ATI Radeon 9600 XT Review

Nov 28 2003 @ 07:40PM by MikeC

ViperLair reviews the 9600XT Radeon from ATi.

"ATI has done a fine job in tweaking their 9600 series, and for the money, I really don't see any reason why anyone should look elsewhere when shopping for a sub-200$ video card."

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Quad Opteron

Nov 26 2003 @ 06:24AM by MikeC

2 processors is good, but 4 is better. That's the idea coming out of the labs at Tyan according to The Inquirer This board will support 4 Athlong 64 processors. They're calling for a 20Gb limit on memory on this board.

"I believe the reason why Tyan has gone with this layout is that it wanted the board to be the same size as its Xeon counterpart, which it is. Tyan uses that board in its 4U Transport Server Platform, which is sold as a barebones server. Having both the Opteron and Xeon four-way motherboards the same size, they should be able to use the same barebones chassis, thus gaining economies of scale. So it appears that Tyan will give its customers the option of buying its quad Opteron motherboard as a standalone product, or as part of a barebones solution."

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Albatron FX5600P Turbo Review

Nov 26 2003 @ 06:20AM by MikeC

Viperlair reviews the FX5600 from Albatron.

"Performance of the video card had it's ups and downs. The FX5600P Turbo use the nVidia FX5600 gpu so don't expect to play all of the latest games at the highest settings. The 5600 is the low-middle of the line gpu, aimed at the budger-gamer market. Unreal Tournament 2003 did run just fine at up to 4x anti-aliasing, but dont expect to go to 6AA or higher without getting a level of choppiness. With that said however the FX5600P Turbo was a pretty good overclocker. Allowing for a 35Mhz overclock on the gpu and a 230Mhz overclock on the memory was definatly an achievement. Sadly this did not result in too much of a performance gain in Splinter Cell. Overall it is a good video card for someone looking for a low-priced upgrade."

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Asus Radeon 9800 XT/TVD & 9600 XT/TVD Review

Nov 26 2003 @ 04:09AM by MikeC

Dual video card review from HotHardware. They review both the 9800XT and the 9600XT from Asus.

"With their custom, copper / aluminum coolers, variable speed fans, and bright orange PCBs, these Asus built Radeon XTs were just begging to be overclocked. There are a variety of different tools available to do the job, like Rage3D Tweak or PowerStrip, but we opted for Asus own Smart Doctor Utility. With Smart Doctor, users can monitor voltages, temperatures and fan speeds, as well as overclock the GPU core and on-board memory. We found the Smart Doctor utility to be very stable and easy to use. It's not quite as sleek as having ATi's dynamic "Overdrive" feature, but it should satiate anyone looking to push their card beyond its rated speed. Unfortunately, Asus used a different method than ATi to monitor temps, fan speeds and voltages, which is incompatible with the new Overdrive feature that debuted in the Catalyst 3.8 drivers"

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Soyo Raptor 400 Watt Adjustable Power Supply Review

Nov 26 2003 @ 04:06AM by MikeC

3DXtreme reviews one of the least looked at components in your computer: the power supply. They review a 400W version from Soyo, long time makers of motherboards.

"An added feature of the Raptor is the 5.25" control panel to adjust the voltages if it happens to fall out of an acceptable range. This unit only gives us the ability to adjust +3.3V and +5V. We are left to wonder why they chose not to include an adjustment for +12V. The control unit will indicate when overvoltage occurs with an LED that will light up. Also, provided are two usb ports on the front of the control unit which makes use of extra usb connections on the motherboard."

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ATI Radeon 9600 XT Review

Nov 25 2003 @ 02:40PM by MikeC

TweakTown reviews the 9600 XT from ATi.

"Capitalizing on the strengths of the popular Radeon 9600 Pro mid-range performance graphics card, ATI has just released their brand new Radeon 9600 XT VPU which offers a tremendous price to performance ratio and performance almost matching 9800 XT at times when overclocked. Read on and learn more!"

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SIS 755 Refference Board Review

Nov 25 2003 @ 02:39PM by MikeC

OCWorkbench takes a look at SiS' 755 reference board and benches it against ALi M1687, VIA K8T800, and nVIDIA NF3 chipsets.

"SiS 755 is probably the second chipset that features a South Bridge supporting SATA RAID 0/1/JBOD through SiS 964. The board fully complies to HTT of 16 bits up/down at 800MHz. Some of the other chipsets don't support that fully which resulted in a slightly slower performance. Coupled with a proprietary 1GB MULTIOL link between the North and South bridge, this is a wider pipe compared to some other designs. The HyperTransport? interface of SiS755 features the HyperTransport? complaint bus driver technology to support AMD Athlon? 64 / Opteron? processors up to 1.6GT/s data rate."

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VIA EPIA to Shine

Nov 25 2003 @ 07:18AM by MikeC

VAI's EPIA platform doesn't stack up the the latest greatest hardware out there, but it is very versatile as a platform. At Comdex, they showed off tons of possible utilities for this specific platform as reported by The Inquirer

"For the last year or more, Via has been talking about the really cool applications you will see powered by the chip, just wait. At Comdex this year, they had what amounted to a grand rollout, a plethora of cool gadgets all powered by the Epia platform. Can you think of a cool use for a small, low power, inexpensive x86 box? I thought I could, but I wasn't anywhere close to what was on display across the street from Comdex at the Via demo area."

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Intel + 65 nano

Nov 25 2003 @ 06:57AM by MikeC

According to an article at The Inquirer, Intel has perfected the 65 nano technology allowing to build faster cooler processors. This is good news for all you speed demons out there who have the big bucks to shell out for the latest and greatest processors.

"CHIP GIANT INTEL said it has created fully functional 65 nanometer SRAM chips, with full production slated for 2005, using 12-inch (300mm) silicon wafers."

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AMD AthlonXP 2500+ Barton Processor Review

Nov 25 2003 @ 05:05AM by MikeC

PCStats reviews a 2500+ Barton processor. With Christmas coming shortly, it'd be a good idea to check out Barton cores for your computer junkie friends or family members.

"The AMD AthlonXP processor has long represented an equal balance of pure economical value and performance. These traits have been enticing consumers towards AMD since the introduction of DDR memory, and that has given the company a strong foothold in the consumer PC markets. While it used to be said Intel was a force to be reckoned with, it now seems as though AMD has become just that, leaving Intel more on the defensive than ever before. While the price of an AMD processor is not as inexpensive as it once was ($200 CDN for a flagship processor anyone?), it still packs in one heck of a punch! With the release of the recent 'Barton' core AMD have undeniably rejuvenated the AthlonXP processor lineup once again. And since this isn't exactly breaking news, I'm sure you are already aware that the extra cache this core contains has brought about even better performance results..."

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DFI NFII Ultra Infinity Review!

Nov 25 2003 @ 05:03AM by MikeC

MBReview takes a look at the nForce2 Ultra motherboard from DFI.

"So, what has the DFI NFII Ultra Infinity motherboard ultimately shown to us in its' entirety? Well, we can honestly say that this motherboard is one of the fastest platforms available for your K7 setup that can seemingly provide you with an infinite number of configurations and expandability options for all areas of your PC."

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AMD Barton Core VS Thoroughbred

Nov 25 2003 @ 05:01AM by MikeC

CyberCPU.net goes back and takes a look at the performance differences, especially to gaming, between the Barton and Thoroughbred cores. Pretty interesting if you're looking into building a new system, but can't wait or can't afford the new Athlon 64 processors.

?With processors coming out every week, it seems like lately you have to ask yourself what exactly is the benefit of keeping up to date with the latest hardware. The AMD Barton has had hundreds of reviews and I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to see how it stands up to its little brother the Thoroughbred. The processors I will be comparing today are the AMD Thoroughbred B core 1700+ against the AMD Barton 2800+. To keep things fair, both CPU's will be clocked at 200x10 which is the highest stable overclock the 1700+ was capable of. ?

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SilenX 400 Watt Power Supply Unit Review

Nov 25 2003 @ 04:59AM by MikeC

Overclocker's Club reviews this 400W power supply from SilenX.

"After throwing everything I had at it, and then some, the SilenX 400W PSU laughed at me. I'm pretty impressed by this little grey box. The fan is beyond silent, the PSU itself is rock solid and I'd have to say I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a solid PSU. I will remark the 12V and 3.3V rails seems below average, but I never experienced any trouble with power requirements - its very stable. Sure, no flashy stuff hanging off of it, but a bit of sleeving and (if you're adventurous enough) modification, and that solves that."

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Soltek SL-865-GR "Black Thunder" Review

Nov 25 2003 @ 04:56AM by MikeC

NinjaLane reviews this springdale motherboard from Soltek.

"Black Thunder is what Soltek is calling their High-End series aimed at giving the overclocker and hardware enthusiast what they demand. The boards will feature a jet black PCB, purple expansion slots, with more onboard features and plenty of included cables."

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AMD Athlon 64 Performance Computing

Nov 23 2003 @ 04:14PM by MikeC

Here's something useful for the upcomming holidays for that special someone you have on your list that you don't mind blowing oodles and oodles of money on. TweakTown brings us a performance guide on the Athlon 64. What will give you the hottest and fastest gaming rig out there?

"We collected high-end performance parts from AMD, ABIT, ATI, GeCube, Mushkin, Maxtor and Thermaltake and built the fastest possible Athlon 64 desktop computer around. The heat is on - become part of the action and read about what this high-powered system is capable of!"

Take a look at the guide

 

MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R Athlon64 Motherboard Review

Nov 22 2003 @ 04:49PM by MikeC

Bjorn3D reviews this Athlon64 Motherboard from MSI sporting the very fashionable VIA K8T800 chipset.

"Then, the more relevant question for this review is whether or not the MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R is worth considering if are jumping into the 64-bit revolution. With 6 channel audio, Gigabit LAN, 4 SATA connectors, SATA RAID, Live Update and other great features, I think it's definitely worth your consideration if you are shopping for a Socket 754 motherboard, especially considering it only costs around $125 according to our Pricegrabber search."

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ABIT AI7 Springdale Motherboard Review

Nov 22 2003 @ 04:47PM by MikeC

Tweaktown takes a look ath the Springdale motherboard from ABIT.

"ABIT's latest motherboard is the value-orientated AI7 for the Pentium 4 based on Intel's Springdale chipset. We put it right up against the IC7 MAX3 based on the more expensive Canterwood chipset and it doesn't fair too badly at all."

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DFI LanParty NFII Ultra Nforce2 Motherboard Review

Nov 21 2003 @ 04:56AM by MikeC

TweakNews reviwes the DFI nForce2 Ultra motherboard from DFI.

"DFI's Lanparty NFII Ultra is a great example of a high quality motherboard for the AMD processor as the Lanparty PRO875 is for Intel. You get a great bundle which contains a flashy UV reactive motherboard that performs very well right out of the box and can be inserted into any windowed case to create an instant attractive enthusiast computer system."

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VIA PT880 Chipset Review

Nov 19 2003 @ 07:11AM by MikeC

Hexus reviews the VIA PT880 for Intel platforms.

"In simple terms, more bandwidth is better. That's pertinent to the quad-pumped Pentium 4 in particular. With the ability to utilise up to 6.4GB/s at its now default 200MHz FSB, single-channel memory controllers, equipped with DDR400 memory, have only been able to meet half that theoretical requirement. That's why we see Intel's boards at the top of the performance tree. It's a case of supply meeting demand. Intel introduced its range of dual-channel offering back in April and May of this year. VIA has now decided it's high time for it to bring to market its first Intel-based dual-channel chipset ever. The PT880 is VIA's answer to Intel and SiS' high-end S478 chipsets. Let's now see if it has enough of the right stuff to be considered a worthy alternative."

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Asetek Waterchill Review

Nov 19 2003 @ 06:59AM by MikeC

Viperlair reviews the watercooling system from Asetek.

"The Asetek WaterChill was introduced as an alternative to their Vapochill product. Though cooling performance won't be as extreme, the price point isn't anywhere near their high-end product. Don't think that Asetek just slapped together a bunch of parts and called it a day though, as a lot of R&D went into the creation of the WaterChill to make sure it is right up there in performance compared to the competition."

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Enermax CS-30881TA Case Review

Nov 17 2003 @ 03:13PM by MikeC

3dXtreme reviews this enclosure from Enermax.

"Simply upon inspecting the outside of this case, we can find a number of items of interest. Particularly, the flip open panel at the bottom that includes front access 2.0 USB, Fire Wire & Audio Ports. Also of note is the front panel which includes a light up power switch, a backlit lcd display, light up reset switch and a 4 channel fan speed adjustable VR controller..."

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Thermaltake Xaser III Lanfire (VM2000A) Review

Nov 16 2003 @ 07:42PM by MikeC

More from Bjorn3D. This time it's Thermaltake's entry in the lightweight LAN cases, the Lanfire.

"I don't think that Thermaltake was struggling to gain acceptance from the LAN party crowd; the company just wanted to make a bolder statement in the segment to compete more directly with the other cases out on the streets that are marketed to LAN party gamers. The Lanfire version of the already popular Xaser III series was obviously made for travel. It was made smaller and weighs about 4.5 kg less than its bigger brother, the Xaser III Super Tower. Obviously, this move was to make it a more appealing chassis for a LAN rig."

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Antec True Blue 480 Review

Nov 16 2003 @ 07:40PM by MikeC

Bjorn3D reviews one of the most overlooked components in hardware, the power supply. They review the Antec True Blue 480W today.

"All I can say is that I am very impressed with the Antec True Blue 480. This power supply so far is even exceeding what Antec specs for the power supply. One reason that this could be is due to the fact that we currently do not have to run either the air condition or heating at my house (New Jersey). The power supply thus is not put on the stress of the HVAC unit coming on. However ? previously Antec power supplies that we have looked at have always kept within Antecs specs even with this added stress so we have no reason to believe this power supply is any different. The True Blue 480 can be had for around 80$"

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Details on the Prescott

Nov 14 2003 @ 05:23AM by MikeC

The Inquirer has some details on the upcomming 775 socket Prescott chip.

"The LGA socket has a load plate and a load lever, with the IHS being above all other components. Currently, our Taiwanese friends tell us, Tyco and Foxconn are already engaged with Prescott vendors, but Intel is expected to close similar deals with two other manufacturers, Molex and FCI, any day now."

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Gigabyte GA-7VT600-1394 Motherboard

Nov 13 2003 @ 08:07PM by MikeC

Tweaktown reviews a *GASP* 32-bit AMD motherboard from Gigabyte.

"Gigabyte?s diversity for motherboard selections has paid off again. The KT600 may not be the fastest kid on the block, but its if by far the cheapest kid, and with its performance where it is, your smartest bet is to get yourself a KT600 based motherboard and the GA-7VT600-1394, on a budget, is bar none a great overall product."

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