Just how much power do you really need?
Do you REALLY need a new 1.3kw power sucking PSU? - to find out, we walked into a local PC store, picked up a low end (£55) PSU, and built a Quad Core Extreme Edition/XFX 8800GTX XXX powered high end enthusiast rig, with Asus Premium motherboard, 2 gig of actively cooled Corsair Dominator ram, 3 Sata hard drives, DVD Burner, and topped it all off with cold cathodes and 6 LED case fans. Did it blow up? or could we get it overclocked well past 3ghz in a stable environment? Join in our forum thread over here:
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Socket 775 Roundup
"A few months back we took a look at the first real generation of Core2 boards which were based on the Intel 975x chipset. At the time it was arguably the best chipset available for the Core2, however in recent times both AMD and Nvidia have taken a stab at stealing the performance crown with their 680i and 690 chipsets respectively. Our first look at the 680i was hugely disappointing with the early reference designs being plagued with problems, ranging from PS2 keyboard compatibility issues to quad core bugs. That said, some manufacturers took a little more time to bring their products to market and so with this in mind we revisit the chipset in the form of Abit's IN9 32X-MAX. The recently released Fatality F-I90HD is the second product on test today, based on the brand new AMD 690 chipset it is a more budget conscious board with great potential to compete with the more expensive models. Finally we have Intel's D975XBX2, an updated version of the original XBX which is the best Intel board we have used to date."
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Gaming Heaven Review: Need For Speed Carbon (Playstation 3)
Need for Speed games have always had a broad audience. Except for Porsche Unleashed which catered to a more serious and demanding crowd, all NFS games put speed and easily accessible racing before all else. The latest installments strayed from the original formula somewhat though – the influence of the movie Fast and Furious is apparent in all of them. The latest, Carbon, is no different. Illegal street racing in the middle of the night is the name of the game and it is up to you to take down various gangs by winning race after race!
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Razer Pro|Solutions Pro|Type
Razer's Pro|Type is their latest keyboard that comes in an iPod like white color with an integrated iPod docking station. The keyboard has two USB connectors to make sure there's always enough power for your keyboard and the iPod. Also included is a line-out so you can play music from your iPod directly on your home audio system.
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Vizo Uranus eSATA & USB 2.0 HDD enclosure
The Vizo Uranus looks quite different than most other HDD enclosures. The shape clearly dictates the use of the stand and the rounded corners, thick aluminum, blue color and modern label will surely look good on your desk. Vizo includes everything from eSATA bracket to special screws and screw drivers, as well as software to use with the backup function of the Uranus. We benchmark it and take a quick look at the included software, to find out if it has what it takes under that shiny aluminum shell.
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A-DATA Pirates Flash Drive 2 GB
In the past A-DATA has been making USB sticks with an official Disney license that were themed like the movie Cars, The Incredibles or Mickey. Now they added a flash drive with a Pirates of the Caribbean theme. Pirates of the Caribbean has been the best-selling movie in 2006. In addition to just the flash drive, buyers will get a set of MSN display pictures and wallpapers.
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Microsoft Razer Reclusa Keyboard
The Microsoft Razer Reclusa is the second product to be released from the two companies. While it may look quite out of this world, its functions are well placed and the Razer software rounds up the package. We take a close look at all the additional keys as well as the software behind the device and let you know if it is a steal for $60, or if we rather want to go back to our normal keyboards.
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Antec MX-1 Portable Hard Drive Enclosure
There are many forms of external storage devices; including flash drives, NAS devices and USB/Firewire. But for those like me that have tons of extra hard drives laying around you already have half the ingredients to make your own external drive. This is a form of back-up that I like myself due to the fact that I have several internal drives lying around that need a home. If this is sounds familiar to you Antec has an enclosure that may just interest you. The MX-1 is a multipurpose Hard Drive housing that provides cooling and portability all in one. Do we like the MX-1 and is it the one for you? Read the article and find out.
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XFX GeForce 7600GT Fatal1ty 650MHz in SLI mode
"We have with us today the GeForce 7600GT Fatal1ty from XFX (the version clocked at 650MHz core as opposed to the cheaper 560MHz) which is a bit fancier when compared to our standard run of the mill 7600GT. We’re going to have a look at exactly what the cards are capable of when running in SLI but also by itself. Being a special hyped up version bearing the Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel branding, they are quite a lot more expensive than regular reference style 7600GT’s but it’ll be interesting to see what type of extra performance and features we see by spending some more cash."
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AcBel 500-watt LCD Power Supply with Software Monitoring
"With the advent of truly monstrous system components, however, things have changed. There are now an absolute plethora of choices when it comes to power supplies, so manufacturers have been resorting to feature sets to help bring their own product line to the top of those wish lists. There are still a lot of different power levels to choose from, but it’s becoming a race to bring you features that you just “have to have”. AcBel has been around for a while and this isn’t their first venture into the power supply arena. As a matter of fact, they have been coming up with this type of product since the mid 90s, so they certainly have some experience in the field. But can they take a product that is in abundance and give us something that isn’t on every other similar power supply on the market?"
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Icy Box 2.5 Inch Hard Drive Enclosure Review
The Icy Box IB-266StUSD is a device that fits in a computer case's 3.5" bay. It holds a 2.5" SATA hard drive which is placed in a removable enclosure. The enclosure and it's hard drive are hotswappable because they use a external SATA connection. This means fast transfer speeds and easy access to your drive, as well as a very small enclosure. A 2.5" drive won't have the performance of a 3.5" one and is more expensive (per gigabyte), but it is much easier to transport and will generally not require external power to operate.
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Vizo Milano Media HDD Enclosure
"Vizo have got their finger in every pie, with hard disc enclosures, card readers and PC fans. But today I have a more interesting product, a hard disc enclosure. But not just any hard disc enclosure, this box contains the usual USB interface, but also acts as a stand-alone media centre playing audio and video. Lets have a look..."
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Lian Li PC-B20
"Lian Li are well known for their quality aluminium cases, and have been in the enclosure game for a long time as a result. Today I have their PC-B20 model which is not only touted as aluminium but super silent. Lets find out..."
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Silverstone Decathlon DA750
"How many 12v rails should a PSU have? This has always been somewhat debatable, some entering the single rail camp, and others preferring the route of the dual or even quad rail units. Silverstone made their mark with the Zeus range of power supplies featuring a strong single 12v rail and they aim to continue this trend of stable, solo rail units with their Decathlon series."
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Asus P5W DH Deluxe Motherboard
"I would like to see driver updates available through Asus Update and the real potential of this board isn't discovered until you start overclocking. Standard performance isn't lacking per se, just a little behind others. Speaking of overclocking, this can be done 'ye olde' fashioned way (BIOS) or via software from Windows thanks to the supplied utilities. The Q-Connector is a big boon for those who mess around inside the PC often, and even for those who don't it's simply all round a nicer and easier way of doing things."
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3R System R110 ATX Case
"The chassis is black, which while not disguising the steel nature, does make it seem more complete or more finished than bare steel. The front is plastic, black to match the rest of the case and features a mirrored fan controller/display as well as built in optical drive bay covers. Of particular note is that 3R System have included two (very quiet) 120mm fans in the intake and exhaust locations, something other manufacturers still fail to do. One particularly unique feature is the heatsink mounting system for the HDD's which does it's job quite effectively."
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Vizo Luxon Advanced External Hard Drive Enclosure Review
"The Vizo Luxon Advanced External Hard Drive Enclosure arrived Technic3D. eSATA for 3,5" see you in the following Review. We looks how good it is against other HDD Cases."
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Sharkoon Twindrive External Hard Drive Enclosure Review
"The Sharkoon Twindrive External Hard Drive Enclosure arrived Technic3D. A Dual Drive for 2x 3,5" PATA see you in the following Review. We looks how good it is against other HDD Cases."
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AMD/Microsoft Tech Tour 2007 Coverage
The AMD Tech Tour has traditionally been the method through which AMD has touched base with the reseller community to show new products and enable their resellers to sell AMD products easier. The Tech Tour is as much for informative purposes as it is for gathering feedback and promotional purposes. The event, which is held in several major cities throughout the United States, consists of largely marketing presentations and information presentations on the latest that AMD and its event partners has to offer. These events can draw as many as 500+ attendees who represent the reseller, system builder, and IT crowd. Typically AMD tries to "WOW" the crowd with events, excitement, and humor... Did I forget to mention the free stuff and Tour Bundle? Wanna see What I mean? Read on.
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Powercolor X1550 SCS
PowerColor has put together an excellent offer for those looking to balance performance, price, and noise level. The X1550 512MB SCS comes with dual DVI connectors, which is very important with the popularity of dual LCD configurations, and a custom cooler that effectively reduces the cards heat without adding an ounce of noise.
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BTO Plus Deck 2c PC Cassette Deck Review
"The Plus Deck 2c has the necessary controls for a tape deck... play, reverse, fast forward, fast reverse, stop and eject. Actually, there are two eject buttons. There is also a headphone jack and mic jack; I guess for someone that wants those up front but doesn't already have the capability. There is also a volume control similar to that on most optical drives. I should mention that there is not a "record" button. The Plus Deck 2c is a cassette player only; it does not have recording capability. It doesn't need recording capability, so it doesn't have it."
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Ultra X-Pro & X-Finity Power Supplies Review
"The X-Finity has the same number of connections so I won't go over that again. But, the cool thing with these cables is that they aren't rounded and sleeved like most you are used to. These cables are designed to lay flat, which means you can easily route them in your case. Even the main ATX cable is thin enough to be tucked under a motherboard. Some people may not like the color of the cables, but if they are tucked away... out of sight, out of mind!"
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Laptop / PC Branding
Tired of the same'ol look and want to give that laptop / PC a little bit of your own taste. Laptop Design USA allows you to do that by branding laptops, computer towers, and accessories with your own colors, logos, and artwork.
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CPU Heatsink Roundup
"We continue our testing of the latest CPU heatsinks on our reference system, this time new contestants from Coolermaster and Scythe enter the fray. Whether you're looking for extreme silence or extreme performance, this roundup will help you decide."
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Earth Defense Force 2017 Xbox 360 Review
If you want to give you brain a rest from a long day EDF 2017 is the game for you. It allows you to plant you butt in front of the television and cause carnage on an enormous scale. There is even a co-op mode which enables you to defend the earth with a friend, but it seems online support was left out. There are vehicles that can be used, however the controls are horrible making you more likely to pass them up rather then use them.
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Logitech Revolution Mouse Review
Logitech bills the MX Revolution as the world’s most advanced mouse. To a certain extent it is evolutionary. From a gamers’ point of view, you would be better served by a G7 mouse, as the resolution of this mouse in actual play is not good enough to play the latest and greatest FPS games. Regular mouse users will love the new features including the quick-flip through documents and the Search button. As a gamer playing through games like Rainbow Six Las Vegas and STALKER this mouse doesn't cut it and it is for those reasons I give this mouse a Silver award instead of a Gold Award. The other factor is the price. The price for the MX Revolution is $99, which is as expensive as many wireless keyboard+mouse combos in that same price range. In the end this mouse costs too much for too little and is better geared for a consumer product than a gaming one.
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Test Drive Unlimited PS2 Review
Test Drive isn’t like it used to be, and that is a good thing. Atari has tried to make this into a noticed racing franchise, instead of just another racing game that gets overlooked by a lot of gamers. This time around they have taken the wildly successful Xbox360 game Test Drive Unlimited, and put it on the PS2.
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DFI Lanparty UT NF590 SLI-M2R/G
Does DFI's NF590 SLI based AM2 motherboard live up to their past legacy of strong overclocking performance? At a first glace, the features and options are there, let's see if the board design follows through to give AM2 users high end performance.
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15 Days Remain For EVGA Motherboard Giveaway
This month we have a nice giveaway from our friends at EVGA. Two lucky winners will receive a shiny new NVIDIA 680i LT SLI Motherboard from EVGA. Don't pass up this opportunity for FREE stuff there are only 15 days left to enter!
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ASUS Commando Motherboard Review
From a features point of view, the ASUS Commando motherboard is more board than many boards on the market. The inclusion of GRAW and 3DMark06 on a motherboard bundle is unique to ASUS's Republic of Gamer's line of motherboards. From a performance point of view, the P965 based Commando is faster than the competition in terms of speed.
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Samsung LN-S2651D LCD HDTV
"The Samsung LN-S2651D LCD HDTV has a killer picture and even supports video and audio playback from your Apple iPod."
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Five Extraordinary USB Flash Drives
"USB flash drives are a dime a dozen now a days. They're cheap to make and generally inexpensive to purchase, especially as flash memory prices on the manufacturer level continue to fall. USB flash drives, for those that don't know, are essentially portable storage units that you plug into the USB port of a Windows PC or Mac so you can transfer files to and from the drive. Transfer times - especially across USB 2.0 compatible drives - are quick, and you can easily slip the thumb drive back into your pocket once you're done. "
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Plantronics Pulsar 260
"The Plantronics Pulsar 260 is a smartly designed stereo Bluetooth headset targeted for use with cell phones that double as MP3 players."
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Canon Powershot TX1
"The new Canon Powershot TX1 is one of the smallest camcorders we have seen, and it records video in beautiful high-definition."
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Koolance CPU-330 & CHC-120-V10 Water Blocks Review
"These blocks are designed to cool any processor with great results and will make a great addition to your current water cooling system and given the new pricing across most of Koolance's product lines, both the Koolance CPU-330 and CHC-120-V10 are excellent buys making new Koolance water cooling systems more..."
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WoW Report: The Burning Crusade
"It has been a while since we have published a WoW Report. The main reason was because I was not playing the game that much. Now the expansion The Burning Crusade is out so it's time to get back into the game! We are going to try to make this a once a week feature published every Thursday. So in this week's WoW report we will show you the new area called Outland and tell you a little about our questing in this area."
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Griffin iTrip Auto for iPod Review
"The iPod is the most popular MP3 player of all time. That's why you will find a ton of iPod accessories for sale everywhere you go. Even new cars are coming with iPod docks built-in so you can listen to your iPod's music in your car. Well most of us do not have a new car so what if we want to listen to our iPod's music in the car? This is where FM transmitters come in. They will play your iPod's music over your car's radio. Today we will be looking at the iTrip Auto from Griffin."
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Razer DeathAdder Gaming Mouse Review
"Razer has been making professional gaming gear for a while now. As far as mice goes we have seen the Copperhead, Diamondback, and Krait from Razer. All of these mice have been very successful and all Razer mice have had a big following. Today we will be looking at Razer's latest gaming mouse the DeathAdder. We had a chance to check it out during CES so we were excited to get our hands on it."
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