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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