Content and news by Rob Williams

WORLD CYBER GAMES ANNOUNCES SPONSORS FOR 2005 US FINAL
– Samsung Electronics, Intel, Razer & Shuttle to Equip US Final of World Cyber Games
– 186 Elite US Gamers Compete in NYC Sept. 8-10, 2005; $34,000 in Prizes & Trip to Singapore at Stake
(New York, NY, August 23, 2005) – In a nod to the increasing popularity of e-Sports, the World Cyber Games (www.worldcybergames.com), today announced that the world’s leading manufacturers of gaming hardware – Samsung Electronics, Intel, Razer and Shuttle – will sponsor the World Cyber Games 2005 US National Final at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom from September 8-10, 2005.

Quality equipment is as important to a player’s performance as his or her own abilities. So when 186 of the nation’s top gamers gather for the US Final of the world’s largest gaming tournament next month, organizers have taken every measure to ensure they’re competing on the industry’s top performing monitors, PCs and peripherals. At the highest level of e-Sports, gamers depend on this specialized hardware to meet the rigorous demands of the games they play.

Memory is an essential component in any computer system, and as with most things, bigger and faster are always a good thing. But, if your budget doesn’t allow for a few GBs of the highest performance modules out there, having the appropriate amount of good quality memory can make a tremendous impact on system performance, reliability, and user happiness.

For the full article, head over to Big Bruin.

Due to the requests and user input from some of our readers,
we have a new addition to our Silencing The SOHO article. In part two of
this article, we’ll be looking at several additional products for
keeping your system cooling and quiet. These additional products expand
from our active LGA-775 cooler we used in the first article to some
additional heatsinks for Socket 478 as well as Socket 462/754/939. We
also take a look at a relatively simple fan controller from Sunbeamtech
and finishing off this piece with a golf ball textured fan from the
folks at Sharkoon.

Check out the review over at Phoronix.

The Hiper Type R 480 Watt Power Supply performs very well, provides ample power & can even peak up to 530 watts. It looks great & there are plenty of leads, although not all are sleeved. Also, with a quiet 120mm fan & ventilation holes covering the casing, the inside will easily stay cool. Performance + Power + Features + Affordability = Wahoo!. Watch the Video to find out more…

Head over to 3D Gameman for the full video review!

ATi in Santa Clara had Dual Graphics cards working on Intel platforms back in December 2004. Whilst NVIDIA beat them to the market place it appears that ATi have been holding back to deliver a solution which aims to make the user experience easier from the offset.

Check out the full article at Hexus.

Nearly eight months ago we presented a review of the CaseBuy
EZ Power Supply Tester, and today we’ll be looking at CaseBuy’s latest
revision to this tiny device. Among other improvements, the EZ Power
Supply Tester 2 now supports testing 24-pin motherboard cables, SATA,
and even 8-pin P4 connectors.

Check out the review at Phoronix.

This 550Watt peak power supply uses Active Power Factor Correction (Active PFC) to increase efficiency, resulting in less wasted power for a given workload. We’ve tested several Active PFC supplies from other companies and found that to a unit, they decrease wasted power considerably. It’s good to see this feature reaching a broader audience. Dual-PCI Express video card power connectors are also featured, making this PSU certainly suitable for SLI (or Crossfire) systems.

Head over to PC Stats for the full review!

To me it is remarkable to see that large transistor count compared to let’s say the SoundBlaster Live! series which quite honestly is a lovely product. The new X-Fi silicon has almost 26 times more transistors. The untouchable Audigy series had 4.6 Million transistors on that silicon, right now we’re looking at 11 times less transistors compared to the new X-Fi audio processor.

The real deal however kicks in when you buy a Fatality of Elite Pro edition card. The X-Ram functionally appeals to me. At this moment in time we just can’t see the pure benefit of it just yet. As with all new technology the software needs to be patched and made compatible with this new technology. I’m a believer though and I believe this can be a very strong selling point to the gaming audience.

This is a very in-depth review that I encourage anyone to read if they are interested in check out this card. Expensive, but it looks like top quality. Check it out at Guru 3D.

The annual LAN adventure known as QuakeCON swung into full gear again from August 11th to 14th down in sweltering Dallas, Texas. Not only is QuakeCON known for its overall lack of estrogen, caffeine-fueled sleepless nights, and world-wide game and product releases, but also its overabundance of both beige oldies and well done case mods in a Bring-Your-Own-Computer crowd of nearly 3000. Each case mod built on any countless number of hours spent slaving over a dremel and breathing in particles of aluminum and spray paint deserves its own spotlight of artistic masterpiece.

Head over to Think Computers for the full look!

As our comprehensive review of the Seagate Momentus 5400.2 has revealed, this is one speedy hard disk thanks to its high areal density, spindle speed and large 8MB buffer!

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 out the full details over at Rojak Pot.

MARKHAM, Ontario – Aug. 22, 2005 – Novell today announced the worldwide availability of Novell® ZENworks® 7 Suite, the first systems management solution that automates the complete lifecycle of Linux* systems and allows organizations to manage their Windows* workstations from a Linux platform. Novell ZENworks automates and enforces business and IT management processes across the lifecycle of desktops, laptops, servers and handheld devices. As a result, organizations can control costs, ensure security and compliance and get the most from their IT asset investments.

“We recently implemented Novell ZENworks because of Novell’s direction with Linux and have already realized simplified management and deployment of our desktops,” said Richard Kebo, manager of network services for Clovis Unified School District. “We are excited about ZENworks 7 to manage our Windows and Linux systems and automate our
migration to Novell Linux Desktop.”

Check out the full press release over at Novell.com!

Rojak Pots list has just been updated!

– Added the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XT card.
– Added the S3 Trio 3D/2x card.
– Corrected the Architecture specifications for ATI Radeon X800GT.
– Corrected the Interface specifications for ATI Radeon 9200 SE.
– Corrected the Interface specifications for NVIDIA RIVA 128, RIVA 128 ZX and RIVA TNT.
– Total cards : 235

Check it out at Rojak Pot.

In these handy review pages, our lists, which we hope you find as useful as we do this our compilation of the range of AMD Athlon 64, Athlon64 FX, x2 dual-core & Sempron socket 939 motherboards available from Abit, ASRock, Asus, Biostar, Chaintech, DFI, ECS, Epox, Foxconn, Gigabyte, MSI & Soltek manufacturers which we hope will give you plenty of details to help you choose which make and model of AMD Athlon 64, Athlon64 FX, x2 dual-core & Sempron socket 939 motherboard to buy.

Check out the full review over at A1 Electronics.

ALTHOUGH BETTER KNOWN for graphics cards, Sapphire has quietly been making motherboards for a while now. Those motherboards haven’t really targeted the enthusiast market until recently, with the introduction of Sapphire’s “PURE Innovation” PI-A9RX480. The distinctive white board garnered plenty of attention at this year’s Computex show, and one has finally made its way to our labs for testing.

Check out the full review over at Tech Report.

Windows keyboard shortcuts are all intended to provide some sort of convenient alternative to common tasks, and whether specific combinations do so is up to the individual to decide. Some are simple time-saving motions, while others are complex maneuvers in finger gymnastics. There are dozens of other common Windows shortcuts (and even more related to specific software titles), and memorizing just a few of the more basic ones may be worth the time-savings they can afford you.

Check out the full article over at Big Bruin.

Currently in final production at the time of writing, the two samples in the photos are engineering samples so we couldn’t get out hands on one for testing, but having run the figures past Rys, they add up to just a little over 1000W output, drawing 1400W from the mains… so no need for a dimmer switch in the lounge anymore!

Check out the full review over at Hexus!

Currently in final production at the time of writing, the two samples in the photos are engineering samples so we couldn’t get out hands on one for testing, but having run the figures past Rys, they add up to just a little over 1000W output, drawing 1400W from the mains… so no need for a dimmer switch in the lounge anymore!

Wow, that’s insane! I have no idea which systems could take advantage of 1KW, but it’s somehting in the future for sure. Check out the pic and info over at Hexus.

If you are looking for a killer gaming card, but find the 7800GTX too expensive, then you will want to check out the recently released 7800GT. It’s been scaled down to 20 Pipes and 7 Vertex Units but it still packs a massive punch. We are taking a look at the eVGA version, which comes pre-overclocked! Time to see what this beast can do.

VALVE HAS made a Steam update stating that the oft-forgotten second Half-Life expansion, Blue Shift, is to be released over the system.

Sweet, free game! I actually enjoyed Blue Shift when it was first released, and I can’t wait until it’s released on Steam. Definitely look out for it. Source: The Inquirer

Xbox 360 News has released five pages with tons of info about the upcoming system. You can take a look at it now and decide which peripherals you want to buy when the system releases in November.

I previewed these sheets at my local EB the other day, so I’m not sure how prevelent they are, of if they are supposed to be viewed, but chances are they are. Check out all the info over at Xbox 360 News.