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News Archive: March 2003

April 2003

Zalman CNPS7000Cu @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 6:07 PM EST

The Zalman CNPS7000-Cu Heatsink is made of pure copper base weighing at over 750 grams and this is what is ensuring this bad boy excellent heat dissipation...

Check it out at: Bytesector

Thermo MAXX 80mm Case Fan Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 6:06 PM EST

"The key to this fan is the thermistor located on the wiring side of the motor housing.  The air is pushed across the thermistor and the fan's speed is controlled based on the temperature."

Check it out at: OCIA

FIC A95P Radeon 9500 Pro review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 6:04 PM EST

“As the inspirational lyrist and voice of a generation Mr. Bob Dylan wrote, “the times they are a changin...” or so the song goes and so does my thought yet again to these words while looking for a way to describe my feelings on a particular piece of hardware. The piece of hardware I am referring to is the A95P (Radeon 9500 Pro AGP 8x 128MB) from FIC, which is based on the VPU from the wonderful CANADIAN company ATI. Perhaps it is not so much the A95P that brought forth the lyrics but the new movement on the part of ATI to share with others the fruits of their labors in the R&D department for eye candy goodness which we all love to drool over.”

Check it out at: Envy News

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 6:02 PM EST

"Another, more important, improvement of the R350 GPU is higher clock speeds.  The clock speed of the RADEON 9700 PRO is 325 MHz and ATI has managed to improve the core clock speed of the RADEON 9800 PRO to 380MHz.  Not bad.  That is a 17% increase in core clock speed even with staying with the .15u manufacturing process that was used on the R300 GPU."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

VPR Matrix 200A5 notebook review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 6:01 PM EST

"The VPR Matrix 200A5 is a fantastic full featured laptop. It is packed with great components, looks sexy and is very innovative. While there are some problems that need to be addressed such as the integrated wireless networking and the digital sound, there is a lot the 200A5 has to offer. For those wanting an Apple PowerBook feel with Windows OS and functionality, the 200A5 is about as close as you can get."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

ABIT SI7-G R658 Motherboard - RDRAM return to Pentium 4 Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 6:00 PM EST

"In the Pentium 3 and early Pentium 4 days RDRAM by the Rambus Company was greeted with heavy skepticism and in the end, criticized by many generally for its high asking price and high latency times. Intel now refuses to touch RDRAM with a ten foot pole but SiS on the other hand has decided to give it ago with their new R658 chipset for the Pentium 4. Does RDRAM deserve a second chance? Read on as Cameron "Sov" Johnson endeavors to give us an answer!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

XFX GeForce 4 Ti4200 Turbo 8x review @ OCModShop
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 5:59 PM EST

"As you can see from the core of this card it is indeed a Geforce 4 Ti4200 8x. Geforce 4 Ti4200 video cards almost always use the older style of RAM rather than the newer BGA kind which are better. The reason that most Ti4200 cards don't use the BGA is because the Ti4200 is designed to be a powerful yet low price card and the BGA chips are more expensive. This isnt really a big deal in itself but with the BGA chips I should be able to get a little better overclock. I really like the fact that BGA chips were used, this just goes to show that XFX is willing to use the best components for their cards. This particular video card is using Samsung 3.3ns chips which are faster than that of the Abit Siluro Geforce 4 Ti4200-8X OTES which used 3.6ns non-BGA chips."

Check it out at: OCModShop

Coolermaster XDream HSCV83 Copper Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 5:57 PM EST

"Coolermaster are one of the staple heatsink manufacturers in the world so it's no surprise that they are never far behind on a trend while still managing to make it their own. As low noise heatsink manufacturers like Verax and Zalman reap the rewards of their individual low noise technologies, mainstream cooling companies have had to be content with adapting existing heatsink manufacturing techniques to meet consumer demand for less noise. The main options at hand have typically been to use thermally controlled fans, fan rheostats which allow the user to adjust the speed (and hence noise), or larger fans which often don't need to spin as quickly as their miniature counterparts. While there are bound to be a few die-hards who will stick by their Delta 'screamers' to the end, most of us would really prefer to have the 24x7 computer generate about as much noise as a calculator, ie. nothing. Computer cooling is not quite at the level yet, but we are getting closer with each passing day. In the mean time, Coolermaster have produced the HSCV83 "XDream" copper skive heatsink to help us in the low noise heatsink department."

Check it out at: frostytech

VIA EPIA M9000 review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 6:09 PM EST

“The VIA EPIA series is an incredibly cheap and versatile platform. They have opened up a large modding opportunity that many people have leapt at to create some weird and wacky designs ranging from In-car systems to making an x86 G4 Cube! The M9000 and V9000 are virtually identical, however there are a few excellent additions in the M9000 inventory that make it even more appealing, especially for the price. To name a few - FireWire, MPEG2 Decoding, 6-channel sound, DDR Support.”

Check it out at: Envy News

DigiDoc5 3.5 Bays Mod Guide @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 6:07 PM EST

"Putting a DigiDoc5 into a pair of 3.5 bays is hardly on the top of anyone's list of priorities for their PC. But if you have extra 3.5 bays like I did and all your 5.25 bays are full, you might want to try something like what I've done here."

Check it out at: AthlonXP

Inno3D Tornado GeForceFX 5200 Review @ hardcoreware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 6:06 PM EST

With the GeForceFX line, NVIDIA is moving to a naming scheme similar to ATI's - rather than have different names to signify performance (GF4 Ti vs. GF4 MX), they are using a single product line with model numbers to rate performance. The 5200 is the bottom of the barrel, with specs that barely keep up with the GF4 MX it is replacing.

However it does bring to the table the absolute cheapest DirectX 9 capable video card you can buy.  It also puts the much maligned GF4 MX line out of its misery.

Check it out at: hardcoreware

ATI Radeon 9x00 series tweak guide @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 6:03 PM EST

In the guide we go through basic troubleshooting steps and general settings, then onto more specific Direct3D & OpenGL setting tweaks, performance comparison (benchmarks) between settings and image quality shots to compare different settings results.

Check it out at: TechSpot

PCToys Mouse Maxx 100si Precision Mouse Surface Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 6:02 PM EST

"The detailed flame graphic is precisely machine printed and runs around 3/4 of the Mouse Maxx 100si’s surface. Initially, one of my main concerns was that the flame logo and potential hindering of tracking performance in those areas covered. This will be re-visited a little later on in the review. The PCToys Mouse Max 100si is constructed from Advanced High-Density Polyethylene Resin for a solid construction that is nearly damage proof. The top portion of the PCToys Mouse Maxx 100si is also features an Exclusive Accutrack texture for superior gliding and tracking of mice."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Enermax UC-A3FATR2 Thermal Controller Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 6:01 PM EST

"I set my temperature alarms as described in the directions and attached my fans. I then placed one thermal probe on the Video card and one probe on the RAM. In order to check the probe temps and the fan speeds one only needs to hit the mode button. The fan speed itself is controlled by the two knobs on the left."

Check it out at: OCIA

Albatron PX845PEV-800 Anniversary Edition Motherboard Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 5:58 PM EST

"EPoX were not the only clever Taiwanese engineers managing to trick the cost effective Intel 845PE chipset into operating at 800MHz FSB, just like the new and higher priced Canterwood chipset. Albatron is the second company Cameron "Sov" Johnson looks at today which managed the feat in the Albatron PX845PEV-800 Anniversary Edition motherboard. How does it stand up against Canterwood and EPoX 845PE? Read on and find out!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

EPoX 4PEA800 Motherboard - 800MHz FSB on the cheap Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 5:57 PM EST

"The launch of Intel Canterwood chipset which gives support to the new batch of Pentium 4 processors with 800MHz FSB has been meet mostly with open arms by the industry. However, for those users who cannot afford the high price for Canterwood, EPoX has developed a solution for you all. They've been clever enough to use the cheaper Intel 845PE chipset and unofficially support 800MHz FSB. Can it compete with the Canterwood? Read on as Cameron "Sov" Johnson gives us the answer!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

Solarism LM-1711 V.2 17 Inch LCD Display @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 5:56 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a quick look at the newly released version 2.0 of the Solarism LM-1711 LCD display. With a new-found dedication to the gaming markets, they've retrofitted their 17 inch LCD display with a faster and brighter LCD screen. The new LM-1711 model can push brightness levels up to 700 nits, contrast ratios of 500:1, and pixel refresh rates down to 25 ms. We've got lots of pics of the screen, along with comparisons versus new gaming LCD's from Planar and Hitachi.

Check it out at: GamePC

ASUS V9280TD 128mb VGA Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 5:54 PM EST

WOW! I know I was impressed with the overclocking capabilities of the ABIT Siluro, but this card puts that one to shame. Point of complete failure for the Asus V9280 was with a core clock speed of 338MHz and a memory clock of 652 MHz. At these setting the card locked up completely as soon as any benching program was started. Backing it off we were able to maintain stability at 325MHz for the core and a whopping 639MHz for the memory speeds.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

Lighted Fan Roundup
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:38 PM EST

"I can remember back when a fan was just a fan, used for cooling and nothing else. Now we have colored fans, UV reactive fans, clear fans, lighted fans, you name it, it's been done! Well with all the new kinds of fans out there, I thought it'd be nice to do a roundup of a few of the lighted fans out there… Today we'll be looking at some of the most unique fans out on the market and showing you how each scores..."

Check it out at: ReviewNation

Abit NF7-M nForce2 @ Viper Lair
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:37 PM EST

"For overclockers, you have a wealth of options available in the BIOS, and although the v2.0 PCB adds 200FSB Barton support, as we've seen here, the v1.2 PCB appears to be up to the task. Just remember to disable the onboard IGP if you plan on memory overclocking, and to make sure your BIOS is at least v1.6 to gain access to additional FSB options."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Chenbro SR104 Entry Level Server Case Review
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:35 PM EST

"Overall the Chenbro SR-104 is a solid case with some unique features. The SR-104 can be found online for around $70 and would be a modders delight..."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

OCZ Gladiator 2 HSF Review @ GruntvillE
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:33 PM EST

“I was really kind of disappointed in the packaging of this combo but hey were not overclockin' with the box now are we? So I flip it on it’s side and one of the first features I notice is the use of a bracket which utilizes all 3 nubs on your socket. I personally feel all HSF manufacturers should stop making the single nub clamp out of pure respect for the consumer, kudos to OCZ on this feature.”

Check it out at: GruntvillE

Adding Blue LED's to your Keyboard
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:30 PM EST

“In this article we’ll show you how to fit blue LED’s to your keyboard. They needn’t necessarily be blue, you can fit any old colour you like, green, red, orange, yellow or clear, the principle’s the same. But blue appears to be the most desired colour for computer peripherals right now, so we'll aim for mood indigo.”

Check it out at: Bitbender

Corsair TwinX-512 3200LL review
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:26 PM EST

“With prices on the drop and snazzy tricks everywhere, people are adding more and more memory to their computers. With programs taking up more RAM space and needing faster pipelines, heading up to 512MB or even a gigabyte of RAM is proving to be a smart move. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for in this business, and many people have found themselves with RAM that does not perform as advertised, is unstable, or just plain erroneous. One big name in the RAM biz lately has been Corsair. Today, we look at their TwinX PC3200 RAM in an nForce2 configuration.”

Check it out at: envynews

Nexus NX-4000 (400 watt) Power Supply Video Review
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:23 PM EST

"The Nexus NX-4000 is a 400 watt Power Supply with a twist. It's very quiet but offers all the juice needed even for current power hungry Computer Systems. Nexus also has a 300 watt Power Supply, however, with 400 watts you can be assured that this product will last through your future computer upgrades. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Albatron GeForceFX 5200P Videocard Review
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:21 PM EST

"nVIDIA received a lot of flak when they released the GeForce4 MX GPU last year, many screamed that the GPU while fast, did not deserve the GeForce4 nomenclature since it was not DirectX 8 compatible. It seems like nVIDIA learned from their mistakes this time around because the entire GeForceFX line of GPU's are DirectX 9 compatible - even the budget GeForceFX 5200 based Albatron videocard we're testing today!"

Check it out at: pcstats

Albatron PX845PEV-800 Anniversary Special Edition @ Nexus Hardware
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:16 PM EST

"With the recent introduction of the Canterwood chipset, the limelight that was once on the 845PE boards has shifted. However, the shift has also been accompanied by a very large increase in price, an increase that the majority of enthusiasts just aren't willing to pay. Following a similar tactic as ABIT, the Albatron PX845PEV-800 is equipped with the bare minimum. Raid, onboard audio, and firewire are all absent from this board. This helps to keep costs down, as well as provide a great overclocking platform."

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

Zalman Multi-Fan Speed Controller @ Bytesector.com
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:14 PM EST

The Zalman MFC1 is a great device that delivers what it promises. The solid front panel, the blue LED's and the overall appearance of the MFC is very pleasing and would fit into many cases, but not those beige ones. This is another hint that the MFC1 was made for people who are into changing their computer around and messing around with the case.....

Check it out at: Bytesector.com

Freelancer Review @ OcPrices.com
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:12 PM EST

"Once upon a time, in the good ‘ol days of yore, came a game called Elite. Released on the latest and greatest ultimate gaming machine, you guessed it – the Amiga. It was in was in a class of its own. One of the first games to ever really provide a sense of depth to gaming, beyond the 2D and into the realm of 3D. (of course it wasn’t really 3D, it was simply primitive 2D polygons and objects drawn to look 3D). Anyway, the game was basically a space-fairing trading/real time space-battling game, in which the 3D positioning system was truly ground breaking. However, games have come along way since then, but nothing has come close to Elite until now, until………Drum roll……Freelancer!"

Check it out at: OcPrices.com

Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9200 Review @ Beyond3D
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:09 PM EST

"In comparison to the Radeon 9000 PRO we see that the 9200 Sapphire board is relatively simplified with few components on it. The board itself is only marginally lower profile than the 9000 PRO boards, but the DVI and VGA connections are the opposite way around. Although the core is running at 250MHz, only 25MHz lower than the 9000 PRO, ATI and Sapphire feel that it produces sufficiently low heat output that passive cooling only is warranted, however it would be advisable not to touch it when in use!"

Check it out at: Beyond3D

Dtek TC-4 water block review
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 11:06 PM EST

So here we are again, with another uniquely designed water block. It sports a poly top, copper base, and half-inch fittings. But the real shocker lies within, using spiral springs to stir the water around for better turbulence and performance. The Dtek TC-4 Rev. 2 is a very impressive-looking piece of engineering. It is very easy to install, after removal of the motherboard, and sports ribs on the channel walls as better copper turbulators and for increased water-to-copper contact area.

Check it out at: ipKonfig

AVC 3x P4 Heatsink Roundup
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 10:59 PM EST

From what I could see, the fins are also melted on the part that comes in contact with the base, so maybe AVC forgot to mention the soldering or my eyes played tricks on me (after all, it's a very small space between those fins and I could be seeing things that aren't there). Because these fins aren't very solid, the fan could not be attached using the traditional four screws, so AVC went for a more subtle approach and used a cover, or shroud, that protects the fins from bending and holds the fan in place.

Check it out at: Mikhailtech

Vantec 470W Stealth Review @ Geekshelter
posted by 1gigkid on Monday, April 28, 2003 at 10:48 PM EST

"The Vantec 470W Stealth comes in an all aluminum casing painted black giving it a cool futuristic look and will fit in almost any modded case. In fact even with my silver aluminum case the black just adds to the effect and well, it just looks cool. This thing has 470 watts of pure power, which is more then enough for anyone. Located on the back you will find an extra power outlet. If you want something to go off when your computer does, for instance, your monitor, plug it into the outlet on the back."

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Antec Blue LED Fan Review @ KEPtech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:52 PM EST

As you may have noticed, in the last year or so, modding seems to have really picked up among computer enthusiasts and wherever there has been an opportunity to add some more light into your case this has quickly been pounced upon by many. In recent months this has been the case with the humble fan. The chances are that you have quite a few case fans in your system, probably of a black variety and 80mm in size. Yes? Thought so. Fan manufacturers have come up with a way to not only make fans look interesting, but to also keep a relatively good decibel level and a good CFM. Of course, I'm talking about LED fans. The concept it rather straight forward; A clear fan with a couple of LED's in the exterior housing. One of the top manufacturers of cases, PSU's and fans has gotten in on the act and that is what I'm going to be looking at today. The Antec 80mm Blue LED Fan.

Check it out at: KEPtech

Turbocase X-Sonic Black Aluminum Case Review @ Tweaknews
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:48 PM EST

"You just can't ask for more value for US$89.99. Let's add it up. You have a black aluminum, windowed case that has a removable harddrive rack, an included 350watt power supply, easy optical drive installation, two included tri-LED fans and front USB ports for under $100. I think that is the dictionary definition for VALUE."

Check it out at: Tweaknews

Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:47 PM EST

The 5200 FX represents the next generation’s equivalent to the MX line of previous GeForce versions.  Now before you start moaning about “another MX” you should remember that this card is fully DirectX9 compliant.  This is a shift from the MX lines that always seemed significantly hamstrung with not fully supporting their respective era’s version of DirectX.  Not here, NVidia seems to really want to make a go at reclaiming some of their market share.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

GeForce 4 Cooling Mod Article @ TechIMO
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:42 PM EST

"Have you ever noticed the heatsink on your video card wasn't making proper contact? In this article we will guide you through removing the stock heatsink from a Leadtek GeForce 4 ti4200, cleaning off the silicon goop, re-applying some decent thermal compound, and then refitting the stock heatsinks."

Check it out at: TechIMO

Steelpad's Cord Holder Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:40 PM EST

With wireless optical mice really starting to be regarded as gaming mice, what about ball mice? I still use my Razer Boomslang 2000 personally. Ok, so yes, the cord can get in the way at times. What can you do? Mouse Bungee perhaps? I've seen clips also that keep your mouse cord a bit tidier. But hey, here's something! From the makers of the Steelpad, a stainless steel cord holder.

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

Raidmax ATX-268WU & RaidMax 400W PSU @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:37 PM EST

"The rear 60mm fan point was offset mostly by the inclusion of four 80mm fan points at the front of the case, for hard drive cooling.  The inside of the case was nice with a lot of hard drive rails (6 internal/external), however the lack of a removable motherboard tray was very disappointing."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Samsung SyncMaster 172W review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:34 PM EST

“Whenever someone talks of LCD displays, usually the first thing to strike my mind is Samsung. Why? Because Samsung is now #1 in the TFT-LCD Display marketplace as of 2002, and there is likely no end to this claim any time soon. Just recently, we reviewed one of their most successful displays for 2003 – the SyncMaster 172T. This display boasted 17-inches of silver and black goodness and sported some fairly impressive specs and features. Today, we take a quick look at their latest offering in the 172-series – the SyncMaster 172W. Same model but different letter; do not be fooled - this is a Widescreen display!”

Check it out at: Envy News

Samsung SyncMaster 172T 17" TFT Display Review @ explosivelabs
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:32 PM EST

"Appearance wise the SyncMaster 172T is identical to the 172w except non widescreen effect and there is no longer the 2 speakers integrated into the stand. Other then that the appearance and design of these displays are identical. The folding feature has not changed and does exactly what the 172w can. The VGA, DVI, and power connector are located on the base of the 172T similar to the 172w. As we have had more time to use and test both of these display's we realized that if they are to be mounted on the wall, the ports and power connector are now situated to the top of the display."

Check it out at: explosivelabs

Samsung SM-352 52x24x52x16 CD-RW/DVD Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:30 PM EST

"While working on my dad's home theatre SFF PC recently, I found out just how useful combo CD-ROM drives can really be. Because this computer was hooked up to an old 10-BaseT home Ethernet at my parents house which also has broadband internet access, my had dad downloaded a whole lot of stuff he wanted to burn. He likes to use the SFF PC on the 52" HDTV instead of his main PC, but this tiny computer didn't have room for both a DVD-ROM and CDR-RW burner. You can imagine that transferring Gigabytes worth of data over their old 10BaseT LAN is just not an option, and in the end I went out to buy a CD-RW/DVD combo drive so he could burn his data right then and there. Samsung has been pumping out quite a bit of value optical drives lately and today we're going to be taking a look at their latest SM-352 52x24x52x16 CD-RW/DVD combo drive."

Check it out at: pcstats

Leadtek's A300 Ultra TD MyVIVO Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:28 PM EST

Well, it finally happened!  We finally got our hands on a "retail-ready" GeForce FX 5800 Ultra from Leadtek, the WinFast A300 Ultra TD MyVIVO.  The A300's underlying board may be just like all of the other 5800 Ultras out there, but the cooling solution found on this card is nothing like the much maligned "FX-Flow".  We were surprised by a few other things as well...click the link below and take a look...

Check it out at: HotHardware

Nikao Mast Mid-Tower Case Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:26 PM EST

"Below the 3 1/2" floppy bay are the power and the smaller reset buttons. Both of these buttons have been chromed to stand out against the dark grey and offer an appealing contrast to break up the overall dark theme. The lower portion of the Nikao Mast features a drop down door that has two USB ports. Unfortunately, Nikao did not include microphone, headphone jack or Firewire 1394 ports to this location. A skilled case modder should have no trouble modifying this portion of the front bezel and integrating the ports into the existing design. The ports are connected via a series of extender cables, which reside inside the case and must be connected to the appropriate motherboard headers prior to use."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Zalman ZM400A-APF Power Supply Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:24 PM EST

"A few days ago I brought you a review of Zalman's CNPS 7000-Cu heatsink. While a nice quiet heatsink such as the 7000-Cu can substantially lower the noise level of your system, chances are your power supply is not helping matters any. Once again, Zalman comes to the rescue with their ZM400A-APF power supply. Normally we’re not big on power supply reviews here, however the Zalman really does bring something different to the table. While most PSU makers are using 2, 3, or even 4 fans to keep their ever more powerful PSUs cool, Zalman’s model can dish out 400W with just one fan (and a very quiet one at that)."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Via P4PB Ultra P4X400 Motherboard Review @ Tweaknews
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:22 PM EST

"The P4PB Ultra motherboard is Via's flagship (as of this date) motherboard and is manufactured to target the performance enthusiast genre of computer users. Like most motherboard manufacturers, the board is only part of your purchase. As a bonus, the consumer will receive a whole buffet of extras to compliment their new computer and to get it looking and performing at its best."

Check it out at: Tweaknews

Zalman ZM-MFC 1 Fan Speed Controller @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:21 PM EST

" Today we'll look at a fan speed controller that mixes baybus and rheobus features into a single controller and has six separate control channels. The folks at Zalman have packed quite a few goodies in this slick little package. We'll take a close look at how well it all works and then show you how to personalize it for a Lian-Li case, using nothing more than simple tools. "

Check it out at: AthlonXP

ABIT BH7 Mainboard Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:19 PM EST

“In typical ABIT style, we see a bevy of goodies packed into this motherboard. ABIT has clearly built the BH7 from the ground up as an overclockers delight. With support for the Intel P4 Processors with 533MHz FSB and overclocking possibilities well beyond that, we're off to a great start. Mix in the tried and true Intel 845PE chipset, Serial ATA 150, supported 333MHz Memory Bus and ABIT's SoftMenu™ special sauce, and we have the ingredients for a genuine powerhouse overclocker.”

Check it out at: OCAddiction

BuffaloTech PC3500 DDR SDRAM Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 7:18 PM EST

"These modules do not come with heat spreaders.  What this means is, the manufacturers are not wasting their money and raising your price by adding on worthless pieces of metal.  These modules are here to perform, not to look pretty."

Check it out at: GideonTech

Keyspan Digital Media Remote review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:19 PM EST

"So you want to control your computer sitting on the couch, in the other room, or in your bed? Well, Keyspan makes a nice media IR(Infrared) remote control that is compatible with both Windows and Mac. Does it have all the expectations that I thought it would?"

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Chenming X-Pider Aluminum Case Review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:18 PM EST

Chenming has done a great job on the X-pider, delivering a lightweight, well ventilated, visually appealing case, at a respectable price. Although there are a few small things which I would have liked to have seen different, I won’t hold it against it. The only major thing which I missed was a filter over the intake fan. In the end, this case is one which I would personally purchase for myself. For those looking for a high quality modded tower with a good deal of the basics taken care already, the X-Pider is a great choice, and for all the experienced modders/enthusiasts, it’s a great starting block.

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

Linksys ProConnect Integrated 2 Port KVM Switch @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:16 PM EST

Having more than one PC is no longer considered unusual. A primary machine sitting next to a file/mail/web/ftp server is common in many an enthusiast's home. With that server comes the usual "added" extras such as another mouse, another keyboard, another monitor. It can be irritating when there simply isn't enough desk space for those extras. A keyboard, video and mouse switch solves that problem. The linksys integrated 2 port KVM is about the most simplest/basic such unit you can buy. It even does away with the switch and cables separation.

Check it out at: Icrontic

Casio Exilim EX-S2 Digital Camera Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:15 PM EST

"The EX-S2 sports a higher 2.0 mega pixel CCD imager than the EX-S1 and can take still images in 1600x1200, 1280x960 and 640x480 resolutions; large enough to produce a native 8”1/2x 11 picture. The EX-S2 also can take up to 30 second AVI movie files (with no sound) at 320x240 and has a 4x digital zoom. Pictures are taken using the beautiful 1.6” TFT/ 354x240 color LCD."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

AMD Opteron Preview @ Hardware Extreme
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:13 PM EST

"One year ago, AMD introduced the first-ever multiprocessor designed for the commercial market. Today, AMD is demonstrating a four-way product that will enable users to exceed the needs of even more enterprise users in the future."

Check it out at: Hardware Extreme

Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu Cooler Review @ lostcircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:12 PM EST

"Shape can be attractive. Shape can be colored in to become even more attractive. More colors ad greater attractiveness and sometimes even take off some weight. What we are talking about here is a bimetal design used in the Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu. Approximately 1/3 lighter than its all-copper brethren, slightly stiffer and featuring a somewhat idiosyncratic color scheme, the CNPS7000 AlCu could be the new champion in the cooling arena. And then, you put it upside down, power up the fan and try to beat the new level of UT2003...

Sorry, those are just a few things that came to mind looking at the CNPS7000 AlCu. The real question is, how does it compare against its all-copper companion?"

Check it out at: lostcircuits

FragBox Aluminum Lan Case Review @ AusPCWorld
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:10 PM EST

So you call yourself a gamer. But do you have the case to prove you are. Today we look at a product called the "FragBox" Lan case from the great guys over at KoreComputers. This case has to be seen to be believed! It is completely designed for that ultimate case look!

Check it out at: AusPCWorld

OS Updates @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:09 PM EST

It's been a while since I let you know about a major update of our OS Updates download page (though we tend to update it at least once a week), perhaps the most important addition as of late, Cumulative Updates for Outlook Express & Internet Explorer for all OSes, be sure to give this a close look and get your system up to date.

Check it out at: TechSpot

Western Digital Raptor 10K RPM Serial ATA Drive @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:06 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a quick look at the hottest new hard drive on the market from Western Digital. Their new Raptor drive is the first IDE drive to boast a 10,000 RPM spindle speed, matching the drive against higher-priced SCSI drives. The Raptor also has 8MB of cache, a 5.2ms seek time, and has a native Serial ATA/150 interface. We grabbed a couple of these drives to see how they perform solo and in a RAID-0 hard disk configuration.

Check it out at: GamePC

OCZ Dominator 2-Cu review @ OCModShop
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 25, 2003 at 5:05 PM EST

“After installing the heatsink I booted up my computer and went into the BIOS right away to get the idle temperature. After idling in the BIOS for about 20 minutes I got a idle temperature of 35 degrees Celsius. I then booted into Windows and ran Prime95 for about 15 minutes. After getting the CPU to load it came to be 45 degrees Celsius which isn't a bad temperature. The heatsink did a really good job cooling my CPU while only being semi-loud.”

Check it out at: OCModShop

ATi All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 7:01 PM EST

"Right now, ATi has no competition in this particular segment of the video card market. Usually, lack of competition means stagnant development. Luckily, this isn't the case, and each generation of the All-in-Wonder line continues to improve noticably."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Massive Half-Life 2 Scan and info roundup @ Ownt
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 7:00 PM EST

We went around and gathered all the Half-Life 2 news available on the Internet and compiled it into one simple news post. We are not hosting any of the images, they are all hosted by outside sources that have nothing to do with our site, so we are keeping within the laws. If you are a site that feels like linking to the HL2 goodness, the news post can be found here:

Check it out at: Ownt

Dynatron DC1U-B02 1U Copper Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:58 PM EST

"For companies in the business of companies designing 1U server heatsinks the requirements that come into play are drastically different than that of a normal desktop PC. First of all there are the size limitations, and then there are the reliability factors. In virtually all cases there is some amount of forced air moving through the rack enclosure so some amount of passive cooling also comes into play irregardless of the heatsinks' features. However, with 'whitebox' servers comes the lack the engineering benefits that come part in parcel with designing an enclosure specifically for the application. Processor sockets may not be oriented for correct cooling by forced convention, it all depends and it's even harder to predict. The solution to such dilemmas could be to use an active heatsinks such as the all copper Dynatron DC1U-B02 cooler which features a squirrel cage fan up top. However, as there is generally no more than about 30mm of height for the entire cooling package, fans will obviously take up precious real estate."

Check it out at: frostytech

FIC AU13 Chameleon Motherboard (nForce2 - Socket 462) Video Review #295 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:56 PM EST

"The FIC AU13 Chameleon Motherboard is based upon the nForce2 chipset and supports 128bit dual channel memory architecture. It features AGP 8X, S/ATA 133, onboard LAN, 5.1 Audio, 3 firewire ports, 6 USB 2 ports, SATA Silicon Image 3112A with RAID... This product is stable, performs well and is reasonably priced. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

MSI E7205 Master-L Workstation Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:55 PM EST

"Before the i875 Canterwood chipset surfaced and brought in support for 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 processors, we had the Intel E7205 Granite Bay. Slated as a the new 'workhorse of workstation systems', this chipset has been received with much interest, though in limited numbers. PCstats.com tested out one such example in the form of the MSI GNB Max-FISR motherboard a few weeks ago, which while incorporating the E7205 chipset, is a purely desktop-oriented solution. The GNB Max is a good board by its own right, but if your computing situation demands more of a heavy-hitter then todays review of the MSI E7205 Master-L could be just what the doctor ordered. Boasting the same dual channel DDR memory capabilities, the MSI E7205 Master-L is clearly a solution for workstation environments which demand a little more punch, like (drop-in) onboard SCSI for example. Outfitted with a MiniPCI socket, the board has a level of expandability not often seen out of the server, or SBC (Single Board Computer) environment. Of course, the inclusion of the MiniPCI socket does not a workstation motherboard make. Other appealing features included on the MS9126 E7205 Master-L are a 50-watt 8X AGP slot, Gigabit Ethernet care of Intel's own RC82540EM chipset, 5.1 channel AC'97 codec-based audio, and five bright blue 32 bit PCI expansion slots. For the MiniPCI slot, MSI currently sell optional cards which bring ATI Rage XL video, IEEE 1394 firewire or Ultra 160 SCSI into the fold as we have already mentioned. The unit we received for testing came with the Adaptec Ultra 160 SCSI card, but this is an optional extra and not included in the standard retail package."

Check it out at: pcstats

Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:52 PM EST

"Back in November of 2001, OcPrices.com was one of the first websites to take a look at the superb Creative Labs Audigy Platinum sound card, and today we are looking at its successor, the flagship Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX, where the EX denotes that it has an external bay unit. Creative’s internal bay version, the Platinum has been out for some time, but this version is the one the real audio buffs have been waiting for!"

Check it out at: OcPrices

Dynatron DC1207BMX Copper Pentium4 Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:51 PM EST

"The flexibility of this heatsink comes from the fact that with the right mounting clips it can be used on either an Intel Pentium 4 or Xeon socket 603/4 processor. The unit we're testing is configured for the P4 platform, and actually there is no physical difference between the DC1207BMX and the DC1207BMX/X (Xeon-ready) other than the clip. In any case, the DC1207BMX is based on Dyantron's signature skived heatsink construction and should perform pretty well given our past experiences with this companies coolers. Skiving is a process where by thin copper fins are drawn up to a height of 24mm from a flat plate of copper with a special cutting blade. The remains of that flat plate of copper all the fins are attached to go on to form the base of the actual heatsink which means the thermal properties should be very good."

Check it out at: frostytech

Gainward Ultra/750-8X Ti4800SE 128MB review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:47 PM EST

“With the impending release of the newer GeForce FX graphics cards, we thought we would give the GeForce4 Ti range one last look with the Gainward Ultra/750 Ti4800SE - a value card with ample performance to tide the average gamer over, without too much impact on the wallet. For a different spin on things, we pair it with identical VIA KT400 and NVIDIA nForce2 systems powered by the new AMD XP 2800+ Barton core.”

Check it out at: Envy News

Kingston DataTraveler 128MB USB Key @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:45 PM EST

The wave of new compact flash drives has begun. Compact flash drives have yet to catch on in a large scale but they have entered the mainstream lately. Newer drives are becoming sleeker and sexier. For example the Kingston USB flash key (to the right) is an example of perfect convenience wrapped in a small package. The smooth silver case is designed with...

Check it out at: Bytesector

Chieftec Matrix Mid-Tower Case Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:44 PM EST

"When the swing away door is closed, consumers have access to a small lock embedded inside the door which provides the option of locking up the case for extra security. As previously mentioned, the Matrix Mid-Tower case incorporates a random pattern graphic which makes up a good portion of the design. The graphic servers two unique features, with the first in terms of aesthetics which make this case very appealing. The second function is to act as a series of ventilation holes to draw the appropriate amount of air circulation into the case."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Intel D875PBZ and Asus P4C800 Deluxe 875P Motherboards @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:40 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at two popular new Pentium 4 platforms to just hit the market, both based on the Intel 875P chipset. The Asus P4C800 Deluxe and Intel D875PBZ boards both support Pentium 4's at 800 MHz FSB, dual channel DDR up to 400 MHz, Gigabit Ethernet, and Serial ATA RAID. While they may sound similar, the feature sets and performance of the two boards actually differ quite a bit. We compare these two new platforms to the Intel E7502 and 850E platforms, along with the new 655 and 658 platforms from SiS.

Check it out at: GamePC

Soltek SL-75FRN L (Nforce2) Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 6:38 PM EST

"Today 3dXtreme has the great pleasure of reviewing the Soltek (Nforce2) SN-75FRN-L. This motherboard is geared towards the budget crowd looking for the perks of an Nforce2 board while shopping on a budget...."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

Samsung 191N LCD Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 9:00 PM EST

"Another commendable trait would be the viewing angle. Why? Because it’s massive! We all know what usually happens with some LCD’s: you step out of the viewing angle and instead of a picture you see a bright ghostly, at times negative, outline of what is on the screen. This is not the case for this monitor. I found you could look at it from almost a perpendicular angle, and you could still see what you would normally see. I suppose a viewing angle of 170° isn’t exactly practical, or needed, but it sure is better than having an undersized viewing angle."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

Antec True550 550wattPSU Review @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:59 PM EST

“An informative little box, well built to hold the weight of the unit itself. In fact it’s so well built; I’d be willing to bet the empty box could hold my entire weight. Yup, I was right; all 155 pounds of me are easily supported. This may not be one of the main points you’re looking for in a PSU, but still, it’s nice to know.

Check it out at: GruntvillE

Intrinsity Announces FastMATH-LP Processor @ techimo
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:57 PM EST

"Intrinsity just announced the its new FastMATH low power microprocessor architecture. FastMATH-LP is essentially based upon an adaptive digital signal-processing core operating at an impressive frequency of 1 GHz. The new “LP” utilizes the same bus and interconnect technologies as the original 2 GHz FastMATH chip, but operates at a mere 5.5 watts. The 1 GHz model offers the ability to process 3 billion multiply-accumulate operations per second per watt, thus representing the best power to performance ratio of any embedded microprocessor currently available." Just a small write-up this time around, but we plan to develop a detailed technical analysis of this architecture in the near future.

Check it out at: techimo

Opeteron Information Database @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:55 PM EST

We've rounded up over 80 sources for everything Opteron including reviews, benchmarks, news, press releases & editorials.  The one stop information source for Opteron.

Check it out at: Icrontic

Dynatron DC1206BMY Copper Pentium4 Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:54 PM EST

"Dynatron heatsinks have made a good name for themselves since entering the mainstream market as relatively unknown competitors nearly two years ago. If you remember back to the summer of 2001 you might be interested to know that FrostyTech was the first to review a Dynatron heatsink, with the DC1206BML heatsink garnering a lot of interest for its then unique skived fins. The number of heatsinks using skived fin technology has ballooned since then, and now a days there are many different models to choose from. In this review we will be checking out the DC1206BMY heatsink which is designed to cool the Pentium 4 m478 platform. Skiving is a process by which the copper fins of the heatsink are drawn up to a height of 24mm from a flat plate of the material. The remains of that flat plate of copper go on to form the base of the actual heatsink which means the thermal properties should be very good. The significance of this set up is that there is no interface to be concerned with between the fins and base like solder, or thermal epoxy."

Check it out at: frostytech

Zalman CNPS 7000-Cu Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:52 PM EST

"Zalman, a Korean manufacturer founded in 1999, is a manufacturer of heatsinks and cooling products. Rather than just being another “me too” heatsink maker, Zalman differentiates itself from its competitors by striving to make its products as quiet as possible. Today I’ve got the latest in the line of CNPS (Computer Noise Prevention System) HSFs, the 7000-Cu."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Chieftec Case & Thermaltake Watercooling Kit Review @ Techware Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:51 PM EST

"The setup includes a black aluminum windowed case from Chieftec, a Thermaltake Aquarius II water-cooling system, and a green cold cathode lighting kit. This setup allows the appearance of a sleek, professional system, with fairly limited setup requirements. The products alone are each fairly impressive, so when they're combined, the result is amazing."

Check it out at: Techware Labs

PCToys System Maxx Fan Controller @ ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:46 PM EST

"Due to all the heat in a computer you need fans, and us overclockers need lots of them. This is a very noisy solution to dissipate heat. Normally throwing in fans that sound like jet engines are not much of a problem unless you are like me and have your computer a few feet away from your bed. It can be very problematic to sleep, watch TV, listen to music, or do other leisurely activities that you might do in your bedroom. Most of the time I do not need the fans at full speed because I am usually just surfing the net or talking to friends.This is where our friends at PCToys come in. Today I will be reviewing PCToys' System Maxx Fan Controller to see if their product can help reduce fan noise when full air cooling is not needed."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

Miliki Super Compressor @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:45 PM EST

Miliki Super Compressor is a very useful and effective program. I found that for many files it compressed them to unthinkable sizes. For example, I compressed a single PDF (portable document format) file from 84MB to 4MB. This was absolutely astounding!

Check it out at: Bytesector

Samsung Yepp YP-300S review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:44 PM EST

“MP3. In just over 5 years, this little codec has changed the face of digital music. Every geek remembers the first time they downloaded a 3-5 megabyte file which contained an entire song. When you realize that the most common digital music format back then was the WAV with its astronomical files sizes of 40 megabytes for a typical song, the MP3 format was an astronomical breakthrough. Fast-forward half a decade and there are dozens of firms marketing MP3 digital audio players. Today, we look at the new Yepp YP-300S from Samsung.”

Check it out at: Envy News

Interview with Bullet PC @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:42 PM EST

"Q. With the industry moving so fast, what have you done to stay in touch with your customers? I like the new site design, any other plans?

A. Yes, I am glad you asked. We just launched our own reviews section as a part of Bullet PC called "Forensics" Autopsy reports. The new section has a very cool look and the content will be technical with some humor mixed in."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

XFX GeForce4 Ti4200 Turbo 128MB Review @ beyond3d
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 8:42 PM EST

"When we compare the XFX board against the GeForce4 Ti4200 reference board, and the GeForce4 Ti4600 board we see that in fact the XFX Ti4200 boards more of a resemblance to the Ti4600 board. This resemblance is more that purely skin deep, as the XFX board uses the 8 layer Ti4600 board, rather then the 6 layer Ti4200, as its reference. The XFX Ti4600 here also uses an 8 layer board, and Ti4600's power regulation circuitry in order to allow the board stable overclocking speeds close to, or beyond, standard Ti4600."

Check it out at: beyond3d

AMD 2500+ Barton Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:17 PM EST

“...with the "B" version we started seeing better overclocking yields. AMD then graced us with the long awaited 333 MHz FSB that many enthusiasts were already running by overclocking their CPU's. With the 0.13 micron core process refined, and the 333 MHz FSB in place, AMD added the extra 256K of L2 cache, and the Barton was born.”

Check it out at: OCAddiction

15 Way Video Card Shootout @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:16 PM EST

"Now is an exciting time to be a gamer looking to upgrade your system. ATI and NVIDIA have revamped their video card product lines. With the new products coming down the pipe from both companies, it may be time to start looking in the bargain bins for that video card upgrade you could not justify a few months ago. Despite so many bargains that are sure to be available in the upcoming months, the question still arises as to how much gain there is over your current video card?"

Check it out at: AthlonXP

XS-Drive II reviewed @ dansdata
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:13 PM EST

Vosonic's XS-Drive II is a "digital wallet" device - a portable hard drive and memory card reader, to save digital photographers from having to buy tons of expensive memory cards.

It's got three kinds of card slots, it works as a card reader when connected to a PC via USB (1.1 or 2.0), it's easy to install your own hard drive, and in almost every respect, it's great.

Check it out at: dansdata

ThermalRight SLK-700 Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:12 PM EST

The last thing we'll look at is the fan attachment. Once again Thermalright uses retaining wires to adhere the fan to the sink. Previous Thermalright sinks we have reviewed included different length clips to accommodate different fan sizes, but here they have instead used a series of three different sets of holes in the sink itself to adjust for fan size.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

Soltek Sl-75MRN-L - nForce2 Motherboard - Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:10 PM EST

Our local nForce2 Motherboard aficionado, Tom takes a look at swank looking plank-o-technology from Soltek this evening.  Gold PCB and PCI slots, we're talking techno-bling in all it's glory.  As they say in the backwoods of Maine, "stop on in for a spell"!

Check it out at: HotHardware

Mitron Glacial-X Radiator Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:08 PM EST

"After unpacking the unit, my initial impression was that I had unpacked a Black Ice Pro radiator. With the exception of some mounting holes and barbs, the units look very similar. The Glacial-X ships with a jet black finish and a closer visual inspection of the fins showed no bends or paint clots to minimize overall efficiency of the unit. The unit measures in at 130mm x 160mm x 30mm. This gives it an identical footprint to a Black Ice Extreme radiator with one notable exception: depth. The Glacial-X is about two thirds the depth of a Black Ice Extreme unit. Users looking for low-profile radiators will welcome the smaller footprint, but overall heat dissipation may not be as good as a larger, or rather deeper, heater core."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Leadtek WinFast A340 Ultra TD MyVIVO - GeForceFX 5200 Review @ ExplosiveLabs
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:06 PM EST

"Equipped accordingly with a 5200 Ultra, Leadtek introduces their A340 Ultra TD.   This is effectively the lower end of the GeForceFX family.  The memory bandwidth for the GeForceFX 5200 Ultra is specified at 10.4GB/s, which is in stark contrast to the 5800 Ultra at 32GB/s.  This 3 fold difference no doubt brings performance, as well as price, to mainstream and entry-level applications.  As for Leadtek's A340 Ultra TD, Leadtek takes a new approach to the heatsink design, interestingly replacing the plate-like design with one similar to most stand alone coolers."

Check it out at: ExplosiveLabs

XP unlocking kit review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 7:03 PM EST

"Currently, there are two reasons to unlock the multiplier on your processor. The first, and most common, is to lower the multiplier so that the FSB can be raised to the max, yielding a better overall system overclock. But what about those of us who still have the KT133A chipset? The reason I wanted to unlock the multiplier on my 1700+ JIUHB Tbred B is so I could raise it and achieve as good of an overclock possible with my setup, since my FSB cannot go past 144. In comes the XP Unlocking Kit, an all-in-one solution provided by HighSpeed PC, which has all the tools necessary to unlock the multiplier."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

EluminXT Illuminated Keyboard (ElectroLuminescent technology) Video Review #294 @ 3dgameman
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:47 PM EST

"The EluminX™ Keyboard is illuminated by using flat panel ElectroLuminescent technology and has a very slim with an overall quality design. Currently there is only one color (Aqua Marine) but more will be available. This is a full sized keyboard with regular sized keys so it's great for gaming or just about anything. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dgameman

Zalman ZM-MFC1 Fan Speed Controller Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:46 PM EST

"Up until now Zalman have been pretty much been a heatsink-only company. And while it's true that they have produced fans and powersupplies, they haven't worked on many accessories beyond that. Since Zalman's company goal is "computer noise prevention" it was only a matter of time before they joined the rank and file with their own multi fan speed controller bay. However, the Zalman ZMMFC1 offers some flexibility that other similar 5.25" bay fan speed controllers don't. Namely, the ZMMFC1 comes with four fan speed channels and a side of two extra channels that operate auxiliary devices at either 12V or 5V. We'll get to those in just a second, but getting back to the four fan speed controllers we find each one with a three-pin connector, dial control (rheostat) and blue LED indicator light."

Check it out at: frostytech

Vantec CCK-7015 1U Copper P4/Xeon Heatsink @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:44 PM EST

"The flexibility of this heatsink comes from the fact that with the right mounting plate it can be used on either a 1U Intel Pentium 4 or Xeon socket 603/4 processor. We'll be testing for the P4 platform configuration, but there is no physical difference other than the retention backplate (both are shipped with the heatsink). 'Skiving' is a process where by thin fins of metal are drawn up from a solid flat plate of copper with the aid of a special cutting blade. The remains of that flat plate of copper the fins are attached to forms the base of the actual heatsink. That means the path heat energy has to take from the base to the fins is homogeneous - there are no bonding agents required because the fins and base are actually one unit."

Check it out at: frostytech

Antec Iluminate Mini Review @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:41 PM EST

"External lighting, what a concept. Is it worth it to waste a USB port on these things though? You'll have to read to find out."

Check it out at: ASE Labs

Performance-PCs MO MX212 USB LCD Review @ VH
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:40 PM EST

"Matrix Orbital's step into USB wasn't a big one; there weren't a whole lot of significant changes I can read off a list. However, the changes that were made improved this unit just a ton. Higher quality and more user friendly products are what we like to see from the manufacturers, and Matrix Orbital Delivers. On the other hand, now that Matrix Orbital has made everything so easy with this LCD's, you're not that special anymore if you have one. But, chicks do dig the blue LCD, so you'll likely have that going for you. The bottom line here is that this product will rarely serve any practical purpose for anyone. However, neither will CCFLs, window cut outs, or a nice looking wiring job.that you have on your case. It's another thing to have fun with, and for many will turn into a full fledged hobby.This is definitely a sure fire way to impress all your LAN buddies."

Check it out at: Virtual-Hideout

MSI TI4800SE-VTD Review @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:38 PM EST

"The MSI TI4800SE-VTD is a nice card bundled with an extraordinary package. The card performed on par with others in its class, although the Radeon 9500 outperforms it by a fair margin in every benchmark. Using AGP 8X proved to be of little advantage, as it allowed the card to gain a paltry 249 3DMarks. If you don't own an AGP 8X board, the results that we showed today are proof that you aren't missing much."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

LIUtilities Speed up my PC @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:38 PM EST

LiUtilities has produced another great package in SpeedUp My Pc. It truly lives up to their promise to “improve system performance in minutes.” It has great features that actually do make your computer faster. Sure, you could go through all your administrator tools to tweak your system, but why waste hours, when this will do it in seconds?...

Check it out at: Bytesector

Soyo P4X400 Dragon Ultra Platinum Edition Motherboard Review @ Tweaknews
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:37 PM EST

"Soyo has always been know for producing decent, full featured motherboards with all the toys you would ever need. But, the one thing they are REALLY known for is bundling a great package together with extra peripherals like I/O panels, software, and extra cables needed to get your system up and running at their full potential. Today I will be reviewing their flagship board which contains pretty well everything you need, and a little more."

Check it out at: Tweaknews

Plextor PX-504A Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:35 PM EST

"The Plextor PX-504A is a relatively solid performing drive provided that you minimize multitasking while the drive is writing data. The overall performance of the PX-504A is average to below average in most of our tests. We would have liked to have seen better performance out of this drive as well as the inclusion of an audio cable and a DVD+RW disc in the overall package. We hope that the PX-504A is just a minor blip and that future drives continue to follow in the high standard which Plextor has set. The Plextor PX-504A is not a bad DVD writer by any means, but there are better options available on the market today."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Extreme PC 3500 Roundup @ Nexus Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:34 PM EST

“The current ram market is bloated with a plethora of different products and choices. However, more and more products are being produced and aimed at the enthusiast crowd: the overclockers. With this in mind, many companies have set out to create “The Ultimate Overclocking Ram”. Specifically, the P4 powered 845PE chipset has had an incredible thirst for memory speed and with the recently released Canterwood, memory bandwidth is essential. Nforce2 motherboards have also displayed a substantial need for memory speed. Today we have 4 pairs of PC3500 from a slew of top manufacturers. Included in this roundup will be sticks from (alphabetical order) Corsair, Geil, Kingston, and Mushkin.”

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

X-trac Eel Mouse Tape Review @ Computer Sphere
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:32 PM EST

"After installing these Eelas on my mouse, it greatly improved my mouse movement. This product is a great addition to any mouse. Overall I really did enjoy using the tape on my mouse. After a week it still was very smooth moving and did not wear down at all. I game a lot and when turning or just moving my mouse in normal movements it greatly improved it movement all around. I cant stress enough when using a mouse it always need to have some type of smooth movement, I hate moving It with dirty mouse feet, It get sticky and smooth movement is impossible."

Check it out at: Computer Sphere

Sunbeam EL-Strip & Lazer LED @ MHW
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:30 PM EST

"Modding your PC has never been easier; Just log on to your online PC accssesory vendor and order a handful of colorful mod accessories for your beloved boxen. Then tastefully & tactfully bestow upon your windowed box a carnival of color...satisfaction is guaranteed!"

Check it out at: monster-hardware

Swiftech MCX462+T Review @ BoPC
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:28 PM EST

"The idle temps are wicked, 13deg C? That rocks! Overall some nice temperatures, 42.6 Deg with a 1.85Vcore is nothing to scoff at. The only thing that I would worry about would be condensation. If your temps go below 0c the cooler will ice. If you have not installed the cooler as per the directions, the possibility of toasting your stuff increases."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

Belkin 1200VA Universal UPS review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:26 PM EST

“If you are a computer user, you need an uninterruptible power supply – simple as that. Whether you play games on your kitted out home rig, work-at-home and crunch Word documents and spreadsheets all day, or you use your workstation in a SOHO environment out in the burbs, then a UPS is in your best interest. The Belkin 1200VA Universal UPS has the competition beat hands-down with its features and sticker price.”

Check it out at: Envy News

Creative Inspire 5200 5.1 Speakers @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 21, 2003 at 7:20 PM EST

"Need ear candy? WHO DOESN'T!!! (No your aunt Matilda doesn't count.) Well these speakers deliver and not just on paper. These speakers actually do sound great and they deliver great sound in style with their sleek Black/Silver design. Which I might add gives any room in your house a plus."

Check it out at: Geekshelter

MouseMAXX Reviewed @ BoPC
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:30 PM EST

"My first expression, WOW, this is a nice product, not too expensive, and the surface is really really nice to swing your mouse over. I can't really say it gives me more frags in games or such but I can say working with a mouse on this pad is a pleasure. Overall a kickass product, for a kickass price, available at alot of stores in the US, such as CompUSA, Walmart etc. etc."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

Cooler Master Cooldrive 3 @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:29 PM EST

"Temperature wise it does reduce the heat by 3C under load, which should go some way to help prolong your drives life. All the temperatures are within specifications for the drive, regardless of the Cooldrive3 being used, so I will leave it up to you to decide if the extra 3C is worth buying this."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Talkback: Peer-to-peer networks Article @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:27 PM EST

"Peer-to-Peer Networks are for criminals, or that's what RIAA would have you believe." We discuss peer-to-peer networks in today's talkback.

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Editorial on Barton Compatibility In ABIT Motherboards Posted @ Rojak Pot
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:26 PM EST

"Worried about Barton support in ABIT motherboards? Well, there's no need to listen to all the rumours! We will dispel all those rumours in our editorial on Barton Compatibility In ABIT Motherboards!"

Check it out at: Rojak Pot

Altec Lansing 221 Speaker Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:24 PM EST

“Altec Lansing, one of the most well-known and respected companies for their history in computer audio or audio in general, has become a name attached to relatively inexpensive and solid PC speakers. Altec's products are often found bundled in OEM packages nowadays, and the company also continues to maintain a very respectable line of retail speakers and accessories from PC gaming and music, to TV/console audio. On deck today are their low-end value computer speakers, model 221.”

Check it out at: OCAddiction

KT400A Gigabyte 7VAXP-A Ultra Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:23 PM EST

The KT400A chipset has yet to find popularity amongst motherboard makers. Gigabyte was the first to produce a retail KT400A which was dubbed the Gigabyte 7VAXP-A Ultra. We always look forward to chipset revisions as they offer improvements and what didn't work so well and perfect what did. KT400A offers a few improvements but are they enough to battle the NFORCE2 motherboards? Gigabyte's KT400A predecessor, the GA-7VAXP Ultra, is a powerful and feature rich platform and is a hard act to follow. The KT400A may be dubbed "the little chipset that could." The question is why?

Check it out at: Icrontic

Eumax CPU Cooler review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:21 PM EST

"To put my computer under load, I used a free program called Hot CPU Tester Pro 3. It runs a bunch of benchmark tests at the same time over six hours. I felt that six hours was overkill to test the CPU coolers for this type of use. So I just ran the tests for five minutes."

Check it out at: Geekshelter

ATi Radeon 9600 Pro Overclocking - @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:21 PM EST

We spent some time overclocking our Radeon 9600 Pro sample, and have updated our review with the results.  With the help of Rage3D's handy Tweak utility, we were able to "awaken the sleeping giant" within the Radeon 9600 Pro.  The performance increases we saw were rather dramatic...take a look for yourself...

Check it out at: HotHardware

PCXMods X-Trac Zoom Optical Mouse Pad Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:20 PM EST

"The new X-Trac Zoom Optical Mouse Pad measures approximately 8.5" x 11", which should give most people plenty of pad space for mouse movement. The dimensions of this design also means that this product will still take up a fair amount of real estate on your desk. The pattern inside each of the hexagons has been printed in a random dot pattern to eliminate cursor fade and jitter. The hexagons and the random dot pattern on the Zoom are approximately 1/3 larger than the HS Pro."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Project Black Qube - A Step Further @ VH
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:18 PM EST

"It's been 3 years since I started VH and modding my very first case, the AOpen HX08 Project back in April 2000. Eversince then, I've been modding quite a lot, be it for my personal use or for friends or family members. The modding scene/community has also grown from the select few or underground to a more mainstream scene. And amongst the community, there has been a lot of modders who have stand out with their creations and innovative ideas. There's too many to mention but know this, I certainly respect them for their ideas and creativity and at times, they have inspired my mods as well. And amongst these elite group, there are some who go all the way and created their own cases, from scratch. Building from the ground up certainly takes a lot of planning and skill and the people in these group are the ones that are at the forefront of the modding scene. After so long, I too have decided to move on to building my own case and taking another step in the journey of mods. I didn't want to start with something big, seeing how this is gonna be my first attempt. So I decided to build the case around a Micro-ATX motherboard. They're small enough and with the right components, can deliver enough punch for an average gamer like me. So without further a due, I present you Project Black Qube."

Check it out at: Virtual-Hideout

Intel I875P "Canterwood" Chipset Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:17 PM EST

"The newest and maybe greatest Pentium 4 chipset from Intel was released earlier this week, it of course being the Intel I875P "Canterwood" bringing a bunch of features to the Pentium 4 most importantly including 800MHz FSB for Intel's new range of bus increased processors. Hold on to your seats tightly as Cameron "Sov" Johnson gives us his opinion on the new and hottest chipset from Intel which he promises is the best yet!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:14 PM EST

“ATI is well known for the Radeon series of video cards that really put them on the roadmap for 3D accelerators. The Radeon series has been good to ATI and a thorn in NVIDIA's side. The 9700 Pro was not just a thorn; it was more like a briar patch. NVIDIA is going to have their hands full through the remaining three quarters of this year (more on that in our upcoming FX review). Read on as we find out just what the Canadian company has to offer with their new 9800 Pro.”

Check it out at: AthlonXP

PolarFLO Universal Water Block Review @ VH
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:13 PM EST

"The water-cooling market is already quite large, and it continues to grow. One of the latest additions to the pool of equipment available for the consumer is the new PolarFLO waterblock by Horse of Iron, Inc. I was sent this water block without seeing photos first, so I was not sure what I was getting into. I expected your average, copper rectangle with some barbs stuck out the top - but what I got was the complete opposite. The PolarFLO water block is a radical new design, as I will explain throughout this review. Without even testing this water block I knew it had something special. A professional, manufactured construction, and a high performance appearance make the PolarFLO has to be one of the best looking water blocks I have worked with. The body of the PolarFLO is made of anodized aluminum, with a sold copper base. The 1/2" ID hose barbs are plastic, with a 1/4" thread so easy swapping is possible if needed. The water block also comes with a Y fitting if needed for the out-barbs, and nonconductive mounting hardware for quick and secure installation."

Check it out at: Virtual-Hideout

Cooler Master Aero 7 Review @ ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 7:11 PM EST

"Not many heat sink/fan combos out there can achieve the balance between performance and noise, but today I might have found something that might: the Aero 7 CPU Cooler by Cooler Master."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

Albatron PX845PEV-800 Review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:40 PM EST

I have to commend Albatron for putting out a very nice board. The PX845PEV-800 should please both overclockers and those who simply demand a solid, dependable motherboard. For performance, this board stands up to any of the 845PE boards currently in the market. And best of all it’s priced to sell with a price of $98 ($145 Cdn.) compared to the Asus P4PE board which has a street price of about $120 ($170 Cdn.).

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

Xoxide’s New Z40 Insight Chassis Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:38 PM EST

"While not everyone can afford an expensive case, the new revision of the Z40 Insight from Xoxide is a real pleaser of a budget case. With a preinstalled side UV reactive window from the manufacturer, support for four 80mm fans, and 11 drive bays, what else can you ask for? All this coming in it at under $50 dollars, without a power supply, is this your next case? Continue on as I put this case through a review."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

MSI GeForce Ti4600-VT2D8X Review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:37 PM EST

"Take the speed and stability of the Nvidia Ti4600 and throw in some TV In/Out action along with an outstanding software bundle and you get this retail package. MSI is a well known manufacturer of quality computer components and this is another notch for their belt."

Check it out at: PimpRig

Audio Encoding: WAV to MP3 in Depth Article @ TechIMO
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:36 PM EST

"What is an MP3 one would ask? The correct answer is a type of compression, MPEG 1 Layer 3, hence MP3 for audio. Today MP3’s are wide spread through Peer-to-Peer (P2P) services like Napster, Kazaa, Gnutella servers, and more. Still, not all MP3’s are from P2P services.  Some may find MP3’s are easier than compact discs or even vinyl records by converting these mediums to compressed audio."

Check it out at: TechIMO

Noiseblocker PC Case Noise Dampening Kit review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:34 PM EST

Modern enthusiast PCs are loud and sometimes it seems that there is no getting away from it. The high pitched drone of a heavy duty fan cooling a high performance heatsink is not cool as it assaults the ears. PCs can still be audible even with near silent fans. Full tilt loud fans can even push the purest gamer/enthusiast to the point of bleeding ears after a long gaming session. Frags become nags from the noise. Wouldn't it be nice to dampen that sound and take the edge off that sound of screaming fans? There has to be a better way!.

Check it out at: Icrontic

Spire FridgeRock 5U213C1H3G Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:33 PM EST

"The FridgeRock's fan comes with a thermistor attached by the outside leads which monitors case temperature, and adjusts RPM to suit. It's not the best way of scaling a fans speed to meet the demands of a warm computer, but it is an easy method to implement. The little black thermistor is tucked in there so well we just about missed it altogether in fact. It should be noted that as you look at the results of this heatsinks performance on the test platform, the fan was rotating at about 3500RPM because we test in ambient temperature conditions. The downside to this technique which is used to keep fan noise down, is that the sensor doesn't actually measure the temperature of the heatsink. The actually metal body of the heatsink will always be much hotter than the surrounding air temperature."

Check it out at: frostytech

ELUMINX BLACK SLIM-SERIES ILLUMINATED KEYBOARD @ Tweaknews
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:30 PM EST

"Being the first keyboard review at Tweaknews.net, you might as well come into this peripheral genre with a great product. This is one solid, well built keyboard packed with great features and industry leading technology. No wonder some Asian companies are trying to jump all over the hype and pumping out this type of keyboard. But, from what I have been told, Eluminx has patents pending on this technology in those particular Asian countries and that could potentially cause some problems. Should be an interesting couple of months ahead."

Check it out at: Tweaknews

Cornea Systems CT1904 19 inch LCD Monitor Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:28 PM EST

"The CT1904 is the latest addition to Cornea Systems LCD monitor catalogue, and with a retail price of around $680USD, I doubt this 19" TFT monitor will be sitting on the shelves for very long. The Cornea CT1904 is blessed with the large screen real estate that people really want, with very good viewing angles (85 degrees up/down/left/right), and with an industry standard 25ms pixel response time. The 3" thick display panel takes up only a fraction of the desk space of an equivalent 50LB monster 19" CRT monitor, and since the CT1904 draws ~40W of power, it's also easier on the electrical budget. The brightness value of the display is spec'd out at 250 nits (cd/m2) which is good, but not record breaking. A contrast ratio of 500:1 should help the Cornea CT1904 fare well in the tests later on though."

Check it out at: pcstats

FIC AU13 nForce2-ST Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:26 PM EST

When we tested FIC's original nForce2 SPP motherboard the FIC AU11, we were extremely impressed with what we saw but found to be "bare" in terms of features. Well FIC must have taken our words to heart because their newly revised AU13 is much more "future friendly". With the nForce2 chipset now mature and extremely stable, it's obvious that anyone contemplating purchasing an AMD based system or new motherboard should only go with nVIDIA.  In terms of onboard features the AU13 is pretty well equipped. The motherboard has 10/100 LAN, 5.1 audio, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0 (four on the back) and Serial ATA. If you find yourself needing more, the AU13 has six 32 bit PCI expansion slots and of course the lone 8x AGP port. The AU13 supports any current 200/266/333MHz FSB AthlonXP and even the upcoming 400 MHz Athlon as per FIC's website.

Check it out at: pcstats

Tweakmonster BGA RamSinks reviewed @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:25 PM EST

"I reglued the heatsink and again installed the heatpipe cooler because it cools fantastic. The Heatsink blocks weren't perfectly aligned but sufficient to cool down the 9700pro. I than started doing some nice overclocked. I pulled 400 / 380 with this videocard without any volt modifications. And soon after installing water-cooling I reached a max of 420 / 380, quite nice eh? The Ramsinks look kickass, they give you this little extra on overclocking, and most of the blocks have a perfect bottom. However I do advise you to buy the SDRam version though because they are bigger and cool better too on the BGA Ram."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

Cremax Bodyguard Icy Dock (Review) @ ipKonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:24 PM EST

Hard drive cooling is nothing new, and as hard drives get faster, more cooling is needed. But why not go a bit further and make it look nice, with some added features to go along with it? That's where Cremax comes into place with its latest hard drive cooling unit. It offers a few features not found on any other unit of its type. The BodyGuard Icy Dock--we know the name is a bit odd--provides three thermal probes, audible warning, and much more.
. . .
The LCD panel has a very nice appeal. Three buttons that give you control of set, Up and Down features for certain functions within the LCD menu--such as temperature controls.

Check it out at: ipKonfig

nVidia GeForceFX 5600 128MB @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:17 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a good look at nVidia's new mid-range gaming GPU, the GeForceFX 5600. Sandwiched in-between the low-end GeForce 5200 and high-end 5800 lines, the 5600 is an appealing product on paper, as it looks to deliver all the functionality of the 5800 without the exorbitant heat and cooling solutions. We test a card based on this new GPU against other GeForceFX and GeForce4 Ti solutions to see how it fits in to nVidia's lineup.

Check it out at: GamePC

Albatron GeForce4 MX485 Review @ Overclocker Café’
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 18, 2003 at 6:16 PM EST

If we reviewed this card five or six months back, our opinion in the climate of $170 GeForce4 Ti-4200s would have been "go buy this card now if you are on a budget.  It offers good solid real world performance, DVI and TV out, a three year warranty and an affinity to overclock."  These points remain just as strong today as they would have then.  The only problem is that the GeForce4 Ti-4200 cards have dropped in price radically.  It’s nothing to see one at a CompUSA or Best Buy for $80 after a mail in rebate.  And hands down the Ti-4200 is a better card given they both effectively cost the same.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café’

Cremax Icy Dock Bodyguard525 Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:41 PM EST

"The front of the Icy Dock Bodyguard525 features a black and silver trimmed LCD panel that slides to the right revealing a fan speed adjustment and temperature probe selector switch. One thing that was apparent is that fingers do not easily manipulate both the knob and switch since both options are recessed into the device. A small screw driver or flat thin object is needed to adjust the fan speed or select the temperature."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Samsung 52X24X52 CDRW Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:39 PM EST

"The Just Speed feature lets the burner burn at the max speed of the burner, without regards to the actual speed of the media.  This can all be turned off or on, and its fully supported within Nero.

Here lies a problem with the drive.  To cut to the chase, this feature does not work on this model.  Even with an upgrade to the R702 firmware, Nero will not allow the drive to burn at speeds rated over what the media has stated.  This means, if your media says 24X max, then that's the speed this drive will burn at.  Turning on and off the function in Nero does not work.  I tried Alcohol 120% which yielded the same result.  This is bad news because if you are stuck with 200 24X CD-Rs from the recent deal at your local office supply store, you will most likely not be able to utilize 52X burning."

Check it out at: GideonTech

MSI K7N2G-ILSR nForce 2 Mainboard Review @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:37 PM EST

"11x198 was the best we were able to manage with the 2400+. Although I was satisfied that we managed a decent FSB overclock, I had hoped for better luck with the multiplier. 11.5 would not POST, but I should note that things were rock solid at 11x198."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Lian Li Aquarium Side Panel Review @ ReviewNation
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:36 PM EST

"Ok when I was first asked if I wanted to review this Aquarium side panel my first reaction was WHAT?? Then after a bit of detective work I found out what it was an aquarium side panel for your Lian Li! But how do you review a side panel with some water and some plastic fish in it? I mean really... has the case modding scene gone over the edge? Turns out that there was a lot more than just a panel with plastic fish in it, so without further ado here is my review of the very unique Lian Li WA-658 aquarium side panel..."

Check it out at: ReviewNation

Albatron MX480 Video Card Review @ ReviewNation
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:35 PM EST

“Albatron the makers of some great motherboards also make excellent video cards based on NVIDIA's GeForce 4 cores. They make cards based on the Ti cores and also the MX cores. This review is going to focus on the MX480 which is basically a MX440 but with AGP 8X hence the name MX480. And if you are familiar with the video card world you know that the MX core is the budget card and is not the screaming video card that crushes all 3D benchmarks. But how well can this budget card really perform? Well in the following review I hope to answer your questions about how good this budget card is, let's have a look shall we..."

Check it out at: ReviewNation

FlexiGlow Cable and CCFL Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:32 PM EST

“CCFL's really still seem to be the rage for lighting up the interior of your case. Another popular accent is EL cable. I'll be looking at an incarnation of each in this FlexiGlow review. You may remember that company from the new Bubble Lamps that are starting to appear on the market. Continue on as I put these two FlexiGlow products on the chopping block.”

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

OCZ PC3500 Dual Channel Series EL-DDR Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:30 PM EST

"High quality RAM is a must in any PC; it offers stability at high speeds, and often incredible gains in performance when overclocked. With dual memory controllers becomming all the rage, requiring two identical sticks of RAM for best results, the problem of finding high quality RAM is increased. We already know that OCZ's EL-DDR is superb RAM, but can their new Dual Channel Series match it for performance and stability at very high overclocks?"

Check it out at: OcPrices

Trust Mp3 Player reviewed @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:28 PM EST

"I bet the guy who started the mobile MP3 craze is earning a fortune. I look around and everyone has one. The combination of advancing technology in flash memory and portability of the players is simply amazing. I want one, Steve wants one, and Dave just broke his mini disk so he is in the market as well. This specific one is made by Trust.com, a company well known for it's products that are reliable, and cheap."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

OCZ EL DDR PC-3700 Memory Video Review #293 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 8:27 PM EST

"The OCZ Enhanced Latency DDR PC-3700 memory is capable of 466mhz speeds and better. When memory is this fast there is no question about performance, it's very speedy. Couple this memory with a great motherboard and that means all overclockers will have a grin ear to ear. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Crucial PC2700 DDR SDRAM DIMM Review @ Adrian's Rojak Pot
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 7:06 PM EST

"Ever watched a PC2700 DDR SDRAM DIMM go 412MHz? You might, if you have a Crucial PC2700 DDR SDRAM DIMM! Check out our definitive review of this amazing memory module!"

Check it out at: Adrian's Rojak Pot

Griffin iCurve laptop stand Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 7:03 PM EST

“Griffin Technology is a small Macintosh oriented company located in Nashville Tennessee that develops and markets cool accessories and gizmos. Lately, they penetrated into the PC market as well by providing Windows platform drivers to many of their well-known Mac products. With its clear acrylics, the iCurve was designed and marketed for Mac OS Laptops, but now that PC notebooks have embraced recent fashion trends, they too look just as good on the iCurve. In this review, we evaluate the iCurve with an Apple Titanium PowerBook G4.”

Check it out at: Envy News

ATi Radeon 9600 Pro - Review and Showcase @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 7:00 PM EST

Our Main Man, Marco "BigWop" Chiappetta spent some quality time over the past few weeks, with ATi's all new Radeon 9600 Pro Graphics Card.  This is another value oriented DX9 capable board from the Canadian team and it looks to have good promise.  Marco took it for a spin, benchmarked it, ran some serious AA and Aniso Filtering testing and gave it a sound thrashing.  Check it...

Check it out at: HotHardware

ATI Radeon 9600 PRO 128MB Review @ Beyond3D
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:59 PM EST

"Whilst the R300 core features eight DirectX9 pixel pipes and four Vertex Shader units, despite the smaller silicon process not everything made it across to RV350. Essentially RV350 is half an R300 core, with only four pixel pipes and two Vertex Shading units. The reductions in size, though, means that this is able to scale to higher speeds than the R300 could, with the 9600 PRO product shipping at 400MHz core speed, thus offsetting some of the fill-rate and triangle rate advantage that R300 has in its 9500 PRO guise."

Check it out at: Beyond3D

Intel Canterwood (875P) and Corsair RAM Review @ DWPG
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:57 PM EST

We just received a bit of information from Corsair about which type of RAM to choose for the new Intel Canterwood (875P) chipset. While this is not great in detail, it contains some guidelines for you to follow, and we think this could prove to be useful for those of you concidering purchasing one of these new motherboards. Read on to find out more.

Check it out at: DWPG

ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 PRO VIDEOCARD @ TWEAKNEWS
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:56 PM EST

"Being ATI's feature rich flagship videocard, the ALL-in-Wonder Radeon 9700 pro encompasses everything that the gaming enthusiast, multimedia professional and/or everyday computer user desires. It performs great out of the box and practically will handle any game out there with ease. Factor the great gaming in with a multimedia suite second to none, and you have the recipe for the perfect videocard."

Check it out at: TWEAKNEWS

Sunbeam AC-B Clear and Blue Acrylic Case @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:55 PM EST

“You’ve probably seen one of these before at your local LAN Parties. There a joy to look at, and are sure to attract many an onlooker like moths to a flame. Many of us however, only get to see these cases at their best, on display. Actually owning one can be a whole different story. Today I’ll be taking you through the trials and tribulations of Sunbeam Tech’s AC-B Acrylic case.”

Check it out at: GruntvillE

CrazyPC LED Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:53 PM EST

The LED is unfortunatly not as bright as I expected. It eaisly lights up a small-form factor ATX case, but you would probably need 2 or 3 of these LED's to fill a mid-to-full tower case. I would say, if you had a bigger case, get a green cold cathode instead, because these LED's are the same price as the green ones on sale at CrazyPC.

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Belkin 32MB USB Flash Drive Review @ VH
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:52 PM EST

"Belkin currently offers their USB flash drives in four different capacities - 16MB, 32MB, 64MB and 128MB - all of which can work with up to USB 1.1 speeds. This means they'll work with your USB 2.0 controller, but you won't be able to take advantage of the USB 2.0 speeds. Other manufacturers are offering drives up to 1GB in capacity, and some may even offer higher capacity ones. Belkin should do well to note this - perhaps not for this particular line of USB flash drives, but instead for a potential line of USB 2.0 flash drives, as the potential for increased speed with USB 2.0 will go well with large capacities such as 512MB or greater."

Check it out at: Virtual-Hideout

Thermalright SLK-900 Heatsink Review @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:50 PM EST

With processors today getting faster and faster, while they are managing to stay within reasonable parameters, they still get quite hot. And as always, the cooler you can run them, the faster you can make them go, and the longer they'll last you. The current top dog via word of mouth in CPU cooling right now is the SLK 900. Can it truly live up to what everyone expects it to?

Check it out at: Tech-Dreams

Sony PCV-W20 System review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:48 PM EST

"A cross between a laptop and a desktop computer, the PCV-W20 proves that great things do come in small packages...The PCV-W20 is a sleek and sexy system geared towards the casual computer user who wants to show off a little style."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW CD-R/RW - Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:48 PM EST

lextor is one of the top manufacturers of optical drives.  In fact, many consider their drives to be the best available.  Over the years, we've had the opportunity to review quite a few Plextor models and today we're adding another one to the list.  This time around we have a look at their very first DVD writer, the Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW CD-R/RW.

Check it out at: HotHardware

Zippy EL-610 Super Slim Luminescent Keyboard Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 6:46 PM EST

"I thought long and hard about this....who would be interested in this keyboard? Lan Party goers, maybe someone that uses a laptop frequently and prefers a smaller keyboard, folks with smaller hands. I'm not really sure what type of users this keyboard was geared towards and feel it's more of a novelty item really."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

Microsoft Windows "Longhorn" Preview @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:10 PM EST

" They never stop working at Microsoft and we have a sneak peak at what to expect in the next Windows. Read the preview to see what to expect when it's released. "

Check it out at: ASE Labs

FIC Radeon 9700 Pro review @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:09 PM EST

Seven months later of the Radeon 9700 Pro introduction, NVIDIA has given up momentarily and ATI still hasn’t found a worthy competitor for the fastest Radeons however they recently announced they would revamp the 9x00 line in order to cut production costs and at the same time improve performance slightly by improving manufacturing processes.

While newer Radeon 9800 Pro boards will become available in a matter of days/weeks, prices of 9700 Pro boards have been lowered considerably making them a great buy, not to mention changes between 9700 & 9800 boards could be considered minimal both feature and performance wise, so keep on reading as you may find this is the card you were looking for.

Check it out at: TechSpot

Lian Li PC75 Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:06 PM EST

"The rear view of the case below shows the glow of the UV sensitive fans quite clearly. I like the layout of the case. The two exhaust fans below the power supply and the two above the power supply were modded by So-Trick. I wanted the stock fan exhaust grills cut out to a clean 80mm hole. In my opinion this looks much better and provides less obstruction for exhaust from the fans."

Check it out at: OCIA

Antec Sonata case review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:05 PM EST

“The icy blue glow emanating from the front decoration is very soothing. It changes from a muted blue when you look at it on an angle, to a piercing blue when viewed head-on. This case is made for people who don’t care about windows, funky neon tubes, and any other gaudy aesthetics. The deep black finish and blue glow appeals to the user who’s a little more mature, maybe to those who have grown out of the wild colored mods and fancy windows. This case makes a statement and at first glance, you really underestimate its beauty. The beauty of the Antec Sonata is in its simplicity.”

Check it out at: Envy News

Sony DRU-500AX DVD±RW Drive @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:03 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a quick look at Sony's breakout DVD recordable drive, the first of its kind to have both read and write support for both the DVD+RW and DVD-RW standards. Not only does this drive support the universal "±" format, but it also has four times the amount of cache buffer compared to other DVD rewritables on the market, a nice bundle, and hey, it performs pretty great as well.

Check it out at: GamePC

AMS gBOX Blue P4 Aluminum Barebone System Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:02 PM EST

“Proof is in the pudding and we have quite a tasty treat with XBLADE Cooling Technology. Not only is the XBLADE fairly quiet, it has a relatively small footprint thereby taking up as little room as possible in the tiny gBOX Blue SFF P4 Aluminum Barebone System. AMS has gone the extra mile to include everything you'd need in a great little system, and also given us great CPU and system cooling with the P4 Akura Blue HSF and XBLADE Cooling Technology. As these types of systems get smaller and smaller, companies must get even more resourceful to find ways of proper cooling. AMS is definitely headed in the right direction.”

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Heatsink Lapping Guide and Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:01 PM EST

"Both your CPU core and the base of your heatsink have millions of microscopic peaks and valleys that are obviously not visible to the naked eye. The heat that rises from the core of your CPU gets absorbed by your heatsink, and then as the heat continues to rise through the heatsink it is dissipated by the fan. The more contact your CPU core makes with the heatsink, the more thermal energy it will be able to transfer in it, and as a result your CPU stays cool."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

Abit's Canterwood Board, IC7-G Details @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:00 PM EST

We've gotten some hot off the press news from Abit today, with respect to their new Canterwood based motherboard, the IC7-G.  Dual DDR400, GigE, SATA and SATA RAID, AGP8X, it's all in there and more, courtesy of Intel and Abit.  Check it out...  pics, specs and pr details are all here.

Check it out at: HotHardware

Matrix Orbital MX212 @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 6:58 PM EST

The next couple of projects we worked on dealt with the high powered GPO’s. After connecting the 12v floppy drive connector coming from the PSU and ensured that the jumper on the LK202-24-USB was set to 12v and not 5v we connected a few CCFL lights to the 12v GPO’s and a few LED’s to the 5v GPO’s. Once this was completed we booted up our system and did a little testing to ensure things were working fine. After the install was completed and things were checking out properly we configured the LK202-24-USB to flash the CCFL lights with one button push, then to keep them on solid with a second button push, and then finally turn them off with a final push. We also configured the LED’s to turn on once our CPU reached a certain temp (46c). Of course, we also settled with a few plug-ins of choice, those being Motherboard Monitor 5, and Winamp 3………

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

Gameboy Advance SP review @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 6:56 PM EST

For many years now Nintendo has had a firm grasp on the portable console market, but with the release of the Gameboy Advance SP it is obvious that this is not causing Nintendo to slack off...

Check it out at: Bytesector

CritiCool PowerPlant PCI Relay Card & WaterPlant Reservoir Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 6:55 PM EST

"One of the new unique products released by CritiCool Solutions is a new PCI Relay Card called the PowerPlant. The purpose of the PowerPlant is to act as a standard solid state relay to switch AC based current into conventional DC current. The relay allows 12 volt powered devices such as fans, controllers, and internal coolers to feed DC devices directly. By default this product can handle power conversions for 110VAC/220VAC and includes a 12v external power cable, two position toggle switch and an external 4-pin Molex connector for powering fans outside of a case."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Abit BH7 Motherboard (Socket 478) Video Review #292 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 6:53 PM EST

"The Abit BH7 Motherboard is based upon Intel's 845PE chipset which means many great features. These features include; 6 channel audio, S/PDIF IN/OUT, USB2, LAN, SATA and more. Also this motherboard is fantastic at overclocking and has the ability to reach 800 MHz FSB. Pushing everything to the max is one thing but it's also very stable and performs extremely well. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

OCZ PC3500 Dual Channel Series EL-DDR Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 6:52 PM EST

"High quality RAM is a must in any PC; it offers stability at high speeds, and often incredible gains in performance when overclocked. With dual memory controllers becomming all the rage, requiring two identical sticks of RAM for best results, the problem of finding high quality RAM is increased. We already know that OCZ's EL-DDR is superb RAM, but can their new Dual Channel Series match it for performance and stability at very high overclocks?"

Check it out at: OcPrices

FrozenCPU Dual Voltage 3.5" Baybus Review @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 6:50 PM EST

“It wasn’t too long ago when a baybus was the top-of-the-line case mod you could do. The concept was simple, put some toggle switches in a drive bay to control all the lights and fans you were putting in your system. The concept was refined and improved over time until now when we have professionally manufactured units that can supply adjustable dual voltage with dual color LEDs to indicate which is being supplied. The only problem with them is that they are all built to fit in a 5.25” drive bay, and with the advent of systems with multiple optical drives, there just aren’t enough bays to go around. Well, the good folks at FrozenCPU.Com have come to the rescue with a 3 port unit that fits in a 3.5” drive bay, you know, the one under the floppy drive you never use anymore.”

Check it out at: GruntvillE

Beantech BT-84 Clear Case @ Nexus Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 6:47 PM EST

Previously, clear cases were used exclusively for computer demonstrations and education. Today they are being used by many enthusiasts who want a unique look. Initially, there were very few manufacturers of clear cases, but as the craze caught on; more and more companies began selling clear cases. Today we have one of Beantech’s clear cases to look at. Hopefully it will be as well crafted as the last Beantech we reviewed."

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

Canterwood Reviewed @ lostcircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:27 PM EST

Intel releases the i875 or Canterwood chipset which is as revolutionary as anything Intel has ever done before. Official support for DDR400, fully integrated SATA along with Communication Streaming Architecture to provide different buses for the full duplex Gigabit and the I/O - mass storage channels are a huge step away from the conventional concept of PCI buses and legacy ATA.

A reduced latency address and command decoding scheme along with all kinds of fine tuning like self compensating drivers for the memory bus ensure not only lightning fast but also stable performance along with "self-adapting" compatibilty with any memory on the market - as long as it is withing specs.

Quite frankly, it is impossible to paint a complete picture of the performance of the new kid in town, in 10 days we were only able to scratch the surface and there are many aspects where we have not even been able to do that. The interactivity between GbE and SATA-RAID is only one but still a very important issue to name in this context since it is really the heart of Canterwood, just as much as performance acceleration technology. Anyway, what started out as a short report on DDR400 grew out of proportion but read for yourself....

Check it out at: lostcircuits

Enermax CS-10181 Server Chassis Review @ I Am Not A Geek
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:25 PM EST

"The Enermax CS-10181 is a very well designed case that incorporates many features that one would look for in a high end case that might carry a price tag higher than $84.99 from Xoxide. The quality is unquestionable, and the use of the term "heavy duty" is appropriately used to describe the CS-10181. Its a sleek, stylish case that is spacious enough to provide room for all of your drives and peripherals easily."

Check it out at: I Am Not A Geek

Video Processing: Anime Article @ TechIMO
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:24 PM EST

"Animated video can be the most problematic type of multimedia to process, especially when converting from analog source material. The traditional techniques utilized for live video processing rarely work for anime. At the upper ranges of the quality spectrum, animated content produces extreme amounts of motion, color variation, and fine detail. Even more simplistic form like cartoons warp the rules governing common sense video processing. Anime can require tedious analysis to produce a quality encoding project, even for the most experienced multimedia experts."

Check it out at: TechIMO

Enermax 3.5'' System Monitor Control Panel Review @ Computer Sphere
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:22 PM EST

"Many Computer Modders or people own or have some type of multi function device they use to read temperatures and to control the rpms on their fans. Many of the current multi function devices use a standard open 5 ¼ bay, usually detected for cd roms. Enermax, a very well known and respected company has come up with a multi function device of their own that fits in a free 3 and a half inch open bay. Included in this package is the unit it self, Instructions, some tape for holding your thermal sensors in place and a set of screws."

Check it out at: Computer Sphere

Radeon 9800 Pro, ATI puts the thumbscrews on @ Hardware Analysis
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:21 PM EST

Now that ATI started shipping their Radeon 9800 Pro we take a closer look at how it compares it to the original Radeon 9700 Pro and Nvidia's GeForce FX 5800 Ultra, it is the world's fastest 3D accelerator?

Check it out at: Hardware Analysis

Intel Pentium 4 3GHz w/ 800MHz FSB and The i875P Canterwood Chipset - Review @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:20 PM EST

Intel's new Pentium 4 3GHz with 800MHz System Bus takes flight tonight at HotHardware.com, along with the all new Canterwood chipset!   Dual DDR400, AGP8X, SATA150 and RAID... sweetness.

Check it out at: HotHardware

Intel i875P Chipset / D875PBZ Motherboard Review @ MBReview
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:18 PM EST

"Well, to sum things up I’d say that Intel has a real performer in the i875P chipset. With the added support for the new 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 chips, Dual Channel, DDR400, Communication Streaming Architecture, and all of the other features, this is one chipset that you’ll want to keep in mind when it comes time to upgrade. The Intel D875PBZ motherboard which is, of course, equipped with the i875P chipset also put up some very nice performance results in each and every one of our benchmarks. If you’re looking to do some heavy overclocking, you’ll want to wait a round a little longer for other manufacturer boards to hit the market. I’m sure we’ll be hearing some wonderful things about several of the i875P motherboards in the near future."

Check it out at: MBReview

Belkin Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:17 PM EST

"Belkin has long been known for producing Computer cables and other computer accessories however products like Cable Modems, Home Networking Equipment and even a Wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo have all been recently added to Belkin's product line. Recently 3dXtreme reviewed the Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo, today it's Belkin's turn on the test bench."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

Talkback: Merging home theater and computers; where is the benefit? @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:15 PM EST

"That time is rapidly drawing near. Now that almost every new home computer has a DVD player, (with many quickly adopting DVD writers) the line between computer and entertainment centers are blurred. By means of FireWire and USB ports it is now possible to connect your computer directly to televisions and other home theater components. Is this combination of technologies really something that is necessary or is it just a ploy to sell more expensive equipment? Sure there are positives to this brave new world but do they justify doing it...."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

FireWire networking Article @ VoidedWarranty
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:14 PM EST

"I was looking for an alternative to the standard 10/100 ethernet networking that would provide a substantial speed increase and would offer some added security to my network. I do a lot of video editing and transferring of large files across the network and figured that a FireWire network would fit the bill."

Check it out at: VoidedWarranty

Chaintech 7NIF2 nForce 2 @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:13 PM EST

"Let us first consider the layout.  For a µATX motherboard, it manages to pack a fair amount of feature in a small space.  It has integrated audio, and integrated GeForce 4MX class video card with video out functions, a integrated 10/100 network card and still has room for all the standard card slots, though there is only 3 PCI slots for use.  Gladly there is a separate AGP 8X slot, so that you can use an external video card instead of the integrated video."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Review @ TechIMO
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:12 PM EST

"Delta Force: Black Hawk Down is the latest release from Novalogic based upon the Comanche 4 game engine. The game takes place from the actual events of the 1993 Somalia raid, though some missions are fabricated. DF:BHD is not only entertaining, but a portion of the profits go to a worthy cause."

Check it out at: TechIMO

Bytecc EL-610 EL Mini Keyboard Reviewed @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:10 PM EST

"Well, with all things said and done, I am going to keep this keyboard for my personal use. I like it, its cool, its blue, and its small. It works perfect for BF1942, your com menus are in reach and no stretching.  This will be the keyboard I bring to a LAN party where all we are doing is playing games.  For normal typing, like writing this review, I am using my Logitech keyboard. A cool keyboard is not worth risking RSI. Normal use = Not unless you have to, Games = works good."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

Asanté FriendlyNET GigaNIX Ethernet Adapter Review @ Networks Today
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:09 PM EST

"The Asanté GigaNIX 10/100/1000Mbps NIC is a very nice card, with an impressive set of features at a great price. It supports a wide array of OSes including Windows, MAC, and Linux (*Note: the instructions included on the CD are only for Red Hat 6.2 and higher, however you should be able to compile them for any version if you have the knowledge), has a nice little added software package, and performs as good or better on a 100Mbps network as does a 3COM card."

Check it out at: Networks Today

Thermaltake Xaser III Super Tower Case Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:07 PM EST

"Are you finally ready to graduate from those cheap $50 cases? Are you prepared to look more into quality than price? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then it may just be time to look toward Thermaltake. Come join Mike "Darthtanion" Wright as he tales a look at the Xaser III Super Tower Enclosure from Thermaltake. It has airflow, features and some other nice surprises that might be just what the doctor ordered. Come check it out!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

Zalman CNPS7000 Cu and AlCu Coolers review @ OCModShop
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 9:06 PM EST

“The Pentium 4 mounting frame was designed to allow tool-less installation, but this cooler requires a screwdriver to install properly. You also have to fit the screwdriver between the fan blades when tightening, as they are in the direct path of the mounting holes. The heatsink is built like an inverted cone, and the end diameter extends beyond the area intended for a Pentium 4 heatsink. The dimensions are 109x109x62 mm. Some motherboard components may interfere with the installation, or the cooler may block some memory slots, depending on your motherboard layout.”

Check it out at: OCModShop

OCZ Gladiator II & OCZ Dominator 2 CU Heatsink Review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:39 PM EST

"I had reservations about both of the OCZ heatsinks when I knew I would be pitting them against the SK7. But surprisingly, the Gladiator impressed me; it stayed within a few degrees of the SK7 while having a much smaller footprint. If you were looking for a good performing heatsink that took up little space, the Gladiator should be on your short list."

Check it out at: PimpRig

VIA EPIA M9000 Review @ hardware-test
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:37 PM EST

We’ve gotten hold of another VIA EPIA system, this time their EPIA M9000. This is a much-improved version compared to their original EPIA motherboard, as this EPIA M is equipped with a 933 MHz C3 CPU, hardware MPEG-2 decoding, a DDR RAM interface, 5.1 sound as well as many other improvements.

Check it out at: hardware-test

Bytec Zippy EL-610 Mini Keyboard @ MHW
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:36 PM EST

"At first glance, I can think of several boring specialty applications the lighted Bytec Zippy EL-610 mini keyboard is ideally suited for: Sales, Presentation, Transportation. Fortunately, we aren't going to talk about any of them. Instead, what we will be talking about is what it's like to type, surf the net, and--most importantly--get your late night low-light gaming fix with."

Check it out at: MHW

Heatsink Lapping Guide @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:33 PM EST

"An often oversight for heatsink manufacturers is that they leave the bottom of a heatsink un-finished.  Often times, it is not flat and may actually exhibit areas of roughness.  To fix this, we're going to grab a few sheets of sand paper and start sanding and smoothing out our heatsink surface.  Now most of the time, to accomplish this, you would need to run to the hardware shop and buy a slew of different grit rated pieces.  This can rack up a good chunk of change for just one heatsink."

Check it out at: GideonTech

USB 2.0 External Drive Rack Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:31 PM EST

As we already knew, the ATA-133 connection stomped the USB drive transfer speed.  However, don't forget that this is because of the bandwidth limitations of USB 2.0.  The real value of an external USB HDD rack is the utility value it has.  The only limitation you will experience is that the amount of data you can transport is directly related to how big a hard drive you can afford.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

Lian Li RH-321 Mobile Rack Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:30 PM EST

Mobile racks can be used to store, backup and transfer data quickly and efficiently. Mobile racks can be allow for users to take projects larger than floppy, zip or CD or DVD or DVD-RAM to another computer in the office or to the home. Lian Li manufactures 15 different mobile racks for both IDE and SCSI drives. Are mobile racks just as fast as direct connect drives and just how easy are they to use?

Check it out at: Icrontic

Crystal Neon Optical Mouse Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:29 PM EST

"Back in the day, computers only had keyboards. Now geeks couldn’t do much without a mouse. So, if you have a mouse you want it to be precise and easy to use, with extra buttons if possible. Well today, geek’s mod out their cases making them look awesome and mostly to make other geeks jealous. So, why not have a cool looking mouse to go with it?"

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Zonet Wireless USB Network Adapter Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:28 PM EST

"Wireless networking might not seem like the most invigorating subject for a review, but its usefulness knows no bounds. When I decided I’d rather be writing reviews in the garden during this fine spring, I set about looking at the various options open to me. The first and most obvious is to connect your modem to a wireless router and then have a PCI / PCMCIA daughter card which connects to said router. Due to the high cost of such a setup however, I decided to look into getting a more affordable peer to peer setup."

Check it out at: OcPrices

How to change a PSU fan @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:27 PM EST

"Well, your power supply fan is making some nasty noise. Do you ignore it? Buy a new power supply? Or just replace the fan? If your PSU is working fine, you can just replace the fan. I've seen fans go bad after a week. I also have some fans that have been working for 5+ years without a hitch. In this illustrated guide, I'll show you how to replace your PSU fan, and get you good as new for cheap. I realize this is geared toward a newbie, but hey, new people are coming into the PC scene every day..."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

Abit's BH7 Mainboard Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:25 PM EST

If you've been following the hardware scene lately, you probably know Abit's new i845PE based BH7 has generated quite a buzz over the last few weeks.  This board is touted as being "Built by Overclockers, For Overclockers", so naturally we were very interested in getting our hands on one.  Well, our man Rob just got through putting a BH7 through the wringer and has posted his findings for all to see...click the link below and take a look...

Check it out at: HotHardware

Pyramat Sound Furniture (Model: PM300) Video Review #291@ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:24 PM EST

"The Pyramat Sound Furniture's model PM300 offers a comfy sound adventure! This product is compatible with gaming consoles (XBox, Playstation, GameCube, GameBoy), TVs, DVDs, Stereos, MP3s and CD Players. So sit back and enjoy the rumble. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Enermax CS-10181-B Case Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:22 PM EST

Another striking feature is the top mounted 80mm fan with an interesting array of ports hidden underneath a snap close cover. Included are two USB ports, one IEEE 1394, a microphone and a headphone jack. While the decision to add these ports to the case is admirable, their value is somewhat questionable. They come in very handy for items that only need to be connected for a short while, such as a camera or USB pen drive. For headphones or an external CD-writer, or any other item that will be connected for a longer period of time a mess of cables can become a problem.

Check it out at: Mikhailtech

GeIL PC3500 DDR433 Dual Channel Memory Kit Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:20 PM EST

"With the DDR400 phenomenon in full swing, we are today testing out GeIL's PC3500 "DDR433" Dual Channel Memory Kit which is designed specifically for dual channel chipsets like nVIDIA's nForce2, and Intel's Granite Bay/Springdale/Canterwood. In theory, these DIMM's should run smoothly together and not give us any compatibility problems. There is always a slight chance that If you were to buy two separate sets DDR sticks problems may arise if the DIMM's are not rated for dual channel memory operation. With a retail price of $180 CDN ($120 US) for two 256MB sticks (total 512MB), the GeIL DIMM's are about $75 CDN ($50 US) cheaper than two 256MB sticks of Corsair's TWINX512-3200LL (PC3200) DDR memory! Not bad considering the GeIL memory has a higher overall speed rating. The real question of course is how it performs in real life..."

Check it out at: pcstats

Combat DigiQ tanks reviewed @ dansdata
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:18 PM EST

I've just reviewed some tiny little remote controlled tanks that can shoot each other. They're really cool.

Look, do I really need to write anything else in this announcement message? Just go and read the review.

Check it out at: dansdata

Maxtop Case Lighting Accessories review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:15 PM EST

“Maxtop is one of the top PC and Rackmount chassis manufacturers in the world. From cases to keyboards, their designs are top notch in aesthetics. Maxtop is a leader in PC and Rackmount chassis design and production, but also specialize in Case fans, Mobile racks, and PSUs. Many of the cases you see in reviews are in fact manufactured by Maxtop. Today, we take a look at their Case lighting kits - from CCFL to LED Fans.”

Check it out at: Envy News

120mm UV Sensitive Fans Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:12 PM EST

"Why would I want a 120mm UV sensitive fan? My reason was quite simple; 120mm fans give high CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) with lower noise levels. With all my fans on high my case sounds like a plane taking off. The higher the RPM, the higher the pitch of the whine. My 5500 RPM fans provide almost the same CFM with about 30% less noise."

Check it out at: OCIA

MPIO Mp3 Player reviewed @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 9:11 PM EST

"I liked the MPIO player. It had a small compact size, expandability to hold more MP3's in the future, supported both WMA and MP3 files, and overall was a nicely packaged product.  I was not a fan of the low battery life, of around 10-11 hours, but its a limitation of the majority of MP3 players.  A bass-boost function, apart from the EQ, would have been a nice feature to have, although with enough modification of the user-preset eq, I was able to get the bass to a decent level for the music I listen to. Compared to my friends Creative Muvo, the MPIO made quite a better impression on me."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

X-Dreamer Silver ATX Case Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:47 PM EST

“The thing to notice though is the front LCD. This is what really makes the case something different.  A lot of companies have done the window thing, and used an acrylic front panel, but not very many have put a temperature monitor in the case.  It lights up a pleasant blue colour, and is quite legible as long as you don't try and look at it from too much of an angle.  The probe included is one of the flat types, so it can be stuck anywhere.“

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Logitech ClickSmart 510 Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:45 PM EST

"There truly is no other webcam that offers as much as the ClickSmart 510, especially for around $130 US.  Though Logitech manufactures a couple different versions of the camera, namely the ClickSmart 310 and the 420, the differences in capability and price make these less desirable.  It is important to keep in mind that though this device is not without problems, the majority of the problems are not unique to this device. "

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Albatron "Medusa" GeForce 4 Ti4800SE Review @ 3D NewsNET
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:44 PM EST

"The card itself is powered by an Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4800/Ti4800SE GPU. Albatron decided to go with a blue eight-layer PCB providing more stability for the card when overclocking and you have to appreciate that. This card packs 128MB of DDR RAM while supporting 8X AGP unlike the first few Titanium cards. The core speed runs at 275MHz and the 3.3ns DDR memory is clocked at 550MHz which is the same as a Ti4400. I am very interested in seeing if this card can surpass GeForce 4 Ti4600 speeds which are only 25MHz higher on the core and around 150-200MHz higher on the memory side depending on who the card is coming from."

Check it out at: 3D NewsNET

Corsair TWINX512 PC3200LL Memory Kit Review @ ExplosiveLabs
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:43 PM EST

"Corsair's TWINX memory kits are offered in 4 different flavors. Each kit differs in total memory size and memory speed. Depending on each individuals need for speed and desired amount of memory, below are the kits currently offered by Corsair. As you can see Corsair has yet to release any PC3500LL memory and it could perhaps be in testing right now. Whether or not they will even be able to create these type of  modules has yet to be seen by any memory manufacturer for that matter. A module like that would be an overclockers dream."

Check it out at: ExplosiveLabs

Eumax E702 Review @ ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:40 PM EST

"I’ve seen all types of mods done to cases.  Most of them involve changing the outside appearance of the case.  I think it’s about time we started taking a look at the inside of the case and how we can make it flashier; though adding that special touch shouldn’t cost you functionality.  IOCOMBO was kind enough to provide us with something that might be such a product, the Eumax E702."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

JMC 400124 Phoenix 60 Radial Fin P4 Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:39 PM EST

"Shiny aluminum always gets my attention, even when it's in circular form. JMC Products have recently released a few heatsinks on this same design guideline, and the JMC 400124 continues the Pentium 4 cooling tradition well while keeping acoustic noise at around 47 dB. The heatsink arrived for our testing with a full set of blueprints which gives us some detailed insight into the construction and manufacturing requirements applied to JMC's heatsinks. For example, the fan here is spec'd out at 100K hours MTBF. Based on similar techniques which were used by Agilent Technologies for their Arcticooler heatsinks a while back, the JMC 400124 Phoenix 60 even carries the same logo. The original Agilent heatsink was made for socket 370 Pentium III processors, but this version is intended for use with socket 478 Pentium 4's or even Socket 603/604 Xeons. The unit we tested was configured for socket 478."

Check it out at: frostytech

Soyo Clear Case Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:38 PM EST

"Soyo are now one of the big-guns in the motherboard industry, and have started to push out into other fields. Rather than follow the traditional route and start pumping out clonal Radeon 9700s and GeForce cards however, they have come up with something a bit more risqué, in the form of a clear computer case. There are already several high quality 100% acrylic kits on the market, including ones from Akasa and ClearPC, so lets see how Soyo’s effort measures up."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Noiseblocker Adjustable "Silent" Fans Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:36 PM EST

"Silent" cooling fans are not a new idea. The stereotype exists that low dB(A) fans mean pitiful cooling performance. You may think that a silent PC is only for those who have the processor toil lazily away at word processing. Will 3 hours of all-out gaming send silent fans scurrying back to the place they quietly came from? Silence is golden and Noiseblocker put three of their Ultra Silent Fans on the table to see if we could still hear ourselves think while keeping our cool.

Check it out at: Icrontic

Antec TrueControl 550 watt Power Supply Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:35 PM EST

"With all of the new goodies coming out all the time, the concept of using that old 250 watt power supply just doesn't work anymore. Come join Mike "Darthtanion" Wright as he takes a look at a solution to this problem; namely, the Antec TrueControl 550 watt PSU. Not only does it have power to spare, it also includes some features that truly set it apart from the competition. Come see for yourself!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

Gainward GeForceFX 5200 and 5200 Ultra Cards @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:21 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've got a look at two new cards from Gainward, which promise to bring "cinematic rendering" to the sub-$200 graphics card market. Gainward's Ultra 760 and 660 cards are based on the GeForceFX 5200 Ultra and 5200 chipsets, respectively. Both include 128MB of memory, full DirectX 9.0 support, and near silent cooling (yes, near silence for a GeForceFX!). Unfortunately, the performance of these two cards leaves much to be desired.

Check it out at: GamePC

Matrix Orbital LK202-24-USB (MX2) LCD Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:20 PM EST

"LCDC comes with tons of useful plug-ins already built in. By going to the configuration screen you can enable and disable whatever plug-ins you would like. I personally loaded up the Motherboard Monitor plug-in, Winamp 2.X plug-in and Weather plug-in."

Check it out at: OCIA

Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW CD-R/RW Review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:18 PM EST

have mixed feelings when it comes to this drive. On one hand you have an amazing new technology that allows you backup your data on one or two DVD+R’s quickly. You also have the ability to create movies to play on a stand alone DVD player so you can watch your movies on the big screen. But, with the DVD+R/+RW standard there comes the pitfall of a more expensive media and a lower compatibility than the DVD-R/-RW standard. For this review I was able to purchase DVD+R media but was unable to easily find a DVD+RW disk to use.

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

Coolermaster Black Alloy Bezel Review @ Voided Warranty
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:17 PM EST

"Installation was very easy and required virtually no brain capacity at all. Of course I already knew that because I have reviewed one of these before."

Check it out at: Voided Warranty

Onkyo Envision LS-V500C Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:39 PM EST

"For a price of around $700 Onkyo has a simple, technically sound solution for the novice home theater enthusiasts. The Envision provides above average performance combined with one of the best planned units for a simple and easy setup. It features built-in Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic II, DTS and even MP3 decoders."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

SunbeamTech Acrylic Case Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:38 PM EST

GideonTech takes a look at the acrylic case offering from CCFL giant, SunbeamTech. The look of CCFLs light in this case is blinding...

Check it out at: GideonTech

How To: Setting up a Linux Server with Red Hat 9.0 @ Bitbender
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:37 PM EST

“The key to a good linux installation is understanding what it is you want out of the deal when it's completed. Linux is a very different operating system, and is more suited to serious computing needs than a microsoft operating system. There are basically three types of configurations (and many combinations in between) for a linux desktop system for the average home user…”

Check it out at: Bitbender

Soltek SL-75MRN (IGP) Mainboard Review @ LostCircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:35 PM EST

The probably best budget gaming solution currently available is using the IGP version of the nForce2 with its integrated GeForce4 MX graphics core. Dual channel memory controllers, a new low-latency arbiter and integrated sound and LAN capabilities make this chipset a "Jack of All Trades". There is really no point in adding a ton of features to a budget board, pimp it up with gold flitter and bright yellow slots, leave the legacy MIDI and game port on and see who bites. This is exactly what Soltek has done with the SL-75MRN L. So far, so good, what about overclocking and quality. Or stability in general. To be honest, we never had a problem in that department but that's not the full story either.

Check it out at: LostCircuits

The Extreme Computer Mod @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:32 PM EST

"The reason I took on this project was because I wanted a custom computer that was unique. I started by looking for a suitable AMP shell. Why? Think about it. It is basically a giant heat sink. I wanted a thermally stable, stream lined, small case. Also, it must have a lot of eye-candy!"

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB Serial ATA Review @ ExplosiveLabs
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:32 PM EST

"Maxtor is among the few to follow Seagate's lead, and could be considered Seagate's highest competition for the first round of SATA production.  Meanwhile, Western Digital has released their Enterprise Raptor drive, which is the first to break the 10,000 RPM barrier for SATA.  IBM on the other hand has relinquished their storage division to Hitachi, emerging as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, and they have yet to release any plans for SATA."

Check it out at: ExplosiveLabs

Crucial PC3200 DDR400 256MB Memory Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:30 PM EST

"A division of Micron, Crucial.com have been selling JEDEC-spec memory directly to the public since 1996. Since then they have built up an extremely good reputation for themselves. In any case, on with today's look at some special engineering sample Crucial PC3200 DDR. After JEDEC approved the PC3200 standard in Dec. 2002, manufacturers began the rush to not only get their DDR400 memory compliant, but also to encourage support within mainstream computer manufacturers like Intel. It seems the memory manufacturers are having a hard time with the JEDEC PC3200 standard, most compliant PC3200 memory use extremely relaxed memory timings as is the memory we're testing today. By default, the Crucial PC3200 DIMM's run with 3-4-4-8 memory timings at 2.5V and each stick of memory uses 16x 128Mbit Micron DRAM which have a 5ns rating."

Check it out at: pcstats

ABIT BH7 Mainboard Review @ Nexus Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:26 PM EST

"ABIT has been a longstanding provider of quality retail products. More specifically, they are a longstanding provider of quality overclocking products. Their much hyped BH7 board has landed on our test beds, and hopefully this 845PE product will continue to meet the enthusiast’s standards. The BH7 is built around the idea that minimalist features results in maximal performance. Nary a RAID controller, nor support for IEEE 1394 (firewire) can be seen. Contrary to some of the ABIT Max series, the BH7 has the traditional PS/2, serial, and parallel ports."

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

Wire Sleeve Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:24 PM EST

"Do you hate starring at your computer case and looking at the insane amount of wires that are infesting the inside of your case? Do you wish that there was someway to clean up the mess of wires inside your case but also not pay a pretty penny? Well, with the help of Xoxide and their many different methods of modding your dream machine, this is now possible."

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Muffled Computing Fan Mufflers Video Review #290 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 6:22 PM EST

"The Muffled Computing Fan Mufflers and Foam Kits allow your otherwise loud computer a significant degree of quietness. With coolers needing faster fans to keep powerful CPU's cool and Power Supplies with two or more fan and then there's case fans which equals a lot of noise. Thankfully these products help kill most of this annoying noise. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

MSI CR52-A2 CD writer review @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:22 PM EST

The MSI CR52-A2 CD writer is based on the Burn Proof technology which is world acclaimed since a long time and where all the other similar technologies are based on. The Burn Proof technology is meant to prevent the accidental transformation of CD-Rs into coasters during burn sessions. The trick consists of maintaining a data buffer, and programming the drive to stop burning if the data level falls below a certain level. Once that happens, the drive inserts a mark on the CD that it can use to tell where to pick-up its work once more data becomes available. This method has proven to be very effective at culling the coaster population.

Check it out at: Active-Hardware

AOpen AK79G MAX nForce2-GT Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:20 PM EST

"AOpen are one of the larger component manufacturers in the industry, also producing a vast array of peripherals like keyboards and even computer cases. Such is the diversity of products that it would not be a stretch to say you could just about assemble an entire computer from purely AOpen parts, even down to the very last stick of RAM. Aiming for the mass markets generally means you get good value with AOpen products, and one such example of this is the AK79G Max nForce2-GT (Crush 18G) motherboard we are examining here which is priced at about $140USD. Nvidia have recently expanded on the nForce2 lineup which originally encompassed just the nForce2-G/nForce-S Northbridges, and MCP Southbridge. The two new iterations to be added to the family include the nForce2-GT and nForce2-ST which contain the MCP-T Southbridge."

Check it out at: pcstats

NextCool WaterCube GT3 Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:19 PM EST

"The copper base of the unit is fixed to the painted brass top by means of four hex screws. I opted not to break the seal on the unit prior to testing, so the internal layout is unclear. The unit does identify the inlet and outlet by means of printed text. While the outlet is in a fairly standard location, the inlet has a rather odd placement, being just off center at the extreme side of the block. This lies in stark contrast with the majority of high-performance blocks which place the inlet directly above the center of the block, allowing the coolant to hit the CPU core first, maximizing thermal transfer."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Doom 3 Special @ Ownt
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:17 PM EST

Wired Magazine recently published a decent sized article on Doom 3 and a little bit on how it's coming along and some behind the scenes details and happenings at the game's developer, id Software. Ownt.com takes some snippets from the feature and puts them up for your reading pleasure. While most are not direct quotes, they summarize the most interesting sections of the article and give you a quick peek at what the write-up included.

Check it out at: Ownt

Fairway Radeon 9000 PRO 64MB Review @ Beyond3D
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:16 PM EST

"Fairway is currently embarking on a retail drive -- after being so long in the "background", they now feel that the time has come for them to enter the more lucrative retail market. In addition to what is being reviewed here -- the Radeon 9000 PRO 64MB -- Fairway covers the entire range of ATI's Radeon product-line, including the latest R350-based Radeon 9800 PRO.”

Check it out at: Beyond3D

Sunbeam Rheobus Easy Fan Controller Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:14 PM EST

"It’s an age old problem. Overclocking creates more heat, which requires additional cooling, which requires additional fans, which creates more noise. A good way to deal with this problem is to be able to slow down or turn off some fans when they are not required. Sunbeam's Rheobus Easy Fan Controller lets you do just that. A big thanks to Xoxide for sending the unit."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Chieftech Matrix Case Review @ DeviantPC
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:12 PM EST

"In the words of Chieftec USA, the new Matrix series is known among overclockers, modders, water-coolers, and other PC nuts for its modding potential and durable design. So not surprisingly, the Chieftec Matrix Series case should meet all of the basic case conditions for modding."

Check it out at: DeviantPC

X-trac Pro HS Mouseing Surface Review @ Computer Sphere
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:11 PM EST

"The X-trac Pro HS Mouseing Surface was very different from the normal design. It turned out to be really good , The hexagonal pattern and random dot configuration made for a very responsive mouse. I really was satisfied with this mouse pad. Playing games using this pad was great. This pad should last years to come in the future , cloth pads are way out and yes they do make some good cloth pads out but new optical mouse pads are the way to go. It is very easy to clean and smooth, The x trac mouseing surface is great and I recommend it to anyone wanting a new and superb mouseing surface."

Check it out at: Computer Sphere

Exclusive Tt SubZero4G AMD TEC Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:08 PM EST

Again, the SubZero4G is a pleaser.  While it didn't beat the SLK-800 out in raw performance it did get right there, like hair in a biscuit.  The VERY obvious thing during testing was the sound level.  The Tt Smart Fan 2 shod SLK was hitting my ears at every bit of 48 dBA while the SubZero4G was just noticeable.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

FlexiGlowHK Bubble Lamps Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:07 PM EST

"While innovation comes along now and again, here is one product that screams original idea. I'm talking about the FlexiGlow Bubble Lamps. While they look like Cold Cathode Tubes, technically, they aren't. There are actually powered by bright LED's in one side of the tube. And boy, it does look slick. The only problem I can foresee really is; where the heck do I want to mount them? Oh, and by the way,the movie for this review is the real showcase..."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

The SpeedPad comes to Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:02 PM EST

The SpeedPad is one in a million. Made for almost every computer user. Its ergonomically design makes it comfortable to use for extended periods of time without wear and tear on both the pad and the users comfort! It offers users a large, solid mousing surface, nine rubber pads to keep the mouse pad in place, and a bevelled edge to make it comfortable for the user’s wrist. The surface of these mouse pads is slightly rough, as the fine surface indents provide this effective texture

Check it out at: Bytesector

Zippy Electro-luminescent EL-610 Mini-Keyboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 9:01 PM EST

"I've personally always preferred typing out articles on a notebook keyboard versus that of a full sized klunker. Notebook-style keyboards have a shorter keystroke which makes them 'faster'. Keystroke is a way of measuring how far you have to press a key down before it counts as a letter to the computer, and since a notebook doesn't have all that much free space the keystroke is typically just 3mm. Compare that to a full sized 104-key Windows keyboard which can have as much as a 6-8mm keystroke. This preference for 'fast' notebook-styled keyboards has held on for long time inspite of the sometimes cramped layouts and condensed key pitch (how far keys are spaced apart) that comes with territory. The Zippy EL-610 USB keyboard is a notebook style 'B5' keyboard with a twist - with the flick of switch it will glow blue.Behind the 88-translucent keys is a flat sheet of electro-luminescent material - the same stuff that puts the glow in "Indiglo" which lights up watch faces around the world."

Check it out at: pcstats

OCZ TECHNOLOGY PC3500 ENHANCED LATENCY MEMORY REVIEW @ Tweaknews
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:38 PM EST

"While running the DDR400 gauntlet, I have to say that it has been a chore finding the appropriate ram that will run at DDR400 and run without problems. To test this further, I requested a sample of DDR433 PC3500 Enhanced Latency memory from OCZ Technologies to test whether indeed my problems were due to the limitations of the P4X400 chipset I was testing on, or whether the memory was the cause of my performance problems. Did OCZ's representative sample of DDR433 fix my problems? Well my friend, read on....."

Check it out at: Tweaknews

40mm Sanyo Tornado Fan Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:37 PM EST

"So you need a 40mm fan? That wimpy fan on your chipset not cutting it for you? Haha. Then you have to come see this 40mm Sanyo Tornado fan. While I was just going to do a review of it, I thought, boy, that would be boring. So I tried to spice it up a bit by using it in an old 5 1/4" Hard Drive cooler bay I had laying around. Although I couldn't take temps with the old 40mm fans before I gave it the big upgrade, just wait till you see how it dropped the Hard Drive temperature!"

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

TurboCase X-Sonic Mid-Tower Case Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:36 PM EST

"Out of the box, the X-Sonic Mid-Tower Case is very well constructed and built with an aluminum based case chassis that is 0.80mm thick. The case measures approximately 395mm (D) x 205 mm (W) x 420mm (H) and supports all Flex, Micro, Full ATX motherboards. The entire exterior is silver coloured with the main focus on the front bezel design and pre-modified side panel window. The front bezel is very stylish with a great futuristic type look and is protected by a plastic overlay. The highlight for this case is the inclusion of a pre-modified window on the left side panel which is secured using a series of white plastic push pins.

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Samsung 240T 24 Inch Widescreen LCD Display @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:34 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've got a review of Samsung's "ultimate" LCD monitor, the Syncmaster 240T. The 240T boasts some incredible specifications, such as a 24 inch widescreen display, resolutions up to 1920 x 1200, picture in picture, and it even includes a remote control! We run through the various aspects of this monitor and take lots of shots to show what this monitor is capable of.

Check it out at: GamePC

Xoxide Cold Cathode Fans Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:33 PM EST

"Once the package was opened you can see the components below. The blue Inverter powers the cathode and is controlled by the switch below that fits in an empty PCI slot cover on the back of your case. The fan can be attached via a 3 pin or 4 pin connector. The really cool thing about this setup is that you can add a second cold cathode tube to the inverter. The 3 pin connector also has an RPM sensor."

Check it out at: OCIA

DangerDen Maze3 & Products (Review) @ ipKonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:32 PM EST

The products we're using are a bit on the extremist side. The pump is one that pushes quite a bit of water, and was recommended for the radiator we're using. As mentioned, the radiator can support 4 120mm fans. In our setup, we have two pushing and two pulling air through the radiator fins. This almost guarantees maximum cooling, and because the radiator measures in at 10.75 x 5.25 x 1.77 inches, a strong pump is needed. The inner copper core uses 9.44 inches of 2-pass double row flat tubes.

Installing this radiator can be a troublesome battle for small cases. It's huge, folks, and it is stressed that this unit be firmly mounted. The case we're using is very wide, tall, and has pre-cut 120mm fan holes on the rear of the case. This allowed us to install all four 120mm fans for optimal performance. Note that you will have a large radiator with two 120mm fans sticking out the rear. This is made possible by pre-drill holes found on both sides of the radiator's frame, making installation easier--provided you have the room in the first place.

Check it out at: ipKonfig

SATA DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB 8MB Cache Drive from Maxtor Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:30 PM EST

"This review is ending the opposite of what I had expected from the outset.  I know that a reviewer is supposed to begin every review unbiased, but after seeing the yields from earlier SATA drives, my expectations were relatively low.  This Maxtor drive has flat out impressed me at every turn."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Cooler Master Aero 7 Socket-A @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:29 PM EST

"Both the X-Dream and the Swiftech, with fans at full speed (constant in the case of the Swifty) are idling at 45C. The Aero7 quite literally blows them away with a 4 degree difference, dropping to just 41C. The last time I was this surprised with a HSF was when I upgraded my Thermalright SK7 and Delta assembly to the Swiftech, which not only dropped the noise significantly but also the temperature."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

ATi AIW Board Shot & EAZYLOOK Screenshots @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:28 PM EST

As you all know, earlier today ATi announced their new All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro, and mentioned the new “EAZYLOOK” features that are being integrated into the next version of the Multimedia Center software.  Well, we got our hands on a board shot and some screenshots illustrating some of the “EAZYLOOK” menus. 

Check it out at: HotHardware

Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at 7:25 PM EST

"Hercules is a name synonymous with the highest quality graphics cards available. Typically you pay a premium for this, but if you want the best of the best, it's worth it. Today we are looking at their flagship card, the Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro, of course based on ATi’s astonishing 9700 Pro card."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Lian Li PC-05 Aluminum Case Review #289 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:25 PM EST

"The Lian Li PC-05 Aluminum Case is the very first budget style case from Lian Li. This case has four 5.24", three 3.5" and three 3.5" hidden drive bays and three fans. There are two fans with a filter at the front and one at the back to allow good air flow. While this case has all the essentials it doesn't have a removable motherboard tray but it's well priced and has great build quality. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Bytecc Zippy Slim EL Keyboard @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:24 PM EST

"What do you get when you put together lights and a slim keyboard? Something really screwed up and sloppy. Thankfully, Bytecc has their EL lighted keyboards that take the guess work out of keyboard light mods!"

Check it out at: ASE Labs

Lian-Li PC-6070: The Silent Case Review @ ExplosiveLabs
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:23 PM EST

"Of those making aluminum cases, Lian-Li is arguably the most prominent manufacturer.  Granted, there are others like CoolerMaster, and then comes the vapo-chilled cases.  But that aside, Lian-Li has readily gobbled up much of the market, which has mostly happened with the last 5 some years.  They have even been able to mosey their way on over to the floors of CeBIT to announce their latest products.  Their hard work is readily visible at most resellers, as a result.  When you visit any high volume reseller that sells cases, Lian-Li is something you can expect them to carry."

Check it out at: ExplosiveLabs

Xoxide Cable Sleeving @ Modasylum
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:22 PM EST

"Not a pretty sight to say the least, upon seeing that my first attempt at putting the sleeving on the wires I felt fairly let down by this product until i realized the errors in the way i was attempting to get the sleeving onto the leads. Once you make the mistake of trying to force the sleeving over the wires, and assuming you learn from your mistakes, the process becomes a lot more easier as you progress in applying the sleeving to the leads."

Check it out at: Modasylum

EL Window Appliques - AMD Logo Review @ Computer Sphere
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:21 PM EST

"The AMD EL window Appliqué and the many other Electro-Luminescent Appliqués that TweakMonster.com carries should fit your needs. This product was very nice and would be a good idea of having and adding it to your window. It would go great with a green light scheme or if you’re a huge AMD fan. This appliqué looks great anywhere and should make your friends or fellow modders want one too. I think TweakMonster has done a very good job with this and many other appliqués they make and should appeal to most anyone out there that wants a different effect on their window instead of the normal dull appliqués."

Check it out at: Computer Sphere

NV31 / GeForce FX 5600 Ultra (Reference) Review @ Beyond3D
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:19 PM EST

“In comparison to the Ti4200, NV31's single texturing fill-rate is just a little higher which is as we'd expect, albeit possibly to a greater degree. With twice the texture sampling abilities per pipeline, though, Ti4200's multi-texturing rate is higher than NV31's, whose clock speed advantage isn't able to make up for the deficit in texturing fill-rate.”

Check it out at: Beyond3D

Vantec Nexus Rheobus Review @ techwarelabs
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:18 PM EST

Techware Lab has published its review of the Vantec Nexus NXP 201 SL rheobus.  The Nexus fan controller allows you to connect up to 4 fans and manually adjust the speed potentiometer settings.  Along with the blue LEDs and stylish silver/black housing this product is a visually appealing solution to reduce the noise level in your case.

Check it out at: techwarelabs

Athlon XP 3000+ @ Nexus Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:17 PM EST

"Recently, AMD launched a new-flag ship processor. Its PR rating is 3000+ and runs at 2.17GHz (the same clockspeed as an Athlon XP 2700+). This microprocessor uses the new Barton core which has a major enhancement. The improvement from the ThoroughBred core to the Barton core is the doubling of the L2 cache from 256K to 512K. This increases performance, and also enlarges the die size by 20%. The last benefit a larger die size allows is better heat dissipation. This increase in L2 cache also raises the manufacturing price. New technology always comes with a hefty price tag and this continues the tradition. Nonetheless, some processor releases offer negligible speed increase, yet a very large price increase. Today we are going to look at how the 3000+ scales against some older ThoroughBreds."

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

USB Pocket KVM Switch review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:16 PM EST

“Keyboard, video, mouse - the three items that every computer needs to interact with a living being. However, what if you have two or more computers, and only have room for one set of these I/O devices? Enter the KVM switch - plug all three into a small box, and plug extra leads into each machine. Ideally, this was an expensive but cost-effective solution for server administrators, but lately KVMs have appeared for the home-office/enthusiast market. The USB Pocket KVM Switch throws-in USB switching in the event your keyboard or mouse does not have a PS/2 port.”

Check it out at: Envy News

Zippy EL-610 EL Keyboard Review @ ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:14 PM EST

"Certain keyboards stand out from the crowd because of specific features, size, and 'cool factor'; this is one of those keyboards. Today I will be reviewing the Zippy EL-610 Electron Luminescent keyboard by Zippy Technology Corp."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

Lapvantage Deluxe Dome review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:12 PM EST

“A novel solution to an age-old problem, the Lapvantage Deluxe Dome offers the possibility of lifting your laptop to new heights. Not only does it reduce back and neck strain by lifting its screen at the same level as your eyes, but the laptop underside receives adequate airflow and cooling, and its ports are more easily accessible.”

Check it out at: Envy News

XFX GeForce4 Ti4200 Turbo 8x review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:11 PM EST

“The Ti4200 series has been one of the best sellers in NVIDIA history, and there is a good reason for that. It has one of the best price-to-performance ratios and tweaker’s are able to do many things with it including some very decent overclocking. That is what XFX had in mind with this card with the larger-than-average heatsink, placing the components on an eight-layer PCB for better shielding, and a fantastic in-box software and hardware bundle.”

Check it out at: Envy News

X-Trac Zoom Mouse Pad Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:09 PM EST

"Enter the third X-Trac mouse pad I have looked at from PCXMods. While I really liked the two previously, this particular one may really appeal to some of you. Those who like their mouse pads thin. This is definitely that. Thin as a credit card, yes, even thinner than a CD, this thin optical mouse pad measuring 8 1/2" x 11" should be ample size for anyone. Continue on, as this one will be short, but full of nice pictures to look at. :)"

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

Aguatec Blue Ice Liquid Cooler @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:08 PM EST

“The Aguatec Blue-Ice CP-101 attempts to combine the benefits of liquid cooling along with the safety of a self-contained heatsink. The CP-101 is an all-in-one design containing the coolant, pump, radiator, and fan in a single component. The coolant is circulated through the heatsink and cooled by the fan as it blows air through the copper radiator. The base of the heatsink houses the magnetic diaphragm pump that circulates the coolant.”

Check it out at: AthlonXP

X-Dreamer Case Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, April 7, 2003 at 8:07 PM EST

All the cases that I've seen with front audio access just have the jacks that you run out the back of the case and plug into your sound card. The X-Dreamer however gives you the ability to plug directly into your motherboard's front audio panel connections. Very nice, now you don't have to take up the ports in the back or have to run the wires all the way through.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

X-Sonic Aluminum Midtower Case Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:32 PM EST

"Here we get an internal look at the drive bays. This case supports four 5 1/4" drives, two 3 1/2" external drives and two 3 1/2" internal drives. Below the 3 1/2" bays we have a neon green fan holder. An 80mm case fan can be installed here to draw cool air from outside and blow it across your PCI cards. Speaking of the 3 1/2" bays, the entire rack is removable for easy HDD installation"

Check it out at: OCIA

Nexus Fan Controller Review @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:29 PM EST

"This is a really nice product, it has the looks, it has everything you need, and it's not expensive, and your able to choose out of 2 different colors. I heard some people complaining about some parts flying off the rheobus while using it, I haven't experienced any difficulties ( Except for the little buzzing noise coming from the unit ) with this product whatsoever. Too bad they didn't made the LED's glow brighter as the more power the fans are getting like the SunbeamTech rheobus does."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

Epox 8RDA+ nForce 2 *Update* @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:27 PM EST

"We've replaced the Crucial PC2700 with Corsair TWINX PC3200, and redid the overclocking. As a result, we were able to improve our sycronous overclocking results to 12.5x190, which may not seem like much, but the memory timings are 5-2-2-2, which should result in much better overall system performance. By moving to a CAS latency of 2.5, our syncronous overclocked result was 12.5x192."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

CpuMate DIA-21500 "Achilles" P4 Heatpipe Cooler Review @ hardcoreware
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:25 PM EST

Their first entry is a cool looking side-mounted copper heatpipe-integrated P4 cooler. While that simply sounds like a bunch of buzz-words thrown together, CpuMate has actually done a significant amount of research to qualify their design. Certainly a lot of thought was put into this cooler (why else would they go through the headaches of using a side mounted fan?), let's find out if it was put into good use!

Check it out at: hardcoreware

How to Work With Plastics Article @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:23 PM EST

"Mixing Icing is easier to show than to explain. If memory is correct, I think it is to be mixed 50:1. With body filler, an inch of hardener, per a golf ball size of putty was a general rule of thumb. Finishing putty is a lot thinner and runs flat on the mixing board so that is hard to judge."

Check it out at: PimpRig

Avocent Switchview OSD KVM Switch Review @ GeekExtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:21 PM EST

What has this to do with a KVM Switch? Space. Computers, for the most part, can be stuck any place they can fit. They can be stacked, stuffed under desks, in the corner -- wherever you might choose, so long as the cables reach in the end. Monitors on the other hand -- they have to be at eye level, and preferrably right in front of you. Keyboards and mice are also a critical issue. Personally if I have more than one keyboard/mouse combo sharing the spotlight on my desk, I end up typing things on one computer when I intend to do so on an entirely different computer. Now, for most geeks, a two or four port KVM switch might be perfectly adequate -- but I want more. Eight ports gives me a wealth of expansion options, from the permanent to the temporary. Besides, imagine the look on your friend's face when you switch between several computers, each performing a different task! In some ways, this is even better than a multiprocessor system!

Check it out at: GeekExtreme

BoPC is waxing with MouseWax
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:19 PM EST

"It looks um rather similar to a certain bodily fluid. I quickly wiped it off before my roommate saw it and wondered just what I as reviewing this time around. As you can see from the picture, the Mouse Wax is a white semi-thick liquid. It resembles the bike chain lube I use on my mountain bikes."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

PC Toys Stealth 80mm Fan Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 7:18 PM EST

"Right out of the box we see the fan itself with 3-pin connector as well as four self-tapping mounting screws. The retail packaging looks nice and should catch your eye over "standard" 80mm fans on the shelf. The key feature of this fan is in its name: "Stealth". This fan is aimed at those users who simply can't stand loud fans twirling away in their system."

Check it out at: OCIA

LIUtilities SpeedUpMyPC Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 6:09 PM EST

"The Memory page allows the user to monitor current Physical Memory and Page File usage, both of which are displayed on graphs. Similar to the above covered "Prioritize Windows System Functions" feature, the memory page features a "Free RAM Automatically When Physical Memory Usage" option that can be entered either via the text field or by adjusting the sliding limit symbol from the Physical Memory Usage graph. This option combined with the similar CPU option essentially ensures that your system will be not be tied down due to resource intensive applications."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Exclusive info and pic on Albatron's GFFX 5200 @ 3D NewsNET
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 6:07 PM EST

"Mar. 2003 - Albatron Technology, a manufacturer of VGA cards and mainboards, launched its new Gigi FX5200 series VGA cards featuring nVIDIA's action packed GeForceTM FX5200 GPU (NV34). The Gigi FX5200 graphics accelerators use 128-bit, studio-precision color to produce the same film-magic engineered by some of the most state-of-the-art motion picture special effects companies. The Gigi FX5200 graphics accelerators will bring you the industry's highest quality imagery for the most demanding applications in the mainstream market today."

Check it out at: 3D NewsNET

Cremax Multi-Function HDD Transfer Rack Video Review #288 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 6:06 PM EST

"The Cremax Multi-Function HDD Transfer Rack is an excellent way to protect, cool and monitor your Hard Drive. This product offers quick installation of a HDD, has two 40mm fans (one redundant), three temperature probes, slide front plane, backlight LCD and more. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Enermax 3.5" System Monitor Control Panel Review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 6:04 PM EST

"The aluminum face is very tastefully done, Enermax refrained from plastering graphics all over the front. The only graphics on the front is a discreet Enermax label on the top left and function labels under the buttons and knobs. You old-timers will need to break out your bifocals in order to read the text labels, they are very small."

Check it out at: PimpRig

OCZ DDR PC3500 Dual Channel EL Kit @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 6:02 PM EST

"A 235MHz (470MHz DDR) was the best we were able to manage while still maintaining stability. I did try the same overclock again, and lowered the ram back to CAS2, but while it got to the Windows logon screen, the PC just froze there. I also attempted 2.5-2-2-7, but again, the system crashed. In fact, the damage was so severe, a reinstall of Windows was required. Thank goodness for disk images."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Athlon XP 3000+, AMD closing in on Intel @ Hardware Analysis
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 6:02 PM EST

With the introduction of the Athlon XP 3000+ AMD steps up to the plate in an attempt to dethrone Intel's Pentium 4. With a boost in cache memory the 3000+ indeed is a powerful CPU, but is it fast enough to best the Pentium 4?

Check it out at: Hardware Analysis

Kingwin 450W Power Supply Reviewed @ Techware Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 5:59 PM EST

Techware Labs has just released its review of the Kingwin KWI-450W power supply. This 450 Watt PSU features three fans with smart-fan technology, ten molex power connectors reaching up to 36" from the unit, and a whole lot of power. With a well-known brand name, a whopping 450 Watts of power, and three, smart fans, the KWI-450W has quite a bit to offer for a relatively low cost.

Check it out at: Techware Labs

Corsair 512MB TwinX DDR Memory (Review) @ ipKonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 5:55 PM EST

These TwinX memory modules are more or less stress relievers for the PC enthusiast. What we mean by that is: Corsair did a little work for you so you wouldn't have to. Newer motherboards available are coming out with what is called Dual-Channel DDR. One might ask what the difference between XMS and TwinX is. The actual distinction is very insignificant. There are only two real disparities between the two are, first, that TwinX has a lower latency, and, second, physical testing is done to match each module as a pair for DualDDR technology. This assures stable, fast, and ready to ship memory for Dual-Channel technology motherboards.

Check it out at: ipKonfig

Apple's 17" iMac review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 5:54 PM EST

"If you have read our review on Apple’s 15” iMac from last year then you already now just how impressed we are with the overall design and feel of the flat panel iMac line. The iMac falls into an emerging niche market which many publications are failing to recognize. This niche market is one of “lifestyle” computing and digital convergence. From the Gateway Profile PC to the Sony W20, lifestyle computing is about design and function, not power and size. The Apple iMac looks and feels good in any environment, whether it’s your home office, your children’s bedroom or the kitchen; it is part of the home decor."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

XidePad Ultra ][ Mousepad Review @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, April 5, 2003 at 5:52 PM EST

When you're a gamer your most important tool besides your graphics card is your mouse and it's ability to be precise when moving. In order to achieve this precise movement you need a surface, which the mouse can glide freely on. I am sure many of you have had this problem when you have to keep moving your mouse over and over again to click on a link, or rotate your character in a game it is quite frustrating. There are many mouse pads out there built for the gamer and non-gamer, which give us incredible control over our mouse. However they leave somewhat of a void when it comes to cosmetic appearance, the pads are usually black and come in a few different shapes to help make it a little more eye pleasing.

Check it out at: Tech-Dreams

Evercool WC-101 Liquid Cooling Kit Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:20 PM EST

"After removing the contents of the package out of the box, I was pretty skeptical in terms of whether or not this kit would be to perform as equally or better than and air cooled system. The main water cooling unit itself is the same identical size as a standard optical drive. During my initial inspection , I noted the unit was already primed and filled with coolant. I was surprised that Evercool would not ship the tubing separately instead of the current configuration. This provides a limitation for any consumer considering this package since most cases differentiate in size."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Logitech Cordless Navigator Duo review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:18 PM EST

"Wireless is becoming more popular with everyday. We now have wireless phones, cell phones, wireless networks, remotes, and much more. But what makes wireless so special? Well, that is an easy one; it’s more convenient, comfortable, and for the lazy one in all of us one simple truth: "LAZINESS"."

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Thermaltake Volcano 11 “Xaser Edition” HSF Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:17 PM EST

"By now, nearly everyone has heard of the product line called Thermaltake Volcano. With their latest revision hitting the streets, we need to find out firsthand whether it is a worthwhile choice for our cooling needs. So come join Mike "Darthtanion" Wright as he takes a look at the newest heatsink to wear this name, the Volcano 11 "Xaser Edition". And while we're at it, we'll go ahead and see if it deserves a spot in our own power system!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

Lapworks Laptop Desk V2.0 Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:16 PM EST

"The rubber surface prevents your laptop from skidding right off your legs.  I ran my fingers across it a few times to see if it was easy to pry pieces off the rubber.  None came off thankfully. Notice the channels between the raised rubber pieces.  These channels allow the heat generated at the bottom of the laptop to dissipate through the sides."

Check it out at: GideonTech

Samsung SyncMaster 172w 17" TFT Monitor Review @ explosivelabs
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:14 PM EST

"Our first venture into the display segment is Samsung's SyncMaster 172w, which is a 17" TFT monitor with a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. This is one of the latest monitors Samsung has introduced into their TFT line which ranges from 15" - 24" (The 24" having a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio as well).  The SyncMaster 172w features a 17" viewable screen, already mentioned 16:9 aspect ratio, a 1280 x 768 native resolution and comes with analog and digital (DVI) inputs, and a 400:1 contrast ratio just to name a few.  One of the more pleasant features of the 172w has to be it's $630USD price tag, which is moderate compared to many of its peers."

Check it out at: explosivelabs

Antec LANBOY Case review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:11 PM EST

"As LAN parties become more popular, people want to be able to attend without having to carry a large and heavy computer case. This is one of the reasons we have seen so many people migrating to small light weight cases and small form factor computer systems. In the LANBOY, Antec chose to target the small light weight case segment."

Check it out at: PimpRig

Spire 9T236B1M3G Pentium4 Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:10 PM EST

"Who remembers the time when big loud fans were being slapped onto undersized heatsinks and being sold to consumers hungry for some overclocking? With heatsink names that always somehow managed to fit the word "overclock" into their description, it still makes me cringe a little. The sound of fear these days comes from those old 60 dB Delta's reeving up - which while good for cooling - are utterly, absolutely, and unconditionally too loud for normal every day computers in the home. Whatever, that was then and this is now. Manufacturers and consumers have regained their senses and cast out the loud heatsinks for quieter ones; Zalman's, Coolermaster's, Globalwin's, the list goes on. Fanner, who create heatsinks under the Spire and sometimes even Speeze name have recently added this little lower noise heatsink to their line up."

Check it out at: frostytech

Abit NF7-M nForce2 IGP Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:08 PM EST

"The success of nVIDIA's nForce2 chipset has been nothing short of phenomenal. In only half a year, nVIDIA have dethroned the previous champion chipsets from VIA and have created quite a reputation for themselves in the stable high performance chipset arena. Nvidia's competition has been scrambling to catch up, and even newer chipsets like VIA's KT400A don't appear to have enough muster when it comes to the benchmarks or feature lists. If one were to buy a mid to high end motherboard or AMD "whitebox" system these days, they would be well advised to only seriously consider options which have 'nVIDIA nForce2 inside.' Today we're going to be checking out Abit's NF7-M nForce2 IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) AMD AthlonXP motherboard. Other then the on board GeForce4 MX videocard care of the nForce IGP northbridge this board is virtually identical to Abit's extremely successful NF7/NF7-S motherboards with the exception that is lacks both built in SATA and IEEE1394 support."

Check it out at: pcstats

Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:06 PM EST

"Since patching my original Battlefield 1942 I have changed my mind slightly on the game. Most of the gripes I listed in my review are now solved thanks to the excellent patches provided by the developers. In fact if I reviewed B1942 in its present, patched, form it would easily get the Platinum Award, and I would not hesitate to say it was the best FPS multiplayer game I have ever played.

Now this gem has a new add-on pack, adding the much wanted Italian campaign to the fray. Add-on packs though are notorious for either adding too little to be worth the asking price, or have too much that they dramatically alter the balance the game once had. Does B1942: The Road to Rome follow the trend?

Check it out at: OcPrices

MouseWAX Review @ Computer Sphere
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, April 4, 2003 at 8:05 PM EST

"MouseWax was not as great as it was describe but does really works, and it works pretty good. I recommend this to gamers and people wanting a smooth and anti-friction mousing surface. I play a lot of games and after testing it in a couple of my favorite. Games , it really did shine while I was trying to frag that nub in the corner. Moving the mouse over to frag the shazbot was precise and slick. MouseWax was great but not the best, I did really like using it on my mouse feet and hope other gamers in the world can discover this fine product."

Check it out at: Computer Sphere

Samsung Spinpoint SP1203N Review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:55 PM EST

I’m pleased to say that within the last few years, manufacturers have started to realize the importance of not only a large & quick drive, but also one which won’t produce noise. With that said, Samsung has developed a few interesting technologies to combat the acoustic noise emission…

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

Epox EP-8RGA+ Motherboard (nForce2 - Socket 462) Video Review #287 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:52 PM EST

"The Epox EP-8RGA+ Motherboard is based on the nForce2 chipset and has onboard LAN, USB2, 6 channel Audio, Video etc... Not only does this mobo have onboard Video but it's capable of dual display which is a first for onboard video. One loaded product which is stable and fantastic at overclocking. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Editorial: Why your next printer won't be a Dell @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:51 PM EST

"Few heads will turn this morning when Dell Computer makes its long-awaited entry into the computer printer business...and customers aren't likely to flock to Dell's Web site to trade in their existing printer for a new one with a Dell logo."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Enermax CS-317(1L) Case Reviewed @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:49 PM EST

"This case has everything you need when your not into modding by hand, but still want a modified case. This case is cheap, it has the looks and it's packed full of attractive extras. The price XXLcases is giving it away for, is dirt cheap, just how we like it. This case has a nice window, however the neon disappoints me a bit, the sound activation isn't all that, and the light blinks in normal mode. The Fangrills obstruct the airflow too, and this case is made out of steel, not Aluminum, but nothing the price can't justify. The LED Bars are something unique, and really gives a nice effect."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

Abit NF7-M mForce 2 mainboard Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:48 PM EST

Available on many different versions, some of the NF7 models are including a serial ATA controler and a graphic controler as well.

The version that we will be testing is the NF7-M wich doesn'T have a serial ATA controler but is including a GeForce 4 MX graphic video card.

Based on NVIDIA's nForce2 SPP with MCP-2T chipset, this mainboard support 133Mhz FSB processors as well as DDR400 memory in Dual channel configuration.

Support of the AGP 8X graphic cards is of course taken care of by the chipset.

Finally, a LAN 10/100 controller is also included onboard with a 6 channel soundcard of the Soundstorm rendition supporting Digital Dolby 5.1.

Check it out at: Active-Hardware

Antec Performance Plus 1080AMG - SOHO File Server Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:47 PM EST

"Antec have a reputation for making very solid cases, bundled with their equally solid power supplies. While the “SX” series cases were very competent, Antec continued to advance, and modified the design. Their current flagship, the Performance Plus 1080AMG SOHO File Server case, is actually not all that much different from the old SXs. It does however; resolve many of the problems people had with their previous line of cases."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Corsair TWINX PC3200 Dual Channel Memory Kit @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:45 PM EST

"The Corsair TWINX on the otherhand, allowed for a 452MHz memory overclock, up from 400MHz. I tested the same overclocks using each TWINX stick individually, and although I didn't score higher, both sticks topped out at 452MHz."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

WinTasks 4 Professional Review @ Hardware Extreme
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:44 PM EST

"From the makers of WinBackup, that easy-to-use and affordable backup software, comes this piece of utility that allows tuning of the heart and soul of your PC; the operating system. Compare it to a mechanic's toolbox if you will. Well, you might be wondering if you really need something like this, after all for most PC users, as long as it is not broken, best to leave it alone. I would agree with this and for your average user, this utility might not strike a chord.

For the more advanced users and pros, it is a different story. System administrators, gamers, creative professionals and those who want to eke out the last drop or maximize the efficiency of their machines might find this piece of software useful."

Check it out at: Hardware Extreme

I-Star TC-500R8A vs. Enermax EG651P-VE PSU Review @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:42 PM EST

’’When building powerful PC's however, we have to take them a little more seriously. The poor selection of a power supply or the choice of an underpowered one can lead to serious problems with our systems. Embarking on the build of a rather serious dual AMD Opteron liquid cooled RAID 0 workstation is what made me take a closer look when selecting a power supply.”

Check it out at: AthlonXP

ABIT's latest rev 1.2 of the NF7-S Motherboard Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:41 PM EST

"The biggest problem with the VIA KT400 chipset is that it lacks a 1/6 PCI divider, effectively leaving bus speeds of 200MHz or higher unattainable.  With the release of the nForce2 chipset all of that was supposed to change.  Did it?  You bet it did!  The addition of the 6/3, 6/4, and 6/6 PCI dividers opened up a world that until now was not possible using the popular VIA chipsets."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Mushkin PC3500 DDR SDRAM Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:39 PM EST

"Memory speeds continue to increase as the need for more bandwidth is required for all of today’s games and applications. Mushkin not to be left behind has kept pace with the likes of Corsair, Geil and OCZ with their own PC3500 DDR SDRAM. Is the extra cost of Mushkin memory worth it? Read on as Cameron "Sov" Johnson gives us the answer."

Check it out at: TweakTown

pcToys MobileMaxx Aluminum HD Rack w/LCD @ XtReMoDs
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:38 PM EST

"A hard drive rack is a device that allows you to remove your hard drive and put it into another computer. By storing your files on a hard drive that is in a hard drive rack you can bring the files you use at work, home. You could also use a hard drive rack to swap out operating systems. If you setup one hard drive for you and all your important documents; then setup a different hard drive just for the kids, then you wont have to worry about your kids messing anything up. Any reason why you would need a hard drive rack would be the right reason to check out the MobleMaxx Aluminum HD Rack.

Some of the reasons you will want to use a hard drive rack is to have quick access to your hard drive, security, or hot swap abilities. You would expect all of this to be incorporated in a boring beige box with one of those flimsy handles on them. Now we can expect to see the best of the best in looks and performance."

Check it out at: XtReMoDs

Rounded UV Sensitive IDE Cables Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:36 PM EST

"This is one of those mods that’s both easy and fun too! Anyone with a couple of bucks can order these cables and enjoy hours of eye candy. Just don't stare too much. These IDE cables won't do back flips (well for most people).
Anyway despite the fact that they don't do back flips (yes I know many of you are disappointed) these cables certainly do the job. Both with performance and connectivity for your hard disk drives and your CD/DVD ROMs as well as the 'shweet' eye candy these babies provide."

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Abit NF7-M (nForce2 IGP) Review @ MBReview
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:34 PM EST

"The BIOS that comes along with the NF7-M is the main reason many users will be looking to this motherboard for their next system if they require integrated graphics. The insane voltages and memory timing adjustments that Abit offers are unparalleled by nearly all other manufacturers and in some case are unmatched whatsoever. The mere fact that Abit allows up to 2.3V for VCore is a clear statement as to who should be taking a look at this board, and who shouldn’t. Obviously if you plan on utilizing such high voltages you’d better have some serious cooling to keep the processor from suffering under the load of a voltage that high."

Check it out at: MBReview

ATI All-In-Wonder VE: The Backwards Card? @ ExplosiveLabs
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at 8:32 PM EST

"It seems that ATI wants to reach some of those "regular" computer users and system designers.  Granted most people aren't hardcore gamers, multimedia fanatics, or CG graphical artists; so they don't need the mighty hammer of the R3XX chips to stomp on low fps.  System designers [who make computers for regular folks like those of Dell, Gateway, and others] don't need to equip their systems with a cannon when they need a derringer.  On top of that many systems are still stuck with the use of older legacy technology."

Check it out at: ExplosiveLabs

JMC 400074 Skyjet 70 Radial Fin Heatsink Review @ rostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:48 PM EST

"Just when you thought the "Orb" heatsink was dead, done and long since buried JMC revive life back into the design. This orb-like cooler goes by the name Skyjet 70, and it is now technically called an "extruded radial fin heatsink." Capitalizing on the technology invented by Agilient long ago for the Arcticool heatsink, the JMC 400074 is a high volume adaptation that takes the best of "dual-pass airflow architecture," and puts it in a package ready for use on socket 478 Pentium 4 or socket 603/604 Xeon processors. The unit we tested was configured for socket 478 processors incidently. From our standpoint the visual similarities between this radial heatsink and the obs of long ago are pretty superficial. Thermaltakes' orbs used very shallow fins, bent at an angle. This heatsink is designed more appropriately with 21mm deep fins. The main difference is that the area below the 67mm diameter fan impeller is not solid - it's pure fin. The fan is also actually mounted to the base, but we'll step over that point altogether for the moment."

Check it out at: rostytech

LianLi PC60 Case Review @ DeviantPC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:46 PM EST

"As with the Coolermaster 201 the Lian Li PC-60 is now a well established product (having been on sale for 3 to 4 years), and over time the price has fallen dramatically. This means it is now a common choice for people looking for an affordable yet stylish and high performing aluminium case."

Check it out at: DeviantPC

Albatron KX400-8XV Pro KT400 Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:45 PM EST

"It wouldn't be much of an understatement to say that everyone's attention is firmly focused on nVidia's Nforce 2 chipset - and the boards that support it. Can a chipset really come before the motherboard, or even CPU in order of importance? Some of you are right now nodding your heads and saying "yes" to that question, but is this just isolated to the nForce2 chipset? These days it seems all the hype in the AMD world surrounds nVIDIA, but lest you forget there are other chipsets to choose from. Remember a tiny little company by the name of VIA? Well, their KT400 chipset powers the Albatron KX400-8XV Pro, and as you are soon to see, the results are interesting to say the least..."

Check it out at: pcstats

Abit NF7-S v1.2 Review @ DeviantPC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:43 PM EST

"In our recent nForce2 roundup, we compared the performance of 3 motherboards for AMD Athlon XP. Unfortunately we did not have a board from Abit at that time, so now we shall make up for that! This board is the Abit NF7-S v1.2, featuring the nForce2 SPP"

Check it out at: DeviantPC

CoolJag JVC652A heatsink review @ Alltechbox
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:41 PM EST

"On the base you can see machining marks that can be felt by running a nail on them. The thickness of the base corresponding to the notch for the clip is of 6mm and the maximum reached value is of 12 mm."

Check it out at: Alltechbox

"Kazaa's Future Replacement?" Hardware Article @ Ownt
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:40 PM EST

"Most veteran computer users know what Kazaa is and its ability to download just about anything you can find on the Internet. While Kazaa has its own batch of problems with finding files and users giving you enough speed to make it worth while to actually download a file, Kazaa overall is currently one, if not the easiest program to use for file-sharing.

Is it possible that another program could dethrone Kazaa as the top file sharing app? A program that provides a new way of downloading files, that is just as innovative as the first time you heard about p2p? Could it be? Simple answer, yes."

Check it out at: Ownt

VIA EPIA V9000 Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:38 PM EST

“Now that the MHz race which drove the 90s has more or less lost its appeal, people are beginning to dream of getting more functionality from their PCs than just a beige box that you can play games on as well as watch DVDs. This is where the VIA EPIA V9000 takes center stage.”

Check it out at: Envy News

FlexiGlow EL Cable & Standard Cold Cathode Kit Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:36 PM EST

"Branching off the end of the inverter box is a total of 5 wires, an ON/OFF/Flash switch used to toggle modes. A dimmer knob is used to control the level of brightness of the FlexiGlow Cable and a power connection which plugs into a Molex Adapter. Two quick snap cables are designated for attaching combined lengths of FlexiGlow from 1 to 10 meters. Exceeding this limit will damage the inverter. FlexiGlow also emphasizes that the inverters and EL cable are designed for exclusively indoor usage."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

ViewSonic VA720 17" TFT LCD Monitor Review @ Big Bruin
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:35 PM EST

"The 17” display size (actual) provides a good amount of screen real estate, especially when used at the native resolution of 1280x1024...  Short of supporting digital input for use with DVI video cards, the ViewSonic VA720 is easy to recommend to those seeking an exceptional TFT LCD monitor providing crisp, clear images."

Check it out at: Big Bruin

Iwill's XP4 Mini-PC, cutting size but not performance Review @ Hardware Analysis
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:33 PM EST

Many manufacturers have turned their attention to other properties of the PC, such as size and noise. Often sacrificing performance or reducing the number of upgrade options, such as free PCI or AGP slots, here's how Iwill's XP4 mini-PC performs.

Check it out at: Hardware Analysis

Shuttle nForce2 XPC - Future of SFF @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:32 PM EST

"With the push towards the Small Form Factor PCs today its hard to choose from the lineup that is evergrowing. Shuttle started the SFF trend with the XPC line, and has continued to do so. Today Cameron "Sov" Johnson takes a look at the Shuttle SN41G XPC System. How does it fair? Take a look for yourself!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

Asus P4SDX SiS 655 Motherboard @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:31 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've given a good once-over to a new motherboard released from Asus, the P4SDX. The P4SDX is based on the SiS 655 dual channel DDR chipset for the Pentium 4, and offers nearly all of the performance of a high-end Intel E7205 motherboard at about half the price. Not too shabby! We test this new board against Gigabyte's recently released SiS 655 platform along with boards based on the Intel E7205 and 850-E chipsets.

Check it out at: GamePC

NVIDIA to give away thousands of GeForce FX cards
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:29 PM EST

"The way it works is that the end user ship their old ATI cards to us, and in return, they'll receive a brand new GeForce FX as well as an exclusive GeForce FX t-shirt from us.". Furthermore, Jeff Fisher stated that "We believe everyone deserves the chance to experience the GeForce FX, and we are happy to present this once-in-a-lifetime offer to anyone interested. Therefore, we have decided to give away no less than 10,000 graphic cards." For those that doesn't get a card, NVIDIA Corporation still have 100,000 exclusive GeForce FX give-away t-shirts, so there's no reason not to apply."

Check it out at: DWPG

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y160M0 Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:26 PM EST

"If you are looking for a high-capacity hard drive with the best performance around, Maxtor’s Diamond Plus 9 160GB SATA drive is your final destination. With its Serial ATA interface that offers 150 MB/sec transfer speeds and a large 8MB buffer, this drive easily stands above the rest earning our coveted Editors Choice Award with a perfect 10 score."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Eumax B605-02 Heatsink Review @ ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:25 PM EST

"Most times when people are looking at a heatsinks they are browsing for the most powerful one they can afford. Then again what about when you need one that performs but at the same time is quiet? Perhaps this computer needs to sit in a room where someone sleeps or even where audio work is preformed. We all know that performance normally comes with higher noise levels. In order to match the needs of these conditions we need to find a balance between noise and power. I was fortunate enough to receive a heatsink that might be able to provide this balance, the Eumax B605-02."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

Samsung SM-348 CD-RW/DVD Combo @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:24 PM EST

"The good old optical drive, the same one that served your countless optical needs, has just gotten better. I remember when I bought my very first CD-RW drive. I thought an 8x8x32 drive would suit my needs just fine and would never have to upgrade… That is, of course, until reality exposed its façade and technology decided to leave me behind in its dust! Nowadays you have at least 3 different devices, along with their various formats to choose from. More are expected to come as newer formats (DVD-R/W or DVD+R/W specifically) become “official” and/or developed. So far, “officially”, you have the run of the mill CD-ROM drives, the bit more fashionable CD-RW drives, and the ever so extravagant DVD-ROM drives; all of which are at your disposal in this day and age. Well, that just wasn’t gonna cut it. A new frontier was explored with the addition of CD-RW/DVD combo drives. It is, exactly what the name suggests, a combination drive consisting of elements from all three drive types. Now you can enjoy nearly all of the optical media available with one drive, hooray!”

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

Griffin PowerMate review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:22 PM EST

“'Case Modding' pretty much evolved on the PC even though the Mac took to clear plastics and anodized aluminum before them. That said, if you have a fetish for blue LEDs and devices that illuminate blue, a general lust for brushed aluminum on top of that, and you're a workaholic with digital video editing apps and the like - then you OWE it to yourself to get a PowerMate for your rig.”

Check it out at: Envy News

Vantec AeroFlow VA4-C7040 review revisited @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:20 PM EST

"Here is our latest review; this is a re-release of a review published by myself a few months ago. Since then I have acquired a new digital camera and had some time to work with and watch the Vantec AeroFlow VA4-C7040 in action. Every picture in the article was retaken with my new camera (excluding the first pictures of the brown box). Two new parts were also added to the article; a one page summary of everything that I have experienced or learned about the Vantec since my original review, and a photo gallery of 28 hi-res and sharp pictures of the AeroFlow. I invite you to read and look at these even if you read the original review :)."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

Serial ATA Adapter Review @ OCIA
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:19 PM EST

"The kit consisted of a Serial ATA Adapter, a Serial ATA cable and a power cable for the adapter. No drivers were necessary for the adapter and I used two to set up a Raid 0  array on my motherboard's two Serial ATA ports."

Check it out at: OCIA

Cooler Master X-Dream SE HSF Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:11 PM EST

Giving credit where it's due, Cooler Master has made a very sharp looking and functional heatsink and fan combo. The inclusion of the rheostat is becoming more of a standard these days with high-end coolers. However Cooler Master has gone one step further with the 3.5" drive bay plate for the rheostat. Very good thinking on their part.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

Nikao KG8850 case review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 7:10 PM EST

The KG8850’s most attractive feature is its digital thermal display. The display is powered by a molex connector, which has a pass through female connector too. This pass through molex connector is not long enough to do it any use. This connector would most likely not reach power to a hard drive in the top 3.5” unexposed bay, let alone a CD-ROM drive. Attached to the display is a sensor on the end of a wire that can be placed anywhere in your case. However, the front bezel gives a caption of “CPU THRMOMETER”, so it only makes sense to put it around your CPU socket….

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

 

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