Content and news by Rob Williams

“Ultra’s been around for a long time. Starting out as the white box division for Midwest Micro, Ultra is now largly an enthusiast component company, manufacturing all sorts of niche components with that little tweak to it that makes them unique. Ultra sells everything from rechargable MP3 players with built-in email clients to DDR memory with heat spreaders in mahogany boxes. But their most popular items are no doubt their power supplies.”

Check it out at SL Central.

Nvidia released their nForce 4 SLi Intel Chipsets today, and reviews are ALL over. Here is a list of sites that have reviews up today:

HardOCP
Bjorn3D
Hexus
HotHardware
Viperlair

“Apart from a slightly high pitched noise when reading CDs at high speeds, this drive is just about flawless. The drive performed all the speed tests as expected, has a compact size, and comes with a great software package. The LITE-ON SOHW-1673S definitely should be considered if you’re shopping for a new DVD Writer.”

Check it out at PCXL.

“As the name suggests, the DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR is a Nforce 4 SLI chipset-based motherboard incorporating a pair of PCIe x16 slots for dual SLI videocard action with compatible nVidia-based graphics accelerators. It supports up to 4GB of non-ECC DDR-SDRAM in its twin pairs of dual-channel memory slots. Up to eight SATA drives can be attached, four using the integrated SATA 3GB/s controller and an additional four on a Silicon Image SATA 150 controller.”

Check it out at PC Stats.

NGOHQ is looking for beta testers for the following projects:

* NGO nForce Cooling Patch
* NGO AC’97 Codec
* NGO ATI Optimized Driver
* NGO ATI Optimized Driver 64bit
* NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver
* NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver 64bit
* NGO Windows XP Universal Tweaker
* NGO USB overclock file swapper

Check out the info at the NGOHQ website.

“The term ‘a multicore processor architecture’ is very significantly a very clear distinction from the term ‘dual-core’… So whilst we’re eagerly awaiting the results of all of our AMD and Intel dual-core desktop processor testing, we can confirm info which we understand was probably first posted at GameSpy: “CPU: Xenon’s central processing unit (CPU) has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each is capable of at least two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three.”

Check it out at Hexus.

“Application performance is probably secondary as the nForce4 SLI is aimed squarely at gamers and enthusiasts. Going back to AMD Vs Intel, it used to be pretty clearly AMD all the way, but now the waters have muddied somewhat as the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition has bridged the gap by allowing the user to plug in two NVIDIA cards into their system. Granted, one card will also do for those who can’t splurge on two cards, but the idea we’re trying to make clear is you now have a choice.”

Check it out at Viper Lair.

“Both x850 products really are expensive though, there was a very good reason that I wanted to include the Radeon x800 XL results in these tests also. As that card my friends, still offers the most bang for your bucks. If you’d make a calculation in the amount of money that you pay versus the framerate that XT would extinguish the 850 XT and XT PE versions from a price point of view. But that’s not what this review is about.”

Check it out at Guru 3D.

“N: Can you use a PS2/XBox/(insert console controller) with ANY accuracy at all or are you as pants as Zak, one of our forum admins… and why?
S: Who’s Zak?
N: He’s one of the HEXUS forum admins, and he regularly moans about lack of decent controls for console FPSs.
S: Oh right… no, I’m as pants as he is then. I can’t use them either. HALO on the Xbox is the only FPS I’ve really played a lot of and that compensates in some ways for the fact you’re using a joypad. The problem is, all these controllers made for FPS games are all joypad or joystick based, which just doesn’t give the freedom of movement you need… I’m sure there’s a much better solution than keyboard and mouse just waiting to be invented, but as it hasn’t, keyboard and mouse is the best we’ve got… you just don’t get the same feel or control with a joypad.”

Check it out at Hexus.

“Both AMD & Intel are chasing to get their dual core processors on sale first which will take us into the next generation of computing for home and office. AMD were the first to demonstrate the first dual-core 64-bit processors running. This has left Intel in the position they are not accustomed to of not being the first and thankfully we have noticed that they do not keep spouting on about the so-called Moores Law either now. Can we have a Janes Law please.”

Check it out at A1 Electronics.

Ahead has stepped up to the Linux plate with their NeroLinux offering. Does the program offer enough to drag people away from K3b and other Burning apps? Check out the review to find out!

“This afternoon, we are venturing a bit into consumer electronics as we take a look at the Transcend JetFlash MP3. Although this may have only a fraction of the storage capacity of a traditional Apple iPod or Creative Labs Zen Micro, its price surely isn’t something to cause worry.”

Check out the review at Phoronix.

“Overall, I really like A-Top’s Gladiator. The aluminum shield with the cold cathodes behind it really makes the Gladiator stand out from the crowd and the use of mesh to replace the typical plexiglas or acrylic window borders on being truly inspired. The paint job on the Gladiator is pretty good and looks like it should hold up reasonably well. Oh, and let’s not forget the included LED case fans and UV cold cathode, along with the power supply sporting UV-reactive cables and connectors. This case will definitely get you some attention at your next LAN!”

Check it out at Lan Addict.

“RAID 0 offers better performance but no data redundancy. And it’s the opposite for RAID 1. We all want the best of both worlds but often, that isn’t possible.

But when it comes to RAID, it might just be possible with Intel’s Matrix RAID technology! Let’s see what’s so great about the Intel Matrix RAID and if it really works!”

Check it out at Rojak Pot.

“The 3.2GHz Pentium XE 840 is offered as an alternative to current single-core Extreme Edition CPUs. It may not quite have the pure gaming performance punch as, say, the 3.73GHz XE, but it’s a better proposition when considered over a wide variety of applications. Think of it this way. The worst-case performance scenario is that the £650 Pentium XE 840 performs much like a single-core 3.2GHz 640 model. The best-case scenario, that is, being run with apps. that take advantage of its 4-thread parallel processing ability, is performance that no single-core Pentium 4 could ever hope to match, even under the most esoteric cooling. “

Check it out at Hexus.

“I have to say that when I first saw these on their site, I thought “WOW, it’s about time someone came up with these!!” and Then I thought those would look cool in my computer, I have to have them, and here they are. From the pictures on their site, I thought they were made of some cheap chrome colored plastic, the site actually doesn’t tell you what they are made of, it just says ‘Nice Chrome anodized finish’. Well I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that they are actually metal, and they are pretty heavy (not in a bad way of course) but suprisingly for their size, they are heavier than you would think! These screws are on available now for $6.99 for 4 screws, and they come in three colors, Blue,Red, and Green. I got the blue ones for review today!”

Check it out at ThinkComputers!

“In conjunction with the April Fool’s Day, ARP came up with an exaggerated review of the ATI X800 Pro Ultra 2X Dual GPU Graphics Card, which of course doesn’t exist.

Many fell for it but it was all for fun. And for those who took the mock contest at the end – a little satisfaction and exclusivity… Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone!”

Check out the [fake] review and such at Rojak Pot.

LANCASTER, PA, MARCH 28, 2005 – NeenerNeener.Net, a website dedicated to Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs), today announced that they have received support from game developers and gamers across the world for the MS Walk 2005. Team NeenerNeener.net participates in the annual fundraising event benefiting research for Multiple Sclerosis, and with Comment (0) -->

“Airflow aside, probably the most unique feature is the number of blades: two separate layers of “interwoven” 8 blades for a total of 16. This doesn’t seem to impact performance much either way, but the appearance is certainly novel. The model pictured above is the 3000 and has a transparent blue frame with 8 transparent blue blades. Between them are 8 chrome blades. You may also noticed that all of these fans have LEDs mounted around the perimeter.”

Check out the full review at MikhailTech.

“EPoX put together a very nice motherboard based on the 925XE chipset. While you need to own the incredibly expensive 1066FSB Extreme Edition CPUs to get the most out of it, we see little reason to pickup a 925X based board even if you have an 800FSB CPU. The extra headroom should allow better overclocking as the chipset is validated at the higher speeds, and there isn’t much of a price premium between 925X and 925XE boards.”

Check out the full review at Viper Lair!