Tech News
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Yep Still Snowing
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | By: DennisThis may be of no surprise to anyone but I felt an update was in order.
It is still snowing!!
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Maddog 8-Channel Sound Card Review @ Tweaknews
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | By: DennisOptical in and out has become standard on most high end sound cards to date (even back in 2001) though finding speakers that will accept optical audio is not the easiest task.
"The "Digital cable" included is a fiber optic cable, which will allow an extremely large bandwidth between the soundcard and audio device."
Jep, extremely large,
and don't forget clean, crisp, and clear. -
Vantec Vortex HDD Cooler Review @ BigBruin
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | By: Dennis"To prevent closed case temperatures from affecting the thermal results of the Vortex, the cooler was tested in a non-case environment. The room temperature was held at a constant 78° Fahrenheit (26° Celsius) during all tests. Below is a picture of the tested hard disk, a new 80GB Maxtor Diamond Max 9 Plus."
I like the look of this cooler though the squirrel cage blower located on the front hardly would provide any sufficient cooling except at the very front of the drive. -
Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150 Review @ PCStats
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | By: Dennis" These days appearance seems to play an ever increasing role in consumer purchases, and so I'm sure that's why the Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150 is spruced up with matching orange slots. Additionally, all exposed metal around the I/O ports is gold plated; just makes it look more attractive doesn't it?"
The author makes some good points about the new Athlon64 platform and mentions that competition between chipset vendors has tapered off since they all perform about the same putting more emphasis on chipset core logic than on board performance.
Feel free to check out our review of the Chaintech ZNF3-150 for comparison. -
Dual Fan HDD Cooler Review @ OrbitalOC
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | By: DennisSome people don't feel that Harddrive cooling is all that important though with proper cooling you can effectively extend the life of your harddrive making for quieter operation and a reduced failure rate. This aluminum under drive cooler looks to be a solid part though seems to lack sufficient exhaust areas.
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GeForce FX 5700 Ultra Reviews @ Digit-Life
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | By: Dennis"All the cards look equal, though it's difficult to give a palm of supremacy to the 5700 Ultra based cards as the FX 5900XT have nearly the same price. I just want to say that Sparkle's card is equipped with VIVO and ships in a beautiful box.
Inno3D's card will be cheaper than the rest, but it has a good software suite and boasts of the effective backlight."
I also like the Inno3D card since it is the only one of the 3 tested that doesn't completely follow the reference design. Not completely sold on the UV reactive fan since it will in effect be completely hidden in any running system. -
And Then There Was Snow
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | By: DennisThis isn't like cocaine or pr0n stars but more like frozen water flakes falling from the sky. I mean big flakes and lots of them.
Normally snow is a welcome site in my area but sadly only about 80% of the drivers out there can actually drive in it.
Best of luck to all travelers in the greater Boise area, may the force be with you. -
Athlon64 3400+ Processor Launched Today
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2004 | By: DennisEven though I have been in contact with the peeps at AMD they have failed to even send me a press release of this launch. In a way it shows just how much they really care.
Anyhow the new Athlon64 3400+ processor has been released with purchase samples already in stores, Good Job! This also means that current Athlon64 processors will drop in price with current samples in the upper $200 range.
Good times to be had by all, unless you are one of the few to fork over 500 bones to be an early adopter.
For those interested the [H] has a review round-up posted with links to various 3400+ reviews on the net. Check it out if you are so inclined. -
Koolance Exos-al Review @ NordicHardware
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2004 | By: DennisThe Koolance Exos system has been out for quite some time now and is actually pretty impressive since everything is completely self-contained making installation and usage really simple.
"To get inside of the unit is very complicated. It's not that every user wants to, but the more experienced user would probably like to disassemble it to clean the radiator from dust and such. When you get inside of it you can see a well-organised interior:"
These external watercooling units are perfect for the beginner or anyone with sans casemodding skill. -
Albatron GeForceFX 5950 UV Review @ PCStats
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2004 | By: Dennis"The Albatron GeForceFX 5950 UV videocard packs a full 256MB of Hynix BGA DRAM, and is fully VIVO compatible. The card comes with an S-Video to S-Video cable, Composite-Composite cable and a VIVO break out box. In terms of software; Albatron have added in PowerDVD, PowerCreator, Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project and a five game demo CD."
I was halfway hoping to see a floppy connector right under the heatsink but alas the layout is good, this time.
My guess is that will all of the fun I poke at Albatron I won’t ever get anything of theirs to review. Not really my intention but you never know.
