular in recent years. Just about everyone has important data they need to backup, transport, or store. This flash drive is similar to other plug and play USB2 flash drives in that it is simple to use. While most flash drives are small, they are large in comparison to the OCZ Mini-Kart. As a matter of fact, it’s so miniature it’s impressive. That’s begs the question, “How much smaller will these devices get?…

As flashdrives get smaller, it’s hard to compete with the Mini-Kart. It’s essentially a memory chip wrapped with a small plastic chassis. Even the connector is exposed! As 3D Gameman found out, it’s surprisingly sturdy, but suffers with high access times.

Hey, our friends at Crazy PC sent me the new Scythe Mine CPU cooler for review. I’ve reviewed a few Scythe products in the past and found them to be some pretty good stuff. The Scythe Mine cooler is another tall heat pipe style CPU cooler that seems to be very popular lately. Other Scythe CPU coolers I have reviewed have performed well and looked pretty cool, let’s find out if the Mine is just as good.

What do you call a CPU cooler with no problems? According to Think Computers, it’s called Scythe Mine. They award it a fancy 10 out of 10 and note no problems whatsoever. You can check out our review for comparison purposes.

Phoronix has on June 1st, 2006 announced the creation of redblog.phoronix.com. This blog will focus on the Phoronix Editor-In-Chief personally evaluating ATI’s current Linux drivers for 50-days — simply think of it as an ATI Linux review for an extended
amount of time. While over a year ago the quality of the red’s Linux display drivers could be refuted, they certainly have improved by near light-years when it comes to their installation strategy, performance, bug issues, and variety of cards supported — among other areas. But how well does this ATI experience come first hand? Are gamers and computer enthusiasts alike now ready to accept ATI’s current Linux display drivers for prime-time action? For those GNU/Linux users with proprietary display drivers, you already know what all the fuss is about but for the rest the information is in the blog. This blog can be found at redblog.phoronix.com, and be sure to tune into its RSS feed for the latest commentary.

This is a fantastic idea for a blog, and should benefit Linux ATI users everywhere. ATI drivers are getting better, but they have a long way to go before they reach the stability that NVIDIA offers. Check out the blog here.

Corsair scored well when the implemented the quick disconnect fitting on the Nautilus500 as this feature made this kit suitable for LAN events. I’ve been to a few LAN parties before and transporting a water cooled rig can be a risky task. With the Nautilus500, I simply disconnect the external unit, bag it, and I’m ready to go. Once I’m there, I simply plug and play! No more worries on loose tubings or checking for leaks. In fact, my water cooled rig was much lighter when transporting with the Nautilus500 unit disconnected. This was obviously impossible with most internal water cooling kit, including the Swiftech H20 120SB kit.

What has to be said? PC Modding Malaysia absolutely loved the N500, although they say the 775 standoffs could be better. To which I agree with whole heartily. You can check out our review of the system for comparison.

The Armor Jr. is the little brother to the Armor VA8000 series of full tower cases, with the famed aesthetic appeal, in a mid-tower size. Just like the Armor VA8000 series, the Armor Jr. VC3000 series is fully ATX and BTX compatible with an optional BTX upgrade kit from Thermaltake.

The Jr. looks like it’s bigger brother, only smaller. OCIA finds it to be a great case for the money, but notes the flaps sqeek when opened.

Intel’s been on a mission of late. That mission revolves around grouping and standardising key technologies under various banners that are designed to ensure hardware compatibility and consumer ease of use. We explain to you what they are and what they mean.

Centrino, Viiv, vPro. Way too much lingo and branding for most people to care about. Thankfully, Hexus explains some names, and how Intels branding works.

The spec sheet for the Biostar TForce 6100 AM2 reads like a check list of things you’ll actually need in a computer; Gigabit network card, 7.1 channel audio, Geforce 6 series graphics, two Serial ATA II (3.0Gbps) channels and two IDE channels (thanks to the nForce 410 Southbridge). If you find the integrated GeForce 6100 videocard is too weak, there is a PCI Express x16 expansion slot for stand alone videocards. The four DDR-2 DIMM slots can accommodate up to 4GB of DDR-2 400/533/667/800 memory, and of course the motherboard supports Socket AM2 Athlon64 X2/FX and Sempron processors.

If you are looking into an AM2 based HTPC or mini-PC, you should take a look at this one. For under $100, it seems to offer the consumer many features. Check out the full review at PC Stats.

Ok, I am going to read you future, it begins like this. You are planning to upgrade. Correct? Chances are you will be upgrading to a sweet nice Intel Conroe or an AMD AM2. Correct? Alone with that new processor, there will be a new motherboard to go alone with that, correct? Ok, I am two for two. Last prediction, you will need some new memory, right? The ram that you will be buying will be the new OCZ DDR2 PC2-8000 Platinum Enhanced Latency XTC. OK, enough of the John Edward want-to-be intro. OCZ was cool enough to send over a set of their newest DDR2 ram. Let’s check it out.

This is some intense memory. At DDR2-1027 with 4-4-4 timings, it scored over 9,000 in Everest tests! It’s just too bad the memory is so expensive. Check out the full review at Pro-Clockers.

From Yahoo News comes this tidbit about a couple who got a very shocking phone call. Henry and Roma Gerbus received a phone call from a man named Ed claiming he had purchased their old hard drive at a flea market. They had previously taken their computer to Best Buy to have the hard drive replaced and were told that the store would destroy it. Now it has turned up at a flea market, still containing their personal information, such as bank account numbers and Social Security numbers. The Gerbus’ are a little perplexed and are very worried about identity theft.

How nice. First Best Buy uses Winternals without paying for it, and now they sell customers drives that they claim they destroyed. Check out the post at Slashdot.