Tech News
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Bytecc Mobile HDD Enclosure Review Posted
Published: Thursday, November 13, 2003 | By: DennisIf any of you are like me you probably have a small stack of unused and/or slow hard drives sitting in the corner collecting dust. It is time to put those drives to work with this mobile HDD enclosure from Bytecc.
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Abit KV8-MAX3 Review @ TheCrucible
Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 | By: DennisHere is a trick for Mozilla users that want to read this review. Press [Ctrl] + [A] to select all of the text, this is clearly a IE only website.
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EPoX 8RDA3+ Ultra 400 Review @ MonkeyReview
Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 | By: Dennis"The first thing I wanted to do was see how far we could push the FSB. As mentioned, anything above 184MHz required us to loosen our memory timings. With that being done, I was able to get stable operation with a FSB of 234 / 468 MHz."
Believe it or not but I was able to run the DFI LanParty NFII at 250Mhz FSB without to much trouble. The system consisted of a 2200+ and a pair of Corsair Twinx XMS4000 with the memory set at 1:1. Stability was a little iffy and the chipset could of heated my house but I was able to run quite a few benchmarks before I decided to play nice with my toys.
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Memory Bandwidth vs. Latency Timings @ PCStats
Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 | By: Dennis"As the new 800 MHz FSB Pentium 4 processors allowed users to hit never before seen highs in terms of bus speed, many memory manufacturers were trying to capitalize on the situation by releasing every increasing degrees of "high speed" memory.
Unfortunately, to run the memory frequency at the same speed as the FSB (or a 1:1 ratio) almost all the high speed DIMM's (Dual Inline Memory Module) have to have very lax timings. Often, these times are as low as 3-4-4-8!"
This is a pretty good article on memory that addresses many of the confusing points about the modules we buy. Basically when it comes to memory you have a very distinct trade-offs to consider, latency and bandwidth. The benefits of each are very dependent on the motherboard used and if you are planning to overclock.
My advice, find a very high quality module, speed matched for your chipset with the lowest latency. That kind of combo will render the best all around performance with the highest degree of flexibility. -
DFI LANParty 865PE Review @ 3DVelocity
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 | By: DennisSadly here is another review of a DFI LanParty motherboard that does not have any photos of the board under the black light, maybe it's just too dark or something.
" DFI have launched their new LANParty series, and the i865 is chipset included in the family.
A new series, aimed at the LAN gamers of this world who also like to show off their systems - but is it all show and no performance? Let us show you!"
If the board is anything like the DFI Infinity 865PE I think it will do pretty good. (and yes they are very similar boards) -
Gainward Ultra1800 XP Review @ Gamers Depot
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 | By: DennisThis is the new Gainward card based on the new nVidia GeForceFX 5950 Ultra. There are not very many pictures in this review so grab your reading glasses. "NVIDIA’s latest driver release has made up huge performance and quality dividends which truly help its add-in board partners like Gainward maintain confidence that its products will have a retail appeal in light of all the recent DX9 controversy."
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asetek WaterChill Cooling Review @ Madshrimps
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 | By: DennisEver wonder why you never notice something until someone brings it to your attention then, all of a sudden; you see a ton of them. I have a strange feeling that watercooling kits are going to be the same way.
Other things you won’t ever notice are 6x’ish VW bugs and pissed off crustaceans.
"The core of the unit is its good looking CPU water block, made out of copper it promises good heat transfer. The bottom side is pretty smooth and using some high quality thermal compound you can provide very good contact between CPU and the water block.
The default top-cover has holes for both AMD/INTEL setups and for those AMD users who have a motherboard with capacitors close the socket they provide you with an alternative cover."
Be sure to also check out our review of the asetek WaterChill for comparison. -
VIA Mini-ITX Review Day
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 | By: DennisOr something like that.
- Insight Solution Mediabox Review @ Epiacenter
"By default the display is illuminated in violet and the brightness and contrast is very good. Personally I prefer to use the blue version, because it makes reading the LCD a bit easier. And it blends in nicely with the rest of my PC equipment...;)"
Cool LCD animations too.
- VIA EPIA CL10000 Mini-ITX Review @ Tweaknews
"The upgrade to the Nehemiah 1Ghz core brought the FPU unit up to full speed and the outdated AMD 3DNow instruction set was replaced by Intel's expandable SSE optimizations. Now this does not pole-vault the m10000 into the performance ranking of the P4 or AthlonXP series of processors which is not its intention, but significantly improves the performance over the m9000."
And now the link to where it all started... -
NL: Review Block
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 | By: DennisHere is another edition of the comment-less review links.
- XBOX CombiCable @ MetkuMods
- Spire Coolers Skivestream II Review @ PC Tech Zone
- Spire Coolers Skivestream II Review @ 3dXtreme
- Beginners Guides: Securing Your Wireless Network @ PCStats
- BIOS Flashing guide @ CyberCPU
And now the link to where it all started... -
The Sound of Computing Silence
Published: Monday, November 10, 2003 | By: DennisMany enthusiasts are not bothered by the sounds of computing and the ole office just isn't the same when the systems are off. Though a select few would rather not hear the computer at all which has thus started a silent PC movement.
" But recently, PCs have started to become noisier again as they become more powerful.
That's because faster chips, which need to cope with increasingly complex software, generate more heat, which in turn needs to be dissipated with fans, heat pipes and vents, making computers sound more like mini-power plants. "
