HyTek Computer - News Archive: May 2001

Cambridge Soundworks MegaWorks 510D Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 8:46 PM EST

"The Cambridge MegaWorks speakers are in my opinion the best multimedia PC speakers on the market right now, offering superb performance in all areas. The satellites and subwoofer are perfectly matched, with Cambridge SoundWorks smartly choosing acoustic quality over out-and-out volume. As mentioned before, the only way the Z-560s can beat the MegaWorks in this area is if you are willing to tolerate distortion. Music performance is far superior to the too-bassy Logitech Z-560s, whose bass level cannot be adjusted low enough to bring them into contention as a serious music lovers first choice."

Nexland ISB Pro800Turbo Load Balancing router review @ OverclockersClub
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 8:45 PM EST

"Nexland products are honestly, very new to me. Until this day, I have never tried a Nexland product. I really don't buy a lot of networking gear, and when I do, it's usually always Linksys or Dlink, for some unknown reason.. The Nexland product that I am reviewing today, is called the ISB Pro800 Turbo. The most appealing feature of the ISB Pro800 Turbo, is that it can load balance two DSL, Cable or T1 connections. It will even load balance mixed connections, like one DSL connection and one Cable connection. Another very cool feature is if one connection goes down the ISB Pro800 Turbo will route all traffic to the good line, automatically. I will be testing all of these features plus more, later on in the review."

Dynatron DC1206BM-L/610 Review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 8:41 PM EST

"The clip design was one of the only problems I noticed. It took a lot of pressure to install the HSF on my KT7A motherboard. With the amount of pressure I had to use it very possible to break the core. The good thing was that after I installed the cooler the 2nd or 3rd time, the metal clip had stretched a little and it was a lot easier to install."

Bluetake USB Dongle and Poke2 Bluetooth adapters review @ PC PowerZone
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 8:38 PM EST

"This one is of a couple of products from Bluetake in the form of two USB Bluetooth™ wireless adapters, the BT007 USB Dongle and the BT009 Poke2 USB adapter. Using these products allow you to link two computers together to communicate without the restrictions of running cables, you can transfer files, share an internet connection plus lots more. Wireless technology opens up many more options than would otherwise normally be available to you. Bluetooth™ operates in the 2.4GHz frequency range under the 802.11b wireless standard."

CoolerMaster rounded cables Review @ BurnoutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 12:19 PM EST

"So I just finished cutting and installing my window kit (need some trim still), I am sitting here mind still numb from the last 4 hours of playing Neverwinter nights (w00t!). I look in my case and admire my work. I am thinking to my self the same thing what I was thinking the day when I opened the package, "Damn those rounded cables are cool" Now don't get me wrong, these ain't the cheesy-ass red (bloo/green/yellow etc.) that you are all used to. No, these are Coolermaster Transparent Cables (product#TTC-A24)."

Insomniac's Paintshop Pt. 3 - Rubout for a miror finish @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 12:17 PM EST

Our resident paint expert, Insomniac, shows you how rubbing the right way can bring you happiness... Not for THAT... you already know that sort of rubbing. I am talking about rubbing out your case to get that mirror finish you always wanted.

Motherboard Tray Mod @ Bitbendertech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 12:15 PM EST

“A must Mod, if you own or are thinking of getting a bolt through heat sink, like the Alpha 8045.

My first mistake,was to use the nylon nuts, supplied by Alpha,for fastening the standoff's through the MB. My second mistake was not doing the mod the first time I had my tower disconnected and out in the open. However,like most of us, I had a new toy in my hands and wanted to play with it NOW! I devised a method to get the standoff's fastened, without removing my MB”

Fan lighting mod @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 8:19 PM EST

"I soldered 4 red LEDs in series. One of these LEDs had a controller chip in which made all of the LEDs in the circuit flash on and off. To be honest I was very surprised when this happened as I had thought that they were only the normal type. Another bonus of the flashing LED was that it allowed the whole circuit to run directly off of 12 volts without a resistor."

CoolJag JAC663A CPU HSF Cooler Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 8:18 PM EST

"The Skiving process is still relatively new to the heatsink market and produces a high surface area heatsink with a simple method and low cost production. This process provides an advantage that the fins are cut into the base on an angle, and then bent upwards. This means there is no bonding material between the base and fins and the process can produce more fins for cooling."

Lian-Li PC-35 Case Reivew @ SystemCooling
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 8:16 PM EST

After all the quality computer enclosures we've reviewed recently, we thought it was time to bring you a couple of unique specialty cases that maintained a very high quality standard and were aimed at particular segments of the computing public.

The first is the Lian-Li PC-35, designed with the "LAN Party" enthusiast in mind but which obviously can be used wherever a small footprint is desirable.

The PC-35 is supplied with an abundance of spare thumbscrews (other manufacturers take note) and more than enough standoffs and screws for assembly. A neat little addition to the parts list is a set of four stick-on rubber feet, invaluable for using this case in a horizontal position rather than vertical as shown above.

It goes without saying the Lian-Li PC-35 is of all-aluminum construction, but it has a Silver hard-anodized finish, and to my knowledge is only model available in the brushed Silver/Aluminum finish.

Maplin cold cathodes @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 10:56 AM EST

"I used some masking tape to secure the cathode to the inside of the case. If you are putting it in your case and you know that you will probably not be removing it then I suggest you use some double sided sticky tape or just in case you might need to remove it you could use Velcro pads. Once it's in just turn on your pc and marvel at the light."

Pricing Guide update @ GeekExtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 10:52 AM EST

The geekextreme.com Pricing Guide, a guide to the cheapest prices for hardware on the internet, has been updated for the week. It can be found at:

Vantec Stealth Case Fans Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 10:50 AM EST

The less available air, the most resistance, the harder the motors have to push. And why would there not be enough air? Simple: they're inside a case. You don't have more than a few cubic feet and things like fan grills and smaller than ideal vent holes are all reasons for noise. Furthermore, turbulence is also created with anything obstructing the airflow close to the fan, i.e. finger guards/case fan cutouts. So it's not exactly 20 and 21dba, respectively. Add 1-3 to each for real world results. On a side note, it would be interesting to see 38mm versions, I bet they could pump even more air while still being nearly silent.

Photography Composition Article @ bitbendertech
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 10:47 AM EST

“Anyone can take good photographs with any camera. Creating good photographs has less to do with the equipment you have and more with the composition you use - it's not what you see, but, how you see it. When someone looks at a picture and utters words like “an artistic, pleasing image, or a harmonious balance among the elements of a scene,” you know that the picture is nothing but – a good composition.”

Kingwin KT-436B-WM Pre-Modded computer case review @ OverclockersClub
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 10:41 AM EST

"Here we are looking at the Kingwin KT-436B-WM. This case is very similar to the KT-436 that Matt reviewed back in May. In fact, the only difference being that this case has blue tinted acrylic windows on both sides and the top. That also leaves no place for the side and top exhaust fans, like in the other case. Let's have a closer look at the windowed model."

Grand Theft Auto 3 Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 7:04 PM EST

Please Do Not Walk on the Grass

That’s the kind of thing you would do in GTA3 as well as lie, cheat, steal, and kill in this extremely popular title from Rockstar games. The game begins when you’re framed for a bank robbery and you find yourself being transported in a police convoy to the poor part of town (aka: the first city).
As your being transported the same guys that frame you also brake out one of the prisoners in the truck with you as your crossing the bridge. As they are making their get away the other guy in the truck knocks out the cop and runs out. The bomb explodes and you both find yourself home free. Now all you got to do is get home and figure out your next (illegal) job.

Arprotek mini system: 'e-cube' CF-S868 in Video Review #182 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 7:00 PM EST

"The Arprotek mini system (CF-S868) is very small but it's big on performance and looks. This system is a perfect option for anyone interested in preserving space around their workstation or simply need a compact system for mobility reasons. Also, it's an excellent option for LAN parties as it comes with a AGP slot, therefore allowing a great 3D gaming Video Card to be installed and it’s very transportable."

Lexmark E210 Laser Printer Review @ extensiontech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 6:58 PM EST

Personally, since December I was looking for a nice entry level laser printer. One to print out everyday documents, invoices, ect,. While Hewlett Packard had an entry level one, for like $230 retail, that was just a bit more than I wanted to spend. So I held out. Knowing I'd find a good deal at some point. One I couldn't refuse. Enter Lexmark. While the Lexmark E210 Printer retails normally for around $200.00, I figured I could snag a deal somewhere. And so I did, I actually got this one from Wal-Mart for $150.00, on clearance. Let's see how good or bad this printer works...

120mm Blowhole Mod @ Monster-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 6:54 PM EST

"Now we will be looking at my 120mm top mount fan. I chose to make it an exhaust fan- but you could just as easily make it an intake. My only worry was with the fan being on top like this- dust will just be invited into your case. But, to each their own. On with the MOD!!!"

Starcraft 2 Teaser @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 12:07 PM EST

If you complete the final Night Elf mission in Warcraft 3 on the Hard, you will get to see a small Starcraft 2 preview. I have captured a bunch of screenies from this for all of you to gaze at. The preview was about 15 seconds long, and the motion was very fluid and the sound was extremely crisp and clear.

Where's My Free Stuff @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 12:06 PM EST

“A year ago I began this odyssey to the inner sanctum of Icrontic and now, for the first time, I will reveal my secrets of what it takes to become an integral part of any hardware review website. If you are a geek on the outside looking in…then it must seem as though we reviewers are in computer hardware nirvana. You may see website after website apparently receiving product after product in what appears to be a ceaseless supply of “free stuff”."

XFX 64MB GeForce4 Ti4200 Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 12:03 PM EST

"Feeling a little adventurous I started off by pushing the core up from 250 MHz to 300 MHz, as was pleased to see it run perfectly through the strenuous Code Creatures Benchmark Demo. From there, I went up in 5 MHz increments up to 310 MHz with full stability, 10 MHz faster than a stock GeForce4 Ti4600. At 315 MHz I would get small flickering dots and other random artifacts while running the demo test. I tried removing the stock thermal paste in favor of some Arctic Silver 3 but still got artifacts while benchmarking. To test the RAM I reduced the core back to stock speed and started off by increasing the memory speed to 550 MHz. Piece of cake. My next step was 575 MHz, which also ran without a hitch. In the end, I was able to push the RAM to a very impressive 600 MHz, which is excellent considering that there is no passive cooling on the memory chips."

What's The Big Deal About Temperature? @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 12:00 PM EST

It seems that every overclocker today is worried about temperatures today. Go to half a dozen or so overclocking sites, and the most common topic discussed will be heatsink fans, blowholes, cases, RAM heat spreaders, etc. Is that really necessary? I mean does all this worry about temperatures really amount to something? Or is it all a bunch of hot air (sorry couldn't resist)..... Ironically, there is very little scientific information released on this subject, even at the so called "expert" overclocking sites. In this article, we will try to explore the affects of temperature on hard drives and CPUs, as well as try to offer a little theory behind the relationship between temperature and reliability.

Thermaltake GeForce 4 Copper Cooler Review @ Viper's Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 11:58 AM EST

Following up on the successful Orb GPU coolers, the engineers at Thermaltake whipped up something special for those of you who need something beefier for the GeForce 4.

The fan is slightly larger than nVidia's reference, and is rated at 10.6CFM. It's big enough, and draws more power than the stock fan, and you'll likely be forced to use the included 3-to-4 pin Molex adapter. Even if you didn't want to use the adapter, it's a physical impossibility to fit the power cable into the video card's outlet. Although the fan is larger, I didn't find the noise to be obtrusive, and chances are, your CPU HSF or case fans will likely generate a lot more noise.

AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8 GHz) Thoroughbred @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 11:56 AM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at AMD's top of the line Athlon XP 2200+ processor, clocking in at 1.8 GHz. This chip is a first from AMD, as it uses a 0.13 micron manufacturing process to allow for a smaller die size and higher clock speeds. We compare and contrast the new features of the Thoroughbred core and do performance comparisons of the new processor against previous Athlons and Intel's Pentium 4.

WinTasks4 Pro Review @ DreddNews
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 11:55 AM EST

"Having to run Windows 98SE at work is quite the burden. Frequent and random crashes occur all the time. Always seems to happen during the worst of times. With WinTask 4 you are given a little more control of your Windows operation system."

Asus CRW-4816A CD burner Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 28, 2002 at 11:52 AM EST

As its name implies, the CRW-4816A supports speeds of 48X/16X/48X for writing/rewriting/reading. More importantly, it also includes important technologies such as "Just Link" and "Just Speed", which Asus has dubbed "FlextraLink" and "FlextraSpeed" respectively. The inclusion of these technologies as part of the CRW-4816A means that users will be able successfully burn CDs even if the data-feed stops temporarily, or if it halted prematurely; the CRW-4816A can simply pick-up at the exact same spot where it left off.

The Gigastorage Cursor mini-CD MP3 player Reviewed @ dansdata
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 7:11 PM EST

The Gigastorage Cursor mini-CD MP3 player looks, on the face of it, like a quite good product. Small, neat, easy to use, decent bundled gear, nice price. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually _work_ very well.

The ABIT KX7-333R Motherboard Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 7:08 PM EST

Today we have yet another KT333 motherboard on the HH test bench, this time it's the KX7-333R from ABIT. At first this board didn't strike us as anything out of the ordinary, but once we starting giving it a work out, we were pleasantly surprised. Click the link for the full details of ABIT's impressive new motherboard.

Zalman CNPS 5100-Cu cooler review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 7:06 PM EST

“Zalman is a fairly unique company whose aim is to provide hardware cooling solutions capable of great performance, but without the high noise level of its competitors. Those that have seen Zalman fans know that they have very exotic designs which can't be found elsewhere. Their exotic designs are not only confined to their high-end line-up as is the case with most manufacturers, rather each and everyone of Zalmans products shares the unique Zalman approach to cooling.”

Vantec Copper X Coolers @ Explosive Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 7:35 AM EST

"Both the Vantec CCK-6040 & CCK-CCK6040H are identical in appearance. The only difference being is that the CCK-CCK6040H has a faster 6800 R.P.M fan while the CCK-6040's fan spins at 5500 R.P.M. Of course with the faster 6800 R.P.M fan your going to expect slightly better results over the 5500 R.P.M fan but the noise level will also be slightly higher.

Dungeon Siege Review @ OnePC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 7:32 AM EST

"After years of hype, Chris Taylor has finally delivered his latest masterpiece, Dungeon Siege. At first glance it delivers some killer graphics and decent game play, but is it all that it’s cracked up to be--or are we just getting hot air?"

Thermalright SLK-800 Heatsink Reivew @ SystemCooling
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 7:31 AM EST

Since the release of the now famous Thermalright SK-6 many months ago enthusiasts have clamored for an 80mm version. The cry was renewed recently with the introduction of the SLK-600. Well, it seems Thermalright was listening and the SLK-800 is their response!!

While the SLK-800 and 600 resemble the SK-6, they are in fact very different and are a much improved design. The single pronged clip of the SK-6 has been replaced, with the SLK-800 and 600 featuring a new improved three-pronged clip that provides rock solid attachment to the motherboard's socket. Another added feature is that the clip is locked within the heatsink meaning that you/I can't mistakenly put the clip in backwards.

ASUS P4S533 Motherboard Review @ lostcircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 7:27 AM EST

After the launch of the 533 MHz FSB Pentium4 processors, SIS like any other core logic manufacturer revamped their North Bridge to accommodate the new speed grades by introducing the DX version of their established SIS 645 chipset. In addition to new FSB to memory ratios, the higher CPU clock speeds require faster switching power controllers. Moreover, while the market appears to be turning its back on the advanced communication riser (ACR), integrated high-quality audio solutions and on-board LAN are pushing their way into mainstream solutions and offer affordable, yet upgradeable highly integrated platforms. The ASUS implementation of the SIS 645DX chipset appears to follow this recipe to the letter. How much can one expect from a $100 mainboard, even if, or particularly when it is from ASUS? Where are the shortcomings of the P4S533 and what has really changed under the hood from the P4S333?

Zalman CNPS6000-Cu @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 9:16 PM EST

"The noise level offered really is outstanding, and impressed me a lot. The accessories and little bits of kit included in the package are weird and wonderful, but nothing is useless. Every piece contributes to make the final product, and the heatsink feels very complete. The high manufacturing standard and quality not only give you a quiet heatsink, but more of a quiet cooling solution. It's hard to get across in writing, but it gives you the sense that you've bought a nice package that enhances your PC using experience."

Warcraft 3 Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 9:15 PM EST

It’s been 8 years since Blizzard gave us the last incarnation of the Warcraft world. In that time a lot has changed in the realm of Real-Time Strategy. That’s not to say Blizzard have been completely left out, however. Starcraft and Starcraft: Brood War, continued their presence in the world of RTS, though not their previous dominance. Games such as the Command and Conquer series, Age of Empires/Age of Empires 2, Homeworld, the Total War series, and even Starcraft all brought different elements to the genre. So the question is, what has Warcraft 3 brought to the party?

Imperial Case (w/Temp. Sensor) in Video Review #181 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 9:13 PM EST

"The Imperial Case while very inexpensive and having sleek looks it has no removable motherboard try and space inside is limited. It does however have many positive features; exhaust fan at the rear, temperature sensor with readout at the front, turbo cooling switch, auto control cooling system and also has a Firewire and two USB connections at the front."

NVIDIA's David Kirk On Cg @ nvnews
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 9:07 PM EST

It's been a couple of weeks since NVIDIA announced their Cg shader language and we've managed to get some thoughts from NVIDIA's Chief Scientist David Kirk on the subject. The topics of discussion include:

a.. How will Cg get NVIDIA closer to their goal of achieving cinematic quality in real-time graphics?

b.. What is the learning curve associated with Cg for developers?

c.. What steps are being taken to make Cg an industry standard?

d.. What can Cg do for non-programmable graphics chipsets (such as the GeForce2 MX and GeForce4 MX)?

e.. Will Cg automatically attempt to "dumb-down" effects if the hardware does not support the necessary operations?

f.. Will Cg be able generate instructions that have better performance than previous "hand-coded" shader programs?

AOpen CRW4048 CD burner Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 9:02 PM EST

It was only shortly after our review of the AOpen CRW3248, which had a write/re-write/read speed of 32x/12x/48x, that AOpen sent us a sample of their new CRW4048, which, as its name indicates operates at 40x/12x/48x. It is our pleasure to be testing this baby today.

Blue lights reviewed @ dansdata
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 8:58 PM EST

I've just checked out two cold cathode fluorescent lights, and two electroluminescent widgets - an EL glowing case badge kit from local Aussie outfit CoolPC, and a Lightstrip from Tweakmonster. They're all completely silly, of course, but rather interesting with it. And more different from each other than you might think.

CrazyPC Etch Window Kit Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 8:53 PM EST

GideonTech had a chance to hack up our case once again with a pre-etched window kit from CrazyPC. Equipped with reflective foil and the works, we'll see how it stands out with two different lights.

Visiontek Xtasy Ti4600 Review @ DeviantPC
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:53 AM EST

"Without a doubt the Visiontek Xtasy Ti4600 is a damn fine gamers card; which is what you'd expect from a GeForce 4 Ti4600. The inclusion of VIVO capabilities with some excellent Video capture/editing software at this price is very good indeed."

Windows File Protection Guide @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:51 AM EST

One of Microsoft’s latest efforts to help promote system stability is Windows File Protection (WFP), as debuted in Windows 2000 & now featured in Windows XP. TechSpot's guide will take you through basic operation of WFP, how to use & configure it for your system.

Front Panel LED Case Mod Article @ Monster-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:48 AM EST

"The LED can be any kind really - but it should be bright. I got mine from one of those LED keychains- those work well because they can handle high voltages (i.e. 5v directly from the Power supply in a computer) Also- you don't have to have a 3.5" bay cover- you could just as easily mount the LED in the front bezel itself. "

Securisys Agency Custom 3D Case Badges Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:46 AM EST

"The badges are first printed in colour and encased in a clear plastic dome. Securisys Agency calls its manufacturing process for these badges "Doming" which involves making flat labels 3-dimensional by applying a bevel of clear lens onto a printed surface. The lens is permanently bonded with the badge, encapsulating the print and protecting it from scratching or wearing. The back of the badges have a removable paper backing and is covered with a strong adhesive bond. The adhesive bond is similar to 3M VHB tape and guarantees that the badge will not move once affixed to the surface area of your case."

Thermaltake Hardcano 2 Review @ ViperLair
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:44 AM EST

"Unlike the Hardcano 5, there are no fan switches to control your fans this time around. The Hardcano 2 (as the name implies) has two LEDs this time, and two thermal probes. The LEDs are protected by a plastic film, so there is little to worry about if you're concerned about them being scratched while shipping. I actually prefer the look of the Hardcano 2 over the Hardcano 5, as with 2 LEDs, the appearance is more uniform."

Matrox Parhelia Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:43 AM EST

“The Parhelia-512 is the world's first 512-bit Graphics Processing Unit packed with 256 MB DDR on board. A 256-bit memory interface shoveling out a hefty 20 GB/s memory bandwidth. Was it worth the wait and will the Parhelia live up to expectations? Many an "ATIst" or "nVidianaut" may be breathing easy at this moment in time letting a loud "I told you so" burst forth. Those people are welcome to their moment of satisfaction as they have been holding their breath for quite some time but while they revel in their fantastic frame rates Matrox has gone and done it again.”

Stomp Inc. BackUp MyPC Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:39 AM EST

Inside you'll find another shrink-wrapped CD in a jewel case and a manual which is more like a book. It's the most complete guide I've ever seen and at a little over 125 pages, it covers [almost] everything you could possibly do with the program. It's written in very elementary terms so those with less computer software experience will have no trouble doing what they want. The interface is even simpler and there's a wizard for every major operation. The more adventurous types can access everything but even there I haven't found anything confusing.

Belkin Compact Flash / Smart Media memory reader Review @ Unique Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 7:36 AM EST

"These days a lot of people have Digital Cameras, often with 4mb or 8mb of memory builtin. This is not enough for higher quality pictures as they tend to take up a lot of space. Digital Camera makers came up with the clever idea to use a "memory card" to save extra files to.
Brilliant ! "

Samsung and OCZ 512Mb modules reviewed @ PC PowerZone
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 7:09 PM EST

"Then we come to the power users and enthusiasts, people who like big, fast machines with lots of memory and the overclockers who like to max everything out. Rather than taking up two or even four memory slots with multiple banks of high performance 256Mb modules, we/they need high performance 512Mb modules than take up half the slots. Although PC2100 memory is still the main type for most people, PC2700, 3000 and 3200 is becoming increasingly popular among the high-end users, those who demand the fastest."

Lian Li Pc50 reviewed @ BurnoutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 7:07 PM EST

"You know what sucks about having a Lian Li PC70? Having to cart it to the local (or not so local) lan party. Finally, I decided to figure out what to do about this. So, today I’m looking at the Pc50, This case is 1 Drive bay bigger than its little brother the PC30, but still not quite midtower."

iRock! 520 Series MP3 Music Player Review @ iRock! 520 Series MP3 Music Player Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 7:06 PM EST

"The iRock™ in my hands right now came with 64megs of Built-in Memory. This may seem quite small, but I was able to hold roughly twenty high-quality recorded MP3s. They were specifically recorded at 192 kBit/s, CD Quality, 7.5:1 reduction for this review. You should notice that you are able to store up to an extra 128megs of SmartMedia™ memory if you feel the need to. The fast USB interface is very useful, especially when you want to go computer hopping and get MP3s from different HDDs. And lastly, the PC Software seems to work with all Windows OSs (Windows 98 and later). I am currently using Windows XP and the software works as it should."

The Matrox Parhelia 512, a monumental flop? @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 7:04 PM EST

Against all odds, when we read the first benchmarks of the Matrox Parhelia 512 graphic card, it looks like Matrox has totally ruined their chances to re-establish their position on the 3D arena. To iunderstand what conducted us to such an opinion, read our news and see our numbers published on the front page of our web site.

Matrox Parhelia - Reviewed and Benchmarked @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 7:00 PM EST

Which brings us to the Matrox perspective on next generation 3D Graphics. Matrox's new Parhelia GPU has a slogan behind it that is supposed to deliver the mission statement of the product, High Fidelity Graphics. As next generation game engines are capable of producing more immersive and visually stunning images, the hardware that processes those images, must also scale. No longer is the game about frame rate alone. Remember when we were all buzzing about T&L? Now it's about shaders, mapping, AA and programmability. Stepping back into this arena is not going to be easy but it seems as though Matrox has the right idea targeting "High Fidelity".

Matrox Parhelia 128 Graphics Board @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 6:58 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a good in-depth look at the newly released Parhelia 128 board from Matrox. Based on their new Parhelia-512 architecture, this board utilizes 512-bit GPU design teamed together with a top of the line 256-bit DDR interface for an incredible amount of graphics bandwidth to utilize. The board itself has support for three HD-15 monitors, two DVI-I LCD monitors, 128MB of DDR memory, and lots of nifty new rendering features like Gigacolor and 16x Fragment Anti-Aliasing. We test out the Parhelia against the best that ATI and nVidia have to offer, in a host of standard and super high quality benchmarks. Of course, lots of high resolutions pictures are included as well!

Record Now MAX Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 6:46 AM EST

This is the best burning program I used, The speed is amazing, music quality is great, burning data with no errors, and you can even burn DVD, this is some amazing burning software. Im really proud of Stomp Inc. for making this software, this software opened up a whole new world about burning technology. This software is really easy to use, it also comes with a handy instruction booklet.

Samsung ML-1440 Laser Printer Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 6:43 AM EST

"After a few months of using an inkjet printer you'll begin to realize just how expensive those refill cartridges become. Sure the printer may be inexpensive, but add on ink cartridges for a year and things add up quickly. While colour inkjet printers are still far less expensive than colour laser printers, when it comes to black and white, laser printers have it made. The ML-1440 is a pseudo SOHO printer, and while it has the boxy shape, and paper tray underfoot, it is more like a home printer than true SOHO."

Reinstalling Windows The Right Way, Setting Up, And Basic Tweaks Guide @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 6:41 AM EST

A lot of people think they are special and can so called "setup and get there pc running". Man everyone I either work with or have to slave over to get there pc working right is the main reason they don't really know the advanced knowledge of how to really set the darn things up correctly. I hope to in this guide show you how to get your pc from the dangerous 1976 Ford Pinto to the really nice 1969 Chevy Camero SS. :)

Trek Thumbdrive Review @ HardwarePub
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 6:37 AM EST

"In this new age of technology products are getting smaller, smarter and more convenient for end users. Technology has become part of our everyday lifestyle. Such things as cell phones, PDA's, and laptops are all designed with ease of portability in mind. They are made light, small and designed to go wherever you go. There is a new trend in town and that is being able to carry amounts of data around with you to be able to access elsewhere. The leading product in this trend is the Thumbdrive"

OCZ DDR333 PC-2700 "Ultimate" REV 3 @ Explosive Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 6:35 AM EST

"OCZ Technology has recently been the target of a few recent out lashes from inside sources that deal with how the company was operating and doing business. A lot of people stay as far away from them as possible while others respect their product line and support them fully. Since I have never delt with OCZ in the past and their product line I decided to test out their memory. Inside sources tell me that the memory was given to select hardware sites that got much better results than the actual buyers."

Project Generic @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 7:14 PM EST

"Overall I have to say it turned out very well and it wasn't hard at all. Cutting out things with the Dremel requires little practice but it is easy to get the hang of. All of the things I have cut out of the case could have easily been cut out with a jigsaw but I did not have a metal jigsaw blade to try it out and compare the results. Putting in the windows was also very cheap. The large sheet of plexi I bought only cost me £10 and the PVC beading was only 50p a metre. I also used less then a quarter of the plexi so there is plenty left for other window mods. For this small amount of money who wouldn't want to do this mod?"

Vantec Tornado Fans (80mm and 92mm) in Video Review #180 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 7:10 PM EST

"Vantec's Tornado series of fans are intended for serious cooling needs as these fans push a lot of air and are very loud. As an example, their 92mm version pushes 119CFM and is 56.4 dB(A) which in no uncertain terms is astounding."

CoolJag JAC103C CPU Cooler Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 7:08 PM EST

"The clip is made of sturdy SK7 steel and is nickel-plated. I was happy to see another manufacturer employing all three of the socket retention clips into the design. With the weight of this particular heatsink, I would have been worried had it only employed a single bracket down the middle. While the retention clip does require a screwdriver to exert the right amount of force when securing the heatsink to the motherboard, the clip design makes accidental slips impossible."

ATI Radeon 8500 128MB Review @ Viper's Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 11:44 AM EST

The ATI Radeon was a decent piece of hardware when first released, but with todays 128MB cards, they needed a solution to compete. With the Radeon 8500 128, they hope to answer that call until their next-gen product comes out later this summer. Quote:

"So is the Radeon 8500 easy on the eyes? When playing games I found the color depth to be visually pleasing. Games such as Quake 3 seemed to take advantage of the Radeon's advanced lighting features, as the player models seemed to move realistically and less jerky then they did when playing with the GeForce 3 cards. Whether or not developers are ever going to take advantage of the Direct X 8.1 functionality this card brings is up in the air, especially with Direct X 9 around the corner, but for now the Radeon 8500 brings some very impressive visual capabilities to the table."

Samsung SyncMaster 151P Review @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 11:42 AM EST

The Samsung SyncMaster line of monitors have been reliable and made for the high end user. Once again, Samsung has not disappointed the consumers. The SyncMaster 151P is an LCD monitor that delivers sharp and brilliant colors to the user...

EPoX 8K3A+ Motherboard Reviewed @ BlueSmoke
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 11:39 AM EST

A few months ago, VIA released their highly anticipated successor to the popular KT266A chipset, the KT333. EPoX was one of the first manufacturers to get a KT333 motherboard out the door. Today, BlueSmoke examines the 8K3A+, the big brother of the popular 8KHA+. Can it measure up to the 8KHA+'s success? Head on over to get the full scoop.

ATI Radeon IGP 320 Chipset @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 11:37 AM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at ATI's first motherboard core logic, dubbed the ATI Radeon IGP 320. Following in nVidia's footsteps with their nForce motherboard chipset, ATI's product has integrated video with a unified memory architecture, along with support for Athlon XP processors and DDR-266 SDRAM. We take a look at the first motherboard based on this chipset, FIC's AT31 Fusion, and compare the performance to nVidia's nForce 420/220 and VIA's KT-333 motherboard solutions.

New: Logitech Z540 Speakers @ eliteHW
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 11:34 AM EST

eliteHW has completed a review of the Logitech Z540 Speaker Set. This isn’t anything new to the tech world, but with all the new speakers now coming out. We felt that we would bring you an updated review so you can see how these stand up to the current competition. Logitech blew away the competition on its release of these; now let’s see if it can do it again. Quote:

“Logitech has made some very big waves in the PC audio department recently. The release of their Z-560 THX certified speakers definitely showed that price doesn’t necessarily equal quality. Some even say that the Z560’s has dethroned the ever venerable Klipsch’s. Today however, we are looking at a set of speakers aimed at a more value oriented market: the Z 540’s.”

Corsair XMS2700 512MB DDR Memory Review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 24, 2002 at 11:30 AM EST

"Unlike modules from the competition where they try to convince you that the memory you are purchasing is pc2100, 2400, 2700, 3000, and even PC3200 which is the latest offering from the OCZ Clan. I myself will never be bought into that kind of claim. Corsair Memory Uses the XMS designator which stands for Extreme Memory Speed. The Corsair Sticks never claim to be any certain specific chip but do however guarantee that the Stick you buy is fully tested and functional at its advertised speed."

The Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 8:38 PM EST

Tonight we have a review of the Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra motherboard. Soyo has been producing the "Dragon" line of motherboards since the release of the original KT266 chipset. As time went by, the Dragon series has earned a reputation for being the cream of the Soyo crop, embodying the best of what Soyo has to offer. With its latest incarnation, though, we've heard talk of a great looking board that’s had trouble keeping up with other KT333 boards in the performance ring. Needless to say, once we got a hold of our test sample, we were anxious to see for ourselves if these stories were true. Click the link for the full story!

Samsung SyncMaster 240T 24-inch TFT Flatpanel Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 8:33 PM EST

"There have always been those who appreciate technology and strive to have the best, the biggest, and the most impressive. It must be nice to have such luxuries, and when speaking of LCD display's you will be hard pressed to find anything bigger, or more impressive then this 24" LCD TFT monitor from Samsung. The $4600USD Syncmaster 240T is one of the largest desktop LCD displays available, supporting native resolution of 1920x1200 pixels... that is big, very big.

The 13.8Kg display has enough screen real estate to display no less than four web browsers, and with room still remaining for WinAmp on the side. Of course, you will have to have a video card capable of outputting an Analog WUXGA signal of 1920x1200. For some unexplained reason, the 240T only supports 1280x1024 on a digital DVI video cable."

Soldier of Fortune 2 Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 8:31 PM EST

“John Mullins of ''Soldier of Fortune'' fame returns to do combat once again in this incredible sequel of the original game. I have to admit that I'm a fan of stories involving heroes doing combat against terrorism or some form of evil foreign power (like BJ versus the Nazis in Return to Castle Wolfenstein), and the story to this game pulls that premise off as good as the original did. In this game, John Mullins must stop a terrorist organization from unleashing a deadly genetic virus. Mullins is aided by his good friend Sam Gladstone, and his new partner Madeline Taylor. It's up to you to root out this organization and bring them to bloody justice.”

Antec Performance Plus 1060 Case Review @ VH
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 1:02 PM EST

Today, we take a look at Antec's latest offering, the Antec Performance Plus. This is a new revision of the extremely popular 1030, called the PLUS1060. What kind of improvements or new features does this case has to offer? Read on!

"This name of this one should be pretty familiar to most of you people out there. It's the Antec Performance PLUS1060 Server Case. Now pay attention to the name of this case though. This isn't the Sx1030 like you may have thought at first glance. This is a new revision of the extremely popular 1030, called the PLUS1060. Antec has taken the knowledge they've gained of the enthusiasts market and revised an already great case to come up with a unique, and extremely complete package. Now the SX1030, which is the basis of this case, was a great case, but was 3 things from being the "ultimate" case: 1) Front mounted usb ports 2) Fan Intake Filter and 3) a slide-out motherboard tray. Well, as they say " 2 outta 3 aint bad!". The new PLUS1060 has added features over the earlier cases including front usb/firewire ports and front fan intake filter. We'll take a closer look at those in a few minutes...let's get a closer look at this new revision and see what's so "new" about it...."

ATI All in Wonder 7500 Review @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 12:58 PM EST

"Today I'm looking at the ATI All in Wonder 7500. Packed full of gear, such as a tuner onboard for watching TV or DVDs, excellent 3d performance, and capability for video editing."

Thermaltake Hardcano 5 HD Cooler Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 12:57 PM EST

"The front bezel is designed in the same style as used in all the Hardcano series hard drive coolers. The bezel made from a solid piece of aluminum and includes only one CompuNurse Probe and a 3 position fan controller switch. The Hardcano 5 model includes the addition of an aluminum top plate which is available in gold or silver colour. In theory, aluminum should help dissipate the heat faster and more efficiently hence the reason behind the design of this specific model."

Is the Pentium4 Northwood 1.6A the most overclockable CPU ever? @ PCExtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 12:54 PM EST

Many have posed the question "Is the 1.6A the next Celeron300A?". I'm here to tell you, this CPU is better. Way better. It is the best price-for-performance processor ever made. Period. This CPU now retails for somewhere in the neighborhood of $140USD, and I managed to get it to 2.4Ghz right out of the box. No modification, no special thermal compound, no special fans.

Kingston PC2700 DDR333 ValueRAM Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 22, 2002 at 10:28 PM EST

"Like Crucial, Kingston waited for JEDEC to approve a DDR333 standard before they started selling DDR333 memory. Why is that? Company A can claim to sell DDR333 memory but that memory may not pass Company B's DDR333 tests. Now with an official standard, all memory modules have to pass the same tests to carry the official DDR333 or PC2700 stamp.

Looking at the DIMM we can see it is single sided, quite a rarity for 256MB DIMMs. The 256MB PC2700 ValueRAM uses 6ns Winbond DRAM and has a CAS Latency of 2.5 at 166 MHz operations. Since the DRAM is based on the TSOP-II form factor we would have liked to see some RAMsinks on the DRAM because it can reach elevated temperatures at high speeds."

MSI KT3 Ultra ARU Review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 22, 2002 at 10:27 PM EST

"MSI has been a long time supporter of AMD, especially the Athlon processor. Every time there is an improvement made in the correlation between motherboard and CPU you can guarantee MSI has thrust itself into the ring bringing improvement and innovation. Now with VIA’s KT333 chipset introduction bringing DDR-333 support for the Athlon, MSI has released yet another board in its AMD lineup."

Ripper mousemat review @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 22, 2002 at 10:26 PM EST

"Well I hadn't seen any pictures of the Ripper Mousemat before I received the product, so I didn't know what to expect. It's a fairly nice shape which would look pretty stylish on a modern desk, especially next to a black PC. The slight curvature of the bottom edge is there to reduce any risk of RSI, since it follows the natural curve your arm makes as it moves from the elbow, thus keeping the edge of the mousemat on the same point on your arm. Also, the mousemat is fairly low-profile, measuring only 6mm tall, or 7.5 with the feet included."

REALmagic Xcard Review @ Geekextreme
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 22, 2002 at 10:25 PM EST

As the line between your PC and home entertainment center continues to blur, Sigma Designs releases the REALmagic Xcard, a DVD decoder card with a kick, to help blur the line even more. How does it hold up?

Pyramid II Fan Silencer Review @ ipkonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 22, 2002 at 10:23 PM EST

ipKonfig.com has finished out a review on a rather odd product called the Pyramid II Fan Silencer. While this product will not bring the Gypsies knocking at your door; it will bring forth new meaning to automated silence to your computer.

"Pursuing the trend of looking for something to quiet things down, we once again unearth a product that stands out. This one, the Pyramid II Fan Silencer, was built for those looking for a simple and effective way to control noise without having to make all those fussy adjustments. In fact, this product is hands-free, and installs in a matter of minutes."

AMD vs Intel editorial @ Monster-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:48 PM EST

"I was an AMD fan. I had nothing but respect for AMD, but lately I am starting to lose some of my respect for AMD. They make great processors and I currently have a 1700+ in my main rig. However I am beginning to warp over to the dark side. I am no longer an AMD fan, but I am also not an Intel fan."

Cornea Systems MP704 17inch TFT LCD Display Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:46 PM EST

"In any event, that is long preamble to the introduction of Cornea Systems and their MP704 17" LCD monitor. The LCD panel features a brightness of 250cd/m2 and contrast ratio of 400:1. In stark contrast to the industry trend, Cornea disclose their pixel response time at 25ms. This number is often difficult to find, and has a large bearing on how a display looks in fast FPS games or action-oriented DVD's. The more important display specs are listed below for your consultation."

Abit KX7-333R Motherboard (Socket 462) in Video Review #179 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:43 PM EST

"The Abit KX7-333R Motherboard yet again proves Abit has a commitment to reliability, service and serious performance. One of the strong points of this motherboard is the ability for very high and stable front side bus settings which means overclockers will love this board."

Samsung 191T & 760V TFT LCD Monitors @ iamnotageek
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:41 PM EST

The Samsung SyncMaster 191T is a high end 19" monitor. Where as the Samsung SyncMaster 760V TVT is a 17" value monitor. Ile takes a look at them both and compares their features.

Glowy Geforce 4 Mod: How-to do it @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:39 PM EST

"Sometimes we get the oddest ideas for mods, and while this isn't something we devote too much time too around here, the Glowy GeForce mod turned out kind of cool. Most importantly it only took a few minutes to whip up. The basic idea was just to liven up an MSI Ti4200 we had on the review block, and short of back lighting the videocards PCB bright blue, the fan mod seemed a good one to try. Here's how we went about making the Glowy GeForce 4 attachment."

ATI FireGL8800 Review @ lostcircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:37 PM EST

After years of absence, the name FireGL makes a come-back, this time it is ATi instead of Diamond Multimedia who are carrying the FireGL brand name. Positioned as a budget solution rather than a true competitor with the high-end solutions from nVidia and 3DLabs, the FireGL has a lot to offer and a few things that are missing. We have taken the card and run it through the mills, ripped it apart and put it back together on any system possible as long as it was fast enough. Where are the weak spots, where are the tweaks and how much work is still needed on the drivers? Those are the questions and we don't have all answers but we have some facts.

Mitsubishi WS-55819 55" HDTV Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:33 AM EST

"From the advent of HDTV, Mitsubishi has distinguished itself as a clear frontrunner in this new and exciting technology. Offering several distinct model series, Mitsubishi has made the technology extremely affordable and accessible to owners with varying demands. Formerly known as the Platinum Plus, the new Medallion WS-55819 HDTV represents Mitsusbishi's midrange model. Offering most of the features of the high end Diamond series, the Medallion WS-55819 is an affordable option to those who want the very best of quality without breaking the bank."

Overclocking 101: Overclocking Fundamentals @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:31 AM EST

"There are two primary ways to overclock an AMD or Intel microprocessor. One is to increase the multiplier for the CPU, and the other is to increase the FSB on the motherboard. By increasing the multiplier, you are effectively overriding the design specifications for the CPU by forcing it to run at a higher frequency than the manufacturer recommends. Modifying the speed of the FSB increases the speed at which the motherboard communicates with the CPU."

Yepp 90-S MP3 Player Review @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:29 AM EST

Here is another amazing product from Samsung, the YP-90S mp3 player, a compact and stylish music device. With extensive user customizable options and a pleasing sound system, the YP-90S packs a heavy punch of entertainment...

AVM Fritz Card DSL Review @ TecCentral
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:27 AM EST

The new FritzCard DSL bring along beside the DSL modem in addition full ISDN functionality for that admitted normal " Fritz Card " in the best way, offers thus all usual Tools such as fax -, telephone or Web of over ISDN possibility.

Visiontek Geforce4 x4 Review @ Tweak3D
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:24 AM EST

We at Tweak3D.net have for you not one, not two, not even three but four individual graphics cards from Visiontek's range in one grand Geforce4 review. Our attention has been focussed on the MX440, Ti4200, Ti4400 not to forget the top dog Ti4600. If you like the bigger things in iife then you'll surely appreciate our long eighteen page exposure. Here is a clip from it:

Just as the Geforce3 chipset cards penetrated the market throughout 2001 Nvidia has refreshed its image with the Geforce4 chipsets. You can never have enough of a good thing the story goes and Nvidia has noted this abstract rather well with their new line-up. With the introduction of the Geforce3 chipset a new set of features came about set to improve the realism in the latest 3D games and demos fetching beyond the capabilities of the previous achievement, the Geforce2. With the Geforce4 Nvidia decided to take the goodness from the Geforce3 and make it faster. For this reason the true breed Geforce4 chipset (Ti4200, Ti4400, Ti4600) isn't a brand new product as such, but rather a Geforce3 been given a face lift and a new name. While this last statement might seem disappointing for those in the hope of expecting wonderful things from their new Geforce4 based card or system, it's not all as bad as it might sound. To find out why read on.

Cooler Master PTK-001 Thermal Compound Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:20 AM EST

Today we take a look at Cooler Master's KTK-001 thermal goop. Not as good as AS3, but not as bad as toothpaste either. Here's a quote:

I am quite surprised by Cooler Master and their new retail products. Not only these products show the usual CM quality, but even more, they have a very nice package with everything you need. The PTK especially impressed me because it managed to stand against the AS3, and, although not perform as good, still holds some other advantages that are equally important, like no electrical conductivity. The PTK-001 doesn't need a burn-in period, you just put it on your CPU/GPU or whatever and that's it.

BS and Membrane Keyboard Technology Article @ Viper's Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:14 AM EST

Todays keyboards, quite frankly, suck. Sure, those girly-man ergo keyboards are comfortable, but the build quality isn't like how they used to make them...

"Wait a second… why would we be using a keyboard layout made to slow us down? Let's look back before keyboards - typewriting. In 1868 Christopher Latham Sholes was awarded the operative patent for the typewriter. After receiving this patent, Sholes still had many 'bugs' to work out, and spent a good deal of time with the machine, working out the kinks. One of the kinks in the machine was key jamming, which was prone to happen often and could hurt the machine. If a typist typed two letters one after the other too quickly, the "hammers" would hit each other; the typist then had to dislodge the hammers and that could get a bit messy. So, Sholes came up with a keyboard layout that would place letters which would be most likely struck closely in succession on opposite sides of the layout."

Gainward's GF4 "Golden Sample" Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 8:52 PM EST

Tonight, we've reviewed something all of the hardcore gamers out there will surely like to see! We got our hands on one of Gainward's GeForce 4 PowerPack! Ultra 750 / XP ViVo Golden Samples (Is that a mouthful or what!). This card ships with an awesome software / accessory bundle, and turned out to be a very good overclocker. If you think any of your readers would like to check Gainward’s current flagship card out, we’d appreciate a link in your news sections! Thanks in advance!

Tweakmonster BGA nickel-plated copper RAMsinks review @ PC PowerZone
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 8:49 PM EST

"Now we have Tweakmonster releasing a new version, these are designed for the new NVIDIA Ti4400 and 4600 graphics cards, those equipped with the BGA (Ball Grid Array) memory chips. The RAMsinks have been re-designed to give almost 20% more surface area without making them oversized, this increased surface area results in improved performance."

Slotbus guide @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 8:47 PM EST

Well, baybuses are incredibly popular nowadays, but what if you don't have space at the front of your case, or just don't like the look of the controls? The answer, build a slotbus, and relocate them to the rear PCI plates. lazy has written up his guide on making one. I'd be very gracious if you could post a link. Quote:

"This is the first in a series of articles on fan control devices. Today I am going to be making a slotbus. A slotbus is very similar to a baybus but it is located on a PCI blanking plate. You may want to use one of these to power cathodes mostly but you can also use them to power fans. "

Philips MMS306 5.1 Channel Flat Panel Speakers @ hardCOREware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 8:44 PM EST

Multimedia week continues at hardCOREware.net with a review of Philips' top end 5.1 channel PC speaker set. This set employs some interesting technology, like NXT's Soft Flat Panel Speaker technology, making for some very compact and flat satellites, and Philips' own w00x subwoofer technology, also allowing for a very small subwoofer unit that sounds great. Check out the full review!

The Commercial Apple Doesn't Want you to See @ GeekExtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 8:41 PM EST

You've all seen the commercials from Apple for their "switch" campaign, on how horrible life with a PC was, and when they bought a Mac the skies opened up and life was blissful. Well, there's one commercial Apple DIDN'T want you to see, and we got our grubby little paws on it It's a 9 meg DivX file encoded with DivX 5.0.2, make sure you update, I had some issues playing it back on a slightly older version of DivX. A WMV version will be coming shortly.

Asus P4T533-C Mainboard Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 8:38 PM EST

Our review of the Asus P4T533-C PEntium 4 socket 478 i850E based mainboard includes a full detailled review of this mainboard plus a performance comparison of PC800 vs PC1066 Direct Rambus memory.

Air Cooling: Rocket Science or Common Sense? Article @ SystemCooling
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 8:36 PM EST

SystemCooling.com releases a very extensive article on the subject of cooling and its fundamentals. The importance of cooling is of the utmost importance, and in this article, you'll find a lot of information to be extremely helpful.

In this article we'll try to answer the basic question asked in our title, and, along the way, show you some products that assist/help/enhance air cooling potential for our hot, high-powered computer systems.

While I'm not a Rocket Scientist, this has not hindered my quest to achieve the balance of a well-cooled computer at moderate noise levels--though some consider me a "Cooling Fanatic". It is important, however, to note that there are some general principles or rules of thumb that apply across the board...

Creative Inspire 5300 5.1 speakers review @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 7:05 AM EST

With every new soundcard line Creative launches, they also get ready a complimentary range of SoundWorks speakers to come along with them. In fact, with the Audigy introduction it came the new Inspire line.

This time around we are taking a close look to the Inspire 5300 speakers, coming as budget 5.1 system, essentially replacing the DTT 2200. Retailing in most places for less than $90, maybe and this is exactly the kind of system you were looking for.

Tyan Thunder K7X AMD 760MPX Motherboard @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 7:02 AM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a quick look at Tyan's second generation of the original Athlon MP platform. The newly released Tyan Thunder MPX features AMD's latest 760MPX chipset, along with a host of onboard features such as integrated Ultra160 SCSI, dual 10/100 Ethernet ports, 64-bit PCI support, integrated ATI video, and angled DIMM slots for 1U rackmountability. It's big, it's bad, and it's very, very expensive.

HighSpeed PC Senfu Tech Station Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 7:00 AM EST

"The assembly of the Senfu Tech Station works by putting together a series of interconnecting metal tubes to form the base of the unit. The kit includes two sets of 3K and 4K connectors which allow you to attach the metal square tubes to the end of each connector. To lock the metal tubes in place requires twisting the tube 90 degrees clockwise or counter clockwise using a wrench until it is firmly attached. The bottom portion of the unit consists of 2 x 310mm and 2 x 135mm square metal tubes and four 3K connectors. Once the base has been completed 4 x 160mm metal tubes are used to form the support structure for the second shelf."

DIY Kleer-Dome Case Badges @ Monster-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 6:57 AM EST

Today Monster-Hardware returns to some more traditional computer hardware fodder. We have reviewed the DIY Kleer-Dome Case Badges kit with it you can make six custom case badges ( just make sure the quality of your printer is up to the task). I was very pleased with this kit. Quote

"I have always kind of had a thing for case badges. In fact, I still have the first case badge from the first machine I ever had built. That case badge has been on every single computer of mine I have built to this day. It was sort of a rite of passage: When a new machine was done and fully-tested, my Plus Data case badge went on it. As much as I have come to cherish that old domed Plus Data case badge, I have been looking for a long time to retire it, and replace it with a custom-made case badge. In the past, that has always been too expensive. Recently though, with the introduction of the DIY Kleer-Dome Case Badges that has changed."

Kingston 128MB SmartMedia flash card review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 6:49 AM EST

In our sixth Flash memory card review, we take a look at Kingston’s SmartMedia flagship product. At a whopping 128MB, this 1.4mm thick wafer can store a few hours of video and hundreds of photos. Here’s a snippage:

“Thin is in. Manufacturers of solid-state MP3 players are designing them with size, or lack thereof, in mind. A smaller player means two things – low-voltage requirements & energy efficiency, and the smallest and thinnest Flash memory and interface infrastructure. SmartMedia is just that and more - thin, energy efficient, write-protection capable, and it comes in respectable capacities.”

Global WIN YCC-61F1 Aluminum Case review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 6:45 AM EST

You’ve seen one Aluminum case, you’ve seen them all. Not! Global WIN’s new case is in fact a refreshing change from the ‘cookie-stamped’ Lian Li and SkyHawk cases prevalent on the market. Here’s a shnnipp from the review:

“The YCC-61F1 is what I call a “hybrid” case, neither completely steel nor aluminum. The chassis is made of 1.2mm aluminum while the motherboard tray is stainless steel; the effect of the two together is stunning. The case also comes with intake and exhaust fans, both 120mm. While some cases have moved to using larger intake and exhaust fans, this case has an interesting variation on the theme – the exhaust fan is located on the motherboard tray.”

Xoxide Z40-Insight case review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 6:42 AM EST

The window kit is one of the main ingredients to this case. When you buy the case it comes with a pre-installed window. Xoxide professionally installs this window so when you get the case you don’t have to buy tools to cut and then hassle around with installing it. It comes installed already!

Pricing Guide @ Geekextreme
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 6:39 AM EST

We've scoured the Internet looking for the best prices out there on computer hardware, and created a weekly pricing guide! You can find it at:

Sony Vaio PCG-U1 laptop Review @ Ripnet-UK
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 9:37 PM EST

Our resident guru of all things Linux has managed to get his hands on the smallest laptop in the world - the Sony Vaio PCC-U1. This beastie is not much bigger than my old Psion Series 5, but manages to pack in a whole raft of great features, inclusing a 1024 x 768 resolution display. It is a truly amazing piece of hardware, and will very likely make you go green with envy. I strongly recommend getting out the drool covers for your keyboards, and then heading on over to read the review. And of course Wordy will tell you how to run Linux on it too as an added bonus :-)

X-micro Impact T4200 128mb review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 9:33 PM EST

OcPrices.com have just finished a review of the X-micro Impact T4200 128mb video card, a Geforce 4 Ti4200 based card. X-micro may not be one of the most well known brands, but this card performed great in all the tests that were thrown at it - and didn't disappoint in the overclocking department either. Quote:

"There's really no other upgrade for the PC like a new video card. New video cards are like computer turbo chargers, they make the most noticeable impact in that most precious of commodities, the almighty frame rate. That's why when I received X-Micro's Impact T4200 in the mail, I proceeded to drool over the box like a giddy 5-year-old. I'm a veteran of computer hardware, but I always find my self gazing longingly at each new generation of video cards, with their colorful PCBs, increasingly aggressive cooling systems, and uber-powerful hardware. Established in 1999, X-Micro have been around since the times of the riva TNT and have won multiple awards for each and every generation of their graphics chipsets - a testament to their quality."

Plextor PLEXCOMBO 20/10/40-12A E-IDE (ATAPI-4) Internal Drive in Video Review #178 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 9:29 PM EST

"The PLEXCOMBO 20/10/40-12A E-IDE incorporates a 20x CDR, 10x CDRW, 40x CD-ROM and 12x DVD Player into one unit. Plextor is know for it's quality, reliability, service and performance and there is no question, this drive delivers. Also, the Plexcombo is an excellent option for anyone interested is a solid all-in-one burner/DVD drive."

CrazyPC Dr. Thermal Extreme Socket A Heat Sink Review @ VH
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 9:26 PM EST

VH is back with another review. This time, Sn1per takes a look at the Dr. Thermal Extreme Socket A Heat Sink from CrazyPC! This is one loud mutha, so could this be the one for you? Head on over to find out!

"The first part of the testing was done with the T-Bird 1.4 stock. I installed everything and turned on the computer. I let the computer run for 2 days using it normally before I actually started testing it. Why? Well, it let the Arctic Silver setup and cure. The 2nd reason was the sheer fact I totally forgot to do the testing after installing it. God I am retarded!!! I then stressed it using Sisoft Sandra's CPU Burn-In on the Multimedia settings. I let it run for 3 hours when I took the max temperatures. The 2nd part of the testing was done with the T-Bird 1.4 running at 1.6, yes I know, weak, only a 200MHz overclock. It was enough to push the Dr. Thermal Extreme though. I did the same exact thing as I did with the CPU at stock speeds"

Abit IT7 MAX Mainboard Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 1:06 PM EST

The IT7 Max is the second addition to the "Max" series of motherboards from Abit. Unlike the AT7, which we've tested previously, which was designed with AMD processors in mind, the IT7 is equipped with an i845E chipset, and is meant for owners of 400MHz and 533MHz FSB Pentium 4 CPUs.

Asus P4T533 i850E and RIMM4200 @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 1:03 PM EST

Good morning folks! Chris A. and yours truly step up to the HotHardware Plate this morning, with a look at the all new Asus P4T533 i850E Motherboard with support for RIMM4200 RDRAM Memory! What exactly is RIMM4200? How fast is it with the i850E? All these mysteries and more are revealed!

DFI NB 73 EA Mainboard Review @ Hardware-Test
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 1:02 PM EST

"Lately DFI has received a lot of praise for their Pentium 4 boards and comments like: "The Fastest Pentium® 4 board we've tested" and "This board really pulls the power. DFI have actually gotten extra power out of the i845D that ASUS failed to do." They have made it quite clear that they can actually deliver the things we crave: performance and stability. Even their prices are reasonable."

M-Systems DiskOnKey Review @ Viperlair
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 1:00 PM EST

Portable storage is great for people on the go. It's also a handy way to secure your data. How? By taking it with you in an uber-portable format. The DiskOnKey has a lot going for it on paper, but how does it fare in the real world?

"The DiskOnKey touts itself as being driverless, but the truth of the matter is, only Windows XP has support for it out of the box. This is a real bummer when you consider that the drive was designed to go anywhere. What is so great about loading drivers for the device on every PC you use it with?"

Inflow Direct's Zen CPU Radiator Review @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:56 PM EST

"Most of you are going to read this for review's sake. To hear whether or not the Zen CPU Radiator is worth your hard earned bucks. Well, I won't disappoint you there, but this isn't just a review, it's a story. There are thrills, chills, spills, heartbreak, and a happy ending."

Zoltrix Cyber Cam @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:54 PM EST

"Has taking pictures on a 35mm camera or a web camera become a thing of the past? At least for me, the quality of pictures taken on a web camera has never been truly outstanding, and I have always been limited by the length of the cable. The only way I could take an outdoor picture with a web camera was to take a picture through a window. In order to accomplish this task, I had to physically move the PC over to the window. If you have a laptop, then that is not a big problem, but it is when you have a large full-tower. While the photo quality was rather substandard, web cameras do offer the advantage of having digital images ready to share with friends through web pages, e-mail, or other means."

Nexland Pro100 Internet Security Appliance Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:52 PM EST

"The rear panel has LEDs for WAN and LAN activity, a reset button, the power supply connector, and two RJ45 connectors to connect the unit to your DSL device and PC or LAN. If you are going to use the ISB with a single machine, you would use the provided crossover cable to connect it directly to your network card. Otherwise, a standard CAT5 cable connects from the ISB to the uplink port on your hub or switch for shared Internet use. As well, a grouping of 4 dip switches configure the serial connection, and provide a method to configure the DHCP server or allow the unit to accept a firmware upgrade."

WinTasks 4 Professional software review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:46 PM EST

In Envy News' first software review, we take a look at a Swedish package from LIUtilities. Here's a snip from the review and what the package does:

“For IT professionals, software developers and other advanced users, WinTasks 4 Professional makes resource management easier than ever before. Including features like detailed CPU usage graphs per process, system presets and a built-in scripting language, WinTasks 4 Professional is an essential addition to any advanced Windows user's toolbox.”

Linux Meets VPC @ eliteHW
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:40 PM EST

eliteHW has completed an article on how to use Linux (or any other OS) inside Windows without formatting or using a separate system. In this article, they show you how to setup Linux so you can run it inside any Windows operating system and run it as if it were a completely separate system. This is an amazing step for people who want to try Linux and are too worried about messing up their current machine. Quote:

“After people hear about Linux, they want to see it in action. To do this, most wipe off their hard drive in order to make room. However, the majority don’t want to loose their precious files. Now there is a way to run Linux in real-time without having to format your hard drive! In case you are wondering, no it’s not Partition Magic.”

Insomniac's Paintshop Pt. 2 - Painting using stencils @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:37 PM EST

"In this installment I am going to paint a computer case, using an NFL stencil I made, using Corel draw 10. Assuming you have already read the basics, or have prepped and painted a computer case before, I am not going to spend much time with the prepping procedures."

*EXCLUSIVE* Lian Li PC-6089A Aluminum Case Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:34 PM EST

I don't think the guys at Coolermaster are going to be too happy when they see this. Lian Li just busted out (well, a month from now actually) a $230 case with nearly every feature you could ask for: tons of expansions, 4 fans, side window, "light strips", blue/red LEDs, and, above all else, a swinging blue acrylic door :) Here's a quote:

Just when you thought there were no more features, Lian Li threw in what they're famous for: a removable motherboard tray. At the time of my PC-60 review, the only other widespread case with such a luxury was the Inwin Q500. Even Chieftec didn't use this feature and to this day they still haven't. Once the lock is removed (assuming there is one), there are four thumbscrews that need to be taken out before the tray will slide out. Partial installation outside of the case is always a plus since it simplifies things once other components are in place.

Directron Blue Dragon Full Tower Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:27 PM EST

GideonTech takes a swing at one of the full towers from Directron, the Blue Dragon. Lots of room, lots of cooling options, under $80!

MSI G4Ti4200-VD64 Video Card Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:25 PM EST

"Originally we were told that nVidia would not be releasing GeForce4 Ti4200 - choosing instead to let the GeForce4 MX fend for itself in the "mainstream market". ATI entered the picture and forced nVidia's hand with some very aggressive price cuts on the 64MB Radeon 8500. With the ever increasing price of videocards, manufacturers are often looking for ways to keep costs down, and buyers interested. With those fiscal considerations in mind it's amazing that MSI can bundle so much hardware and software with the Ti4200. With a retail price of $275 CDN ($150 US) you get full VIVO options, a DVI to analog converter for dual display capabilities, MSI DVD, WinProducer, WinCoder, three full version games (NOLF, Sacrifice and AquaNox) and a seven game demo CD."

Axiom Audio Epic 50 Series Home Theater speaker system @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 9:01 PM EST

The Epic 50 home theater system is an extremely well priced system that delivers the performance of much more expensive systems. Good engineering teamed with good drivers delivers outstanding sound quality. The cabinets are attractive, but if exotic woods or a unique appearance are desired, look elsewhere. The Epic 50 system puts your investment into the sound not the furniture. The result is right on target for those on a budget who desire an attractive system with the sound quality of systems costing many times more than the Epic 50.

GlobalWin TAK58 @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:58 PM EST

"You may have noticed the black anodised aluminium which the heatsink of the TAK58 is constructed from. It's not exactly hot (or cool as it were) by today's standards, since I remember the heatsinks on both my 486DX/2 66MHz and Pentium 2 300MHz were made exactly the same. However, the design is radically different. There's a central core block of aluminium, and the fins are extruded symmetrically out of both sides, with a fan on each. The 58 in this heatsink's title comes from the net airflow, not per fan, meaning that each is 29CFM, not bad considering they're supposedly silent."

Soldier of Fortune 2 tweak guide @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:57 PM EST

Here at TechSpot, we've finally got around to posting our Soldier Of Fortune II Tweak Guide, dealing with loads of in-game settings & commands. Currently the guide is more oriented at the Single player game given people have more problems with that.

ABIT BG7 motherboard review @ PC PowerZone
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:55 PM EST

"Intel do not support the ATA/133 interface standard so this is why you see ATA/100 here and not 133. This makes little real-world difference as IDE hard disks come nowhere near 133Mb/sec even in burst mode, so no ATA/133 here is nothing to baulk at. USB2.0 and 6-channel audio are supported however, as is the very latest 533MHz bus found on the new 'B' Northwood Intel Pentium 4 processors."

Matrox Parhelia 512 Retail Product PR with board shots @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:54 PM EST

The subject says it all. We've got shots of final retail product posted, along with the official PR from Matrox, right here:

Matrox Parhelia 512 Press Release @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:51 PM EST

Matrox let Icrontic have the official word on the Parhelia 512 including core speed, availability and pricing. It's a whole video card full of goodness! The Matrox Parhelia 512 promises to be the hit of the summer.

Intel 845-G : The Extreme Graphics Chipset @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:22 AM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at Intel's new 845-G DDR chipset for the Pentium 4. This chipset is the first official Intel chipset for the Pentium 4 to boast integrated graphics support, which Intel has dubbed as the Extreme Graphics engine. We take a look at the new chipset as well as the Intel 845-G reference board to see if the chipset is worthy of such a title. We also run a slew of synthetic and real-world benchmarks to see how it holds up against the competition.

Jedi Knight 2 Review @ Think Techie
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:21 AM EST

"Do you enjoy fighting the Dark Jedi? Do you enjoy annihilating your enemies with a lightsaber? Have you ever tried to fry someone you didn’t like by pointing your fingers at them and throwing lightning at them? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast might be the right game for you! Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast puts the player in the shoes of Kyle Katarn who is a mercenary. He has appeared previous LucasArts games such as Dark Forces and Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. This newest installment into the series of Star Wars based action games based around Kyle Katarn. You play both in first and third person depending on personal preference and what weapons and playing style you are using. LucasArts uses id Software’s Quake 3 Arena engine to power Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (JKII) with the help of Activision and Raven software."

HighSpeed PC EMI Shielded Server Grade Cable Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 8:19 AM EST

"The Shielded Server Grade cable features copper shielding under the boots to reduce electro-magnetic interference from nearby components. A new feature that has been added to the cable is a grounding strap which is meant to be secured on to the case chassis. The cable itself between the boots is composed of ferrite cored wires wrapped in a metal meshed covered in clear plastic. Ferrites are a soft ceramic material comprised of iron oxide and metals like zinc, nickel or magnesium and are widely used for EMI shielding ranging from computer applications to ham radios."

Samsung PC2700 @ phlux
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 8:13 PM EST

"On default voltage, the Crucial RAM did fine at the most agressive settings, but at FSBs 140mhz and up it would start to get a little shady. At 2.7v of vmem, The Crucial could handle anything as high of a bus speed I went. No flakiness at all. The Samsung on the otherhand did great at all the agressive settings on default RAM voltage. At 2.7v again, the RAM did fine at agressive settings. So clearly here, the Samsung has the upper hand. However, these agressive settings didn't seem to help it out too much on the above benchmarks."

Coolermaster IHC-H71 Copper Pentium 4 HSF @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 8:10 PM EST

"The Coolmaster IHC-H71 fulfills this role by bringing highly conductive copper, heatpipes, and a good sized fan together. The large copper heatsink features twin heatpipes coming from the base, poking out the side, and then wrapping back in towards the upper fins. The fan is a nice weighty 6000RPM, but not incredibly noisy. The big question is of course how much of an effect the twin heat pipes have on the overall performance of the heatsink, and thermal tests are the only answer to that question, so let's begin."

Vantec ICEBERQ (VGA/Chipset Cooling Kit) in Video Review #177 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 8:07 PM EST

"The Vantec ICEBERQ (VGA/Chipset Cooling Kit) is a great product for most chipsets and works well on video cards. Included is; thermal tape and compound, heatsinks, the Cooler and clips. Also, this product is very simple to install and is inexpensive."~3dGameMan.com

Gainward Geforce 4 Ti PowerPack! Ultra/750XP "Golden Sample" @ Viperlair
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 12:10 PM EST

"Ok let's take a look at the overclocking potential of this card. I ramped up the settings and the best overclock that I could get from the card was a very sweet 318/735. Higher than that and the screen had some spots here and there. I ran 3dmark at 318/738 but the spots gave me a headache and it crashed half way through the nature demo, stuttering every few seconds for as much of it as it did run. Have to point out here, I tried the card at higher settings in the course of testing how far I could go. When it got to far the PC crashed and upon reboot, the card was reset back to "safe mode" standard settings by Expert Tool. Very nice."

Ezonics i330 Digital Camera Review @ Hardware-Test
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 12:08 PM EST

"I was shocked when I discovered the quality of this camera. Not only do I recommend you to buy your own example, but I've already bought one myself."

QDI USB Disc Review @ Hardware-Test
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 12:06 PM EST

"This little fellow makes it a whole lot easier to transport documents etc. from at home to work i.e., all thanks to its flash memory."

Lian-Li PC-63A Aluminum Server Case Review @ OnePC
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 12:03 PM EST

"Many enthusiasts are using server cases to take advantage of superior cooling and massive component storage space. If these benefits sound good and price is not a big factor, take a look at the Lian-Li PC-63A aluminum server case."

Globefan Coolers And Thermal Fan Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 17, 2002 at 12:02 PM EST

Globefan caught our eye the other day with their varied selection of AMD and INTEL CPU coolers and another product that I was very interested in trying out; a thermally controlled cooling fan. Did Globefan's coolers make the grade and will thermally controlled cooling fans be the wave of the future?

Ram Shootout @ UH
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 9:52 PM EST

"In our tests today we are comparing an OCZ PC2700 DDR Dimm, with a Samsung PC2700 DDR Dimm and my current memory, and a Crucial PC2100 DDR Dimm, which is my personal ram provided as a test reference. All are 256mb"

Digital Photography Article @ bitbendertech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 9:50 PM EST

"When you delve into the realms of photography you need to consider two kinds of stuff: the thinking stuff – the way you take pictures (planning, composing and shooting) – and the gear stuff - tools to be engaged (camera, flash, accessories). You can actually improve your photography with either kind, but, if in the first place you have no clue about shooting, the other stuff, meaning gear, cannot possibly help you in any way. “Get the latest and highest – megapixel camera or scanner, and you’ll get better pictures.” That reasoning may work for truly antiquated equipment, but new gear won’t fix how you take Pictures."

Stunt GP @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 5:09 PM EST

Stunt GP is based around an imaginary international remote control car racing league. There are at least 20 different cars to choose from. The user starts off the game with about 9-10 cars, but as they progress throughout the game they unlock many more cars...

Tekken Tag Tournament @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 5:08 PM EST

Tekken took the throne in both North America and Japan. Part of the blame would also be credited to Sega for abandoning their system, and till 1999 there was no one else to compete with Tekken and it's lovable characters. Since this was the transition stage...

PleXWriter 40x12x40A CDRW Review @ X-Treme PC TECH
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 5:05 PM EST

"I know almost everyone mybe even everyone know who Plextor is. Plextor have been making CD burners for some time now. I personally have not owned one but have heard nothing but positive words about Plextor burners. Today I am going to review the PleXWriter 40x12x40A. Read on for the rest of the review..."

Crucial 256MB PC2700 DDR-SDRAM Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 5:03 PM EST

With VIA KT333 mainboards flooding the market and Intel’s encroachment in the DDR field, the battle for the best PC2700 and PC3000 RAM rages on. Crucial steps-up to the poker table to throw-in their chips – literally. In our latest Memory review, we test and benchmark Crucial 256MB PC2700 DDR-RAM on a traditional nForce 415D platform. Here’s a snip:

“In the scattered world of computing today, there’s one thing that everyone agrees on: there’s no such thing as too much quality memory. No matter what platform is being used, no matter how advanced the processor and components are, nothing can hold a system back like poor quality RAM. Crucial has established itself as one of the major players in the consumer memory market. A division of Micron Inc., Crucial sells their RAM direct from the memory manufacturer; this combined with their almost singular web presence cuts out the middle man and keeps costs down.”

StompInc RecordNow Max 4 Review @ BoPC
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 4:54 PM EST

"Today's availability for recording software is enormously wide, but what program is good, and which one doesn't perform or do the things you want ? Today I'm looking at another product from StompInc. RecordNow Max 4."

LiUtilities Wintasks 4 Review @ Bopc
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 4:51 PM EST

"For IT professionals, software developers and other advanced users, WinTasks 4 Professional makes resource management easier than ever before. With it's rich set of features WinTasks 4 Professional is an essential addition to any advanced Windows user's toolbox."

Globalwin CAK 16 Review @ BoPC
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 4:49 PM EST

"After Burn's review of the CAK- II38 earlier this year, he sent it to me. After receiving the HSF and installing it I was in bliss, CPU temp of 34, 38 underload on my AXP1800+. With that screaming Delta though. While trying to switch the fan I striped the thread, preventing me from attaching a fan. After speaking with Chung from Globalwin, he decided instead of sending me a new CAKII-38, he was going to send me a new heatsink, aptly named: CAKII-16 "

Fortron/Source SFP400-60PFN Power Supply Review @ Pcextreme
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 4:47 PM EST

Overclockers and PC enthusiasts always give a great deal of attention to their PC components, especially the quality of CPU, memory, motherboard and video card. Ask any hardcore gamer his system specs and they will likely spew out a long detailed list of high quality components. But honestly, when is the last time you heard someone brag about their power supply?

Most people are content with the power supply that came included with their case, and don't really give it a 2nd thought. This could be a problem, especially for the hardcore gamer/overclocking crowd because most power supplies you find pre-installed in cases are of low quality, and can even cause damage to your expensive hardware. When overclocking, a good power supply can make or break a system... literally.

ABIT BD7-II RAID motherboard review @ PC PowerZone
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 4:44 PM EST

"As I said in my last review there's been a huge increase in the popularity of Intel based systems by home PC builders, and yet again we have another board, this time based on the Intel 82845e (i845e) (MCH) and 82801DB (ICH4) chipsets. Featuring onboard audio, Ultra ATA 133, onboard LAN, USB 2.0 and not forgetting Highpoint HPT372 RAID, it's certainly well featured."

New and Improved Cooler Master ATC-201SX Review @ SystemCooling
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 4:38 PM EST

Last October I reviewed the original version of the Cooler Master ATC-201 and I was impressed with its high level of cooling friendliness right out of the shipping carton. At the time, it was quite pricey at $235.00 USD. Cooler Master, has since improved upon this already proven performer (how many times have we seen "new and improved" mean less for more $$?) and at the same time make the price more competitive! Did they succeed? Hopefully this review will provide the answer.

Lian-Li EX-10 I/O Adapter Review @ Tek Sector
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 7:54 PM EST

"If you are like me and love your aluminium cases and are also lazy this is the product for you. It allows you to plug in some of you devices on the front of you computer via a sort of break out box. No longer requiring you to crawl under your desk to see and work behind your case."

LiUtilities Wintasks 4 review @ Bopc
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 7:52 PM EST

"My computer that I use at work is a P3-450 with 128MB ram (everything else I would have to say is unknown). Get to work by 8am open the various programs that I use to do my job, remote access program, IE ( to OCA Forums J), Norton, Winamp, Outlook, ICQ, MSN and about 5 others, by 8:10am my puter is so bogged down. Next thing I know I am messing around in my task manager raising the priority of one program, decreasing three others, while searching for rogue TSRs. ARRRHGGG HELP"

WinTasks 4 Professional @ phlux
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 7:50 PM EST

"WinTasks 4 Professional is essentially an advanced task manager. It is not designed to replace the Windows standard one in the way that when you do a three-fingered salute, the original still pops up, but so that you'll choose to use it instead, and never again use that ill-fated key combination."

Neon-string keyboard mod @ phlux
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 7:48 PM EST

"As the wire had come out I had to cut of the heat shrink tubing to try and repair it. While I was doing this I also extended the wire between the inverter and the plug that plugs in to the actual neon string. A bit of solder and PTFE wire later it was already. I did this because I wanted to keep the inverter inside my pc and the wire didn't reach to my keyboard."

Liquid Cooling the Gainward Ultra 750XP Geforce 4 Powerpack - Part 1 @ DeviantPC
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 8:11 AM EST

The problem with soldering a large area of copper is it will tarnish with the heat preventing the solder taking to the area. To overcome this I used some paper towel with flux on, wiped a heated area as I went just prior to soldering as this cleans the copper surface so the solder flows easily. This however requires care to avoid burnt fingers and paper towel but works well. To tin & solder the parts I placed them on an old stone slab on top of the vice so there is no copper to metal contact that would absorb the heat, the stone gets warm at heat point but has a low thermal transfer rate.

Xoxide Z40-Insight Case Review @ Geekshelter
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 8:09 AM EST

"First off I’d like to thank myself for getting off my lazy butt. Secondly I’d like to thank Xoxide for sending this case and blue cathode for me to review. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing this case was coming. I was so excited! This is a really nice case and I love it. It came with a pre-installed window. You may notice the Xoxide sticker on the side. I am proud to have that on there!"

AMD Tech Tour 2002 Coverage @ Explosive Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 8:07 AM EST

"During the presentations every manufacturer that was there had a representative make a short presentation. Some of them were good while I must say others were very lacking and un-informative. AMD had the most informative presentations covering everything there is needed to know for a systems builder which is who the show was aimed towards. They talked about their system and how they don't judge a processor by it's megahertz rating for performance but by how many clock cycles per second it can do."

*EXCLUSIVE* Chieftec Matrix MA-01SLD Full Tower Case Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 8:05 AM EST

Imagine a revitalized Antec SX1240 in sleek silver. With 14 expansion bays. 7 fans. A speaker grill blowhole. And a front bezel design with a theme from the movie. The Matrix has you. Here's a quote:

At 67cm (a little over two feet), this is the tallest case I've ever seen. Some may be slightly larger due to casters, but this is about as big as they get. A total of six internal 3.5" bays means a very nice RAID array can be set up with lots of room to spare. One of those specs is invalid: you get six, not four, spots for 80mm fans: two in the back, one in each of the HDD cages, one in at the bottom front and one on the side. The potential for massive airflow (at the expense of noise, of course) is incredible. As I said earlier, fans were not included with the Matrix (aside from the side blowhole one) but you do get 12 plastic drive rails for installation in all six bays, four keys for either door and a bunch of screws/standoffs for installation of various devices. You will need at least several of the brass ones to mount a motherboard, as the pre-installed ones are limited in number.

Wireless Logitech Mouse Mod @ eliteHW
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:18 PM EST

eliteHW has completed an article on how to mod the new Logitech Optical Series. The new series is packaged differently than previous models and can be more difficult to replace the LED. With all optical mice sporting a red LED, it doesn't give you the opportunity to express yourself. It also may clash with your modded system full of blue LED's. Well, we are going to show you how to change all that. Quote:

“Now you can start unsoldering. The process itself is very easy; however, if you do not have steady hands it may be difficult. The unsoldering should be done as quickly as possible to minimize possible heat damage. Please note, if your particular mouse does not have markings for + and – on the circuit board, you may want to investigate the position of the led. As in the picture below, the shorter lead is negative. However, this may not be applicable because the leads will be cut even with the circuit board. To find out + or – look inside the led bulb and check the filament position. The side with the shorter filament side is positive.”

Report: Live From The AMD Tech Tour @ pcstats
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:15 PM EST

"AMD's Tech Tour is a special event which has been travelling around North American cities for the last few months. The purpose of the Tech Tour is to promote AMD products to resellers, and inform them of upcoming advancements & technologies - like the K8 for instance. The AMD Tech Tour also features a lot of information from vendor partners (video card, motherboard, etc.).... Matrox was on hand with their Parhelia-512 but it wasn't doing anything. Talking to the Matrox rep, I was told that they'd been having a few problems with their early beta videoboards, but was assured that Matrox was well on its way to solving them."

SwitchView MP KVM Switch Review @ GeekExtreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:12 PM EST

If you are a true geek, you hunger for more computing power all the time, no matter what you currently have. Overclocking your computer (successfully) to 4.5GHz wouldn't be enough. Nothing is enough. You want it all. You could win a brand new 10GHz multiprocessor system tomorrow and within minutes you'd be saying "Please sir, can I have some more?" Computers are cheap these days, so it's not uncommon to find a Geek hiding in a dark little room illuminated only by the glow of two or three monitors, his desk cluttered by two or three keyboards, two or three mice, in addition to the usual geek stuff. If you're like me, the only reason you DON'T have two or three computers on your desk is because you can't afford two or three really good monitors (anything less than 19" is tiny to me) and you don't want to keep switching back and forth. Even if you only pay $150 a pop for 19" monitors -- that gets expensive quickly. Enter the SwitchView MP KVM Switch.

ATI All In Wonder Radeon 8500 128MB Video Card in Video Review #176: @ 3dGameMan
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:09 PM EST

"The ATI All In Wonder Radeon 8500 128MB Video Card is a step up from the 8500DV for gamers offering better results in 3D games. As a matter of fact, using ATI's latest CATALYST™ 02.1 drivers, gaming performance is on par with nVidia's Geforce 4 Ti4200 based Video Cards. Also, this card has dual display support, S-video in/out, built-in TV tuner, remote control, and excellent 2D/3D performance packaged in one card. ~3dGameMan.com

AOpen AX4G Pro Mainboard Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:04 PM EST

Today, we'll be playing with our newest arrival, the AOpen AX4G Pro, which is rated to suppor DDR333 even though the i845G are only supposed to run in conjunction with DDR266 RAM and we'll see if the AX4G Pro realy does the job.

Updated PC2700 Shootout @ OcPrices
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:02 PM EST

OcPrices have updated their PC2700 shootout. The Corsair PC2700 stick initially had some of the worst overclocking results of all the RAM tested. OcPrices were sent a newer revision of the PC2700 from Corsair and have updated the review accordingly. The new version features Samsung chips and turns out some much more impressive numbers. Quote:

"Corsair were naturally disappointed with the results of their memory and were keen to point out that they "haven’t made the modules I used in my comparison since late Feb or early March of this year". They kindly offered to send me out a stick of their new revision XMS2700, and I have thus benched their memory once again. Just bare in mind that unlike the other chips tested, this stick comes direct from Corsair and not from the retail sector."

Dremel buying mini-guide @ phlux
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 9:59 PM EST

"Most of the Dremel kits available on the market at the moment have different features to suit different people. The version I would recommend for modders is one with a variable to speed adjuster as this will allow you to cut anything as plastics need very low speeds and computer cases need very high speeds. There are also some versions with fancy features but these are expensive and are not needed by a case modder. A basic Dremel will set you back about £60. This may seem a bit expensive to some people but I have found that the Dremel comes in extremely useful and have use it for things other than modding (if that is possible)."

CaseAce Gear Grip LANBag Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 9:57 PM EST

"The first thing that caught my attention on the Gear Grip LANBag was the list of features included with this product. CaseAce has billed this product as the "Ultimate LAN Gaming Gear Bag" and has advised that this product is capable of withstanding the harshest LAN party or road trip. The LANBag measures approximately 15mm (W) x19mm (H) and is made of triple stitched material called US Cordura fabric. If you have never heard of US Cordura, it is a strong fabric material which is normally used in work boots, backpacks and luggage."

Chili Case Micro ATX Pro Review @ Designtechnica
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 9:44 PM EST

Introducing the nearly indestructible Chilli Professional III ¼” micro ATX PC case. No it’s not a military issue battle-ready field PC, but it could probably pass for one. What’s even more impressive than its name is the fact that this case is made of ¼” T6061 aluminum alloy. Yes, that’s right folks, ¼” aluminum plate. This is not the ambiguous beige plastic and steel case of old. This is certainly not the type of case you want to just tuck away under your desk. If you are looking for the ultimate in unique desktop PC cases, this will definitely get your friends’ attention and cause a bit of a stir.

DTI 2015XLS 3D LCD Review @ BlueSmoke
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:54 AM EST

3D, when some one normally speaks of 3D in the computer world normally it brings to mind the latest and greatest from nVidia or ATI. Well today we are going to take a look at a monitor what literally makes 3D come alive and appear to jump right off the screen. The DTI 2015xls. Does this monitor really make 3D images and games jump right off the screen? Does this new technology have a place in the world? Read on to find out.

Overclocking any Geforce & TnT Graphics Card guide @ Geekshelter
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:53 AM EST

"First off I’d like to say “Wohoo!!” for sitting my butt down and doing another guide. I’ve been lazy for the past week.
Anyway now that that’s over lets get started, shall we? First off lets update the drivers on your graphics card. If you have updated your drivers before you will know it’s a fairly painless task so lets just get this over with. The drivers are always available at the nVIDIA website. Simply select the operating system you are using and download the driver. After you have downloaded the driver install it and restart when it asks you to. During installation your screen may flicker or go off completely for 15 seconds to two minutes. Don’t worry it’s the installation doing its thing.
Ok now that that’s done it’s time to do some stuff with the registry. If you have experience with using regedit then by all means do so but for all people who want to do this the quick and dirty way I’ve included a quick file for you to download and run."

MSI K7D Master Dual Athlon Motherboard @ Viper's Lair
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:49 AM EST

The workstation market have been using dual CPUs for a long time. Number crunching, CAD, and high-end graphics can benefit from the additional power. Enthusiasts are also looking towards SMP, as there is no such thing as too much power.

"For those of you unfamiliar with Symmetric Multi Processing, or SMP as it is commonly referred toby, here is a rundown. SMP is a technology that allows two threads to be simultaneously processed by the operating system. It does this by giving each CPU a thread to process at the same time. Simply put, SMP speeds up your system by processing more information in a shorter amount of time. This is especially beneficial in CPU intensive programs such as Photoshop or Maya."

Directron "Black Imperial" Mid-Tower Case Review @ GeekExtreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:46 AM EST

The Black Imperial case from Directron.Com is impressive looking to say the least. Well designed, it includes such luxuries as special front bezels you can hide your non-black colored CD Drives behind. When the CD Drives open, they pop a door on the bezel open and out comes your CD, making the CD Drive all but invisible when closed. This is a very thoughtful feature which more drives need to implement.

Californeon Light Strip Review @ GideonTech
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:40 AM EST

"Californeon included a simple set of instructions with their product that explains how to install the product, what to do if you cut it, and a notice that says: "You will notice a small humming noise coming from the inverter. This is NORMAL.""

KingMAX DDR333 256MB Review @ pcstats
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:38 AM EST

"Until recently good DDR memory was hard to find and there were only few players out there on the market Corsair, Mushkin, OCZ and KingMAX. Now that JEDEC has approved a DDR333 standard the market has been flooded with DDR333 memory and it's even possible to purchase generic DDR333 modules. Just by looking at the DIMM, you know the 256MB KingMAX DDR333 is something special. KingMAX is the only memory manufacturer that equips their DIMM's with BGA DRAM modules and It's not just for looks either, at 166 MHz+ FSB's DRAM based on TSOP-II does get very warm and almost hot to the touch while at the same speeds BGA based memory only gets warm."

Crucial PC2700 256MB DDR Review @ WinHQ
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 10:35 AM EST

"Crucial Technology, a Division of Micron is one of the leading distributors of factory-direct memory worldwide. They supply memory to such OEMs as Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and IBM. The people at Crucial are truly "The Memory Experts" when it comes to making a stable solution for mission-critical servers and desktops."

Lian Li PC-602 Case Review @ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:43 PM EST

Lian Li's brushed-aluminium PC cases have become an unofficial standard for enthusiasts and businesses who want snazzy looking PCs that contain the components of their choice.

Chieftec Scorpio TX-10WD Aluminium Midi-Tower Case Review @ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:41 PM EST

The TX-10WD is a pretty substantial midi-tower, 470mm deep by 205mm wide by 522mm high, but because of its aluminium construction it's lighter than you'd expect. It feels a little flimsier than Lian Li's aluminium cases, but it ought to survive normal treatment with no trouble. Out of the box, everything lines up perfectly well, and you'd have to sit on it with considerable enthusiasm to damage it. It's got swing-out feet on the bottom, too, which make it harder to knock over than the average PC box.

Cooler Master ATC-600 Case Review @ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:37 PM EST

Cooler Master's ATC600 looks like a piece of hi-fi componentry. That's the idea, of course; this thing's aimed at people who want to make themselves a lounge room computer for big-screen games, DVD and MP3 playing, and so on. You could use it as a normal desktop box, but only if you've got a very stylish desk.

1COOLPC Temperature Monitor review @ Geekshelter
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:28 PM EST

"First I would like to thank 1COOLPC for supply this unit for review. This is a great idea that has been around for a long while now. It is an easy to install digital thermometer. All you have to do is cut a rectangle in your case (most likely in one of the bays) that fits the size of the temperature monitor. The wire on it is about 3ft long and can be put most places in your case to tell what temperature that is."

HHC-001 Copper Heatpipe Heatsink Review @ Frostytech
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:25 PM EST

"The two copper tubes which jump out of the Coolermaster HHC-001 and then swing around back in are hollow and encapsulate a vacuum. Around the inside of the copper tubes is sintered copper which acts like a wick for a small amount of working fluid (usually water) which is also contained in the tubes. When one end of the heatpipe gets hot, say from a nice little processor, that small amount of water vaporizes in the vacuum atmostphere inside the copper tubes. As the vapor makes its way to the other end of the copper tube it cools down and begins to condense. With no place to go but back, the condensed water vapour travels along the wick structure (coating the inside of the tube remember) back to the heat source where the entire process is repeated again, and again."

WinTasks 4 Professional Review @ Think Techie
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:07 PM EST

"Computers have operating systems to help users perform many different tasks. Unfortunately, no operating system is perfect, and that is why many people complain about their computers ‘crashing’. Microsoft operating systems are notorious for giving people the ‘blue screen of death’ in the most untimely manners. This happens mostly because of certain poorly designed programs that gobble up system resources without reason, and eventually crash the system. This just wastes valuable user time because of the need to restart the system. Sometimes, it can be costly for businesses as well. Wouldn’t it be great if there was some way to watch and manage system resources quickly and effectively? Now there is. Today I am going to review WInTasks 4 Professional, by LIUtilities."

NVIDIA Cg And Cg Compiler Review @ Tweak3D
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:04 PM EST

Some complicated frames in a CG movie can take an entire day to render the single frame. With real-time rendering, they have a 60th of a second. Taking today’s mixture of software and current GPUs, there is no way it could be rendered that fast. With that, they're either going to have to drastically ramp up the speed of the GPUs or they are going to have to come up with a way to compile the code to render that type of image extremely fast in software.

Corsair XMS3000 DDR333 Memory Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:02 PM EST

The XMS3000 certainly ranks as a high-performance device. It is rated for CAS latency of 2 - 2 - 2 with a command-rate of 1T at 166Mhz (DDR333Mhz), or CAS 2 - 3 - 3 with a command-rate of 1T from 166Mhz up to 185Mhz (DDR370Mhz).

Albatron P4X845EPro Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:00 PM EST

"The P4X845EPro is one of the most feature rich motherboards out there, Albatron threw in everything but the kitchen sink with this motherboard. There's one 4x AGP (with 1.5V lock), six 32-bit PCI slots onboard Ultra/133 IDE RAID, 5.1 audio, 10/100 LAN, three DIMM slots, four USB 2.0 and a CNR for good measure. Next thing to do is give their motherboards a pretty coloured PCB and they'd be set!"

NVIDIA Cg and Interview with NVIDIA Chief Scientist , David Kirk! @ HotHardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 7:57 PM EST

NVIDIA has unveiled their new 3D Graphics Programming Language, dubbed "Cg". In short, it is very much like C++ but for graphics. It opens a whole new world of opportunity within the 3D Gaming Developer community. We've taken a quick look at this new language.

In addition, and perhaps even more exciting, for you PC Hardware/Gaming enthusiasts, at the end of our piece we've also posted up a Q&A sessions with NVIDIA Chief Scientist, David Kirk! David talks about next generation graphics technology and the road ahead for NVIDIA. If you pay close attention, you may even pick up on a few hints on the NV30 or NVIDIA's next generation GPU!

X-Micro IMPACT 128MB GeForce4 Ti4200 Review @ Icrontic
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:09 AM EST

Serious gamers demand the ultimate in cutting-edge gaming technology. But for a large portion of gamers out there, not everyone has the need or desire to spend wads of cash on a high-end video card. This is where Nvidia's GeForce4 Ti4200 steps in. The folks from X-Micro have supplied us today with a look at their newest offering, the IMPACT 128MB GeForce4 Ti4200.

"Part of the appeal of getting a value performance card like the Ti4200 is trying to squeeze every last ounce of power out of it. I used the Cool Bits registry utility to overclock this card. By default, it came with a stock core speed of 250 MHz and a memory speed of 460 MHz. Since the modules are rated for 500 MHz that is where I started off. I was able to overclock the RAM up to 540 MHz with stability. The core managed to get as high as 295 MHz before I started getting artifacts while benchmarking. So in the end what I had was a card near GeForc4 Ti4400 speeds, which is what I was hoping for."

Hauppauge WinTV Go! reviewed @ phlux
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 8:05 AM EST

"Since I discovered the existence of TV cards, I've been interested in them. The ability to record programs and films from TV to your hard drive, then burn them onto CD instead of expensive (relatively) video cassettes seems very enticing. So with this in mind, I contacted the renowned world leader in TV card manufacture; Hauppauge. The offer of a WinTV Go! card was much appreciated, and a short while later, I had received the card and was practically foaming at the mouth."

Kingston PC-1066 RDRAM Memory @ GamePC
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 7:55 AM EST

Today at GamePC, we've given a thorough once-over to Kingston's brand new PC-1066 RDRAM modules, which are just hitting the market currently. Besides boasting a clock speed of over one gigahertz, these memory modules simply allow for the best memory performance of any consumer-level system on the market today. We test out Kingston's new modules against various DDR solutions, while also checking out their thermals while running some overclocking tests.

Cooler Master Everest IHC-H71 Review @ iamnotageek
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 7:53 AM EST

The P4 Everest IHC-H71 is Cooler Masters latest heatsink. Cooler Master is well known for their Aluminum cases but what about their coolers. This new copper design with the heatpipe make this heatsink stand out.

Plextor PlexWriter PX-W4012TA 40/12/40A review @ Envy News
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 7:51 AM EST

With the competition heating-up the CD-RW wars with low-cost drives, Plextor tosses-in their workhorse burner with a great set of features and a new lower price. Here’s a snip:

“In yet another PlexWriter review at the Envy Labs, we unearth and explain what Plextor POWEREC II technology does, why discs take so long to load and mount when inserted in the drive, and then benchmark the PlexWriter with a battery of tests. Thanks to Plextor engineers, we got the scoop on just why PlexWriter drives rock!”

ATi's "Catalyst" Software Previewed @ Hothardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 7:46 AM EST

ATi has been hard at work pulling together a new software package called "Catalyst." Last Monday they offered us an advanced look at their new product and we've put together a quick rundown for you. At first this looked like it was a series of software updates, but we soon learned that this was more than a mere update. ATi incorporated some new features that gives “Catalyst” some real potential. Click the link for a closer look at ATi's new Catalyst Software Package...

Latest Detonator Drivers Compared @ Geek Extreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 10:42 PM EST

As a nice little test to pass the time away, I put the previous version of NVIDIA's Detonator drivers v28.32 up against the newest version 29.42. How'd they stack up? You can check it out at:

Wintasks 4.0 software review @ OverclockersClub
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 10:37 PM EST

"System resources mean alot to people, especially to those that are running mutilple tasks. Managing your computer resource. It can be very difficult and confusing to the average computer user. Today we are going to look at Wintasks 4 Professional that has every feature you could possibly want in a resources utility."

CPUFX Nitro System (Water cooled Case Rig) in Video Review #175 (PART 2 - Water Cooling Kit): @ 3dGameMan
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 10:35 PM EST

"The Nitro System (Water cool Case Rig) includes a complete water cooling kit which includes a radiator, water block, 120mm adjustable fan, pump, tubs, etc. and the system is filled, sealed and installed inside the CoolerMaster ATC210 case. Water cooling is considered extreme cooling and should yield fantastic results, however, that is not the situation here. The weak point in this system is the radiator which should be replaced to allow maximum cooling." ~3dGameMan.com

Pentium 4 1.6A GHz Review @ pcstats
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 10:30 PM EST

"Overclockers and enthusiasts have really taken a liking to Intel's Pentium 4 1.6A. The gem of a processor operates at 1.6GHz and is based on the newer "Northwood" core which takes advantage of the 0.13 micron manufacturing process. The small die size enables Intel to build much faster P4's running at 2.4GHz and even 2.53GHz. With that in mind, you have to wonder just how high the lower ranks of Northwood P4's can be pushed... the potential is definitely there! The first thing we did when we plugged the CPU into the motherboard was up the FSB to 133 MHz and the little CPU didn't disappoint us. Instead of being a good overclocker and testing stability, we went back into the BIOS and raised the FSB yet again, this time to 150 MHz. Boom, 2.4 GHz right off the bat."

Highspeed PC Airlift AGP Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 10:29 PM EST

"The HighSpeed PC AGP Airlift consists of an 80mm to 60mm fan adaptor, 4 rubber feet and a 60mm fan made by Y.S. Tech. The fan is the same model that can be found on many CPU heatsinks such as the Alpha P3125S or Global Win FEP32. A 3-pin power connector is included on the fan which is useful if you want to monitor RPM fan speeds from your motherboard. For those users who wish to connect the fan directly to their PSU, a 3 to 4 pin adapter which be required."

Coolermaster HHC-L61 Copper Heatpipe HSF Review @ Frostytech
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 10:26 PM EST

"The HHC-L61 is Coolermaster's answer to the cry for a good performing heatsink that don't create a lot of noise. In fact the fan on this heatsink which is otherwise identical to the HHC-001 except for a denser fin count, rotates at just 3000RPM and moves about 14CFM of air. Coolermaster have called this heatsink the "Silent Heatpipe Cooler," but I think that is confusing terminology.... the heatsink is exceptionally quiet of course, measuring in at just 42.2 dB in our tests."

Dacal DC-101 Reviewed @ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 11:53 AM EST

Not just any disc box, though. The Dacal DC-101 CD Library holds 150 120mm discs (CDs, DVDs, game console discs, whatever) in a nifty rotating carousel, comes with database software and a USB interface to make it easy to find the disc you want, and is stackable. So you can have a wall of CD Libraries holding several thousand discs, if you like. OK, it can't actually _read_ a disc. Because it is, after all, just a box. But it looks pretty interesting inside.

Alpha PAL-8045T Heatsink Review @ Viper's Lair
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 11:45 AM EST

The PAL-8045T is Alpha's no excuses answer to the other performance heatsinks currently on the market. With some unique design innovations, and above average size (read: freaking huge!), it ranks highly among fans of air coolers.

"Alpha had managed to create a heatsink that lasted about two years and worked with three different types of CPU, this was the PAL-6035 which worked with socket 370, socket 7, and socket A even though it was made before this socket was released/made. It's main design plus was the copper insert that actually made contact with the processor and, as we all know copper is a better heat conductor than aluminum, while aluminum releases its heat much quicker."

Mouse Bungee Crystal Pro Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 11:42 AM EST

This silly little thing actually makes your mouse feel like it's cordless. And it's fully equipped with a dual surface glass pad. Coming soon to a Toys-R-Us near you! Here's a quote:

It doesn't take long getting used to; I was accustomed to the MBP within the hour. Gaming performance is really good. As stiff as the spring appears to the touch, you can't feel it at all during play or surfing/office work. Jerky movements are easily handled. Owners of game-oriented mice with a thick and heavy wire (*ahem* Razor Boomslang) will appreciate this toy. On a more personal side, using the MBP also eliminated another problem I was having. The desk I use for my main system has a slid-out keyboard tray which I push back when I'm done. Thanks to inertia, when the tray locks in place my mouse keeps going and ends up somewhere out of reach. I then proceed to bang my head against some corners to get it back. With this little device I no longer have the need for [as much] Tylenol.

Epox EP-4G4A+ (Intel 845G) Review @ TecCentral
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 9:37 PM EST

Beside the recently introduced Intel 84Ë chip set, we can present today also the i845G. Intel announced these already extensively and particularly emphasized above all the extremes Graphic integrated here.

Imation RipGO! USB Mini-CD Burner & MP3 Player @ hardCOREware
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 9:34 PM EST

If you are in the market for a portable music device, you might be having a tough time making a decision... Conventional MP3 players use expensive memory to store music, CDR MP3 players are big and bulky, and Minidisc players are expensive and proprietary.

Imation has a nice solution with this Mini-CD Burner/MP3/WMA Player unit. The RipGO takes the small form factor of Minidisc and combines it with the practicality of conventional CDR's. If you don't have a burner, it will even do that for you...

Weekly CPU/RAM Price List - Updated 06.11.02 @ hardCOREware
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 9:30 PM EST

For RAM, Crucial's discount coupons are back! 256MB PC2100 for only $40! PC2700 also has a $10 discount coupon.

The Terapin Mine Review @ Designtechnica
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 9:24 PM EST

In the last year or so we have seen a practical onslaught of hand held storage devices. The Terapin Mine is one of many such devices currently on the market. Boasting the Linux operating system, a 20 gig hard drive, and an impressive array of connectivity options, the Mine appears to be a unique entry in this extremely competitive industry. Practically a Swiss Army Knife of file sharing options, this Linux based behemoth would appear to be the clear front-runner on anyone's hand held wish list. With all that being said let us get down to the nitty gritty. Does this bad boy deliver or not?

Jazz 9940 5.1 Sound System Review @ Hardware-Test
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 1:30 PM EST

We all wan't the ultimate sounds while playing Wolfenstein or watching DVD movies on our computers. We've been testing a total awesome 5.1 sound system from Jazz:

"I was stunned, and now I'm about to try recalling this experience again. Exactly what I experienced with this system in the same situation can be explained by means of few words: 5.1 in-game performances are very spooky. You sneak ahead hearing people firing in the right front-speaker, but it's far away though. I'm able to hear my own footsteps in the center/front-speaker(s), but all the sudden I hear footsteps from behind me."

Samsung SW-232B 32x10x40 review @ Envy News
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 1:28 PM EST

Finding a low-cost high-performance CD-Rewriter is becoming more and more common these days. In our latest review, we test Samsung’s foray into this domain with their SW-232B 32x10x40 CD-RW drive. Here’s a snip:

“Samsung is not only about monitors; they actually have their fingers in many areas of the industry. They produce memory chips, MP3 players, monitors and LCDs, and optical drives to name a few. We have always been very happy with the monitor samples we reviewed from Samsung, so it was only natural that we check out another product in a different market segment. This time around we have a Samsung 32x10x40 SW-232B CD-Rewriter in the Envy Labs.”

Stomp Inc. RecordNow MAX Review @ bluesmoke
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 1:23 PM EST

BlueSmoke finally breaks their long spell of silence. DVD Burners are coming, is your software ready? Today we take a look at Stomp inc.'s RecordNow MAX. RecordNow MAX is Stomp's latest and greatest burning package. Does it live up to Stomp's reputation? Read on to find out.

I get letters, I get letters...@ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 1:21 PM EST

...I get lots and lots of letters. And I put them up on the Web. The latest letters column to hit dansdata.com deals with suspiciously easy overclocking, the ceaseless quest for a slower computer, the recoverability of erased data, the cause and cure of fuzzyscreenitis, dealing with snapped CPU socket hooks, upgrading your brain, and why there are so many different BIOS beep languages.

Soundcard & Speakers tweaking updated @ TechSpot
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 1:18 PM EST

We have been hard at work at TechSpot with some articles that will be posted soon. The first to see the light is our updated Soundcard & Speakers tweak guide that has gone through a series of minor changes plus one big addition, now covering Creative's Extigy soundcard.

ATI AIW Radeon 8500 128MB Review @ Icrontic
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 1:14 PM EST

“So why pick up the AIW Radeon 8500? There are several products on the market which excel in certain specific applications whether it be dual monitor support, gaming performance or price. The AIW Radeon 8500 combines a host of features to serve many needs of a PC user to turn the PC into a varied and powerful multimedia center; one card does it all!

Remember that ATI has designed and produced this card to serve many needs and has strived to maintain competitive performance. In other words it may not be the top dog for gaming performance but the combination of very decent scores and features most certainly give the ATI AIW Radeon 8500 128 a formidable bite.”

Black Full Tower Hydraulic Case Reviewed @ insideproject
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 10:09 PM EST

Upon receiving the case, my expectations weren't too high. Boy, the look on my face when those expectations were crushed! The Hydraulic Case really is something that has a ton of modding potential, and plenty of room. Also, the "Hydraulic" like door had me amused for a good ten or fifteen minutes. I would like to point out that the name of the case implies that the sliding door is actually powered by hydraulics, when in fact it is not. Instead, the door is powered by a spring mechanism that gives the effects of hydraulics.

Thermaltake G4-VGA Copper Cooler review @ PC PowerZone
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 10:07 PM EST

"The main points here are that you won't lose your first PCI slot like you would fitting the Crystal Orb and at 29DBa the fan is not too noisy, about the same as the stock GF4 cooler really. The other major point is that this cooler is made from 100% pure copper, the factory cooler is made from standard aluminium. "

CPUFX Nitro System (Water cooled Case Rig) in Video Review #174 (PART 1- The Case): @ 3dGameMan
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 10:05 PM EST

"The Nitro System (Water cooled Case Rig) includes the Coolmaster ATC 210 Aluminum Computer Case which speaks quality and great looks. With the see through colored acrylic front panel/door and front USB ports it stands out from most cases on the market. Also, with loads of bays, fans and a removal motherboard tray it's very functional, however, all this comes at a high cost!" ~3dGameMan.com

Chilli Professional 1/4" III mATX Case Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 10:02 PM EST

"Out of the box the Chilli Professional case speaks volumes in terms of aesthetic design and craftmanship. The anodized aluminum panels sport a beautiful finish and are 1/4" thick secured by hex screws. The Chilli Professional 1/4" III mATX case measures 7mm (W) x 15.5mm (H) x 10.5mm (D) which makes this case suitable as a LAN case or mini file server. The front bezel features what can be considered as stealth drive bay panels. Each panel is secured by a numbered chrome thumbscrew and can easily be removed by sliding the panel from left to right. The case did not come with a PSU, but is capable of handling full size ATX and dual fan ATX power supply units."

Twin-window power! @ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 1:02 PM EST

Here in Australia, you can now buy an "Atlas" (or, more accurately, Super Flower) SF-201 case with some nifty factory extras. A blue cold cathode fluorescent light, a three-output thermally-activated fan controller, and not one but _two_ acrylic windows - one on the side, one on the top.

Project Fire and Dice @ VH!
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 1:00 PM EST

"Some of you may not know the difference between the Inwin Q600 and the Q500 full tower cases. Well, the upper left pic shows you everything. Yep, that's it! Just a smoother , and more symetrical bezel. So, why custom order a Q600 online, when I can go the local store to get a Q500? All because of the bezel! I had to have it! I had every intention of putting that intake "scoop" in there and the Q600 bezel was a must. The little groove that runs vertically off center on the front of the Q500 bezel would totally screw up my idea. The only explanation I got as to the origin of the Q600 is it's kinda the "OEM" model with a more generic bezel. Well, it wasn't gonna be generic for long, so that didn't bother me :o)"

Epox 8K3A+ KT333 Motherboard Review @ Viper's Lair
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 12:58 PM EST

"Here is where most of the overclockers' time will be spent in the BIOS, you can control many things in this screen. The FSB control goes all the way from 100MHz to 255MHz (510 DDR) assuming that the jumper on the motherboard is set for 100MHz, which is a good idea if you are overclocking by multiplier. The CPU multiplier goes from only 6X to 15X with a 12.5X multiplier being noticeably absent. There is also a new feature that is enabled in the newest BIOS, as it shows the AGP/PCI frequency of the FSB you are using."

AMD Thoroughbred Athlon XP 2200+ - @ HotHardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 12:50 PM EST

The new AMD Thoroughbreds are in the house tonight at HotHardware.com and Marco "BigWop" Chiappetta took it for a good spin on the test bench!

AMD XP-2200+ Thoroughbred Review @ lostcircuits
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 12:43 PM EST

Today marks the release of the eighth model of the Athlon processor, the CPU that has redefined the performance of the desktop platform in more than one way. After shrinking the die from the original 250 nm design to the intermediate 180 nm, the Model 8 or Thoroughbred core moves to a 130 nm process. As a consequence, the total die size shrinks from 120 mm ² to 80 mm². Aside from technical and advantages, the die shrink also moves the TBred core into a very cost-effective die class. Are there any hidden issues lurking between the down-scaled transistors? Does the performance scale up with the increased clock speed? Does the smaller die open up the way to the 2.5 GHz clock speed? We have the answers.

Uplink Review @ DeviantPC
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 12:36 PM EST

"Set in the heavily computer-dependant future, you fill the boots of a hacker who must work their way up the 'Uplink' hierarchy: 'Uplink' being an apparently licit organisation whose underbelly is a hub of hacking activity. With their endorsement, you are a credit-pilfering, information-appropriating Internet pirate, riding on the high seas of government databases, banks and mainframes, armed with trace-trackers and proxy-disablers. No file is beyond your grasp as you flex your hacking muscles, earning reputation and credits for future missions."

Enhance Technology DS5200 Network Attached Storage Review @ OnePC
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 12:34 PM EST

"Need to add additional storage capacity to your network without incurring server downtime? If so, take a look at the Enhance DS5200 network attached storage device, available in sizes from 10GB to 75GB, and see if it measures up."

Comparison review of the AMD Athlon XP2200+ Thoroughbred processor @ Active-Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 10, 2002 at 12:32 PM EST

"Break out the champagne, ladies and gentlemen, for the (long awaited) 0.13 micron process AMD Athlon XP Thoroughbred have arrived! Though originally expected to arrive several months ago, the new process has debuted as part of the Thoroughbred 0.13 Microns core."

Antec TruePower 330watt PSU Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 10:23 PM EST

Two weeks of uptime. 4,400 words. 21 pictures. A toothpaste-filled thermistor. And a fried hard drive. Introducing Antec's TruePower 330watt power supply, probably the BEST model out there today. Minus the fried HDD part. But that was my fault. Here's a quote:

A sudden increase in the 5v line could therefore cause a sudden dip in the 3.3v line. I smell instability. An interesting point Antec made is that even though the individual 3.3v and 5v lines may have set ratings, when combined that number is greatly reduced. In other words, you're being cheated out of a good deal of power. The PSU "rating" doesn't always apply, and this is one reason why cheaper models don't get anywhere near their supposed output. This is where Antec really excels. Its "combined output" rating can't be compared to that of any other PSU because it doesn't have one.

Enermax CS-5190AL-061 Case Review @ SystemCooling
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 10:18 PM EST

Continuing our series on high quality, high performance, cooling friendly and innovative designed computer enclosures, we bring you one of the wildest case designs to be found anywhere on the planet: the Enermax CS-5190AL-061 aluminum case!

The automotive high gloss finish is second to none and photos or descriptive adjectives cannot begin to give this case its just due. This exquisite finish is the first thing that grabs your attention and prepares you for the extremely high quality to be found throughout the Enermax CS-5190AL-061.

Q Technology Ultra-Quiet Power Supply Unit Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 10:16 PM EST

"As most every AMD CPU user out there that has built their own system knows that a power supply can either make or break your system. The talk of your +3.3v and +5v rails are always being discussed in all the hardware website forums around. So today, 3dXtreme takes a look at a Quiet power supply. Right off the bat, this power supply is not for the overclocker, but is made for the medium of PC users. If you have a normal, stock-clocked system and like it quiet, you might want to check it out."

Panaflow Fan Review @ BurnoutPC
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 10:11 PM EST

"Upon receiving Globalwin's YCC 61F1-B case I noticed the kick-ass 120mm mountings behind the front bezel and the rear of the case. Attached to the mountings is Freeway Design's rendition of a 120mm. Looking at the Freeway 120mm I was not disappointed fully, I mean - it's a 120mm fan, but it just seems like there must be something better…"

Gsm-International 5.1 Speakerset Review @ BurnoutPC
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 10:09 PM EST

"Ok, so you have world greatest video card, but what now? Ultimate gaming means the best in both graphics and sound! Gsm-International was kind enough to sent us over a 5.1 speaker set that they sell in Germany, and Korea. Gsm-International is specialized in Speaker sets, Cases, and many more things. Let's take a closer look at what we got here"

Intel 845BG Chip Review @ Hardware-Test
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 10:03 PM EST

we have gotten our hands on an intel produced motherboard based on the i845g chipset, boxed version, along with a pentium 4 northwood 2.53ghz. the i845g has onboard audio, agp and lan which will hopefully take up the fight against chipsets like e.g. sis650. in this test we will focus on intel's motherboard, d845bgv, which is the first of its kind to support 533mhz fsb technology.

ASUS P4S533 motherboard review @ PC PowerZone
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 10:01 PM EST

"... initially overclocking was simplicity itself - having gotten into the BIOS I started by going up to 133/33 which, as expected with the official 533MHz support - proved no trouble at all, the system was absolutely rock solid and straight away we have 463 points added to 3Dmark2001SE with the CPU running nicely at 2.13GHz"

The Name of the Game Article @ VibrantLogic
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 9:59 PM EST

"This year's honorees? Opteron, and the rampant use of "XP" in product names, which has managed to rub off on "MX" as well, it seems. I don't have an extraordinary plum to pick with the latter two naming suffixes, but the lack of common sense in the selecting the first name is astounding..."

Infinipro - Aqua Cooling kit Review @ ipKonfig
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 8:50 AM EST

"In the past few years the market has seen many different types of water cooling kits. Some weren't worth the time and effort, and others left us wondering what they were. This kit, by Infinipro, has much new to offer the consumer beyond compatibility with today's systems. As we'll see, Infinipro has made probably one of the nicest cooling blocks on the market, one that offers a new approach to CPU cooling.......The most impressive element is the heatsink/Waterblock; there is simply nothing like it on the market (from what I have observed). When looking closely at this block, it does resemble the ThermoEngine design a lot of us are familiar with. But it's clear that it is not a ThermoEngine at all...."

In-Win L545 Case Review @ M:6
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 8:47 AM EST

"LAN party = a party where a lot of people (are geeks considered people?) get together with their computers to play multiplayer video games and have a great time. Many people like myself even have a system dedicated to take to LAN parties. I decided to give this a shot because my Lian-li PC35 was being shipped from Taiwan and I needed something to use in the meantime."

AddA 80mm Case Fan Review @ Monster-hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 8, 2002 at 10:18 PM EST

"The blades are carefully molded and form an airfoil shape, the tips are rounded to reduce turbulence noise or whistle and the blade surfaces are pebbled…my father, an aeronautics engineer, says that this breaks up the boundary layer and reduces friction in the air passing across the blades increasing their efficiency and actually reducing noise! Also the angle of attack of the blades is not as deep as the Delta, producing less head-pressure and therefore less noise."

ATi Radeon 8500 LE Review @ Hardware Extreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 8, 2002 at 10:15 PM EST

"The next-generation ATi Radeon 8500 LE is one of the several recent ATi video cards that will launch ATi into the 128 MB DDR video memory realm. ATi's 128MB Radeon 8500 LE is a "lite edition" of the regular Radeon 8500. Following suit with other ATi-powered Radeon 8500 LE video cards out there, ATi clocked the 8500 LE at a slightly lower 250/250 MHz core and memory frequency versus the standard 275/275 of retail 64MB ATI Radeon 8500s. In addition, this video card also sports a new Ball-Grid Array memory packaging technology, instead of the traditional TSOP memory package" (Chang, 1).

Feel-IV ATX Case Review @ pcextreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 8, 2002 at 10:13 PM EST

This is the first review I have done since the re-opening of the site, so I'm glad to be getting back to into the loop! This review is also going to be a bit different, because I have employed the help of my son, Tanner. This is noteworthy, because he disassembled his own PC, and reassembled it in the new case - and Tanner is 11 years old. And, yes it fired right up and ran flawlessly after it was complete! But, enough of my bragging, lets get down to business...

Iceberq All-In-One VGA & Chipset Cooling Kit Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 8, 2002 at 4:30 PM EST

"The structure fan is made from copper material and is polished with a nice reflective shine. The backside is very smooth; mirror finished, but does show some slight pitting. From a production stand point, these types of imperfections are common with most VGA and CPU heatsink coolers which are massed produced in a production facility. I was still impressed overall with the quality compared to previous coolers I have seen in the past. The fan included on the cooler is a standard 12v ball bearing fan capable of exhausting 3.5 CFM @ 5000 RPM's."

Belkin Nostromo N50 Review @ eliteHW
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 8, 2002 at 4:27 PM EST

“Many hardcore PC gamers have been looking for an answer to their needs of a more convenient and portable gaming input device. With the growth of LAN parties and the growing demand for FPS (First Person Shooters) games in the marketplace, more and more people are struggling with their keyboards to meet the needs of these games. There have been several answers on the market, such as The Claw. However, today we will be looking at another alternative to the traditional keyboard produced by Belkin.”

Directron Black Pearl Aluminum Case Review @ ViperLair
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 8, 2002 at 4:23 PM EST

It used to be that when you say "aluminum case", either Lian-Li, or Cooler Master come to mind. This is no longer the situation, as more and more aluminum cases are hitting the markets. Directron's Black Pearl is one more in this glutted market, but with a few features not all cases have.

"The multimedia connector comes with plugs for your Firewire devices, microphone and speakers. The port connects to the back of your motherboard with a long set of connectors that loop through the back of your PC. The USB connectors on the right side connect directly to your mainboard. Unfortunately, not too many mainboards have the USB panel connectors built-in, so you won't be able to use two of the four ports on the front panel."

Mushkin PC2700 DDR memory review @ PC PowerZone
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 11:02 PM EST

"By setting the memory to relatively conservative settings, you must have guessed by now that I was aiming for the magical 200MHz FSB figure, the module is only rated to 166MHz but my confidence was high to reach much higher - so I went for it!"

Visiontek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti4600 Video Card in Video Review #173: @ 3dGameMan
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 11:00 PM EST

"The Visiontek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti4600 Video Card is currently the leader of the pack in the Geforce 4 series Video Cards and it has undeniable KICKASS 3D gaming performance. This unparalleled performance does come at a high cost, however, if you want the fastest current consumer 3D gaming card on the planet, look no further!" ~3dGameMan.com

Hands On : PC-1066 and RIMM 4200 RDRAM @ GamePC
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 10:57 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've got an exclusive first look at the new Rambus DRAM technology which is getting ready to hit the market in a big way. We look at, and test, with the two new versions of RDRAM hitting the market, PC-1066 and RIMM 4200. RIMM 4200 is the new member of the group, utilizing a new 32-bit architecture to boast the highest amount of memory bandwidth of any single memory module to date. We test these two new memory technologies against the leading DDR-333 and DDR-266 solutions on the market today.

USR Performance Pro v.92 Modem review @ EnvyNews
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 1:48 PM EST

“In the world of online activities, there is one thing for sure: there is never enough bandwidth. Graphics-filled web pages, large MP3s, high-definition video files, and gargantuan product demos and patches have kicked the evolution towards broadband into high gear. While the Internet community has adapted and grown to fit the faster speed, the user base has not; slow installation, high prices, and market unavailability have kept many people tied to dialup networking. With the Performance Pro v.92 modem, U.S. Robotics has provided the dialup market with a viable solution that meets the needs of the entire community, from the regular surfer to the avid online gamer.”

Trillian 0.73 Released #2 @ pgn.hwgn
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 1:43 PM EST

PGN sends word that Trillian 0.73 has just been released. This release mainly includes some bugfixes, and was prompted due to a change in the MSN servers which would have otherwise broken Trillian.

Vantec Copper X CPU Cooler Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 1:39 PM EST

"The Vantec Copper X CPU arrived packaged in a hard plastic packaging with a cardboard backing. The unit that was sent for review was the CCK6040H model, which incorporates a 6800 RPM fan. The CCK6040 model is an identical unit, but sports a 5400 RPM fan, obviously for the noise-sensitive user. Included with the heatsink and fan are a small tube of thermal compound, a 3 to 4 pin power converter with Y adapter, and a 60mm fan grill. What immediately grabbed my attention was the product's low profile. Being almost perfectly 65mm square, this heatsink should have absolutely no installation issues on any motherboard."

Altec Lansing XA3021 Video Game Speaker Set @ hardCOREware
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 1:36 PM EST

They are intended to be a replacement for the crappy TV speakers most gamers have to suffer, but we found that they performed quite well as PC gaming speakers as well! We'll look at the 2.1 set first...

Samsung SyncMaster 151MP LCD Monitor Reviewed @ OnePC
posted by BaBylon5 on Friday, June 7, 2002 at 1:34 PM EST

"Looking for a stylish new display with great picture quality for your PC? Perhaps looking for a smaller TV for your desktop? Well don’t compromise! Fulfill your needs with the HDTV-ready, feature-loaded Samsung SyncMaster 151MP."

Abit Siluro GeForce4 Ti 4600 - Review @ HotHardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:44 PM EST

Good evening folks! Abit is back at it, here tonight in the HotHardware Labs! This time our Tech Ninja Rob took their GeForce4 Ti4600 for a spin!

Apple iMac Review @ Designtechnica
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:42 PM EST

The new iMac is a fantastic system for the price. You are paying for a compact and aesthetically pleasing design but are also getting a functional system packed with features. There is a certain aura that Apple products give off, one of quality and uniqueness, the iMac is no different. The design was something out of a science fiction movie. Here was a lamp sized base with a 15" LCD display attached to the center by a movable chrome pole.

Netgear DG814 ADSL Router: @ Unique Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:40 PM EST

"They certainly don't skimp on what's included in the package either. For around £135 inc vat and delivery (it was £137 for me at Insight UK / Action you not only get a very cool and stylish looking bit of kit, you also get all the cables you will need to get started. The network lead is Cat5e and is the snagless kind so the plastic tab doesn't get broken off, and you get a microfilter too ! (Note : the manual does say some countries won't have a microfilter included and I assume that the package contents are subject to change without prior notice, so don't be surprised if you buy one in a different country and it's a bit different !)"

Belkin Wireless Access Point and Wireless USB Adaptor: @ Unique Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:38 PM EST

"The access point has the same layout as the USB Adapter, but it's bigger. The device has dual antennas a nice feature as I imagine it improves the range of the wireless signal. The three LED's on the top showpower, link, and network activity. On the bottom of the unit is rubber feet to stop it moving around on a desk and also a nice touch which is holes to mount it on a wall if you like. Security wise the device supports 64-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption. It also has optional MAC filtering so only hosts with a pre-defined MAC address can connect to the access point. Again like the USB adaptor this device comes with 24/7 tech support and a lifetime warranty"

Find Out How Much Heat Your CPU Really Generates @ computernerd
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:34 PM EST

ComputerNerd has a new online thermal calculator for estimating how much power your Intel or AMD CPU dissipates, regardless of how you are using (or abusing) it. Because Intel does not publish maximum power dissipation ratings for its processors (unlike AMD), the NERD had to do some heavy data grubbing to come up with a scheme allowing direct comparison of AMD and Intel processors, Notes on Intel Thermal Ratings). The calculator handles all Pentium III, Pentium 4, Xeon 4, Athlon and Duron CPUs, and more processors and features are planned for future updates.

Thermalright AX-7 HSF Review @ Tek Sector
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:29 PM EST

"Today, we have a look at the Thermalright AX-7 HSF. Thermalright has already produced a high performance cooler with the SK-6 in the past, and from the analysis I've taken in so far, the AX-7 should only prove to be even more capable."

LEadtek Winfast A250 Ultra TD Ti4600 Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:28 PM EST

What surprised us the most when we were handed a sample of the Leadtek A250 Ultra TD was its weight. When we opened up the box, and took the graphics card out, it became obvious why it was heavier than most of its competitors.

Shuttle AK35GT2R KT333 Motherboard Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:24 PM EST

The chip used by Shuttle is the HighPoint HPT372, very popular among motherboard manufacturers (most ABIT boards come equipped with HPT370/372 controllers). Besides the usual RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1, the HPT372 also features UltraATA 133 interface, so you can use ATA133 HDDs at full speed when connected to the RAID controller. This will make a lot of people happy, but not those that only use one HDD because the VT8233A southbridge has native support for ATA133. The downside is you have to install the OS and drivers with the HDD connected to the normal IDE ports and then switch to RAID ATA133. And the menu wouldn’t be complete without the onboard sound. Instead of the plain AC97 CODEC that uses the CPU for all operations, Shuttle has integrated the C-Media CMI8738 DSP for 6-Channel audio output.

Lian Li oddity! @ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:20 PM EST

Lian Li's new PC-39 case is a small form factor unit which, in typical Lian Li style, looks cool, accepts normal ATX motherboards, and has a surprising number of drive bays. Two of the bays, however, are factory installed removable 3.5 inch racks. And you can buy the racks, in black and silver, as separate items.

What's the point of all this?

I do my best to find out in my review, here:

Windows 2000/XP Registry Article Part 2 - Internet @ DeviantPC
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:16 PM EST

"The Registry controls all aspects of Windows functionality and determines how it acts on a network, whether it be at home or in the workplace, and on the internet. There are many different settings that can be adjusted and tweaked to enhance (or secure) the internet experience, be it maximising your download potential or reducing that all important ping to your favourite gaming server."

MSI KT3-Ultra Motherboard Review @ lostcircuits
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:13 PM EST

VIA's KT333 chipset has conquered the market in a Blitzkrieg, leaving very little room for competitors. Now the battle is on amongst the winners, that is, which mainboard manufacturer will get the biggest chunk of the pie. After looking at the ASUS and Shuttle boards, we are tearing apart the latest "Deluxe" edition from MSI. How much of the KT3 is just candy wrapper, where are the hidden corners that have been cut, where are the bugs and last not least, is it worth any serious consideration? Are these questions leading the witnesses?

EL Custom Shop's EL Light Strip Review @ Tech-Dreams
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 10:11 PM EST

"When I received the EL Light Strip and Wire from El Custom Shop, my original plan was to review both of them at the same time, but then I thought that reviewing them at the same time was a bad idea. In a single review, I wouldn't give each product its much needed attention. There are a lot of differences between the El Light Strip and the EL Wire. For example, the EL Light Strip is not nearly as flexible as the EL Wire. It is also flat, thin, and comes with an adhesive backing."

Stomp Inc ClutterBuster Desktop Organizer Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 8:18 AM EST

"The base of the ClutterBuster is tall plastic rack with looks simular to a CD rack found in most music department stores. The unit comes equipped with small shelves for arranging this product to suit your own personal needs. A grey plastic rugged clip exists on the side with two pen holders for inserting your favourite writing tool. This clip also has the ability to slide off and be placed on the opposite side should you wish to change the configuration of the ClutterBuster."

High-End Pentium 4 Cooling Shootout @ GamePC
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 8:16 AM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at a few coolers from the ever-increasing crop of Pentium 4 coolers hitting the market. We test units from Thermalright, Thermaltake, Zalman, Alpha, and Intel on a top of the line 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processor, to see which can handle the heat and which fold under the pressure. We also run "burnout" tests to see how long each heatsink can handle the heat of a fully utilized CPU in the event of a fan failure.

Radeon 8500 64MB LE Review @ Viperlair
posted by BaBylon5 on Thursday, June 6, 2002 at 8:12 AM EST

"Sure, the GeForce 4 MX offers comparible features for the same price, but given it's lack of DirectX 8.xx hardware features, which the Radeon 8500 has, you'll likely have a stronger desire to replace the MX sooner than you would a Radeon. Now, I doubt you'll be able to play Doom 3 at maximum settings, at a playable framerate, but you'll have one sweet looking slideshow."

Lian-Li PC-65 Aluminum Case Review @ SystemCooling
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 11:47 PM EST

"Any look at high performance, high quality, and extremely cooling friendly cases would not be worth its salt without a Lian-Li model in the mix!! It wasn't long ago (about 2 years) that if you wanted all of the above in aluminum, your only choice was Cooler Master. Then Lian-Li burst onto the scene with such fury, when you think of aluminum cases Lian-Li automatically comes to mind."

How to annoy the l33t @ VibrantLogic
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 10:06 PM EST

Humor: More than 20 ways to annoy someone cooler than you. A funny read for anyone who hates those pesky llamas hanging around on some big forums or an ispirational piece for those llamas who want to annoy the leet. Enjoy!

Detailed Article on Building a Water Cooled Dually @ pcextreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 10:02 PM EST

"We've all had that thought dancing around in our mind. "I'm gonna try watercooling." It's not for everyone though. You have to be the kind of person (idiot) to subject thousands of dollars worth of computer components to it's own natural enemy, water. Not only that, but you also have to spend exhorbanent amounts of money to do it. And for what? A few MHz? Self-gratification? To be the envy of all your friends? It doesn't really matter. Whatever the reason, this article will explain, with really pretty pics, how to take watercooling to the extreme."

Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 XP @ eliteHW
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 9:59 PM EST

“The day and age when the computer is only used for word processing is long over. Now the computer is expected to be able to accomplish many tasks. One of those tasks is the viewing of television. To fill that task, Leadtek has created the new TV2000XP TV/FM tuner card. For many home theater buffs with gigantic HD TV’s this card may not seem too great. However, for the apartment dwellers and college kiddies this $65 wonder may be just right! This card packs a lot of punch!”

NoiseControl Stealth Tower with Whisper box @ OcPrices
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 9:57 PM EST

"The Noise Control Stealth Tower case is big, beautifully made and sublimely quiet. Sure you get an increase in system temperature compared to an aluminium case, but the differences in volume need to be heard to be believed. Remember this review was conducted using regular equipment, with the likes of Zalman CPU coolers and PSU's, a silent PC - even an Athlon 2100XP PC - is now a possibility. People hankering after tranquillity, and especially those that NEED quiet PCs, for audio visual work or recording etc should not hesitate to buy this case. I am a total sound Nazi, and although I found the original magic fleece DIY kit impressive, the amount of noise coming out of the back of the case was still an annoyance. With the Stealth Tower, Noise Control have finally come up with a viable solution, and for that I humbly thank them!!"

Comparison review of the ATI Radeon 8500 @ Active-Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:45 PM EST

In this review of the ATI Radeon 8500 64Mb graphic card, we will try to see how well does compare this graphic card against an old Geforce 3 64 Mb graphic card and against two new Geforce 4 Ti4400 and Ti4600 graphic cards.

FastTrak TX2000 Ultra RAID ATA133 Controller in Video Review #172: @ 3dGameMan
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:43 PM EST

The FastTrak TX2000 Ultra RAID Controller offers excellent overall IDE RAID performance and supports ATA133. Whether you need raw performance with RAID 0, performance and secure data with RAID 0+1 or just secure data with RAID 1 this card delivers all on counts." ~3dGameMan.com

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project @ Viperlair
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:41 PM EST

"Using the Prism3D engine, the game pulls off some impressive visuals. Textures are nicely done, and character models look like they actually put some work into it. It's not the same level as Jedi Knight 2, but there's a nice "cartooney" feeling to them. The most impressive effects are the weapons though. There's some cool dynamic lighting when you fire off the energy weapons."

Sound Dampening Revisited @ Monster-hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:39 PM EST

"I would like to stop here for a moment to note that in comparison to the SOSDM I used in the first article, this sheet application was absurdly easy. No complications, no mess, no smell, no drying time. I even applied it indoors. In fact, it took me less time to cut fit and apply the sheets to the insides of both case panels than it did for me to write this description."

Make Domains Resolve to any IP from ur PC - Article @ iamnotageek
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:37 PM EST

Ever wanted a domain to resolve to a different IP from just your machine? There is one file for Windows that you can edit to make as many domains as you want resolve to different IPs. The changes are instant, and only seen by you, perfect for testing your new web host.

Bid For Power Review @ Geekshelter
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:34 PM EST

"Dragon Ball Z fans and Quake fans alike, this game revolutionizes modding. Bid For Power is a leap out of first person view, giving the user frontward angels on their own character's skin. Bid For Power being much like it's inspiration, Dragon Ball Z, shows off all of your favorite aspects from the Dragon Ball world!"

MegaMite Northbridge Cooler Review @ Hardware Pub
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:32 PM EST

"Just a few years back northbridge chips used to go bare. As technology progressed and FSB speeds increased manufactures turned to passive sinks but we are now at the point where active sinks are almost a must A good northbridge cooler is especially useful to overclockers looking to push their system to the max. A hot northbridge chip can cause instability and hinder FSB speed increases commonly used in overclocking. The MegaMite takes northbridge coolers to the next level."

Danger Den Maze Showdown @ Hardware Pub
posted by BaBylon5 on Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 1:30 PM EST

"The maze style block has been most popular and seemingly most effective to date. Danger Den took that idea and ran with it to create the Maze 1. Soon after the Maze 2 followed. The block would be later revised and improved upon. Just as you thought it couldn't get much better they revealed the Maze3. All of their blocks are now peltier compatible and can be purchased with a matching cold plate."

Vantec Iceberq VGA & Chipset Cooling Kits @ Tek Sector
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at 9:19 PM EST

"We all know that the Iceberq looks way cool. I mean come on...this is one intensely cool looking chipset cooler, and as far as looks go, I think it gives the Tt Crystal Orb a run for its money. However, my main concern here is directed at the installation of the Iceberq and the overall performance. Sure, there isn't a doubt in my mind that the Iceberq is going to look glorified installed on a Gainward GeForce 3 inside a Cooler Master ATC-410 coupled with an already super-lavish MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU mobo, but will it allow me to overclock my GeForce even higher than before? Will installation go as I had hoped?"

ABIT AT7 Motherboard Review @ Hardware-Test
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at 2:37 PM EST

"PS/2 is jurassic technology, instead you've got 4 USB 1.1 ports on the motherboard. Furthermore the board has 2 USB 2.0 ports (and headers for another four), one optical output, two FireWire ports, outputs for a 6-channel soundsystem and last but not least, an integrated 10/100 Mbit network card. Whauw! "

Vantec EZ-Swap MRK-103F HDD Rack Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at 2:35 PM EST

"The 40mm exhaust fan is an ADDA AD0412MS-G70 which runs at 4200 RPM, exhausting 4.2 CFM @ 16 dBA. The power cables for the fan have been conveniently routed under a protective sleeve inside the rack chassis. Absent from the front of the MRK-103F was the inclusion of a front intake fan, which has been replaced with simple filter grill. Hard drive and power LEDS are located toward the front left hand side of the unit. These indicators provide hard drive power and status activity at all times."

Coolermaster ATC-410-SX1 Hybrid Chassis @ GamePC
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at 2:31 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at Coolermaster's latest creation for the aluminum case market, the ATC-410-SX1. This case is the first of it's kind to not only act as a full tower desktop case, but can also be flipped on it's side and be used as a server style rackmount! We check out the design of the case and see if the case lives up to Coolermaster's high quality name.

Samsung SW-232 CDRW (32x 10x 40x) Review @ iamnotageek
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at 2:26 PM EST

Samsung is definitely on top with the race for the faster, cheaper burner. The SW-232 has an impressive writing speed of 32x, a rewriting speed of 10x, and a reading speed of 40x. It also sports an 8MB buffer and, naturally, comes packaged with Easy CD Creator.

Budget case Mods @ pcextreme
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at 2:23 PM EST

Here is a quick article I did out of shear boredom this weekend. For those who are financially challenged...

"When you think of case mods, you usually think of lots of additional fannage, plexi windows, or those nifty neon case lights everyone has now. Most of this involves cutting, grinding, polishing, and all the tools to do the aformentioned tasks. But, what if you don't have the tools or extra money required to buy the plexi window or neon, etc?"

Computer Hardware Websites Today - Part 2 Article @ Mikhailtech
posted by BaBylon5 on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 at 2:19 PM EST

For those who read my first editorial on the situation between hardware sites, vendors and readers. And it stopped there. Until now. Here's a quote:

The reason for today's follow-up is an interesting conversation I had on ICQ several days back with a fellow webmaster. The following is a saved version of the entire "encounter". No editing. Chances are this won't change much, just as the first editorial didn't. But at least here is proof. This is an exact cut & paste from the conversation from beginning to end. I never began the conversation in hopes of using it for a write-up but about half-way through it hit me. I chose to leave everything as is without even checking grammar. Only edited parts are the the username and any direct references to the website. I'm expecting to get flamed for this one, however, as some of the things I said myself are a bit out there, but I might as well tell the whole truth.

Part 2, Ultimate Case Mod Guide @ PC Paradox
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 10:02 PM EST

Now on to the fun stuff (and some of the rigorous work). I’d like to let you know that I’ve taken ideas from various areas and put them all into one idea which helped me make this guide. I’m not an expert in this area so be creative in how you do things, and remember, you don’t need to follow all these directions exactly.

SuperFlower SF-201-1 case review @ PC PowerZone
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 10:00 PM EST

"The Super Flower SF-201-1 Green has all the usual features of an aluminium case such as light weight, rugged industrial looks and improved heat dissipation due to the aluminium panels but it also has a number of features that set it apart from what competitors like Lian Li and CoolerMaster have to offer. In this review I will take a closer look at these features as well as investigate how noisy the case is and also how well the case cools."

PC Geiger RD2 PRO - PCI Bandwidth Monitor Review @ hardcoreware
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:58 PM EST

The PC Geiger RD2 PRO is a PCI Bandwidth Monitor, and more. It does everything from measure current PCI bandwidth usage, to display BIOS boot codes, to USB and Firewire pass-throughs, all while looking REALLY cool in a 5.25" drive bay ;)

Asus P4S533 vs. Asus P4B533-E Review @ TecCentral
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:55 PM EST

We accomplished a comparison test between the Asus P4S533 and the P4B533-E. The Asus P4S533 based on the SIS 645 DX and the P4B533-E on the Intel 845E Chipset. Which Motherboard at the end was crowned as a winner, experience you in our 26 sides long Review.

Samsung CDRW 32x 10x 40x @ Bytesector
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:52 PM EST

The Samsung SW-232 is one of the fastest in its class. With the capability to burn a complete 700MB in 2 to 2.5 minutes it can help anyone have that CD burned in time for the deadline. Sporting a rounded faceplate it gives this burner a stylish look to it and the user’s computer case. The SW-232 is very affordable for the home or small business user; selling for as little as $65 USD!

VIA 1GHz C3 processor review @ PC PowerZone
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:50 PM EST

"Stability is a word often used in reviews such as this, and it certainly applies here. Everything I tried to do with this CPU in my system I managed - no crashes / freezes and no splutters. As I have just said I think I noticed a minor increase in speed but there was one area where I noticed an absolutely massive difference, and that was the sound levels coming from my little silver box - with passive cooling the SV24 may be moving downstairs very soon indeed ..."

Xoxide C6 BlackHawk Pre Modified Case Review @ insideproject
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:49 PM EST

These days having a computer that stands apart from others isn't limited to only the speed of your hardware. In recent times case modifications, or "mods," have become increasingly popular. These mods take on all forms: windows in the side of the case to display hardware, lighting to give the computer a real "glow," and even painting the case various colors to give it an entirely new look. Some mods are also practical: larger fans to increase cooling, and more fans as well. Most mods are done by the end user, but recently many companies have begun to sell "pre-modified" cases, computer cases that look good and cool well already, eliminating the need for the user to modify the case. Xoxide is one of the many companies who are getting into the business of selling pre-modified cases. Today we'll be looking at their latest model, the C-6 Black Hawk.

Albatron GeForce4 MX440 Videocard Review @ pcstats
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:46 PM EST

"Alba... who? You're forgiven for not knowing who Albatron is even though they're not exactly a new company. Like most other manufacturers, have already adopted nVidia based videocards. The Albatron GeForce4 MX440 videocard is a no frills videocard targeted towards the budget conscious gamer. One day Jack Ko (former CEO of Gigabyte) was introduced to the owner of Albatron (formerly known as Chun Yun Electronics) and they started talking about future of IT. After talking for a bit, Jack Ko decided to invest in Chun Yun and lead Albatron into the future as CEO."

Case modding @ Ascully
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:44 PM EST

"If you are into the Case modding scene, you certainly don't want to miss this review of the exclusive Ascully.com fully modded case by Computers Divine, and as a bonus we are interviewing Ceo Roman Leal about the company. Computers Divine are the founders of the case modding scene, this is not to be missed!! "

SkyHawk MSR-4610 Aluminum MidTower Case Review @ Explosive Hardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:42 PM EST

"Personally all the cases up until now I have used have been steel cases and I thought it was time to give an aluminum case a go. Wondering if my case temperatures would drop significantly or just slightly I was about to find out. I have heard people's case temperatures dropping about 9-12 degrees Celsius. That to me is worth it but I would have to find out for myself."

Electric Iceberg Water Cooling Kit Review @ Tweak3D
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:39 PM EST

The Card Cooler has been selling cooling parts for PC’s for a very long time. Previously they have sold all kinds of different types of coolers like their original Card Cooler and they also sell coolers for chipsets and CPU’s designed by companies like ThermalTake and Vantec. Now, they have entered a new realm of high-performance system cooling. This time they design parts to their specifications and include them in a kit called the Electric Iceberg. We will be taking a look at the kit today to see how much of a cooling gain we can achieve over one of the top air coolers on the market.

Removable Frame (Budget) Mobile Rack Review @ Tek Sector
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:37 PM EST

"The mobile rack is fairly straight forward; if you can install a hard drive into your case you can do this! With IDE just use the standard jumper settings you would as if you did not have it installed in this mobile rack, Cable Select (CS), Master (MS), or Slave (SL). Here I have a Maxtor drive set to slave, mainly due to the way my cables run inside my case and I want my DVD to be mastered on that channel."

Mobile Gaming w/ The GeForce4 440 Go and Pentium 4M @ HotHardware
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:35 PM EST

Today we have something a little different for you folks! With notebook technology advancing as quickly as the desktop space, hardcore gamers and enthusiasts have serious horsepower available, with the likes of the Intel Pentium 4M processor and NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go GPU, showing up in high end "desktop replacement" models.

Yes, we actually dismantled our new Dell Inspiron 8200, in order to give you a look under the hood at the technology within. We then ran our standard gauntlet of benchmarks, to show you just what one of these new Mobile Road Warriors has in its 3D Gaming and Graphics arsenal!

DDR Memory Roundup: Who's King? @ pcstats
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:32 PM EST

"With Intel now fully embracing DDR based memory, the market is flooded with DDR RAM. In fact generic 256MB PC2100 DDR can be found for as little as $60 CDN ($40 USD) while generic 256MB PC2700 DDR can be had for just $100 CDN ($60 USD). Name brand stuff is a little more expensive; Crucial 256MB PC2100 runs about $90 CDN but then again you pay for the added quality and warranty. We all know that memory is one of the most important things in a computer, yet when people are buying it they often choose the cheapest parts. Overclockers have scoured the world trying to get their hands on the best memory available so it is to them that we look for insight."

Abit Siluro Geforce 4 Ti4400 Video Card in Video Review #171: @ 3dGameMan
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:23 PM EST

"The Abit Siluro Geforce 4 Ti4400 Video Card falls in the middle between the Geforce 4 Ti4200 and the Ti4600 offering price advantage and performance. While this card isn't as fast as a Ti4600 it outperforms the Ti4200 and like all the Ti Geforce 4 series cards they are excellent at 3D gaming" ~3dGameMan.com

CD-R Report - Media Comparison @ VibrantLogic
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 9:20 PM EST

With all of the options today in the CD-R/RW media market, how does one choose the best? How does one know if media is low quality without buying some and using it for a while? This guide to CD-R/RW media is meant not only as a buying guide, but also as a warning to all who use cheap media.

Compex NetPassage 16 Review @ Icrontic
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 1:27 PM EST

The NetPassage 16's ethernet routing support is similar to every other home router available. It's designed around a DHCP or PPPoE cable or DSL connection and has four 10/100 switched ports that give internet access to DHCP clients on the network. One interesting feature of the NP16 is it's ability to link up with a serial-based 56K modem to allow for redundancy in case of broadband failure. This means that if your cable connection goes out, the NP16 will automatically establish a dial-up connection to the 'net on a 56K modem, provided you supply the modem and the subsequent internet account of course. This is a neat idea, but I seriously doubt it's usefulness. How many people have both a broadband connection and a dial-up account? Not many. The added cost of implementing this feature outweighs it's usefulness to most users.

Unconventional wisdom article @ dansdata
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 1:25 PM EST

Magnets and computers don't mix, right? Well, sort of. Electrostatic discharge prevention precautions are essential when you work on computers, right? Well, kind of. I deal with these two aspects of conventional wisdom, both of which have exceptions that it helps to know about, in my ninth Ground Zero column, here:

MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU Review @ Viperlair
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 1:23 PM EST

MSI is well known for their quality boards, but they've been separating themselves from other manufacturers by packaging more into their products, while staying competitive with their pricing.

"With the KT3 Ultra-ARU, MSI hopes to continue the tradition of offering quality motherboards. Early indications look good, as everything one would want in a modern Athlon motherboard is present. The KT333? Checked. ATA133 support? Checked. RAID? Checked. USB 2.0? Checked. Good software bundle? Checked. No on-board audio? Well, it's here, but it isn't as bad as one would expect, as it has 6-channel support."

Samsung SyncMaster 753 DF Review @ iamnotageek
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 1:21 PM EST

Want a flat screen CRT but don't want to shell out the cash? Then the 753DF should definitely be on your list. The 753DF is the 17" version of the 955DF. It sports an impressive 0.20mm dot pitch, a max resolution of 1280 x 1024, and of course - a flat screen. And you can get it as cheap as $130.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Review @ Geekshelter
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 1:18 PM EST

"If only real life was this detailed and with 1½ gigs of game it shows the guys at 2015 really did their job when they worked on the game. The only problem I found is the fact that the game is really a bit ahead of it's time with graphics. Even on my Geforce 4 MX 440 I had FPS lag. Yes you heard right even on a GF4 I had lag and no it wasn't my CPU or HD. It was my graphics card. The only way I really found of really fixing the problem was to go into the video settings and lower them a few."

AeroCool AB7080 HSF Cooler Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 1:16 PM EST

"One of the standout features of the AB7080 is the beautiful all copper base which is enclosed in an red anodized fan shroud. The fan shroud has 4 pre-drilled mounting holes in each corner to keep the 70mm fan stationary. The bottom portion of the copper base is very smooth with a mid-level reflective finish. Some people might take the extra step for added performance and lap or polish the copper base, but this is entirely optional. The AB7080 introduces AeroCool's new "bonding fin" technology which is simular to "skiving fin" technology. The "bonding fin" technology involves shaping materials to keep the joint between the fin and the base continuous to produce a lightweight high fin density thermal solution and provide optimal thermal performance. The AB7080 features 36 tightly enclosed fins which increases the surface area of the copper base so that heat can be drawn away from the CPU."

Cooler Master ATC-710 SX2 Server Case Review @ Tek Sector
posted by BaBylon5 on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 1:13 PM EST

"For the DIY users out there, aluminum cases have become a big thing lately. It almost seems to me, if you don't have a sleek aluminum case to outfit your new rig, then you just don't have a new rig. However, there's only one small, or should I say, large drawback. Some of the best things in life do not come cheap, and unfortunately, owning an aluminum case happens to be one of them. It seems Cooler Master has taken this into consideration with their latest design, and has introduced a case that just may be the solution to some of our problems."

Performance Plus 660B Case Review @ VH!
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 10:43 PM EST

"Today, I'll be showing you one of the newest cases on the market and also one of the coolest: The Antec Performance Plus series 660B. I think Antec became infamous when they were the first to introduce the SX830, SX1030 "Performance Series" cases to the USA. Then they further expanded with the smaller 630 series which is the same size as the case I'll be showing you today. All three cases were, and continue to be, extremely good values and sellers. However Antec wasn't happy at just sitting at the top forever. They've since come up with an Exclusive new series of cases based off the design champion performance series and ONLY available from Antec-Inc and it's official distributors. They call this new line of cases the "Performance PLUS! Series and, well , that they are ;o) They took a great design and made it even better! They've fixed the little quirks with the design and added even more features targeted at the performance users out there......YOU GUYS! :o) So what better place then right here to show you this new beauty! Let's take a closer look at this new PLUS series and see what makes it better than its predecessor."

ATi Remote Wonder Review @ Bytesector
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 12:18 PM EST

Do you want flexibility, mobility, and total control over you PC via a handheld remote? Then wait no longer, ATi technologies have released their stand alone product the ATi Remote Wonder which was first marketed with the new ATi video cards...

iRock! Digital Music Player 520 Review @ Bytesector
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 12:16 PM EST

The iRock! 520 is a stylish small and almost weightless MP3 player that will fit into even the smallest pocket. The case, a mother of pearl white with metallic blue sides, is very attractive and professional. Packaged with the new MP3 player standard of 64MB of built-in memory and a potential for 192MB, through a 128MB SmartMedia card (SMC), it makes an ideal...

ThermalTake Volcano 7+ Review @ Bytesector
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 12:14 PM EST

With the expanding market for overclockers and people who want to keep their processor running cool companies are continuously designing new and improved heatsinks to compensate for the increase in heat generated by faster processors. ThermalTake, a leading company in the heatsink – fan (HSF) market, has come out with a heatsink that will prove to be a challenge...

Cooler Master ATC-710-GX2 Case Review @ SystemCooling
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 12:11 PM EST

"Cooler Master is well known for their line of extremely high quality, all aluminum, computer enclosures, but for the first time, Cooler Master has entered into the high quality steel case market with the release of the ATC-710-GX2. You would be correct in assuming there has to be some aluminum in it, otherwise how could it be a Cooler Master case?? Well, of course there is, the sleek front bezel is aluminum while the rest of the case is fabricated steel and you might recognize the chassis immediately..."

*EXCLUSIVE* Antec Blue and TriLight 80mm LED Clear Fans Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by BaBylon5 on Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 12:09 PM EST

Clear fan LED kits (whether bootleg or DIY) are all over the place. Antec just released what looks to be the most space and appearance efficient 80mm clear fans with three blue or blue/green/red LEDs. And guess who got first dibs? Here's a quote:

Probably the best thing about these fans is how Antec chose to integrate the LEDs. There are three holes around the fan which make an isosceles triangle (although an equilateral one would have been preferable). The LEDs are inserted into these holes and held tight with solder and glue. This is highly efficient because it takes up almost no additional space and doesn't interfere with installation. I should also point out that playing with the voltage on these things also changes LED intensity and going to 5v greatly dims the lights, so all you baybus users beware. On the other hand, this could be a cool feature. So let's see the show, eh?

IceBerQ Copper Cooler review @ BurnOutPc
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 1, 2002 at 11:17 PM EST

"You all know the orbs right? the Blue orb, and than the Crystal Orb. All from Thermaltake. But today I'm looking at something else. Is it better? We'll find out. it's the Vantec IceBerQ Copper VGA cooler, and chipset cooler"

Cooler Master Rounded Cables Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 1, 2002 at 11:15 PM EST

Yea yea, more rounded cables, these ones are from Cooler Master. What they lack in color choice they make up in pull tabs and aluminum insulation. Here's a quote:

The pull tabs are very useful, at least for me, because I bent a lot of HDD connectors and even broke the plastic around some only by not pulling the cable straight. Another feature of the Cooler Master cables is the aluminum foil shielding. Compared to a standard non-shielded rounded cable, the Cooler Master models have a clear advantage. This shielding, applied under the plastic shirt, protects the wires from electro-magnetic interference. This way, the clarity of the signal going through the cables is better, thus performance should, in theory, be better.

Thermalright AX-7 reviewed @ phlux.co.uk
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 1, 2002 at 12:38 PM EST

"There are no instructions included with the AX-7, but everything is very straightforward. I feel I have to mention now how nice this package feels. It really does seem very complete and satisfying. I mentioned this quality feel in my Thermalright AX-7 review (click here), and I am presuming this is consistent across all of their products."

AquaStealth water-cooling kit review @ PimpRig
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 1, 2002 at 12:31 PM EST

"As we push our computers to their circuit frying limits… putting huge copper heatsinks with 7,000+ RPM fans that scream like banshees… Case fan after case fan… new thermal goop after new thermal goop… there are are two things that are inevitable. One: There will come a point when air-cooling just won't allow you to clock your cpu any higher. Two: The better your air-cooling is, the more NOISE this system will put out. After you can't stand the noise of the fans any longer and/or you decide you want a better yield on your overclocks, the next step will be water-cooling."

Stomp Inc.'s ClutterBuster Desktop Organizer @ Tek Sector
posted by BaBylon5 on Saturday, June 1, 2002 at 12:29 PM EST

"So, you've got yourself a computer, which means you most likely have a desk as well…or at least I hope you do. This is all good until the desk clutter monster begins to take over, after which you're stuck with a jumbled-up desk, piled full of software CD's, scribble pads, Mountain Dew cans left over from those endless nights of fragging unsuspecting victims, and no telling what else. Cleanup times come few and far between, because we all know it's just a plain out drag. I have a solution for a few of your problems. Well, I'll be reviewing a solution…blame Stomp Inc. for devising this device, not me! :)"

June 2002