Tech News

Vantec Portable USB2 Docking Station Video Review

Posted on September 15, 2005 10:42 AM by Rob Williams

This is an excellent product if you have a newer desktop or laptop because most of these newer systems don’t come with parallel, serial, or PS2 ports. This device enables the use of these older peripherals. It’s USB 1.1 and 2 compatible making it plug-and-play which results in easy installation and setup. It also doubles as a USB hub. A versatile product! Watch the Video to find out more…

Check out the full review at 3D Gameman!

Epox 5NVA+ SLI NF4 Intel Edition Motherboard Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 5:23 PM by Rob Williams

Motherboards like the Epox 5NVA+ SLI support Socket 775 Pentium 4/D/Extreme Edition as well as Celeron D processors. The four DIMM slots can accommodate up to 8GB of unbuffered non ECC DDR2 memory running at 400/533/667 MHz, while operating in dual channel mode with 1.8V. Epox also bundles a few on board goodies with the board such as Gigabit LAN, a 7.1 audio controller, IEEE 1394 and my personal favorite a Port 80 diagnostics card. If you need something the motherboard does not support, there are two free PCI Express x1 slots (three if you count the second PCI Express x16 slot when only running one videocard) and two open 32 bit PCI slots for legacy hardware. Of course, we must not overlook the two PCI Express x16 slots which will support SLI set-ups with the appropriate videocards either!

Head on over to PC Stats for the review!

ASUS Extreme N7800 GTX TOP Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 5:20 PM by Rob Williams

Today we have ASUS’s latest limited edition and uniquely designed Extreme N7800 GTX TOP. TOP stands for Top Overclocking Performance, and it definitely earns its name. The ASUS Extreme N7800 GTX TOP has a unique heat sink and fan-cooling unit. In order to support the size and weight of this cooling unit, ASUS had to design this video card as a dual-slot video card. Although the actual size of this video card is very large, the increased size is a small price to pay as you will see.

Check out the full review over at Hard|OCP!

A closer look at PerfectDisk and PerfectDisk Live

Posted on September 14, 2005 4:30 PM by Rob Williams

Today we are going to look at one of the best 3rd party disk defragmenter tools available. Perfect Disk 7® is an extremely complete and fast disk defragmenter. It was designed to work with Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000, Windows 2000 and Windows XP only. Raxco’s PerfectDisk’s SmartPlacement™ technology provides a fast and efficient defragmenter that offers single pass file defragmentation and free space consolidation. It can also handle any of today’s large disk sizes. PerfectDisk 7 integrates seamlessly with Microsoft’s Active Directory to provide easy scalable network deployments and scheduling abilities.

Head on over to NGOHQ for the full article!

MSI P4N Diamond NF4-SLI Intel Edition Motherboard Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 4:26 PM by Rob Williams

While the chipset was announced a months ago, nForce4-SLI Intel Edition motherboards are just now hitting the market. MSI Computers new P4N Diamond looks well… like a real gem of a motherboard! Obviously based on the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset, the motherboard supports Socket 775 800/1066 MHz FSB Pentium 4/XE, Pentium D and Celeron D processors as well as a maximum of 4GB of DDR2-667 memory. The way nVIDIA implemented SLI on its NF4 SLI Intel Edition chipset is a bit different than with the AMD version. With the NF4 SLI Intel Edition the first physical PCI Express x16 slot gets lane 0 and all the even numbered lanes thereafter while the second physical PCI Express x16 slot gets all the odd numbered lanes.

Check out the full review at PC Stats!

City of Villains Dev Chat Tonight

Posted on September 14, 2005 4:20 PM by Rob Williams

Join us tonight on Stratics IRC as we chat with the developers of City of Villains, the standalone sequel to City of Heroes. This House of Commons will be at 3pm PDT / 8pm EDT / 10pm UTC/GMT in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC. You can connect to one of our…..

NZXT Trinity Case Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 3:19 PM by Rob Williams

Pretty impressive for a mid tower case. I will say the box had it
right, “Just Sexy”. Bone stock and it still looks awesome… if I, or anyone
else, were to make this case unique and mod it further then it could only
look even sexier.

Check out the full review at Case Mod God!

Half Life 2 – Lost Coast Playtest, Screens and Tech Info

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:49 PM by Rob Williams

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast is Valve’s reply to a series of What If questions: what if there were no limits? What if we didn’t have to make sure people with mid-range systems could enjoy our games? What if the system requirements knew no bounds?

Following the release of Half-Life 2 worldwide on 16th November 2004, a group of programmers and artists at Valve sat down to create the ultimate level, incorporating ultra high resolution textures, models and adding High Dynamic Range Rendering (HDR) to the Source engine. Their aim was to create a technology showcase: a no-holds barred level that would set new standards in image quality and realism; something to really push even the highest of today’s high-end systems.

I cannot wait for this level! Check out the great article at Bit-Tech!

Titan Robela Watercooling Case Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:48 PM by Rob Williams

With the Robela, I was torn to come up with a final statement. The
water cooling abilities of the Robela are decent but certainly not
impressive. If I was running a system that was not overclocked and looking
for a case that would run almost silently, then the Robela would be a very
good choice. Heck, even with an overclocked setup the Robela system would be
acceptable as it runs the CPU only a few degrees higher than a large
aftermarket cooler, without any of the extra noise associated with that type
of cooler.

Check out the full review at Overclockers Online.

Philips Prepares Rugged 10GB 1" Hitachi USB Drive Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:44 PM by Rob Williams

Philips apparently has big plans for an all-Hitachi USB drive series. First to come is the rugged 10GB USB drive driven by Hitachi 3600-rpm 1″ MicroDrive. What makes this special is that it can be withstand a 1.8m drop and that it comes with a truckload of Nero Sync and Backup. Let’s hope the Philips drives can help Hitachi offset the loss of business due to Apple switching HDD to flash. Philips will also release 2.5″ & 3.5″ Hitachi USB drives with capacity ranging from 40GB to 400GB.

Check out the full look over at EverythingUSB!

Geil ONE PC3200 DDR 400MHz Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:17 PM by Rob Williams

It’s Thursday, a package comes in. I notice it’s from Geil. Once opened I immediately notice a couple of things, the first being the class A packaging .. Spartan in all it’s ways but hey .. there’s no way you can damage the memory as the packaging is made of pure plexi-glass. The second thing you’ll notice is the pure beauty of the Geil memory modules.

Funky heatspreader with brushed tin coated copper finish and hey .. you’ll immediately realize that Geil is manufacturing memory for the enthusiast audience. Today’s memory is no different as once you observe the sticker I went like .. how on earth am I going to test that ? Today’s memory can handle a CAS latency of 1.5 …

Wow, 1.5CAS! Check out the full review at Guru 3D.

Ahanix D.Vine 5 MCE601 Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:14 PM by Rob Williams

There is more to computers than just video games, overclocking and the internet. Now that we have DVDs, music, plasma TVs and surround sound systems the PC has become a home multimedia device. Honestly who would want to watch Sin City on a 19″ monitor? With many video cards having TV out capabilities and HDTV TV tuners, we can have our computers broadcast on a 61″ HDTV flat screen TV. One of the leaders in making our computers more fit to be furnished in our living rooms is Ahanix. And with the introduction of the MCE601, they make our PC look even better.

Check out the full review at Pro-Clockers.

HIS X800GT IceQII Turbo 256MB PCI Express Video Card Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:12 PM by Rob Williams

A couple days after our fair well to AGP with the HIS X700 review we get back to the lovely PCI Express bus. What better way to do it then with a review of the HIS X800GT Turbo. This card features the R423 ASIC, 8 pixel pipes, 6 vertex engines, and 256MB of GDDR3 memory. The reason why the card is the “Turbo” version is because it comes with HIS’s iTurbo overclocking software which overclocks the X800GT’s core and memory frequencies with a single click.

Check out the full review of this great card at Bona Fide Reviews.

Transcend T-Sonic 610 512MB MP3 Player Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:09 PM by Rob Williams

With the availability of so many different brands and sizes of MP3 players, the Transcend T-Sonic 610 stands out with its crisp, clear sound, and deep bass tones during MP3 playback, with the FM Tuner, and the built in recorder. If you take into account that no additional software is necessary to use it, and the overall ease of use, you have a great MP3 player!

Head on over to Big Bruin for the full review!

Titan Robela Water Cooler Case Review

Posted on September 14, 2005 2:03 PM by Rob Williams

Titan Robela is a very innovative product as It is not only a cool looking and solid, but it also has high performance CPU and GPU water cooling performance. Its huge radiator helps a lot to dissipate the heat very well although we feel that the pump is really not powerful enough. The LCD panel looks great and works well by displaying most of the important water cooling information including noise level. However, good stuff doesn’t come cheap as the retail price for the Titan Robela is between USD388 and USD399. The cheaper one is using the shining metallic front panel as we mentioned in the beginning of the review. You might say that a custom built water cooling plus a standard ATX case won’t cost that much. But remember that the Titan Robela comes wiht an integrated water cooling case so it will be easy for maintainance and free of installation. Overall, the Titan Robela is a pretty good water cooled case that comes with all the blings!

Check out the full review at PC Modding Malaysia. Expect our review of the Robela next week!

Lian-Li PC-65B Review

Posted on September 13, 2005 3:47 PM by Rob Williams

Featuring a sleek and chic brushed aluminum shell the Lian Li PC-65b is all anyone could wish for in a mid tower. With the ability to remove the motherboard and PSU in just a couple seconds. Lian Li is known for their elegant and classy cases, they are designed and built to carry on the motto: a purchase you’ll never regret.

Check out the full review over at techPowerUp!

Corsair Twin2X1024-8000UL Memory Review

Posted on September 13, 2005 3:44 PM by Rob Williams

With the release of dual core processors, there is again a bandwidth crunch and DDR2 memory is the only source capable of filling the void. Corsair is quick on the ball, and today we have some very quick PC2-8000 compatible memory to test as a result. According to Corsair, with compatible supporting hardware, its 240-pin DDR2 Twin2X1024-8000UL memory can run at…..1000 MHz! Amazing!

Head on over to PC Stats for the full review!

Zalman CNPS9500 LED Heatsink Review

Posted on September 13, 2005 3:43 PM by Rob Williams

FrostyTech’s back, and in addition to thermal stress tests, we’ve taken sound measurements, poked and prodded, measured and compared just about every surface of the Zalman CNPS9500 LED heatsink in their latest review! The CNPS9500 LED heatsink is compatible with all current AMD and Intel socket formfactors. The heatsink is voluminous, but designed to operate quietly and cool under low noise, low fan-speed conditions. Three heatpipes bent into a figure-eight form the backbone of the CNPS9500 LED heatsink, and the rest of the design is simply form following function to a “T”.

This is by far, one of the best looking heatsinks out there right now. Does the unique design make for better cooling? Check out the full review at FrostyTech.

Eclipse & Mystic: Offbeat Cases from ThermalRock

Posted on September 13, 2005 11:30 AM by Rob Williams

The ersatz CD player front panel has a tradition at ThermalRock, and this time around is no different – it’s all just a fata morgana. Granted, you can still insert a real CD or DVD in the recess of the case, but it won’t play. Whereas the initial model in the series – the Circle RH-F030-25W – had storage space for four such discs, the Eclipse midi tower only lets you stow a single one. With the Mystic, this feature was dispensed with entirely; instead of the CD, all you see is an arc of light.

These are cool looking cases, especially if you are into that odd CD Player look. It looks like ThermalRock did a fantastic job on these two cases though, there’s none other really like them either. Check out the full look at Toms.

Flash hard drive reaches 155GB

Posted on September 13, 2005 11:14 AM by Rob Williams

BITMICRO showed off a 155GB Ultra 320 SCSI solid state hard drive at a military show here in London. The E-Disk 3S320 will operate at temperatures between -60° Celsius to over 95° Celsius, said the company.

This thing must be crazy expensive.. I don’t think we want to know. But it is fast as heck though, so hopefully it will become more mainstream in the near future. Check it at The Inquirer.

Lego Lawyers Say No One Else Can Be Named Lego

Posted on September 13, 2005 11:11 AM by Rob Williams

A dispute between a painter and a toy-maker was reported in ‘The Copenhagen Post’ this week. Apparently the toy producer Lego, a Danish company and maker of the toy building blocks known around the world, is suing a Danish artist because she uses her middle name, Lego, as her signature on artworks. So, the toy company is basically saying that Louise Lego Andersen’s art work could be mixed up with their toy company.

We made a post last week about how the company will rag you out if you call them Legos. That was bad enough.. but now it’s just getting ridiculous. Check out the posting at Tech Dirt.

Office 12 Exposed

Posted on September 13, 2005 11:09 AM by Rob Williams

The Programmers Developer Conference (PDC) has unveiled the user interface for Microsoft Office 12. Bearing more than a passing resemblance to Aqua and brushed metal looks from Mac OS X the menus now appear to operate more like a tab popping-out the right toolbar instead of a sub-menu.

Check out the full posting at Slashdot, which includes a link to many pictures of the new Office.

Samsung Syncmaster 920T 19inch LCD Review

Posted on September 13, 2005 11:05 AM by Rob Williams

As everyone knew, LCD monitors are now the most sought after computer display device in the world with standard CRT monitor sales dropping like a lead balloon over a black hole. The reasons for their success are obvious as seen above and their drawbacks are being picked off one by one by manufacturers trying to get a product onto the market that is superior than the rest.

Check out the full review at TweakNews.

Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000 Review

Posted on September 13, 2005 10:59 AM by Rob Williams

It has been quiet from Crucials side for awhile as the other companies have pushed out high performing memory out on the market. We got a sample though of their new Ballistix Tracer that is the follower to the popular Ballistix memory that was released awhile back. It will be interesting to see how this new Tracer version performs compared to some Mushkin and OCZ ram that are very well known as high performers.

Check out the full review over at R&B Mods!

Cooler Master Aerogate II Thermal Controller Review

Posted on September 13, 2005 10:56 AM by Rob Williams

Popular amongst many case modders, the Cooler Master Aerogate II not only looks nice but is also useful in monitoring case temperatures and controlling fan speeds. Today, Papercut takes a look at an improved version of the Cooler Master Aerogate II, which corrects issues discovered in the original Aerogate II. Come and see what’s new!

Check out the full review at Rojak Pot!

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