Content and news by Rob Williams

As mentioned earlier, the outer area of the keyboard is constructed of aluminum (or so it seems). If you look at the area around the keypad, you’ll notice that above and below it is plastic, surrounded by a thin layer of aluminum. It seems that the entire keyboard is made out of plastic with a thin overlay aluminum skin on the surface. This overlay is very well done and I had to look several times to see that it wasn’t completely made out of aluminum.

Head on over to OCIA for the full review!

As Bungie Studios and Microsoft are dedicated to delivering a top quality translation of Halo 2 for the PC, their efforts require the use of the best available technological platform for Windows games. Windows Vista will help bring clarity to our customers and help them get more out of their personal computing experience, allowing them to focus on what matters most to them.

There’s absolutely no reason why the game can’t be run on WinXP. There’s definitely something going on over at MS, and this seems to be a way to give people a reason to buy Vista. Check out the article at Daily Tech.

Israeli company Fluorinex Active has come up with a device that uses an electrical current to help keep cavities away. Using 6-9 volts of electricity, the fluoride-based gel that sits in the tray of the gadget is ionized, then forms a protective layer over your teeth that should last for 5 whole years.

This is interesting.. I couldn’t imagine getting electricity shot in my mouth to keep cavaties away.. but hey if it works. Read more at Gizmodo.

The EFF is asking users not to use the new version of Google Desktop that has a ‘search across computers’ option. The option will store copies of documents on your hard drive on Google servers, where the government or anyone who wants to may subpoena (i.e. no search warrants) the information. Google says it is not yet scanning the files for advertising, but it hasn’t ruled out the possibility.

This program always seems to offer up trouble somehow.. Read all about it at Slashdot.

After ATI’s launch of the X1900 Series the people at NVIDIA sat down and took a close look at where the weak points are and where NVIDIA’s lineup is superior. This presentation compares X1900 performance against the 7800GTX and in the second part of the presentation tells us why SLI is better than Crossfire.

Check out these fresh slides at techPowerUp!.

Scythe Co., Ltd (Tokyo, Japan) announces its single socket version of the popular value-for-money Katana CPU Cooler, “Katana775”. All the features remain the same from the Katana CPU Cooler, but this 775 version provides the simple installation for LGA775 socket with the “push-pin” clips, which eliminates the “time-consuming” steps during the cooler installation. The fan speed is adjusted by the PWM signal from the motherboard. Super Light-Weight! Simple Installation! No Hassle! Try out the new Katana775 CPU Cooler!

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Scythe Co., Ltd (Tokyo, Japan) announces the 5.25″ bay system cooler KAMA BAY. This 5.25″ bay system cooler is so unique that you can mount in 3-ways, using it as HDD cooler (hidden or exposed) or an extra fan for your system cooling (for visual description of mounting, please go to the product website)! Versatility and silence are extra features to make this product to outstand comparing to a normal 12cm case fan. 3 different color to match to your case!

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PC Apex takes a look at a new thermal compound, but can it really beat AS5? Apparently it can! They were so impressed, that it received a perfect score. If you are looking for a new S939 motherboard but are on a budget, then check out Hi-Tech Reviews for the review of the DFI Ultra Infinity. It proves to be a feature rich board, but for under $100! A tool that every reviewer and enthusiast should have in their pocket is an infrared thermometer. Think Computers is taking a look at one that resembles a laser pointer, and works extremely well. I may have to pick one up myself..

Cases & Enclosures
• Sansun Bat – Pro-Clockers

Cooling
• Alpha PAL-8150 Athlon64 Heatsink – Frosty Tech
• Cooler Master Aquagate Mini R120 Liquid Cooler – Viper Lair
• Cooler Master NanoFusion Thermal Compound – PC Apex
• Swiftech MCX159-CU – techPowerUp!
• Thermaltake Blue Orb II CPU Cooler – Mod The Box

Motherboards & CPU’s
• DFI NF4 Ultra Infinity – Hi-Tech Reviews
• ECS KA1 MVP – Overclockers Online

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Razer Copperhead High Precision Gaming Mouse – Overclockers Club
• Zboard Gaming Keyboard – Tweak PC

Video Cards & Monitor
• ATI All-in-Wonder X1900 – Trusted Reviews
• Chaintech GeForce 6600 APOGEE VE 256MB – Techniz
• Catalyst 6.2 Comparison – Technic 3D
• Gigabyte GV-RX18L256V-B Radeon X1800XL – Hot Hardware

Etcetera & Contests
• ATI v8.22.5 Display Drivers – Phoronix
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S600 – Design Technica
• ThermoHawk 200 Infrared Thermometer – Think Computers

In our review of Steganos Security Suite 2006, I expressed that a version without the Anti-Spyware would be much more welcomed, if they price was lowered to around $50US. Well lo and behold, Steganos released the Security Suite SE 2006 which is identical to the regular version, however it includes no Anti-Spyware! The SE version retails for $49.95US.. coincidence?

I highly recommend the software, especially now that you are not paying for a subpar Anti-Spyware program. You can snag a trial of the software from the Official Site. Thanks to Gabriel for letting us know about this!

At first glance, Songbird looks like a straight-ahead rip-off of Apple’s iTunes music player. If you replaced Songbird’s glossy black with brushed metal, you’d be hard pressed to tell the two applications apart at a distance. However, the similarities end at the UI. The two applications are quite different under the hood, and they each embody a very distinct vision of how the online music market should operate.

Check out the full article at Ars Technica. I am going to have to give this app a spin..

Microsoft has officially announced their entrance into the anti-virus market. By combining anti-virus scans, anti-spyware scans, and firewall protection into a single package, Microsoft thinks they’ve created something fresh. So fresh they’re charging an annual fee of $49.99 per year.

Of course the most important thing will be dependant on how much better these products are over the competition, if they are indeed better at all. Check out the posting at Slashdot.

ALTHOUGH WESTERN DIGITAL’S 10K-RPM Raptor Serial ATA hard drives were originally intended for enterprise-class workstations and servers, enthusiasts were quick to employ them in personal desktop systems and gaming rigs. Marketing types tend to freak out when enthusiasts show such blatant disregard for artificial product segmentation, but Western Digital took it in stride. In fact, the company has even cooked up something special for the enthusiast community with the latest Raptor refresh.

It’s great to see companies actually developing for enthusiasts. The HDD even includes a window, but I am not sure how useful that would be unless you mounted it in plain site. If you want it, it will set you back $350 for a 150GB. Check out the full in-depth article at Tech Report.

Within days after the launch of the new OCZ heatspreader design, the positive feedback and reception of the look and idea behind the unique XTC design was overwhelming. Now just shy of four months since the release of XTC memory solutions, rave reviews have poured in from hardware reviewers and prominent enthusiasts.

Read the full press release here.

Hi Peter, thank you for agreeing to do this interview with us. Since my last interview with you back in November there has been some quite big changes, mainly Abit’s Merger with USI. This move was quite a surprise for many of us, what was the main reason for the merger?

Check out the full interview at XS Reviews!

Unfortunately, Evoluent’s VerticalMouse 2, which we review today, doesn’t win any crazy and kooky awards. In fact, it’s best described as a regular-looking mouse that’s been turned 90 degrees clockwise (counterclockwise for the lefties). The idea is to allow your arm to control the mouse in a more natural position, with the thumb up, in a hand-shaking position. Doctors who specialize in ergonomics consider this position preferable. And because it resembles a regular mouse, there’s no real learning curve when you start using it.

It doesn’t do much for me, but your opinion may vary. Check out the full review at Extreme Tech.

Legit Reviews has a very interesting article where Corsair tests out their own heatspreaders in addition to the OCZ’s XTC. The results are nothing amazing, and there is really no clear winner. It’s quite an interesting look though, so check it out. There are a fair amount of power supplies being reviewed today, such as the Silverstone Strider at Legion Hardware and Thermaltake Toughpower at Techniz. If you want a first look at the new Opera 9 beta browser, point your browser to Phoronix!

Cases & Enclosures
• CMStacker 830 – TC Mag
• Cooler Master Stacker 830 & Cross Flow Fan – Barry’s Rigs n Reviews

Cooling
• Coolink SWiF Fans – A1 Electronics
• Noctua NH Series Heatsinks – Gruntville

Memory & Storage
• Do Memory Module Heat Spreaders Make A Difference? – Legit Reviews
• OCZ Rally 512MB USB Drive – Think Computers

Motherboards & CPU’s
• AMD Athlon64 FX-60 CPU – GamePC
• Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MB-RS – Hardware Secrets
• Gigabyte GA-K8N51PVMT-9 nForce 430 – Bjorn3D
• Retail 955XE fixes thermal issues at a price – Tech Report

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Altec Lansing IM5 Portable Audio System – XYZ Computing
• Bluetake BT510 Mouse and BT007Si Dongle – PC Apex
• Silverstone Strider PSU – Legion Hardware
• Spire SP-600W Rocketeer VI SLI Series Power Supply – 3D Gameman
• SteelPad 5L Mouse Surface – CyberWizardPit
• Thermaltake Toughpower 550W PSU – Techniz
• Zalman Zm460-APS – Red & Blackness

Video Cards & Monitor
• Asus EAX1800XT Top – Hot Hardware
• Gigabyte GV-RX18L256V-B X1800 XL – Viper Lair
• XFX 7800GS AGP Extreme Edition – Motherboard.org

Etcetera & Contests
• Alienware MJ-12 Series Workstation – Driver Heaven
• Opera v9.00 Tech Preview 2 – Phoronix
• Rants, News, and Reviews! – Design Technica (Right click, save-as!)

• Logo changed
• Fixed problem with 3D clock change messagebox incorrectly saving answer state
• Changed voltage behaviour when switching profiles
• Fixed crash issue when switching profiles under high 3D load
• Added Driver Tweaks: Temporal AA, Level of Detail, Adaptive AA,
  Geometry Instancing, Catalyst AI.
• Fixed issue with incorrectly saved gamma
• Fixed VDCCI no getting saved to profile

Grab the new download at techPowerUp!.

Back on the 20th of October last year Nvidia Corporation introduced a new feature in their ForceWare 81.85 graphics card drivers. They called it “Direct Access”, and it was designed to enable users to control their monitors directly from the ForceWare control panel instead of the actual controls on their monitor. While it is nice to see Nvidia incorporating new features into their software, it turned out that there is an “evil side” to this Direct Access feature.

Check out the full article at NGOHQ.

Whew, don’t you hate those mornings when you forget to set an alarm and end up sleeping *way* too long? Yup, that’s one of those days for me. Without further ado, let’s jump right into todays reviews and articles. If you are going to pick up an Intel, then you may want to check out the Gigabyte GA-G1975X board that Guru3D takes an in-depth look at. By far, this is the board of choice in my opinion. It’s feature packed and allows for nice overclocking. HDD Savers is taking a look at the fact that the WD Raptor.. has no competition! It’s true, because they’ve been around for a while now but you don’t see anyone else offering 10K RPM HDD’s.

Overclockers Online is testing out a peripheral that not many will need, but is useful nonetheless. KVM switches allow you to use more than one computer on one monitor/keyboard/mouse. Check out their review if you are in need of one. If you are in the mood to win some stuff, check out the many contests below!

Cases & Enclosures
• Aerocool ExtremEngine 3T – Pro-Clockers
• RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-281U USB 2.0 Series – MVK Tech

Cooling
• AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet – Phoronix
• Arctic Cooling Accelero X1 VGA Cooler – 3D Chip

Memory & Storage
• Corsair Flash Voyager 128MB USB Drive – Hardware XL
• Flash Memory Then and Now: How Far Have We Come? – XYZ Computing
• WD’s Raptor Still Stands Alone – HDD Saver

Motherboards & CPU’s
• Gigabyte GA-G1975X – Guru 3D
• Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 – OC Inside

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Seasonic S12-600 (600W) PSU – Technic 3D
• Silverstone Strider 560W – Xtreme Computing
• StarTech.com SV221MICROUA KVM – Overclockers Online

Video Cards & Monitor
• Gigabyte GV-NX73G128D GeForce 7300 GS – Rojak Pot
• HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo 256MB Dual DVI Video Card – Bona Fide Reviews

Etcetera & Contests
• Contest: CoolerMaster & OCIA.net February Contest – OCIA
• Contest: Cooler Master and Overclockers Online Centurion 532 Giveaway – Overclockers Online
• Contest: Dell Outlet competition – Hexus
• Contest: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS Giveaway Contest! – Rojak Pot
• Contest: UKGamer Giveaway – UK Gamer
• T-Mobile SDA Mobile Phone – Design Technica

We’ve got one billion reasons to celebrate, and we’re starting with you. As we mark our way to one billion, the music fans who download every 100,000th song will receive a prize package featuring a black 4GB iPod nano and a $100 iTunes Music Card.

The grand prize in intense, with a chance to win 10 60GB iPOD’s in addition to a $10,000 gift card for use in iTunes. They even include a ‘live’ ticker which shows the number inching closer to the 1 Billion mark. Check it out here.

This is not hardware related, but I know that there may be a lot of people out there who are contemplating buying this game but do not want to risk their $20. Well, here you go.

This weekend Valve is inviting everyone to try Day of Defeat: Source for free via Steam. Visit Steampowered.com to pre-load the game and be set to play at 12:00 pm (noon) PST on Friday, when the Free Weekend begins. Join the ranks as Axis or Allies troops located in Western Europe during the height of the war in 1944.