Content and news by Rob Williams

We haven’t seen a retail Radeon X800 GT card run at higher clock speeds than the reference version, so default performance will always be similar. Price, too, will be similar for partners’ cards. The differentiating factor come down to features. PowerColor, with its Game FX X800 GT 256MB carrying dual-DVI-I outputs and using only R480 cores, is in the ascendency here. Our advice after 14 pages is actually quite simple; go buy it. £110 won’t buy you better overall 3D performance or a better feature-set.

Check out the review over at Hexus.

The basic design of laptops makes them the obvious choice for those who need their computing to be mobile. All of the key components (and then some) of a desktop computer can easily be configured into a minimal housing that goes with you just about anywhere. That said, there are some things you may want to add to your laptop computer in order to make it more comfortable to use, more convenient, and to extend its life while enduring the strains of daily use.

Head over to Big Bruin for the full article.

As there are tons of 7800GTX to choose from, we’ve come up with this roundup, which will encompass all of the available 7800GTX on the NZ market and hopefully it will assist you in your decision-making. In this round up, we will also take pricing, warranty, bundle value and ease of use into consideration.

Check out the full article over at Overclockers New Zealand.

OCZ has delivered another kickass product and while some of the testing showed that 4x UTT using 2-2-2-5 with 2T settings was a faster alternative when running 2GB, when using TCCD we were limited in our overclocking even when both kits can do 300+ on their own. Also, not all motherboards will provide the 3.1 volts UTT needed to run these speeds. Obviously, popping in two 1GB sticks of memory will be the preferred way of running 2GB of memory however, if you already have an existing gig of memory and are looking to add more moving to this type of kit may not be the most cost effective option. However, if you are building a new system or looking to upgrade an older memory kit then a kit like this is the perfect solution. OCZ memory includes a lifetime warranty and this particular kit is warrantied to 2.9v +5%.

Head over to 3D Xtreme for the full review!

ECS have put together a very stable and well rounded package with the PF21 Extreme. It is very overclocker friendly due to the huge amount of BIOS tweaks available to the user. Being the underdog, the PF21 is priced less than similiar specced boards from the more well known manufacturers, this makes the ECS PF21 Extreme an excellent choice whether you are a novice overclocker or a seasoned vet.

Check out the full review over at Viper Lair.

If you are a person who is (physically) moving a lot of data around, you have only a few options: USB stick, notebook or USB HDD. A notebook is quite expensive, big and heavy and USB sticks might not provide enough capacity for you.
With the Thermaltake Muse 3.5″ external HDD enclosure you can put your old IDE harddisks back at use. It supports fast USB2.0 transfers with speeds of up to 480 Mbps.

Check out the full review over at techPowerUp!

Thursday, August 18, 2005—Seattle, WA—Women In Games International unveiled itself today as a newly-formed organization in the interactive entertainment industry, spearheaded by a diverse group of game industry leaders. The organization was formed this year in response to a growing demand around the world for the inclusion and advancement of women in the game industry.

You can check out the full press release here!

It’s no secret that ASUS motherboards perform very well. But what’s their secret to success? Great engineering? Or something more than that? Today, we take a look at the ugly side of the hardware industry and see the real ace ASUS had up their sleeves!

Head over to Rojak Pot for the full review!

The war between Intel and AMD has been raging on for some time now, as both companies continue to vie for a bigger share of the consumer market. The result is better products for the consumers, and maybe a couple lawsuits along the way. AMD has always been the choice for the enthusiast community mainly because of their highly overclockable processors. With the new architecture and design of the Athlon 64 processors, AMD is set to raise the bar another notch. Today, we’re going to push an A64 3000+ Venice to its limits and find out if it’s worthy of the highly touted AMD badge.

Check out the full review over at ByteSector.

What happened to Tux? Soon after Sunspirestudios took Tux Racer commercial in 2001, our beloved open source Tux seemed to vanish from the program. Did he lose control and fly off a cliff? Was he a victim of a kidnaping plot from Redmond? No matter — thanks to the PlanetPenguin Racer (PPRacer) project, Tux is back with a vengeance, in a significant upgrade over what the open source Tux Racer offers.

Haha, I have always wondered if a new version would be released. Not exactly my idea of a fun game, but it’s worth checking out. Head over to Newsforge for more info.

With no loyalties, we’re free to openly jump between platforms and manufacturers, sometimes to the dismay of brand-fans, in search of faster speeds that bring better performance. Before the ABIT AN8-SLI was released, rumors flourished that it would challenge the DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR for top spot, so you can be sure that this review is going to be an exciting one as we try to settle that question. Call it an ABIT vs. DFI battle royal if you will. Based on the nVidia nForce4 SLI chipset, the ABIT AN8-SLI supports AMD Athlon64/FX/X2 processors and includes a Port 80 diagnostics card and of course the ABIT Q-OTES chipset cooling solution.

Head over to PC Stats for the full review!

hat’s right everyone time for some more free stuff!! This time it’s a High Power 480w Power Supply! All you do is have to is be an active member of our forums with 5 post and your entered into the giveaway! After 2 weeks we will pick a winner, good luck!

Check out the full details over at Think Computers.

The Spire SP503S0-1 is not designed to be the highest performance air cooler heatsink as it is made using aluminium but with the use off a copper insert gives a light weight combination with acceptable cooling performance.

Check out the full review over at A1 Electronics.

I always thought the name ‘Evercool’ was a cool name for a company that makes cooling products. A natural step in the evolution of making cooling products is of course to move to water cooling. After all, it is the new popular way to cool off those hot cpus and components. Well, Evercool has come up with a system that includes everything you need to water cool your components, everything except water! It is the WC-202 Water Cooler. I’ve dabbled a bit in water cooling and other liquid types of cooling so I was very curious as to just how well this system would work…

Head over to Think Computers for the full review!

I like gadgets and what some folks would call superfluous items as long as they are useful, not too expensive and not cheaply constructed. The XSPC LCD has all three of those criteria covered; you can get system stats on changing screens which could be useful while gaming or perhaps to display information from your Media/HTPC, and as far as Modding on the cheap goes these LCD displays look good for very little outlay, and are quick and simple to install.

Check out the full review of this cool product over at Viper Lair!

The Sunbeamtech Acrylic Lite-Up Keyboard has the typical features of your everyday keyboard with a few notable differences… The blue backlighting is a very cool feature, but it doesn’t help you read the keys much in the dark. It might be a great thing to show off at a LAN party, but if your looking for a visual aid when the lights go out, this may not be the keyboard for you.

Check out the full review at Big Bruin!

“It has been a while since we reviewed a psu, but Hiper offered us a shot at the “HPU-4B580”. With a maximum peak load of 630Watt this baby is able to power every heavy user. One thing I really liked is the way Hiper packaged the psu. It comes in a small plastic toolbox, and believe it or not all cables, manual and even the psu is packed inside ;-)

Check out the full review over at Hardware XL.

Lian Li releases a special case to celebrate their 20th anniversary! Resembling a snail’s shell it’s unlike any case on the market. This design is fitting since a snail’s shell symbolizes rebirth and new beginnings. While the design is radical for a case it’s still completely functional with 6×5.25” and 6×3.5” drive bays, 2 120mm fans, front USB, Firewire ports and much more.

Head on over to 3D Gameman to check out the preview.

It’s been just over a year since ASUS was forced to officially announce the PEG Link Mode. Unfortunately, very little is known about it till today. That’s what we intend to correct today.

After digging deeper into the mystery of PEG Link Mode, we are proud to present our report on what it actually does!

Check out the full article over at Rojak Pot.

MARKHAM, ONTARIO–(Aug. 17, 2005) – ATI Technologies Inc.
(TSX:ATY)(NASDAQ:ATYT) today announced the Xilleon(TM) 240, a
highly-integrated TV-on-Chip(TM) designed to enable cost-effective digital
television (DTV) sets for the North American and Korean markets. Xilleon
240 delivers both industry leading digital signal reception and
high-quality image processing display functionality required for a complete
DTV solution.

The new chip from ATI’s Digital TV Group is the first to integrate all the
major components necessary for manufacturers to build digital integrated
televisions at lower costs and in advance of the fast approaching DTV
requirements. The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
requires that 50 per cent of all 25-inch to 36-inch TVs include digital
tuners by July 1, 2005 and 100 per cent of this same segment by March 1,
2006.

Check out the full press release here.