Tech News

• Albatron PX915G Pro Review @ OCModShop

  Published: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 | By: Dennis

  If you have been following my incoherent ramblings here at Ninjalane you may have caught on to my constant ripping of Albatron. While their board designs have gotten better the whole "Alien" thing has started to get a little old, its not even a good looking Alien.
  "The top of the box is very shiny and has some sort of alien on it. On the back of the box there is a picture of the motherboard as well as some specifications and features. Lately Albatron has been using these very shiny and reflective boxes which are pretty nice looking."
  It kind of makes you wonder if they will ever send us any products for review.

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• ABIT AA8 DuraMAX Review @ Bjorn3D

  Published: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 | By: Dennis

  "To check the FSB overclocking capabilities of the board, I set the processor's multiplier to 14 (default is 18) and began slowly raising the FSB from 200 in increments of 10 until the system would no longer POST. Keep in mind that I'm doing this with the retail HSF included with the 560 processor, so my cooling is far from optimal for overclocking."
  Also keep in mind that the reviewer is using an engineering sample processor that comes unlocked from the factory. These are not readily available so even though they are posting a really good FSB increase they removed the processor limitation from the equation. Prolly not the best way to review a mobo but does explore some of the chipset limitations.

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• NL: Review Block - Cases n Cooling

  Published: Monday, September 20, 2004 | By: Dennis

  Lots of case and heatsink reviews today, some of the items posted we have already reviewed here at Ninjalane.
  Cases
  - Ultra Dragon Glossy MS-Blue @ ViperLair
  - Raidmax Samurai @ ExtremeMhz
  - SilverStone Temjin TJ01 @ LanAddict
  - SilverStone TJ06 @ A True Review
  - CoolerMaster Praetorian @ OCIA
  Heatsinks
  - Thermalright XP-90 @ Phoronix
  - CoolJag JVC682A @ OCIA
  - MicroCool NorthPole @ hi-techreviews
  
  Who was this brought to me by? oh ya..

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• Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2400 6800 GT Review @ BigBruin

  Published: Friday, September 17, 2004 | By: Dennis

  "The Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2400 TV/DVI/DVI 256MB video card is one of the latest offerings from a manufacturer who has been in the business since the early 1980's. The attractive physical layout is backed up by muscle provided by nVidia's GeForce 6800 GT GPU and 256MB of the latest high-speed DDR3 memory."
  I've been a Gainward fan for quite some time now and though my emails to the company have gone unanswered for a good many years I don’t let it get me down.
  
  Though I’m beginning to think, maybe I should say that Gainward sux?

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• ATI to launch RX480 AMD K8 chipset

  Published: Friday, September 17, 2004 | By: Dennis

  By the end of the Month!
  "At the end of this month, ATI Technologies plans to unveil its RX480 north bridge, which will be the company’s first discrete chipset to support Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) K8 platform, said Reuven Soraya, director of platform product marketing at ATI, during a recent visit to Taipei.
  
  The RX480, which will also be the first K8 chipset to feature PCIe connectivity, will be built using a 0.13-micron process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), according to Soraya."

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• XFX GeForce 6800 GT Review @ TheTechLounge

  Published: Thursday, September 16, 2004 | By: Dennis

  "Today we will be taking a look at the GeForce 6800 GT from XFX Technologies. The 6800 GT has all the same features and technologies as the 6800 Ultra, unlike the vanilla 6800 which has reduced pixel and vertex shaders, older DDR instead of G-DDR3 memory, and lower clock speeds."
  We like XFX around here, while they don't have super cool heatsinks they do hand pick GPU and memory combos that provide excellent performance and overclocking.

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• Design Plan for Freedom Tower

  Published: Thursday, September 16, 2004 | By: Dennis

  This is kind of old news to some but I think it is still relavent.
  "This asymmetrical form of the tower evokes the dynamic twisting form of the Statue of Liberty. The tower's soaring offset spire further evokes the Statue's profile and marks the symbolic height of 1,776 feet above ground."
  It is artistic expression and symbolism like this that really fueled my passion to do Architecture.
  
  I really miss that.

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• A trio of PCI Express graphics cards compared @ The Tech Report

  Published: Thursday, September 16, 2004 | By: Dennis

  "If you're in the market for a mid-range PCI Express graphics card and can afford to wait a month or two, you'll probably end up deciding between variations of the GeForce 6600 or Radeon X700.
  
  But what if you need a mid-range PCI Express graphics card today? "
  I was in that very boat not more than 2 weeks ago.

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• Thermalright SP-94 Review @ OCIA

  Published: Thursday, September 16, 2004 | By: Dennis

  Though I have never actually owned this heatsink I've always been impressed with its design. I mean com'on heatpipes are the way of the future.... or something.
  "The tips of the heatpipes were a bit surprising. Instead of them being clamped parallel to the ground, they are bent in an unusual manner. I don't feel this has any affect on performance of the heatsink, but it would help with the overall aesthetics."

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• Beer in Moderation Could Be Good for You

  Published: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 | By: Dennis

  "A study from the University of Western Ontario finds a brew could be good for you. The researchers say beer has antioxidant boosters that could help fight cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
  
  But the key is moderation. The researchers found three beers would have the opposite effect. "
  Not to mention getting phat and sleeping lots.

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