Tech News

• NL: Review Block - Cases & Power Supplies Round up

  Published: Friday, June 13, 2008 | By: Will

  Cases

  - Tagan Monolize Computer Case @ TechwareLabs
  - Thermaltake Armor+ MX And Prowater 850i @ Bjorn3D
  - NZXT Tempest Review @ OCC
  - Lian Li PC-A77 Full Tower Chassis Review @ OCIA

  Power Supplies

  - SilverStone Zeus ZM1200M PSU Review @ DriverHeaven
  - Hiper Type-M 780W @ Phoronix
  - Atrix 500T Extreme 650W Review @ OCC
  - E-Power Thunder EP-650-TD1 3-in-1 PSU @ TweakTown
  - OCZ EliteXStream 800W @ Pro-Clockers
  - Seasonic M12II 500W Power Supply Report @ APH Networks

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• AMD and Havok to Optimize Physics for Gaming

  Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008 | By: Will

  Just when everyone was running, and screaming that Physics are dead. AMD is on board with Havok to bring physics to all of us gamers.  So that will make it Intel, and AMD for Havok.

  "As the complexity and visual fidelity of video games increases, AMD wants to take advantage of opportunities to improve the game experience," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "By working with the clear market leader in physics software, AMD can optimize our platforms to consistently deliver the best possible visual experience to the gamer."

  I knew this was going to happen after NVidia bought Ageia.  

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• Sapphire HD3870 X2 Atomic Watercooled @ techPowerUp

  Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008 | By: Will

  Since I hit on the Saphire video cards already. Well I thought it was time to give the video card portion of Sapphire some lime light. Here is a very cool looking unique Radeon HD 3870 X2. It is watercooled beast of a video card. 

  "Sapphire HD 3870 X2 Atomic Edition comes with pre-filled, pre-sealed and maintenance free watercooling. This allows Sapphire to ship the card with higher clocks, making the card the fastest HD 3870 X2 on the market today. As you would expect from such a premium product the presentation is outstanding, and so is the price."

  I guess the price is just as beastly, and so is the size of the cooling unit.

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• Sapphire AM2RX780 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers

  Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008 | By: Will

  Sapphire does make some great video card for ATI GPU's. Everyone of there attempts in the motherboard arena looks great at first, but lacks in the support in the end. Let's hope that they have learned form there past, and make it better. 

  "Our first Sapphire motherboard featured on Pro-Clockers isn't the high end model just mentioned, but rather one notch lower on the model scale. The AM2RX780 PURE CrossfireX 770 is based on the AMD 770+ chipset which is aimed at the AM2 and the soon to be released AM2+ processors. One of the best features of the CrossfireX is dual X16 PCI-e slots on this well priced motherboard. There are a few more bells and whistles this board has to offer and you can discover those yourself by reading this review."

  On a side note. When is AMD going to kill off that horrible SB600 chip. 

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• Microsoft's own chip design blamed for Xbox 360 RRoD @ Register

  Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008 | By: Will

  I'm not a big console fan anymore. I love my PC gaming. Still there is a part of me that loves hardware in anything. I also know that the Red Ring of Death has been to common. So here is a little more insight of what's going on. 

  "The Xbox 360's infamous Red Ring of Death problem was the price Microsoft paid for attempting to save money by designing its own graphics chip for the console rather than buy one off a specialist supplier, it has been claimed."

  Here's a thread in on very own Forums talking about some of problems of the XBox 360. Stop by and tell use your issues on the XBox 360.

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• Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC3-16000 DDR3 Review @ ASE Labs

  Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 | By: Will

  Looks like Crucial has some serious DDR3 coming at us. I'm still on the fence with DDR3 till the prices come down just a little more. Still this Crucial ram just screams to me to try it. 

  " I've always been keen to recommend Crucial in the past when people wanted RAM with a lifetime warranty that works as expected. Not until a few years ago did Crucial start offering their Ballistix overclocking RAM. Fast forward to the new DDR3 days of today and we find a new Ballistix PC3-16000 kit that offers speeds of 2000MHz! You'll be pressed to find a board that can even handle this speed, I know I didn't have one. "

  I think the Crucial ram just called me a name to. Something about a "Cheap Bas..". I don't know what that last part was. Oh well. 

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• ASRock X48 TurboTwins-WiFi Motherboard Review @ CPU3D

  Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 | By: Will

  It is kinda hard to think that a highend chipset such as the X48 is being used by a value marketed board maker. Still in the end ASRock does make some of the neatest boards around. The features they add can be very unique. 

  "...The ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi+AP may not appeal to the hardcore extreme enthusiast, but for the rest of us mainstream user it's near perfect and offers great value for money."

  It is still strange to use a overclockng chipset for a not so overclocking motherboard. 

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• NL: Review Block - Computex Edition

  Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | By: Will

  Computex 2008 coverage is drawing to an end, but we still can get another roundup out of some of the things still being posted.

  - Computex 2008 @ Frosty Tech
  - Computex 2008 @ PC Perspective
  - Computex 2008 @ AnandTech
  - Computex 2008 @ VR-Zone

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• Gigabyte's GA-X48-DQ6 @ Neoseeker

  Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | By: Will

  Gigabyte's highend boards can be just full of extra stuff. Let's look and see what all this extra stuff amount to. I sure hope they remembered to add the overclocking among all the otehr stuff. 

  "In our second X48 review we take a look at Gigabyte's GA-X48-DQ6 - their top of the line X48 board, equipped with more SATA-II and USB2.0 ports than you can shake a stick at."

  I sometimes think that Gigabyte boards have just to much stuff on them. 

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• MSI P45 Diamond @ T-Break

  Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | By: Will

  Intel has finally gotten the P45 chipset on the market. I have seen a few e-tailors selling them already. I also have to say that the prices have stayed closer to the $200 mark. Not really anything to get excited about. Still cheaper than many of the other newer chipsets. 

  "Today. we take a look on MSI's upcoming P45 Diamond motherboard that is equipped with Intel latest EagleLake chipset aka P45. The new chipset brings official support for 1333MHz FSB along with the option to use DDR3-1333MHz. We say option as the chipset also supports DDR2-800MHz and the motherboard manufacturer can decide which way to go. In MSI's case, the P45 Diamond is their highest-end P45 board and thus, it's no surprise to see it equipped DDR3 slots."

  Hey look it's not Asus this time in the review it is MSI. 

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