God Bless America.

News Archive: March 2003

June 2003

Soldiers of Anarchy Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 1:07 PM EST

"A lot of the time a game just appears out of nowhere, and as quickly as it appears it disappears again into some kind of lost and forgotten gaming void. These titles have no hype, little publicity, and are made by small time developers who crave for reaching the big time. Most are overlooked by the gaming community, but every once in a while a real gem is found from the rough. Silver Styles new game Soldiers of Anarchy unfortunately is not one of those titles. It makes a good stab at becoming a shock classic for an almost forgotten game genre, but falls somewhat short on a few essential points. Read on to find out more."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Albatron GeForce FX 5600 Review @ 3D NewsNET
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 1:01 PM EST

I was impressed with Albatron's heatsink and ramsinks and how Albatron applied thermal compound on each BGA memory chip and the GPU core so I was sort of expecting to get at least decent overclocking results. What I ended up getting were pleasent results. From it's default speeds of 325MHz for the core I managed to get 380MHz and for the default speed of the memory of 550MHz, I managed to get 659MHz. That's a 55MHz increase on the core speed and a whopping 109MHz increase on the memory. The memory overclock was actually amazing and I was blown away...

Check it out at: 3D NewsNET

OCZ Dominator 2cu Heatsink Review @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 1:00 PM EST

".you just broke the bank on the new motherboard, CPU, and a kicking video card, so you have to do this without spending the last of your Bawls funds. So, with that in mind we are taking a look at the 2nd generation of the Dominator HSF from OCZ, the Dominator 2-Cu. As you might guess the Cu stands for Copper. Unlike the pervious generation of the Dominator this one has a copper core that will sit right on the CPU core for better cooling. So let's see how this inexpensive cooler holds up."

Check it out at: GruntvillE

Ideazon Zboard Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 12:58 PM EST

"Across the top of the Zboard are 17 clear buttons, each labeled with associated icons. The first seven are media controls, such as Play, Pause and Stop, while the other ten are quick launch keys that can be configured to suit ones tastes. What would have been really impressive is if these keys had a backlight feature added. These keys are capable of launching Outlook, Internet Explorer, a favorite search engine as well as the Ideazon website and the Zboard configuration utility."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Prolink FX 5600 Ultimate Golden Limited Videocard Review @ PCstats
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 12:52 PM EST

"Based on DirectX 7 Hardware, the GeForce4 MX was closer to a GeForce2 class card then the DirectX 8 GeForce4 Ti's were. nVIDIA, being the smart company that they are, noticed this and you can bet that there's no way they'll make the same mistake twice. Enter the GeForceFX family of cards. It's nice and refreshing to see that all GeForceFX's are DirectX 9 compatible, not just the top of the line FX 5800/5900 class cards. That feature is probably the main reason why so many retailers tell me even the budget FX 5200's are selling well. Today we're going to be checking out not a budget FX 5200, rather Prolink's mainstream GeForceFX 5600 Ultimate Golden Limited 256MB videocard. Don't be fooled by the internal NV31 core code name, the GeForceFX 5600 GPU is slower then that of the NV30 (FX 5800), but faster than the NV34 (FX 5200)."

Check it out at: PCstats

Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Processor @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 12:49 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've grabbed one of Intel's latest and greatest Pentium 4 processors for testing. Their new 3.2 GHz model boast an 800 MHz FSB, HyperThreading technology, and a pretty incredible pricetag. We test against a host of other Pentium 4 and Athlon XP processors, and even test with the chip overclocked to a whopping 3.6 GHz.

Check it out at: GamePC

Maxtor DiamondMax 160 GB Plus 9 Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 12:45 PM EST

"The drive itself benched quite nicely, and I am quite pleased with the performance. When compared against the 60GB drive, the 160GB fared quite well. As the saying goes, you win some and you lose some. The noise level was also very reasonable, which is a big plus for those of you who are massively inclined towards having the quietest computer ever."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

OCZ EL DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:37 PM EST

"Everything was running well so we will go up 1 MHZ at a time until we reached our maximum overclock. As we approached the higher speeds, we had freezing issue, and we've had to increase the memory voltage up 2.7v to maintain stability. At 2-2-3-5, we managed a maximum over clock of 230MHz (460MHz DDR), but the ram fail the Memtest86 tests. Clocking back down to 22MHz (440MHz DDR) resolved the problem."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Iwill XP4-G Mini-PC Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:35 PM EST

There is no denying the fact that Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs are currently all the rage.  Shuttle may have started the trend, but a slew of other manufactures are now selling similar products, marketed for all different types of users.  Tonight on HotHardware.Com we've taken a look at a mini-PC based on the Intel i845GE chipset from Iwill, the XP4-G. Iwill has taken a slightly different approach than their competition with the XP4-G.  Click the link below and see for yourself...

Check it out at: HotHardware

Zalman 400A-APF Ultra Quiet Power Supply Video Review #320 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:33 PM EST

"The Zalman 400A-APF Ultra Quiet Power Supply is 400 watts which is plenty for even the most demanding computer systems. This product is a little different then most because it's extremely quiet, virtually silent when installed. A handy Multi Connector and Velcro cable tie downs are also included. The Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Albatron GeForceFX 5600P Turbo 128MB Review @ Beyond3D
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:29 PM EST

"I have not asked NVIDIA about this curious behavior of their drivers' 6xS and 8xAA modes at 1600x1200, both in this game (UT2003) as well as in a synthetic benchmark. It could genuinely be a driver bug or some intended, and very specific, "fallback" implementation of 6xS and 8xAA at 1600x1200 but with unexpectedly low performance -- you get almost no AA on the screen but some sort of LOD bias tweaking. This should not, however, account for the very low performance (same with 4xS) at both AA modes."

Check it out at: Beyond3D

Chaintech 9EJS1 Zenith Motherboard Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:28 PM EST

Based on the Intel i845PE chipset, the Chaintech Zenith series packs a boatload of in-box features and goodies. A quote from the review: "When the Chaintech 9EJS1 arrived at my doorstep, I was rather taken aback. The box was quite large and bulky, as if Chaintech accidentally sent me two motherboards instead of one. Gleefully, I tore into the box like a kid, only to find a absolute plethora of bundled accessories, cables, and gizmos. The 9EJS1 is just that, the gold a the end of the rainbow. In fact, all Chaintech boards come with a wide variety of in-box accessories which really add to the value of the purchase."

Check it out at: Envy News

Xitel Pro HiFi Link Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:25 PM EST

"The Xitel Pro HiFi-Link is a PC audio device that allows you to digitally connect your PC to your HiFi system through your USB port. The Pro HiFi-Link takes the digital audio signals from the USB port on your PC and outputs them digitally to a coaxial or fiber optic (TOSLINK)connection. You may also use a standard analog connection, but if that is all you wanted, Xitel has a non-Pro HiFi-Link that is half the price with only analog connections."

Check it out at: Envy News

FIC Radeon 9200 64MB Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:22 PM EST

"The Radeon 9200 is essentially the 9000 (RV250) but with AGP 8X support and a few upgrades which come with the newer RV280 core. It is important to note that the 9200 still is only DX8.1 compatible. With the 9000 series, ATI has strayed from their past pattern of naming where the first number denotes the DirectX version, since neither the 9000 nor 9200 support DX9."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

CPUMate DAA-11500 Copper Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:20 PM EST

"We've seen our fare share of heatsinks which look rather dodgy but that end up performing rather well on the thermal test platform. We've also seen our share of heatisnks that look fantastic, but failed to perform up to expectations when it came to the thermal tests. The CPUmate DAA11500 is one of those heatsinks - it looks like it should be a superb cooler, but according to the thermal tests only offers average to good cooling. Could this be due to the fan, the interface between the cooper fins and the base, or because of a poorly designed fan shroud? We're not sure, but one thing is for certain, this review of the CPUmate DAA11500 is certainly one heatsink review you'll want to check out! Starting from the outset the CPUmate DAA11500 has all the necessary ingredients to make it an ideal socket A cooler; a large copper base, nice high aspect ratio copper fins, and a three-tab clipping mechanism. The design appears to be of the universal nature, meaning that with a few adjustments this same heatsink could also be used on a Pentium 4 processor."

Check it out at: frostytech

Kingwin KF-201DF LCD Mobile Rack @ Short-Media
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:18 PM EST

The mobile rack lets a user easily and simply pull a hard drive from its cradle and move it to another. The Kingwin KF-201DF gives the mobile rack a high tech facelift and we couldn't wait to get our hands on it and when we did...it failed.

Check it out at: Short-Media

Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9100 @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 8:16 PM EST

Turning the ordinary into the extraordinary! That is definitely an accurate description of what the Atlantis 9100 has the potential of accomplishing. Over the past few years games have become more detailed and realistic. This, naturally, requires more and more power to bring these graphics to life...

Check it out at: Bytesector

Albatron Gigi Geforce FX5200 Ultra Review @ ExplosiveLabs
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:15 PM EST

"NVIDIA's latest mainstream or entry-level cards, the FX5200/ Ultra (NV34) and FX 5600/ Ultra (NV31) have gone through some much needed and appreciated improvements over NVIDIA's previous mainstreams cards, the Geforce MX440 and Ti4200. But have they done enough? The FX 5200 Ultra core is the supposed competition to ATi's Radeon 9000, 9100 and 9200 cards. However, ATi's cards offer no competition in terms of features as they do not offer any DirectX 9 support while the FX5200 does."

Check it out at: ExplosiveLabs

Evercool NW9F715CA Pentium 4 Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:14 PM EST

Countless heatsink designs have been cast into aluminum in an effort to meet the requirements of both low cost and high thermal efficiency. Aluminum extrusions have typically been the most popular option, and with the need to satisfy performance users, copper inserts have become a frequent addition. Evercool have recently released the NW9F715CA heatsink which is designed for the socket 478 platform. The heatsink breaks with tradition and features an extruded aluminum heatsink with soldered-in copper base insert. The heatsink and fan are separate units, with the clipping mechanism and fan coming as one entire assembly. Because of the way the clip and fan are assembled, the heatsink is limited in the size of cooling system it can support. Unless a 70mm-80mm fan adaptor is at hand, 70mm fans are the largest that any user will be able to use with the Evercool NW9F715CA cooler."

Check it out at: frostytech

Artec 52X CD-RW Review @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:12 PM EST

Tom gave us his thoughts on a new 52X CDRW Drive from Artec, today.  Burning a full CD in less than 3 minutes makes life easy for sure.  Go see!

Check it out at: HotHardware

Samsung Syncmaster 957MB Monitor Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:11 PM EST

"The rise in popularity of the flat screen CRT monitor has fully come to fruition. No longer are flat face CRT's significantly more expensive than their curved-tube counterparts, making them quite affordable, and quite worth getting. Flat face CRT's have a few advantages over their older counterparts which are not simply cosmetic. For starters, they offer better readability and resolution at the outer corners of the screen. The flat glass surface also tends to reflect less ambient light from the surrounding environment which makes the display more pleasant to look at in a well illuminated room. Each manufacturer has their own terms, techniques, and technologies for constructing CRT displays which have a 'flat' slab of glass up front. LG for example have advanced the technology to a point where both the inner and outer surfaces of the display screen are perfectly parallel, yielding arguably one of the best displays of all."

Check it out at: pcstats

Intel Pentium 4 2.4C Processor Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:09 PM EST

Posting at 3880MHz, and stable at a GHz over stock, the 2.4GHz 'C' Pentium is perhaps the best overclocking chip since the Celeron 300A in terms of bang-for-buck. Couple it with an IC7, some dual channel memory and an SLK 900A and watch it rip through some benchmarks at unprecedented pace.

Check it out at: OcPrices

New AA Batteries Are Coming Article @ Ownt
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:07 PM EST

Today Ownt.com has another Quick Take taken from the latest issue of Wired. This new tech blurb from the magazine quickly talks about Duracell and their current plans for changing the old style aa batteries with new sleek and thin batteries dubbed LP1, which Duracell is marketing to replace the old style AA battery. The sleek design will help portable devices become even smaller without being so expensive.

Check it out at: Ownt

Chenbro Xpider Case Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:05 PM EST

"Today 3dXtreme has the great pleasure of reviewing yet another case from our friends over at Chenbro. Since we've started reviewing their products we've come to enjoy using their products more and more. This latest review is Chenbro's debut case targeted towards the computer enthusiast market..."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

Gaming Systems June 2003 Builder's Guide @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:01 PM EST

"Check out the budget, mid-level, and top notch gaming system reccomendations for this month. Yeah, MY recommendations."

Check it out at: ASE Labs

Dual Opteron K8D Master @ DDR Zone
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 8:00 PM EST

"The K8D Master mainboard of course supports the new 64bit cpu from AMDR the Opteron DPT. The cpu comes in now familiar plastic package with the heatsink fan assembly. The cpu is quite large, compare it with a P4 cpu (left of picture). The Opteron DPT cpu introduces a number of new elements to cpu design one of the major one's of course is the integrated memory controller, supporting up to 166 MHz DDR."

Check it out at: DDR Zone

EluminX Glowing Keyboard @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 7:57 PM EST

"Few things remain sacred when it comes to = modding or accenting your computer system. Just about every color under the sun can = be found on mice, keyboards, cases and monitors anymore. Some companies = offer mice and keyboard combos in matching color schemes. It is very hard to be = impressed after seeing so many different computer systems and mods over the last = few years. Every now and then a company comes along and does something that = is impressive though. Auravision has done just that and impressed us by introducing a glow in the dark keyboard called the = EluminX."

Check it out at: AthlonXP

Acrylic case @ hightekpc
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 7:54 PM EST

Most case mods consist of windows, lights, and the occasional over-do of fans. Not very many people will use or make their own acrylic case. Reason one, they are expensive, reason two, they aren't easy at all to make. A lot of online modding stores sell clear acrylic cases. They can look really great, but they also require a lot of care and attention.  Today we take a look at the common acrylic case.

Check it out at: hightekpc

Ks.sys Patch for Hyper Threading Crashes (Download) @ ipKonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 7:51 PM EST

"SYMPTOMS
Ks.sys may crash if you repeatedly start and stop a Hauppauge playback graph on a computer with an Intel CPU that uses Hyper-Threading technology.
CAUSE
I/O request packets (IRPs) are completed on the pending queues without being called back. The routine does not undo the preparation for the request. That causes resources to leak. The data buffer address for data SRBs is not restored to the correct address from the mapped address. Therefore, the FreeFrame routine calls the wrong address when the frames are freed from the allocator."

Check it out at: ipKonfig

MSI FX5600-VTDR128 @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 7:48 PM EST

"As mentioned before in the specifications, the GPU clock runs at 325 Mhz, and the memory runs at 550 Mhz. I was able to boost the GPU up to 360 Mhz, and the memory to 650Mhz stable, a 35 Mhz overclock on the core, and a 100Mhz effective overclock on the ram (it's actually only a 50 Mhz overclock on the ram, but because the card uses DDR RAM, it is treated as an effective 100 Mhz)."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

MagicPro MP-K7V-400A Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:29 PM EST

"VIA's second attempt at a 333MHz FSB AthlonXP chipset, known as the KT400A, is a good one even though it is a little too late to make a difference. If the KT400A chipset had been released when the KT400 came out last year, the AMD chipset market would certainly look quite different than it does right now under the auspices of nVidia's nForce2. Of course, VIA's KT400A chipset wasn't released at the best of time, and now it seems as though it has firmly secured its position as the black sheep of the AMD chipset family. On top of that, with the recent announcement of the VIA KT600 chipset it certainly looks as though VIA have set the KT400A up to fail. The only positive aspect out of all of this is that VIA's KT400A chipset commands a very economical price tag. And so, today we're going to be testing the bright purple Magic Pro MP-K7V-400A mainboard which should appeal to budget minded consumers. Have Magic Pro, a name synonymous with inexpensive computer components been able to present a KT400A based motherboard attractive to the end user? Let's find out!"

Check it out at: pcstats

Cooler Master Q Aluminum Keyboard Video Review #319 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:26 PM EST

"The Cooler Master Q Aluminum Keyboard is stylish, well crafted, compact, lightweight and plugs into a standard USB port. This product puts traditional keyboards to shame but it does come with an expensive price tag. If you have an aluminum case then this keyboard is a much have. The Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Athenatech A747SS Mid Tower Case @ The Tech Lounge
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:24 PM EST

Overall this is a great case packed with great features such as the tool less drive installation, removable cages, and a top I/O port. Athenatech even goes as far as to include a power supply. This case is also very sturdy and very safe with all edges folded to prevent nasty cuts. The only department this case is really lacking in is the airflow, but Athenatech makes up for it with the left panel duct. I would definitely recommend this case to anyone who loves a feature-full case.

Check it out at: The Tech Lounge

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz vs. AMD Athlon XP 3200+ @ HWE
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:23 PM EST

"During this long fought war = between the two=20 Silicon Valley giants, AMD and Intel, there have been skirmishes and = full scale=20 battles. Recently, both CPU manufacturers pulled out their big cards and = decided=20 to jump in the ring of higher front-side-bus battle.=20

Now the Athlons are flagged at 400FSB and the Pentium 4's are pulling = ahead=20 with 800FSB, the battles get more heated and intense. Front Side Bus is = just the=20 tip of the iceberg. Future outlooks of this Gigahertz war should = definitely be=20 more interesting as Rambus might make another come back to go against = DDR's Dual=20 Channel and system performance will once again be=20 altered."

Check it out at: Hardware Extreme

P4 3.2 GHz Review @ lostcircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:20 PM EST

After a bit of a slow-down, that is, no new releases of new speed grades in over 7 months, Intel finally catches up again with lost terrain towards abiding by Moore's law. The latest speed grade is 3.2 GHz, running at a 16 x clock multiplier and 800 MHz PSB data rate. Geared towards the Canterwood chipset, and performance acceleration technology, the 3.2 GHz CPU takes full advantage of the extra cycles to unleash brute force to the desktop.

Is this the final version of the P4 as we know it? Is there still a chance to push the system performance a few notches higher using the existing infrastructure or will any future speed grade only provide "empty magnification"? Along the same lines, what will be the most likely next steps in the Intel camp? We have some ideas about that, too.

Check it out at: lostcircuits

Compucase LX-6A19 & CI-6919 Review @ Techware Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:18 PM EST

"Today, pre-modded cases are becoming more and more the norm, at least among geeks. This saves individuals the risk, time, and expense of modding cases themselves. Vendors that offer pre-modded systems are seeing fairly consistent growth in this niche market, indication that new companies are likely to join the competition, offering innovation and lower prices, so the theory goes."

Check it out at: Techware Labs

BFG GF FX 5900 Ultra Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:16 PM EST

"Boasting new features such as CineFX 2.0, Intellisample HCT and UltraShadow Technology, nVidia is hoping to blow our socks of with stellar performance and stellar graphics. Can they do it? Right now many of us are unsure since the ATi Radeon 9700 was launched back in September of 2002 and was simply unrivaled in both visual performance and raw horsepower. NVidia countered a few months later with the GeForce FX 5800 series cards, and it soon became evident that NV30 was little if any better than the Radeon 9700 and worse yet, it was very expensive and almost impossible to obtain, and as we now know, the 5800 series cards never really made it to full production and when ATi introduced the Radeon 9800 (R350) the FX 5800 had already put one foot in the grave and another would soon follow."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz (800Mhz FSB) Processor Review @ Extreme Overclocking
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:14 PM EST

A few weeks ago more processors were released by Intel based on the 800 MHz FSB. Today is the release of Intel's latest flagship processor, the Pentium 4 3.2GHz CPU. Over the past year we have seen Intel ramp up the clock speeds on the P4. Sadly this is probably the end of the line for the legendary Northwood core. The new processors from Intel will have to use a .09-micron process to help keep the core running cooler. These new processors are codenamed Prescott and since they are awhile away, Intel has decided to up the speed one more time from the 3.0C.

Check it out at: Extreme Overclocking

Pentium 4 3.2GHz Performance Analysis @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:10 PM EST

Intel's new 3.2GHz Pentium 4 is here at HotHardware tonight folks and it's safe to say we took it a bit higher than its stock speed as well!

Check it out at: HotHardware

Intel Pentium 4 3.20GHz / "C" Processor Review @ MBReview
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:06 PM EST

"Well, how much of an overclock did we indeed achieve? Well, if you take a look at the image above, you'll see the maximum stable overclock we managed was roughly 3708.5MHz with a roughly 1059.6MHz FSB. Anything higher than this frequency, and we began to experience lockups or stability issues began to plague the operation."

Check it out at: MBReview

Exotic Wood Craft's Wooden PC Case Review @ Voided Warranty
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 23, 2003 at 8:05 PM EST

"I took the liberty of testing the woods durability by slamming my keys against it many times. The case suffered no visual damage at all. I asked the creator of this fine case if he could make a case that wood match the finish of a persons desk. I was informed that this could indeed be done."

Check it out at: Voided Warranty

Steelpad 4S Mousepad Review @ monster-hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 8:11 PM EST

"Secondly, the sheer size of the Steelpad 4S is simply amazing! It is roughly rectangular, with gentle curves on the "top" and "bottom" edges. The Steelpad 4S is appx 29 cm wide and about 25cm deep at the thickest point; this compares to 21 cm wide and 17 cm deep for my old standard mousepad. In fact, I was so amazed by the size that I took a picture with my old mousepad setting on top of the Steelpad 4S to show the difference in real estate available when using this mousepad."

Check it out at: monster-hardware

Enermax EN-006-TM1 Transfer Panel @ The Tech Lounge
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 8:10 PM EST

Enermax has been long known to produce quality power supplies and cases for years. Recently they have spread their wings to cover other accessories to go along with their cases. The bulk of the accessories they produce are devices that fit in the front drive bays of cases. These include fan controllers and port extensions. Today we will be looking at the Multifunction Transfer Panel (EN-006-TM1) from Enermax.

Check it out at: The Tech Lounge

Sneak Peak: ABIT IC7 Max3 @ KEPtech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 8:08 PM EST

Differences include a strange new poser supply design with forced cooling via the back plate. They take out all legacy ports except for the ever-so popular PS2. Some have claimed that they fixed their MIC problems that some IC7-(G) users have found in the sound, as well as providing 6xSATA. This is hard to believe, since there are no SATA controllers out there that can handle more than 2.

Check it out at: KEPtech

Antec LANBOY review @ OCModShop
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 8:07 PM EST

"Not only does this case have all these features, include a 350w
true blue power supply, but it also comes with a carrying strap. Because
this case is designed for LAN party usage Antec knew the case would be
in transport a lot and have provided a really cool extra with the case.
The strap is very simple but very useful, it has two straps with buckles
on them and a handle attached to both straps. This carrying strap is
really easy to install, just put the case onto the straps, center the
handle, snap the clips, and off you go. Not only will these straps work
for the LANBOY but it is adjustable so that it will work for other cases
as well."

Check it out at: OCModShop

HP dvd300i DVD Burner @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 8:03 PM EST

The HP DVD Writer dvd300i is just one of the other amazing products offered by HP. Built for home users, and optimized for advanced users; this DVD writer has every need you would ever want fulfilled.

I am not going to bore you with commercialism, so let’s get right into the specs...

Check it out at: Bytesector

ABIT IC7 "Game Accelerator" Analysis @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 8:02 PM EST

"As we've seen, the Game Accelerator BIOS made a huge difference, for the better, in our benchmarks. I would imagine any quality sticks of ram can easily handle the Street Racer option, and for F1, you'll need something really good."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PC) Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 8:00 PM EST

"Does this game really need an introduction? Ok I'll humour you for a bit then. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a one of a series of controversial games produced by Rockstar games, a very talented bunch indeed. This highly awaited title was first released on Sony's Playstation 2 console, and then it finally made its way to the PC a few months later. Vice City is Grand Theft Auto 3 deluxe, it has a whole new map, the graphics are nicer, there are more cars and it's set in the 1980's in a Miami Vice style city. Ahhh the eighties."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Thermaltake G4-VGA Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 7:56 PM EST

"The memory temperature decrease from the default heatsink to the G4-VGA'sinks was very relieving, as the TIM appeared to be working well, and the cutting did not seem to lower the cooling value of the sinks. As you can see from the above chart, there were significant temperature drops across the board. This was most likely because the large copper plate that partially made contact with the memory chips on the default heatsink did not dissipate the heat fast enough, causing it to build up."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

GMC Noblesse SE Case Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 20, 2003 at 8:17 PM EST

The inside front of the case contains the hidden 5.25" bay that was discussed earlier. Evident in the lower left of the picture is one of the tabs on which I caught my knuckle. The rainbow colored ribbon is what connects the front power buttons to the 3 hard drive controller boxes. The two other leads are for the Sound Selector and the front USB 2.0 ports. Also visible are the mounting spots for the two front fans. In order to mount them it seems that the front bezel must be removed. I tried to take the front bezel off, but my attempts to remove it came dangerously close to breaking the tabs. The tabs on the left side of the bezel are behind a metal support and it's impossible to reach them with fingers, and very difficult to reach using a screwdriver or other tool to pry them.

Check it out at: Mikhailtech

Abit IS7-G Motherboard (Socket 478 - Intel 865PE) Video Review #318 @ 3dgameman
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 20, 2003 at 8:12 PM EST

"This product is based on the Intel 865PE chipset and supports the Intel P4 800/533/400 MHz CPU's with Hyper-Threading technology and supports dual channel memory. It has onboard USB2, firewire, LAN, 6 channel audio, SATA RAID support, and more. It's simply a fantastic product and overclockers will love it. The Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dgameman

Accent HTPC HT-200 Gold Home Theatre PC Case Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 20, 2003 at 8:09 PM EST

"Like most of the other guys here at OcPrices, I'm a big Hi-Fi fan, and have a full Denon separate set-up. When browsing the pages of Quiet PC for a Zalman CPU cooler I came across something that caught my eye. At first I thought that Glen and Co had branched out into selling high quality amps, but it turns out the lovely item before me was actually a PC case."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Soyo Dragon 2 Ultra Platinum Intel 875P Motherboard @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 20, 2003 at 8:04 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at Soyo's new high-end Pentium 4 platform based on their new Dragon 2 design, the P4I875P. This board features an... interesting.. design full of bright colors and exorbitant features such as CSA Gigabit Ethernet, three different types of onboard RAID, integrated Firewire, and a memory card reader bundled alongside the board. We look at all the features and compare performance to other popular Pentium 4 platforms on the market today.

Check it out at: GamePC

DFI KT400A LAN Party Mobo Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 20, 2003 at 8:00 PM EST

"The placement of the AGP slot ensures that you can use an extended length graphics card without interfering with the DIMM slots. And, the AGP slot has a very nice locking retention clip for the gamer on the go. If you plan on using the header for the 5th and 6th USB ports and some PCI expansion cards, you could have routing problems as it is located between the 2nd and 3rd PCI slots."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Maxtor Atlas 10K IV 147GB Ultra 320 SCSI Review @ HardwareExtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 20, 2003 at 7:55 PM EST

"For this review, we take a look at Maxtor Atlas 10K IV, the highest performing 10K RPM hard disk drive. The review unit is equipped with 147GB capacity point and 4.4 ms seek time to meet the enterprise hard disk drive market requirements. The drive is also equipped with the Maxtor second-generation Ultra 320 SCSI interface and MaxAdapt Technology. MaxAdapt Technology allows the drive to ..."

Check it out at: HardwareExtreme

Samsung Spinpoint SP1203N 120GB Hard Drive Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 20, 2003 at 7:46 PM EST

"The hightlight for the Spinpoint SP1203N 120GB Hard Drive is the introduction of new technology developed exclusively by Samsung Canada for this product line. The SP1203N supports all existing drive configuration types ranging from older ATA-33 legacy technologies up to ATA-133. There are 2 disc platters which make up the composition of the drive construction with three read and write heads. The SP1203N has an average seek time of 8.9 ms and a rotational speed of 7200 RPM."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Windowing 101 Part 2 @ Modasylum
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:29 PM EST

"Windows.. love em or hate em, they are the one mod everyone needs. "Why do we need them Bob?" I hear you ask, well the simple reason is that if you cant see into the case you cant see the CCFLs, LED fans, or water-cooling kit you've spent you hard earned £$£$s on!"

Check it out at: Modasylum

Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 Pro Video Card Review @ Extreme Overclocking
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:27 PM EST

There are two full version games included with the 9800 Pro. The first is Soldier Of Fortune II: Double Helix, which is a very popular first person shooter. The second is the best selling Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which is also a first person shooter. Keep in mind, both games are the full versions and not just demos. The games are both really popular and can cost around $30 a piece. Including them in this bundle tops almost any other 9800 Pro we have seen so far. Many people are interested to see what games are included in a package and Sapphire has chosen to use some of the top sellers in their bundle.

Check it out at: Extreme Overclocking

SiS 648FX Performance Preview @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:25 PM EST

"The original SiS 645 took the Pentium 4 market by storm. It took SiS from the bargain basement into prime-time, and enthusiasts took notice. At the time Intel was still behind Rambus RDRAM for their flagship 850 chipset, and they were just barely starting to test the waters for DDR on the P4 platform, which gave the 645 a market of its own. (The P4X266 doesn't count). As Intel dumped RDRAM and decided to get into high performance dual channel DDR with the E7205, SiS again came up with a low cost alternative, the dual channel 655. SiS's first attempt to counter the 865\75 with 800mhz fsb is the curiously single channel 648FX, which we will be looking at today."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Geil 512MB PC3200 Dual Channel DDR Kit @ BigBruin
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:23 PM EST

"The Geil 512MB PC3200 Dual Channel DDR Kit is capable of some serious speed, hitting an impressive 480 MHz DDR in our testing...  If you want to have fast, stable memory that won’t break the bank, consider Geil."

Check it out at: BigBruin

All-In-Wonder 9800 PRO Review @ Beyond3D
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:21 PM EST

"The All-In-Wonder 9700 PRO seemed like it met with an interminable wait for the European PAL version. While the NTSC versions became available in not too long a period after the desktop Radeon 9700 PRO's, it was only a few months ago that the actual PAL versions were launched. However, recently ATI have launched the All-In-Wonder 9800 PRO, in both NTSC and PAL formats, much closer to the release of the of Radeon 9800 PRO."

Check it out at: Beyond3D

3-Way i875P Shoot-Out @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:19 PM EST

Tonight on HotHardware.Com, we have posted a shoot-out featuring three fully-loaded i875P "Canterwood" based motherboards from MSI, DFI and Chaintech.  The 875P Neo-FIS2R, the LANPARTY Pro875 and the Zenith 9CJS each offer some intriguing, and relatively unique features. Head on over and see which one we thought was best...

Check it out at: HotHardware

Inno3d GeForce FX 5600 Ultra Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:17 PM EST

The DirectX 9 compliance seems to come at the expense of performance for non-DirectX9 games/programs (which means about everything out right now.) Let me emphasis “right now.”  In our results, you can see that with the eye candy of FSAA enabled the FX5600 Ultra engine starts to rev up as if a switch was thrown.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

Albatron GeForce FX 5200 Ultra Review @ Beyond3D
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 9:12 PM EST

"You may want to check out the differences in heatsink+fan designs between the Albatron product and that of the NVIDIA reference design. The first thing I noticed about the Albatron board was how heavy it is -- while I did not actually weigh the board, it felt definitely heavier than all other boards I had previously handled. This is due to the heatsink+fan design that Albatron employed, probably anticipating overclocking enthusiasts to experiment with the board -- witness the memory heaksinks on the back of the board."

Check it out at: Beyond3D

Lian Li PC6010 Case & Aquarium Kit @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 8:25 PM EST

"First things first, the wonderful slide-out mb tray. These certainly come in handy and are greatly appreciated when doing an install. The motherboard can be the easiest or most difficult part to install depending on what you have to work with. In the Lian Li it was a cake walk. The mb tray was very easy to use and it's mounts felt very stable and smooth. After I installed the motherboard, processor and HSF I mounted the PSU. What a breeze. They've included a mount which can be flipped over to allow for better placement of your PSU. The drive bays were standard fare although I don't like the fact that the bay covers aren't screwed down. They have a small notch on the mounts and use pressure to stay in place. This might make it tough for some front panel mods that need support from the drive bays. I removed the bottom 3.5" bay as I have no use for it, and found mounting the hdd and floppy drive standard fare. The way the case is designed also makes for easy cable management; it offers lots of places to tuck wires away. All said, it's one of the easiest mid-towers to work with. My only complaints are the bay covers and the fact that the top support of the frame is quite large and hangs down below the PSU; it extends across the span of the case and becomes part of the 5.25" drive bay. If I could offer a recommendation on the next version; I'd recommend that they trim this large support down and let some of this space that's hidden be more visible and usable."

Check it out at: GruntvillE

Antec Lanboy review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 8:21 PM EST

"The first thing that strikes you when unpacking the case is that the LANBOY is all aluminum - I hear my back muscles are planning a celebration - meaning its light. VERY light. This is pretty much the lightest case I've ever lifted. I was actually quite shocked at the miniscule weight of the case with the power supply accounting for the majority of the weight - more on that later."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

The Book of Overclocking @ MHW
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 6:21 PM EST

"If you are old enough to remember the good old days of overclocking when back in '98 HardOCP were just OCP (Overclocker's Comparison Page), and Kyle was tooling around town with his dual 464 Celeron system then you probably have a pretty good idea what "The Book Of Overclocking" is all about. Penned by Scott Wainer and Robert Richmond. Scott Wainer, as you may know, is founder of SysOpt, owner of Resellerratings; he also started and runs TechIMO."

Check it out at: MHW

ABIT IS7(-G) Motherboard Review @ lostcircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 6:20 PM EST

No idea ever thought out can be unthought again. No workaround of artificially imposed restrictions, once it was leaked, can be canned again. In this case, the name of Pandora's box is PAT and its content are the bits of information necessary to keep the additional pipeline stages out of the loop that are activated at the 800 MHz PSB for stability, and performance throttling. ASUS were the first to come out with their version, now called HyperPath but ABIT are close on their tail with what they call Game Acceleration Technology.

The innocent victim of new performance settings like Street Racer and F1 is the IS7, currently still known as a rather home style performer. Does GAT have what it takes to turn Dr Jeckyll into Mr. Hyde? Well, take that one back, nobody wants Mr. Hyde in his or her office but the new BIOS does have a few surprises, to say the least.

Check it out at: lostcircuits

Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 Pro Video Card Review @ Extreme Overclocking
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 6:17 PM EST

There are a few manufacturers who are using the ATi R350 chip and today we take a look at Sapphire's version of the 9600 Pro. The Sapphire Atlantis 9600 Pro comes bundled with some really nice features such as TV-out, Redline overclocking software, and a full version of Soldier of Fortune II. Sapphire has been a big supporter of ATi graphics chips, making cards based solely on ATi's chips.

Check it out at: Extreme Overclocking

Twinmos 1024MB Dual Channel PC3200 Kit Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 6:16 PM EST

"It's fair to say Twinmos have not produced a kit capable of challenging Corsair or OCZ in the realms of overclockability. However, if you are looking for some excellent value DDR400 memory, and have a board capable of voltage adjustments you could do a lot worse than this Twinmos kit."

Check it out at: OcPrices

EPIA M10000 Nehemiah @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 6:14 PM EST

" The EPIA M10000 is not only a speed upgrade to the M9000, but a new CPU core as well. This board is a nice improvement over the M9000. Read the review to see more/ "

Check it out at: ASE Labs

PCToys Power Maxx 520W Aluminum Power Supply Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 6:11 PM EST

"The rear portion of the PCToys Power Maxx 520W Aluminum Power Supply has all the standard features found on most PSU units with some new enhancements. There are two central 80mm dual ball bearing fans which have been postioned as front and rear exhausts to circulate all the hot air from inside the aluminum chassis. An additional slim profile 80mm fan has also been included as a top exhaust fan which again assists with air circulation and cooling. Each fan is controlled by a mini 3-position switch, which allows you to toggle the noise levels for each fan to make this unit practically silent in its operation."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Samsung SyncMaster 191N LCD Review @ Hardware Extreme
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 6:09 PM EST

"In the physical appearances, the SyncMaster 191N certainly stands out from the crowd of competitive 19 inch LCD monitors. One amazing feature which the 191N offers is the pivot feature which is still not very common in the market of LCD monitors. The pivoting arm which is part of the base allows the 191N to be displayed with the view of portrait or landscape."

Check it out at: Hardware Extreme

Inno3D Tornado Geforce FX 5200 Graphics Card Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 8:11 PM EST

"The Inno3D Tornado Geforce FX 5200 proved to be a very stable video card that is directed towards the budget user market...."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

Abit IS7-G i865PE Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 8:09 PM EST

"Whenever a new chipset is released overclockers and enthusiasts always seem to say "when's the Abit version coming out?" Is this a case of blind brand loyalty, or do these self described enthusiasts know something that mainstream computer aficionado's don't? As it stands, since the days of the BX chipset Abit have built themselves a reputation of openly embracing the overclocking community; mainly by producing some of the best overclocking motherboards ever. Who could forget great motherboards like the BH6, BE6-II and BX-133? How about the more recent TH7II, BD7 or ABIT IT7 MAX2 Rev2 for the Pentium 4 processor? When Intel recently announced their own dual DDR Pentium 4 solutions, the eyes of overclockers everywhere focused on the ABIT IC7 and IS7 motherboards.... ABIT's motto is "built for overclockers by overclockers" after all. Today we're testing out the Abit IS7-G mainboard. Based on the i865PE Springdale chipset we'll let you know if this board lives up to the lofty standards set by older Abit motherboards, or simply falls among the rank and file. Yes, I know there's more to a motherboard than just overclocking, but overclocking is just so much darn fun!"

Check it out at: pcstats

PC Toys CaseMaxx 610 (green) case review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 8:04 PM EST

I like this case in the sense that it's a good starting block for building your own rig, and also has the bells and whistles that more experienced enthusiasts will appreciate. Beginners will find lots of use for the internal space, and the case is simple enough to customise on their own and dress it up for success. All-in-all though, this is a great case that is worth the look if you're looking for a case that provides solid value for the dollar, not to mention the subtle effect of lime-green Eye-candy.

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

ABIT IC7 Motherboard @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 8:01 PM EST

Moral to the story? It's obvious overclocking will net some serious performance gains. What's great is that the IC7 and Pentium 4 2.4C handles it so well, and realistically, a 250FSB should be a slam dunk."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

AMD AthlonXP 3200+ 400MHz FSB Processor Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 7:59 PM EST

"AMD's most successful processor, the K7 (Athlon\AthlonXP) has come a long way in the last four years. We've seen it move from a 0.25 micron process to the current 0.13 micron, and from Slot A to the more reliable Socket A (462) of current times. Along the way this... dare I say... loveable processor has come to incorporate such things as Intel's SSE technology and seen a shift in L2 cache on die and upgraded to 512KB. For most consumers however, it is the price point of the AthlonXP processors that makes them so attractive. Significantly less expensive than Intel's top of the line counterparts, and with just about the same raw performance across the board, the only downside has been higher thermals and noisy cooling solutions. There are ways around the down sides, and if you are crafty enough to choose the right aftermaket cooler, a well vented case, and go easy on the case fans, you can have a pretty damn powerful computer with noise levels approaching that of the traditionally quiet Pentium 4."

Check it out at: pcstats

Vantec ION 400 watt Power Supply (SATA ready) Video Review #316 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 7:56 PM EST

"This product is similar to their high-end Stealth series Power Supplies; however, it's more affordable. It has two fans that can be controlled via a switch and that switch has three setting; Low, Med and Auto. It also has two SATA cables, an AC outlet and all the power needed for most computer systems. The Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Enter The Matrix Review (PC) @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 7:49 PM EST

"Mmmm the age old question that has plagued man kind since 1998, would I take the blue pill or the red pill? If you haven't got a clue about The Matrix Trilogy you might as well stop reading this and look at some other reviews because this is a very, very average game in the fashion of most movie tie in's. If you want to know why I believe this to be the case then take the red pill and let's see how deep this rabbit hole goes... "

Check it out at: OcPrices

Samsung HT-DB600TH Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 7:47 PM EST

"Although computer speakers from companies such as Logitech or Klipsch are very good, for the same amount of money or a bit more, you can get a full home-theater system package that gives you a real receiver which can decode DTS, AC-3, and Dolby Pro Logic II, as well as combining decent bookcase speakers and a large LFE cabinet. The advantage - your computer can be at the center of a pro-grade home-theater setup and your games will sound just fantastic. Today, we look at a Samsung HT package which combines stellar features for a very attractive price."

Check it out at: Envy News

FIC 9800 Pro @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:39 PM EST

"When running in the performance and balanced settings the Radeon 9700 kept up decently with our FIC R9800, but when the resolution was cranked to 1600x1200 and the quality settings were used, the R9800 walked away handedly from the 9700."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

The Corporate Smell Test (Article) @ ipKonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:37 PM EST

Probably the heightened sensitivity to bad smells has had something to do with the response to the nVidia / FutureMark controversy, too. When the bias in press, public, and expert opinion is that corporate goals include obtaining maximum return for minimum real value to the consumer, nobody is going to take much on trust. It gets treated as "more blood in the water", and no one gets a free pass.

Check it out at: ipKonfig

MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:34 PM EST

"A lot of manufacturers like to bundle just the bare necessities with their products so it's always a bit of a treat to test out a top of the line model that comes with literally everything in the box. There are different flavours of the 875P Neo which are designed to fit different requirements and budgets, but the -FIS2R version is like getting A/C, leather, CD, and mag wheels with that new car. Heck, we're even geeky enough to get a little excited about that "new motherboard smell" that wafts out of the box once the anti-static bag is cracked open. This bright red ATX board is currently MSI's flagship model on the i875P Canterwood chipset. It commands a bit of a premium in terms of price, retailing for $245 CDN ($185 US) or thereabouts. With the release of the 875P Neo and 865PE Neo2 motherboards, Canterwood and Springdale-based respectively, MSI is now also targeting the overclocking market head on. The question as we see it is whether or not MSI can provide the gear necessary to convert die hard overclockers who usually have a lot of brand loyalty (ie. Asus, Abit, Epox)."

Check it out at: pcstats

Antec True Control @ Nexus Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:31 PM EST

"Recently we have reviewed several power supplies, and tested their capabilities in real world situations. Today I have yet another power supply review for you, however, this power supply deviates from the standard power supply design. The Antec True Control allows the user to directly adjust the voltage rails to their liking. "

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz w/ 800MHz FSB Preview @ HardwareExtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:29 PM EST

"Just after two months Intel launched the 800MHz FSB processors together with the new Springdale and Canterwood chipsets; today we have a short preview and gallery of the latest and fastest Pentium 4 processor, the 3.2GHz."

Check it out at: HardwareExtreme

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 200 GB Hard Drive @ The Tech Lounge
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:28 PM EST

We all know that when it comes to hard drives, size matters. With all this advancing technology, software, and media, you need some beefy storage to contain it. Maxtor's latest hard drive is the Diamond Plus 9, a 200 gigabyte 7200 RPM hard drive. If that isn't enough for you, I don't know what is. Not only does this drive have an extreme storage capacity, but it also has speed to back it up. Boasting a high cache buffer of 8 megabytes, a 9.4 ms average seek time and the new Fluid Dynamics Bearing Motor, this is one of the best ATA drives on the market.

Check it out at: The Tech Lounge

Albatron GeForce FX 5200 Ultra Review @ 3D NewsNET
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:26 PM EST

Nvidia's other GeForce FX cards in the series powered by the CineFX engine are targeted towards the lower-end and mid-range consumers. The GeForce FX 5200, 5200 Ultra, 5600, and 5600 Ultra make up that segment of the market. The GeForce FX 5200 is built on a 0.15 manufacturing process which is cheaper to make than a 0.13 manufacturing process. Because the NV34 is a low-end graphics card, the chip doesn't support lossless color and Z compression which helps keep costs down. With the loss of lossless color and Z compression, the antialiasing performance is decreased somewhat and that is something that we will keep a close eye on during testing of this card.

Check it out at: 3D NewsNET

Koolance EXOS External Water Cooling System Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:24 PM EST

"The control panel conveniently resides at the top of the EXOS unit and bears the Koolance logo printed onto a brushed aluminum backing. The small LCD display is backlit via red LEDs and is responsible for displaying current temperature results of the CPU. A small button labeled "C/F" toggles the LCD display from Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature results. The control panel also manages the triple 80mm exhaust fans in 3 modes."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Project Deep Freeze @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:18 PM EST

"The reason I took on this project was because I am all about customizing computers.  The more I am able to get away from the norm the better.  I have had a water cooled system before.  But, I always wanted a submerged pc."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Albatron KM18G Pro V2.0 nForce2 IGP Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 8:17 PM EST

"It's funny that while the SFF fad is in style not many manufacturers have a micro ATX nForce2 motherboard in their lineup. Albatron do, and have just released their KM18G Pro V2.0 nForce2 IGP based motherboard which could easily become the backbone of a home theatre PC. Of course just because the motherboard is small in size does not mean it will not be just as good for everyday computing... or does it? Only the benchmarks will tell us where the KM18G Pro V2.0 really stands, so let's get started. With a retail price of $170 CDN ($105 US) the Albatron KM18G Pro v2.0 is a little on the pricey side, but then again smaller sized components have always costed more. The KM18G Pro v2.0 supports current 200/266/333 MHz FSB based AthlonXP processors and can be used with a maximum of 3GB of PC1600/2100/2700/3200 DDR RAM."

Check it out at: pcstats

SAMSUNG HT-DB600TH HOME THEATER SYSTEM REVIEW @ Tweaknews
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:35 PM EST

"Although contained within a small package, this compact home theater system performs. Bringing a 500 watts of audio power and 5 disc DVD/CD capability to a livingroom for around US$260 is nothing less than a bargain. When compared to what it replaces, an equivalent separate component system would cost two to three times more. It's a great system that you can have up and running in 15 minutes which at the same time will leave a considerable amount of cash in your pocket."

Check it out at: Tweaknews

Cooler Master Aero 7+ CPU Cooler Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:34 PM EST

"The theory behind using a blower instead of a traditional axial fan is that a blower doesn’t suffer from a "dead zone" at the center of the fan. Since an axial fan is centered on the heatsink, the "dead zone" is a vital area which generates the most heat. By incorporating a blower, the hottest part of the heatsink gets the air flow required for proper cooling. Additionally, a blower will typically deliver more static pressure compared to an equivalently sized axial fan."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Interview with Dave Brown @ The Tech Lounge
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:33 PM EST

If you don't already know, Dave Brown has been making and selling small kits that make being a dork more convenient. His first kit, the heatsink lapping kit, was a huge hit, and now he is working on some more products. Check out our review of his heatsink lapping kit here. Just recently Dave informed me that he has come up with another product, the wire management kit. This is another kit aimed towards the lazy geeks but like the lapping kit, this one is full of goodies that are impossible to find at local shops. He offers a Basic and Deluxe kit...

Check it out at: The Tech Lounge

Magic-Pro K7N-Ultra S nForce2 SPP Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:31 PM EST

"The rise of nVIDIA's nForce2 chipset as top dog among AMD chipsets has been nothing short of remarkable. So swift was the momentum of this chipset that only now are VIA and SiS catching up.... to silicon which has been around for over eight months now. That is just about a full life cycle in the computer industry. If you were to ask anyone which new AMD motherboard to get, you'd no doubt be recommended to get something using one of the nForce2 variants! There's good reason for this blatant nForce2 loving; nForce2 based motherboards are extremely fast and stable. Until the recent blip with the 2.41 and 2.42 unified drivers, nVIDIA hadn't had a any significant compatibility or driver problems. With the release of VIA's new KT600 chipset the nForce2 finally has some real competition to face up against. The competition will be tough for VIA since their chipset is hardly even battle tested, let alone proven in the minds of AMD's consumers. Knowing VIA though, they'll need to rehash the KT600 before things are done right.... you can almost bet that somewhere on the horizon there is a KT600A."

Check it out at: pcstats

Abit BH7 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Extreme
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:29 PM EST

"The BH7 inherits many features that we've seen in many other i845PE motherboards in the market today, in addition to the many overclocking features that we've come to expect from Abit's production line and a 800Mhz FSB support for Intel's latest Pentium 4."

Check it out at: Hardware Extreme

Matrix Orbital GPO Guide @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:28 PM EST

Bellerophon is at it again with the Matrix Orbital. So many questions of how to configure and actually utilize all of its power are repeatedly popping up in the DawG PounD forums that we decided to add yet another How-To guide for them. This Guide explains how to set a visual alarm to let you know it's time to turn those Rheo's up a bit. Here's a quote: "General Purpose Outputs "GPO" are found on a lot of hardware. One of the more popular pieces of equipment to have them is Matrix Orbital's line of LCD Displays. If you own, or plan to buy a Matrix Orbital LCD display, you've most likely been baffled by these little pins. It's tempting to just go wild connecting wires every which place to try and figure these things out. Unfortunately that's about the worst thing you could do. Many first time MO owners have damaged or even destroyed their displays by rushing in with both eyes shut. Today I'm going to walk you through a quick setup of the 12v GPO's on an MX212. Hopefully this will be enough to get you safely started on your own crazy tangents of how to use this extremely versatile feature."

Check it out at: GruntvillE

OCZ EL DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:18 PM EST

"With the latest chipsets Canterwood and Springdale recently introduced by Intel, we are in desperate need of the super fast memory that will let us overclock the newer "C" stepping processors. Even stock these CPU's are running 200MHz so they'll need an absolute minimum of PC3200. If you plan on overclocking, you'll want some really good PC3500 or higher. And quite honestly, the hardcore overclocking crowd will be calling for PC4200 and higher very soon. Especially since the introduction of the new Intel P4 2.4C and 2.6C CPU's. The core of these chips seem to top out at just over 3500MHz. So the 2.4C will need roughly 290MHz and the 2.6C will need around 270MHz to reach the 3500MHz plateau. Currently there is no memory available that is sold guaranteed to run those speeds, but let's hope companies begin to introduce these to the masses soon."

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Crucial PC3200 DDR SDRAM Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 6:15 PM EST

Earlier this year, we took a look at Crucial's first PC3200 offering with Samsung-branded chips. This time around, we take a gander at Micron-branded TSOPs with two sticks of 256MB and compare DualDDR vs. single-stick scores - stock and overclocked. A quote from the review: "Today, I will be taking a look at two sticks of 256MB Crucial PC3200 DDR modules. These differ from the previously reviewed Crucial PC3200 DDR RAM in that these are the final revisions that no longer use the Samsung DRAM chips, but Micron DRAM. The greatest advantage of not having a middleman in the manufacturing process is cost. These sticks are topped with 5ns DDR RAM stamped with the Micron logo and rated at CAS3."

Check it out at: Envy News

Editorial on Crucial + Mushkin Discounts posted @ Adrian's Rojak Pot
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:29 PM EST

Fancy some ultra-fast memory modules but don't want to burn a hole in your pocket? Well, we are happy to announce that Crucial has slashed prices by up to 40% while Mushkin is offering a 10% discount!

So, come on over and check out the details on the price cuts and discounts from Crucial and Mushkin!"

Check it out at: Adrian's Rojak Pot

Albatron KM18G Pro M-ATX nforce2 motherboard review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:26 PM EST

The KM18G runs off of the nForce 2 IGP Northbridge and the MCP Southbridge. Although we've checked out the nForce 2 SPP (System Platform Processor), this is our first experience with the IGP version which sports integrated graphics with allocation of up to 128MB of system memory. The integrated graphics comes to us via the Geforce 4 MX (NV17) core which runs at 250 MHz. Although this won't be a selling point for those of us using ATI radeon 9000+ cards or Ti / FX based cards, it will appeal to someone looking for a system with solid integrated graphics for an office system or even to play the most recent games only with toned down settings.

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

LINDY (KVM) Smart Switch @ MHW
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:24 PM EST

"PC's are getting cheaper! Multiple PC's under the desk are becoming more common, especially with the competiton of all the distributed computing projects around. With so much processing power it is unlikly that most people have room for multiple keyboards, mice and monitors. In order to control multiple PC's from a single keyboard, monitor and mouse a device called a KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse)is required. Every multi-pc person I know has a KVM set up, myself included. I use 4 different KVM models daily. This review examines Lindy's CPU Switch Smart, a 2 port KVM switch with included cables aimed at the corporate crowd."

Check it out at: MHW

BenQ FP781 17" LCD Review @ ExtensionTech
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:22 PM EST

"Being a PC Technician for many years now, I've seen a lot of monitors. CRT's, Flat screen CRT's, LCD's, including a lot of 14" crappy old 800x600 monitors that you wouldn't give your Grandma. So on that note, today I'll be reviewing a BenQ 17" LCD for your reading pleasure. Continue on as I put this LCD through the paces..."

Check it out at: ExtensionTech

MSI Hermes 650-P Barebones System Review @ PCstats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:21 PM EST

"These days computers cannot be just fast and powerful, they also have to be small and packed full of features. The MSI Hermes Barebones system is not quite as small as some of the other SFF systems out there, but it's certainly slimmer than regular mid tower computers. The system when installed with a CPU and hard drive is perfect as a home theatre, or bookshelf PC. The Hermes is powerful enough for everyday computing as well. We're going to be taking the MSI Hermes for a spin today and be giving you our $0.02. The barebones Hermes is based around the SiS 650 chipset and that means it supports Socket 478/400 MHz FSB Celeron/Pentium 4 processors. The SiS 650 chipset does not support the newly released 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 processors. As you may have guessed, because this is a Small Form Factor (SFF) PC, everything is integrated, integrated, integrated! On board goodies include analog video as well as DVI so you can connect a CRT or LCD monitor up easily, TV and S-Video outputs, 5.1 audio, 10/100 LAN for networking, a MS memory card reader, USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394. If you need to add onto that, there are two horizontal 32-bit PCI slots off of a riser card which will support most devices as long as they are not too large. Round front there are two PCMCIA slots which can come in handy for devices like WLAN adaptors. Lastly the two DIMM's support up to 2GB of PC1600/2100 DDR."

Check it out at: PCstats

Mushkin 512MB PC3200 Level2 Dual Pack (2x256MB) Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:19 PM EST

"Mushkin have been selling enthusiast-oriented memory since the days of SD-Ram, and although today's technologies are different from what they once were, the demands of the overclocker have not changed. With more and more memory manufactures to choose from, each catering not-too-different products, what makes Mushkin stand out from the rest, if at all? I have their PC3200 Level 2 Black Dual Pack (Dual Channel) here today to answer that question."

Check it out at: OcPrices

Magic-Pro MP-P6PE-1000 i865PE Motherboard Review @ PCStats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:18 PM EST

"As prices continue the downward slide there really has never been a better time to upgrade or buy computer components for a new system. While high end devices are still relatively expensive, mainstream products have never been less expensive; prices are so low in fact that some peripherals seem almost disposable. With the new mainstream Springdale (i865PE) Pentium 4 chipset on the market we're starting to see the influx of new boards which always accompanies such a release. Of course if you're looking for a new motherboard, determining which one to get can be a difficult decision. Like the i845PE chipset before it, some might argue that the difference between one i865PE based motherboard and the next is virtually nil. In other words, i865PE-based motherboards all follow similar design guidelines and so they tend to perform within a few percentages of each other under the same circumstances. This doesn't take into account quality or reliability which can very between manufacturers rather substantially."

Check it out at: PCStats

Gigabyte GA-8KNXP (i875P) Review @ MBReview
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:16 PM EST

"If you're looking to do some heavy overclocking, I doubt that this is the board for you. We have seen several manufacturers touting boards that are claimed to overclock up to 1.0GHz, or 1.1GHz which is rather incredible speed. As far as performance goes, I wasn't really surprised as to the results we achieved. We have never known Gigabyte to be the king of performance, rather the king of features. With the recent events of i865PE boards being transformed into "i875P" boards via BIOS updates and other manufacturer's tricks, many of you may want to wait it out to see how the Springdale market goes before making a large investment into an i875P board such as the GA-8KNXP."

Check it out at: MBReview

Zalman ZM80A-HP, passive videocard heatsink review @ Hardware Analysis
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:14 PM EST

Looking for ways to silence your PC? Or does the annoying whine of your videocard's heatsink and fan start to irritate you? Zalman's ZM80A-HP offers an innovative solution for keeping your videocard running cool.

Check it out at: Hardware Analysis

Thermaltake Xview Kit Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:13 PM EST

"The Thermaltake Xview relies on the EL sheeting which provides a backlight against the printed transparent insert while secured in the acrylic cover. The inverter features an aluminum knob for sensitivity, a bright green LED and a microphone. On one side is a 3-position switch which selects between off, continuous on, or sound sensitive, depending on the consumers preference. As with any inverter, once powered there is a slight whine from the unit, which should disappear once it warms up. The inverter connects to a spare power supply connector or inline with another device."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Game Developers on Pixel Shader Precision Interview @ Beyond3D
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:11 PM EST

Now that both the R300 and NV30 series of board have been around for some time we are getting more familiar with the major differences between the two architectures. The biggest differentiator between the competing architecture lies in the choices the two main IHV's made with their Pixel (Fragement) Shader model - ATI's general purpose Pixel Shader utilises a single high precision mode that covers all prior shader models, whereas NVIDIA picked multiple Pixel Shader precisions with varying performance levels. We talk to a number of developers, Including Epic's Time Sweeny and Muckfoot's Tom Forsyth, to find out about how they are dealing with multiple precisions and even whether they actually want to.

"Tim Sweeney: Let's distinguish games that are designed for a broad spectrum of hardware (say DirectX 7 to 9) and games designed from the ground up for DirectX9 and later. If you're supporting DX7-9 then you're happy with whatever new features you can get out of the hardware, and can work around the precision limitations, because you have to anyway for DX7 and DX8. If you're targeting DirectX9 as the bare minimum, then you simply won't want to bother deal with the lower-precision formats."

Check it out at: Beyond3D

Compex WP11A+ 802.11b Wireless Access Point Review @ Hardware Analysis
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:09 PM EST

Imagine not having to manually connect your laptop to a network everywhere you went, or being able to read your email from your Pocket PC in your own kitchen. It's all possible, and suprisingly inexpensive, with quick-and-easy wireless products like Compex's WP11A+.

Check it out at: Hardware Analysis

Tyan Thunder K8S AMD Opteron Motherboard @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:07 PM EST

While Opteron motherboards still don't have that beloved AGP slot most of us have been craving, the server-level Opteron platforms are getting better by the minute. Today at GamePC, we're looking at the new Thunder K8S platform from Tyan, which follows the long time trend of the Thunder series by including every possible third-party component on the motherboard. Sure, it's expensive, but if you've got a server admin who has to have the best in bleeding edge technology, Tyan's new board is sure to please.

Check it out at: GamePC

Matias iPod Armor Review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:04 PM EST

"There are a plethora of cases available for the iPod including the one bundled from Apple. In my experience, these cases are okay and provide some means for attaching the iPod to your belt. However, most are soft or flexible-shelled and do not provide real solid protection for your iPod if it takes a hard bump. The iPod Armor from Matias Corporation is a hard-shelled case which safeguards against impacts and the elements."

Check it out at: Envy News

Phonex NeverWire 14 (TwinPack) @ TheTechLounge
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, June 13, 2003 at 9:02 PM EST

Welcome to the future of home networking. Phonex Broadband's QX-202 NeverWire 14 uses the existing home A/C wiring to pass digital signals between Ethernet-enabled devices, without running new wire. This facilitates sharing a single high-speed Internet modem among multiple computers, sharing data files, streaming audio/video as well as playing interactive computer games between PCs.* The QX-202 allows you the flexibility to place a computer anywhere in your home or small office with flawless, uninterrupted high-speed Internet access, simply by plugging your computer into any QX-202 equipped A/C outlet. The QX-202 NeverWire 14 can also be easily installed by anyone within minutes. How does it stack up against the competition? We will see...

Check it out at: TheTechLounge

Ahanix Iceberg I Water Cooling Kit Review @ tech-dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 at 9:20 PM EST

In today's computer market, keeping your processor cool is in big demand. Manufacturers are constantly improving or creating new methods of cooling, the most popular being air-cooling. A normal computer user will not think twice or even acknowledge the temperatures of their case or processor, which means cooling is often overlooked. However, the avid computer user and overclocker makes cooling a top priority, so the OEM heatsinks are upgraded and stronger fans are used. Unfortunately, better cooling comes with a price: higher noise levels during operation can sometimes be overwhelming, deafening, and downright annoying. Water-cooling enters the scene as an extremely quiet alternative. Today, we will be taking a close look at an entry-level water cooling kit manufactured by Ahanix, The Iceberg I Kit.

Check it out at: tech-dreams

Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz 800MHZ FSB Processor Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 at 9:19 PM EST

"It's quite amazing how far the Pentium 4 has come in the last three years. I still remember a time when the original Williamette Socket 423 Pentium 4 1.5 GHz processor made its first debut. Despite all the "large numbers", performance of the CPU was actually pretty absymal when compared to AMD's solutions at the time. My oh my how times have changed. We're up past 3GHz, a number which is pretty phenomenal considering the first computer many of us used in the 486 days was clocked at just 33MHz. In any event, a history of the Intel processor is not what we're about to embark upon. Instead we are going to be testing out the newest chip, the hottest thing since sliced bread if you listen to Intel in fact - enter the 800MHz FSB Intel Pentium 4 3GHz Northwood Socket 478 processor."

Check it out at: pcstats

MSI 865PE Neo2-FIS2R i865PE motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 at 9:17 PM EST

"The Intel i865 Springdale chipset is the next "big" thing for the Pentium 4.... right after the i875 Canterwood of course. Springdale is gaining in popularity primarily because the little chip which gets soldered onto the motherboard offers something on the order of around 97% of the performance of the flagship Intel i875P, for about three-quarters of the price. So what you say? If you're currently working with an i850E (RDRAM) pentium 4 system and long ago made the decision to pass on the DDR-based i845PE's which has been wooing consumers for the last six months, you should still take note. Boards which are based on the i850E were faster and more powerfull than their i845PE counterparts, but the i865 tops both. Hey, it is a new chipset after all! Today we're going to be weighing the pros and cons of MSI's first entry into the mainstream Springdale (i865PE) desktop mainboard market - the wickedly red MSI 865PE Neo2-FIS2R. This is the top of the line model with all the bells and whistles on board - so if you want to save a few dollars and don't need all the little extras you can shoot for the 'vanilla' 865PE Neo2 version."

Check it out at: pcstats

FIC Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB Video Card Review #314 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 at 9:15 PM EST

"This product is currently one of the fastest Video Cards on the planet and supporting all the latest technologies it will satisfy even the most demanding gamers. Fast and furious is one thing but this card also has dual display support and excellent 2D quality. If you are in the market for blistering performance, quality and stability then keep this product at the very top of your list. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

The DFI "LAN Party" KT400A Motherboard Reviewed @ Hothardware
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