“For those of you that keep an eye on these things, you may have noticed that MGE’s Extreme Gamer division (XG) has recently undertaken a serious redesign of some of their more flashy gaming cases. So when XG contacted us about writing a review on their brand new Ninja 2, we jumped at the opportunity. The new Ninja case has much cleaner lines than its predecessor, but how does it stack up? We’ll put the Ninja 2 through its paces to help you decide if this case has what it takes to be your next chassis.”

"Although Corsair's XMS2 TWIN2X1024-8000UL memory modules, which are rated for 1000MHz compatibility on Intel-based motherboards, have taken some of the spotlight away from their famed TWIN2X1024A-5400UL modules, these DDR2-667 modules continue to be popular with enthusiasts due to their cheaper price point and phenomenal overclocking abilities. While sticking to its DDR2-675MHz speeds the memory can run at impressive 3-2-2-8 timings, and when loosening the timings they can breach the 1GHz barrier. Of course, none other than Micron's "Fatbody" D9 ICs powers these modules."

"Foxconn has doven headfirst into the shark infested waters of the mainstream market and proven they can swim with the big boys. Pleasing the hardware enthusiast crowd is no easy task, but Foxconn has put their years of manufacturing experience to good use and put together a winner with this board. Even a hardcore enthusiast will have a hard time finding fault with this board."

“Hot off the heels of the last Corsair review, we have another Corsair review for you. Corsair has done it again, they are leading the pack in memory technology advancements, by releasing yet another quality high performance memory product. The Twinx2048-4000PT line of memory is engineered for speed and performance, using Samsung UCCC chips to power the sticks, these sticks just rock. Guaranteed 250Mhz at 1T with timings of 3-4-4-8, using high density, high capacity modules, being able to run high capacity sticks of ram at 1T is crucial to having a great performing system. Today’s high end systems take a performance hit if they run at 2T, so being able to run 2 gigs at 1T is a great triumph indeed, and at a speed of 250/500mhz is just amazing! Let's get into this review and see just how well these do perform..”

"Radeon X800 GTO is the latest graphics chip released by ATI targeted to the mid-range market, located between Radeon X800 Pro and Radeon X800 GT and competing with GeForce 6600 GT from nVidia. This Radeon X800 GTO sample we’ve got from GeCube came already overclocked under a limited “special edition” series, so it is faster than Radeon X800 GTO from other companies."

"Sirtec may not be one of the known big players of the PSU industry, but in fact they are a huge OEM producer of power supplies, for example for Thermaltake and Chieftec. We test Sirtec's 410W unit which offers a beautiful chrome finish and a low-noise fan at a very competitive price."

"Wi-Fi is all the rage. It's moved from geeks to mainstream, especially when a hardly cutting-edge company like Kodak introduces a Wi-Fi- enabled digital camera. The EasyShare One lets you email pictures from the camera and connect to the Kodak EasyShare Gallery (formerly Ofoto) using the 802.11b protocol. Once on the site you can alert folks that you have images to share and access all of your images. Kodak is working with T-Mobile so you have 6,000 hotspots across the U.S. to choose from to beam your images to the outside world. Or if that's not your cup of latte you can simply beam photos to your Wi-Fi enabled laptop or printer. The new 4-megapixel digicam goes beyond offering wireless connectivity. The camera has 256MB of internal memory so it holds up to 1,500 images, making it a portable digital photo album. It also has a huge swivelling 3-inch touch-screen LCD for framing and reviewing your Kodak moments."

"In my previous review of ProClip’s devices, I took a look at their car-specifc vehicle mounts, as well as several handheld-device-specific holders that attach to these mounts. The solutions are elegant and useful, and I urge you to read the original review. In this particular review, we’ll be looking at three more recently-released device specific holders: two upgraded iPod holders, and a holder (and charger) for a Palm Treo 650.

ProClip’s original iPod mounting solution was pretty darn near perfect. Made of a strong, durable, (but ever-so-slightly flexible) plastic, it treated my 4th Generation 20GB iPod with the tender care it deserved. Or did it? I would not have questioned it, but then I received the new versions of ProClip’s iPod mounts. While maintains the same basic functionality (including the great tilt-swivel joint), the new mounts have two distinct upgrades compared with the old: one version is width-adjustable to accommodate a wide spread of different iPod models and sizes, but most noticeably, they’re fuzzy. Yes, folks, fuzzy."

"This funny looking USB 2.0 hard drive from Seagate has a retractable USB cable, enclosed 5GB 1" Hard drive and a very cool blue activity light. It is a step further than a USB stick, in that it offers a whopping 5GB of truly portable storage, on its speedy shock-tollerant hard disk. It also boasts plug-and-play connectivity and a hot-swappable interface, and is compatible with both PCs and Macs."

"So you're looking for a high-quality DVD player and a decent VCR, but have a limited shelf space? Samsung has the answer with "The One Unit Solution". The Samsung DVD-V9500 has everything for everyone, including High-Definition Upconversion for your DVDs. All of this is packaged in a sexy black finish!"

"The tablet PC is yet to take off despite Microsoft’s best efforts. Microsoft has tried everything in its power to promote the usage of table PC, but it all seemed to fail until someone came out with the convertible concept. The devices look like notebooks, except that they have swivel screens that are useful and downright sleek. Not to mention you can write and send handwritten notes to anyone, anytime."

"We’ve all played Half-Life and it’s sequel Half-Life 2. The difference between the two games, in terms of graphics, is tremendous, and now Valve has gone ahead and updated the gaming engine to give you a level of detail and realism that you thought wouldn’t be possible until perhaps the next round of game releases."

"Today we're looking at one of those options, the Raidmax Ninja 918 ATX case . This case was built for gaming, and offers a number of features that you'd generally see in a higher performance case. However, when it comes to top-notch gaming products, I'm a fairly demanding person, and most of us are - we want the fastest, the coolest, the most moddable. Can the Raidmax hold a candle to our list of desires? Only one way to find out, so lets take a closer look.."

"Sharkoon came up with a new silent solution when it comes to fans, namely the Silent Eagle range. The Silent Eagle comes in 2 different versions, the Eagle 1000 and Eagle 2000 where the number stands for the rotation speed of the propeller. So what is so exciting about this new Silent Eagle 2000 and is it actually any different from many other silent fans on the market? Sharkoon itself sets the trend, and differentiates themselves from the other brands. Let's find out together what that means..."

"With the spotlight on the recently released X1000 family it seems as though the X800 family is quickly becoming a thing of the past. This is a very good thing for most consumers as well all know the older a technology gets the cheaper it becomes. The X800's are slowly slipping into the "bargain" card category. However today's X800 family member is fairly new and at an affordable price, the HIS X800GTO is definitely worth a close look."

"OCZ is all about top performance, and who can blame the company for focusing on what enthusiasts want? When OCZ's performance-obsessed product managers decided to enter the crowded USB flash drive market, they decided that they wanted the performance crown. Forget about fancy utilities and extra bells and whistles; they wanted top performance, plain and simple.

In order to achieve this goal, OCZ decided to implement what it calls 'leading edge Dual Channel technology.' Obviously, OCZ wants to take advantage of our knowledge and love of dual channel memory to make us believe in the speed of its USB 2.0 Rally Flash Drive. In this review, I'll find the truth behind all the claims and see if OCZ really does deliver a flash drive that blows away the competition."

"The demand for DDR2 memory is beginning to pick up and is expected to rise phenomenally in the first quarter of 2006. This time frame is just around the corner, so what is going to change between now and then that will boost interest in DDR2? Well to put it plainly, AMD is going to change. The first quarter of next year will see the introduction of AMD’s Socket-M2 processors. The Socket-M2 will be the very first AMD platform to adopt DDR2 memory technology."

"Razer has packed a lot of features into a mouse with great looks. From the on the fly DPI switching, to the onboard memory that stores user's profiles right in the mouse, to the drivers that allow for extreme fine tuning of the mouse for a user's personal preferences, you would be hard pressed to find a mouse that offers more to the hard core gamer."

400GB hard drives seem to be somewhat of a median at the moment, they are not overly expensive for the amount of storage you receive. We've already taken a look at 400GB models from Hitachi and Seagate, and we weren't about to leave out the other big hard disk name out there, none other than Western Digital. Western Digital has come out with a slew of products that are known to be some of the best out there. Today we are going to take a look at one of the members of their WD Caviar SE16 line, the 400GB WD4000KD."

"Over the past year or two computer users have been witnessing something very interesting- the maturation of the LCD monitor. In a short amount of time these products went from being overpriced and awkwardly designed to being the mainstay of the display industry and the forefront of technology. This review will be taking a look at ViewSonic's VX924 display. This display has been making headlines for a number of reasons, the foremost being its impressive 3ms response time. When it comes to LCD displays ViewSonic has been doing well, but much of the focus has been on their competitors, like Samsung. The VX924 marks a major step in the right direction and one of the more interesting displays to come along in some time."

"In today’s review we take a look at one of Thermalright’s latest heat sinks, the SI-120. This heat sink continues the trend of Thermalright's "Light 'N' Easy" line-up. As with the XP-120, the SI-120 also makes use of a 120mm cooling fan, however, in the case of the SI-120 all of the heat is transported away from the CPU via the heat pipes. Since we do not have an XP-120 on hand for testing, we will be comparing the SI-120 to another popular Thermalright heat sink, the XP-90. Time to check it out!"

"This little USB stick from Freecom, is the smallest digital TV tuner in the world available to computer users. Initally it looks just like any USB memory stick, but once you've plugged it into your computer, and connected the antenna, it is capable of displaying a massive choice of digital TV channels full-screen on your moniter at extremely high quality. This is great for home viewing, but even better when coupled with your laptop, as it means you can take the telly with you whaerever you go!"

"What can I say, this is some serious RAM, you can find it online for less than $100 for a 1GB kit. With some mild tweaking you got from some decent priced PC 4200 value RAM to some REALLY decent priced PC5400. Every once in a while a product comes along that gives you WAY more bang for the buck than you expect, like the ti series NVIDIA cards, the JIUHB XP 1700 and the ABIT NF7-s motherboard. You mention any of those products to an enthusiast and it brings a smile to their faces."

"Today, there is an increasing demand for mousing surfaces that live up to the phrase, “high performance.” This is because of an increasing population who care about how easy it is to push their optical or laser mice across their mousing surface. This means designing something with a very low amount of friction between the surface and the mouse itself. The Icemat is an aptly named mousing surface since it is made of a plate of frosted glass with a colored backing. The Soft Trading Company is responsible for the design of the Icemat and they have definitely done a great job of creating a solid and stylish mousing surface."

"The LED's do not just light up or not, they actually scale from a few lights to all the lights depending on the current RAM usage. Corsair has turned the normal RamSink into a light show by including LED lighting in the top edge and also embossing "XMS" right into the covers."

"I was a little disapointed by the Video MP3 400. While it's a decent enough mp3 player and radio, and I do like the color display, it's just too bloody small for videos, pictures or text. It's got a nice novelty factor, but I really don't see anyone getting much use out of the video function. Also, I wasn't really happy with it needing a USB cord, or with the cheap plastic construction. The control scheme isn't very intuitive, either. I do like it as a music player, but while it is a nice unit, the 400 just tries to do too many things, and masters very few of them. Possibly it's an age thing, as I've seen other reviews that sing the praises of the 400, but these are younger people with younger eyes. My kid thinks it's wicked cool. Me, I'd rather they dropped the video functions and made it a little easier to use. A decent unit that paired down, would be perfect."

"In a mobile phone market overloaded with feature packed handsets, Siemen's C75 stands out as for its simple elegance. Read on to find out if its features are sufficient for the average user."

"The kind of games vary from 2D roll and scroll things to fantastic cinematic FPS and RPGs. We can play them by ourselves, with friends in the same room, with friends on a LAN, or with friends and strangers in the either-net.

And everyone plays. It’s not just pasty faced fat boys in cut offs, it’s old guys like me, young girls like my daughter, lawyers, pilots, moms, bakers, and train engineers – literally every category, sex, and age you can think of."

"Tuniq is a division of Sunbeamtech that aims to deliver content to the computing mod market. Currently, their product-line consists of chassis (did you know that the plural of chassis is chassis?!) and CPU coolers. Their mission is to meld form and function to create products that perform as good as they look – let’s see if they are successful with the Symmetry 1."

“When it comes to bluetooth headsets, I've found that big is simply not an option. Everyone I know who has been on the market for one has always stated that they want something small, light, comfortable and discreet. The Bluespoon AX, which I looked at some time ago, certainly fits this bill and I was fairly happy with it myself for some time. That is, until I received a surprise package from Nextlink with a new AX2. Sporting the same remarkably small design, the AX2 brings some significant improvements over their first model. Let's take a look..”

"Over the years, we've reviewed and tested countless power supplies. Sometimes it becomes a chore, as most power supplies don't bring much of anything new to the table. However, to mark our 300th article here at Phoronix, we have something a little more special. Enermax has provided us with their newly announced Liberty series power supply. Interested? We certainly were. Read more inside."

"Today we had the chance to present some questions to Van Can TRAN from Arctic Cooling, but before we get to that we would like to present some information about Arctic Cooling as a company."

“With all the high-end components available today, it's more critical than ever to have a consistent and stable power supply source. The Hiper Type-R HPU-4B580 580W power supply combines a unique modular design with a shiny blue chrome exterior and awesome performance. Let's see how this beast handles our test rig's power-hungry demands.”

"As we look back at past America‭’‬s Army releases,‭ ‬we find most of them to be very diminutive in their changes; generally adding a map or two,‭ ‬fixing numerous bugs,‭ ‬and‭ ‬a number of miscellaneous improvements.‭ ‬However,‭ ‬the latest America‭’‬s Army‭ ‬release,‭ Direct Action (‬2.5‭)‬,‭ ‬is quite substantial with its alterations.‭ ‬Some of the many upgrades include the addition of two new Special Forces maps - SF Extraction and SF Dockside, Shoot House (MOUT Training), tournament mode enhancements, and several game-play enhancements.‭ For Linux and Macintosh users, this upgrade is even more significant with four new SF maps, two new weapons, and an updated game engine (Unreal Engine 2.5) due to the lack of a Q-Course (2.4) build. ‬Will America‭’‬s Army:‭ Special Forces Direct Action (‬2.5‭) ‬reflect the game-play of what we‭’‬ll be seeing in‭ ‬America‭’‬s Army:‭ Stryker-Overmatch, which will utilize the Unreal Engine‭ ‬3‭ ‬and will sport other state-of-the-art features‭?"

"I have never used a cpu cooler of this type before, so was interested when lscool.com asked me to review their SHS-X500. It has a similar design to a water cooling radiator, with the copper fins and the heat pipes running through the fins."

“Well, today we have something new and rather exciting, at least for me anyway, from our friends at Computers Geeks (www.geeks.com). I say it is exciting for me because I have never had a Micro ATX motherboard before. I never realized just how small a Micro ATX motherboard is really, they are very small, it's amazing all the features they can pack into such a small package. Obviously it is a Micro ATX mobo, but it features a Mobile Athlon XP 2600+ Barton core processor as well. The price from Geeks is $94.99, a VERY nice price. I went and checked prices for the Mobile Xp 2600+ and found that the cheapest I could find was $89.00, when you factor in a Biostar Micro ATX motherboard, this is one great deal, the cheapest I found the Biostar M7VIG for was $46.99, by buying the combo from Geeks you save almost $50, and get a great motherboard and an awesome CPU.”

"In my first article “How To Be A Game Developer”, I discussed various games genres, including Web/Email games. This is one of the easiest ways to start developing games- you aren’t restricted to one language or platform and the costs are pretty low. In this article, I’ll look at the various technologies that you can use, and give you an idea of what its possible to do and how you get started."

"At this point, I was already pretty impressed with the Copperhead, but the real shock came when I switched back to my old Logitech mouse. One word: WOW. Never before had I realized that my mouse was sooo freaking slow! The pointer was practically crawling across the screen; I wanted to reach in and drag it myself."

"It seems that life keeps getting faster. There is more to see, more to do, more to schedule and more places to be. If you are not careful, you are likely to end up forgetting you’re scheduling over the more to do and then find yourself in a very deep hole, with still more to do."

“Feeling Well, Today I have another review for an Xgbox product, the last few reviews I did of Xgbox products were power supplies, today I will be taking a look at one of their new entry level PC Cases, the Ninja 2. Xgbox has gotten some great scores from ThinkComputers in the past for their great products; will the Ninja 2 keep up with this tradition? The Ninja 2 is inexpensive, considered an entry level gaming case, but it has many features of the more expensive cases out there. Xgbox has a great reputation so far for their great products, and I have to say from my first impression, the Ninja 2 looks to keep that reputation.”

"The interactive product ID guide for the easy identification of all AMD Athlon 64 processors was completely revised and is now online in the new version 2.0 Beside some processor updates it's now also possible on the basis of each Stepping to see the respective code name within the lower range of the virtual CPU. For simple identification of all current AMD Athlon 64 CPUs select the product ID (OPN label) of the Athlon 64 CPU over the drop-down fields and see within the virtual CPU picture immediately the description of the selected processor. (e.g. type, codename, revision, frequency, Vcore, temperature, Cache, number of CPUs, etc.) Reseller, Shops and buyers surely will not want to miss the useful Tool any longer, because one can't identify the data more simply without the installation of the CPU :)"

"Being one of the heaviest CPU coolers tested here, the Blue Orb II is unlike anything we have seen. Thermaltake made the Blue Orb II stand out from the crowd by adding blue LED fans to the cooler to match it with the blue aluminium fins on the heatsink. Although the heatsink was made of copper core and aluminium fins, the performance was slightly better than the full copper heatsink we compared it against. It runs pretty silent at 1700RPM and performs as advertised."

"After intense speculation and much delay, the new generation of graphics cards from ATI, the Radeon X1000 series, is finally ready. Consisting of the Radeon X1300, X1600 and X1800, do these long awaited cards live up to its hype and more importantly, the competition?"

"After reviewing 1GB of Crucial's PC3200 Ballistix memory and 1GB of OCZ's Gold PC3200 memory we continue the trend of enthusiast RAM with 2GB of Corsair's PC4400 TWINX Pro Series memory. The keyword here is enthusiast as the TWINX comes in a 2GB package with a speed rating of 275MHZ (DDR550). Perhaps not today, but certainly in the near future (6-12 months) having 2 gigabytes of memory in a computer will be the standard."

"Innovatek is o­ne of the pioneers in the watercooling industry, being o­ne of the first companies that offered watercooling products for the PC enthusiasts. No wonder, like most of the oldest companies they are a company located in Germany, a country with somewhat of a ‘tradition’ o­n watercooling and a large market reflecting that. Innovatek has built the reputation of delivering top quality and silent products. Today we will take a look o­n a full watercooling kit, the Premium XXS, a simple and small but very effective kit for the average enthusiast. Let us see what Innovatek does to make their products differ from the masses."

"You've been waiting for it, and now it's here. As promised, we've got the continuation of our X05 Report with even more of our thoughts on the games of X05, in particular, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Kameo: Elements of Power, Full Auto and Perfect Dark Zero. We know you've been marking your calendar and counting down the days until Xbox 360 hits store shelves, so read on and cozy up to our impressions of the games that you'll be playing soon."

"Have you ever wondered what goes into the making of a $1,500 audio cable? Audio engineer Adam Blake will takes you through the process. In part 1 of this series, Adam will discuss cable geometry and construction."

"A stable source of power is the heart of every working PC. Overclockers can appreciate a stable and sufficient Power Supply as this could be the 'make it or break it' component within their PC. As of late there is a growing sense of awareness within the industry of the importance of a high quality Power Supply and today 3DXtreme is taking a look at three new comers to the market. Dual Core Processors and SLI based PCs are upping the power requirements and the marketing departments are doing a good job getting this information to the consumer. Here are the Power Supply Units that arrived for review in the last two weeks and they will be pitted against one another."

"This mouse is slick, sleek, and everything a competitive or even moderate player could ask for. Playing for long periods of time is no longer a strain on your hands with the comfortable setup of this mouse. Know that when you play with G5 you are a fragging force to be reckoned with."

"PCSTATS recently headed out to the Samsung Canada offices for a briefing. While we were there, we took the opportunity to snap a couple pictures of the companies brand new showroom which houses the latest Samsung products to hit the Canadian retail market. For readers of PCSTATS who have never had the opportunity to walk the expansive floors of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES, the following photo-tour of the what we saw that day should come as a nice treat. Although, it is kind of unfair to show how awesome five 46" LCDs look back-to-back-to-back.... I mean, how can anyone be expected to go back to a 32" TV after seeing that!"

“The Heat Buster from PowerColor is a PCI slot cooler, with a little more to offer. It has the standard exhaust fan, as well as a second, adjustable fan to help facilitate air movement in your case. Not only is designed to reduce the temperatures of your case, but it can help chill a component such as a video card that has the focus of the extra fan.“

"Symphony OS, among the latest Linux distributions receiving quite a bit of attention by the general public, has released their first BETA candidate (BETA 1 Preview 1) after a series of ALPHA releases. Rather than using GNOME, KDE, Fluxbox, or another one of the many desktop environments Symphony OS has created the Mezzo Desktop Environment to allow for a visually attractive and easy-to-use interface. In addition, this Knoppix-based distribution packs a punch when it comes to its standard set of packages and user friendly features."

“A couple of years ago I had to give up my dedicated computer room and move my systems into the sitting area by my front room. When things were in the old room, I didn’t mind the constant hum of my firewall or my main system; I could always turn the speakers up a bit to drown it all out. When it was all moved into close proximity to the TV, however, things began to change. The little Sun SPARC classic and its noisy power supply fan became too much to take and I had to trade it out with a typical DSL router. That made things quieter, but the main system with three 80mm fans was still grating on my ears.

It just so happens that Silentmaxx, producer of silent PC components, makes a hard drive enclosure that manages to cool your drive as well as make it quieter. QuietPC USA is the exclusive distributor of Silentmaxx products in North America and they were nice enough to send me the Silentmaxx HD-silencer for review. With its heatsink-ish exterior, this enclosure promises to keep your drive and your ears happy, but will it deliver?”

"You need to be very carefull when reading VGA reviews from GeCube on other websites. GeCube is sending out "fine tuned" boards to media, models that aren't easily found on the market. In our case, we've got from them one Radeon X800 GTO running at 472 MHz for core and 1 GHz for memory, while the original specs for this board is 400 MHz for core and 1 GHz for memory. With this "fine tuning", GeCube Radeon X800 GTO would be faster than a Radeon X800 Pro (475 MHz for core and 950 MHz for memory). The whole problem is that they didn't tell us that the sample they sent us was overclocked. Officially, GeCube was selling this overclocked model in a “special limited quantity” offer, however this model is already sold out. Also, we couldn’t find any reference for the overclocked specs on the box, on the manual or on their website of this model we've got."

"Intel's current flagship chipset continues to be the 955X. Gigabyte has taken that chipset and made a wonderful board out of it. The GA-8I955X Royal provides great performance, great overclocking headroom, and has a big bundle of goodies."

"One stumbling block Shuttle faces in marketing the SD11G5 is price. A search of online retailers shows it to retail at around the £340 mark. That's a lot of wedge to pay for a motherboard, case (albeit a stylish one), and cooler. There's also the lack of relative gaming performance from the onboard graphics. Playing any modern game is an absolute no-no, as far as we're concerned. Shuttle, though, is aiming the SD11G5 at style gurus and those interested in an ultra-quiet, powerful machine. In that respect and if you can put up with the price, it succeeds well."

"Earlier this year we reviewed some of the best desktop mice available at the time, and like most current high-end mice you can find out there, they were designed for general use/comfort and gaming in mind. Although the article was fairly popular among our readers, we also received many letters requesting coverage about real ergonomic mice, and this is what our new comparison is all about.

We looked for pointing devices that were created with ergonomics, and only ergonomics in mind. Most of the time these ‘mice’ are marketed towards people suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, however anyone feeling discomfort using a regular mouse should be able to switch to any of these products as well. After receiving some feedback from readers we ended up reviewing the following three products: Perific's Wireless Dual Mouse, 3M's Ergonomic "Renaissance" Mouse, and Evoluent's VerticalMouse 2."

"Having recently become the proud owner of a digital SLR camera, I quickly realized firsthand why products like the Roadwired Podzilla exist. Digital cameras are fragile things, and SLR types are even more sensitive to shock, vibration, dirt, dust, water, acid, radioactivity, and what have you. Now, I’m not quite sure that the Podzilla will protect your SLR from all of the above, but it certainly seems to do the job for most. The bag itself has a few basic functions. Most importantly, the large main compartment is designed to secure and protect an SLR camera with a fairly large lens. While you can’t store a tremendous zoom lens in here, the 8” of headroom is plenty even for a larger lens such as my Canon EF-S 17-85mm."

"In the first of a two-part series of Tech Tips on getting started with a Home Theater PC, or HTPC, we looked at the two most basic features to be considered: audio and video. With those areas addressed, there are still plenty of aspects worth considering that can help your computer become better integrated into your home theater for a truly enjoyable experience. Some of these aspects include component speed, cooling, noise, style, and the user interface."

"Imagine a world of good and evil: With the power to choose your own place between the two. If you like to bring the devil out in you, or be a little good boy, or maybe a little bit of both. Then this game is definitely one for you."

"Filling the system was a breeze. I poured the bottle of HydrX into a cleaned out 1 liter soda bottle, topping it off with distilled water. Next I filled the system through the reservoir as the instructions show. Adding a little water, then tipping the case back, I got a good amount of water in the tubing. After powering on the system some more fluid was immediately required as the pump should never be allowed to run dry. After tipping the case and adding more fluid a few times, the fluid level was just below the inside edge of the fill-hole. I then let the system run for a while allowing all of the bubbles to work their way out of the system, which also gave me time to sit and check for any leaks or seeps at the connections."

"Gone are the days when the best performance is provided by 1GB kits of memory. OCZ has given us an alternative that provides amazing performance, solid overclockability, and 2GBs of memory in the form of two 1GB modules running in dual channel at timings that are un-heard of anywhere else on the market. As you saw from the overclocking, this kit not only runs DDR500 @ 3-3-2-8 but it actually runs DDR500 @ 2.5-3-2-7 and 2-3-2-7 up to DDR450+!"

"Power for the X800 GT Xtreme is provided by ATI's R480 chipset running at 500MHz. This is 25MHz faster than the standard X800 GT. The Xtreme achieves this higher core speed with a better cooling solution. The normal X800 GT use 256 Meg of 2ns GDDR3 memory running at 980MHz. The Xtreme version use 1.6ns memory running at 1050MHz. All together, it adds up to a faster video card for just a few dollars more."

"ATi has a new trump card for the midstream market. After the X700 line, which came out a little bit too expensive and had trouble to easily compete with the nVidia 6600GT, a new release comes from ATi, the X800GT. Based on the X800 series but featuring a very competitive price, it certainly makes all competition sweat. Powercolor released a very impressive line-up of X800 based mid-stream cards recently and they were nice enough to let us have a sample of the X800GT card for review, so let us take a look at it."

"The Fatality line-up has a red theme to it, so Zalman dyed the coolers red and added red LED fans to them to finish up the Fatal1ty look. The red LEDs are not the only thing Zalman added, the fans are a little faster for that extra few degrees. We all know cooler temps help for a more stable system."

"The stock versions of the HIS and Sapphire cards perform well, of course being of the same core, clock, and memory speed they perform almost identically. The true value of the cards comes out with the overclocking, the HIS card automatically improves 8% with some headroom to go a bit further. HIS states that it can go up to 540 and probably further. The Sapphire card performs great once you unlock it's full potential with the extra four pipelines, as shown there is a massive increase in many cases, up to 50% in a few. Sapphire definitely has an edge with the unlocking ability."

"Part of the feature set of Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system is support for High-Definition content, either through television signals, HD or Blu-Ray DVDs, or Internet video. Along with this support though, is a new set of restrictions designed to ensure the sanctity of HD content and protect it from copying. Microsoft, as you might imagine, intends to support HD DVD and video on all its current operating systems, especially the upcoming Windows Vista. To this end, the company is building support for HDCP into the operating system as part of its suite of DRM (Digital Rights Management) abilities called Output Content Protection Management (OCPM)."

"With Microsoft XBox already supporting 720p HDTV, and the announcement that XBox 360 will support 1080i HDTV along with the PS3 supporting 1080p, HDTVs are the hottest commodity in the gaming market. Gaming Illustrated caught up with Samsung's senior marketing manager to discuss what technologies are best for gamers, and how Samsung sets are primed for HDTV gaming."

"This is the newest generation of Panasonic's highly-regarded line-up of mega zoom cameras. With 8-megapixel resolution, a 12x Leica optical zoom and built-in optical image stabilization, this digicam is a decent alternative for those looking for D-SLR features but don't want the hassle of interchangeable lenses plus they'd like the ability to view a live image on a 2-inch LCD screen and take short videos. The DMC-FZ30 feels very much like D-SLR yet costs a lot less especially when you budget the cost of lenses that would equal this focal range (a hefty 35-420mm in 35mm terms)."

"The Canon PowerShot SD450 is a pretty nice camera with some excellent features that many other competing cameras do not have. First off, it's got 5-megapixels and it shows! The body of the SD450 is about 3.5 x 2 x 1 inches and it has a curvy metal body that is very sleek. Its profile is pretty small too so it's an ultracompact in our book. You'll love this camera if you're the type of person that takes a quick picture and then throws the camera back into your pocket."

"The compact little 17" screen of the Samsung Syncmaster 173P+ boasts a native resolution of 1280x1024 pixels. It is pretty clear by looking at the three separate colour test patterns that issues with ghosting are reduced on the 8ms gray-to-gray panel. Its industry standard dot pitch of 0.264mm makes for a crisper image from the a-si TFT/PVA panel than many 19" LCDs can muster. The Samsung 173P+ does retail a bit higher than the average 17" LCD will, priced about $570USD, but it does offer up a contrast ratio of 1500:1 and brightness value of 270 cd/m2. Viewing angles on the Samsung 173P+ break the barrier at 178 degrees horizontal/vertical."

"Overall, the EYEpad is another excellent gaming mouse pad from Corepad. Corepad did the right thing when teaming up with EYEBALLERS and they have made a pretty impressive mouse pad here. Unlike most mouse pads, users can save up extra cash by not paying for all that fancy packaging. Looks like Corepad is going to keep the EYEpad as an OEM version thus this will certainly appeal to more gamers and perhaps system builders. Priced at $15.61 for the EYEpad standard and $20.43 for the EYEpad XL, both of these pads are very affordable. Considering the quality you get for that price, the EYEpad is certainly a steal. If you’re looking for a lightweight, easy-to-use, high-quality mouse pad, you should probably give the EYEpad a try."

"We'll get right to the point; the OCZ Technology Rally USB 2.0 Flash Drive is the fastest USB flash drive we have ever tested. If you're looking for the fastest flash drive money can buy, the OCZ Rally is it. How does the Rally get it amazing speed? With Dual Channel technology. OCZ Technology is among the first memory makers to use dual channel in a flash drive. The result is a flash drive that leaves the competition sucking dusk."

"X-Micro’s Video MP3 400 is one of the most innovative things on the market today. Sure there are other companies that make MP3 and video players, but none of them succeed in making them small enough to be carried around the neck. Just imagine this player’s applications; one can watch his/hers favorite show or the Yankees re-run game while waiting in line in DMW, riding the bus, sitting in the park on a beautiful day. Great job X-Micro!"

"In Part 1 of this project, I basically wired a laptop into my car to provide an all-in-one multimedia solution. While the basic setup worked fine, it was hardly original, not elegant at all, and a bit too basic. Wires were everywhere, the laptop sticking out of the back of the seat was an absolute eyesore. The gears in my head started turning, and plans for upgrades fell into place."

"Zalman has always made some great aircooling heatsinks that provided excellent performance at low noise levels. Their new CNPS9500 continues that trend with a bit of uniqueness and style."

"Does your old, pressboard IKEA TV stand from grad school look out of place with your new plasma screen? If so, check out the following suggestions to help you organize and jazz up your home entertainment theatre quicker than you can find something decent to watch on TV."

"We all know that DFI makes some killer AMD nF4 motherboards through their LANParty series. They're out again with a more budget oriented nF4 motherboard that also excels in performance and overclocking."

"On Wednesday, October 26th, Bytesector made the trek to the Mecca of Xbox gaming in Toronto, X05 Canada, hosted by none other than Microsoft Canada. After getting our coats checked, we pushed our way to the front and must have glued our eyelids onto a lone model of the Xbox 360 on display behind Plexiglas for a solid two minutes. It wasn't on; no, it wasn't even connected to a television. But it was beautiful; it was stunning; OK, I'm lying-it was drop-dead gorgeous. We kept staring until we were told politely that the entire venue was rife with Xbox 360 consoles and playable demos of its upcoming titles. Needless to say, we quickly pushed our way to the front of the demo lines."

"KVM switches are the way to go for controlling 2 or more PCs, saving you space, time, and money. But just how good do these new USB-based switches perform? We take the new StarTech unit for a test drive."

"With the introduction of graphic intense memory hungry games like Battlefield 2 and recently released F.E.A.R. the need to increase ram is more important now then ever. And with the average gamer and enthusiast running at least one gig of memory the only logically choice to upgrade to will be two gigs. Looking thought any forum today the talk to the town are high performance one gig modules. Today we got ahold of a kit of OCZ's EL DDR PC-4000 2GB Gold Edition. So if gaming is your forte, you may want to look into this one."

"In the good old days, back when the Internet had about 10 users and the web was a far off vision, PCs were called Home Computers and anyone could learn to write computer games. Three of us set up in business to write and sell our own games for the ZX Spectrum (Aka Timex/Sinclair) and Commodore 64. We didn’t sell many games but we were saved by getting into the game conversion business. A publisher would release a hit on the Commodore 64 and we’d write the Timex, Amstrad, MSX, CBM 16 etc versions. It took about 3 months for one person to produce a game."

"Logitech is a respected manufacturer in the gaming and computer enthusiast community, and for a good reason. Throughout its history, Logitech has always managed to set standards in the peripherals market, especially with keyboard and mice that are specially designed for the gamers in mind. Quite obviously, the price of Logitech branded products is above average than what a standard user might need, but for those of us who breathe gaming, majority of Logitech’s products are a pleasure to use. Recently, Logitech introduced a new line of gaming products as part of its "G" series product lineup."

"Sunbeamtech has offered the typical fan controller (rheobus) in a variety of styles in the past, but the software based Theta TP-101 is much different. Instead of using knobs to mechanically vary resistance, a Windows interface is used to automate this through software, while providing on screen information for up to eight fans and eight thermal probes."

"With Santa Claus around the corner, it could be time to think of a little gift for your devoted laptop for its daily abnegation… AMDboard.com has a list of the crème de la crème for both of you and you can’t stay insensitive to its enumeration: First, we have the Logitech notebook V200 cordless mouse that can work a whole year with a single alkaline AA battery, second, the great Chrysalis WIFI seeker that spot the WIFI hot spots in second with indication of the signal strength, third, the Jetart Notebook NP6900 stand with cooling, USB hub, card readers and much more, fourth, the USB fan that will send, right in your face, the morning breeze at any time of the day and, fifth and last, the IDE 2.5in HDD adaptor for a quick connection of your notebook HDD to any desktop IDE connector."

Giveaway Details & Requirements:

Be a registered VH forums member with at least 5 posts.
Free shipping to the continental 48 USA. Outside areas will be responsible for S&H costs.

Contest ends Halloween night ( 10/31/05) at 11:59pm EST
Winner will be selected no later than 11/3/05 and notified via Email

How to Enter

Send an email to contest(at)virtual-hideout(dot)net containing an original article you've written that would be suitable for posting on VH. It could be "state of the industry", or a "how-to", or even just an interesting "editorial".

"They did this by developing the "Galaxy Liquid Cooling Kit" designed for use with high-end systems. However, developing a high-performance water cooling kit just would not have the same impact without a high-end case to go with it. Therefore, Gigabyte has also designed a new standalone ATX case designed to house their water-cooling kit. This case is known as the 3D Aurora and purely from an appearance point of view, there is nothing else quite like it."

"Some people hate goodbyes – me, I despise introductions.

Think about it.

How uncomfortable were you the first time you met your friends at school? The initial moment you shook hands with your significant other? The time you sat there stunned as someone plopped a Playstation 2 controller into your outstretched paws and said, "Get to know this – it'll change your life." (OK, so that last one's a stretch – still, wasn't it a pain in the ass learning that dual analog joystick setup?)"

"Just how much mindless blasting can you take before it’s too much? There’s certainly plenty of enjoyment in here, but just as being given the keys to the brewery will see you in hospital with a stomach pump going full chat… Serious Sam 2’s blasting is the digital equivalent of binge drinking… binge blasting perhaps?"

"Gameplay is split into 6 distinct modes, including chase, heli, collect and on-foot sections and you’ll find yourself up against 6 different gangs from tough as steel escaped convicts and Italian mobsters through to street-wise punks and shapely killer Vixens. With each section is set over up to 20 km of road, Pursuit Force is set to always offer something new, rather than just a different track around the same old city and the sense of speed when you scream along at over 150mph is really very good indeed."

"So your cell phone can take and send pictures, even video. You can text message and download ringtones and games. Maybe you can even watch a little television and do some limited web browsing. But if you're a person who's been using mobile phones for a number of years, you can appreciate just how far they've come since the early days when we carried around bricks in dubiously bright neoprene covers, and simply trying to get a phone and service required the kind of stringent credit checks associated with entry to Fort Knox - or being able to rent a video in the early days."

"One of the first few motherboards based on NVIDIA's new IGP chipset is here. The Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 is packed with high-end features you'd usually find in a regular nForce4 Ultra motherboard plus HD audio support as well, but does it perform? Find out here."

"Unlike the compact memory cards used by digicams, the storage media for camcorders are still cumbersome by comparison. Along comes the JVC Everio MG50 with its built-in HDD that does away with external media all together. Will it set the pace for other manufacturers? Read on."

"Power supplies in general have improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years, and the Sintek unit is a great example of the state of the art. The modified ATX connector is a nice feature, making the use of an adaptor unnecessary."

"The most interesting thing we’ve witnessed is that as the X700 and the GeForce 6600 are so close in terms of capabilities, the real battle has shifted to the card manufacturers. Who can pack the most onto the card? Who can put together the most attractive bundle? Who can come up with dynamic cooling and heat dissipation, and who can implement it the best?"

"The codename of ATi’s forthcoming successor to its just released RADEON X1800 XT (R520) - the 90nm R580 is called ‘Rodin’.

Named, we think, after the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), whose works included ‘The Thinker’ and the exquisitely risqué ‘The Kiss’.

With memory rumoured to be like Fudo, what kind of a thinker will ATi R580 be?"

"Asetek makes their entry into the aircooling crowd with a big bang. The VapoChill Micro performs well at minimal noise levels and has the capability of cooling up to 150W of heat! Your toasty CPU can now thank you for prolonging its life."

"We can’t remember the last time we saw such brand promotion with fanciful websites to promote a cell phone that does something as stale as taking pictures, but at higher resolutions. Not to mention that it lacks a hard drive, which isn’t all that bad a thing. With that said, it has quite a few attractive features as going for it, but does it have what it takes to justify the bulkiness and the hefty price tag? Read on and find out…"

"While ATI is busy showing off their new products it is easy to forget that they still have a pretty nice line-up already out. The X800-series has grown a lot and today I am testing the X800GT and X800GTO cards from HIS."

"Can 27 million people be wrong? This is the approximate number of iPods sold by Apple since October 2001, and, until two weeks ago, my answer was yes. I couldn’t understand all the fuss for an audio player exactly “like any other”. I had the opportunity to play with an iPod mini before, which I found quite amusing, but nothing more than that."

"The CA-3030 boasts some impressive features not normally found in lower priced, almost entry-level cases... like: tool-less drive mounting system, fan filter, flip down drive bay covers, and it is also great looking. But the nicest feature has to be the ability to run two full sized 120mm fans. This should provide enough quiet cooling for all but the hottest running machines."

"Intel fans who look for SLI performance now have a new choice on their motherboard list. Abit's NI8 SLI is a solid board that performs well without any issues. Overclocking is probably the only department that needs help."

"Do you want a hard drive enclosure that not only lives up to your expectations, but looks classy at the same time? We are taking a look at the Thermaltake Max 4, which does just that... and well!"

"But that is the marvel of IPTV. It may be bad but you won't sit through 3-4 minutes of ads to watch a reality show. You can watch bad reality free of commercials. With the global adoption of DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) standards for 95% of the global market, Intel and Microsoft are more than ready to serve a market that is just beginning."

"This 4U rackmount case is designed for studio professionals looking for quiet superior performance, so who better to test its abilities than an overclocker? I must admit that I cannot wait so let's take this show on the road and get to the package and contents section."

"Samsung's SP-R4212 has certainly been able to change my experience in watching movies and playing video games. While it's not truly HDTV, for the price you pay, it certainly gives you a great bang for the buck. Those who are looking for an HDTV, Samsung has the model up from the SP-R4212 and it has native support."

"Xtreme Resources is proud to announce a Computer System Benefit Raffle. The site has put a great system together through parts donated by many of our wonderful members. The proceeds from the raffle are going to one of our friends and staff member to assist in defraying medical costs incurred from a complicated back surgery that his wife endured without the assistance of any medical insurance. Our very generous community through their donations have already helped take care of a major portion of their bills, with one very generous member matching all donations made. Our goal through this raffle is to generate an additional $1600.00 which will take care of the final portion of their medical bills. We look to all of our friends in the Computer enthusiast community to stop by, check out the system and help us help Greg and his wife."

"The strictest distinction between an amateur and a professional camera is the lens type. SLR (single lens reflex) cameras have the ability to swap lenses. Point and shoot cameras have a fixed lens that cannot be removed. All point and shoot cameras are amateur cameras. However, not all SLRs are professional cameras. Professional SLRs all have approximately the same size lens fitting. If you buy a camera with very small lenses you can be sure that this is a nonprofessional SLR. Many cameras today also balance on the line between amateur and professional cameras. This is where the debate becomes more a matter of opinion then a technical one."

"All in all, the XFX GeForce 7800 GT is a stunning graphics card. The package was impressive and the bundled games are pretty good. This 7800 GT comes factory overclocked and it runs pretty cool even at overclocked speeds. Considering that the performance of a single 7800 GT is better than a single 6800 Ultra, gamers would definitely enjoy better savings going the 7800 GT way because not only the 6800 Ultra is expensive, it also requires dual slot and probably eats up more power too. We really liked the design of the 7800 GT especially its silent single slot cooler and the added aluminium strut that can only be found on XFX 7800 GT graphics card."

"Every aspect of the new Samsung X1 is about enhancing the experience of mobile computing. From the slim and lightweight chassis to the host of features it serves up, the X1 looks to be a clear choice for mobile warriors, but is it really?"

"When it comes to system memory, Crucial Technology is a name that comes to mind for many enthusiasts. Unlike a majority of the other system memory manufacturers, Crucial employs its own DRAM chips
manufactured by their parent company - Micron Technology. Not only does Crucial utilize Micron chips on its memory modules but it also brings fourth superior technical support and competitive prices. Up for testing in this article is Crucial's Ballistix DDR2-800 PC2-6400 2 x 512MB memory modules."

"Aspire has delivered a very attractive design, on the outside. Once you open the case up, you run into some old fashioned design concepts with some not so thought out solutions and positioning of fans and air-ducts. Although in my situation I have a specific motherboard that causes a position issue, there should be a plan in place for that, as DFI is not exactly a small motherboard supplier in the enthusiast market space."

"Complementing the release of the WINE v0.9 is CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office v5.0 Standard and Professional. In addition to being based upon this recent WINE release, CrossOver Office now supports the running of Microsoft's Office 2003 and the introduction of CrossOver "Bottles" capabilities. Although in our initial tests we didn't find this v5.0 to be perfect, it's much improved upon its previous version and a demo of this software is always available via BitTorrent for a full 30 day trial period. In this article we have a few snapshots of this latest WINE (Wine Is Not An Emulator) advancement."

"One of the first high-end mouse pads to make a name for its was the glass Icemat. Though most expensive pads which come out are lately are metal, glass pads have been around for some time and have developed a core following. Glass has a few attributes which make it a very good mousing surface, if properly designed. This review is going to be taking a look at the Second Edition of the Icemat. I reviewed the Icemat Black just about two years ago and I have to admit, I still use it almost every day. Icemat has made a name for itself for producing very good looking mouse pads which offer solid performance and a long life."

“Feeling down in the dump? Well then this might not be the review for you. Reason being, this power supply is very VERY blue! It's made by FSP Group, which has been around since 1993 and currently is the 10th largest power supply vendor world-wide. They are focusing on green power products and looking forward to strengthening their product line as well as the range. The unit which I received for review is the Blue Storm 500 with (passive) PFC, they also have three smaller sizes and these all have the option to have PFC or not.”

"It pains me to say so but being a solid, dependable mainboard - even at a pretty excellent £90 including VAT - sometimes isn't enough to make a recommendation. There are better Pentium 4 mainboards out there (and ECS sell some of them!) and currently Crossfire is fairly forgettable. Overclocking the PA1 was an exercise in frustration although it appears a coming BIOS might solve some of those problems. Stability was there to go with all the other upsides."

"I don't know where to start. These speakers are just amazing, the clarity this speaker set delivered was unmatched. Even the Logitech Z-680s could not compete with the Z-5500s. Both sets are incredibly loud and offer superior bass than anything I've owned before and yes, I've even owned Klipsch and Bose Speakers. The control over the surround effects was also impressive, turning my room into a venue many times bigger with a twist of the control knob on the Surround option."

"Stuck with lost data on a USB memory key or Flash card and don't know what to do? Recovering data from flash memory devices is possible, and not to complex, so follow along and we'll help you get those pictures back! In this Beginners Guide, PCSTATS is going to look at how flash memory works, what can go wrong with it, and how to recover and protect your data in case the worst does happen."

“AMD have published a renewed processor list with which the processor manufacturer lowers the prices of a large number of processors. The largest lowering are the Turion 64 processors for ` thin and light'-notebooks. They have been reduced in price with 26%, the midrange models 16% and the lowered models 6% . The mobile Athlon 64-processors droppes which varies between 13 and 2% and the mobile Sempron-processors fall between 10 and the 0%”

"Enthusiasts love to know which “core” their processor is based on. “Core” is the silicon chip version used inside the CPU. Even in some ads you may find a reference to which core the CPU uses. To the regular user the core reference looks like Greek, so we decided to post a quick guide to all Athlon 64 cores released to date."

"Using the TTC-G3T Value Aluminum Notebook Cooler was a no-brainer experience. It really doesn't get much easier to "setup" and use a product than this. Simply sit it down, place the notebook on top, and plug in the cooler to an available USB port."

"Ultra Products has a new fan controller called the Fan Commander which can control up to seven fans, and monitor three temperature probes. Controlling all your fans in one location will help you save time while also achieving the perfect balance between noise level and cooling performance."

"Class, sleek and powerful are just a few words that I can think of to describe anything that comes from Silverstone. From the TJ line of cases to the ST series of power supplies nothing says quality like Silverstone. Another one of their quality products is in our lab today, The Strider ST60F 600 watt power supply. Boasting a boatload of power and modular cables, this maybe your next power unit."

"MobiBLU’s DAH-1500i, the world’s smallest MP3 player, has garnered quite a bit of attention since its existence, and for a good reason. Despite diminutive control issues, the 1500i scored impressively well in our performance tests and earned a solid recommendation, but the question for today is – does the 1500i have what it takes to be an iPod Nano killer?"

"Every once in a while when you are sitting alone, thinking back to all those years you’ve spent on technology, you realize that standards are meant to be updated and consistency isn’t the hardware industry’s strong suit."

"The name Bob Slay is really an interesting play on words, taken from bobsleigh. The case is not a true "cube case", as it measures 14.59 x 11.11 x 12.21 inches (L x W x H). The name bobsleigh goes along with the "mountain" theme, has good cooling, and of course “slay” being a synonym for frag... yeah, a very fitting name."

"With the recent introduction of the P-180 chassis, the latest in their Performance One series, Antec has made an attempt to address both the cooling problem and the noise issue. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a PC enthusiast who hasn't heard of, much less owned any Antec products. Antec has a reputation for marketing high quality products that perform as advertised. The P-180 chassis has a distinctive look and a plethora of innovative features. Let's take a closer look at this product and see if it lives up to Antec's venerable reputation."

"Today Scott and I are going to look at two of these nPower coolers, the NPH-775-1 for the Intel LGA775 processor, and the NPH-K8-1 designed for AMD’s socket 939/940 processors. So let’s now see if the last seven years of TTIC’s cooling experience has transferred over to their products."

"The very basic reason why audio cables are important is because they change the signal going through them. There are two different, fundamental ways that an audio cable can change the signal. The cable itself can change the signal, or the cable can allow outside sources of energy to change the signal. In order to understand how these two situations can occur, some basic background electrical knowledge is needed."

"There's no question we're overwhelmed by gadgets. To simplify our lives a bit, manufacturers are creating devices that do double or triple duty like the Treo 650 cell phone/PDA. Other examples are camcorders that tout their digital still attributes, so they not only take videos but photographs as well. In this case, the theory being you can carry one less gadget, put your digital camera on eBay and just use a single device. We can honestly say that up until recently this has been a fool's errand, as the photo quality of most camcorders is pathetic. $99 Vivitars and Concords found in Wal-Mart do better jobs than "photo-taking camcorders." Fortunately things are changing as manufacturers enhance imaging devices, lens quality, add a load of photographic circuitry and other goodies. The new Canon Optura 600 is a good case in point. It records excellent MiniDV videos plus it takes 4 megapixel stills, far better than most of the competition. In fact, of the 85-plus camcorders out there, only two JVCs (GR-X5US, GZ-MC500) and the Samsung SC-D6550 take better ones (5MP vs. 4MP). Now should you unload your old digital camera on eBay and use the proceeds for the Optura 600? Click on…"

"It might be a little strange to be testing out the Jetart JAK801 Socket 754 AMD Athlon64 heatsink, but remember there are plenty of single-channel DDR Socket 754 processors out there, and lots of Sempron's too. The Jetart JAK801 is an all-aluminum extruded K8 heatsink with a pretty standard set of accouterments. Its 15x70x70mm fan operates at a single speed, and is not temperature responsive."

"Now powered by an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (dual core and overclocked) and overclocked NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX SLI, the basic canons of performance that we saw in the development 3XS Chameleon have been cemented and improved. Still wearing coats of paint more expensive than a decent spec PC, the fully-loaded Chameleon has been used and abused by us over the course of the last few days."

"The HIS brand has become almost synonymous with its IceQ range of coolers that are designed by the reputed Arctic Cooling. This excellent cooler once again finds it way onto ATI's newest 'old' GPU, the Radeon X800 GTO. Let's find out if the IceQ II cooler can reproduce its cooling mojo for the Radeon X800 GTO."

"The front panel on the Armor appears massive. The most noticeable feature on this case is the two aluminum doors that swing out to expose the drive bays. Serving no real purpose other then looks, these drive bay doors do in fact add attractive appeal to this case. The hinges on the doors are easily removable and could be removed if the user chooses not to have the doors on the case. The front of the case is nothing but options to the user. The power and reset button are interchangeable to any of the 11 bays on the front of this case. The “Power Box” also serves as an adapter that allows you to mount a 3.5” drive in one of the 5.25” bays."

"While fancy plastic and steel cases are now the order of the day, aluminium cases still have a high-end niche in the market and have retained a lot of their initial cachet. Gigabyte seems to have a hand in every conceivable PC market these days, and cases are now no exception. Today we'll be looking at the company's first stand-alone computer chassis, the high-end Gigabyte 3D Aurora aluminium case which is designed to especially accommodate watercooling systems. Let's see how it measures up."

"Seeing as this card was designed to be overclocked, it comes as no suprise that we were able to top out at 170 (!) MHz over the base spec. This is 100 MHz over the overclock that Powercolor ships the card with. This is extremely impressive and anyone who either owns or ends up owning this card should at least consider using its high performance potential."

"If you pay close attention, you will find some stores selling “Celeron Centrino” notebooks. There is just one detail: Celeron Centrino does not exist."

"Lacking any fancy LED fans, powering up the Thermaltake Swing Case was uneventful. The Thermaltake Swing Case is the perfect marriage of budget, usability, and looks. This Case has room to grow, so as an entry level Case the Swing would be an ideal purchase. Also, with its $60 price tag it's within reach of many peoples' budget - our only ding was that it doesn't include a Power Supply Unit. In any case, the Thermaltake Swing fits its' price point perfectly giving the user features found on more expensive Cases."

"All of the eye candy the Case Gear X-Plug PSU offers up is great, but to me what counts the most is how well it supplies clean, stable power to the various voltage rails in the computer. Unfortunately, it stumbled a little bit in this area... The Case Gear X-Plug PSU voltage rails never fell out of specification, but all of the voltage rails did a lot of 'dancing' around within the 5% allowable tolerance."

"The Samsung HT-P50 Home Theatre System is one of Samsung's many home-theatre-in-a-box (commonly referred to as HTiB) packages. It's a higher end model in Samsung's line-up, and provides you with the very best combination of features. For starters, the receiver has a 5-disc turntable changer that plays not only DVD, CD, and VCD, but also WMA, DivX , and most other MPEG4 compression schemes. The 5.1 speakers system produces a total of 1000W of pure audio power. This will ensure some wall shaking that your neighbors will love to hate."

"Man’s need for storage is insatiable. We initially thought that we could make do in a few kilobytes; however, we then moved up to megabytes, gigabytes and now hundreds of gigabytes. Emphasizing this trend is the new drive series from Seagate, the 7200.9."

“This isn't really an article, more of something to think about. Things that I observe, questions that I would like answered. Taking a look around the modding community you can see lots of things, the major thing you can see is that modding is becoming more and more mainstream. Is this a good thing? There are 2 TV shows that I know of that are dedicated to modding, but it still is not fully mainstream yet. Some consider it an art form, some consider it a hobby and some say 'What's modding?' Browsing all the forums I see lots and lots of mods, some are great and some are not so great. I see many people modding their computers with some theme in mind, some pull it off well and others do not…”

"In order to keep the overview before the purchase of an AMD Athlon 64 Motherboard, a new comparison list of all so far on ocinside.de tested Motherboards is now online. In the overview is a summary of all results and the most important overclocking options e.g. multiplier, Vcore, etc."

"I've finished my full FEAR Tweak Guide, and it comes complete with all the known tips and tweaks for FEAR. The guide includes screenshot comparisons of some of the harder-to-spot setting differences, more detailed setting descriptions, all the working advanced tweaks, and a ton of links to useful resources for troubleshooting FEAR problems. Give it a read through."

"This new passive cooling design by ASUS has proven to deliver exceptional performance while operating with complete silence. The demand for silent cooling methods has become increasingly popular as volume has become a real concern over the past few years. Today’s graphics cards and processors generate very large amounts of heat making cooling a real issue."

"When it comes to monitors, Samsung has proven dominant in the market. In the past, they have released several multi-purpose monitors which were not up to snuff in the past, either due to low response times or poor integration of technology. Recently, Samsung's multi-purpose monitors have been performing fairly well; case in point-the 242MP. With a 24" widescreen display size, this monitor is fit for any video editing, designing, or programming tasks and also as a widescreen HDTV and FM radio. FM Radio? Yes Samsung has added some extra sugar and spice into this monitor by adding an FM tuner accompanied with small tower sized speakers. This isn't just a monitor from Samsung, it's an entertainment unit set loose!"

"The GT model is quite similar to the 7 series flagship model, known as the 7800GTX, having 1 less vertex shader and 4 less pixel pipelines. The GT also has slower stock clock speeds of 400MHz core and 500MHz memory as compared to the GTX's 430MHz core and 600MHz memory. Seemingly minor differences but we shall see what the benchmarks have to say as we pit the Gigabyte 7800GT against the BFG 7800GTX which comes pre-overclocked out of the factory."

"Once my original Mini-ITX project was completed I finally had a chance to sit back and use the computer. After a couple weeks of general internet browsing, emailing, and so forth, I was able to get a better understanding of the system and a feel for its design. Knowing how simple my needs were, the Mini-ITX project computer was orginally designed to be as basic and quiet as possible. This meant no hard drive, no extra accessories- just a stripped down system. While this suited my needs well at the time, its lack of versatility soon became an issue. This meant it was back to the drawing board for a retooling of the Mini-ITX project computer. The changes include a new case, operating system and boot device, along with improved cooilng."

"Today we are looking at the Albatron K8SLI motherboard based on nVidia’s nForce4 SLI chipset for the AMD Athlon 64 processor based around the value segment requirements - will this board hold up to the test? Let’s have a closer look."

"Your new HDTV looks atrocious. It doesn't produce a picture any better than the old analog TV you just demoted to the bedroom. The first realization may hit you smack on the head. Then again, it might just sneak up on you gradually. Either way the result is the samedissatisfaction, disappointment, disillusionment, suffering, pain, misery, death. Or the death of innocence, anyway.

Now here's the ray of sunshine. There may be nothing wrong with the product. The manufacturer may merely have set it up to look bad right out of the box under the assumption that you are too stupid to know what good performance really looks like."

"For its Golden Orb II,Thermaltake decided to go the route of the slow-spinning, large-diameter fan. This makes it ideal for people looking to limit the extra noise coming from their PC. The fan also includes a blue LED to add a nice glow to a PC case. The Golden Orb II also features a pure copper base and is compatible with most Intel LGA775 and AMD socket 754, 939, and 940 processors."

“What else is there left to say? It works, and without any troubles at all. As long as you play games that support additional controllers like a joypad or a racing wheel. And if you want force feedback, than you will not be sure if the game supports that, than it will work without any problems with your playstation controller. Again a fine product available at merconnet for a reasonable price. Too bad there's still no memorycard functionality though, although it's already been figured out by other manufactures in the time that Bleem! was popular.”

"Listening to music and watching movies on our PC's has become something we do on a daily basis, and how that sound is output is very important. The audio should be crisp, clear and undisturbed by distortions caused by speakers. The Logitech Z-4, an award winning product, promises crystal clear sound deliverance in a sleek retro design with advanced driver technology."

"There's a new browser in town, and it has great potential if you use RSS feeds and other social networking sites regularly. Based on the Firefox browser, it should prove just as secure. Let's check it out, and see if it has a chance to battle Firefox and Opera."

"The first thing that you should ask yourself is, "What is this computer for?" For example, if this computer is only going to be used for surfing the web and writing documents, do you really need it to be able to run network games? After we have decided what we are going to use our computer for, we should begin locking out the features we don't need."

“For those that might have noticed things have been a bit quiet at HardwareXL a few weeks ago, this was due to a folded in lung which kept me busy in the hospital for 2 weeks. After my surgery it took me 2 weeks to recover. Now the only thing that hurts are a couple of my ribs which are internally contused (bruised). But this wont get me down.

This why I got the crazy idea to do a contest;

Grab your chance and win a " Thermaltake Blue OrbII " cpu cooler ”. All you have to do is “ TELL ME YOUR IN “

"In the war which opposes the various founders of graphics chips, the research of the power is the principal objective. That often induces, an increase in the temperatures and the need for having a system of refroissement consequent, often increasing the sound harmful effects. Like Arctic Cooling made with brilliance, Thermalright launches out today in the squanderer for graphics board with V-1. This new model will be you he at the level of the other Thermalright products? Response in these some pages."

"Samsung's SP-R4212 has certainly been able to change my experience in watching movies and playing video games. While it's not truly HDTV, for the price you pay, it certainly gives you a great bang for the buck. Those who are looking for an HDTV, Samsung has the model up from the SP-R4212 and it has native support."

“Lite-on has finally released a new DVD drive set to compete with a variety of other next generation high-speed double layer drives on the market. The new SHW-1635S now offers faster 8x DVD+R DL writing and 4x support for DVD-R DL media. Lite-On drives are well known for their speedy reading and writing and are a favorite among a majority of PC and video enthusiasts. Those who own or are familiar with Lite-On drives may notice the deviation in model number. This is because this new drive brings in significant changes when compared to their previous models and is entirely in a different class in terms of overall design. Let's take it for a spin and see what changes in performance have taken place.”

"The exterior of the steel case is finished in black high gloss paint, with an aluminum door. You also have the option to purchase the case in gloss white and the aluminum door. The black power button is almost hidden, being flush with the front of the case, under the LED display. I like that, I’m tempted to remove the markings from the button, just so it’s totally hidden. A real-time thermal LED temperature display shines brightly for you to show off your cool or not so cool temperatures. They should have added a feature to switch the display over to Celsius; it would have been a nice touch."

"The fictional superhero Batman was originally conceived in 1939 when appearing in an issue of Detective Comics, and since that point Batman's popularity has increased tremendously and is still popular with its Batman Begins movie, and video game, out this year as well as other merchandise. Attempting to capture onto the popularity of Batman, the relatively unheard of Sansun Group Company has created the SN-C001 BAT Case and we have this themed ATX chassis with us today for testing."

"HighSpeedPC's Tech Station is a product for system builders and chronic tinkerer's alike. It is an open-air computer workshop that gives the user full access to each of their system's components, allowing for unprecedented ease in installing, removing, and toying with parts. You can, of course, do this in a case but why make things harder than they have to be? Stop by the forums for a chance to win one for yourself!"

“This week I have taken a look at Thermaltake's Blue OrbII cpu cooler which can be used for both Intel LGA775 and AMD K8 sockets. With specs like 120mm fan, 17dBA it promises to be a silent solution. With this in mind "how would it perform”

"Recently, I've had the pleasure of being in "The Zone!" Personally, I've got to say that it was nice being there. Just what is "The Zone"? Well, you've heard of athletes talk about being in "The Zone" - that magical place where everything clicks. The physical and mental processes are working in coordination, and everything happens just right. In any athletic, competitive sport, the professional athlete trains and works hard for those special moments."

Ever wanted to carry large amounts of data and files around with you? This could be accomplished by a small USB thumb drive but if you have larger files fitting them on may be a problem. For those who wish to put a 3.5" hard drive in an external enclosure, Vantec offers the NexStar 3 as a great looking enclosure that will get the job done!

“The OCZ Modstream is impressive, it's silent, and it performs great.. I tell you, it's a lot more stable than other powersupplies I reviewed, ones that were suppose to be silent.... and it's fairly cheap too (82euros for the 450watts version, and 111 for the 520watts version)! The only small problem I had with this powersupply was a high pitched noise coming from the inside. Now it wasn't really that annoying, but still worth mentioning. Put it in your case and the sound is nearly gone!”

"A closer examination of the aluminum fins reveals three copper pipes that are located in the center of the unit. The copper pipes work in conjunction with what Asetek refers to as its "evaporation chamber" or "copper chamber" which contains hermetically sealed gas that uses the same cooling principles as phase change cooling. Most consumers familiar with Asetek products have seen this technology primarily used in the larger VapoChill refrigeration units."

The year 2005 marks the 20th Anniversary of Sony's Handycam camcorders and we got a chance to look back in time and note a few of their milestones. Sony also took this chance to launch three new Cyber-shot digital cameras and we bring you more details on them.

"Sansun Arctic is a modular cable power supply which is not only good for cable management but also good for case inner airflow. Since there are many power supply manufacturers have produced modular power supply, but the main advantage of the Sansun Artic power supply is its cheap price; USD79.99/ RM300. The price is considered very cheap for a 500W ATX12 V2.03 modular cable power supply. Hence, we recommend this power supply for those are looking for a decent performance modular power supply on a tight budget."

"Overall the work that Performance-Pcs has done with this chassis just makes a great case even more pleasing to the eyes. Their attention to detail and high quality work leave little to the imagination."

"Some of you may doubt our sources, so to clear it up and to prove the reliability of our sources; we decided to post more details about this subject."

"Now that Quake 4 has been available here in the United States for a couple of days along with the Linux client and server binaries, we've gathered some results comparing the frame-rate performance of Quake 4 against Doom 3, as Quake 4 is using a tweaked version of the Doom 3 engine."

“The overall feel of the mouse does take some getting used to, the rubber grips on the side protrude out a bit too far in my opinion. The mouse itself is very lightweight, and moves with little resistance across my mousepad, which is an Xray Thunder9, rough surface pad. The buttons on the left side of the mouse were easily accessible, but the buttons on the right were a bit difficult to reach, especially the second one located farther back on the mouse. I found myself actually moving my whole hand over to find the buttons, the reason for this was, again, the rubber grip protrudes a bit to far, the buttons are located under the grip itself, and you have to essentially maneuver your finger around and under the grip to reach the buttons, I found this very awkward and difficult to get used to.”

"The P2500g (also known as the SN25P) was the first small form factor computer to offer HyperTransport and PCI Express. The XPC SN25P uses the new P chassis, a member of Shuttle's fifth generation XPC chassis family. The P makes a number of improvements over the earlier G, G2, G4 and K series chassis which will be mentioned in more detail later in this review. Paraphrasing from Shuttle's press kit, the XPC concept utilizes high performance, industry standard desktop components, using minimum size possible while preserving component compatibility and expandability, and finally Shuttle's continued high focus o­n quality, using best-of-class materials, construction and industrial design."

"What we can't figure out is that with 1000+ channels and the successful rise of reality TV what are all these people watching? Guess Alfred Hitchcock was right -- Television is like the invention of indoor plumbing. It didn't change people's habits. It just kept them inside the house."

"Centon has really made some impressive releases through their Advanced line. Their Advanced PC4400 part uses the highly overclockable TCCD ICs and comes with great overclocking headroom."

"Intel's new Centrino Mobile Technology will be launched by January 2006, paving the way for a Next Generation Micro-Architecture that should swing Intel back on track with rival AMD. Take a more detailed look at Yonah, Napa and Intel's mobile trends towards the foreseeable future."

"Flock is the latest Web browser to enter the market. It's written using Mozilla's Firefox code as its base and they just developed Flock off of it. Flock takes Firefox to a whole new level without bloating the browser like Microsoft has done to Internet Explorer. They managed to add quite a bit of multimedia features that Firefox (or any other browser for that matter) doesn't have. Even better, it works on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux."

"Logic gates are the basic components in digital electronics. They are used to create digital circuits and even complex integrated circuits. For example, complex integrated circuits may bring already a complete circuit ready to be used – microprocessors and microcontrollers are the best example – but inside them they were projected using several logic gates. In this tutorial we will teach you everything you need to know about logic gates, with several examples."

"Although you may not have heard of Hiper, over the past few years they have produced some of the finest power supplies available to the mainstream user and enthusiast alike. However, their new TypeR range of PSUs is scheduled to blow competitors out of the water; with its huge 580W power output, and flashy looks. The particular model I will be reviewing is the Modular TypeR 580W model. TypeR, a name synonymous with speed and power. Let’s see if Hiper’s flashy boy racer can stand up to this prestigious name."

"The new Steel Sound 5H-USB professional gaming headset looks just like any other gaming headset. But looks are deceptive for this headset boasts of unique features like a specially-tweaked USB sound card, a retractable microphone as well as the ability to be dismantled for easy transportation! Check it out now!

Here are the updates:-
- Added test results.
- Updated conclusion.
- Status upgraded to Comprehensive Review. "

"One of the more interesting PSUs we tested in our PSU group test was the AOpen AO700-12ALN, a 700W unit that managed the full 700W of output power without issue, at high efficiency (80%+ !), with the four independant +12V rails making it ideal as an enthusiast class supply. Shortly after publishing, FSP let us know they were bringing a similar unit to market under the Epsilon brand name and they were very confident the FSP700-80GL would show all the same performance traits that the AOpen did."

"The rise of digital photography also brought the rise of the infamous question "Where do I get my pictures from?" Admit it, no matter how tech savvy you are, you did ask that question when you first became aware of digital photography. Initially, it seemed you had to relegate your photos to your computer, but now you have plenty of options for publishing your pictures. Today, we will examine how well the HP Photosmart 475 photo printer is able to meet your needs. While sceptical of the concept of printing your own pictures, I was very impressed with this printer's results."

"G.SKILL uses Samsung TCCD or TCC5 chips on these DDR memory modules. The timings of 2.5-4-4-8 are pretty much what you would expect from modules using these chips. During our overclocking tests we could get DDR600 speeds out of the sticks, at a rather small voltage of 2.8V. The best about this memory? It's the price. You can find a 2x 512MB kit for around $170 online."

"In this Beginners Guide, PCSTATS is going to walk you through setting up a personal website on the web using Apache web server for Windows. We'll introduce you to the terms and concepts you need to understand in order to host a website, show you how to prepare a system for web hosting, then go through the steps of configuring Apache server and hosting a website."

"Overall I would have to say that this mouse does indeed have the great response time of a "gaming mouse". The side scrolls are also a valuable function, but the size of this mouse is just too small."

"HTPCs don't have to be much different than your typical computer, but a few key areas do need to be addressed. Just as with a typical desktop computer, there are limitations to what certain configurations can achieve, but customizing the hardware and software can enhance the experience to the point where it may threaten the existence of some of your more traditional home electronics components."

"I've reviewed a ton of cases it seems. Every company is trying to capture the computer hobbyist's eye with unique features. Sunbeam Tech, a leader in modding accessories and cases, recently rolled out their Trio Gaming Case. What exciting features did they add for the computer hobbyist? How about a built in monitoring panel. Sure, you have seen this in many cases, but instead of only monitoring temperatures and fan speed, Sunbeam's Trio case also monitors sound levels. Also, instead of taking up a 5 1/4" bay with an off the shelf model, the gauges are built in to add a nice, old fashion look."

"Post Centrino, more and more notebooks are becoming Wi-Fi enabled. In fact, built-in Wi-Fi has become standard on newer notebooks, and the feature is common enough for the trickle effect to commence and make cell phones Wi-Fi compatible as well."

"In January I reviewed the inMotion3 portable audio system. While I was impressed by the design and performance of the inMotion3 and by how well it accomplished what it was designed to do, I noted that “As long as volume is kept at a reasonable level, overall quality is superior to most two-piece computer speaker systems I have heard. However, if you really want sockin’ bass that blows your socks off, you probably want to look elsewhere.” Well, look no further – with the inMotion7, Altec Lansing has delivered the goods."

"The Lian Li PC-777 Anniversary Case is a definite head turner. Its design absolutely screams 'look at me!' A few of my qualms with the basic functioning of the case such as the access ports and power button on top as well as the mesh side panel window (aka dust intake) can be easily tolerated by the end user, as any change to them would disrupt the clean conch look that Lian Li has achieved. The list of pros with the PC-777 reads like a litany of what every case should be and have in the way of features."

"Taking the 880 out of its packaging, I could immediately see improvements. I am excited to say, no more battery worries and running out of batteries is a nightmare of the past. The Harmony 880 now has its own rechargeable Li-Ion battery and charging station. The buttons have been rearranged, simplifying the remote process even more. The buttons themselves have been redesigned to "integrate" into the shell of the remote. The overall size and shape of the Harmony 880 has remained the same as previous models. Sometimes you just can't change a proven successful style."

“HTPC cases, we are seeing more of them as HTPC’s are becoming more popular, and easy to setup. My current HTPC is sitting in a Raidmax Scorpio Case. Which as you can see is not the best case for an HTPC. Today we will be taking a look at ThermalRock’s Mystic HTPC case. ThermalRock is a subsidiary of Thermaltake, who we all know are known for making good products. This is my first HTPC case so I’m excited to take a look at it! We will see if it will replace the Raidmax case, and become part of my home theater system.”

"The first thing that you’ll notice as soon as you get into the meat of Quake 4 is just how similar it looks to Doom 3. On the graphics front the original Quake was very brown, Quake 2 was brown and grey and now Quake 4 may well end up being known as Doom 3 under a new name. In fact, purely as a first impression, I couldn’t help but think that Quake 4 is the game Doom 3 should have been!"

"The NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver is a tweaked version of the NVIDIA ForceWare driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with better performance and image quality. The Driver has support for all Geforce cards.

Changes:
* Based on nVidia ForceWare 81.85 WHQL.
* NV Direct Access has been ripped in order to avoid gamma issues with CRT monitors."

"Although Winbond UTT is not as popular as before, there are still enthusiasts who love memory based on the IC. Centon is here to satisfy those enthusiasts with the Advanced PC4000 memory."

“Companies like Alienware, VoodooPC, and Monarch Computer have been building systems geared toward gamers for years and now Dell is getting into the mix. One system we have from Dell that falls in this category is the XPS 600 Generation 5 desktop system. It's not their best system by far if you read the specs, but we'll still take it for a spin and see where we end up. It should be a wild ride.”

"While a lot of the accessories out there take a unidirectional approach to solving automotive listening woes, Dension decided to kill all three birds with one stone. The Ice>Link Plus ports the iPod audio directly to the car’s stereo, holds the iPod in place, and charges your iPod while plugged in. It even throws in some extras. The Ice>Link lets you control the iPod through the existing car stereo controls (details depend on the car / stereo make and model), eliminating the trouble and safety hazard associated with fiddling with the click wheel while steering."

"Released earlier today from id Software was both the client and server Linux binaries for Quake 4 and with that we bring a plethora of new screenshots. Although the v1.0.2147 release does contain a few bugs, overall these Linux binaries are phenomenal and from our experience thus far we've very much enjoyed both the single and multi-player gaming. For your viewing pleasure today, we've bundled 120 pictures from the first seven levels of Quake 4, to ensure we don't spoil this excellent gaming experience."

"The Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS packs a lot of punch into a tiny little package. The lack of DVI monitor and component video outputs does take away from some of the shine that was put on this motherboard by the performance it offers. With that said, I don't think we can hide from the fact that this is one heck of a solid package in the price range it is being offered. Foxconn has once again put a smile on my face with the overclocking options and performance out of the Micro-ATX WinFast 6150K8MAA-8EKRS and I think it is an exceptional offering in what is sure to become a very competitive market."

"Prime Cooler, who has been in business since 1998 but isn't widely recognized in the United States, recently unveiled their initial line of water cooling components. These products range from a lift pump with water tank to a triple 120mm fan radiator, and today we have an exclusive preview of what's to come from these Prime Cooler Water Cooling components. Continue on as we dive into these frigid waters."

"Arctic Cooling impressed us again with their latest NV Silencer 5 (Rev. 3) and it is still one of the highest performing VGA cooler we have tested up to date. The retail package is quite catchy and it comes with everything to get you going. If you look at the performance, it simply outperforms the stock cooler by quite a margin but it does not end there. The major difference between the stock cooler and NV Silencer 5 is the levels of noise it makes. To be frank, we could not hear the NV Silencer 5 during operation but the stock cooler can be clearly heard especially when we set the fan speed to maximum."

"The latest installment of the legendary Quake series has arrived and we put it through our lab tests to find out how it fares with various graphics hardware. Though based on the Doom 3 game engine, we've found that Quake 4 needs much more juice. You'll find out just how much in this article."

"Sooner or later you will need to know the manufacturer and exact model of your motherboard, especially if you do plan to upgrade your computer, since the upgrade capabilities of your computer are set by the motherboard model you have. You will need to know this information if you need to perform a BIOS upgrade or download your motherboard manual or drivers. A BIOS upgrade is needed to make your computer to recognize a new CPU, and the manual is necessary if you want to check how much RAM your computer is able to recognize, for example."

"With now nine prizes in total, how could you not enter? We have a motherboard, a video card, a SFF barebone system, 2 GB of RAM and some cases! What are you waiting for? Click the link and enter today!"

"Lastly is the price of the RAM, a rather large question especially since there isn't a lot of difference, performance wise to PC5300 RAM. As of this moment its around the $200 (US) mark, which puts it around the other PC6400 RAM around. The upside is that it has tighter timings than the competition, at least at the moment, at 4-4-4-15 rather than 5-5-5-15."

"As an artist at an early age, I’ve always loved creating things a little out of the ordinary. Drawing was always my favorite thing to do. As I grew-up and began to explore the world of computers, I witnessed people creating works of art into their CPU boxes. Computer modding here I come, I was drawn into this new hobby instantly. I knew that with all my knowledge in the sheet metal fabrication trade (3-1/2 yrs.), airbrushing (10+ yrs.), and professional spray-painting (20+ yrs.), with this kinda background I knew I could build something unique."

"The Silverstone TJ05 is not only easy on the eyes; it’s also very easy to work with. The design allows the user to fit both PCI cards and additional drives without the use of any tools. The case enables the user to lock it so that you can keep all the valuable components inside secure and safe when you are away from the computer. The cooling effectiveness of those huge 120mm fans is also a very impressive aspect of this case."

"EQS enabled HEXUS with its EQS A72K9-CF CrossFire Edition mainboard literally weeks before we got our grubby paws on the ATi Master graphics board required to complete the platform for our analysis on the launch of the CrossFire platform. That timely showing, has enabled us to really get to know the EQS A72K9-CF CrossFire Edition mainboard for this HEXUS article."

“Today we're going to take a look at three of Logitech's new wireless mice: the Cordless Mini, the V200, & the LX 7. The Cordless Mini & the V200 fall into Logitech's "Notebook Mice" category, while the LX 7 is simply in the "Cordless Mice" category. This is interesting to me, because the LX 7 is basically the same size as the V200, but there are some differentiating features between the two that certainly separate them into those categories.”

"Who doesn't own a laptop these days? Your thin notebook with that itty bitty heatsink is causing your CPU fan to spin at full speeds. Need better cooling for your laptop? The Serina from TITAN will be a good candidate."

"OCZ has been dead silent in the DDR2 category that it has been disappointing. With the new Platinum PC2-6400, OCZ is back and ready to challenge all competitors. Low latencies and high speeds never sounded so good."

"An external DVD writer can be a great idea when your computer lacks the room for an addition optical drive. These portable drives are a bit more cumbersome to carry than a USB flash drive, but blank DVD's make them cost effective.

Today we take a look at Samsung's new WriteMaster SE-W164 External DVD writer. The SE-W164 features a slim compact design, can be used both horizontal and vertical using the vertical stand, and can burn 8.5 gig DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media."

"Digital cameras are revolutionizing the world of home and professional photography, but they are married to memory cards just as traditional cameras are married to film. Making the best use of memory cards can have a very big impact on your enjoyment of digital photography. Choosing the right memory card for the job can be as important as choosing the right film for a traditional camera."

"Thermaltake has had a great year this year. Boasting one of the best coolers made this year, the Big Typhoon. Producing one of the best watercooling cases this year, in the Tai-Chi. The next item we are about to review may not be turning the overclocking community upside down, but it will make things a lot easier for the day to day computing. Thermaltake has sent us the Muse 3.5 hard drive enclosure."

"This review is going to take a look at a new offering from Logitech. With its keyboards Logitech has been focusing on evolution, not revolution, which is fine, because they have a good foundation to built upon. The Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 Media Remote is Logitech's first desktop to include a remote control, so you know its aimed at media and home theater PC (HTPC) use. This is a quickly growing segment of the market, as computers are often taking over the digital enterainment duties of the tech-savvy household. This desktop kit has great looks and functions to spare, it should be a great pick."

"Packed with a 200MHz processor and 32MB of internal memory, the latest Palm Z22 is the smallest and most affordable PDA with a color LCD from Palm yet!"

"Gigabyte brought the "Ultra" variant of the small brother GA-K8NSC with the GA-K8NS Ultra Motherboard on the market, where Ultra isn't only regarding the chipset, but rather also regarding the equipment. The board offers high quantity of quality features ..."

"The latest installment of the legendary Quake series has arrived and we put it through our lab tests to find out how it fares with various graphics hardware. Though based on the Doom 3 game engine, we've found that Quake 4 needs much more juice. You'll find out just how much in this article."

"Did you notice the recent surge in 2GB dual-channel memory kit reviews? Ever wonder why memory makers are promoting 2GB memory kits now, especially with DDR. According to the information we received, yesterday was perhaps one of the most important days in the PC gaming industry, as the year’s four most anticipated titles made their way to retail shelves: Age of Empires 3, Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R and Quake 4."

"In the battle for market supremacy, Intel has always been the leader, and AMD has always been playing catch up, at least as far as market share is considered. This is perhaps the strangest thing as AMD clearly makes better processors, and I don’t recall seeing a respectable testbed made of anything other than an Athlon FX or the X2 (now). Sure Pentium D has kept Intel in the running, but it has been nothing more than a saving grace rather than an aggressive product, which kicked AMD out of the arena and stamped Intel’s authority all over it."

"Logitech continues its tradition of laser gaming mice, and this time it’s the G5 model. The G5 is part of Logitech’s laser line of mice and is similar to the superior G7 edition. Considering that G5 is a predecessor to the G7, it makes sense for the G7 to have more features and functionality over the G5, though the performance should be the same."

“The mouse is an integral part of your system, what you do with it determines what type of mouse you will want to use. Sunbeamtech is a maker of a wide variety of items, they are fairly new as they launched in 2000. Located in Taipei within China, they make cases, lights, fans and much more. Today we are going to look at their latest gaming mouse the X-1300; they have two different models the Sensor-X and the X-Sharp. I will be taking a spin with the X-Sharp. Sunbeam is stepping up to the gaming grade mouse plate; the only spin here is that they offer a low price. Let's take a look and see if this less expensive mouse can hold up in line with such other mice as the Mx-518 from Logitech.”

"Well after my attempt to mount a fan in the side of my old Cheiftec dragon full tower case window went wrong I decided that it was about time to get another case and after the long years my Cheiftec dragon case had served me I decided to go Cheiftec once again. I wanted a full tower and black to match my new Samsung 930bf TFT."

What type of contest do you readers enjoy? Check out the poll and vote for your favorite.

"I must say I was extremely surprised, and impressed at the near perfect Power efficiency (PFC) of the Enermax Liberty 620w Power Supply, even beating out the ultra-efficient Seasonic!"

"There are allot of computer case designs out on the market today that are making case manufacturers all the more specific as to how they design there cases, what features will be implemented, and any other bonuses like case windows or led lighting! Today we had the opportunity to take a close look at a Red Bat Case (SN-C001) which was kindly supplied by our friends at SanSun Group."

"Zalman has been around for ages, and their sound quality is known to gamers all around the Globe. They don't have many sound products, but the ones they do are top of the line. Let's see how their Theatre 6 headphones do to tide my thirst of explosions at 4am in the morning."

“As the internet community continues to grow, and more multimedia devices now do offer networking support, the need for an easy way to share files is now more of a necessity rather than a luxury. While there are a majority of options out there, such as the excellent Ximeta NetDisk I reviewed some time ago, they can be rather expensive and simply not an option for those on a budget. That's where the V-Gear LANDisk comes in. It is the first hard disk enclosure I've found that fully supports networking. Those looking for a cost-effective and easy way of sharing files will find this product of high interest.”

"Silverstone, one of the largest new manufacturers of case components and accessories, is well known here at the Moditory. Today we are reviewing their FM121 120mm case fan. With today’s ever increasing demand for quiet cooling solutions, the FM121 is equipped with a fan controller, offering speeds between 800 and 2400 RPM. Lets see what kind of performance it offers."

"The Evercool Lander is certainly one of the more "spartan" devices that I've ever come across which simply employs a tried, tested and proven method to help cool down a device by simply manipulating air and blast it on a hot surface. However, in our tests it has proven itself to be effective and most importantly does its job in fighting heat problems. At least now my stock fan doesn't have to work overtime, the max RPMs average about 4300 RPM, that's bearable as the noise from the stock fan itself will drown out any other whirs that may come from any other fans."

"We know that many of you are looking for network-attachable storage devices, but you've turned away from buying one because they are too expensive. Netgear has come up with the SC101 Storage Central, a network-attached storage device that isn't expensive at all. It's inexpensive because out of the box, it doesn't have any hard drives in it. This way you can go buy your own hard drives and add them to the box at a much lower price. If you look hard enough for hard drives, the completed drive can be considerably cheaper than the prepopulated competition, such as the Buffalo TeraStation or the Iomega NAS 200d. We found a 320GB ATA drives going for around $150, therefore you can have yourself a network storage device for well under $500 total and you can get 640GB of shared storage space. For features and price per gigabyte, you won't find any other device that beats it."

"Unless you force this drive into a socket it isn't meant to fit in, the install for this drive is pretty much fool-proof. I have to add the "pretty much" part since I am sure there is some very anti-ingenius fool out there who can figure a way to screw it up somehow. :) All you have to do is uncap the drive and plug it into a USB plug. Done. Within seconds the drive is ready to receive files."

"nVIDIA recently addressed a rather large performance gap between its entry level and mainstream products by introducing the GeForce 6600LE GPU. It uses the same NV43 core as the mainstream Geforce 6600GT videocard, but this time around the NV43 has been teamed up with TSOP-II 400 MHz DDR memory which dramatically cuts down costs. Videocards based on the new GeForce 6600LE core, like the Albatron PC6600LEQ, can be had for around $100 US. That makes these cards very price competitive."

"Though the X1300 is an entirely new entrant into the entry level market, for the suggested retail price, it does not deliver when compared to the street priced 6600GT. Though the card has a high clock speed, its small number of pipes in comparison to the 6600 GT cause a major bottleneck.

It is important to reiterate that the X1300 Pro we preview here was never intended to go head to head against a 6600GT. The $149 priced X1300 Pro was meant to be pitted against a lower end variant of the 6600 family, and Nvidia's upcoming DDR2 6600 will probably be in the exact ballpark range of the X1300's street price. We can expect to see lower street prices for the X1300 when it becomes widely available - prices hovering from $110 or so shouldn't be out of the question, but looking at the X1800XL's current street price of around $439 versus its $449 MSRP, it might take some time before the street prices settle down. Right now the 6600GT has street prices ranging from $145-$199, so if the X1300 Pro hits stores at $149USD you can see how there's potential for direct comparison of the two cards."

"The 3800x2 overclocked suprisingly well; I am quite certain that I would have been able to push it further with a better cooling solution - and I may try doing just that in a few weeks.

For the best performance I was able to achieve, I ran the processor at 1.5V, the memory at 2.7V with 2.5-4-4-8-2T timings. I reduced the HT multiplier to 3x, and increased the FSB clock to 310MHz with a multiplier of 8. This resulted in a 2480MHz core clock speed, 930MHz HT speed, and 310MHz (DDR620) memory speed.

The much higher memory bandwidth provided by these settings resulted in outstanding performance, with some of the highest results we've ever seen. "

"Today 3DXtreme is taking a look at Thermaltakes' Silent PurePower Series, ATX 12v 2.0 TWV500W Power Supply Unit. Thermaltake once again delivered their latest product to 3DXtreme and this time around has some extremely unique features that will be interesting to look at. The TWV500W features a modular cable management system and Total Watts Meter Module as well as Dual PCI-E connectors. Other features include Active PFC and dual 12v rails. This is one of those “last one you’ll need to buy” products that should keep you covered for quite awhile to come."

“With more people building their own computers there are a ton of cases to use. Depending on the decision you make, you may lack front or side connections. This is where the FrontX panel comes into play. By using the FrontX panel you have the ability to bring just about any type of port to the front of your system, this is a great product that you can configure to your own need and usage.”

"For those that aren't familiar with the larger-than-life marketing maestro for multimedia at ATI, Godfrey isn't afraid to say what he thinks on a wide range of topics, not least the video quality of the products he's in charge with. That makes an interview with him always worth it. Would Mr. Cheng open up across our entire set of questions, or would he refrain from answering various things for the time being?

The questions ranged from H.264 (hey, I had to ask the obvious) to the HQV video benchmark, video quality tuning, DVI ports and even some stuff on All-In-Wonder (would be rude not to pry)."

"You can see above that Seasonic tells no lies when it comes to the superb efficiency of their S12 power supplies. The active PFC makes a large difference in the watts consumed and other areas noted above in the tests."

"TV tuners add a whole new dimension to any PC, and don't have to cost much to do so. With the ability to watch TV full screen or in a small window, as well a recording programs much like commercially available personal video recorders, they can be quite a convenient accessory to have... This Tech Tip will look at some of the basics of computer TV tuners, including the interfaces, the technologies, and the performance."

"The Creative Nano packs a ton of features in an incredibly tiny MP3 player. Creative included everything in the box that you'll need to take this miniscule music toy out for a jog. While you will be stuck using an external battery charger and a mini USB cord to transfer music, these minor inconveniences shouldn't deter most people from considering it a top-of-the-line MP3 player worthy of serious consideration."

"With the U3 platform, users can launch portable applications from the smart drive without requiring the applications to be installed on the computers. As a result, users can work in familiar environments and don’t have to worry about leaving any personal information or traces of their visit behind. Everything remains stored on the USB smart drive. Users can carry their emails, applications, personal settings, bookmarks and favorites, folders and documents with them wherever they go without always having to carry a laptop, or risk not having a needed application on a borrowed PC."

"This is possibly the only application with more anticipation surrounding it than Internet Explorer 7, if not Vista itself. We wonder if Microsoft would bundle Windows Media Player 11 with Vista exclusively or would it be available for download separately for Windows XP as well. It most certainly will end up looking a lot better (graphically) than most music players out there, iTunes included. Although it appears to look pretty straightforward, the interface has changed drastically, which makes it far more attractive than Windows Media Player 10 as well as competing applications."

"With all the hype surrounding the new generation ATI graphics cards, there are people who don’t have that kind of money to spend. Sapphire is one of ATI’s partners doing the X800GTO chip and they’ve recently released two new graphics cards based on it – the Fireblade Edition and the other being the GTO² Limited Edition. One of these suckers might be just what the doctor ordered if you’re budget doesn’t extend to around $500 USD for a graphics card."

Sonimag was previously the product fair multimedia, leisure and digital new features more important of Spain. It makes question of 4 years derived in Sonimag Photo and basically one has specialized in his last suffix: it photographs and video.

The Spanish market has noticed a clear rise in the photographic sector thanks to the digital cameras and their normalization of prices with respect to its quality.

"With the arrival of Athlon 64 X2 dual core and power-hungry graphic chips like ATI Radeon X1000 or NVIDIA GeForce 7800, power supply makers have seen the need for more powerful PSUs loaded with more and more features like sleeved cables, modular design, ATX 2.0 compliance, 120mm LED fan, active PFC, 6-pin PCI-express connection, dual 12V rails and much more. The Sansun Artic 550W PSU is one of these and it also offers an impressive level of performance for a price that should not exceed 95$."

“Nyko was founded in 1995 and is based out of Los Angeles, California In that short ten years, they have proven themselves as qualified developers, manufacturers and marketers of innovative peripherals to enhance the digital lifestyle. They produce peripherals for every major console, as well as PCs and the iPod. Their latest foray into the PC game market brings us the Nyko Airflo EX, and brings PC gamers closer to the console.”

"Does your latest FPS lack the 'kill kill kill' feel? Well you may want to try out Serious Sam II, which will give you more than you will ever need! From Croteam comes the latest game in the Serious Sam series, with great graphics, powerful weapons and of course, creative creatures! Let's see if this sequel was one worth waiting for."

"This card sports one of the fastest graphics cores and memory, a brand new TV tuner technology, new input and output dongles and the ATI Remote Wonder II radio frequency remote control. The X800 XT All-in-Wonder is one of the few graphics cards that sports DVI, VGA and an I/O dongle connection which provides connections for TV, Radio and other input and output devices via composite or S-Video cables. For the longest time, this All-in-Wonder (AIW) card was the only card based upon ATI's X series of graphics cards and I found it greatly disappointing that it didn't have a PCI-E equivalent at the time. Thankfully, ATI has brought out their newer X800 XL AIW card which uses the PCI-E bus, but is slightly slower than the X800 XT AIW counterpart."

"E Power Technology has released two new power supplies in their Silent Engine series. The new Tiger 550W and Tiger 650W Silent Engine power supplies feature dual +12V outputs, dual PCI-Express connectors, and a quiet, variable speed fan. Both Tiger power supplies are fully modular and support Intel, AMD, multiprocessor and dual core motherboards."

"Are you in the market for a new keyboard? It has to have functions such as internet navigation, volume controls, and all those ease of use accessories that we have come to depend on. Today we are looking at an Illuminated Office Pro keyboard from Logisys; let’s see if it stands up in our tests."

"Thermaltake has engineered a completely new video card cooling concept. A self-contained water cooling unit which is mounted into two PCI slots keeps the GPU cool. People who think watercooling requires a lot of maintenance or leaks easily will be proven wrong. The installation is also remarkably easy. What makes this unit even more attractive is its competitive price. Powercolor liked it so much, that they use it on their X800 GT EVO series."

"Over four years ago was the first time we had heard rumors that Quake 4 was indeed under development and that it would be developed by Raven Software while of course working closely with id Software. Quake 4, which runs off a modified version of the Doom 3 engine, is finally available today - October 18, 2005. However, the Linux binaries for the client and server remain curtained."

"Just last month, Apple revealed the slimmest iPod ever, the iPod nano, but they didn't stop there. Now, Apple has a new iPod with video playback capability and a sleeker iMac G5 that comes with the "Front Row Media Experience" and built-in iSight. Find out more about them in this quick overview."

"The enthusiast 2GB solution from OCZ started off in their Gold line and came with loose timings. They are back with yet another enthusiast solution that offers much better timings at high speeds."

"The biggest selling point behind the Neo S is the ability to map your keyboard and mouse controls directly to the gamepad via the packaged Config Pro software. With this in mind, virtually every PC title imaginable is opened up for control pad use, not merely restricted to the more action orientated titles. How much people really want to play Black and White 2 with a pad remains to be seen, but it is a nice choice to be able to have."

“Today we got our hands on both an ATI X1800XL and NVIDIA 7800GT, so we decided to benchmark each of these cards with the same configuration to see what happens and how much bang you get for your buck.“

"Till today, notebook users have to content with a single hard disk and often a small one at that. Hard disk sizes of 40GB and 60GB are not only unheard of but actually in common use!

Today, we are going to take a look at the new Seagate 120GB Momentus 5400.2 PATA notebook hard disk, which not only comes with 120GB of storage space but also 8MB of cache!

Here are the updates:-
- Updated with information on real capacity of the drive.
- Updated Reviewer's Choice Award. "

"Overall, the Danger Den Acetal Maze4 GPU water block is performing very well during in the testing section. The package includes all the necessary components for proper assembly. Furthermore, it was totally silent during the operation. The installation was very simple, just took about few minutes is able to install the Maze4 GPU water block on to the VGA card. But, it does not bundle with any RAM sink for the VGA RAM. So, the recommended Ramsinks to purchase is the OCZ Copper BGA Ramsinks. Anyway, the retail price for the Acetal Maze4 GPU block is at US $44.95 which is a very affordable price and the 8 pieces of OCZ Copper BGA Ramsink is at US $18.99."

"In this tutorial we will explain you how Pentium 4 works in an easy to follow language. You will learn exactly how its architecture works so you will be able to compare it more precisely to previous processors from Intel and competitors from AMD."

"Corsair, in a partnership with Asus, recently released a 2GB low-latency PC3500 kit. The company doesn't plan to stop there though, as it is also releasing a 2GB PC4400 kit, which happens to be the focus of this article. The kit won't be on shelves for at least a couple more weeks, so consider this article a preview of what you can expect from the TWINX2048-4400PRO."

"Imagine a computer whose memory is exponentially larger than its apparent physical size; a computer that can manipulate an exponential set of inputs simultaneously; a computer that computes in the twilight zone of space. You would be thinking of a quantum computer. Relatively few and simple concepts from quantum mechanics are needed to make quantum computers a possibility. The subtlety has been in learning to manipulate these concepts. Is such a computer an inevitability or will it be too difficult to build?"

"When Enermax releases a new power supplies onto the market, you know that you are going to get a quality part. >From the Whisper line to the Noisetaker unit, Enermax has not disappointed us yet. And with the release of the new Liberty line of power supplies, I am sure the quality is there. Boasting modular cables and a dark metallic paint job you are in for a treat. And our model puts out 620 watts of pure power."

"While the hybrid motherboard concept is all well and good, ECS is back with another technology that’s worth analyzing. Welcome ECS’ SDGE, or Scalable Dual Graphics Engines, technology. The basic concept behind SDGE is to combine the functionalities of NVIDIA’s SLI and ATI’s Crossfire technologies to come up with an in-between solution. Though it’s tough to prove without actually testing the technology, but you would logically expect something like this to also have more complications than any of us would like, but let’s go through SDGE and see where it stands as opposed to SLI and Crossfire."

"We’ve evaluated an abundance of high-end earphones and headphones, and even though they all claim to be the best products in their category, the truth is that unless you are a professional musician who needs perfect audio (whether or not you can hear it), there’s no need to spend $500 on a pair of earphones or headphones."

“Modding Crucial is most commonly known now for their Ballistix line of high performance, high speed, top quality memory. What if you don't want or have a need for enthusiast, overclocker memory, but you still want quality, stable memory? Well today for review I have 1 gig of Crucial's PC3200 desktop memory. It is what would be considered by some, plain, vanilla memory, no fills, no activity LEDs, no flashy, shiny heat spreader, it's just a couple of sticks of ram like we used to have in our systems before it became common place for companies to 'bling' their memory to get attention to it.”

"Well boys and girls it's time again for another insane NGOHQ contest giveaway and we have a couple of surprises for you!! We are proud to announce that we are giving away two Leadtek Winfast PX7800GT Extreme TDH 256MB cards."

"Low and behold, it worked and we noticed some extra performance gains in the Radeon X1800XL, compared to the drivers that shipped with the reference card that went out to all other website reviewers. This should indicate that we’ll see the new VPU from ATI performing better next month in the Catalyst 5.11 (November 2005) drivers which should officially support ATI’s new X1K series of graphics cards."

"The Silverstone TJ05 is not only easy on the eyes; it’s also very easy to work with. The design allows the user to fit both PCI cards and additional drives with the use of any tools. The case enables the user to lock it so that you can keep all the valuable components inside secure and safe when you are away from the computer. The cooling effectiveness of those huge 120mm fans is also a very impressive aspect of this case."

"Fatal1ty has partnered with Zalman, among other companies, to market high-end products to the computer gaming community. The FS-C77 CPU cooler is one of Zalman's first products to carry the Fatal1ty moniker and the company touts it as the “ultimate CPU cooler.” Let's take it for a spin and see what all the hype is about.."

"On top the excellent CPU temperatures, another bonus is that the large wingspan of the Thermalright SI-120 allows cool air to be delivered to the motherboard's voltage regulating chips as well as the system memory. Knocking a few degrees off of both of these components is good for system longevity, and will definitely help with any overclocking efforts."

"The Logitech MX610 Laser Cordless Mouse is the first laser mouse we have reviewed, and it impressed us for the surface compatibility. Virtually, you can use it on almost every surface. The laser technology has a great improvement over the optical technology.

The MX610 is really good news for the gamers. The accuracy of the Laser technology is promising. Together with the volume controls and Email/IM alert, it enhanced the accessibility of being just a pointing device. The horizontal scroll and the Forward/Back buttons help a lot on web browsing."

"The Aqua2™ series is a great and professional mouse pad for any PC enthusiast and even office users. Whether it is for gaming, designing, or general computer tasks, this mouse pad is an ideal choice. The surface is amazingly fast and accurate. And the base was a non slip base. It was working excellent for optical mouse. With the combination of the Zerofriction Infinity™ mouseskates, it will even more smooth and accurate with any mouse moving over the Aqua2™ professional mouse pad."

"The "X-Sharp MS-X777" is the perfect choice for the gaming enthusiast who wants to take their gaming experience to the next level but does not want to spend a lot of money on un-necessary buttons and fancy features. I would recommend this unit to anyone looking for something basic that will give them the extra edge in their game play."

"Kate OS, the Linux distribution designed for just about everyone ranging from programmers to home-users, have released their 2.2 version. Contained in this release is the 2.6.13 kernel with Reiser 4 file-system support along with the GTK+ v2.8.3 library and support for GNOME 2.12, however, XFCE continues to be the default desktop environment of choice. As always, Kate OS developers have done a magnificent job on the default theme."

"Under-hyped or Overrated? The Zalman CNPS 9500 LED is Zalman's newest addition to their top of the line air coolers. This full-copper heatsink comes with a fan controller so you can optimize for performance or fan noise. In our testing it even beats a watercooling kit and proves that it is well worth your money. Watch as we put it to the test on the Pentium 4 Prescott 561 at 180 Watt TDP."

"I guess this is what makes it "Sport": The cap. The cap goes around the whole stick, and you fasten it somewhat like an elastic band - giving it the impression of withstanding water and dirt and at the same time having the cap safely attached."

"The Cooler Master Centurion BTX-B540 Case maximizes air circulation with the inclusion of a front mounted mesh grill that also acts as a dust filter. The dust filter is completely removable and can be cleaned when maintenance is required. Underneath the mesh grill is the location for a series front mounted ports. The ports include two USB, Firewire, Headphone and Microphone. The ports are attached to a series of extender cables which must be connected to the proper headers on a motherboard prior to use."

"Blogs use a powerful form of psychology know as "social proof" where we look to others to help us understand how we should view, feel, or react to news and information. Since the glut of information only gets more massive online with each passing day and rates impossible for one person to get through completely on their own, we look to others to help us sort the piles of data. When you combine this with another online phenomenon, virtual anonymity, you get a volatile combination where any social responsibility for what gets posted flies out the window in many cases. People can and do post whatever they want because no "hall monitor" can call them down for blatant intellectual hooliganism."

"This buyer's guide is going to go over a few entry level digital cameras with a brief analysis of each along with real-time pricing and links to a few online retailers. You will have to familiarize yourself with the basics of the digital still camera (DSC) world, but after that, this guide should be quite helpful. We will be focusing on what we call "entry level" digital cameras. This is not a very clearly definite category, but we have established some guidelines. We are choosing cameras which have a good brand reputation, generally sell for under $200 (with a few exceptions), and are easy to operate. The features of camera is going to depend on the manufacturer and price level, but they can all be considered "point-and-shoot" models, as opposed to being digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLR)."

"The VIVO breakout boxes give you all of the connectivity you need to capture external sources such as your camcorder or VCR. It also outputs HD source to your TV and gives you full capability to hook it up to everything in your home theater. The HD connection to my TV is of very good quality thanks to the HDTV acceleration of the Rage Theater chip. The Easy Look software combined with the Remote Wonder puts all of the features at your fingertips and allows you to remotely locate your system. The interface is very easy to use and gives you access to everything you need.

Lastly, the performance of the card in games puts it at the top of the X8xx line, right behind the 850 and 850PE. While it isn't the speediest card it is also much cheaper than it's bigger brothers and you can overclock it quite easily to those speeds. Given that the X800XT AIW offers many features for a great price and still gets it's game on at a great FPS, it is a great deal for the money if you are looking for everything it offers."

"For the cool price of $74 USD, the MSI Theater 550PRO is a pretty good value when compared to many other TV Tuners, including ATI's own TV Wonder Elite which goes for almost double the price. Considering there isn't much difference between the two in terms of software bundles and hardware, we'd lean towards MSI's version of the card if you're in the need of a tuner for your HTPC box."

"Hiper’s midrange offering in their high performance Type-R series is in the form of the M Label 480W (HPU-4M480). We have tested it thus far to be very a respectable power supply and stands strong among the big names. Couple that with the price of USD 73 (MYR 276), it is simply an excellent price/performance ratio. Aesthetically, it looks quite sleek with the black chassis along with the sleeved cables, albeit not fully sleeved. Everything from the packaging, manual, performance, to the workmanship speaks quality. To sum it all up; Price + Performance + Aesthetics + Quality = A very worthy product. Definitely recommended!"

"The one word that describes Shuttle's SD31P XPC is competent. Just add a hard drive, preferably SATA, optical drive, RAM, and an LGA775 CPU and away you go. Everything works just as it should, and installation is a real cinch for even novice XPC builders. Performance is also good when judged in comparison to ATX-sized i945G and i955X motherboards, and the ability to specify a Pentium 4 Extreme Edition or dual-core CPU, GeForce 7800 GT, 2GB RAM, and 1TByte of storage, should your pocket be deep enough, is eminently possible in this larger-than-normal XPC."

"Till today, notebook users have to content with a single hard disk and often a small one at that. Hard disk sizes of 40GB and 60GB are not only unheard of but actually in common use!

Today, we are going to take a look at the new Seagate 100GB Momentus 7200.1 PATA notebook hard disk, which not only comes with 100GB of storage space but also 8MB of cache!

Here are the updates:-
- Added benchmark test results and analyses.
- Added power consumption comparison.
- Updated conclusion.
- Upgraded to Comprehensive Review. "

"The SunbeamTech NUUO is one of the best power supply values on the web, if not THE best! It has remarkable stabilty, quality build, quiet operation, and even comes with a 3.5" controller/monitoring device, all at an unbeatable price!"

"Installation is a dream. There is so much room in the case you don't have to worry about whether or not everything is going to fit. In fact, the toughest part about the install was deciding exactly where I wanted my 5.25" drive bays to be installed in relation to the power switch. Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with the front panel layout, because it's left totally up to you to determine what works the best for your install."

"The fan & bracket removed -- I find out later that having only two screws securing the fan, then mounting this part horizontally, makes for a very annoying rattle and vibration. I just pulled it out and placed two more screws to fix this."

"Corsair's DDR2 solutions continue to surprise us. This time it's a 2GB offering of great Micron fatbody D9s. Added to that is Corsair's signature flashing activity LEDs! Sounds good? We sure think so."

"OCZ takes their first step into the flash memory department with the Rally. It is small and compact, comes with USB 2.0, and has dual channel capabilities! In need of some portable storage? Check it out."

“Modding products, where did they go? It seems like we never see any new case mods at all. Well if you’re into case modding at all, then I’m sure you have heard of Mashie. If not take a look at his website. As you can see he is very talented. He has come up with a great product that you will not see in other PC’s out there. It comes from his case mod called Anemone, and it is called the Mashie Design Visual Audio, or MVDA. Finally, a new modding product, are you excited??”

"This is an interview with Tony Bove, author of the upcoming book, "Just Say No to Microsoft". With this book Bove intends to help readers rid Microsoft from their life- this is easier said that done, but it is certainly possible. The book goes on to list alternatives to the Microsoft programs on which people have become dependent and probably think they cannot give up. Bove is outspoken in his dislike of Microsoft's practices and has established a plan to help any computer user "just say no". The book comes to us from NoStarch publishing, a popular name geek literature."

"When Enermax releases a new power supplies onto the market, you know that you are going to get a quality part. >From the Whisper line to the Noisetaker unit, Enermax has not disappointed us yet. And with the release of the new Liberty line of power supplies, I am sure the quality is there. Boasting modular cables and a dark metallic paint job you are in for a treat. And our model puts out 620 watts of pure power."

"The Sony VAIO S480 is the perfect notebook for people that don't want to compromise on performance when it comes to their lightweight laptop. With a 2.13GHz processor, 100GB hard drive, DVD+/-RW dual layer drive, and integrated GeForce Go 6200, the S480 has the power to replace a modest desktop PC. But, with a 13.3" XBRITE widescreen display and a weight of just 4.3 pounds, this powerhouse just barely misses a classification of an ultra lightweight laptop. While the battery life could be better, and this first class package comes at a first class price, the VAIO S480 is a top contender all around."

"Not everyone is into huge cases with window side panels. Or cases with glossy paint jobs that you leave all kinds of finger prints on. Some people just want a Mesh CA3030 mid case from Enermax. The Mesh 3030 gives you above simple styling but also gives you full functionality. The Mesh 3030 provides good air circulation and limits dust from entering the case. The Mesh advertises a lot for a little (money)."

"Just how big is the CNPS7700-Cu? Try 5.5-inch in diameter! It's also 2.6-inch tall and weighs in at, hold on to your hat, 918 grams! This exceeds the maximum weight for an Intel P4 cooler over 100%! Special care should be taken when moving a computer equipped with CNPS7700-Cu as Zalman Tech is not responsible for any damage that may occurs when moving the computer. The CNPS7700-Cu is so big that Zalman has a List of Motherboards that will not fit on this cooler!"

"Just when you think something as basic as a mouse couldn’t possibly go a step further with innovation, Logitech and others are right there to prove everyone wrong. A basic, yet necessary, peripheral is approaching new heights with innovation. Take a look at Logitech’s MediaPlay mouse, for instance."

"Although the NVIDIA 7800GTX has a definitive advantage over the 6800GT, the GeForce 6800GT remains a respectable card for enthusiasts not wishing to shell out nearly $500 USD for a graphics upgrade. With us today we have the eVGA GeForce 6800GT 256MB and will see just how well this card can fare through overclocking and just how the card can fare against a 7800GTX in a dual-core environment."

"Microsoft, as is long suspected, decided to back HD DVD and (with Intel) pitched itself firmly in the anti-Sony camp for Blu-Ray, which is pretty much common news, but disregarding the common opinion that it did so due to their differences in the gaming console arena, we find that it really did have very pertinent reasons to go the HD DVD way and of course, Xbox 360 vs. Sony PS3 could be one of the reasons."

"The ocinside.de Casemod Gallery was developed about 4 years ago and receives constantly new pictures from enthused PC Modder. More than 300 Casemod pictures were added today, so that one can admire momentarily over 1000 pictures with detailed description of most Mods."

"We have taken a look at several MP3 players on the site and each one that comes along seems to be better than the last. The Transcend T-Sonic 610 is a new tiny flash based player that includes a FM radio and a voice recorder. What did we think of it you are about to find out..."

"Specialised in memory modules design and manufacturing, GeIL has been making high performance memory modules since 1997. Their latest PC2-4300 533MHz Ultra DDR2 Ultra memory modules feature a new aggressive timing of 3-3-3-8. Available in 512MB to 2GB Dual Channel packages, all modules come with Aluminium Heat-spreader, 6 Layers Ultra Low Noises Shielded PCB and backed with Lifetime Warranty."

“Although I’ve had the opportunity to review many ATX cases here at EM, We really haven’t reviewed anything smaller. Lucky for me, Silverstone was kind enough to send out their newest chassis - the SG01. Part of their new Sugo series, this case is just big enough to accommodate a mATX board, but is big enough to use off the shelf components unlike the ultra-small Small Form Factor (SFF) systems. Let’s check it out!”

"With so many headsets available that are specifically designed for gamers, it makes it difficult to choose the right one. We are taking a look at the IceMat Black Siberia, based off the original Siberia that has been given countless awards. Let's jump right in and take a fresh look at this cool product!"

"This is the first asetek product I have ever had the privilege of using and reviewing and I can say with confidence that I am looking forward to writing this review. Their latest and probably most popular product these days is their VapoChill Micro, which is based upon the principles of phase change cooling, but isn't a full sized phase change cooling unit. Instead, the cooler uses a completely integrated system to vaporize the coolant and then condense it again for an efficient cooling process. There are three editions of this cooler, each of which is targeted at a different piece of the market, but all aimed at extreme cooling. Of course, the thermal benchmarks will show just how efficient it is, but enough of this; let's take a look at the design of this cooler and the ingenious principle behind its cooling technique."

"One device that makes data even easier to share on a network is an external NAS hard drive. Just as a router allows you to share a single Internet connection without the need for any particular computer to be on, a NAS (which stand for Network Attached Storage) hard drive allows you to share a drive full of data without needing any particular computer to be on. As the availability and popularity of NAS drives continue to rise, NAS enclosures are becoming more available as well. A NAS enclosure allows you to turn any hard drive, old or new, into an external NAS drive. One example is the LANDISK enclosure from Bytecc, which is the subject of this review."

" Today I'll be reviewing the Kingwin KH-350U-BK External Enclosure. It's an aluminum bodied enclosure using USB 2.0 for transfers. It also incorporates bubble lights (blue & red) onto each side or top/bottom depending on how you set it up."

"Kingston has several factories around the world, and we visited its smallest factory in Fountain Valley, California, USA. On the other hand, in this factory is where research and development is conducted and we had the chance to visiting some of their R&D testing labs. Even though Fountain Valley factory is their smallest facility, we were simply surprised by its size: so far it is the largest memory
manufacturing facility we’ve been to in the USA."

Cooler Master's latest casing has a unique exterior that is sure to provoke discussions about its controversial aesthetics. With a carrying handle and a rugged shell, it seems like a perfect companion to LAN parties. Read on as we test if the Ammo 533 will be the choice for the gaming road warrior.

"The Ammo 533 is definitely one of those cases that you would either buy or turn away because of its looks. Ultimately, the Ammo 533 is a unique case and definitely a good LAN case. The screwless design, handle, meshed side panel and oversized buttons really set it apart from other cases on the market today."

"Today the world of instant messaging (IM) is a disjointed mess, and it's time for a citizen's revolt. Like many people, I use IM throughout the day for business and personal communications. It's maddening when I want to send an IM to a user only to realize that they're unreachable because they happen to be on a different network. IM should function like email or the phone system where one address/number lets you communicate with everyone."

"There exists some ephemeral quality that separates gamers from the rest of humanity, some thing that makes us, us and them, not us. I've never been able to quite put my finger on it, but it is inescapably there. Today, in hopes of moving closer to that essential quality of gamerosity, we examine part of what makes us tick. In particular, we take a look at what draws different types of gamers to the hobby. Every gamer plays for different reasons, but there are common threads that tie the experience together."

"Corsair wowed us with their blazing fast PC2-8000UL DDR2 memory. The PC2-5400UL is the first low latency DDR2 that started it all. Is it still a formidable choice for overclocking enthusiasts?"

"After his keynote at this year's Digital Life tech expo in New York City, we had a chance to talk to the Corporate Vice-President of Marketing and Publishing for Microsoft's XBOX and Home and Entertainment Divisions, Mr. Peter Moore. Here is, in nifty video format, our interview."

"The SimpleTech Portable Drives will provide the needs for home and even office users. It was specially design for portability, performance and reliability for storage and even backup purposes. The SimpleTech's high speed and high capacity drives are ideal for any storage need, including digital music, movies and photographs. Every SimpleTech External Hard Drive comes with StorageSync software that consists of a lot of functions such as automatic backup, restore, data synchronization and lots more."

"If you can’t make it faster, make it shinier. Well, since they don’t have much control over the speed of a computer, MGE decided to go all out on the lighting and the shine."

"Here's a little teaser of what you can win: XC Cube EY Deluxe from AOpen, Aeolus PCZ6200TC-DV64 from AOpen, NF4SK8AA 8EKRS from Foxconn, 2*1GB TwinX20488-3200Pro from Corsair and MGE Dragon from XG BOX. Of course, the entry is extremely simple so there's no reason not to get involved!"

"This review is going to be taking a look at the SpyderTV, a colorimeter and software package which is designed to be an easy-to-use way to optimize your television's image. To some it may seem extraneous but if you have money invested in your home theater you should make sure it is working as well as possible, just like you would tune a guitar or tweak your computer."

"This Vapochill Micro Extreme Performance CPU Cooler from Asetek is an extreme performance CPU cooler. This CPU cooler is an ideal choice for those users who wish to overclock their CPU. The entire cooler is really looks different compare with others. Not only that, the performance of the Vapochill Micro Extreme Performance CPU Cooler from is very good as you can see in the performance section, it really gives what you want. This Vapochill Micro Extreme Performance CPU Cooler from price is ranging from US $45-50, it was a good buy CPU cooler in terms of the performance and weight."

"Creative has been going strong since the days of ISA sound cards because its family of audio products moves with the times. This is reflected well in the new four-strong range of X-Fi cards of which the leader is the Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro under review. The X-Fi cards span a price range from about £100 to £250, offering enthusiasts add-in alternatives to the on-board audio that is common in many of today's PCs."

"John Guzman, our outspoken editorialist here at Phoronix who's never scared to speak his mind, is expressing his views today about gaming and all of the cheating that's now involved. He even brings us back to the days of Contra on the NES. Since that point in time when you could simply enter a sequence of ten buttons to achieve these mystical lives, cheating has evolved into programming aim-bots and auto-miners. When will cheating in games be eradicated?"

"Always in the limelight for its outstanding design prowess, the new DRU-810A, apart from having a contemporary faceplate, is Sony's latest DVD writer with all the right specifications to meet today's optical storage needs."

"The N70 is suitable for road warriors who need information quickly on the go and with its built-in 2.0-Megapixel camera, FM radio and other multimedia features, it's also an ideal work/play gadget for the working class folks."

By now, there is no need to question the power of the 7800 GTX, whether it comes with a factory set overclock or not. Everyone knows that it is the card to get if you want the best gaming performance available. When you care about raw power though, a factory and warrantied overclock is a big plus. In fact, XFX only offers overclocked versions of the 7800 GTX. If that's not catering to enthusiasts, then I don't know what is!

“There are but a few names that come to mind when you mention quality memory, even fewer when you mention high performance memory. There are many companies out there now that are making it or trying to get into the high performance memory market. One name that stands out when you think of high quality, high performance memory is Corsair. Corsair is one of the top makers of reliable, high performance ram. Today for review I have an entry by Corsair that promises to deliver something we haven't seen yet, a CAS latency of 2 at speeds of PC3500.”

"With the unit fired up and plugged into a USB 1.1 or 2.0 slot, Windows 2000/XP automatically recognizes it as an external storage device, and mounts the volume(s) instantly. Sequential reads of the blank Seagate 120GB HDD were measured at 33MB/s, and sequential writes were measured at 32MB/s using Sisoft Sandra 2005. This value is still relative, as USB performance can be affected by the strength of the CPU. I can comment that with transfer rates like this, you won’t be up all night waiting for the BackupStar to transfer large files back and fourth."

"Corsair's recent PC4400PRO 2GB is not their only 2GB enthusiast solution. They quickly follow the high speed memory with another offering that provides low latencies at a slightly overclocked speed."

"There are many games to get addicted to and many programs that are disguised as games that make computers seem like a fun pastime. This is all a ploy. People make these programs so that they hook even the most anti-computer person into computers and then convince him that he ‘needs’ to keep adding new “toys” to his computer. I do want to stress that computers are an important part of our advancing culture, but the obsession and dependency is nothing more than a marketing scheme."

"Out of the the high end grapihcs card from NVIDIA, the GeForce 6800GT has the best bang for the buck. Now selling around US$ 250 to 350, it's the most affordable SM 3.0 graphics card that won't slow to a crawl under high details with AA and AF on. Today, we're looking at three cards: the ASUS EN6800GT, Galaxy Glacier 6800GT and Leadtek PX6800GT THD."

"An unconventional cooler design that is completely silent meant that we gave the ASUS Extreme N6600GT Silencer 256MB more than a second glance. How will this radical design fare against the more ordinary GeForce 6600 GT cards? Read on to find out if this card can really silence the competition."

"We've looked at a couple of PowerColor X800 GT cards and have come away with the feeling that whilst both offer something new in the marketplace, the respective asking prices takes away much of their shine. Novel, exciting products? Yes. Value-for-money? Not quite."

"TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) issued a decision today in the matter of Betty Ho and K. Y. Ho. The allegations of OSC staff against the respondents were dismissed by the independent panel of Commissioners."

"Recently, Team ARP was invited to the launch of the new BenQ E520 and E510 digital cameras which boast the Pentax SMC zoom lens and BenQ Senseye technology.

Check out the details on these new cameras! "

"The waiting is over, everyone! Today, we are proud to announce the winner who will walk away with the OCZ Gold Gamer eXtreme dual-channel memory kit!

Will it be you? Let's find out! "

"If you want to hear a buzz when you walk into your next LAN party, then you will definitely want to walk in with the Dragon swinging from your right hand. It's portable, it's cool looking, and it performs very well. The features speak for themselves and that list of features is a long one, you definitely won't be disappointed with the Dragon from MGE."

"Innovatek has built a strong product that many people should find useful for either water cooled systems or air cooling. It does everything for you, the only adjustments you make are to the manual temperature knob."

"Have you seen the Mighty Mouse? No, I do not mean the super hero. I mean the latest innovation by Apple computers-- the Mighty Mouse. The mighty mouse is unlike any mouse you’ve ever seen before. The Mighty Mouse works directly with the latest version of the Macintosh operating system to provide many advanced features. However, using the Mighty Mouse with a Macintosh is not the subject of this article. This article focuses on exactly what you can expect when using the Mighty Mouse with a Windows based PC."

Today we take a look at a new photo printer from Samsung that's small enough to be considered portable. The SPP-2040 Digital Photo Printer has more going for it than just its size, it uses PC-independent dye-sublimation which achieves higher quality photos and its supports PictBridge.

"A few days ago, we reviewed MobiBLU’s DAH-1500i MP3 player, which is the smallest in the world. After our analysis and performance testing, we found the player to be attractive and high quality. Even though we reviewed the black version of the player, MobiBLU offers a vast majority of colors to match it with your sense of style. These colors include orange, blue, pink, black, red and silver. All of these colors provide a sense of vibrancy with the overall exterior and the integrated OLED screen."

"Having a quality power supply is the most important thing to keep in mind when building a computer system. XG is here with their new Magnum power supply that uses copper heatpipes to help in cooling."

"More and more people have reported success in modding the Connect3D X800 GTO to 16 pipelines, that's why we have updated our article with a special Bios, which has been customized to enable 16 pipelines on these cards."

“Today for review we have another Pre-mod PC case. This one comes from a company that has become very popular and well known for lots of reasons. Thermaltake is considered a big name in the PC community, they make lots of various products, I'm sure you have heard of them. Today I have the new Swing PC case for review, it is what Thermaltake considers a 'Stylish' mid-tower case. Is it? Read on to find out just what makes this a 'Stylish' case.”

"Today we've got a brand new motherboard on the chopping block from ASRock, a sub division of ASUS who produce value orientated motherboards. The ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard is based on ULi's new M1695 chipset and offers many innovative features. It has many features such as PCI Express and AGP support and upgradeability to upcoming AMD processors - it's an upgrader’s dream."

"When I first pull the P22 from Dynatron out of the plain brown it came in I was thinking that this cooler would just barely beat out the Intel stock cooler. By the time I got to the end of the testing, I have never been so wrong. How well did it perform? Read the following pages and find out."

"With the Razer Copperhead, and its 2000 DPI laser engine, and the Logitech G5, with its 2000 DPI laser, receiving much of the attention lately when it comes to computer mice, many smaller competitors such as the SunbeamTech X-1300 Sensor-X Gaming Mouse haven't received much mindfulness. With us today we have the X-1300 optical mouse that features a 1300/650 DPI switch and a sleek ergonomic design."

"The Thermaltake Muse USB 3.5" Hard Drive Enclosure is an all aluminum fanless portable hard drive case with many features that set it apart from the crowd of enclosures. The well built case has a brightly illuminated analog data transfer meter that indicates when the enclosure is in use. The fanless aluminum design keeps your work area quiet, while the 4ft long USB cable allows plenty of room for those hard to reach USB connections."

"With a retail value of $28 US the Zalman VF700-Cu is one of the cheapest after market VGA cooling solutions. Considering how well this product performs, the reasonably simple installation process, and overall high level of quality, the VF700-Cu really is an excellent value product."

"Does anyone really need 2GB though? Our answer is yes. Even if your system is fine at 1GB, I can tell you that Microsoft will probably say something like "1GB is the recommended amount of ram a user needs for Vista". Using our rule, 1GB will probably be the minimum for Vista, and truth be told, we feel 1GB is the minimum anybody should have in their system now."

"If you have an Athlon 64 and are looking to upgrade your stock cooling solution, Spire may have the answer. Today, We are taking a look at their KestrelKing V. Let's jump in and see how much of a real upgrade this is from stock!"

"Foxconn is one of the first manufacturers to release an GeForce 6100-series motherboard, and the 6150K8MA-8EKRS specifically uses the best of class nVidia GeForce 6150 iteration and nVidia nForce 430 Southbridge. The Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS mini-ATX motherboard which supports all Socket 939 AMD Athlon64 X2/FX processors on the market, as well as up to 4GB of PC3200 DDR RAM. In terms of goodies, the motherboard incorporates onboard analog video, a 7.1-channel Azalia audio codec, a single Gigabit LAN port and IEEE 1394a."

"The computer parallel port is the easiest way to control devices outside the PC, like LEDs, lights and even home appliances. In this tutorial we will teach you how to use the computer parallel port to control circuits outside your computer."

"After a preview release and multiple colony development builds, Ubuntu Linux has finally released v5.10 (Breezy Badger). Looking at this release first hand, it continues to look incredibly promising for the GNU/Linux movement and we hope that Mark Shuttleworth continues to invest in this valuable commodity. Some of the major improvements to Ubuntu 5.10 include thin client integration, OEM installer support, and Launchpad integration. Other advancements include GNOME 2.12.1, OpenOffice.org 2.0 BETA 2, GCC 4.0.1, and a wealth of other improvements to the hardware support and usability."

"To place a key, first you peel off the protective cover off of the adhesive, then press it down firmly on the DX1 pad. To remove the key, simply twist it off. The instructions say not to pry, but I tried it anyway. I pried as hard as I dared, and the damn thing wouldn't budge. Gave it a twist, and off it came."

"Gigabyte has burst into the casing market with its debut 3D Aurora. Featuring a patent pending light beam projector that will delight the modding enthusiasts, this casing has more than its fair share of modern conveniences that we have come to expect from a top class casing."

"The fix will shortly be rolled into CATALYST 5.11 according to ATI sources and a beta drop of that driver will be made available for testing in due course, before the final WHQL driver from Terry Makedon's CATALYST team is made available for public download in November."

"World-famous case modder Mashie has created this unique case modding accessory. It is a stereo 7-channel real-time spectrum analyzer which shows beautiful patterns on 112 LEDs. It goes into two 5.25" drive bays and does not require any additional software because it comes with its own microprocessor on-board."

"The OCZ EB PC-4000 is another great product worthy of the Editor’s Choice Award. If you haven’t yet moved up to 2GBs of memory, consider this product for any system – its fast, stable and pushes the boundaries of what is possible with two 1GB sticks of memory."

"With the launch of the U3 DataTraveler, Kingston has open up a whole new world of smart drive computing whereby any PC user moving between various locations and Windows 2000 SP4 or XP-based systems has the freedom to work with their own personal workspace - carried on a device small enough to fit on a keychain. The new U3 DataTraveler allows mobile workers to access personal e-mail, photo organizers, music players, graphics software and productivity applications wherever they go. Think of it as a personal workstation on a stick."

"The Thermaltake Silent Water has lots of good points. The first of these is the absolute ease of installation. When a water cooling kit requires no more effort to install than does any higher quality air cooler, you know you really have something special. Second is the performance. Only a two degree difference was observed from running the Silent Water at full and low speed setting on its fan."

"Speculation after speculation after speculation, we are finally seeing the video iPod from Apple. In addition to introducing the video iPod (which is simply known as the video-enabled iPod, there’s no special name for it), Apple also launched a corresponding version of iTunes called iTunes 6, which mainly supports music video and shows. Apple hasn’t touched the iPod in any other way except to work on the battery life; it has also added video playback capability and made it thin to maintain a sleek appeal, especially after the Nano release."

"As formidable as the CNPS7700 is, it is unfortunately incompatible with many motherboards because of it's huge size. The damn thing 5.35 inches across so if it doesn't cover your memory, it probably will rub up against your video card. The smart guys at Zalman knew they couldn't increase performance by making their heatsinks any bigger, so they stood the fan up on end and added 3 heatpipes to the mix."

"It's that time again! The folks over at the ATI HQ in Canada have just released a new set of Catalyst drivers for users of Radeon graphics cards. In our usual fashion we compare the latest Catalyst 5.10 (October 2005) drivers against the previous release Catalyst 5.9 to see what has changed. If free performance is your thing, read on and find out the latest in our performance analysis!"

“BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, etc these are all considered luxury cars. In the computer case industry we have the same luxury products Lian-Li, Cooler Master, Silverstone. Now Antec is not quite up to that point yet. What I consider luxury is something that has quality, and added features that you do not see on other cases. Antec is known for quality, and all the cases we have reviewed were quality. The cases were well made and really had no problems with them, it was just they were lacking the added features. Well today we are going to look at a case that will bring Antec up into the luxury category. So without further ado I present to you the Antec P180 Mid-Tower Case.”

"Between the amateur computer user, who will use any power supply unit provided in his pre-assembled system and the hardcore enthusiast who will purchase a power supply unit that costs more than his/her bed, there is another league of users who simply want a strong, good quality power supply unit which will not let them down and keep the system safe while it must not cost an arm and a leg. In the so called ‘middle stream’ market, there are many companies and many products to choose from. Yet a new product comes into that market from XClio ( Meridian) to grab a piece of the pie, the GoodPower 500W power supply unit. Boasting strong reliability, visual factor, enough power and great value for money, it certainly will draw enough attention if the claims are true. Are they true? Let’s find out!"

"Despite being faster than an $880 Dual-Core AMD processor, the $520 Athlon64 X2 4400+ is still very expensive. Compare this to the $250 you will pay to own an Intel Pentium D 820 processor and the bang for your buck factor of the AMD processor looks very bleak. Of course there is the Athlon64 X2 3800+ which retails for $350 US but its just not going to deliver what the 4400+ can on the overclocking front. The lower clock multiplier dulls the processor right down, as does the L2 Cache which is cut in half. Then at the end of the day you are still paying $100 US more for a processor that’s physically no faster."

"Computers are a great tool and can provide many hours of fun and use. Your power supply is the root of your PC, keeping everything running with it's optimal amount of energy. Monitoring that energy and keeping it from changing to a point where it damages your hardware is important; you need a stable power supply. Not to mention that you don't want to hear your power supply running; ambient noise is bountiful as it is without a noisy computer. QTechnology has released a power supply that is meant to fulfill your needs, the QT-03400 Gold Series, a 400w sleek PSU (noise not included). Can it deliver? Let's find out."

"Days after the launch of ATI X1K series, and availability of CrossFire Technology, ATI has released their monthly 5.10 (October) update for their Windows CATALYST users and have accompanied the release with a new build of their Linux drivers. These drivers are dubbed v8.18.6 and are available in RPM format as well as through ATI's relatively new driver installer program that we've been accustom to seeing since their v8.14.13 release."

"In the past we have looked at a couple of cases from Silverstone. These cases have done nothing but impress us from end to end. Today we are taking a look at their new modular design power supply, the ST60F. Packing 600 watts of power, will this power supply continue on the Silverstone tradition of awesome products?"

copyright dreamwarecomputers

"Today we are looking at the CW-Series power supply from our friends at Coolmax USA. This power supply carries on their tradition of the promised quiet operation. They have also combined the good looks with 650 watts under the hood!"

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"Since it was first released, Bluetooth's main role has been to provide an effective and universal wireless alternative to much of the peripheral wires connected to computers. In my opinion, it has been very successful at that. Lately, Bluetooth has adopted another function – providing an effective wireless alternative to audio cables. By audio, I do not mean AM quality Bluetooth cellphone headsets. Rather, I mean high fidelity stereo sound that is worth listening to. One product that utilizes Bluetooth for this function is the Blue Tango Classic from Innovation Lap Corp. The Blue Tango Classic features the first ever plug & play Bluetooth wireless audio transceiver. Just how and how well does it work?"

"Where I can see the Thermaltake Schooner being best implemented is an HTPC environment. Silence is of course a key consideration in an HTPC, but you still need to address cooling. By taking a good part of your graphics card's heat straight out of the case, the case's cooling system has less heat load to deal with. This could translate to slower spinning case fans and less noise, with even better temperatures."

"Thermaltake's Big Water liquid cooling system made an impact when it was released. To most people, it was known as an easy to install, introductory cooling system with good cooling performance. The problem was that the cooling system had some flaws, and when dealing with water cooling, the consequences can be severe. Since then, Thermaltake has improved on old methods and employed new techniques in their latest water cooler, the Big Water Special Edition. So, will the SE improve on the flaws of its predecessor or is this just a marketing ploy? Read on and find out."

"Here we have one product model from Turtle Beach's new line of high quality surround sound headphones, made specifically for PC usage be it DVDs, gaming or anything audio related. Now I have been known stickler for not settling for anything but the best when it comes to sound quality. Let's see if Turtle Beach can wet my very dry proverbial throat."

"This product worked fantastic. For someone looking for a fresh look to their pc as well as a way to make sure your not overheating, then this is a must for you. For me, this is a near perfect thermal monitor."

"The Asus EN6600GT Silencer offers users an excellent mix of performance from its GeForce 6600GT core and silent operation thanks to its passive heatpipe cooler. The videocard is based on the GeForce 6600GT core and is backed by 256MB of DDR3 memory. The card sports dual output with a pair of DVI/analog connectors. There is also a DVI to analog converter in the package for dual monitor users."

"The Creative WebCam Live! Motion promises to change your expectations of a web camera, equipped with a silent motor and ultra-wide angle lens. Here's our take on this classy looking webcam."

"NEC brings to the region a first-of-its-kind water-cooled desktop PC. Armed with powerful media capabilities, the PowerMate DL T8000 w aims to merge high performance and high entertainment, all the while humming at an unbelievable whisper."

"A $100 mouse might make some folks shudder, but this will be the last mouse you will need to buy. I can’t imagine Logitech out doing the G7 but I’m sure they are already working on something that’s faster, better and cheaper. I cannot say enough good things about the Logitech G7, if you are in the market for the last mouse you will ever buy – you’ve just seen it – now go buy it!"

"The nForce4 chipset has been out for the AMD platform for almost a year now. Upon release, it quickly became the chipset to have for most mid to high end systems. As with any popular chipset, you tend to see a plethora of motherboard makers offering little differences here and there to make their product stand out from the rest. BIOS options, fan-less chipset cooling, and UV cables are just some of the features that you see motherboard makers boasting as a selling point. Today we are going take an in depth look at the DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-D motherboard and investigate whether or not its features, performance and stability make it stand out from the rest."

"No more do we use the (un)trusty floppy to store our work or even consider lugging around ZIP drives, now its USB Drives, USB Sticks, USB External Burners and the list goes on... Now we're storing alot more data, in a much smaller amount of space and lets not forget the need for speed. Today, we take a look at Transcend's newest offering, their flagship JetFlash 110 USB Drives."

"A video-playing iPod has long been anticipated, but will a QVGA display provide a high enough resolution for movie viewing on the commute to work? In fact, will DRM and copyright issues rear their ugly heads? Perhaps, then, the video capable iPod will give birth to a new wave of video Podcasts (allow us to coin the phrase Vidcast, presuming some witty blogger hasn't done so already) where iPod users will watch... whatever interests them."

"Overall the DFI LAN Party UT nF3 Ultra-D is a very powerful socket 939 AGP motherboard. While it may seem to tail the K8N Neo2 Platinum in terms of performance, the potential of the nF3 Ultra-D is unlimited. The overall board layout is superb and the BIOS offer plenty of memory tweaking options that the Neo2 lacks. The nF3 Ultra-D also works up to 3.6V with a DDR Booster as opposed to the Neo2 at just 3.4V with the Booster. Users who are looking into the 300HTT range with 1:1 ratio would love this motherboard as we had no problem exceeding DDR600 at 1T..."

"With Samsung's brand name bringing strong backup, we've come to expect the highest quality available. As a multifunction panel, this monitor excels in every capacity. The monitor sports a high contrast ratio, an excellent viewing angle and nearly every input you could imagine."

"OCZ Technology, one of the world's top memory producers and every enthusiast's favorite brand of memory, produce a variety of high end modules that meet every computer user's needs. I have with me the OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Gold Edition Dual Channel, developed with gamers' distinctive needs in mind, for today's memory devouring games such as Battlefield 2 and Doom 3, where 1GB memory just does not cut it anymore. With 2GB of memory, it really adds freedom and greater stability with less lag to any system which it is placed in."

"With the success of the Ninja heatpipe cooler, Scythe is now being looked at as a company that can compete with the best of them. The Ninja is right up there with the likes of the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, Cooler Master Hyper 6 and the Thermalright XP-120. Now we have in our mitts the little brother to the Ninja. The Scythe Katana. Today we will see how well it stacks up to big brother."

"You have expensive toys, and want to prolong the life of them as much as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to take extra steps to keep your components cool. Antec has a solution for your video card, a double slot cooler. They say that use of the VCool can decrease your GPU's temperature between 5ºC and 15ºC!"

"The LCD monitor isn't just for spread sheets anymore. With faster response time, smaller dot pitch and a host of other display technologies, the LCD monitor has become a viable choice for gaming. We should you what to look for."

"We’ve all had it with standard sized MP3 players; after all, what’s so special about them anymore? The same old features and audio quality are the norm these days. In fact, if you have an MP3 player and you want it to survive in the market, quality is a prerequisite. Of course, there are those exclusive iconic looks and a select number of features here and there that make portable audio players stand out from their competition, but still, it takes a lot more wattage to send a jolt through the industry."

"Crucial, from my exposure, only advertised their value memory on television to try and appeal to the general consumer. But as we all know the enthusiast market has recently exploded and now all memory providers have an enthusiast based line of memory. Crucial's enthusiast brand is called Ballistix and today we have a chance to compare 1GB of their PC3200 memory to OCZ's Gold PC3200 memory."

“Well, Windows Xp 64 has been out for quite a while now, I for one have already upgraded and there is a noticeable difference, better in some respects, while not better in other. The 'not better' part is driver support. 64Bit is the future, pretty soon all CPUs will be 64bit, so why would anyone want to run WinXp 32 with a 64bit CPU, isn't that like putting Ultra High Test Premium gas in a Yugo? There are no drivers for most of the hardware I own, sure there are workarounds I can do to get my hardware to work, but it is a workaround.”

"When NVIDIA introduced us to the 7 Series GPUs with its current flagship GeForce 7800 GTX, we were quite impressed. Most people, though, aren't going to buy flagship hardware, so they wait for the little brothers of the flagship. Currently, the only 'little brother' released has been the 7800 GT.

A quick look at the specifications reveals that the 7800 GT is a slightly crippled 7800 GTX, which actually is not a bad thing if you are a 7800 GT. Although the GT has less power under the hood, it still performs quite well when compared to the GTX. Follow along and keep reading to learn about the first retail GT offering to hit our test benches - the Gigabyte GV-NX78T256V-B."

"SME Server, formerly known as e-Smith, has released its fifth BETA for the upcoming v7.0 release. Among many improvements to the language translations and enhanced server controls, there is numerous installer changes and DNS improvements. SME Server/e-Smith has been at work since 1999 on creating a reliable distribution for handling small to medium enterprise server needs and SME Server v7.0 Beta 5 is very evident of their hard work at hand, and today we have some new snapshots from their web-interface."

"The best price/performance card ever built" How can you argue with that statement after reading this review? If you were not impressed by the 42% overclock of the GPU core or the 22% overclock of the memory, then surely the temperature when running this ridiculously impressive overclock under load thanks to the IceQ II cooling technology that HIS incorporates in their X800GTO offering has you running out the door to buy it. In addition to the overclocking capabilities of the HIS X800GTO, the pure performance of this new chipset is just incredible. I was surprised going through the benchmark results just how much of a difference there was compared to the 6600GT.

"The KN1 SLI is based on the NVIDIA nForce4 SLI media and communication processor (MCP) which has set the benchmark for the best desktop platform solution currently available. nForce4 SLI is a single-chip, highly integrated, high performance HyperTransport peripheral controller. The motherboard support up to 4 GB DRR RAM, ultra high performance graphics via two PCI Express slots, dual LAN, USB 2.0, 8-chanel digital audio and SATA II with RAID function. In other words, this is has all the trappings of a high end motherboard but without the high end price."

“What do you get when a company that makes fine quality utility knives and a company that makes memory products? You get a sophisticated and sleek next generation tool for the 21st century. What I am talking about is the retroALOX, created when Victorinox the famous makers of Swiss Army Knives and Swissbit, a maker of quality memory products collaborate together. The retroALOX is the culmination of history and the future combined.”

"All of the cables that are included with the Fan Commander are Silver braided and covered with a clear plastic which will make them look less unsightly inside a case. They needed to do something because think of it; once everything is installed you will be adding 12 cables to your interior. The braided cables are flexible and because of the Silver braiding they hold their shape well when you bend them."

"Recently several PC hardware pieces were launched as "RoHS-compliant" and you should see more and more RoHS-compliant products reaching the market on the next months. In this tutorial we will explain what RoHS is and what is its impact to the computer industry."

"Battlefield 2 is especially well known for requiring at least 1GB of installed RAM memory to run smoothly... so why not aim high and upgrade to 2GB of installed RAM? To see what effect 2GB of system RAM will have on Battlefield 2, and a couple of other game titles PCSTATS is testing out a (2x1GB = 2GB) set of Corsair's dual channel Twin2X2048-6400 PRO PC2-6400 DDR-2 memory. This is exactly what the doctor ordered for any memory-strapped dual core Intel Pentium 4 PC!"

"Looking for a good power supply? Can't stand noisy fans? Well today we have XG's beastly fan-less supply; the Magnum 500W. This unit features an all aluminum chassis, copper heatpipe cooling technology, modular cables, and LCD wattage and temperature display, pretty much all you can ask for in a power supply. Last thing to consider, however, is how does it perform? Let's take this out to our test bench and give it a run!"

"The Kung Fu game market is hardly large, so when one does pop up, it's noticable. Kung Fu games also have their own uniqueness to them, but here's a game that is even more so. This is a creation of Mark Healey, an indepentant game developer. Many people relate independant games to being sub-par or boring, but this is one game to tell them otherwise. Let's jump right in, and take a hard look at Rag Doll Kung Fu!"

"In PCSTATS own tests, we have basically seen that higher memory capacities affect a select few applications, generally very recent programs or games. However, faced with building a PC with 1GB or 2GB of installed DDR to start with, the consumer has a couple decisions to make. Though before making that decision, perhaps it is best to first consider the effects of Corsair's new 2GB (2x 1024MB modules) TwinX2048-4400 PRO DDR RAM. Rated to run at speeds of up to 275 MHz, who says you had to sacrifice speed for larger capacity?"

"The OCZ PC3500 Gold GX memory lived up to its name, and performed as specified, providing some additional bandwidth beyond typical settings of 200MHz. The memory was stable and worked great at the better timings specified... "

"As an engineering showcase and just as a cool piece of hardware, the Extreme N7800GT Dual presses all the right buttons. The PCB design on its own is worth a separate article, the issues you have when supplying power to two GPUs from a single power input and the layout issues to overcome are fascinating in their own right and in that respect, ASUS's engineers responsible for the card should be proud."

"As Creative gears itself into designing consumer electronics for the living room market, we catch a glimpse of what these new products would probably harness with their next generation soundcard technology for the PC - The Xtreme Fidelity (X-Fi) series."

"HIS adds to their arsenal this last quarter another mainstream VPU within the X800 series. Introducing the HIS X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo. Extending the life of the Radeon X800 architecture once again, the HIS X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo is mid range milestone with an extra punch of performance thanks to the extra bandwidth created in enabling 12 pixel pipelines. Will the new 12 pixel pipeline and R480 VPU live up to the best bang for the buck theory and how does it stack up against the Radeon X800 GT? Read on to find out..."

"People love bashing poor old Microsoft for no reason. Sure it has made more than a few terrible propositions throughout its existence (like buying out small firms that possessed unique bits of technology) to disarm startup competition, but is it all that dreadful? Okay, maybe it is…"

"Creative have decided to ditch Microsoft's Portable Media Center initiative along with their operating system for Creative's own in-house operating system, more codec support and a plethora of other features that I'm going to tell you all about in this review. I suggest you pause here, go put the kettle on and then kick back with a nice brew and enjoy as I take you for a wild ride of this year's most anticipated Creative Labs Audio/Video player release."

"One issue that Ultra Products seems to be avoiding is the power factor value. While most manufacturers are offering units with active (or passive) PFC resulting in PF values around 0.90 - 0.99... the Xconnect and previous X-Finity were both rated in the low 0.60 range, and the new X-Finity is slightly improved at 0.70, but that is still quite weak."

"Ark Linux, a distribution aiming to hit the systems of desktop users, has released its 2005.2-rc3 candidate that now encompasses a predecease of KDE 3.5 and a GNU compiler for the D programming language. From our initial encounter with Ark 2005.2 we've been impressed by its optimizations for use as a desktop system as well as various other improvements. This distribution is attempting to make it so easy to install and operate, a game of Tetrix is even playable while installing the data to your hard drive."

"Graphics cards, processors and almost every other component inside our PCs become increasingly powerful with each generation, and, as a result, often consume more power and produce more heat than the previous generation. Do we just have to accept that in order to cool these hot running components, PCs will continue to just get louder and louder? Not necessarily."

“TheTechLounge is nearly three years old now, and it was time to make some changes. As you have no doubt noticed, the new site looks drastically different. We decided to update our old logo and graphics, which were created by Brian and Kurtis, to something that was more professional and better portrayed the image we wanted for TheTechLounge. The new logo was created by professional graphics designer, David Montooth. The new website design was a collaboration between Brian, Kurtis and designer, Naveed Lalani.

Aside from the visual aspect of the site, TheTechLounge required a new backend that could handle the new features and server load. Brian spent the past nine months developing a new content management system, dubbed TimberwolfCMS, that not only made this new site possible, but also allows for future expansion. Continue reading and we will walk you through many of the new additions to the site. We would also like to note that some additional features will be added in the weeks and months to come.”

“The world of Serial ATA hard drives has been extremely busy lately and getting 250GB drives for about 50 cents a gigabyte has become the norm. You can also look around in the Sunday newspaper and find rebates that will bring the gigabyte price down to around 25 cents. But, finding hard drives with 16mb caches and SATAII technology for this price is another story. One such drive that has a competitive price tag as well as awesome performance is the Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATAII hard drive, which is the subject of our review today.”

"Designed in a similar manner to Logitech’s diNovo line of keyboards, the SpacePilot is sleek, sturdy, and definitely feels expensive (and, at $450-ish, well, it pretty much is). The central focal point is the SpacePilot’s “controller cap,” a two-inch diameter, rubberized knob. The cap is somewhat motile, and allows for pushing, pulling, twisting in any direction. The SpacePilot also features twenty other buttons, and an LCD panel that displays context-sensitive information related to the use of the SpacePilot. I’ll get to these in a moment."

"Gigabit Ethernet allows network transfers up to 1.000 Mbps using standard Cat 5 UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cabling. How can this be accomplished, since Cat 5 cables can run only up to 100 Mbps? We will explain this and also other very interesting issues regarding Gigabit Ethernet performance."

"The rules are very simple but we are adding a little twist. Case modification has progressed from a underground hobby to the mainstream spotlight. We believe that creative modders can adapt their skills to mod just about anything conventional or non-conventional. This contest will allow participants to submit up to two entries of any type of modification. A modified component can be any type of part either computer specific or non-computer specific. You must clearly demonstrate that you have completed a modification and provide information on what your modification does."

"ASUS didn't can the idea of two GPUs on a single board in SLI mode, though. The recent release of NVIDIA G70 which powers the GeForce 7800 GTX and 7800 GT SKUs has given ASUS something new to work with. The G70 GPU, built on 110nm, is actually cooler and less power hungry than NV45, despite a large hike in transistor count and die area."

"There is little more I need to say about this K8N-SLI, it features the nForce4 SLI chipset and it costs just $100 US ... The K8N-SLI is an excellent motherboard and well worth a look for anyone wishing to build a budget gaming system. The board’s general performance was superb and it did well when compared to the competition."

"No more wondering what is around the corner or what will be released in the days to come, as of right now the 7800GTX video chipset is the 'King of the Hill'. Since day one there was no shortage of available video cards containing the mammoth NVIDIA chipset. Every big manufacturer offered their version of the fastest graphic chipset known to man. Gigabyte was kind enough to send us their version, the GeForce GV-NX78X256V-B 7800 GTX. With the Gigabyte 7800GTX having so much video power I don't think we will have any problems showing off any of its extreme benchmarks or video game playing performance."

"Can you remember the days when the typical computer case was grey or beige? I'm not sure who decided to use those colours but you couldn't call computer cases good looking or cool. Those days are now long gone and these days we expect our to be able to keep our cases out in the open without being ashamed of the look."

"Today again an inexpensive AMD Socket 939 motherboard is reviewed at ocinside.de The ASRock 939A8X-M MicroATX board with the ULi M1689 chipset was tested both within the overclocking range and regarding the features."

"During the Computex 2005 trade show in Taiwan this year, much attention was drawn towards Gigabyte's new i-RAM product. i-RAM is Gigabyte's latest innovation which caters for users and businesses who require super quick data transfer over the SATA bus through the use of DDR memory modules. Read on as we take a look at Gigabyte's first attempt at hitting into the solid state storage market - how does 150MB/s burst and average read speeds sound?"

"So today we will review two of the biggest hard drives currently on the market. The first drive is the 400GB Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 which features five 80GB platters, 8MB of cache, a 7,200RPM rotation speed, and a 8.5ms average seek time. We will also look at the 400GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 which carries basically the same specifications as the Hitachi drive except that the Seagate has a 8ms average seek time rather than 8.5. Both the drives in this review use the SATA 1.5Gb/s interface. However, they are also available in PATA if needed."

"At first it was enough for photo printer makers to add a portable model to their mix. Now that most companies sell one, a little more creativity is required to separate one from the pack. HP has stepped up to the challenge with the Photosmart 475 ($279), a.k.a. GoGo, an unabashedly cute tagalong that prints not only the requisite 4 x 6 prints but 5 x 7 enlargements too. GoGo went a step further, adding 1.5 gigabytes of internal storage that can pack up to 1,000 images. Take it to the next family party, hook it up to a TV and you can run a slide show that lasts all afternoon."

"At the recent PDC, Microsoft started a new way of launching software, and we aren’t complaining. The deal is that it’ll showcase a monthly update to Vista, which would show progress from the last month in terms of added functionality, features, and graphics in addition to additional functionality. This is an excellent method as it allows Microsoft to gauge developer mood as well as check out how well the features are received overall."

"Every year, there is a new lineup of products and each have some sort of upgrade to offer against its predecessor. We have taken a look at several of Panasonic's projectors in the past, namely the AE300, AE500. And now, we have the latest; Panasonic's AE700. We found a level of improvement in each model, and today we get to examine what the AE700 has to bring to the living room. Entering the market with a 2000:1 contrast ratio, 26dB front exhaust, and a new vertical & horizontal lens shift function, this projector may turn a few heads."

"With items like this on the market for less than $20, there's no excuse to fry a system anymore from a bad power supply. This unit should be in every PC builders tool chest."

"BigBruin.com has teamed up with ClubIT.com on our latest contest. Up for grabs are two sets of assorted Cooler Master products, including a couple Cool Drive units and some UV/EL cables. The contest requires entrants to modify the ClubIT.com logo with a Halloween theme. Entries could be scary, funny, freaky, sexy, etc... Just make them so they can be displayed in public!"

"Corsair have just launched what they call the fastest ASUS compatible DDR1 memory on the market. At PC3500 and CAS2, these 1GB sticks soar past the competition. Let's see just how overclockable they are, and see how far we can push them while keeping our beloved CAS2."

"As you have probably read in the reviews, the new ATI X1000 series require a lot of power."

"This review is going to be looking at the latest addition to the X800 PCI Express lineup, the X800 GTO. Manufacturer by HIS this specific offering, the X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo has a number of features which set it apart from those available from other companies. This card has, interestingly, been launched right before the release of the highly awaited R520-based video card but given the difference in price points and target consumers this may not be that strange after all. The card has 12 pixel pipelines, 6 vertex shaders, a huge heatsink, and 256 MB of memory."

"Some updates regarding one of our previous article about the 7800 Ultra"

“Along with the Keyboard that I reviewed last week, Logisys also tossed in one of their new Curve Mice. With an interesting new ergonomic design, a little bit of flash, and a unique four way scroll wheel, on paper this looked like an interesting product. Did it hold up to closer scrutiny? Read on and find out!”

“Finally... for the power hungry...the Nexus NX-5000, 500 Watt Power supply. This high wattage 500 Watt power supply is loaded with the latest features to fulfil any of the latest pc systems needs. The NX-5000 power supply is a EPS12V and ATX 2.01 form factor PSU with a slick black and white look. All this packed in a small no nonsense package."

"Although a great deal of the power supplies we look at on a regular basis are designed for high-end systems, occasionally we accept the offer to look at a lower-wattage power supply that may not be ideal for an SLI or CrossFire setup but continues to pack a punch when it comes to features. The power supply unit up for review today is the Strider ST405 400W from SilverStone Technology."

"For the Sansa e140 you don’t need to install special software. You plug in with the USB cable and you can drag ’n drop your music on it. Standard you can store 1 GB of music (about 240 mp3’s). Slide in the battery, plug in the stereo headphones and you are ready to listen."

"Every hobbyist and gamer is looking for a mouse that helps them improve in their computing world. Although, a $60 gaming mouse like the Razer Diamondback, is not in their budget. That is why Sunbeam Tech
produces a 1300 DPI gaming mouse, the X-1300 Gaming Mouse. For $20, lets
find out if this mouse belongs on your desk."

"The latest cooler from Scythe is a relatively innocuous-looking heatpipe cooler. But beneath that lies a cooler with great potential.

Come and see why the new Scythe Katana heatpipe cooler is a great for both quiet operation as well as maximum cooling!"

"Looking for blistering fast DDR memory that can run at ultra-low latency? Well, now you can get some for FREE!

Here's your chance to win an OCZ Gold Gamer eXtreme dual-channel memory kit for FREE!

There are only 3 more days left! So, hurry up before it's too late!"

"Archos has been long-known for its MP3 players, which are very nice. Archos has also gotten into the personal handheld video players. The Gmini 402 has even more features than the previous model. It still includes Windows Media/MP3 audio and video playback, voice and in-line recording options, photo storage, and gaming via the Mophun engine. The Gmini 402 now supports the playback of DRM-protected audio and video files. The 402 does have its flaws too, such as mediocre battery life and limited viewing angles."

"Robert Tappan Morris was the first person convicted by a jury under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. The story of the worm he created and what happened to him after it was released is a tale of mistakes, infamy, and ultimately the financial and professional success of its author."

"As most of you already know, today’s latest hardware tends to require very reliable power sources for it to operate properly. Some video cards require as much as 200w at full load. If you are one of us dreaming of going towards an SLI or Crossfire setup, then you will have to shop carefully and make sure that you acquire a very powerful high end power supply. Most people are familiar with Antec for their high quality power supplies and cases. They have earned a high level of respect among us by continuing to offer quality product lineups."

“Listen to Believe; interesting name for a company, rather catchy actually, kind of makes you want to buy their product just to see if they are that good. With a name like Listen to Believe, you expect their products to be just awesome. Today I have for review something that I thought was pretty cool to be reviewing, I myself like good quality sound from all my audio equipment, and since my computer is such a large part of my life I feel that I need great quality from that as well.”

"The Foxconn C51GK8MA, priced at around £65 in the retail channel, offers the ideal combination of GeForce 6150 IGP and nForce4 430 southbridge in a microATX-sized form-factor. Board layout and BIOS options were both surprisingly good, and the latter was a real bonus for a form-factor that usually is bereft of any tweaking ability whatsoever."

"The summer's over, people are back in school, and its starting to get cold but before you get too depressed- it is time for another XYZ Computing Giveaway. This month we will be giving away a HighSpeed PC Tech Station, the open air computer test bench which you have probably heard about. Stop by, sign up, and you could be the lucky winner!"

"This review is going to be taking a look at Epower's Silent Engine Tiger 550W power supply unit. This product has all the buzzwords that consumers are looking for in a PSU right now, like SLI, modular, SATA and so on, so it is worth a look. We'll see if it could ever be a threat to PSU powerhouse's like Antec and Enermax. If you are looking for a solid power supply without having to pay a lot for the name, this could be a great choice."

"With digital camera technology increasing ever so fast, where it is no longer uncommon to have at least five mega-pixels, and some digital SLR models going beyond ten mega-pixels, storage capacity often becomes a great concern when dealing with such high-quality imagery. Whether your into high-end photography or are just looking to take a great deal of photographs, with us today we have the 150X ProMax 1GB Secure Digital card from ATP Electronics."

"A newcomer from Samsung this year is the HPR-4252 42" HD Plasma TV. This black beauty is very appealing in aesthetics, shows great performance, and delivers fantastic PC monitor results. Among its many features are the Blue Eye Sensor, a 1300cd/m2 luminance output, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, and a resolution of 1024x768."

"I know I’m not going to make any friends with this review, but I think everything I have said has been the truth. I still think Thermaltake can make some very high quality hardware, but the Big Typhoon seems like a rushed marketing job."

“If you take a look around, there is a growing trend in the Power Supply industry. Bigger, more powerful power supplies are being introduced all the time. Is there really a need for them? I guess in the hardcore enthusiast segment there is, but how many hardcore enthusiasts are there out there? I can guess that most of the computers out there today are pre-built systems from the big computer companies, like Dell and Hp to name the biggest. There are many others out there that are trying to get their part of the pie.”

"We know how crowded the MP3 player market is. We have the king of MP3 players, the iPod from Apple and the "little" players like Sony, Creative, iRiver and many more. Although they offer pretty much the same features, there are always a couple of options that are exclusive to each player. These could range from pure looks to overall audio quality to a tweaked navigation system, but Douglas.J Music Group has pushed the limits of MP3 players, at least with glamour and pricing."

"I think Logitech is moving in the right direction in developing this wireless communication extension of the PC however I feel this will really only attract a niche market of consumers. Overall the MX610 is a solid unit with features that will be loved by people that need some downtime from the computer without completely sacrificing being ‘connected’."

"In the past we have looked at a wide range of power supplies from our friends at Coolmax USA. All have proven to be quality, well built power supplies with excellent test results and a decent line of features. Today we are looking at one of the latest offerings from them, the SLI capable 500W CXI."

"Today we are going to be looking at a relatively inexpensive cooler from Spire called the KestrelKing and it's for the AMD K8 platform of processors. This cooler has some fancy looks to it for the price, but will it hold it's own in terms of cooling our CPU well for being an aluminum heatsink?"

"Packed with a great deal of improvements, AbiWord 2.4.0 (stable) has finally been released and with it comes a great deal of improvements, such as on-the-fly grammar checking, tight image wrapping, equation editor, OpenDocument file support, GNOME-Office charting, and many other visual improvements. As always, binaries are available for various Linux distributions and Microsoft Windows, along with the complying to the GNU GPL v2.0."

"The ASRock 939Dual-SATA 2 motherboard we're testing here is a socket 939 AMD Athlon64 solution which incorporates a special slot for a daughter card that will in the near future support the upcoming Socket M2 AMD Athlon64 processor and its allotment of DDR-2 memory. Both the Socket M2 AMD processor and the necessary ASRock daughter card are not currently available, but the CPU is expected in Q2 of 2006 so the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 is certainly forward-looking. ASRock takes the worry out of things with its new 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard. The motherboard boasts the ULi M1695 Northbridge (1 GHz 16/16 HTT connection to the CPU) and ULi M1567 Southbridge which support any current Socket 939 AMD Athlon64/FX/X2 processor."

"Centon gives their Advanced line a new face and joins the 2GB battle. The price point of the memory is supposed to be in the affordable range, but the overclocking results didn't look very promising."

"Featuring a unique twist design, the new Nokia 3250 is a Smartphone, MP3 player, digital camera and a fashion statement all rolled into one. Here's our initial thought on a functional prototype."

"The VapoChill Micro is the first shot at air cooling by Asetek, and it is one of the better CPU coolers in the market right as we speak. Asetek VapoChill Micro is lightweight, small size and its main advantage is its low noise operation. Silent PC enthusiasts will certainly find excellent noise over performance ration with this cooler. The small size of VapoChill Micro allows easy installation; it saves space and has lesser incompatibility issues on most motherboards. If you are looking for a silent high end CPU cooler, you should seriously consider Asetek's latest product, the VapoChill Micro, which will cost roughly about 54USD. We gave Gold Award for this product because it can catch up with a few heat pipe coolers, without any noticeable noise, incompatibility issue or running into sophisticated installation process."

"The biggest drawback from the Lexcool XC-801 is the mounting issues that I ran into but I have a very simple solution to alleviate the pressure on the motherboard and to make mounting a lot easier....The fan does turn rather fast and is quite loud at this speed and a fan controller would really add to the value of this cooler. The cooling abilities of the XC-801 speak for themselves on the previous page and I was quite impressed with the results."

"VIA may have become the underdogs in the chipset race, but we find out that the old dog still has some bite in it. Gigabyte's GA-K8VT890-9 based on the K8T890 lacks advanced features, but you can be sure of a bang-for-buck performance little else can match."

"Like many people, I once had an iPod. After selling my 20GB off many moonsago due to the inadequate storage, I decided to build and install a complete PC into my car as the iPod's replacement. The car that I currently own is a 1993 Volvo 850GLT. While it isn't exactly anyone's dream car, my Volvo is a reliable and solid means of transportation that's served me well over the course of its lifetime."

"Radeon X1600 XT, formerly known as RV530, is the fastest graphics chip inside the new mid-range graphics chip family from ATI. We've got a reference sample for this model from ATI, so we will compare its performance to other members of the Radeon X1000 series, to previous ATI chips and also with competing products from nVidia. The main issue with this video card is that it will reach the market only in December!"

"Once again RaidMax has offered up a solid performing case with an excellent fit and finish. The power supply and AGP/PCI expansion card locking system are both improved over previous models and the Ninja 918 has a stylish look that will attract attention without being over done."

"The performance is the real story, as the asetek VapoChill Micro excelled in our testing, specifically when used with their Extreme Performance fan. Yes, it is noisy, but if you want to sacrifice a bit of cooling, by all means go for the Low Noise setup."

"If you are looking for some kind of sexy device to plug into your beloved AMD Athlon 64 rig then you should have a quick look to the BTO Plusdeck 2 Cassette deck reviewed today at AMDboard.com. This true reminiscence of the audio renaissance is a great looking 5.25" tape reader and recorder capable of offering a brand new life to your old forgotten cassettes and allowing you to transform them into indestructible WAV or MP3 files faster than it takes to say it!"

"After the release of new CPUs and technologies, every company had to evolve their products and refresh their line-up. Shuttle was no exception too, although perhaps they had the hardest of time making the move, since they had to fit every new technology (ranging from Dual Core CPU support to SATA-II support) into a tiny box. So the masterful engineers of Shuttle designed the SD31P; an XPC claiming to be a pocket-size supercomputer, versatile and powerful enough to fit any house and office. Since Shuttle was nice enough to provide us with a review sample of the SD31P, we can see up close what this baby can do."

"The supreme feel, high quality, and innovative features rank this keyboard as one of the best on the market in my opinion. Honestly, at any price, I can not think of a keyboard I'd rather have."

"Still use Socket A and are in need of replacement cooling? It's time to test out Arctic Cooling's Copper Lite, which will hopefully cut down on our overall load temps. It also promises much quieter cooling than stock coolers, so let's jump to it."

"The SI-120 is a very innovatively designed CPU heatsink and it should have zero compatibility issues with many motherboards. By slightly tweaking and renewing the XP-120, the Thermalright has done a great job by bringing the SI-120 into the market. Although the SI-120 easily tops a few tower-type CPU coolers we have tested, we believe that this is helps the heatsink to be compatible with most motherboards out in the market. Weighing at only 400g without the fan, the heatsink is not heavy and will give a peace of mind for LAN Party goers. The installation process was very simple and straight forward thus beginners should have little problem with this heatsink."

"The Cowon iAudio X5 is in a sticky situation. As an MP3 player, the X5 has a lot going for it. Think Apple iPod photo with video capabilities and you get the idea. The problem here is that with its video capabilities, the X5 falls into a different product category where it doesn't really belong; with portable media players. Look past its video performance though and buy the X5 for its true calling – high quality audio."

"One might think that years after such a devastating loss of lives, property and information there would be dramatic differences and improvements in the way businesses strive to protect their employees, assets, and data. However, changes have been more gradual than many had expected. "Some organizations that should have received a wakeup call seemed to have ignored the message," says one information security professional who prefers to remain anonymous. A look at some of the trends that have been developing over the years since September 11th reveals signs of change for the better--although the need for more information security advancement is abundantly clear."

"Enter Imation. Their shockingly lightweight Disc Stakka, which stylistically resembles something like a restaurant booster chair for toddlers, is designed to rid me and the rest of the world of our optical backup woes. Despite Playskool styling, the Disc Stakka seems to bring a lot to the table. In brief, the Disc Stakka is a combination jukebox, Lazy Susan, and databased storage-solution. Its internal (and inaccessible) carousel holds 100 five-inch optical discs (sorry, no mini-CDs for you). The slot-loading mechanism up front is merely a loading bay; there is no drive or optics present in this device whatsoever."

"Today 3DXtreme is taking a look at the newly released Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 revision 3 designed specifically for the NVIDIA 7800 GTX series of video cards. Arctic-Cooling has been producing some of the best after market coolers for GPUs replacing noisy, inefficient stock cooling with a unit that outperforms while producing very little noise volume. The NVIDIA 7800 GTX already includes a stock cooler that is silent, so why the need for Arctic Cooling to step up and release this modified version of the already successful NV Silencer 5? The 7800 GTX’s cooler may be quiet it’s also not all that effective as the load temperatures can slowly climb towards 80 degrees Celsius. And while this is a safe temperature according to NVIDIA’s specifications allowing your $500 video card to see temperatures this high is something even the average enthusiast would cringe at."

"You may wonder why even review the X800XL since the X1K series is (somewhat) out. Well, these cards cost around USD 250 to 350, well below the X1800XL and very near the X1600 series. Experience (and preliminary benchmarks) seem to indicate that the X1600 series has about the same level of performance as the GeForce 6800, only when not doing AA and AF. So, we think the X800XL is still worth buying (and we're also hoping these cards will get a price cut soon). We test four cards this time: ABIT RX800XL 256EDVIO, ASUS EAX800XL 2DTV256, Gecube X800XL 256 MB Uniwise and Gigabyte X800XL Silent Pipe (GV-RX80L256V)."

“Logitech, I'm pretty sure, unless you have been under a rock, you know the name, and chances are very good that you own or have owned one of their products at one time or another. When I hear the name Logitech I think of quality mice and keyboards, but they make other things as well, with the ever increasing popularity of Home Theater PCs comes a need or demand for quality input devices, preferably cordless, to go with those HTPCs. You need input devices that won't stick out in the living room or the den where your HTPC is located, but since you put a lot of time and effort into your HTPC, then why just throw any old cheapie keyboard and mouse with it? Well you don't have to, as Logitech has come up with a few solutions for this, today I will be taking a look at two of them, the Cordless Desktop S510 with Media Remote.”

"Not long ago, we reviewed Frontier Labs’ latest NEX 3+ MP3 player that’s, from the looks of it, designed for athletes, and rather rough ones at that. Our experience with the NEX 3+ wasn’t all that great due to many reasons. The most inviting drawback was the distasteful color scheme with an outer coating of rubber to make the player more rugged. Now, don’t get us wrong, there’s nothing erroneous with a player with a rubber exterior, especially if it’s designed for athletes, but Frontier Labs could’ve done a better job in presenting the product."

“We have looked at a few other Spire products in the past and were always satisfied with the overall quality and performance. Spire has made a great enclosure this time we are very impressed with almost every facet of the GigaPod. This product will fit nice with anyone that needs a drive bay or a backup device.”

"We are taking a look at the ASUS CT-479 Adapter which allows you to use an Intel Mobile Processor in your desktop. This Socket 478 to Socket 479 converter is considerably less expensive than the native Socket 479 boards. With this adapter you can turn that old ASUS 865P/875P mobo into a serious gaming machine. The OCZ DDR Booster is reviewed along with the ASUS CT-479 Adapter."

"Trying to find the "right" memory for one's PC is a difficult task, what with all the different brands and speeds to choose from for both Intel and AMD platforms. On the test block today is a 1GB set of dual channel DDR from Crucial. Sold under the Crucial Ballistix name, this pair of 512MB PC4000 DDR modules have been well received by the enthusiast community. The 184 pin (unbuffered, non ECC) DDR DIMMs are dual channel compatible and have a default rated speed of 250 MHz, or PC4000. Default timings are very conservative at 3-4-4-8. To reach an overclocked speed of 250 MHz, the memory is rated for use with voltages as high as 2.8V."

"Despite reviewing an overclocked Radeon X550 from GeCube not too long ago, we have received yet another similarly overclocked Radeon X550 from Palit. With almost identical clock speeds, the Palit Radeon X550V+ 256MB is evenly matched with the GeCube. Which card will emerge as the winner?"

"With a MSRP of $49 complete with a 400W PSU, some prospective builders will be able to live without some of the more advanced features the Ninja 2 lacks."

"Radeon X1800 XL is part of the new high-end graphics chip family from ATI, competing directly with GeForce 7800 GT from nVidia. We've got a reference sample for this model from ATI, so we will compare its performance to other members of the Radeon X1000 series, to previous ATI chips and also with competing products from nVidia. Theoretically this video card was released yesterday, but so far we couldn't find it for sale."

"With the amount of kits for watercooling your PC that are out on the market today it's hard to decide what would be best for you, throw in all of the different types and sizes of cases that are available and choosing a kit could be a real nightmare. Swiftech has done all of the leg work with the Apex-H2O kit and have made a damn near universal water cooling kit that requires very little if any "handyman" work to install."

"Patriot has been providing some amazing enthusiast lately and their 2GB solution is not all that bad. It is priced to target the budget enthusiast, but it does overclock pretty nicely."

"Intel recently concluded their Mobility Campaign with a big bang at Zouk! Boasting a celebrity DJ, a fashion show and DJ group Altered Image, the Intel Mobility Party was also where Intel announced the winners of the Intel Notebook Bag Design Contest! Check out the report!"

"Recently, Corsair released a PDF document showing quite a considerable gain in Battlefield 2 performance when moving from 1GB to 2GB’s of system memory. While I do believe their findings and comments to be accurate there are a few points that need to be clarified. Firstly I feel the system Corsair put together for this presentation was somewhat unbalanced. Obviously those looking at using 2GB of expensive DDR/DDR2 memory in a gaming system are not going to skimp on the graphics card or processor."

"A couple of days ago nVidia released their much talked about ForceWare Release 80 graphics card driver to the world. The new nVidia ForceWare 81.84 BETA drivers offer such things as performance optimizations when using Dual-Core processors, mixed vendor support for SLI and Black and White 2 support. We examine the drivers in our typical fashion against the last official release driver, ForceWare 78.01. Do the new drivers give some more punch to nVidia’s current line-up of GPU’s? Read on for the answers!"

"It comes with a wide array of installation accessories, all of high quality. Instructions were concise and well written. I can't stress enough the high quality of this product. It's a winner and a no-brainer for a smart buy."

"The new Sapphire Radeon X550 represents an affordable graphics upgrade for the gamer who wants performance at a price that won't break the bank. The new video card operates with a standard core clock speed of 400MHz and memory speeds of 500MHz. The X550 also feature both 64-bit and 128-bit Memory Interface which provides significant performance advantages over competitor’s 32/64-bit solutions. Several models will be available offering a choice of memory configurations with 128 or 256MB of memory, including versions with enhanced memory specifications suitable for overclocking and with a choice of conventional fan or fully passive cooling, like our review sample."

"Our second review today is of PowerColor's brand new Radeon X800GT EVO graphics card which comes with factory out-of-the-box watercooling. The watercooling unit is actually the ThermalTake Tide Water cooling solution and its clear PowerColor is making moves to get into the hearts of enthusiasts but have they succeeded? Read on for our thoughts on the new graphics card."

"Mike is back in the action with a review of a new power supply unit from the folks at Enermax. We're looking at the EG565P-VE FMA PSU which offers quality 535-watt sustained power output at a price which won't make your wallet go into hiding. Read on as we take a close look at the power supply and examine the power rails as we put the unit under load. If you're building an enthusiast system, this PSU might just be what the doctor ordered."

"As Apple continues to introduce newer iPods, third party manufacturers including Logitech are updating their product line continuously to specifically revolve around the world’s most popular music player. The latest from Logitech is the company’s mm50 Portable Speakers for iPod."

“The PC enclosure market has been engulfed by poorly-designed plastic, acrylic, and steel-chassis systems, but Silverstone has chosen to follow their own path when they designed the Temjin series and especially the TJ05. This case is an extended ATX case that’s roomy enough for a mini server or serious multimedia workstation. Let’s see how it performs on our test bench today.”

"With the launch of Crossfire, ATI has finally entered the arena of dual GPU graphics. However, it could be too little too late for ATI as SLI has almost become the term when referring to dual or multi GPU graphics performance. Crossfire, being a very late entrant with no availability thus far, the future appears to be bleak for ATI at best."

"As you can plainly see, even though the bezel is 1U configuration, (1U = 1-5.25" bay) the fan means you'll need at least two free bays. And if it is going to work well, you'll need clear space both above and below the radiator for sufficient air movement and above average case ventilation. So in reality, the M2 Radiator will need 3 or even 4 clear drive bays to function. A shallow bay device such as many of those in the Hardcano line, which only extend a short distance inward past the front bezel, would not present a problem mounted directly above the M2 AquaBay."

"Sandwiched between the grill in the bezel and the front of the case is this nifty push-to-open filter slot. The panel slides out to reveal a washable, reusable foam filter that would hopefully prevent a little less dust from getting sucked inside the case. Unfortunately, no such preventative measure exists on the other two openings in the side panel."

"Albatron is one of the more innovative motherboard manufacturers, and its team of engineers has actually figured out a way of running SLI on the budget Intel 915PL chipset! Albatron's method does not split the PCI Express bus evenly between videocards like a true SLI chipset does, but it's close enough and it works! We will get into how the 915PL is turned into an SLI chipset in just a moment. Since the Albatron PX915SLI is based on the Intel 915PL chipset, the motherboard only supports Socket 775 Pentium 4 processors that run on a 533/800 MHz FSB. "

"With the public release of the NVIDIA Linux 1.0-8XXX display drivers now coming toward the end of October, we felt it was time to offer another driver comparison of all the drivers released in roughly the past year, as we haven't done any mass comparisons since early 2005."

"The new Gigabyte i-RAM is a device that uses DDR memory for storage while emulating itself as a SATA hard disk drive. Using up to 4GB of DDR400 memory, this card can boast unimaginable access speeds. Just how fast is this device as compared to WD's Raptor? Find out here."

“Ever since the Eluminx Keyboard came to market, more manufacturers have been coming along with supposedly new and improved versions. Cheaper, Better lighting, Extra buttons, and finally full size. Logisys was kind enough to send along their interpretation of what the next generation of illuminated keyboards should be. Their new Office Keyboard has just about every perk that you could think of, and instead of going for the small and sleek route is a fully functional full size keyboard that is fit for cubicles everywhere. Geeks rejoice!”

"Hewlett Packard has always been a popular name in the computer market, whether it be for desktop systems, laptops or handhelds, they\'ve always had a powerful presence. Today, I will be looking at their latest laptop package, the Pavilion zd8110us. This unit provides everything you could want in a laptop. In addition to its awesome specs, this laptop boasts connectivity to HP\'s TV tuner for viewing videos. What\'s great about this unit is that aside from being one of the most powerful laptops on the market, it\'s also a fully-featured media centre."

"A couple of people out there may be asking: "What's an AV system selector? And why do I need one?" Well we're glad you asked.because HardwareHell has no idea, go Google it for us.

Just kidding, an AV system selector is a time saver, a hassle saver, and a sanity saver. It allows the connection of several videogame systems-or other video equipment-to the television at any one time. This means that someone with a bunch of consoles will be able to switch systems at the push of a button instead of crawling around behind the TV while swearing and looking for the appropriate wires and connections."

“I got the chance to see how noisy the fan was; with my wife and kids in bed I turned the four fans on the controller to their low setting (7V). I must say that it was an improvement, I didn’t realize that the CPU fan before was so noisy.”

“Now at this point I know what your thinking "what good is that", well to someone like me who has to review fans it's perfect. No longer do I have to pull one of my case fans out to do it, remember ACRyan do a range of Backy's”

“Antec, a name that pretty much anyone who is into computers knows. They make various products from top quality computer cases to lights and cables. The name Antec is pretty much synonymous with top quality, high end computer enclosures. When you purchase an Antec product you know you are getting something that is quality made with care and pride. Today I have the Sonata II for review, another fine quality product from Antec that claims to be designed to be completely quiet.”

"Definitely one to recommend great stuff to you, I'll definitely recommend Joujye's impressively stable JJ350PPBA Super Silent PSU to those of you who are shopping for a formidable, practical and RELIABLE PSU. It isn't much to look at, no LEDs, no fancy eye candy, but it certainly delivers, and that's what's important. This model that we reviewed is targetted towards business users who demand a reliability and cost savings from running dozens of computers thanks to its Passive Power Factor Correction circuit."

"Radeon X1800 XT, formerly known as R520, is the new high-end chip from ATI, directly competing with GeForce 7800 GTX from nVidia. We've got a reference sample for this model from ATI, so we will compare its performance to other members of the Radeon X1000 series, to previous ATI chips and also with competing products from nVidia. But don't get too excited: video cards based on Radeon X1800 XT will only reach the market in one month from now."

"When looking for an alternative to Windows most people think of either Apple's OS X or Linux. Of course, these are both viable alternatives but there are not the only options. One way to go is with yellowTAB's ZETA operating system. Though it is not yet very popular, ZETA is the successor to BeOS, the highly regarded OS from Be Incorporated. This is a very interesting and beautiful operating system which may not presently be a threat to Linux but it does have more than a few things going for it. "

"Today we took a look into the NVIDIA ForceWare 81.40 which has been leaked by The French website, Station Drivers. I’ve opened the setup information file (NVDISP.INF) and noticed a lot of new Hardware DeviceID entries."

"Gigabyte GV-RX80L512V, powered by Radeon X800XL CPU, boosted with 512MB of GDDR3 memory running at 256-bit. Featuring 16 pixel pipelines like the top-of-the-end X800XT, the X800XL is a more affordable alternative."

"Do you love bringing your movies, photos and music with you wherever you go? Are you looking for a portable data storage solution? Then look no further!

Join Marauderz as he reviews the new Creative Zen Vision portable media player, which combines the best of both worlds! "

"With the X1000 series of boards, ATI have done something that Nvidia doesn't have currently - a top to bottom line-up of cards that feature the same high end features from the least expensive card to the most. Though not all cards are available immediately, ATI have a full lineup ready in time for Christmas that should be able to service anyone in the market for a video card.

Price and availability are ultimately what will sell these cards, as the potential for performance is there, the cards right now are just missing a few pieces to allow them to match consistently the numbers that Nvidia is posting. As it stands, ATI has an extremely solid product line up ready at the gates, but whether or not they will be able to leverage that with cards in the channels will have to be seen."

"We've written together an articel with info about the chips and even more important lots of benchmarks made with both the X1800XT and the X1800Xl where we compare it to both GeForce 7800GTX, GeForce 7800GT and the X850XT and X800XL."

“From the default clock speeds of 400/490 MHz for Core and RAM respectively, we obtained a rather impressive 533/573 MHz - a nice +133MHz on the Core and a respectable 83MHz on the RAM. That's what I love about mid range videocards - they may not be the fastest around but they sure do make overclocking a rewarding experience in most cases; luckily the Sapphire X800GTO was one of these cases.”

"ATI is launching today their new series of graphic chips based on a new architecture, which we will be explaining its main features in this article. This new series has basically three families, each one for a distinct market segment: Radeon X1300 for the entry-level market, Radeon X1600 for the mid-range market and Radeon X1800 for the high-end market. In each series there are several models being launched and we will explain each one of them on the following pages."

"The DR37-P takes display technology to a new level. This is the world's highest dynamic range display. How high? Try contrast ratio of infinity! Well, it's officially listed at 200,000 to 1 but it's really infinite. I have seen this display in action and words (and following pictures) can not describe how amazing it is. The DR37-P is a 37" display that offers 10 times the brightness of a standard LCDs and delivers over 100 times the contrast range plus provide much more vivid color. The display provides peak luminance in excess of 3,000 candela/m2, a contrast ratio in excess of 200,000:1 and it is the first display capable of accurately displaying 16 bit per color."

"Silverstone is known all around the world as a premiere case manufacturer. Their HTPC cases are so commonly used in home entertainment systems. The Tremjin series of tower cases gives you style and class. But today we will see how well they produce air-cooling products. They proudly sent us the Nitrogon NJ03 heatsink."

"Mobile computing just got a little more interesting. Techware Labs just received a Spartan Laptop with an AMD Athlon(tm) 64 bit processor 2800+ to benchmark. We just couldn't wait to see what this system could do. The laptop came with 512 MB of RAM and the ATI's 9700 Mobility Radeon. Just with these few specs provided, we couldn't get Half Life 2 loaded fast enough, but we will get to that a little later in this review. This laptop is an average size and weight laptop which is a good thing for those of us who are carrying the laptop at the airport from concourse to concourse. With its built in network capability over an ethernet or the 802.11g wifi connection, you will be able to connect to wireless hotspots or a hotel's network."

"Your power supply is arguably the most important piece of computer equipment. Without one nothing can operate. With a bad one it can fry any and everything that your computer consists of. So checking it occasionally is important. And with the introduction of the EZ Power Supply Tester from Casebuy you can check that aging power supply in minutes, saving you a lot to time and money."

"It’s common knowledge: if you want mobility, you purchase a notebook, but if you want raw performance, you are better off buying a desktop. With the NVIDIA Go 7800 GTX it launched recently, NVIDIA hopes to change that perception by introducing a graphics chip that is similar in performance to its desktop variant, unlike the 6800 versions."

"With the launch of Crossfire, ATI has finally entered the arena of dual GPU graphics. However, it could be too little too late for ATI as SLI has almost become the term when referring to dual or multi GPU graphics performance. Crossfire, being a very late entrant with no availability thus far, the future appears to be bleak for ATI at best."

"Well, these are the facts. And how about CrossFire? When will it arrive? Nobody knows for sure. Kyle says November. If is that so, ATI will be one year delayed to the party. With nVidia having 90% of AMD discrete motherboard market share, ATI will face a really hard time to stand up and gain market share after being burned that way. Frankly, for me ATI today is like a flying saucer: there are people that say that have seen one, but at the end it is a matter of believing it or not. My badge reads "skeptic". I only believe on CrossFire after it really arrives at the stores."

"Aquagate Mini from Cooler Master is an entry-level water cooling system, targeted to users that want a high-end cooling solution but don't want to go thru the hassle of building their own water cooling system. Aquagate Mini comes with all its parts (radiator, pump, block, reservoir and cooling liquid) already assembled and all you have to do is install it on your CPU and attach its radiator to your case to have a fully operational water cooling system"

"SinTek has a real quality unit on their hands here. The 500 Watt power supply has many great features such as the adjustable voltage rails, a 120mm adjustable fan, a digital temperature readout, and modular cabling. Having all of the cables pre-wrapped and modular makes installation a clean and easy task. All of this is wrapped together with a five year warranty."

"The performance - where we see massive gains in F.E.A.R., sizable improvements in Far Cry and Splinter Cell: CT, and consistent CPU-bound performance to match 7800 GTX in mostly everything else - is undoubtedly mighty. Combine that with the image quality improvements and output connectivity available from the X1800 XT in terms of Avivo, the 6x AA carried over from R480 now with less performance hit, adaptive AA for improving alpha textures and rotation invariant anistropic texture filtering for basic excellent texture IQ, and you have a compelling consumer graphics product that almost demands you purchase it as soon as possible. ATI's considerable investment in a clockable new architecture on 90nm low-k has certainly paid off, despite well documented delays. Well worth the wait."

"The 2GB war continues and Crucial is out to compete with their Ballistix PC4000. Our previous experiences with Ballistix was satisfactory, but their 2GB solution blew us away! Two thumbs up Crucial."

"It’s been several months since Microsoft released their Windows XP Pro x64 edition. At the first we had to suffer through a lack of drivers; now at least most of the popular manufactures provide driver support for the x64 platform. Many application developers also provided us with x64 binaries. Now what’s left? Just Games!"

"The software included with the Lascala SST-LC16M is called iMedian formally Multi-Median, and its main function is to be an all-in-one media solution. Since my last review of the SST-LC14M, Soundgraph has completely revamped the interface and features to make iMedian a serious contender in a market occupied by Microsoft Media Center Edition (MCE2005), Beyond TV, Sage TV, Showshifter and Meedio Essentials."

"Corsair has certainly done an excellent job in entering the Flash Memory market by offering an abundance of choice. Both products live up to their expectations and even exceed them. The 40X CF certainly impressed me with the full 1006 MB capacity, a rare find in most storage products, but it does come at a cost slightly more than your typical 40X card. What you do end up buying is a brand many enthusiasts trust. The 60X SD is priced slightly higher than some other brands, but still well below the brand names like Lexar or SanDisk. You could even get a 1 GB 133X SD and a free 128 MB Flash Voyager for less than the cost of comparable Lexar and SanDisk
products!"

"Now it's a bit clearer to see why investing in some high performance cooling is a no-brainer. On the other hand, coolers are getting so powerful now that certain models make your computer sound like someone stuck a blow dryer inside your case. If you're looking to find a healthy balance between the two, the Thermaltake Golden Orb II, dubbed as a high performance yet "silent" cooler, will definitely turn some heads. In the past, many of the coolers focusing on silence seem to lack in performance due to their quieter, yet less effective fans. So does the Golden Orb II deliver the best of both worlds? In terms of cooling, every system has different needs and we'll put the Golden Orb II to the test to see if it packs enough punch to earn a spot in your rig."

"In August we saw the introduction of ATI's Radeon X800GT which finally gave some competition to nVidia against their mighty mid-range GeForce 6600GT. Maybe the X800GT was a stop gap for ATI until their next-generation of cards is released but nevertheless the VPU is penetrating the market and we've got two new cards in the labs from HIS and PowerColor. Read on as we take a look at both graphics cards and work out which is best in this head to head battle!"