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News Archive: March 2003

March 2003

Zalman CNPS7000-Cu Quiet P4 / Athlon64 Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:28 PM EST

Continuing on in typical Zalman tradition, the CNPS7000-Cu is a low noise heatsink that can be made even quieter with the use of the included Fanmate 1 fan speed controller. When used, the Fanmate 1 drops the speed of the integrated 80mm fan impeller from 2400RPM to about 1350RPM making it barely audible. Those of you with an eye towards upgrading should be interested to know that the Zalman CNPS700-Cu is the first heatsink we have tested so far that can be used to cool both the socket 478 Intel Pentium 4 and the upcoming socket 754 AMD Athlon64 "Hammer" processor. This means if you upgrade to an Athlon64 when it is released you'll be able to continue using the CNPS7000-Cu. Based on the general design of the CNPS5700D series heatsink, the Zalman CNPS7000-Cu builds upon that tradition with even more surface area, and consequently a larger diameter (109mm). Since the retention mechanism is designed for both Petnium 4 and Athlon64, and because of the large size of the heatsink itself, there are a handful of motherboards which do not properly support the size of this cooler."

Check it out at: frostytech

Samsung Syncmaster 172W Widescreen LCD Monitor @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:25 PM EST

"Retailing for a little over $600USD, the Samsung Syncmaster 172W is a pretty slim 17" widescreen LCD that packs in a pair of integrated speakers and even headphone jack. The screen conforms to a 16:9 aspect ratio making it ideally suited for watching DVD's full screen, although there is no way of inputting a signal directly from a DVD player. To improve visual display quality, a special feature called "Magic Bright" lets you increase the brightness of the screen all the way up to 400 nits - substantial considering most LCD monitors are capped off at 280 nit brightness ratings. The slim line LCD panel measures a modest 1" thick, and comes with a collapsible stand that when folded all the way down mounts on a 100mm VESA mounting point. This allows the LCD monitor to be attached to a free standing armature, or to the face of a wall with the aid of an included metal mounting plate and screws. Small stereo speakers are included the in stand, and if you don't want to listen to internet streamed radio over them, a headphone jack and volume wheel will let you use a set of headphones for music."

Check it out at: pcstats

KoolCases Panther Case reviewed @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:24 PM EST

"OK, what are we looking at here, full tower, full function case for under 35$US. Now what is it missing? The weight of the unit makes is a fairly stationary case, you definitely will not be taking this case to a lan party. Well you could, but with all my stuff in it, its prolly in the 40LBs range for sure. Overall the quality of the case is not up-to-par with its Cheiftec cousin, but hey, for 35$ you can't go wrong. The potential is there for some serious modding, I can see a window kit, either more 80mm fan mounts or some type of Watercooling setup."

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

GeIL PC3200 400MHz DDR Dual Channel ULD Series Video Review #286 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:23 PM EST

"The GeIL PC3200 400MHz DDR Dual Channel ULD Series Memory offers speedy performance with new dual channel capable motherboards. This memory is hand picked 5ns chips with 6 layer ultra low noise shielded PCB which means they are very stable at and above 400MHz. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Magic Athlon XP 1800+! (Thoroughbred B) Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:21 PM EST

"This particular chip was originally a 2600+, and AMD have simply siphoned off batches from faster production lines to supplement slower models where demand is higher. Just goes to show how much profit margin there is on an XP2600+ if they can be marketed and sold as a mere 1800+s ;-) Let's see if this puppy performs as it was originally intended!"

Check it out at: OcPrices

Mouse Wax. Seriously. @ Dans Data
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:19 PM EST

It's the first of April, and I just put up a review of something called Mouse Wax.

Amazingly enough, though, this is actually a real product. Not a joke. Genuine. You can buy it.

Mouse Wax is meant to go on your mouse feet, and reduce friction.

Does it work, though?

Check it out at: Dans Data

Flexiglow Cold Cathode Kits Review @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:17 PM EST

" In a market that is swamped with cold cathodes, can Flexiglow make themselves stand out? And is it enough for you to buy their product? You'll need to read to find out. "

Check it out at: ASE Labs

Albatron Medusa Ti4800SE Video Card Review @ TweakTown
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:16 PM EST

"While nVidia's GeForce FX continues to stock itself on shop shelves worldwide, we shouldn't forget the "lesser" products still floating around on the market. Albatron being a strong supporter of nVidia has used their Ti4800SE GPU and put it into mass production with their Medusa series of video card. Is the AGP 8x bus video card worth buying or not? Read on and find out!"

Check it out at: TweakTown

Vantec Stealth 470W PSU @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:14 PM EST

"The voltages are pretty good across the board. The 3.3 is nice and high, as is the 5v in both load and idle. The 12v doesn't ever reach the 12v mark, but still remains high enough to not be a worry. All the voltages, despite the system drawing as much power as it can remain nice and high throughout"

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Device Drivers Downloads - TS' brand new section
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:13 PM EST

Of course, we expect it to grow way further but for the time being we already have complete indexes covering drivers for some of the most requested hardware such as videocards, chipsets, soundcards, modems, NICs, Input Devices, even Printers and Scanners.

Check it out at: TechSpot

Sunbeam Tech Rheobus Review @ M:6 Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:11 PM EST

"Plus the LED is super bright. The brightness however, gave me problems. While I can't sleep before because of the fan noise, now I can't sleep because of the light!! lol"

Check it out at: M:6 Hardware

Telex SonicXS 2.1 "Hardcore Multimedia" 2.1 Speaker Set Review @ hardcoreware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:10 PM EST

Not for long! Telex has been manufacturing concert audio speakers for ages, and are ready to jump into PC Sound. These speakers are BIG and they are LOUD, and you are either going to love the concert-speaker design, or you're going to hate it. We put them head to head with the similarly priced Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 to see who comes out on top!

Check it out at: hardcoreware

Tt SubZero4G TEC Cooler Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:08 PM EST

“Now seeing the SubZero4G beat out the Tt Spark 7 by almost 5 ' C, I really am surprised.  Not only did the performance of the unit shine but it did so at a minimum of noise.  I want to underscore this, it is EXTREMELY quiet.”

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

Cenatek Rocket Drive SSD Reviewed @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:06 PM EST

“This drive is simply intriguing to PC Enthusiasts for many reasons. First, it uses PC133 SDRAM that can be obtained rather cheaply and easily. Second, imagine having a few of your favorite or most used programs loaded on the Rocket Drive and seeing a drastic decrease in load times and obvious increases in performance anytime storage access comes into play. The drive is as simple of an item as you may suspect. Simply a PCI card with 4 sticks of SDRAM installed.”

Check it out at: OCAddiction

MSI GNB MAX FISR @ Nexus Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:05 PM EST

"The announcement of Dual Channel DDR for the Pentium 4 was no doubt a thriller. The E7205 chipset (otherwise known as Granite Bay) is a direct attempt to provide the bandwidth of the 850 chipset, while abandoning the infamous RAMBUS. The 850 chipset was an incredible performer; in fact, it has proved to out-perform every chipset in memory bandwidth up until recently. Nevertheless, the price, and the availability of PC1066 RDRAM has made the flagship Pentium chipset out of reach for most users. The Granite Bay chipset combines the affordability and popularity of DDR, and the memory bandwidth of the RAMBUS equipped 850 chipsets. Although designated for workstation use, the Granite Bay chipset will surely be the base of gaming, and enthusiast systems."

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

YPM Issue #60 - 'Audigy Too' @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 8:02 PM EST

"Honest Honey, I’m just going to go over to Fry’s just to look around for a bit." No, no not really lookin for anything that’s fur sure. Just lookin, it’s a geek thing. Be Bop Baby…Lot’s of stuff I almost want as usual… Whoa! What’s that?!? It’s on sale? I wonder… what’s the deal with the… Audigy Too.”

Check it out at: Envy News

Asus SATA Dongle review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 7:59 PM EST

“With all the recent hype over the new SATA technology, many of you probably own SATA enabled systems. Today we will be taking a look at the Asus SATA dongle when used with the A7V8X motherboard. How will it perform with the Western Digital 80GB Caviar? Caveat Emptor!”

Check it out at: Envy News

Maxtor (6200P0) 200GB Ultra Series 8mb Cache Hard Drive @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 7:58 PM EST

As the computer industry rapidly moves ahead the need for faster processors and more hard drive space are demanded. Many of us upgrade our hard drives to fill that demand, but room in your case limits the amount of hard drives you can hold as well as IDE channels, typical motherboards will allow up to four IDE channels, some offer built-in Raid/ATA to double this, or you may purchase a ATA PCI card to double your channels as well. But why put more load on your computer and power supply? Like stated the computer industry is rapidly growing and hard drive manufacturers are aware of this, Maxtor one of the leading manufacturers in the hard drive market is well aware of this and have released many new additions to there product line such as the *new* SATA (Serial ATA) drive, as well as there new 200gb 7200rpm 8mb Cache Ultra series drive.

Check it out at: Tech-Dreams

Abit BH7 Mainboard Review @ LostCircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 7:56 PM EST

Five years ago, Abit's BH6 changed the ways of the BX-chipset boards and set the switches for the path towards jumperless boards as we know them today. There has not been any BH"X" board since on the market but the legend entwining around the BH acronym has lived on. Needless to say that a continuation of the series should be something special like a limited edition board. Or rather, since, courtesy of a lack of volume, limited editions don't make money, maybe a limited features edition...

Well, that doesn't sound quite right but essentially it is the venue that Abit has pursued with the BH7, sort of the Taiwanese equivalent of a British Roadster where aircondition would be a faux-pas and a radio would only distract from the cultivated roaring of the engine. Needless to say that not all features will make sense.

Paint it orange and you have something that sticks out from the crowd. If you own one, everybody thinks you are a tough guy. Kind of funny how that goes but if you are searching for the equivalent of four double-barrel carburettors, take a look at the VRM Abit threw on that board. And then, there are the little annoyances to quibble about...

Check it out at: LostCircuits

SpeedUpMyPC Review @ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 7:54 PM EST

"There are many of us out here who use older systems and do not have the money to invest in top of the line hardware. For those people out there who have this problem, they need to constantly tune their systems so that they are at peak performance all the time. All those who need to constantly optimize their system now have an additional tool to use. Today I will be reviewing SpeedUp MyPC by LIUtilities, which helps to free up system resources and optimize performance."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

Samsung SCX-5312F Digital Laser Multifunction Printer Review @ Tweaknews
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 7:53 PM EST

"With units like this all-in-one printer reviewed today, I have no idea why a company or office would separately buy a photocopier, a fax machine, a laser printer and a scanner. The pure space that all these peripherals would take up would amount to about three completely filled desktops."

Check it out at: Tweaknews

iRoCK BLiNG! @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 31, 2003 at 7:52 PM EST

In today's ever changing world, the consumer seems to forget technology that once provided them with countless hours of entertainment. It is quite often mandatory for most individuals to purchase newer products that gives them better quality, performance and features. In the world of the consumer market's audio section, everyone The iRoCK! BLiNG sets its record straight and represents the ideas from both past and present alike scoping it to be one of the most influential and bold items to be sold in the portable audio devices department of the industry.

Check it out at: Bytesector

Sunbeam Tri-Color CCFL Fan Review @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:17 PM EST

“As you can see, the Sunbeam Round Cold Cathode comes in a nice, small package and includes everything you’ll need to get up and running. A quick rundown of the parts included are : Round Cold Cathode, 80mm Clear Fan, Dual Inverter Box (i.e. you can hook to of these up with one inverter), Power Wires w/ backplane switch, Four Fan Screws, One Backplane Screw (to hold the switch down), and a Double-sided Velcro Pad for mounting of the Inverter Box.

One thing that I noticed after removing the parts from the packaging was that Sunbeam actually went so far as to put a plastic sleeve over the power wiring from the fan. While this isn’t all that big of a deal, it does make for easier cable management as you don’t have the 2 separate wires going in their own direction.”

Check it out at: GruntvillE

How Important is Clean Water? (Article) @ ipKonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:15 PM EST

In many of my reviews on liquid cooling I have stressed the importance of clean water, what to look for, and what to avoid. As time ticks on, the build up of calcium, sodium, chlorine, and other minerals in fact lowers performance of water blocks everywhere. Actually trying to locate sodium-free distilled water at your local grocery store can be quite frustrating. Each time I've made trips in the past to it--well, I ended up purchasing a bottle of aspirin on the way out. But using distilled water still left me concerned about its use over a period of time. ... Basically when you see "Do Not Use Tap Water" at a liquid cooling store, you'll know why. It is very important to locate clean water. Corrosion can and will damage liquid cooling components over a period of time. Another important step you must take with your liquid cooling kit is change the water. Most all liquid cooling suppliers recommend changing out the water every 6-12 months. This can significantly reduce build up of crud in your system.

Check it out at: ipKonfig

Logitech QuickCam Zoom Review @ Geekshelter
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:13 PM EST

"The Logitech QuickCam Zoom is another one of Logitech's webcams currently out on the market. Although this webcam isn't the best it sure does pack a punch. Easy installation with Windows XP simply by plugging in the USB wire so software included isn't even required and if you do a Windows Update Microsoft updates the driver's (provided by Logitech) which add the feature of tracking a persons face."

Check it out at: Geekshelter

Samsung sm332b DVD/CDRW Combo Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:12 PM EST

"Overall, at a extremely low price of about $80.00 USD, this is a steal. No where else will you get a DVD drive AND a CD-RW at this speed for less money.  Combine the ease of use, speed and and overall low noise, this drive is definitely recommended."

Check it out at: GideonTech

Steelpad 3S Mouse Pad Review @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:11 PM EST

“This is one of the more expensive mouse surfaces on the market and yet there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot to it. We’re going to give this a thorough workout over the next couple of days and see how it performs. I know many enjoy the thick plastic pads but I just am not a big fan as they tend to hurt my wrist. I was concerned about this one being made of hard metal and being uncomfortable too. Well it’s time to take a peek at it and see what we think.

The pad is manufactured and distributor outside of the US so you’ll need to find a vendor you trust or buy it directly. As soon as you see the package you know that many of the finest gamers out there have already said their peace about the surface. Quotes from sites and the big guy at CPL are sure ways to let people know you’re dealing with quality. It’s no wonder he had them printed on the box!”

Check it out at: GruntvillE

Nikao Black KG8850 Series Case Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:09 PM EST

"The base of the bezel is what draws this unit apart from other economy models. Hidden behind a door are two USB 2.0 compliant USB ports, along with a microphone port and a speaker port. The pride and joy of the unit, of course, is the LCD display. Essentially a Compunurse with a better thermocouple attached to it, the unit will continuously monitor a given temperature as long as the system is powered. While MTB has reviewed a few cases with similar feature sets, the main downside of this display is that it is extremely low to the ground, comparatively speaking, as well as being difficult to read since it is slightly recessed and is not backlit."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Innovision GeForceFX cards pics @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:07 PM EST

Innovision sent us some information regarding their upcoming GeForceFX 5600 & 5200 cards, we have posted a few pictures of the boxes and the cards themselves as well as information on the software bundle these cards will carry.

Check it out at: TechSpot

Albatron Ti4800SE Video Card Review @ ReviewNation
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:05 PM EST

“New video cards are popping up left and right, and with the 8x AGP technology now becoming more available and common, video card manufacturers are having to come up with new cards to take advantage of this new technology. Today we will be looking at Albatron's Ti4800SE, which is really just a Ti4400 card with 8x AGP capabilities. Now lets see how she scores out…”

Check it out at: ReviewNation

Abit IT7 MAX2 Rev2 i845PE Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 6:04 PM EST

"Abit stunned the world in March of 2002 when it announced the "To the MAX" line of motherboards. Manufacturers have been talking about getting rid of the legacy ports on motherboards for a long time but it was Abit which took the initiative and actually did, well just that. Their original AT7 MAX (KT333) and IT7 MAX (i845E) were quite revolutionary boards. Gone were the Serial, Parallel and PS/2 ports, instead replaced by small army of high speed USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 jacks. It seems that Abit may have been moving a bit too fast for most consumers though as many in the hardware community complained about the removal of the legacy PS/2 ports. Abit has always been a company to listen to the end user and they did indeed rehash the MAX-series to create the AT7 MAX2 (KT400) and IT7 MAX2 (i845E) with PS/2 ports (but still without serial and parallel). After Intel released the i845PE chipset Abit redid their flagship Intel motherboard once again, calling it the Abit IT7 MAX2 Rev2. I'm going to be a spoiler here, the IT7 MAX2 Rev2 is easily the best i845 based motherboard I have used!"

Check it out at: pcstats

Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW Internal Drive Video Review #285 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:39 PM EST

"The Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW Internal Drive is the first DVD burner from Plextor. This is a 6-in-1 drive offering 4X DVD+R, 2.4X DVD+RW, 12X DVD-ROM, 16X CD-R, 10X CD-RW, and 40X CD-ROM. Performance and stability of this drive is on par with the renowned quality of all Plextor products. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Vantec 6040H CopperX Socket-A HSF @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:36 PM EST

"Even at full load, which was achieved by running Prime 95 for fifteen minutes and then polling the processors using MSI PC Alert software, the Copper X proved to be quite the achiever, allowing the processor to only reach 44 degrees. This kind of performance is very good, but it is nowhere close to the performace achievable by Swiftech or Thermalright's cooling solutions."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Command and Conquer: Generals Review @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:35 PM EST

’’Technically, Generals is an absolute achievement in the RTS genre. It is the strategy piñata of eye candy. I actually found myself wanting to launch nukes, not to defeat the enemy, but to see the terror and awe-inspiring explosion and watch as the mushroom cloud rises to the heavens. The attention to detail is excellent, although the models themselves are not very graphically complex.”

Check it out at: AthlonXP

Enermax CS-10182-BBA Entry Level Server Case Review @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:34 PM EST

First impressions mean a lot in today's society, even when it comes to computer cases. I seriously doubt anyone looking for a case specifically looks for a beige eyesore. Instead, they search for a case that's sleek, sexy, and functional. On first glance, the Enermax CS-10182 case came across as a flawless dance of black and silver. What sort of functional body lies beneath this flashy exterior? Let's take a look.

Check it out at: Tech-Dreams

Logitech io Digital pen review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:31 PM EST

"Logitech has once again stepped forward with an exceptional product. For those seeking a solution to keep up with the world, this may be your best option for some time to come. Students and professionals alike will appreciate the ease of use for saving anything from classroom notes to board room memos. "

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Chaintech Summit 7NIF2 mainboard Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:30 PM EST

Couple the board's size with the nForce2 chipset and 8x AGP slot and this could be a great LAN board. With support for up to Dual channel DDR 400 you've got a motherboard that can expand and still stay viable for quite sometime. The backwards compatibility for the serial ports shows that Chaintech is trying to satisfy several different consumer points of view, and I think they do a pretty good job of it.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

Arkua 8568 P4 Heatsink Fan Review @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:28 PM EST

The test system is an Intel D845PEBT2 motherboard with a P4 3.06GHz CPU. There are 6 Antec LED fans in an Antec server case to keep the entire system cool. To ensure an accurate measure the difference between the ambient temperature and the CPU temperature as reported by the Intel Active Monitor. The Intel Active Monitor uses the probes that are built onto the mobo. One probe measuring CPU temp and 2 case zones temps are measured.”

Check it out at: GruntvillE

Logitech's Cordless Quickcam Review @ Tweak3D
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:26 PM EST

Logitech recently shipped us a new wireless camera to review. The new Cordless Quickcam not only has an interesting appearance, it also has a 75-foot range,and more. How does it stack up to other cameras? Will it revolutionize the adult entertainment industry?

Check it out at: Tweak3D

Zalman ZM80A-HP VGA heat pipe cooler Review @ Tweak3D
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 10:25 PM EST

Check it out at: Tweak3D

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Released to Manufacturing
posted by 1gigkid on Friday, March 28, 2003 at 2:05 PM EST

REDMOND, Wash. -- March 28, 2003 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced it has released Windows® Server 2003 to manufacturing. The company's best-performing, highest-quality Windows server operating system released to date, Windows Server 2003 delivers an integrated server platform that enables customers to run their IT infrastructure up to 30 percent more efficiently. By completing a rigorous new testing program including a thorough line-by-line code audit, Windows Server 2003 incorporates innovative new security and reliability features that ensure the product is more secure by design. The new server platform is already receiving widespread partner support and customer interest worldwide: Microsoft has been preparing over 70,000 industry partners to market, deploy and service Windows Server 2003 when it launches April 24. More than 550,000 customers signed up for preview program betas, the highest number for any server in the history of the company.

 "Our mandate was clear: build a customer-driven release that delivers a breakthrough in quality, No. 1 in performance and unprecedented value for business of all sizes," said Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of the Windows Server Division at Microsoft. "Our early-adopter customers are confirming that Windows Server 2003 is delivering by driving down overall IT costs and providing the highest level of performance and reliability. The quality of this product is a testament to our customers' and partners' invaluable contributions in the development of Windows Server 2003."

Check it out at: Microsoft PressPass

ClearPC Micro ATX Acrylic Case Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:24 PM EST

"Out of the box, the ClearPC Micro ATX Acrylic Case is very well constructed and manufactured using 3/16" clear cast Lucite. The structural integrity of the Lucite is impressive and the focus of this miniature design is an almost replica of the original mid-tower version. The case measures approximately 13 1/8" x 8 1/8" x 13 11/16" (DxWxH) and only supports Micro ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards. ClearPC has marketed this specific product to appeal to consumers utilizing small form factor components, which are suitable for LAN events or HTPC (Home Theatre PC style applications."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Coolermaster 201C-SX1 Review @ DeviantPC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:23 PM EST

"As with the rest of the case this is also constructed of an Aluminium Alloy which means that heat produced from the main hot spots (CPU, GPU etc etc) is quickly conducted away as the whole case acts like one very large Heatsink. The only downside is that you have to undo about four thumb screws to remove it. "

Check it out at: DeviantPC

Evercool ND18-715 heatsink review [UPDATED] @ Alltechbox
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:22 PM EST

"The 38 fins of this heatsink, ranged in two lines divided by the notch of the clip, were obtained by extrusion. Every fin is 1.3 mm thick at the base, while at the top is 0.6 mm: this allows an efficacious heat transfer all over the fin's length. Fins are spaced 1.6 mm near the base: enough to guarantee a good airflow."

Check it out at: Alltechbox

LIUtilities SpeedUpMyPC Reviewed @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:19 PM EST

Ever get so mad at your computer that you swear if it doesn't start working in 5 seconds that its going to be flying out the window from a forty story high building? Unfortunately in this day and age of trouble filled PCs, maintaining your pc and keeping it "up to speed" has always been a dilemma for most people. Nowadays it seems only experts can do the right things to keep their pc's working.

Today I'm going to introduce you to a program called SpeedUpMyPC, made from our friends at LiUtilities. This program handles three major subjects in PC use: it frees up valuable resources, optimizes your Internet connection and avoids crashes. And the best part is that you don't have to be an expert to use this program! So common, lets see if this program does what it says it does, and if it's worth the effort.

Check it out at: Tech-Dreams

Intel 3.06 GHz Xeons Reviewed @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:17 PM EST

Today over at GamePC, we've taken a look at Intel's recently launched 3.06 GHz Xeon product. This chip features the same Northwood processor core featured in the 3.06 GHz Pentium 4, but has the ability to be used in multi-processing environments. We grabbed two of these chips and ran some benchmarks in a new Intel E7205 motherboard against AMD's competing Athlon MP.

Check it out at: GamePC

Front Bezel Blow Hole Modding Guide @ ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:16 PM EST

"During your travel to the store, you notice a small puppy dog locked in a parked car. You get angry and you say to your friend, “What a horrible owner. That dog could die from the heat!” The guys at ThinkTechie get the same exact feeling when they see a performance computer without blow holes and adequate cooling. Instead of saying things like: “What a horrible owner. That computer could die from the heat!” We say things that would not be appropriate for young puppy dog-ears."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

Lian Li Silent PC-6070 PC Case Review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:13 PM EST

To own a Lian Li PC Case is to own the Cadillac of PC cases. Lian Li have taken the average and boring beige PC case and met it a work of aluminum art. Lian Li PC cases are tool-less, innovative and practical in their design. Now Lian Li jumps on the the silent road with the "Silent" PC-6070 mid-tower aluminum case.

Check it out at: Icrontic

Hydor L30 320GPH Water Pump Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:12 PM EST

“With the pump mounted at the bottom of the case, and secured with the suction cups, the install was a success. The pump is very quiet, and the suction cups seem to take the vibration of the pump to almost nothing. While I did not notice any improvement or decline in cooling, the size factor comes into play. The small footprint of the pump allows it to be mounted under the drive cage, and out of the way for any work that needs to be done inside the case.”

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Albatron GF4 Ti4800SE Review @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 6:11 PM EST

The "Ti4800" is NVIDIA's latest addition to the GeForce 4 product line, which basically adds AGP8X functionality to the Ti4400 GPU.  So, what can Albatron do with a GeForce 4?  Albatron is a relative newcomer to the American video card market, but they have been getting quite a bit of good press lately.

Check it out at: HotHardware

Enermax CS-10182 Case @ Nexus Hardware!
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:53 PM EST

"There are several rivals within the performance power supply industry. Enermax, Vantec, and Antec are all competing brands. They all produce power supplies comparable in performance. The Enermax EG651P-FMA puts out a bold 550 watts and comes with other features such as rheostat controlled fan. To house this power supply, we have received an incredible Enermax case. It’s fully loaded with all the features you can imagine! Let’s take a closer look."

Check it out at: Nexus Hardware

Tweakmonster EL Appliqués Review @ Overclocker Café
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:51 PM EST

With 10 feet of line, I could install the converter in one PC and the appliqué in another.  The appliqué's converter has a 4-pin Molex connector for power but you can run off any 12 volt DC source.  This means you can even stick them in your car as the Tweakmonster points out on his site.

Check it out at: Overclocker Café

AOpen HP-590 Vibrating Headphones Video Review #284 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:49 PM EST

"The AOpen HP-590 Vibrating Headphones are stylish, compact and offer great quality sound for music and/or gaming. One very interesting feature with this product is a vibration speaker which provides terrific bass response. These headphones have LAN party written all over them. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Albatron PX845PEV-800 i845PE Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:47 PM EST

"To commemorate this anniversary, Albatron have created the "Anniversary Special Edition" PX845PEV-800 i845PE Motherboard. This is more than just another i845PE based motherboard though; Albatron have made the bold claim that this model will run at up to 200 MHz FSB and support PC3200 DDR memory! And to be totally frank, the Albatron PX845PEV 800 does have the look and feel of a pure "overclockers" motherboard. From the beginning Albatron have embraced the overclocking community, and it's nice to see them continue the tradition on their first anniversary. Based on the i845PE chipset, the PX845PEV-800 motherboard supports 400/533/800 MHz FSB Pentium 4 processors (including Hyper-Threading) and features the three DIMM slots which can carry up to 2GB of PC1600/2100/2700/3200 DDR memory. The caveats to those two preceeding statements are of course that the i845PE chipset does not offically support 800 MHz FSB processors or PC3200 memory operation."

Check it out at: pcstats

Logitech MX700 and MX500 Comparison @ Ownt
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:45 PM EST

Ownt.com takes an in-depth look at Logitech's latest optical offerings. Both of Logitech's latest mice are high up on gamers lists, but which one is truely better? Join us as we compare every aspect of these two Logitech mice to see which truely is the best of the best. The MX500 has speed, and a sleek design all wrapped into a tight little shell. The MX700 has sensitivity and isn't grounded with a wire to your computer. Is that enough to make the MX700 the top dog in town or will the MX500 steal the crown from under the MX700s nose?

Check it out at: Ownt

Two Times the Fun: 2 x 75CFM or not? @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:44 PM EST

"One question that I've had asked a couple of occasions is that if one monster fan cools a heatsink well, why not add two? In my opinion, I think it's a waste of time, and it'll end up adding needless noise, but I've decided to address it today regardless."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Crucial Radeon 9700 Pro & Sapphire 9500 Pro comparison @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:43 PM EST

Without a doubt, if you are in for a new videocard, Radeon boards are currently your best bet considering soon-to-be-released GeForce FX boards won’t add much to the table (feature/performance wise), however, depending on your budget you might be debating whether to get a Radeon 9500 or a Pro model, or even put down the cash and invest in a more expensive 9700 Pro.

Check it out at: TechSpot

Soltek SL-75FRN-L nForce 2 Motherboard Review @ hardcoreware
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:41 PM EST

Although the company has been around since 1996, Soltek, based in South Korea, is still considered a relatively new manufacturer on the North American scene.  Since the introduction of its motherboards into the North American market a couple years ago, Soltek has become known for releasing rock stable motherboards that incorporate some high end overclocking features at low end prices.

Check it out at: hardcoreware

Samsung SyncMaster 172T LCD review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:39 PM EST

“In yet another display review from Samsung, we look at the SyncMaster 172T 17-inch LCD display. Featuring top-of-the-line features and specifications, this display will please corporate users and home end-users alike. Sporting a fancy-shmancy stand that allows the 172T to lie completely flat, this display is ideal for the small form-factor (SFF) power-user wishing for total portability for the entire system.”

Check it out at: Envy News

ViewMate Slim USB Keyboard Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:37 PM EST

"Amidst all the hype about gigahertz, gigabytes and bandwidth, it's ironic that the part of a computer we spend the most time and effort using is the part that has changed the least over time. The keyboard is arguably the most overlooked and outdated component of a computer.  Fashioned from designs that have been around for years, even today's modern computers are sporting ergonomically-poor, uninspired and unstylish keyboards.   Most of them are still manufactured in that plain old off-white plastic.  Then, along comes Viewsonic with a new take on the old keyboard.  "

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Samsung SyncMaster 172w (Wide Screen) TFT LCD @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:36 PM EST

For its price and intended audience, I am confidant that the Samsung 172w will be well received. As I said, if you plan on using your PC for both work and play and don’t mind working in the 16:9 aspect ratio, this monitor looks great, performs well, offers some impressive specs and won't break the bank. I am happy to see the wall mount is included. I was also quiet pleased to see the DVI capabilities. My only real complaint are the speakers, which in most cases will be bypassed just the same.

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

Basic System Upgrade @ MHW
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:34 PM EST

"There! I don’t have any shrink-wrap or wire wrapping, so the PSU wires were routed as best as possible and the unused wires tucked up at the top. I used the IDE and floppy cables that came with the motherboard so I could do “ribbon cable origami” instead of my old “cut up and electrical taped” cables. I was quite proud of myself in this, and it added an hour or so to the total install time. But I was done!"

Check it out at: MHW

X-Sonic case review @ OCModShop
posted by Babylon5 on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 7:33 PM EST

“From the side view you can see that the case comes with a preinstalled window that has a protective sheet on both the outside and inside of it. There is also a 80mm LED fan on the window which is in a good position because it will blow over the CPU and video card. The window is riveted to the door rather than using molding which I don't like as much but this is a factory pre-modded case so that's what I expected.”

Check it out at: OCModShop

Soyo KT400 Motherboard Review @ OcPrices
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:28 PM EST

"The Soyo Dragon line of Athlon boards is now in its fourth incarnation (or fifth if you count the KT333 Platinum Edition), and if you look back in our reviews section, you will see that they typically do very well. Today we are looking at the KT400 Platinum Edition, unsurprisingly based upon VIA's KT400 chipset. To be honest, the KT333 showed little improvement over its KT266A brother in terms of performance, due to the Athlon's bus (at that time) stagnating at 266MHz. The KT400 however has an advantage in that it officially supports the new 333MHz FSB Athlons."

Check it out at: OcPrices

JMC 401100 Phoenix 70 Radial Fin P4 Heatsink Review @ frostytech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:27 PM EST

"It's always kind of interesting to receive a prototype heatsink for testing, especially when it comes with a full set of blueprints explaining how the whole thing is put together. The Phoenix 70 (model No. 401100) is a new heatsink from JMC Products that might remind more than a few of you of the old Arcticooler from Agilent Technologies. That heatsink has been wiped from the corporate slate, but its memory lives on in the form of JMC Phoenix 70 which even has a little Arcticooler logo on it. What makes the JMC Phoenix 70 so interesting is that the heatsink fins are cut from a single block of aluminum in a radial 360 degree pattern. The 67mm diameter fan impeller is mounted inside a ring of thin fins and when the heatsink is in operation two separate air flow streams are created. The first stream consists of air as it is sucked into the fan through fins at the top of the heatsink. The second stream is created as exhaust air is pushed out through the fins at the base of the heatsink."

Check it out at: frostytech

Improving show-off value @ Dans Data
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:25 PM EST

It's not exactly a big secret that $US650 vapour phase CPU coolers will not make your $US600 P4 more than twice as fast. Heck, they'll probably only give you about a 20% higher overclock than you could get with air cooling.

And yet people buy them. And buy top-of-range video cards and CPUs in the first place, despite knowing that the big price premium doesn't get you a similarly big performance improvement over cheaper models.

It strikes me that there has to be a better way. It might involve a small amount of lying, though.

Check it out at: Dans Data

Albatron PX845PEV-800 Mainboard Review @ Hardware-Test
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:23 PM EST

As the first website in Scandinavia we've taken a look at Albatrons new 800MHz FSB? mainboard - Albatron PX845PEV-800 - the 800 in the last bit of the name indicates that the board should support 200MHz on the FSB, either by overclocking or by using the upcoming P4 Cpu's...
I would like to start with saying that it have been an pleasure to use this board for nearly a week. There havent been any problems at all. Everything has just worked like it should from day one. I have also experienced that the board is very stable, it have run at 3420MHz and PC3500 since i startet it the first time.

Check it out at: Hardware-Test

Kingston 5GB DataPak PC Card HDD & Reader Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:22 PM EST

The solution to this mess is the mini HDD (IBM's smaller version is the Microdrive). The disk that Kingston offers, dubbed the DataPak, is somewhat of an oddity. Coming in at 1.8" it's not exactly a standard 3.5" HDD or a smaller 2.5" notebook part. Instead, it's small enough to be considered a Type II PCMCIA card (taking up only one of two slots offered with most laptops), while sporting either 2GB or 5GB of storage depending on the model. And it's several times cheaper than any USB drive can lay claim to, while comparable in speed. In addition to the actual HDD, Kingston also sent over a USB1.1 ATA reader.

Check it out at: Mikhailtech

SiS R658 and Rambus RIMM-4800 Technology Preview @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:16 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've got an interesting look at two new products which are getting ready to hit the market. We've got an early look at the first SiS RDRAM chipset to be released, the SiS R658. Accompanying the new chipset is a sample of Samsung RIMM-4800 RDRAM memory, which offers a massive 4.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth in a single module format. We test this new platform against the competing RDRAM and dual channel DDR platforms to see if this new technology should be in your next system.

Check it out at: GamePC

Prometeia Phase Change Cooler, Part I Review @ DWPG
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:15 PM EST

\"The process used to make today’s CPUs is known as CMOS, Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor CMOS technology. One of the characteristics of semiconductors made with this process is that they become more efficient as we lower their operating temperature. For example at –120C the efficiency of a CMOS CPU actually doubles -– at least in theory.

Check it out at: DWPG

FlexiGlow Dual Bubble Light Kits Review @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:13 PM EST

" You already have LED fans and cold cathodes, but you want something unqiue again. Flexiglow has something that may spark your interest, check out these bubble lights! "

Check it out at: ASE Labs

Intel Q&A - The Answers @ explosivelabs
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:12 PM EST

Q1: Do they think a time will come when not raw power but added features (such as Hyperthreading) will be of a paramount selling point? If this is the case have they looked into anything special, if so what?

A1: For the past few years we have been focusing on elements beyond performance, such as battery life and wireless computing in the mobility space, and ease of use, Serial ATA, USB 2.0 in the desktop space. Actually, Hyper-Threading is a performance story, it is just an innovative way of getting there. The market is very segmented these days, and you need to look at the needs of each type of user and give them what they want. For some it will be the highest performance they can get. There is no one size fits all paramount selling point that covers all segments. Oh yeah, we have all sorts of things cooking in the labs, stay tuned.

Check it out at: explosivelabs

Tweakmonster BGA Ramsinks Review @ GruntvillE
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:09 PM EST

“I’ve wanted to try these out for awhile. If you’re familiar with TweakMonster’s last set of Ramsinks for the GF3 line and prior; you know that they’re known for quality and performance. I want to see if the BGA version lives up to its predecessor. Most modders and tweakers are familiar with the idea of a ramsink but for those of you that think it sounds like a designer sink made by Dodge, think again. Ramsinks have two purposes that can be used with an “and/or” attitude. The first and foremost is to help keep your RAM cool. The sink gives precious surface area that allows the heat to spread further and receive additional cooling that the RAM would not have without the sink. The second is for looks. I’ve seen a lot of ramsinks and can honestly tell you that none of them looked bad in my opinion.”

Check it out at: GruntvillE

1coolpc.com 24" Premium ATA 133 Rounded Color Cable @ Computer Sphere
posted by Babylon5 on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 6:08 PM EST

"Clear Cases are becoming more and more popular; People are always looking at different ways to make their case more appealing. First was a window on the side to see what they have inside. Now it's making the whole case clear. They have been showing up at more and more LAN parties I go to. Companies are producing different color mobo’s, heatsinks and lighted case fans and what better way to show all that off by using a clear case."

Check it out at: Computer Sphere

Your Identity May Have a Double Life Article @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:34 PM EST

The thought that someone else might be living our life somewhere else, committing fraud, and theft under our name and yet, who are they? How did they get a copy of your information? And why should you be concerned? This article examines how the ever increasing knowledge and integration with computers is not all great. Your personal information, tax records, Social Security Number, and everything about you right down to your show size is readily available for anyone to take and manipulate to their benefit. Find out how to avoid becoming a victim of your own crime!..

Check it out at: Bytesector

Nexland Pro400ADSL ISB/ADSL Modem Video Review #283 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:31 PM EST

"The Nexland Pro400ADSL is both a Internet Security Box and an ADSL modem packaged into one unit. This product offers security, excellent software features, front cable ports and has the option to go wireless. With all these features and more the Pro400ADSL is a great home or business network solution. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

AMD Athlon XP3000+ Barton core processor Review @ Active-Hardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:30 PM EST

With the launching of this new processor based on the Barton core, AMD are in fact introducing 3 new processors on the market that are the XP2500, XP2800 and XP3000 where the last one will be the one reviewed in this article.

These new processors are all working with a FSB of 166Mhz (DDR333) like introduced on the XP2700+ for the first time.

However, this is not the only interest of these new processors. As a matter of fact, the most interesting point of these new processors is in the L2 cache which has doubled its size to go from 256k to 512k.

Check it out at: Active-Hardware

Digitrex DSC-2100 Digicam Review @ dansdata
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:28 PM EST

I've just reviewed the Digitrex DSC-2100, a digital camera that costs around $US150, but has a downright suspiciously good feature list. 1600 by 1200, CompactFlash storage, colour LCD screen, proper flash, movie mode, et cetera. There has to be a catch.

As it turns out, there are a _few_ catches. But the DSC-2100's still a pretty interesting product.

For the review, including incidental explanations of what the heck F numbers mean and why fixed focus cameras usually suck for landscape photography, look here:

Check it out at: dansdata

GearGrip LCD Shield Harness Review @ ThinkTechie
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:26 PM EST

"As flat panel LCD screens are becoming more popular it’s time we thought about how to transport them. As most people know they are less durable than previous monitor types. This isn’t to mention that their screens are prone to scratches. So we need something that makes them easy to move and protects them from damage. Caseace was kind enough to send us a carrying case that was designed with LCD flat panel monitors in mind."

Check it out at: ThinkTechie

Gateway 700XL computer system review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:25 PM EST

"From the outside, Gateway's flagship system the 700XL with the digital video software package is a pretty sweet package.  DVD-R/RW, CD-RW, (2)200GB hard drives, 512MB RAM, a Boston surround sound system, two 18" LCD displays and a top of the line Radeon 9700 Pro video card are available with the 700XL.  Add to that a complete video editing software package as the core software - and you can see what Gateway's challenge is: to make a system that meets the qualifications of every home video editor’s dream."

Check it out at: Designtechnica

9700 Pro to 9800 Pro SoftMod & Catalyst Driver Comparison @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:13 PM EST

Enthusiasts love a deal and what better deal is there than free! From time to time I get out from behind the front page and meander through my colleague's forums and front pages to see just what they are up to. In my "walkabout" I stumbled across a post showing how to softmod an ATI 9700 Pro to a 9800 Pro....for free! It's a no risk mod so why not? Along the way we tested out ATI's new Catalyst 3.2 drivers to see what they bring as well.

Check it out at: Icrontic

Crucial USB 6 in 1 Card Reader @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:12 PM EST

"Memory readers are nothing new, but when it comes to memory, and the markets revolving around it, you can always count on Crucial to have their hand in things. They recently announced a new product, the Crucial 6 in 1 Card Reader, which as the name implies, has the ability to read and write to six different memory types. They actually have several readers available, but we chose to look at their top-of-the-line reader."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80G SATA Drive - Reviewed @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:11 PM EST

Tonight, we've got Maxtor's DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA drive on the bench at HotHardware.com.  This drive is the fastest Desktop/Workstation class product we've seen in a long time!  You've got to see this thing in action, in SATA and SATA RAID 0 configurations...

Check it out at: HotHardware

AOpen HP-590 Music & Gaming Headphones with Vibration Bass Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:10 PM EST

"Once I understood what I was looking for in these speakers I went back and listened to more music and played a few other games, constantly cranking the volume higher and higher and the AOpen HP-590's started really rocking. It was like having a subwoofer inside the headphones and I began to realize while this wasn't a ground breaking technology it was a cool effect."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

Harbinger Review @ MonkeyReview
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:08 PM EST

The Harbinger, a massive world ship wandering through the cosmos destroying lives, enslaves whole populations, an unstoppable juggernaut. It is constant; the slaves it acquires insure it’s continued operation and purpose, even if it no longer knows what that is. It watches the slaves with an army of unquestioning war machines, the keepers of this prison. But, like all prisons, it has rats and these rats have their own idea on what the future will bring.

Check it out at: MonkeyReview

Premodded Cutting Edge Case Mods case review @ OCModShop
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:06 PM EST

"From these two pictures below you can see the case in all its majesty, seriously though this case looks really awesome the green windows on the blue paint looks amazing. One thing I really like about this entire setup is that it was all done by hand; this isn’t a factory pre-modded case. I really like the fact that good molding was used on the window rather than the window simply being riveted, glued, or something else tacky. Installation of these kinds of windows is not easy but I could not find a single flaw in either the top or side window. The molding matches up perfectly, has no gaps, and keeps the window tight in place like it is supposed to. Another thing that is really cool about both of these windows is that they have a hole for an 80mm fan."

Check it out at: OCModShop

Corsair CMX512-3200LL 512MB DDR Memory Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:04 PM EST

"With the DDR memory markets heating up and the amount of high speed memory modules increasing everyday, Corsair have had to one-up the rest to stay competitive. Since good low latency memory is highly prized by performance freaks, Corsair have released some of their own called XMS3200LL DDR. Recently, we had a chance to test out a 512MB module of their XMS3200 LL (Low Latency) DDR which is rated to run at 200 MHz FSB with the timings of 2-2-2-6-1, at a voltage of 2.5V. Mightly impressive claims to be sure, but sometimes memory can fall a little short in the real world tests. In this case, the stick did match those settings with easy, underlining a sense of reliability Corsair seem to have earned for themselves. Like all the previous XMS memory modules we have tested, the XMS3200 LL DIMM came wrapped in a set of black aluminum heat spreaders. Realistically, they are more of a packaging than an absolutely necessary cooling mechanism."

Check it out at: pcstats

Soltek SL-75FRN-L Motherboard Review @ AthlonXP
posted by Babylon5 on Monday, March 24, 2003 at 7:03 PM EST

’’With the SL-75FRN-L, what will catch the attention of most prospective buyers is the looks of the Golden Flame. This board looks fast even before it is pulled out of the box. Soltek did not just spend their time trying to make this board look good either. This board offers a multitude of tweaking options for the computer enthusiast and with excellent performance.’’

Check it out at: AthlonXP

PCToys Vga MaXX Heatpipe cooler reviewed @ BurnOutPC
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 6:28 PM EST

"As you can see the temperature has dropped a little bit, compared to the standard cooler, however that doesn't mean it's a steady temperature. If you close your case the temperature will eventually rise to sky high temperatures if your not pointing a fan at it.... Overall a very very very nice product with some very good results, the overall looks are very nice and truly a product I recommend, If your wondering about the Heatpipe and overclocking... I was able to get around 400 / 365(from my usual OC of 420/380)&, so not too shabby ;)"

Check it out at: BurnOutPC

Enermax Multi-Function Panel Review @ hardcoreware
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 6:27 PM EST

Today we look at a solid, somewhat plain looking MFP from Enermax. It offers everything you could ask for in an MFP (fan controls, temp monitor, usb ports, plus some neat extras), in a nice design that should match nearly every case out there perfectly.

Check it out at: hardcoreware

First Look on "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" @ Bytesector
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 6:25 PM EST

On March 26th 2003 the newest installment in the Zelda series, the long awaited The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for Gamecube, will hit store shelves. If you know anything at all about games you have probably heard the Zelda name and the reputation that goes along with it. The game takes place about 100 years after adult Link defeats Ganon in the Ocarina of Time. The player takes control of a young adventurer named…well who would have guessed…Link. The new Link lives on an island with his grandmother and sister where the legends of the past live strong...

Check it out at: Bytesector

MS Natural Multimedia Keyboard review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 6:23 PM EST

“The layout of the Natural Multimedia Keyboard is very similar to the old Natural (original). The left side of the keyboard is nearly identical, but the right is where the changes lie. The Backspace, Enter and Shift keys are longer, and the Windows button is removed from the right side between the Alt, and Ctrl keys. If you tilt the keyboard forward a bit, the common ctrl keys are printed on the front. This does not really mean anything for me because I know 99% of them by heart, but for a beginner, this will be something of benefit.”

Check it out at: Envy News

EPoX EP-4GEA+ i845GE Pentium 4 Motherboard Review @ OnePC
posted by Babylon5 on Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 6:22 PM EST

"If you’re looking for a feature-packed motherboard for your Pentium 4 processor, look no further than the EPoX EP-4GEA+. Built around the i845GE chipset, this board will make even power users jealous."

Check it out at: OnePC

Essentec MT. BLANC-1Z Heat Pipe Socket A Cooler Review @ 3dXtreme
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:18 PM EST

"Today 3dXtreme is looking at the Essentec MT. BLANC-1Z Heat Pipe cooler. This cooler uses a copper heatsink with a heat pipe design. This cooler can be easily adjusted by a speed control dial that is installed to the back of your case via a bracket into an open expansion slot."

Check it out at: 3dXtreme

(Video) How to Install a Standard HSF @ EliteCool
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:16 PM EST

EliteCool has made another tutorial to add on to our other last one on how to apply Arctic Silver. This new video gives the general idea of how to install a HSF which is very helpful for nervous newbies.

Check it out at: EliteCool

CHAINTECH 7NJS Motherboard review @ Icrontic
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:13 PM EST

For features and extras the Chaintech 7NJS Socket A NFORCE2 Zenith is practically untouchable! Chaintech went all out when it came to extras inside the box. There is no other motherboard bundle on the market today that can match it. Total up the extras separately and the 7NJS provides more value. The price tag weighs in more than the competition but the competition doesn't pack anywhere near as much into the box. The 7NJS is not as common a platform in overclocking circles but could it take a run at the overclocking crown? This results in one of our most extensive reviews to date. Every feature will be brought under the microscope.

Check it out at: Icrontic

Cooler Master HSC-V83 X-Dream SE CPU Cooler Review @ MODTHEBOX
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:12 PM EST

"While the original X-Dream allowed users to mount the rheostat in a pre-drilled PCI plate, the Special Edition unit gives users a second choice. Included with the kit is a 3.5" drive bay cover which has been pre-drilled to allow for the rheostat’s installation on the front panel of the case. The Cooler Master logo is printed on one side of the cover, with a simple speed setting indicator surrounding the knob after installation. I much prefer the new floppy drive bay mounting, as it makes the fan controller much more easily accessible, and adds an extra piece of eye candy to the front of the case."

Check it out at: MODTHEBOX

Noise Solutions Article @ DeviantPC
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:10 PM EST

"A fanbus is a method of running all your fans from one Molex connector, although helpful for cutting down the amount of Molex connectors your fans tie up they are not inherently useful for cutting down the noise generated by fans. However with a little adaptation and creativity the common fanbus can be turned in to a baybus, slotbus, rheobus and more recently a relaybus."

Check it out at: DeviantPC

OCZ EL PC3700/PC3500 Basic Series DDR Review @ Mikhailtech
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:09 PM EST

Rated DDR466/PC3700 with CAS 2.5, but where are the other timings? Well, at least this time they mention the voltage, 2.70V default for DDR466. Since OCZ doesn't mention all the timings for the RAM, I had to ask OCZ directly and they confirmed the EL DDR PC3700 is rated CAS 2.5 7-3-3 2T at DDR466. DDR466 is very fast; in fact, it's the fastest RAM available right now, but I prefer lower timings at lower speeds, since a FSB of 233MHz is hard to achieve with today's motherboards; that is if you're going to run the RAM synchronous with the FSB.

Check it out at: Mikhailtech

MSI CR52-A2 52/24/52 CDRW @ Viper Lair
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:07 PM EST

"Burning at 52x will present a couple of hurdles. For one thing, I know that quality 52x media isn't something that's easy to find. Another problem is although 52x may be ok for data backups, audio mastering should be done at lower speeds to maintain compatibility with standard CD drives."

Check it out at: Viper Lair

AMDs Move To a 400MHz Bus Speed @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 8:06 PM EST

"While AMD just recently increased the AthlonXP bus speed from 266MHz to 333MHz in October 2002, there has been a lot of talk lately about the AthlonXP moving to a 400MHz bus speed as early as the third quarter of 2003. As most overclockers already know, FSB (Front Side Bus) speed is very important to overall system performance. As we have seen in the past with the Intel Celeron line of processors, a low FSB can severely limit the overall system performance of a processor regardless of what the CPU clock speed actually is. With this upcoming FSB change on the horizon for AMD, many consumers will soon confront the eternal "should I buy now or wait" question. To illuminate some of the potential differences, we're going to take a look forward and compare an AthlonXP 3000+ running at 333MHz bus speed to the same chip running at a 400MHz bus speed (while keeping CPU clock speed approximately the same)."

Check it out at: pcstats

Highpoint RocketRAID 1542 eSATA/SATA Adapter & RocketMate 1000 e.SATA to IDE Enclosure Video Review #282 @ 3dGameMan
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 7:00 PM EST

"The Highpoint RocketRAID 1542 eSATA/SATA Adapter & RocketMate 1000 Enclosure goes hand in hand and makes adding 2 external hard drives simple and very useful. The RocketRAID 1542 Adapter also supports 2 SATA internal hard drives. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Check it out at: 3dGameMan

Albatron PX845PEV Pro Mainboard Review @ techwarelabs
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:58 PM EST

"Throughout our field tests this board was extremely stable and it performed up to the standards of other i845PE boards. Many Albatron motherboards were made for overclocking, and this board isn't an exception. It has very good overclocking features that will let you overclock to the max. Albatron has made overclocking easy for all the beginners in the DIY market out there.  They even teach you how to overclock this board in the manual!"

Check it out at: techwarelabs

Epox EP-8RGA+ nForce2-IGP Motherboard Review @ pcstats
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:56 PM EST

"The question today is if nforce2-IGP packing EP-8RGA+ motherboard will behave exactly like the EP-8RDA+, or will it be able to differentiate itself from its SPP brother? Like all nForce2 motherboards, the Epox 8RGA+ supports 200/266/333MHz FSB AthlonXP processors, and even the anticipated 400MHz FSB variety should AMD decide to release them (we vote Yes! on that question). The three DIMM slots are standard feature on all nForce2 boards and can hold a maximum of 3 GB of PC1600/2100/2700/3200 DDR memory. The onboard components include ATA/133, two Firewire ports (IEEE 1394), 10/100 LAN, six ports USB2.0, game port header and 5.1 audio among others. Since all GeForce4 cards support Nvidia's Twinview (including the onboard GeForce4MX) Epox have bucked the trend and equipped the EP-8RGA+ with twin analog display output connectors - that's right, two of em! - so users can take full advantage of dual displays. An 8X AGP slot is also available for full-fledged videocars. So far, this is the only nForce2 mainboard we have tested to feature twin VGA connectors where you'd typically find the serial ports. Since serial ports are not used as frequently with brandname consumer gear which has long since adopted USB, the serial ports have been relegated to headers along the bottom edge by the last PCI slot."

Check it out at: pcstats

SpeedUpMyPC Review @ ASE Labs
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:54 PM EST

"Wonder about your PCs CPU and RAM usage? Wonder how to help manage them better? Read on about just such a helpful utility program."

Check it out at: ASE Labs

Enermax Thermally Controlled HDD Swap Bay Review @ hardcoreware
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:53 PM EST

There's no denying that cramming your 5.25" drive bays with toys is THE thing to do right now... Pop in a rheobus, an LCD info display, and how about a HDD drive swap bay?

What you say?? Sounds boring? Not this one from Enermax! The unit we are reviewing today is pretty cool, with an blue lit LCD display on the front, and a variable speed fan.

Check it out at: hardcoreware

Key Digital XBlaster review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:51 PM EST

“XBlaster from Key Digital Systems is a video transcoder that takes component output and converts it into VGA input for display on most monitors and projectors. Now, at last, the console gamer can enjoy progressive scan gaming at a fraction of the previous price. But is progressive scan gaming all it is cracked up to be? And how well does the XBlaster provide it?”

Check it out at: Envy News

CompUSA Window Kit & Case Cutting Tool @ MHW
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:48 PM EST

"I was recently in the checkout line at CompUSA taking care of a little modem problem for my mother-in-law when the impulse urge became too great. Being flush with cash (for the moment, anyway!) I dropped some cash for a case window and a case cutting tool. The case window was rectangular in shape with rounded corners, measuring about 8.5” x 11” (SKU #293586). The packaging of the case cutting tool (SKU #293589) says that it will cut up to 18 guage steel and up to 1.5mm aluminum, copper, or plastic. I paid about $10 for each item."

Check it out at: MHW

CeBIT 2003, full report with lots of pictures @ Hardware Analysis
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:47 PM EST

Want to know what is happening at CeBIT? What products are on display? Or just personal things we want to share? Here's our full CeBIT 2003 report from the Hannover Messe.

Check it out at: Hardware Analysis

CrazyPC.com Panel Wrap Review @ PimpRig
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:44 PM EST

"You may be one of those people actually hand-made an awesome modded case, but everytime you take it to the local lan party, it ends up getting dinged or scratched. That's the market that Casewraps.com is targeting; those who can't afford an airbrush artist to turn your case into art, those who don't have the time nor skill to do it themselves, and those who drag their cases around from lan to lan while their expensive paint job is continually under assault."

Check it out at: PimpRig

Cooler Master HSC-V83 XDream Special Edition Review @ Tech-Dreams
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:43 PM EST

Cooler Master - a name synonymous with great cases and heatsinks - has devised a wide range of heatsinks that include revolutionary technologies, such as a heatpipe design and skived fins. Today, I will be exploring the ins and outs of Cooler Master's newest skived fin heatsink - the HSC-V83 - XDream Special Edition. How well does a skived fin heatsink perform? Let's find out, shall we?

Check it out at: Tech-Dreams

VIA P4PB Ultra - P4X400 Motherboard Review @ HotHardware
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:40 PM EST

Rocket Rob checks in tonight with a full analysis of VIA's P4PB Ultra Motherboard.  This board is based on the VIA P4X400 chipset for the Pentium 4.  DDR400 support, AGP8X, USB2.0, 10/100 Ethernet and a host of add-ons for the enthusiast, make this little bundle an attractive option.  Check out the performance and Rob's thoughts for the full detail.

Check it out at: HotHardware

Zalman CNPS7000-Cu Review @ LostCircuits
posted by Babylon5 on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 6:39 PM EST

Whoever thinks flower heat sink also thinks Zalman. The Korea-based cooling device manufacturer has established a reputation to design and build some of the most extravagant heatsinks money can buy, some of which deserve a place in any Museum of Modern Arts just as they deserve their place in any high performance / low noise environment. Needless to say that the flower heat sinks are not an altruistic contribution for the mere sake of beautifying the tech world, these coolers do have their price.

We have taken the flagship model dubbed CNPS7000-Cu and weighing in a proud 777 grams (including fan) and compared it under different operating conditions to several Intel reference designs, some of which are marketed elsewhere as high-end cooling solutions as well. Even if not all that glitters here is gold, it is at least copper, which in terms of thermal characteristics does not make that much of a difference. Suffice it to say that we also took the entire assembly apart to correct what we think is a minor flaw in the design. The most important question, though, is: How does it perform? You are about to find out.

Check it out at: LostCircuits

Logitech Z-680 Speaker System Review @ Designtechnica
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:38 PM EST

"Logitech has exceeded our expectations in nearly every department with its Z-680 speaker system.  The clarity in the midrange and highs as well as excellent base response is truly impressive.  We noted excess background noise at low volume – an issue which some will find disturbing and others will not even notice. "

Check it out at: Designtechnica

Latest OS Updates @ TechSpot
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:37 PM EST

New important updates are now available in our OS Updates section at TechSpot, be sure to take it a look for all your WinXP, 2000, Me and 98se patching needs. Since our latest 'major' update several new patches have been listed for the different OS covered.

As always we have linked to actual download locations when possible from which you can save the actual files in case you need to apply them at a later date, e.g. due to a re-install.

Check it out at: TechSpot

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 320GB Serial-ATA RAID-0 review @ Envy News
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:35 PM EST

“In a follow-up to our hugely popular Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA drive review, we decided to procure a second and identical drive, and with help from the excellent A7N8X-Deluxe nForce2 motherboard, demonstrate the AWESOME power of using two of these DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB drives in a RAID-0 Serial-ATA Stripeset - totalling a whopping 320GB of storage space. To sum up this review in a few short words - Envy This!”

Check it out at: Envy News

Yeong Yang Cube Magicfleece Damped case reviewed @ BurnOutPc
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:33 PM EST

"Well, I have to say, Woa Heavy! This case is very heavy, it is to be expected. There is 2x the room of a normal case, being that its 2x the size of a normal case. The fact that its been sound damped by mats that are quite hefty also add the the considerable weight of the unit. This case is in it's original state already a beautiful case, however with some modding it could be even nicer. This case has everything you wish for, enough room for raid setups, good air circulation inside, and easy to reach hardware by removing the front bezel and it's sidepanels."

Check it out at: BurnOutPc

Plextor PX-504A DVD+ReWritable Drive @ GamePC
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:31 PM EST

Today at GamePC, we've taken a look at the first recordable DVD product from Plextor, the PX-504A. This drive follows the DVD+RW standard and offers DVD recording speeds up to 4x, along with CD recording speeds up to 16x. We test out the performance of this drive to see if it lives up to the Plextor name.

Check it out at: GamePC

Firefly USBee & Translucent Flash Drive Review @ OCAddiction
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:30 PM EST

The prices of USB flash drives are relatively low nowadays. For users who need a method of transferring files between computers besides using the internet or CD-Rs, flash drives are a very attractive and practical solution. They can also be "cool" to show off to computer illiterate coworkers who have never seen such things before. For whatever reason you think you might need one of these drives, they are cheap now and probably will continue to get cheaper to some degree as flash memory prices fall.”

Check it out at: OCAddiction

Tech-Dreams Guide: Recessing your Nexus Fan Controller Knobs
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:29 PM EST

A short while ago I reviewed the Nexus Fan Controller from Vantec and had a minor cosmetic problem with it, mostly due to my case (Lian Li PC6087a), which has a plexiglass front door. The Vantec unit's knobs protruded a little far beyond the gap the Lian Li PC6087a leaves you with. So, as promised, I took the Vantec Nexus Fan Controller and modified it just a little to recess the knobs slightly. Let me show you how I did it.

Check it out at: Tech-Dreams

IceePC Color Control Review @ GideonTech
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:27 PM EST

"The unit is powered by your standard 4 pin molex.  The printed circuit board elimnates the mess that most home made bay buses exhibit.  Each channel uses a 3 pin header for your fan connection.  This poses problems if your fan is un-tailed or uses a 4 pin connector.  Additional connectors for your fans may be needed depending on your situation."

Check it out at: GideonTech

Swiftech MCW5000-A Water Block (Review) @ ipKonfig
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:25 PM EST

The MCW5000 is able to fit AMD or Intel processors. Of course, upon ordering you will want to be sure that the block you order is for the type of processor you're running. The MCW5000-A uses the standard clamps that is found on most heatsinks, and actually grips all three prongs on the Ziff-Socket. By using these clamps, the MCW5000-A is able to distribute pressure evenly onto the CPU core. Swiftech's older model water blocks did not allow for as easy installation as the MCW5000-A. Instead, older models required motherboard de-installation and before installing of the four threaded mounts around the Ziff-Socket.

Check it out at: ipKonfig

Cooler Master's latest LED fans Review @ VoidedWarranty
posted by Babylon5 on Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:24 PM EST

"Maybe COOLERMASTER will go the cable sleeving route in the future. By looking at the two fans next to