Tech News
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Chenming AL-301KE Review @ Big Bruin
Published: Friday, August 15, 2003 | By: DennisYou may be saying to yourself that this case looks a lot like an Antec case. Well in a way you would be correct. Chenming is the builder of these cases and Antec just buys a bunch, slaps their name on it, and sells to the public. It is good to see they are finally selling direct.
"The overall design and construction of the Chenming AL-301KE are both top notch. All of the seams are very tight, I found no sharp edges, and all of the interconnecting pieces fit together very well. The $84.00 price tag from ISI Technologies doesn’t make it a cheap-o case, but considering all of the features packed into an aluminum chassis, it is very respectable." -
Kingwin KT-436 Case Review @ PimpRig
Published: Friday, August 15, 2003 | By: DennisHere is another one of them "-pre-modded" custom cases.
"I pulled the case out of its protection. My first impression was great. This case is gorgeous! It is better than I had expected. The sturdy aluminum-mg alloy case has a deep black powdercoat that shines in even low light and will be more resistant to scratching than ordinary paint. "
You can't really argue with that.
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Power to the People
Published: Friday, August 15, 2003 | By: Dennis"NEW YORK (CNN) -- Power slowly flickered on across the northeastern United States and parts of southern Canada after the mysterious massive outage cut electricity Thursday afternoon from New York north to Toronto and west to Detroit -- an area home to some 50 million people.
Times Square, for many the glittering symbol of New York under normal circumstances, sprang back to life about 7:45 a.m. EDT."
There have been conflicting reports as to the actual cause of the blackout, though some say it was a lighting strike in Canada while other says it was a fire at a Nuclear Plant in the US. I'm sure the cause will be discovered but I think the important thing is to get the power back to the peeps.
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And Then There Was... Darkness
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2003 | By: DennisDue to a huge chain reaction a massive overdraw of power has brought down power grids in the Northeast USA and parts of Canada.
"NEW YORK (CNN) -- A major power outage simultaneously struck dozens of cities in the United States and Canada late Thursday afternoon.
Cities affected include New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Toronto and Ottawa, Canada. The power outage occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Officials said the outage does not appear to be related to terrorism. "
Some of the power has been restored but other parts might be down until tomorrow morning. (Aug 15th US time
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Power outages due to overdrawing the system are quite common in the summer months especially when it gets hot, though one this scale isn't supposed to happen. -
Soltek SL-KT600-R Review @ HardwareZone
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2003 | By: DennisHere is one of the newest mobos from Soltek featuring the new VIA KT600 chipset. The board is built in the typical Soltek manner giving you a "no frills" mobo to start building on. Some people don't like that much but for me this is the ultimate starting point. The only question that remains is “do you still get a good bang for the lack of bux?”
In most cases, the answer would be yes.
"Our final comment would be a note on how to overclock CPUs on this motherboard. For example, if you had an FSB333 CPU and wish to use FSB400, you will first have to change the multiplier ratio required, save to CMOS, exit the BIOS and power down your system. On the motherboard is a small jumper block that governs FSB speed and their default is set for auto detection." -
Intel Chipset Release Schedule @ Rojak Pot
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2003 | By: Dennis"Check out the chipsets that Intel is going to release in the future!
Alderwood, Alviso, Grantsdale, Lakeport. You name it, we got it!"
According to the chart most of this happens in the very near future. -
Mistify Boomslang 2100 vs Logitech MX500 @ crazymodders
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2003 | By: DennisPersonally I don't like the new MX series of mice from Logitech, don't get me wrong I use Logitech stuff religiously and from a technical standpoint the MX series is great but the shape of the mouse appears to be designed for one person, and one person only. I have yet to determine whom that one person is but I'd be willing to bet that it was somebody’s wife or girlfriend. Just a hunch though.
"A lot of people are chosing for wireless mice lately, but those can easily cost 20$ more than the non-wireless mice. Today I'll be reviewing 2 non-wireless input devices. First I will review the Logitech MX500, the non-wireless version of the Logitech MX700, and then I will review the Terratec Razer Mistify Boomslang 2100." -
Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Review @ RipNet-UK
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2003 | By: Dennis"Clipping the cooler on was a bit of a nightmare actually. If you've installed a few HSF's then you'll know the scenario........ you put the first side of the cooler on, and then have twenty attempts to clip the other side on. It finally clicks into place and then you realise it's only because the first side has come off again! Doh! Needless to say that I got it on eventually but I was starting to get a bit worried about my CPU for a while there."
I would agree, check out our review of the Volcano 11+ for comparison purposes. -
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Review @ Unique Hardware
Published: Thursday, August 14, 2003 | By: Dennis"These 7200.7 hard drives have many security features built in, and come packaged very well. If you were ever to experience a problem, Seagate also provides the software you need to fix it. Although the drive was just a tad slower than the older Barracuda V, we expect better drivers to be released which should push these drives to new performance levels."
I don't think SerialATA drives are hindered by bad drivers but rather from overhead in the SerialATA interface, aka hardware. Just give the technology time to mature.
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PC4200 DDR Memory by GeIL
Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 | By: DennisI haven't been a huge supporter of Geil memory but when you churn out DDR533 dual channel memory some people tend to take notice.
Here are some of the specs:
"PC4200 533Mhz Dual Channel DDR Ultra Platinum Version:
Available only in 512MB (2X256MB) and 1GB (2X512MB) Dual Channel DDR Ultra Platinum Kits.
- 184pin, Non-ECC, Un-buffered, high performance DDR memory modules.
- Hand Picked 3.5ns GeIL Chips
- 6 Layers Ultra Low Noises Shielded PCB board.
- Optimized SPD for Intel’s 875/865 chipset Dual Channel DDR motherboards.
- Tin Coated Platinum - Copper Heat Spreader
- Lifetime Warranty
- CAS 3 8-4-4 Running @ DDR533Mhz PC4200
- 2.6v-2.95V
- Retail package with neon green clear acrylic case and instructions."
The memory timings are the same as many DDR500 modules from companies like Corsair and Kingston thus making the GeIL modules slightly faster from that standpoint. As you will see later this isn't always a good thing.
