We put a variety of games across several different genres on similar Intel- and AMD-based systems, and then measured performance during real playing. When it really matters most, which CPU delivers the goods?

ExtremeTech

With the new Creative Zen Vision and the Muvo Vidz, Creative aims to go into the video loving crowd. Both the Vidz and the Zen Vision has video play back as one of the main highlights. Click here for a deeper in-sight on these new players @ VR-Zone!

The NEC HD DVD Drive HR-1100A will be shipping in limited numbers in November. The HD DVD drive can play HD DVDs with 2x speeds. It also supports current DVD formats and CDs. NEC developed a special head that can read red and blue laser light.

I4U News

Last week we published our review of the SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatality soundcard from Creative Labs. One of the questions that remained to be answered was why Creative decide to go for a PCI only based soundcard, we found out that in the near future there will not be a PCI-Express version of the graphics card.

Guru3D

This is pretty interesting news this morning. Digitimes is saying that ATI has plans to introduce a new lineup of chipsets for the AMD Socket M2 in 2006. They first mention the new ATI RD580 and RD580C chipsets, which we first saw mentioned at the recent ECS Editor's Day.

PC Perspective

Microsoft has recently added new peripherals to update its product line; one of such peripherals is the company?s Wireless Optical Desktop 4000 keyboard and mouse duo. The product features a zoom slider, which would allow you to zoom in on pictures, maps, documents and webpages effortlessly. Similar to other mice in its product line, the second half of the Wireless Optical Desktop 4000 features Microsoft?s Tilt Wheel technology, which will essentially let you scroll through webpages horizontally and vertically.

According to sources, the initial samples of the 975X are much more capable than especially Nvidia may have expected. Apparently, the chipset is not only capable of supporting SLI, but ATI's upcoming dual-graphics technology "Crossfire" as well.

Toms Hardware Guide

Would you believe me if I tell you that there is a Pioneer DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-+DL and BR (BluRay) burner and that it's called BRD-101A? Well, you'd better, and here's the proof! A Korean site (that gets its news from a Chinese site) provides us pictures that this internal PC BluRay DVD burner really exists. Noteworthy is that this burner does not support CD's and DVD-RAM's.

Akihabara News

A new technology and initiative being pushed by this ?New ECS? is its S.D.G.E. (Scalable Dual Graphic Engine) ? an ECS exclusive that allows end-users to buy a SDGE compatible motherboard and upgrade to dual VGA cards either immediately or later down the road via a proprietary ECS module that bridges the cards.

GDHardware

Are gadgets starting to bore you with the same old color scheme and functionality? Well, look no further than Mimoco?s Mimibot flash drives. In order to distinguish itself from the number of flash drive manufacturers, Mimoco has introduced a family of Mimibots that take a step forward in product design and overall aesthetics.

Last week, we've completed a round up and comparison of socket 939 motherboards. The MSI K8N SLI Platinum is one of the first boards to offer Creative's Live! 24 bit as integrated audio. Infact, it is this very reason that made us recommend this motherboard. However, we didn't have time to really examine it. Today, we're going to see just how much better the Creative Live! 24 bit is to the competition - the ALC 850 codec and NVIDIA NForce 4 Sonata audio controller.

XR's Senior US Hardware Reviewer Steve "WxChaser" Carmel has a look at Sunbeam Technologies most recent products of 2005.

Early last week, we published two insider reports that hinted OCZ?s progress and plans in the cooling market. To recap, our reports suggested that OCZ is working on heatsinks for enthusiasts at affordable price points, and OCZ may even enter the water-cooling scene should it deem necessary to serve the enthusiast community.

Boing Boing pointed to this amazing Bender PC. The full-sized replica of the trash talking robot from Futurama includes glowing eyes, a CD-eating mouth and the ability to say ?Bite My Shiny Metal Ass? on demand.

Kotaku

AMD, and its users, sometimes try to make fun of Intel but it looks like he (Intel) who laughs last, laughs best. AMD beat Intel by delivering its 64-bit processors Athlon 64 and Opteron two years ago and by having a slight overall performance edge over Intel's offerings. AMD's offerings also have a better dual-core design and on average they use less power. The only segment where Intel is still the obvious number one is the mobile segment, where their Centrino continues to score high. Read on at DV Hardware

EVGA isn't the only NVIDIA board partner with a custom cooling solution on their GeForce 7800 GTX board, ASUS has joined the fray too! ASUS has partnered with Arctic Cooling to deliver a copper-based cooler that delivers exceptional cooling performance in a quiet dual-slot package. Join us as we take a sneak peek at this exciting new 7800 GTX card!

Today TweakTown are taking a close look at three of the most recent water cooling kits released from Corsair, Thermaltake and Gigabyte. We put them all inside the ring to find out which offers the best overall features and cooling performance. If you're on the market for a new CPU cooling solution which offers better performance than air coolers to aid in higher overclocking and quieter operation at the same time, read on and find out which one is the best buy!

Pureoverclock test four high-end power supplies and find out which one offers the best price/performance ratio. "I'll be looking at four power supplies in this 15 page roundup using two 7800 GTX cards in SLI on an overclocked A64 testbed. The four power supplies are the Enermax Noisetaker 600, PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI, Seasonic S12 600 and the Silverstone Zeus ST65ZF 650. These are all high-end models which offer huge power output and are more than capable of running an SLI configuration" Pureoverclock

AMD said it will launch its dual-core mobile Turion 64 processors in early 2006, close to the launch of Intel's Yonah processors. The dual-core Turion 64 features the Socket S1 with 638 pins and will be AMD's first CPU with Pacifica Virtualization Technology.. Read on at DV Hardware

All of the X800 cards from ATI will support Crossfire, including the X800GT and X800GTO. You will need a master card in order to run it and wait for the 2nd driver release. The launch drivers will just support X800XT and X850XT derivatives.

HEXUS