The Progress Of X.Org 7.4 @ Phoronix
"If all goes according to plan, X.Org 7.4 will finally be
released this month. This release isn't quite as elaborate as X.Org 7.3,
which introduced input hot-plugging, EXA enhancements, and RandR 1.2 to
just name a few features, but X.Org 7.4 is another update better
enhancing this X server. In this article, we are presenting a release
overview of the features to be found in X.Org 7.4, what's been delayed,
and how this release is panning out."
More information can be found
here
Thermolab Micro Silencer @ OCC
"As you can see, this cooler was outperformed by the other heatsinks, except for the Nano Silencer, in each test. When you take a look at the size difference between the Micro Silencer and the other heatsinks it was compared to, it should not have been able to beat them or even come close. However, again taking a look at its size, it is able to remove the heat off of the processor better than the stock cooler provided by Intel."
More information can be found
here
Geeks HP Jornada 728 Review @ Rbmods
Looking for something smaller than a laptop to fulfill your computing needs? Many have turned to handheld PCs as a substitute, but some lack all the features/applications needed. Geeks.com, popular online retailer of computer hardware, offers one such device, the HP Jornada 728, which comes loaded with applications in a compact size. Will this device offer the solution to your portable computing needs? Read on to find out.
More information can be found
here
MSI K9A2 Platinum Motherboard Review @ motherboards.org
MSI has done a wonderful job with their K9A2 Platinum motherboard. The performance is higher than the last AMD motherboard we did the Gigabyte GA-M69GM-S2H motherboard back in September. The ability to do Quadfire (Four ATI cards in Crossfire) is excellent. The minor issue with the motherboard utility aside and the problem with setting up RAID aside, this was a joy to work with. The question with the AMD motherboards is always whether it might be better to buy a new Intel CPU with new motherboard rather than buy an AMD board to use the old CPU. For the true hardcore enthusiast, there really isn't an AMD choice that makes sense as Intel Core 2 Quad CPUs dominate the AMD equivalents in performance. AMD competes in price as the lowest priced Intel Quad Core is 10%+ higher priced than the AMD equivalent.
More information can be found
here
ASUS EN9600GT Silent 512MB @ Techgage
Looking for excellent gaming performance but also want to keep PC noise to a minimum? The EN9600GT Silent from ASUS is the card to buy. It couples the power of the 9600 GT with pure silence, and costs little more than the stock model, making it a great choice for either the HTPC or desktop.
More information can be found
here
Noctua NH-U12P Heatpipe CPU Cooler @ Benchmark Reviews
Noctua has always fascinated me with their cooling solutions. They take the concept of product refinement to a new level, and often times simply tweak key areas of an existing design rather than reinventing the wheel. A perfect example of their research and development is found in the NH-U12P CPU cooler. This new product replaces their older NH-U12F model, and now features a NF-P12 cooling fan. Through the use of four heat-pipe rods configured in a "U" design, the NH-U12P borrows from the well-established performance record of many top-level coolers. Additionally, Noctua emphasises the complete experience beyond simply cooling the processor, and optimizes their products to operate with very low noise levels.
More information can be found
here
Cooler Master Hyper Z600 @ OCC
"When you take the Cooler Master Hyper Z600 out and get it alone, you are able to see how extremely large this piece of hardware actually is. Not only is it tall, it is also very wide. You can also see that the entire cooler is made out of aluminum, which is a very common choice between all manufactures to use for a cooler nowadays. All four sides of the Hyper Z600 look very similar; actually looking at only the fins, they are aligned the exact same on every side. This heatsink is setup very differently than any of the others that I have used before. There are two heatpipes that attach to the base and soar all the way up to the top of the heatsink and are positioned in each of the four corners of the unit."
More information can be found
here
XFX GeForce 9800GTX Black Edition Review @ gamepyre.com
The bundle and support are very well with the XFX Black Edition GeForce 9800GTX, it comes with COD4, which is one of the hottest PC gaming titles available at this moment and costs around $49.95 at most e-tailors or retailers making the card a more attractive buy. Support and warranty options are well taken care of BY XFX as they take very good care of their customers in the after purchase environment and quick RMA return times. Overall this card is a solid piece of equipment that excels in the 1920X1200 and below resolutions with moderate AA and AF settings. In the 1680 and 1280 resolutions you can turn up the AA and AF settings to their maximum values and get great FPS gameplay. Not quite a gamers gold card, but definitely a Gamers Silver card award winner.
More information can be found
here
Corsair Voyager 32GB Flash Drive @ Pro-Clockers
How would you like to have 32 gigs of storage in your front pocket? There was a time when just a one gig flash drive was the ‘big drive’. Just enough storage room to transport a few pictures of the loved ones or enough to hold a few songs to share with your best friend. Times have changed and needs have increased. Now we have movies, programs and other large forms of files that would shallow a one gig drive. That’s when a drive like the Voyager comes into play. Besides an abundance of space, the Voyager is rigid and durable as well.
More information can be found
here
ASRock Penryn 1600SLIX3-WiFi 680i Motherboard Review @ ThinkComputers.org
“ASRock came on board in 2002, not long after I started building my own rigs. In those six short years, they have come up with some remarkably innovative designs for economy motherboards. Today I will be looking at the ASRock Penryn 1600SLIX3-WiFi motherboard. ASRock has taken the nVidia 680i SLI chipset, given it the capability of running the new Core 2 Extreme 1600mHz FSB processors, added WiFi, and placed that in an economy-minded board.”
More information can be found
here
Corsair Voyager 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Memory Drive Review @ Futurelooks
It amazes me that each year memory companies keep putting out larger
and larger memory capacity portable storage devices at lower prices
than the previous year while trumping last year's products and their
competitors. Corsair, a world leader in producing high end computer and
flash memory products sent us their largest capacity USB 2.0 flash drive
to date sporting 32 GB of storage. Yes you read correct; a 32 GB USB 2.0
flash drive that you can carry around in your pocket. Crazy isn't it?
More information can be found
here
Being Cut Off From The Outside World @ TweakTown
"After a two week hiatus thanks to a house move, I’m back with my editorials; and while everything has been pretty smooth with the move, the one thing that hasn’t has probably been the most important.
I’ve moved into a new place which hasn’t actually got a phone line running to it. That’s okay, but I assume the telco company I was dealing with knew what they were doing when they booked a tech to come out and hook my line up. On the first appointment, he decided not to show up. The same thing happened with the second one."
More information can be found
here
Assassin’s Creed Xbox 360 Review @ Tech- Reviews
Assassin’s Creed was released on Xbox 360 in November 2007. It’s a third person stealth game in which you play as the main character, Desmond Miles. The main objective of the game is to complete nine assassinations. This game was released to a lot of hype, however, is this so called ‘Xbox Classis’ actually any good? Well read the great review at Tech-Reviews.co.uk to find out more.
More information can be found
here
GlacialPower GP-PS550BP @ JonnyGURU.com
We continue our exploration of some of the market's lesser known power supplies today with the GP-PS550BP from GlacialTech, a budget unit featuring semi-fanless operation, passive PFC, and a promise by the company of being capable of full power to 45 degrees.
Let's see how the cookie crumbles when we roast this budget unit alive on the load tester.
More information can be found
here
US Exclusive: Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler Review @ DragonSteelMods
"Today for review I've got something special, something that no one on this side of the ocean has yet actually, the Noctua NH-C12P CPU cooler. Noctua has honored us with the privilege of being their US launch partner for their new CPU cooler. The C12P continues Noctua's tradition of striving for performance without sacrificing quality along the way. The C12P is like no other Noctua designed cooler to date, and not much like any other CPU cooler I've even seen actually. It incorporates six heatpipes into a short, fat style body that Noctua calls a 'C-Type' design with airflow gaps that allow cooling of the motherboard components as well. This design allows for a much higher compatibility with more motherboards and PC case configurations, where a tall CPU cooler won't fit the NH-C12P will fit easily. The NH-C12P uses Noctua's own NF-P12 120mm fan for cooling so you know it will be quiet as well. The Noctua NH-C12P is possibly the best cooler on the market today, from my testing and re-testing it beats all others I have for comparison, and that includes names like Thermalright, Scythe, Zalman, and OCZ. I was so surprised by the results of my testing that I re-did the testing all over again to be sure of my results, and they were the same, the NH-C12P is the new king of CPU coolers... "
More information can be found
here
Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler @ Overclock3D.Net
"Another offering from the Austrian cooling experts in the form of a low profile HSF. We take a look at what it can do."
More information can be found
here
Computrace LoJack for Laptops Review @ HardwareLogic.com
"Regardless of where you purchased your notebook, there's a pretty good chance you were given the option to purchase LoJack for Laptops. A yearly sub scri ption runs $49.99, or three years for $99.99. But can you really buy peace of mind against hardware theft in a software package? And what concessions in performance will you have to make to run LoJack? HardwareLogic sets out to tackle these questions and more, and the results may just surprise you...
More information can be found
here
MSI GeForce 9600GT 1GB OC Graphics Card @ TweakTown
"We saw MSI mix it up just the other week with the 9600GT by overclocking it and going down the aftermarket cooler route. Aesthetically speaking, the card really didn’t do a lot for us, but as we dived deeper into the testing of the card we became pleasantly surprised by the performance the cooler offered.
The latest 9600GT variant from MSI sports the same cooler along with an extra 512MB of GDDR3, giving us a grand total of 1GB. The card also carries with it the same overclock we saw on the 512MB model which should aid in getting some extra performance over stock clocked offerings."
More information can be found
here
Kingston HyperX DDR2 PC-9200 Review @ TechwareLabs
Artiom takes a look at the fastest DDR2 memory currently available from Kingston in their HyperX line. This memory is meant to blur the lines and crank out pure speed and performance. How well does it do? Check out our review to find out.
More information can be found
here
Diamond's Viper Radeon HD 3650 1GB Graphics Card - Tested @HotHardware
While the average PC enthusiast may gawk endlessly over pages of reviews of high-end power-hungry graphics cards, jaw-slackened by the frame rates and 3DMark score that he or she might find there, at the end of the month it is the low to mid-range card that is purchased more often than not in the retail sector. Price typically is a primary consideration, but it's not the only concern. Availability, compatibility, and other issues factor in to a buyers decision as well.
Today we take a look at Diamond's lower cost, mainstream Radeon HD 3650 that increases total on-board memory to 1GB, but in doing so, uses lower cost, slower GDDR2 chips. In the pages ahead, we'll aim to find out if additional on-board memory really impacts performance more so than a smaller footprint of faster GDDR3 memory. The answer may definitely surprise you...
More information can be found
here
Akasa AK-TT12-80 Thermal Adhesive Tape @ Frostytech.com
"Akasa's AK-TT12-80 double sided Thermal Adhesive Tape comes in a small 80mm x 80mm square, about 0.3mm thick, from which you cut out a small square the appropriate size for your application. The thermal interface material has a thermal conductivity of 0.9 W/mK, and is double-sided to ensure bonding with the IC and heatsink. Peel adhesion is rated at 1200g/inch2 - or 1.2kg per square inch."
More information can be found
here
Thermolab Micro Silencer TLI-S Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com
"In this review Frostytech will be testing a low profile Intel socket 775 heatsink which could be ideal for 2U sized server chassis, small formfactor PCs and other media center microATX-style cases which are seriously height limited. The Thermolab Micro Silencer TLI-S heatsink uses a simple swagged aluminum fin and heatpipe construction, weighs a feathery 276 grams and comes with a pre-applied patch of 8 W/mK rated gray thermal interface material."
More information can be found
here
Noctua NH-U12P CPU Heatsink with/ Additional Fan Review@ TechwareLabs
For those seeking powerful cooling that is also quiet Noctua may be the answer. We take a look at the large NH-U12P heatsink from Noctua and test this beast against the stock Intel cooler to show you its installation, cooling performance, and our observations. Read our review to see what we think.
More information can be found
here
Cooler Master Real Power M850 850W @ techPowerUp
Cooler Master's Real Power M850 power supply is one of the first power supplies that has six 12V rails. This should be enough power for all your SLI or CrossFire needs. Like many other PSUs today, the M850 comes with a high gloss reflective case and a large number of connectors.
More information can be found
here
Lian Li PC-C1110 Super Mid-Tower Chassis Review @ OCIA.net
"Lian Li certainly put a lot of thought into the design of this case, even taking the time to implement the classic separate thermal zone design that is common to many full-tower and server cases. Can this case wow us like the PC-A17 did, though? Continue on as we find out.."
More information can be found
here
Computrace LoJack for Laptops Review @ HardwareLogic
"Did you just spend a paycheck or two on a kickin' new
notebook? Here's a scary statistic for you chew on: Roughly 2 million
portable PCs end up in thieves' hands every year, making notebook theft
the second most common crime, trailing only identity theft. Yikes! But
before you invest in a briefcase complete with chain and handcuff, there
may be a better alternative."
More information can be found
here
Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+(B) @ BRnR
“Regardless of what you use your PC for, few things are as important as keeping your data backed-up. These days, for speed capacity and price, nothing beats an extra hard drive or two for accomplishing this critical task. With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at a solution that will not only save you money but a lot of grief when disaster strikes - the Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+.”
More information can be found
here
Gigabyte GeForce 8800GT TurboForce 512MB @ APH Networks
While NVIDIA's 65nm G92 core is an optimized derivative of NVIDIA's original 90nm G80 core to a certain extent, cards based on the G92 like the 8800GT and 8800GTS 512MB is nothing but a success amongst performance enthusiasts -- and there's a good reason why. Our previous review of the Asus 8800GT TOP back in January showed that, in general, the 8800GT is not only a very capable card in terms of 3D performance and comes at a great price depending on the board manufacturer and retailer you are purchasing from, but are also very power efficient for what it offers. Last month, we got another variation of the 8800GT for our review -- this time, from Gigabyte. The Gigabyte GeForce 8800GT TurboForce 512MB is not just about great performance, however. Utilizing a shorter, unique signature Gigabyte-blue non-reference PCB, along with a Zalman copper cooler, combined with Gigabyte's custom overclocking and overvolting software to squeeze the heck out of this card, how does it step up against the rest? Let's check this card out and run it through our set of benchmarks. And of course -- overclocking.
More information can be found
here
Honeywell Airlite 700 Wireless Bluetooth Headset @ 3dGameMan.com
“The Honeywell Airlite 700 Wireless Bluetooth Headset performs admirable well. If you require wireless Bluetooth headset that has great range, battery life and speaker/mic clarity I would recommend you check this product out. Also, it's only .57 x 0.44 x 0.70 (inches) in size and weights 9 grams (.32oz). Small and lightweight is key for a mobile phone headset because over time a heavy headset would become a burden…”
More information can be found
here
Thermaltake BlacX Hard Drive Docking Station @ OCC
"Well, I must say I quite like the Thermaltake BlacX Hard Drive Docking Station. Transfer speeds were the same or better than the two traditional style enclosures that it was compared to. The ability to hot swap not only 3.5" hard drives, but 2.5" notebook drives as well, makes this unit a must-have for a computer enthusiast. Most enclosures are built for a certain size drive and take some work swapping them out, but with the Thermaltake BlacX, you just push the eject button and place a new drive into the docking station. This is especially good for transferring files from an old drive to an upgraded one with ease. One thing I liked is the fact that there are no fans, meaning it is very quiet when in use."
More information can be found
here
Asus R300 GPS Navigation Device @ I4U
"Today we are checking out a portable GPS device from Asus called the Asus R300. The R300 packs in all sorts of features like an FM transmitter and an internal GPS antenna.
Volume levels for the spoken directions are very good making them easy to hear over road noise and loud kids or music. The built-in FM tuner can also send the directions to your cars speaker systems and allows you to listen to music and hear audio tracks with video over the car stereo system."
More information can be found
here
NZXT Alpha Classical Series Mid-Tower Case @ Benchmark Reviews
Fortunately, since the PC Enclosure market is roughly organized into three segments; entry/OEM level, mid-range and performance/enthusiast, all you need to do to begin your case search, is to figure out which segment of the market fits your systems needs and zero your search down to that particular segment. Someone looking to spend between $25.00-$75.00 on their future system's enclosure need not waste their time exploring the expensive performance/enthusiast segment of the market, and so forth. Well, if part of your criteria is that you are on a budget or a first time builder, then usually the place to start is at the entry and budget mid-range levels.
Once there, while parusing the current multitude of styles and designs, your eye would almost certainly be caught by the entry-to-mid-range NZXT offering: the ALPHA. The first time you see it, you'll think, "I bet that's what Darth Vader's desktop looks like." Today at Benchmark Reviews, we're going to find out if NZXT's latest in their Classic series line is just another....pretty face?
More information can be found
here
Zalman ZM850-HP 850W Modular Power Supply Review @ ThinkComputers.org
“A little while ago, ThinkComputers reviewed the Zalman ZM500-HP 500W power supply unit. This time around, Zalman, maker of fine cooling products and power supplies, submitted for review a more powerful, but louder version of its line of power supply units, the ZM850-HP 850W. This 80PLUS-certified unit has lots of connectivity with its modular design, and two heatpipes and an ultra-quiet fan keep the unit virtually silent. The review is here.”
More information can be found
here
Vantec NexStar 3i Power Management Enclosure @ Pro-Clockers
Vantec has added another member to the NexStar 360 lineup. The 3i boasts some things that we have not seen from Vantec in their many ages in the industry. In the past year or so we have seen motherboards feature energy efficiency, now we have it in hard drive enclosures. The 3i has an integrated controller that can regulate power to the drive resulting in less power consumption, less noise and longer drive life. Adding the real reason why we buy hard drive enclosures, which is for data storage, the new Vantec housing may be worth taking a look at.
More information can be found
here
ThermoLab Micro Silencer CPU Cooler @ TweakTown
"Today’s product comes to us form a South Korean company called ThermoLab. Even though the company has been doing business since 2003, the chances of many readers already knowing the company are slim. This is mainly due to the types of products the company has been producing until now.
While most enthusiasts are looking for the largest heatsink they can fit in their system, many mainstream and server users are looking to keep their cases small. Small cases require smaller components, and believe it or not, smaller is getting to be a big deal."
More information can be found
here
Corinex GameNet Powerline Networking Kit Review @ Futurelooks
Corinex is a company that specializes in something called powerline
technology. In a nutshell, this technology takes advantage of the
pre-existing electrical wiring in your home (or any building) to
deliver a full Internet experience just about anywhere you have a wall
outlet. The key advantage of this method over a wireless connection is
that it cannot be blocked by walls, floors, or ceilings. It doesn't
matter if you live in a concrete jungle; it'll still work.
More information can be found
here
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850 Watt Power Supply Review @ Tweaknews.net
"With six +12v rails and four 6-pin PCI-E connectors just for starters, it's designed for those high end overclocked gaming rigs with multiple video cards that require a lot of power to perform optimally. Let's have a look at the rest of its offerings in more detail."
More information can be found
here
Giveaway Ends 5/10 On Gamepyre @ gamepyre.com
Well its been a few months since we had a free giveaway, but EVGA has hopped back on board to sponsor this months event. This time we will be giving two lucky winners the chance to receive one of EVGA's latest and greatest products for the overclocker. We will be giving away two of the new EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW series motherboards to two very lucky people. Just follow the link below and enter this spring event! You cannot win if you do not enter, so try your luck and enter today!!
More information can be found
here
AMD Phenom X3 processor family performance @ TechSpot.com
The latest processor series from AMD is a little unusual as it makes use of not one, two, or even four cores, but rather three! That’s right, the new Phenom X3 carries an unusual core configuration, and I guess the question most of you are probably asking yourselves (as we did) is why? The most reasonable explanation is that this still allows AMD to sell Phenom X4 processors with a defective core, minimizing their loss. Second, it gives some leverage for AMD to compete with Intel’s dual-core processors, being able to pull the "additional core" card.
More information can be found
here
Age of Conan Beta After 24 Hours @ BiTT Daily
I rolled myself a Priestess of Mitra. So let’s start with character creation. Overall I thought the variety of options for customizing my character was quite high. I won’t say I’m in love with the final product. I guess guys will be thrilled with the ability to make a hot body for the female avatars. I was not so thrilled with my best efforts to make a cute face. I realize this is not a huge issue, I am merely providing feedback in the order in which I experienced each aspect. I know the Hyborian life was a tough one so the people probably weren’t overly ‘cute� anyway. This was only cosmetic and not a big deal.
More information can be found
here
OCZ PC2-6400 ReaperX HPC 4GB Kit @ techPowerUp
The OCZ ReaperX HPC memory series is the newest variant of the heatpipe cooled memory available from the manufacturer. Its new design improves on the cooling with dual heatpipes and finer fins to keep the parts cool. In our testing we saw excellent performance going all the way to DDR2-736 at 3-3-3-12.
More information can be found
here
ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe - Intel P45 chipset review @ NordicHardware
"In this review, we will take a closer look at ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe, which is based on Intel's P45 chipset. The difference in performance between the P35 and its precursor P965 was minimal; the question is whether the P45 has any additional performance advantages. An important difference between P35 and P45 is that the latter is made using the 65nm manufacturing process, while the former was made with the 90nm process."
More information can be found
here
NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI Motherboard Round-Up, Asus, MSI @ HotHardware.com
It is hard to believe that it has been almost two full years since NVIDIA released a new flagship chipset for the AMD platform. Since the nForce 590i SLI's official release in May of 2006, NVIDIA has introduced a handful of mid-range and more affordable chipsets for AMD processors, but the 590i SLI was it at the high-end, despite AMD's release of new quad-core Phenom processors and competing 7-series chipsets.
Early this year while NVIDIA outlined their plans to mix things up at the high-end of their AMD chipset line-up with the IGP-equipped nForce 780a SLI, but it has taken quite a bit of time to bring that product to market. Today though, we present to you three nForce 780a SLI-based motherboards (two from Asus and one from MSI), that are sure to pique the interest of all of the AMD fans out there. For the first time since the Phenom launch, AMD fans will now be able to pair up NVIDIA's flagship graphics configurations with an AMD CPU and exploit all of the features inherent to both.
More information can be found
here
