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Latest Net Reviews (6/30/03)An extremely long list of reviews posted up over the weekend with a wide variety of products reviewed. Many people are switching from desktops to notebook systems as their sole computers, but the audio components placed in portables are generally of lower quality. DailyGame has posted a review of the Echo Indigo Mobile Sound pc card that adds high-quality audio to notebook computers. Another review of interest is a comparison of i865PE boards with "Pat" enabled by VR-Zone. If you happen to be looking for a 19" LCD monitor, be sure to check out the full listing as CNet and PC World reviewed a number of models.Desktops
11:55 AM Enermax/WaveSonic EG651P-VE PSU Review
As power supplies get higher and higher wattage ratings, noise from the cooling fans in them keeps increasing. One of the latest developments to try and combat the noise generated from the fans is manual fan speed controls. Read the review of the Enermax/WaveSonic EG651P-VE Active power supply to find out how well such a solution works. For those who want to know just the facts, there is always the summary review.
07:00 AM Enermax/Wavesonic CS-7181CBX Review
Premodified cases have become very popular over the last year. They save the user a lot of time and money from having to add items such as side panel windows or lights into into the case. The Enermax/WaveSonic CD-7181CBX is an aluminum mid-tower case that is targetted exactly at this enthusiast market. Find out how this case is constructed in this new product review. For those who would rather skip the details there is always the summary review.
07:00 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/27/03)A good number of reviews of various mid-range video cards on the list today. The most interesting review is a comparison of 5 performance power supplies from TweakTown. Over the past week, I have been evaluating a case and power supply from Enermax what should be posted soon. I found the review interesting to see how they evaluate the power supplies compared to how I am doing it.Cases and Mods
CPUs
09:53 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/26/03)A good overall mix of reviews from around the net today. The most interesting of the reviews is a comparison of seven sub-20ms 17" LCDs by Tom's Hardware. As always, they have gone into a lot of detail and technical testing, so expect a lot of reading. There was also another review of the Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro from got apex? that has a different opinion of the card from my own review.Cases and Mods 11:33 AM Three New TutorialsAs I mentioned before, I'm in the processor of putting together a system to review some components. During this process I'm trying to fill in the gaps that exist in my DIY articles. Today I have completed another three tutorials for the site: Installing an AGP Card, Installing a PCI Card, and Installing an Optical (CD/DVD) Drive.05:34 PM Latest Net Reviews (6/25/03)Yesterday was a fairly light day of reviews posted on the net, so I held off posting the list till today and boy did a lot os reviews get posted. VR-Zone posted a review of the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 Pro which is a good one to compare to my review posted this weekend.Cases and Mods
09:53 AM Motherboard Installation TutorialToday I've completed another "do-it-yourself" tutorial for those individuals interested in building or upgrading their own computers. The tutorial covers the proper installation of a motherboard into a personal computer case. There should be a number of these posted in the coming days as I have to build a working test system for an upcoming review. For a listing of all my current turtorials, head over to the "Do-It-Yourself" page.10:02 PM ATI Releases Catalyst 3.5 DriversATI has released their latest 3.5 version of its Catalyst unified video driver. This version corrects a large number of compatibility issues with a wide range of 3D applications. Also removed are any code optimizations for the 3DMark2003 benchmarking application. They have also released the updated ATI Control Panel application. To get the latest driver versions do to ATI'sfind a driver page.04:52 PM Latest Net Reviews (6/23/03)There were a large number of reviews from over the weekend to create a very large list. By far the most interesting review I spotted was on exotic wood PC cases by Voided Warranty. Yes that is right, wood cases! While the cases are very attractive, expect to pay a very large amount to have one. Of course with the release of the latest Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, there are a number of reviews on it.Cases and Mods
09:22 AM Intel Pentium 4 Speed BumpToday marks the release of the latest Pentium 4 processor from Intel, the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz. To put things in perspective with this release, there is no new technology or added features to this processor. The processor speed has merely been increased by 200 MHz over the previous 3.0 GHz unit. Expect there to be a significant price difference between the two for those who want to have the fastest processor available.09:16 AM Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro Review
Looking for a video card that doesn't cost a lot and still has good 3D performance? Sapphire's Radeon 9600 Pro offers this for under $200, but just how well does it perform? Find out in this product review that includes benchmarks and overclocking results. Those wanting to skip all the numbers and find out my opinion can read the summary review.
08:00 AM Corsair XMS3700 AnnouncementFor all you people out there who just have to get the most out of your computer system but PC3500 memory is not quite enough, Corsair has announced new TWINX XMS3700 memory is now available. Each set of memory modules has been fully tested up to a 467MHz bus speed which should give those overclockers some headroom over the default 400 MHz bus speeds of the Athlon XP 3200+ and Intel Pentium 4 "C" processors now available.09:36 AM ABIT Game Accelerator TestedFirst ASUS released their Hyperpath optimizations for their i845PE motherboard followed quickly by ABIT's Game Accelerator. ABIT's Game Accelerator is available for both its i865PE and i876P boards though. So what excactly is the benefit to a BIOS enhancement like Game Accelerator? Viper's Lair has an article with benchmarks showing exactly what performance gains are available with these new BIOS settings.10:32 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/20/03)A very light day in terms of reviews on the net. The most interesting of them is a review of the Radeon series graphic cards from Gigabyte. The cards based on the 9200, 9600 Pro and 9800 Pro are all featured in this review so it shows very well how each of the levels of graphics cards compare to one another and just exactly what you are paying for.Cases and Mods
10:25 AM Notebook Hard Drive CompetitionThe market for laptop computers is growing quickly and it looks like choices for the 2.5" notebook hard drives is also starting to heat up. Most notebook hard drives are produced by IBM/Hitachi, but that will soon change. Seagtate has announced plans to enter the market with 20 and 40 GB notebook drives. Now Western Digital has started producing prototype notebook hard drives for possible production. With a larger number of players in the notebook market, expect to see prices for the smaller drives and notebook systems that use them to start dropping in prices.03:58 PM Promotions UpdateThe weekly update for my compiled special offers and promotions page has been uploaded. Several new offers of note posted in the last week. Dell has switched their promotion program to free optical drive and memory upgrades for their desktop and notebook computers. IBM has added a free 15" monitor with select desktop purchases. Toshiba has made available a mail-in cash rebate, second battery or leather carry case for their Portege ultraportable notebook. For details on these and other offers from manufacuters on PC hardware, check out the special offers and promotions page.12:59 PM Latest Net Reviews (6/19/03)A fairly slow day for the reviews from the net. Most of the reviews on today's list are on video cards. The most interesting review comes from Hexus on the new revision of the GeForceFX 5600 Ultra. What sets this review apart from many others is that it details some of the changes that were made by NVIDIA between the initial 5600 release which never really made it to the public and the one that is actually available now.Cases and Mods
12:24 PM Latest Net Reviews (6/18/03)Not many people have heard of Averatec. It is a fairly new company that specializes in low cost thin and light notebook systems. Many of their systems are priced at or just above the $1000 mark and are designed around the AMD Mobile Athlon processors. Today, Tom's Hardware has a review of the Averatec 3150P notebook. Extreme Overclocking has a review of the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 Pro video card. Look for my own review of this video card to be posted this weekend.Laptops
10:31 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/17/03)Today's reviews from the net seem to be very focused around motherboards. A few notables exceptions to that though. First is a review of the eMachines M5305 laptop computer system by TechTV. This is eMachine's new "re"-entry into the portable computing market. The other is a review of the Samsung 192T 19" LCD monitor by Anandtech. Their conclusion? It is really just a repackaging of the 191T rather than a truly new monitor.Laptops
10:42 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/16/03)Today I have a very long list of reviews posted over the Father's Day weekend. A large number of reviews on cooling solutions for the PC and a fair number of motherboard and video card reviews. Monitor reviews are few and far between in the PC hardware world, so whenever I come across one I tend to point it out. ExtensionTech recently published a review of the BenQ FP781 17" LCD monitor, a fairly inexpensive 17" LCD monitor.Cases and Mods
09:42 AM AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Review
This week we have a review of the AMD Athlon XP 2500+ desktop CPU. Many retailers are now selling this processor for under $100, but does it make a good budget processor? The review includes a benchmark comparison against an Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz CPU and overclocking results. How does the XP 2500+ compare against the Intel chip and will this $100 processor be made just as fast as the current XP 3200+ processor that sells for over $450?
07:00 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/13/03)It's all about the motherboard today. Half the list is links to motherboard reviews. Of particular interest is a very large comparison of Intel i865PE/875P motherboards by Anandtech. It is such a large review that this is actually only the first part of the review and it contains twenty motherboards for comparison. Apparently they will be posting a second half in the near future with an additional thirteen motherboards and their finalists amoung all thirty-three.Cases and Mods
10:53 AM Updated Promotions (6/12/03)The collected special offers and discounts page has been updated with the latest from PC systems and component manufacturers. Dell has updated their weekly promotions and switched to a free shipping offer as well as desktop hard drive upgrades and second batteries for notebook computers. WinBook has recently redesigned their site and is now offering a free DVD-ROM upgrade on select J4 notebook systems. These and all other current promotions can be found on my promotions listing.11:58 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/12/03)Lots of reviews from around the net today. In particular there were a large number of reviews of power supplies from a number of sites. It looks like I will be getting a new case and power supply in the near future to review as well. Of interest out of the reviews is one on the Acer TravelMate 800 notebook computer by Hard Avenue. I think this is a often overlooked system compared to the bigger names. It even made my list of Top 5 Thin and Light Notebook Computers.Laptops
11:29 AM WD Announces 250GB SATA DriveWant a lot of hard drive space? Need to used the latest technology available? Western Digital has been slow with their introduction of Serial ATA hard drives, but that is going to change soon. They have announced a new 250 GB Serial ATA hard drive to be produced for their Caviar Special Edition drives. I certaintly can't wait to see how this drives performs considering their only current Serial ATA drive is really geared towards the low end server market.11:14 AM Benchmarking DillemiaExtreme Tech has posted an editorial article entitled The Murky World of 3D Benchmarking talking about the current state of benchmarking. Speaking as a reviewer who must evaluate video cards, the issues raised through the recent nVidia/FutureMark arguement over 3DMark03 has a lot of impact on how I do my work. As such, I have to consider how I want to spend my time when I do evaluations beacuse as Extreme Tech says, I don't have time to babysit all the benchmarking or else I wouldn't have the time to work on other articles or reviews.11:11 AM Latest Net Reviews (6/11/03)Fairly large list of reviews posted out on the net today. One of the interesting reviews is from Beyond3D on the Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro Fireblade video card. Most of the video card reviews out there focus on the high-end or low-end and fail to show the performance of the middle cards which tend to be the best sellers for the companies. I have a Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro on order and plan to review it in the coming weeks. It isn't the Fireblade edition, but I hope to test its overclocking ability.Cases and Mods
11:06 AM Latest Net ReviewsWith the new Intel i865PE and i875P chipsets, dual-channell memory is becoming extremely popular, but how does one know what the best memory is? Anandtech has done a very thorough testing of a number of manufacturers memory on a wide range of motherboards to produce an 865PE and 875P Memory Guide. Another link of interest is the Dell UltraSharp 1800FP LCD Monitor Review by ExtremeMhz. Its hard to find reviews of monitors and a review of a brand other than Samsung is welcome.Cases and Mods
10:12 AM Latest Net ReviewsA pretty slow weekend on the hardware front means a fairly short list for today. The big review of the day though has to be the Power Supply Comparison done by Tom's Hardware. This is a very detailed review and discussion about power supplies. They are always very thorough in the labs at Tom's Hardware and it shows in this article.Cases and Mods
11:20 AM Top Performance DesktopsFor the month of June, I'm focusing on performance computing and today I've updated the Top Performance Desktop Computers list. All of the systems on the list use the latest Intel Pentium 4 processors along with the high-performance Intel i875P chipset. Also posted are reviews of five desktop computer systems that are on the list. The reviews can be located either through the top picks list or via the Product Reviews category.07:00 AM Latest Net ReviewsHopefully everyone is out enjoying a great summer weekend, but for those of you looking for some hardware reviews here is today's batch of links. A lot of motherboard reviews this time around, but the most interesting is of the Highpoint e.SATA kit review by OCTools. This kit allows one to use the Serial ATA bus for an external hard drive storage device that is faster than the current IEEE 1394 or USB 2.0 devices.Cases and Mods
12:40 PM Latest Net ReviewsAnother day, another short list of links. Most of the entries are in the video card category today. The most interesting review I found was of the Samsung LTM295W LCD TV/Monitor by Monkey Review. This is a 29" wide screen LCD TV that also doubles as a computer monitor. All this for a low low price of over $3,000. Interesting product, but I doubt many will be buying it.Cases and Mods
09:23 AM Latest Net Review LinksOverall the list of links is fairly short today. Most of the links involve PC computer cases or modifications. One item of note is a review of the gigantic Thermalright SLK-800U heatsink by X-Treme Modz. I recently acquired a AMD Athlon XP 2500+ which I'm planning on reviewing and also overclocking. To do this, I picked up the Thermalright SLK-800U which I will also be planning a review on.Cases and Mods
12:06 PM Dell's New PromotionDell has just posted their latest promotional offerings. This time around they are offering free memory and optical drive upgrades on most of their Dimension desktop and Inspiron portable computer systems. In addition, several models of Inspiron computers are available with up to a $250 mail-in rebate. For more details on these or other offers currently availalbe, check out the compiled PC Hardware Promotions page.11:33 AM Latest Net Review LinksMost of the reviews on the net posted today are either about video cards and motherboards. Tom's Hardware did a preview of the ATI Radeon 9600 Mobility like Extreme Tech did yesterday. The most interesting review is that of the AMD Athlon 2500+ Overclocking from PureOC. I hope to soon have a review of this processor as well as some overclocking results.Cooling
09:58 AM Latest Net Review LinksToday's list is very heavy on links for various cooling solution product reviews, but the really interesting links are in the video card section. Of note are the comparison of 7 different Radeon 9800 Pro boards by Nordic Hardware and a review of the ATI Radeon 9600 Mobility graphics processor for laptops by Extreme Tech.Cases and Mods
11:42 AM ASUS P4P800 w/PAT Revealed!Since the news a few days ago about the ASUS claim to have enabled Perfomance Acceleration Technology on the ASUS i865PE P4P800 motherboard, a lot of specualation about whether it is real or a memory tweak to mimic PAT has been passed around. Tom's Hardware decided to look into the matter in detail and has tried to answer the question "Did ASUS really enable PAT on an i865PE board?"10:45 AM Latest Net Review LinksTime to catch up with the backlog of reviews posted on the net over the weekend. Of interest from the reviews over the weekend are reviews of several higher end desktop PCs from PC World Magazine and a memory review of Crucial's PC3200 DDR memory. It's refreshing to see a review on Crucial memory as many people overlook it in favor of more expensive overclocking memory. Read on to see the full list of reviews from the Net.Desktops
09:45 AM OverclockingMaybe you have an older computer system that you would like to last a little while longer before replacing or you just want to get the most out of the new computer system you just purchased? Both of these are reasons one might look into overclocking their computer. But what exactly is overclocking? In my latest article, I look into what it takes to overclock a system and why you would really want to do it.07:00 AM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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