Content and news by Rob Williams

A good looking system doesn’t just end with a good looking case. The keyboard is one of the last things enthusiasts think about in
a system. Hiper’s aluminum keyboard looks great but there are more important things than looks.

Check out the full review at Insane Tek.

For this review of the HEC WinPower 550UB (HEC-550TW-TF) 550W powersupply, we’ll be applying a couple of tests you can reproduce at home with available equipment, all with an eye towards seeing how this unit generally performs. The HEC Win550UB powersupply is rated to a peak of 550W power and features dual 12V lines with a combined output capabilities of 35A. The WIN 550UB adheres to the ATX 2.01 standard, but is compatible with 20-pin ATX motherboards.

Check out the full review at PC Stats.

Team ARP is proud to announce the official launch of the Seagate Momentus Hard Disk Giveaway Contest!

Today, we offer you the opportunity to win not one, but TWO brand-new Seagate Momentus 5400.2 hard disks! Don’t miss this great opportunity!

Check it out at the Rojak Pot.

OMG! The result is finally here! At stake is a 1GB Mushkin PC3200 222 Level II V2 Dual Pack Memory Kit! Let’s find out if you’re the winner!

Check out the result over at Rojak Pot!

Is your case messy because of all the extra cables on your
beastly 600W power supply? In the market for a modular one that doesn’t
crowd your case? Antec has released their newest line of modular power
supplies, the Smart Power 2.0. If you’re looking for a modular power
supply, then this one is definitely worth checking out.

Check out the full review at Phoronix!

The Golden Orb’s installation makes this a great stock cooler replacement, it’s 17 dBa operation makes it silent and the temperatures it delivered makes it a decent cooler for even the mild overclocker. Pricing online starts around $38 and we feel the Golden Orb II is worth every penny.

Check out the full review at 3D Xtreme.

I’ll be looking at four power supplies in this 15 page roundup using two 7800 GTX cards in SLI on an overclocked A64 testbed. The four power supplies are the Enermax Noisetaker 600, PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI, Seasonic S12 600 and the Silverstone Zeus ST65ZF 650. These are all high-end models which offer huge power output and are more than capable of running an SLI configuration.

If you are looking for a great SLi PSU, check out the roundup over at Pure Overclock.

Hexus has even more IDF goodies today to talk about!

Whilst details are sketchy, the concept surrounds Intels branding for their home systems. The concept is that they have all moved to a 64bit Solution. The Sticker will only be on systems which have an Intel CPU, an Intel Chipset (Northbridge and Southbridge) and an Intel software stack.

All of the X800 cards from ATI will support Crossfire, including the X800GT and X800GTO. You will need a master card in order to run it and wait for the 2nd driver release. The launch drivers will just support X800XT and X850XT derivatives.

Check out all the news over at Hexus.

Antec, a name that when thought of says “Quality”. My first experience with Antec was when I built my first computer. I purchased the 1030B case, the beige one. Yeah that’s right beige, that’s all they had! The case was great and provided a great learning experience. The case made things so easy, especially for a first time build. I used that case for over 2 years and loved it. It’s still sitting in my basement; I refuse to throw it away! Today we will be looking at the revamped version of the 1030B, the TX1050B. Which is part of the Performance TX line of cases Antec has just put out. Are you excited? I am so let’s get started!

Check out the full review at Think Computers!

If you’re a computer expert, you’ll probably already know about these tips (hopefully this will provide you with a little reminder). If you’re not an expert, don’t worry – these tips are simple, and don’t require a lot of computer experience. While an old computer will never operate at the same speed as a newer (and bigger & faster) computer, you can help your computer stay as “young & healthy” as possible.

Head over to Bona Fide Reviews for the full article!

Dual display configurations are not difficult to setup and offer an economical alternative to upgrading to a larger monitor. The convenience of such a monitor arrangement can be reaped in both business and personal applications, and once you experience working or playing on two displays, you may wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

Check out the article over at Big Bruin!

Hexus has many updates to start off the madness that is IDF!

HEXUS attended a pre-IDF warm up speech from Steve Pawlowski who leads the Digital Enterprise group, from which you’ll see high end chipset and server products.

Intel have just stated that HT is not going to feature in their next architecture. This is a bit of a shock since they spent months messaging us that HT would be the most important move in microprocessor development, Intel have removed it (read – not included it) in their next generation processor.

Check out all the details over at Hexus.

At 14 stages, the main pipeline will be a little bit longer than current Pentium M processors. The cores will be a wider, more parallel design capable of issuing, executing, and retiring four instructions at once. (Current x86 processors are generally three-issue.) The CPU will, of course, feature out-of-order instruction execution and will also have deeper buffers than current Intel processors. These design changes should give the new architecture significantly more performance per clock, and somewhat consequently, higher performance per watt.

Check out the full article at Tech Report.

IDF — Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced today in his keynote address at the Intel Developer Forum that Intel will be moving its future CPUs to a common architecture. He said the architecture will incorporate the best of the current Netburst and mobile architectures, with a focus on delivering more performance per watt. The architecture will be used in mobile platforms (code-named Merom), desktops (Conroe), and servers (Woodcrest). This processor architecture will feature a range of next-generation Intel technologies, including 64-bit compatibility (EM64T), virtualization (VT), Intel’s LaGrande security features, and Intel Active Management Tech (iAMT).

Head over to Tech Report for the full article!

We’ve unearthed a .bean in San Francisco that we think will tickle the fancy of those people who are looking for some full-on 12-pipe 3D graphics action, but for not much more money than the X800 GT which ATI recently announced.

Because we so needed another X800. Check it out at Hexus.

Are you an old-time Dungeons and Dragons player? Do you remember the game with fond nostalgia? Join us again tonight, Tuesday August 23rd, as we host Dungeons and Dragons Online’s second Developer Chat in a Stratics House of Commons(tm!) This HoC will be at 5pm PST / 8pm EST / midnight UTC/GMT…..

Enter the Ergodex Corporation and their DX1 Input System. The DX1 targets both gamers and task-oriented professionals as the alternative input device that alleviates many woes associated with the standard keyboard, by allowing users to position keys anywhere on the surface to contour to the shape of their hands. With so many other adjustable products we take for granted like the adjustable chair and the DPI switching mice from Razer and Logitech, it’s amazing that no one has thought of such a simple idea any sooner. Yet for such a simple product, a lot of thought has been put into creating the DX1 to deliver the ultimate input experience. Go ahead and coin that phrase, no one’s claimed it yet.

Check it out at Everything USB!

We don’t know about you but we hope you have seen just how excellent this ThermalRock Mystic computer case and Thermaltake Rocket heatsink system are and just how easy the whole computer is to make, install and get running. Remember the Thermaltake Tenor is the same computer case chassis but uses a different front.

Check it out at A1 Electronics!

It’s the summer and it’s HOT! To cool down our precious systems, Overclockers Online has teamed up with Thermaltake for this latest contest. We’re going to give away the Big Typhoon and Golden Orb II. Both of these bad boys can take the heat!

All the details can be had at Overclockers Online.

I have to say that the NF4SK8AA-8EKRS is a solid offering by Foxconn and will recommend it for any mid-range computer user or gamer out there looking for a great motherboard with SLI capability.

Check out the review at Overclockers Online.