News From Our Affiliates

OCZ ReaperX HPC 4GB PC2-6400 Memory Kit @ Benchmark Reviews

Big as a whale and about to set sail, Benchmark Reviews brings you a review of OCZ's overclocker grade, heatpipe-equipped ReaperX HPC 4GB DDR2-800 kit OCZ2RPX800EB4GK. Outfitted with massive heatspreaders and a frankly unorthodox cooling system designed to handle voltages up to 2.2v and beyond, OCZ's ReaperX HPC kit may be just waht the die hard overclocker is looking for.

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Lian Li A77 Aluminum Full Tower @ Pro-Clockers

Today, we will be dissecting the Lian Li A77 full size case. The pure size of the A77 alone is enough to win over most of us. But for me it’s the style and other features like the 12 bays, the locations for numerous 120mm fans, removable motherboard tray, top panel and fan controller. You may say there are many other cases that have these features. There are none that do it the way Lian Li does. So now we will jump into the review and get to know this beautiful tower.

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Gigabyte HD 4850 GV-R485-512H-B @ OCC

"This card was a bit tough to overclock because the temperatures held it back. I was able to get the card from the stock GPU clock speed of 625MHz all the way up to 675MHz. The memory went up from the stock frequency of 990MHz up to 1075MHz. Overall, that's a pretty good overclock, especially since this card was overclocked 35MHz more on the GPU and 30MHz more on the memory than the PowerColor HD 4850 that it's competing against. With an aftermarket cooler, I'm sure this card would be able to go much higher than what I got it at."

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QuakeCon 2008 – Visiting the Vendors @ TweakTown

"Several PC companies came out to show their support of gaming. AMD, Intel, Dell, Kingston and Cyber Power were the big names of the show, but several others had smaller displays as well. Each company used their own methods to attract gamers; some gave away loads of products, and others had exotic booth babes. A few companies simply let their products speak for themselves. With so many gamers in attendance, all were successful. QuakeCon was a perfect spot for these companies to showcase their products to users. While many attendees were only roaming the Vendor Halls looking for free swag, several were knowledgeable consumers looking to make their purchasing decision based on the companies that support their growing sport."

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MSI Wind U100 Sub-Notebook Review @ Futurelooks

At COMPUTEX Taipei 2008, we got flooded with a wide assortment of Eee PC competitors. The two things that most of these units had in common was the fact that they had displays larger than seven-inches and most were powered by the new Intel Atom processor. On paper, one of the most appealing offerings was the MSI Wind. Although it has gone through its fair share of delays, the MSI Wind is now available for mass market consumption and we had the chance to take a review unit out for an extended test drive.

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Antec Twelve Hundred Case Review @ HardwareLogic

"With the firestorm of success that was and still is the Antec Nine Hundred, how could Antec possibly expand on a design that has won countless awards and accolades? Easy! Introduce the Antec Twelve Hundred, the successor to the Nine Hundred, only in this iteration, take a proven design and make it even bigger, badder, and bolder. With this newest enclosure, Antec delivers a one-two punch that has left other chassis manufacturers reeling. Or has it? Will the Twelve Hundred live up to its hype? Is it the true heir to the Nine Hundred? HardwareLogic brings out the heavy artillery to find out!"

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QuakeCon 2008 - Paint, Glue & Sponge Bob @ TweakTown

"QuakeCon is many things to many people. For the pro gamer it is a place to show your skills; challenging the best of the best and competing against the world’s top teams in everything from Guitar Hero to different variations of Quake. Gamers old and new travel to Dallas, Texas every year, trying to compete for their piece of the prize money. Computer enthusiasts who do not compete on the professional level also attend QuakeCon. Many are there to participate in LAN gaming in what is known as the BYOC, or Bring Your Own Computer. This area features some of the world’s top enthusiasts, some flying in from places like Sweden, Germany and even Asia. The computers they bring are often one off, custom enclosures that take up to several months to fabricate."

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Sapphire HD 4850 Toxic 512 MB @ techPowerUp

Sapphire's new HD 4850 Toxic graphics card comes with a preinstalled Zalman VF-900 GPU cooler that greatly reduces the operating temperature of the card. Also the operating frequencies have been bumped quite a bit, with some additional overclocking potential left in the card.

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Thermaltake MaxOrb Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

"The Thermaltake MaxOrb heatsink is a novel design based around a half-dozen heatpipes and six individual arcs of cooling fins. I have to wonder if its design was born out of a desire not to infringe on existing patents, rather than sheer innovation... but in any event, the approach here guarantees an even fin pitch across the complete cooling surface area. In that respect the MaxOrb breaks new ground, allowing it to stand out from heatsinks of similar shape."

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SilverStone Lascala LC13-E @ Phoronix

"The last time we looked at a SilverStone Lascala chassis was back in 2006 when reviewing the SilverStone LC20M, which boasted an aluminum front panel, plenty of room for storing extra hard drives, and even a VFD panel with IR receiver. We are back today though with the Lascala series as we explore the LC13-E, which promises next-generation cooling performance, a highly compatible chassis layout, magnificent front panel design, and at a price that most can afford."

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QuakeCon 2008 - A Quad Damage of Babes @ TweakTown

"At QuakeCon I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of female gamers in attendance. Not only has gaming crossed the lines of language and social class, but it is now smashing through the gender barrier. Don’t come to QuakeCon and expect to get your ‘game’ on unless you are a top seeded pro player or can handle more vodka than these professional party girls. Still, they can show you a good time and still kick your ass at gaming."

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Supermicro X7DWA-N @ PC Review

"I had the opportunity to spend some time testing and evaluating this motherboard with two sets of CPUs and two types of memory. First using two X5482 Harpertowns (3200/12mb/1600) and 4x2 gig of Transcend DDR2-800 FB-Dimms, and later on using two E5450 Harpertowns(3000/12mb/1333). This EATX board is built using the newest 5400 Seaburg chipset with 1600FSB support built in. The layout is a typical EATX 12x13” design and like previous versions uses 24, 8 and 4 pin connections to the motherboard. With this new series, a 4 pin Molex connector is added to the board for users with higher power needs. There are 8 Dimm slots for quad channel memory support (up to and including DDR2-800 FB-Dimms) for a maximum of 64 gigs. The board comes boxed with 6 SATA cables, I/O shield, IDE cable, and an excellent manual and Cd with all needed software and drivers."

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Fedora 10 Alpha Preview @ Phoronix

"Fedora 9 had shipped earlier this year with kernel-based mode-setting support, an early release of NetworkManager 0.7, PackageKit integration, install-time encryption support, initial EXT4 support, the Upstart daemon, and many other improvements. Now, however, it's time start getting excited over Fedora 10. The first Alpha release of Fedora 10 (codenamed Cambridge) was released this morning. In this article we have screenshots of Fedora 10 along with some of the features you can expect when this Linux operating system ships in October."

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Welcome To The Social Canada! A review of the Microsoft Zune @ DreamWare Computers

"For over a month now the Zune has been trying to make it's name in Canada; a long wait after being out in the USA for well over a full year. When I was given the opportunity to participate in a word of mouth marketing survey for the Zune, I was excited to get started with my free Zune pack that I received from matchstick.ca. In the following article I'll outline my overall experience with the Zune and the accessories that I was given."

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OCZ SSD 64GB 'Core series' Solid State Disk @ Overclock3D.Net

"Can OCZ's latest SSD incarnation tempt you away from conventional drives? We put the Solid State Drive through it's paces in our latest storage review."

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Asus Striker II Extreme Motherboard @ TechwareLabs

Jason Dumbaugh tests the Striker II Extreme motherboard from Asus to bring you the real scoop on just how EXTREME this motherboard really is. Does it pass our tests? What kind of performance can you expect from the Striker II Extreme? Read our Review to find out.

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NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) v4.4 Program Released... @ MVKTech

"MVKTech has just released a new version of NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) software. NiBiTor is the original and defenitive BIOS tweaker that supports the latest NVIDIA graphics cards. NiBiTor allows graphics card enthusiasts to have full control over advanced features and functionality found on firmware on supporting cards. This to gain some extra performance, enable hidden features and extra stability on the NVIDIA graphics cards."

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G.Skill DDR2 PI Serie PC2 8800 CL5 4GB Memory Review @ Technic3D

"The G.Skill DDR2 PI Serie PC2 8800 CL5 4GB Kit arrived Technic3D. Technic3D will see as good they are with Overclocking against other Memory Kits on Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and the Asus P5K (P35) Mainboard. You can see 1.180 MHz with CL5 in the following Review."

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Thermaltake Armor VH6001 Case Review @ motherboards.org

Thermaltake has raised the bar with their ESA-qualified Armor BWS6001 case. The case has all of the expansion options you expect from a Full-Tower ATX case and the features that you need as well. Extras like the optional accessories tray and external SATA port on the IO set this case apart from the competition at this price range. Thermaltake has taken their expertise in water cooling and construction and applied it to their case design. If you're looking for a case with the features that most want including a removable motherboard tray this case has it. ESA is an NVIDIA initiative for system builders that want total control of the system. For a price online of $250, this case is well worth the price for the hardware enthusiast wanting the extra room and space a full tower case offers.

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Top 5 Low Profile Heatsinks on Frostytech @ Frostytech.com

"Quickly find the best CPU thermal solution for compact, microATX, media, HTPC, and slim computer cases by consulting Frostytech's Top 5 Low Profile heatsink charts. Sorted into categories for heatsinks measuring less than 110mm, 75mm or 30mm tall, Frostytech ranks the best compact CPU coolers available by thermal performance and quietest operation. The first list is for Intel processor heatsinks, the second for AMD processor heatsinks. To find the absolute best heatsinks regardless of size, go to the main Frostytech Top 5 Heatsink Chart for a complete run down."

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iPhone 3G Review @ Hardware Secrets

"It's a cell phone, GPS locator, camera, and video iPod, all in one. It connects to the Internet via cell network or Wi-Fi. It is a complete personal digital assistant that can access email, calendar, and other pertinent information. While it's not the first cell phone to perform these tasks, it's large, clear touch screen, an accelerometer that tracks the position of the device, and a myriad of add-on applications make it unique. Recent price reductions and the faster speed of this new 3G model make it more appealing. So we set out to thoroughly assess the usability and likability of this new device."

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Andrew Milligan, the Brain Behind Sumo Lounge @ APH

It's been almost two years since we've conduced our last interview. There are so many interesting people in the world, I just don't know where to start! After taking a look at the Sumo Lounge SumoSac a few weeks back, there's one person I felt like I really need to interview. That's Andrew Milligan, the guy who came up with Sumo Lounge, a company that designs and markets beanbags, and brought it to what it is today. I really wanted to know more about the brainchild behind this company when I read the Wall Street Journal article on some background to his business. But how much can a couple paragraph say? Not a lot. I'm really lucky to get to know Andrew himself though. So, with our notebook (computers) and the such in hand, we had an opportunity to sit down with Andrew over at Sumo Lounge with our exclusive interview on APH Networks today.

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Zalman GS1000 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets

"Zalman GS1000 is a hybrid aluminum/steel full-tower case from Zalman: its side panels and details from its front panel are manufactured in aluminum, while its internal body is manufactured using the traditional zinc-coated steel. This helps reducing the price of the case compared to all-aluminum units. This case has four 5 ¼" bays and six 3 ½" bays for hard disk drives on the front of the case, three of them with hot swapping capability, and several other features."

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BFG 9800 GX2 1GB Video Card Reviewed @ TheTechLounge

"It would be very, very hard not to covet this video card. I know I recently said that the 9800 GTX was the sexy card, but this one might actually look nicer, eye of the beholder and all. And it's not just skin-deep, it's faaast, and because of that, we can overlook its frightening heat production and power consumption. But it isn't a bargain. Thanks to price warring, it's in the 'you gotta be crazy' and not the 'price is no question' bracket, and because of that, it'll get more attention than it might deserve. It's compelling, after all-- especially the idea of quad SLI. Not that I'd turn one down, but the people for whom it makes sense are fewer than the people that can afford it. That is to say, it's a great piece of hardware, but it's only a good idea in the strictest of circumstances."

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Thecus N3200 NAS Box Review @ DragonSteelMods

"Today for review I've got an excellent product from Thecus, it's the N3200 NAS box and it is a truly feature rich product that can add a new dimension to your storage capabilities of your home network. The N3200 is essentially a home storage server and it's billed as a 'Home NAS' but it's much more than that, it offers features that even a small business can utilize. With the N3200 you can have up to 3 Terabytes of storage capacity added to your network, the N3200 also offers various RAID solutions including RAID 5 which offers excellent security and performance for your data. On top of the security features theN3200 offers the ability to stream your media to other devices, a built in surveillance system with compatible webcams, HTTP, FTP and Bittorrent file transfer protocols, a print server, and even the ability to be wirelessly networked. The N3200 in physical size is small as well, but don't let it's size fool you, it's a fully featured NAS box that anyone can utilize for their storage needs. "

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ECS P45T-A @ OCC

"On the flip side, I did go into this review with high hopes considering the other Black Series boards I have tested, but I was left with a sour taste when it came to the overclocking side of the review. This board just did not like any increase I threw at it. I only achieved a 34MHz boost, which is the lowest overclock I have ever gotten. I attribute this to the weak overclocking options in the BIOS, because even raising the vCore to 1.47v could not get me any higher. Another thing you might want to look out for is the IDE port placement, which is at the bottom of the board. This might pose some severe problems for those of you who use IDE-based optical drives with large cases. I was surprised to see that the PCI Express x16 ports are limited to x8 electrically when two cards are placed in a CrossFireX configuration, but considering the bandwidth that PCI-E 2.0 brings to the table, this should not be an issue."

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BFG Tech LS-550 Power Supply @ OCIA.net

"BFG offers several different models of power supplies, from the value-oriented GS to the modular MX series, all the way up to their top of the line ES-800; they have something for every need and budget. The one I have for review today is the LS-550, which seems to fall somewhere in the middle of their lineup. Despite the relatively smallish power rating, the LS-550 offers quad +12v rails, 6 and 8-pin PCIe and ATX 2.2 version compatibility, all backed up by an impressive 5-year warranty."

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AMD 790GX Chipset Platform Launch @ HotHardware.com

If you've been on top of the PC scene for any length of time, you probably know that whether by choice or necessity, AMD has taken a different tact as of late. Whereas the company was all about bigger, faster, and better during the Athlon's heyday, AMD is now more about touting the performance per dollar and value of their products. While they may not have a CPU with the horsepower to compete in the benchmark war with Intel's $1000 behemoths, AMD's affordably priced Phenoms do offer good bang for the buck. The value conscious mentality that has permeated AMD's recent graphics card and processor launches has also rung true in their motherboard chipset business as well. The 690G and 780G, for example, offered solid feature sets and excellent IGPs, at very affordable prices. And today, AMD continues their recent traditions with the introduction of the 790GX chipset, which improves upon the 780G is virtually every way. A new Southbridge is also making its debut which promises to enhance the overclockability of Phenom processors. Head on over to the site and check take a look...

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Gigabyte GA-EP45T-EXTREME P45 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews

There are two kinds of computer enthusiasts in this world: those with a personal connection to the system motherboard, and those who simply refer to the part as a computer mainboard. For overclockers, the relationship with a well-designed motherboard can mean love or hate, and no two parts are alike. The motherboard is, after all, the foundation of every computer, and the importance is central to stable system operation. No matter if you are a low-demand office worker who plugs away on letters or spreadsheets every day or if you are a high-performance hardware enthusiast who demands extreme frame rates from your video games, one component alone will determine your ability: the motherboard. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the Gigabyte GA-EP45T-EXTREME P45 Ultra-Durable 2 DES motherboard against our harsh overclocking demands.

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Kingston HyperX 3GB Notebook Memory Review @ Virtual-Hideout

“Today I have for review a new product from Kingston. It's a 3GB (2x1.5GB) HyperX DDR2-5300 Low Latency (4-4-4-12) memory kit designed for notebook installations! Now you don't have to be limited to your desktop rig to have great brand name and performance memory. My current laptop, an HP DV9500T had 2GB DDR2-667Mhz and now runs on this 3GB Kingston kit. Let's see how I got there...”

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ASUS GeForce 9800 GTX+ TOP Graphics Card @ TweakTown

"We saw the 9800 GTX+ launch a little bit back, but samples have been scarce and stock has been even harder to get a hold of. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a card be a paper launch, but it seemed the 9800 GTX+ was exactly that. It was designed to help draw attention away from the release of the new AMD cards. Today we’re not only looking at a standard GTX+, but the overclocked model from ASUS that comes in under the TOP naming scheme. Let’s have a quick look at the package and the card along with what ASUS has done with the core, shader and memory clock."

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Samsung SC-MX10 Solid State Memory Camcorder Review @ Tweaknews.net

"Solid state memory brings a unparallel size reduction that brings the features of a standard camcorder to the market in a package that weighs half, and is half of the size of your regular MiniDV, DVD or hard drive camcorder."

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Mint 220 Wireless Digital Music Station @ I4U

"Today we are looking at a really nice wireless digital music system that features an iPod dock called the Mint 220. The system is very easy to set up and offers great sound quality. Overall, the Mint 220 is very impressive. The sound quality from the small system is great, the price is very good at $179, and the system is very easy to set up for wireless streaming. It's hard to go wrong with the Mint 220. The only way I could see the Mint 220 being better would be if you had the option to run it from batteries for truly portable use."

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Corsair Dominator DDR3 2133MHz 2GB Kit @ TweakTown

"DDR3 has been progressing slowly, but at a steady pace and it’s not looking like stopping. While the JEDEC officially only supports 1333MHz DDR3 on its records, Intel has gone a step further; something we wouldn’t have expected them to do. They’ve pushed the boundaries of DDR3 by introducing the XMP profiles that allow speeds of 1600MHz and very soon 1800MHz on its X38 and X48 chipsets with DDR3 memories. While this may seem quite impressive, it’s still not enough; not when the 2000MHz barrier is in sight and quite a few companies are pushing to reach it. Corsair says it has managed to hit speeds well beyond that."

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NVIDIA GPU PhysX Pack Preview @ HotHardware.com

Physics: as geeks, we just have to love the subject. We loved learning about geniuses like Isaac Newton and concepts like gravity, acceleration and inertia. Also, typical of geeks, we love gaming. So, combining physics acceleration and gaming just sounds like a really cool idea. For the past several years, we've been learning more and more about physics in gaming in the form of PhysX, a technology created by a company called Ageia. The original approach to PhysX by Ageia was a dedicated PhysX card that sported a PPU (physics processing unit). Ageia partnered with companies like BFG and ASUS to bring the PhysX cards to market. We actually reviewed the BFG version here in the HotHardware labs over two years ago. The entire real-time, in-game physics landscape has changed quite a bit since that time, however. With NVIDIA's relatively recent acquisition of Ageia, we all knew it was only a matter of time before we'd see some kind of announcement or launch detailing what NVIDIA's plans were with the PhysX technology...

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News From Our Affiliates

ECS A770M-A Motherboard Review @ HardwareLogic

The ECS A770M-A motherboard is based on the AMD 770 chipset and supports the latest AM2+ processors available (up to 95W TDP). It provides four DDR2-1066 capable sockets, one PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, eight channel HD audio and eSATA. This affordable board provides the basics you would need to build a budget AMD system and allows you to save your cash or spend it on other components. If you happen to be in the market for a reasonably priced, no frills motherboard you will want to check out this review. Read on to find out if the A770M-A has what it takes to be the foundation of your next build.

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Samsung SyncMaster 2493HM Widescreen Monitor @ HotHardware.com

The price of LCD screens has steadily declined and in the last few years, larger monitors are starting to become relatively affordable. This is especially evident in the 19", 20" and 22" categories, where we see a significant number of products in the sub-$300 range. However 24" and larger screens still remained premium products until very recently. In the last year or so we have seen the first 24" screens to dip below the $400 mark appear on the market. The products in this new category of value oriented 24" screens almost universally combine a large and cheap TN panel with a basic monitor housing and stand to produce a cost effective product. While these value oriented 24" monitors offer large screen size and high resolution (typically 1920x1200), they only have the most basic of features. Connectivity is often limited to just VGA and/or DVI and they are typically matched with a very simple stand with only limited tilt adjustment. Many models also suffer from low build quality. However, for the value conscious consumer, the sacrifices are well worth the cost reduction. At first it would seem like Samsung's SyncMaster 2493HM is just another entry into the burgeoning sub-$400 24" monitor category. After all, it features a TN panel rather than the more expensive but better performing IPS, MVA and PVA panels found in high-end products like Samsung's own SyncMaster 245T. However, a look at the spec sheet reveals a feature set you would expect from a more expensive high-end monitor. Come on by and take a look...

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EDGE DiskGO 160GB Network HDD @ GideonTech.com

"Now before you go and say "oh no, not another enclosure review", this one has something that most barebones HDD enclosures don't. It has the ability to be networked directly from your switch or router without needing a host machine. So essentially you plug this into your switch (or router) and everyone on your network has access to this drive which is useful in many ways."

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GameShare.co.uk Inteview @ XSReviews

"With a market worth over £25 million a year, the game trade-in industry isn't something to be scoffed at. As valuable as it is, one complaint with the typical trade in locations, is that the money given to the person trading in the games is often incredibly low, giving the shop that takes the old game off their hands, quite a healthy profit when they sell it on. One emerging market for these second hand games that skips the trade in shops though, is the game swapping idea. Naturally the big shops are against this market, but that doesn't stop these game sharing companies popping up all over the place. Today I've managed to grab hold of the owner of one of the UK's premier swap sites, Kevin from GameShare.co.uk."

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Thermaltake TMG2 Radiator and W2 Waterblock Review @ Virtual-Hideout

“Well, I'm back yet again. A scant few weeks ago, I took a look at Thermaltake's fairly good ProWater 850i kit, making just one observation - performance could probably see a great improvement if another, larger radiator had been added. While this concept had in fact been done before on their BigWater 745i, it was stunted by mediocre radiators, a weaker pump, and an older waterblock. Considering that two of these three factors were corrected in the 850, logic would dictate that throwing the third improvement in would make this kit really shine. Though it's a shame that I don't have the older kits on hand to give a performance review against, I feel that this pair of reviews should give users a good idea of the performance they stand to gain, provided they have the desire, and the space to plumb a second radiator, as well as a videocard waterblock into the loop. That being said, let's crack open the box and see just what a $70 upgrade entails.”

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Thermaltake V1 Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

"In this review Frostytech will be testing out a curiously shaped heatsink from Thermaltake called the V1 (CL-P0401). The V1 heatsink stands 144mm tall and is entirely made of copper components. What makes this heatsink stand out are the shape of its fins, from one angle it the V1 almost resembles a flame! Thermaltake have assembled the V1 heatsink from two radial copper fin sections which look like they were once intended for a VGA thermal solution. The copper fins are punctuated by four copper heatpipes and arranged so that air is drawn in through one set of fins before being expelled out the other side of the heatsink."

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Sapphire HD4870 512mb DDR5 @ Overclock3D.Net

"We take the Sapphire HD4870 512mb GDDR5 for a ride and pitch it up against its nearest rivals. in the latest review of ATI's flagship model."

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Asus EAH 4870 TOP Videocard Review @ Rbmods

Today we are taking a look at one of the top of the line cards at this time. The card costs a bit more than the others on the market so the main question is does the card really perform so well that it's worth putting the money into it. We are going to compare it vs a few other Asus cards that have proven to perform quite well and we will also see if we can tweak a bit more out of the card even though it's factory tweaked already.

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Never Back Down DVD & Blu-Ray Review @ Ascully.com

"Never Back Down was a decent popcorn film that delivers on all of the levels that a fight movie is supposed to...."

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OCZ Alchemy Elixir Gaming Keyboard @ OCIA.net

"Unless you've been living under a rock for the last eight years, you've no doubt heard of OCZ. In August of 2000 they started out with a determination to manufacture the best high speed DDR available. And while they've certainly built their reputation on the performance and reliability of their memory, OCZ has branched out to provide enthusiasts with other products as well, most notably power supplies and coolers. Today I have something totally new from OCZ, the Alchemy Elixir gaming keyboard."

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AMD Phenom X4 9350e – Low Cost Quad Core @ TweakTown

"Today on hand, we have the newest member of the X4 family; the 9350e. This CPU is a quad core offering with 2GHz core clock. It’s designed for a power efficient quad core system. Let’s take a look and see how it compares to the X3 and the Athlon 4850e. While it’s beyond us, AMD really has big plans in energy efficient computing. This is where the X4 9350 fits into the picture; part of the same line that the Athlon 4850e we tested fits into as well."

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Thermaltake DuOrb Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

"Anyone with a compact computer case will tell you that finding a good heatsink can be a daunting task. After tracking down the best heatsinks available for your budget, there's the question of heatsink heights to factor in. This is where the new Thermaltake DuOrb heatsink comes in. This heatsink features twin 80mm fans set side-by-side so cooling surface area isn't sacrificed for keeping the total heatsink height under 90mm. The DuOrb is novel in a couple of other aspects..."

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Gigabyte Motherboard Features: Smart Backup, Ultra TPM, and Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced @ ThinkComputers.org

“Our friends at Gigabyte feel that a few of their new motherboard features presently on their Intel P45 motherboards are important enough to give special mention, that our readers should be educated about these features to make informed decisions when choosing their new motherboard. Rather than try to cram this information in an already too-long motherboard review, I thought that I'd describe Gigabyte's Smart Backup, Ultra TPM, and DES Advanced in an article, and refer to the article when needed in motherboard reviews. Read on to find out about these cool features!”

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SteelSeries Gaming-Keyboard 7G Review @ Technic3D

"The SteelSeries 7G Gamer Keyboard arrived Technic3D. A Gamer Keyboard with advanced key combinations, PS/2 buffer-system, switch lifetime of 50 million operations, audio ports for headphone-out and microphone-in and two port USB hub. One of the best Gamer Keyboards in the moment? See this in the following Review."

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Kingston 8GB microSDHC Card Review @ DragonSteelMods

" Today for review I've got an 8gb microSDHC card from Kingston, it's a Class 4 card which means it should perform well with a rated transfer rate of 4MB/s. So read on to see if this microSDHC card lives up to its rating and how it compares to a couple other microSD cards I've got on hand."

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Icy Box IB-3218 Enclosure @ OCIA.net

"A few months ago I reviewed the Icy Box NAS 4220 dual-drive enclosure from Raidsonic. They've taken the best features of the NAS box and incorporated them into the product we have for review today, the Icy Box IB 3218. Bearing a striking resemblance to the NAS 4220, the IB 3218 uses the same housing and drive mounting mechanism, but without the network interface."

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OpenGL Benchmarking On Linux Reaches New Heights @ Phoronix

"We have been covering the Linux benchmarking scene since 2004, but one area we have never really been satisfied with have been the OpenGL tests that are available. There are now plenty of free software games that are available for benchmarking, but with most of them being based around the open-source Quake 3 engine, they aren't that demanding upon the graphics processor. The ones generally good with stressing the graphics capabilities of the system are the id Software games (Doom 3, Quake 4, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars) with native Linux clients. Under the workstation umbrella, there is just SPECViewPerf. On the Windows side though there are a number of OpenGL and DirectX games, tech demos, and other benchmarks. Thanks in part to the Phoronix Test Suite, however, we are starting to see a new era of OpenGL benchmarking that are able to stress the graphics card and are visually pleasing."

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Eagle Consus N-Series SATA to USB External Storage System (ET-CSNSU2-BK) @ C.O.D.

“My latest adventure (you will read about it soon) left me with a few SATA hard drives lying around. With those drives came a great opportunity to incorporate them into an off site storage solution. That being said, I absolutely must do this with some style. Enter the Eagle Tech Consus N-Series Sata to USB enclosure. Eagle Tech has a very industrial feel to their products. The presentation starts with their website and transcends into their products. Hard and soft edges along with some color contrasts bring attention to them aesthetically yet somehow still maintain a simple appearance. Do they offer features to match? The ET-CSNSU2-BK Consus series enclosure is garnished with aluminum side panels, thumb screws, a USB 2.0 (would you expect anything less?) interface, provided USB cable, a power adapter, and an internal SATA interface that supports both SATA 150 and SATA 300.“

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Tagan Icy Box IB-3218 Series @ OCC

"The Tagan Icy Box has many nice features, like the ability to take two small capacity drives and make them look like one larger capacity drive. Also, you can take the drive with you wherever you go, unlocking the ability to show people your picture archives or home made movies with ease. A backup button allows you to use backup software to save all your irreplaceable data at the touch of a button, whether it's your work spreadsheets, that final paper you have to turn in tomorrow, or pictures of your kid taking their first steps."

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SilverStone SST-TS01B RFID External Drive Kit @ Benchmark Reviews

External HDD Enclosures are plentiful and cheap these days. It's tough for a manufacturer to differentiate its products in the marketplace, and the competition on price is never-ending. Silverstone Technology has introduced a new product that is completely unique in the market, with a security system that you won't see anywhere else. Instead of relying on passwords to allow access to the encrypted data on the HDD, the SilverStone SST-TS01B uses a small RFID "Key" to identify an authorized user. This is not new technology, it's in commercial use in other markets, but it's the first time I've seen it used to unlock an encrypted HDD. Benchmark Reviews has looked at some HDD enclosures in the past and they have all done what they were intended to do, but in my mind, there was something missing. None of them really stood out, in terms of features or performance. None of them said, "BUY ME" in no uncertain terms. This one does. Let's see how it performs on the bench and in daily use.

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NZXT Performance Power 800w PSU @ OCIA.net

"A company “built on gamers’ dreams,” NZXT has since expanded upon their “Crafted Series” cases, into a line of more modest, yet still stylish, “Classic Series” cases, and even two lines of power supplies. They have, for the most part, enjoyed great success with all of their products, which are known for being high quality despite having a lower than usual cost. Today we have for review the NZXT Performance Power 800W power supply, one whose launch was abnormally silent and hasn’t received much attention."

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Intel Opens Up About Larrabee @ Techgage

Intel today takes a portion of the veil off their upcoming Larrabee architecture, so we can better understand its implementation, how it differs from a typical GPU, why it benefits from taking the 'many cores' route, its performance scaling and of course, what else it has in store.

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ASRock P45R2000-WiFi P45 DDR2/DDR3 Motherboard Review @ ThinkComputers.org

“Our good friends at ASRock feel your pain. Building practical solutions for tough problems into motherboards is what they are best known for, and they have just released what may be the answer to your problems, an Intel P45 board capable of running both DDR2 and DDR3 memory. This isn't a new idea, a few companies did the same thing with the P35 last year. Most attempts were less than awesome, but ASRock's board was clearly the best attempt. With this experience under their belts, ASRock has released the P45R2000-Wifi. Will it be the solution for those wanting a gradual crossover from DDR2 to DDR3? Keep reading to see!”

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Antec Twelve Hundred Gaming Case Review @ Virtual-Hideout

“One of the last cases to make a hit with the enthusiasts was the recent Antec Nine Hundred. To give you a little recap, it offered front Dual Blue LED 120mm fans along with two internal 120mm fans, a unique side window with the optional 120mm cut out behind the black screen, 200mm top exhaust fan, top mounted front panel ports, and looked pretty cool. You can still find them on several shelves and makes one heck of a mid-tower case. After patiently waiting, we received word that the Antec Twelve Hundred was finally on the way. If you liked the Nine Hundred and just about bought one, you'll really appreciate the Twelve Hundred. It's one of those cases you might just have to have.”

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In Win Alpha360 Mini-Tower Case Review @ TheTechLounge

"In Win is a king of case manufacturers. Their purview extends across the entire realm of beige, from the calm sea of beige to the shallow cliffs of beige, with the inoffensive beige plains between. I speak in jest. I have a soft spot in my heart for the oft-marginalized company, mainly because they made the first case I ever bought. It was, you know, off-white, a mini-tower affair that came with an adequate PSU. And even though I've since played with the full spectrum of cases, that first case I still have, and still use. Despite the color, it was way ahead of its time, both in layout and features. So I look at the Alpha360, boxed up in Engrish, and I think, people should know about these guys. These cases are awesome. I mean, these specific cases. The rest are all King Beige."

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ASRock P43 and P45 Motherboards Reviewed @ TweakTown

"At the 2008 Computex event, Intel officially took the curtains off its 4 series PCI Express chipset range which is set to replace the original 3 series of chipsets. Intel’s 4 series not only brings Crossfire support to the mainstream, thanks to its ability to run two PCI Express x8 slots for GPUs, but it also adds PCI Express 2.0 to all of its 4 series of chipsets. That’s right, even the low-end of the 4 series gets a new PCI Express controller hub. Today we have been sent two of the newest members of the 4 series family from ASRock, and they are loaded with features for the home user along with some nice overclocking for the enthusiast. Today we take a look at the ASRock P45R2000-WiFi and the P43R1600Twins-WiFi. How do they stack up? - Come and see with us."

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Zaward Gyre @ techPowerUp

The Zaward Gyre looks quite interesting with the black shroud. Its unique design shows us that it is a competitor to more "known" heatsinks. Featuring a nice finish with blue LED lights, being very easy to install and having great performance, the Gyre lives up to all of its expectations.

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Zotac GeForce 9800 GTX+ (Plus) Amp! Edition @ techPowerUp

NVIDIA's new GeForce 9800 GTX+ comes with a 55 nm CPU that runs at higher clock speeds, yet consumes less power than the original 65 nm chip. Zotac's Amp! Edition further increases the operating frequencies. Even though the higher clocks make the card faster than the ATI HD 4850, the difference is very small and probably not noticable while gaming.

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Galaxy and Leadtek 9500 GT Tested and Compared @ Madshrimps

We test two 9500 GT cards, one from Leadtek and one from Galaxy. We share with you our preliminary findings with these two sub $100 video cards who aim to take the performance/price crown at the entry level. Can these cards impress? How do they stack up to the 9600 GT and 8600 GT read on to find out.

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Asus Eee Box Desktop System - Evaluation and Video Spotlight atHotHardware @ HotHardware.com

Asus certainly made a splash this year with their line of ultra-light, ultra-affordable Eee PC notebooks and they've been fleshing out the product line ever since with a wealth of new offerings, as the company continues to milk the product's successful brand name recognition for all it's worth. Today marks the introduction of the $299 Asus Eee Box but we've had a unit in house for the better part of a month now. Just what does $299 buy you in terms of capabilities and features, in an absolutely tiny footprint? You're about to find out.

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VOX V1 500GB USB and eSATA External HDD @ TweakTown

"Aaah, storage. As far as I’m concerned, you can’t have enough of it. Be it in a server or on the go, you can’t really ever have too much hard drive space. Today we’re taking the time to have a look at a hard drive caddie from a company called VOX. We will today have a look at how the VOX V1 goes up against another caddie we have with us and also against one of our Samsung 1TB drives that is already installed in our system. Before we get into that though, let’s have a look at the package VOX has put together along with a closer look at the caddie itself."

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ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi @ Phoronix

"Over the past few months we have looked at a few different Intel X48 motherboards and all of these motherboards bearing Intel's latest chipset have worked quite well with Linux. Among these motherboards have been the ASUS P5E3 Premium, Super Micro C2SBX+, and Gigabyte X48T-DQ6. These X48 motherboards have been expensive, but now some of the budget manufacturers are introducing models at a lower cost. For just under $200 USD, ASRock has introduced the X48TurboTwins-WiFi. The ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi pairs Intel's X48 with the ICH9R Southbridge and offers a few extra features such as eSATA, integrated 802.11g WiFi, and IEEE-1394 Firewire."

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Xigmatek SD964 HDT CPU Cooler Review @ DragonSteelMods

"Up on the review block today I've got one from Xigmatek, it's the SD964 HDT CPU cooler, not a real fancy name, but then again what's in a name right? It really doesn't matter what it's called as long as it performs! The SD964 is a small heatpipe style CPU cooler, at least in comparison to others on the market today, but it is by no means small in terms of performance. The SD964 dominates over most others out there in our tests on both C2D and C2Q CPUs... "

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