Sure, the AMD64 series of 64-bit mainstream processors are starting to become a hit among enthusiasts around the world before its official worldwide launch later this month. For the time being though AMD fans will need to stick with Athlon XP and one of the chipsets available to power this CPU: nForce 2 from nVidia. Today TweakTown's Cameron "Sov" Johnson takes a look at the DFI nForce 2 Lanparty motherboard. Can't afford or wait for Athlon 64? Then take a look at this!

It seems like most of the tech world is waiting for the launch of AMD's Athlon64 processor line. The Athlon64, in case you've been living as a castaway on a South Seas island, is AMD's upcoming desktop version of its Hammer 64-bit x86-64 architecture. However, a few hardy souls have configured single-processor, Opteron 1xx CPUs into Asus Nforce3 boards to build desktop systems for general purpose use, including high end gaming. [...] We configured a new set of testbeds, to compare AMD's latest baby, to the Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz part and the Athlon XP 3200+. (Due to configuration changes, we weren't able to get comparable results to the 1.8GHz system we tested back in August). What we found was very intriguing, and if the performance we see translates at all to the upcoming desktop variant, which AMD has dubbed the Athlon64, which is scheduled to be announced on September 23rd, then gamers everywhere should rejoice. [...] The complete review is available over @ ExtremeTech

Just got word from Zardon at Driver Heaven that he's thrown up Stuart "Veridian3" Davidson gainward geforce fx 5900 ultra 256mb golden sample review! Here's a byte.

As you can see our review of the Gainward FX Powerpack Ultra 1600XP Golden Sample is much shorter and less detailed than previous reviews. The reason for this is that the card broke down after 7 days of use (3 of benchmarking) meaning we were unable to complete all the tests we would have liked. The issues experienced were a corrupted XP boot screen followed by no signal to the monitor when in windows with any version of the Detenator?s installed. This issue was across multiple installs and multiple machines.

Hardware Pacers has posted a review on Zalman ZM-RS6F 5.1 Surround Headphones! Here's a rip.

Usually we have our surround sound with our speaker system, however Zalman went ahead and designed headphones that could provide the surround sound we were looking for without waking up the neighbors. Aside from waking up the neighbors, these headphones provide highest comfortability and design. The most astonishing feature about these headphones are that they do not provide virtual sound (DSP1), they provide real surround sound where the surround field is being reproduced from a complete multi-channel speaker system with separate front, rear, and center channels.

Tweaknews.net have thrown up their review of Samsung's SyncMaster 172MP 17inch multifunction LCD Monitor! Here's a snip.

Samsung has done nothing but improve on a good product with the 172MP. For ~US$700, you don't only get a decent 17 inch LCD monitor, but also a mini-multimedia center with full component and composite audio and video capabilities.

Just got word from Chris Suttles at TheCrucible.ca that he's thrown up their Connect3D Radeon 9200 review! Here's a byte.

On the other hand, this card was not meant to win any speed medals. This is a budget card, and performs well within what you'd expect from such a card. You are not going to see earth shattering framerates for under a hundred bucks. The video quality is excellent, as you'd expect from an ATi based card, and it would make a decent card for a server box, or a box for grandma and the kids to check email and surf the net, even play an occasional game, albeit at a low resolution .

Hardware Pacers has posted a review on the PowerColor ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB! Here's a rip.

After overclocking over the limit (418/371), the video card started to show heavy amounts of artifacts. After the core and memory speed was decreased to 418/371, the artifacts were gone. It is also amazing at how far (418/371 from 378/351) the video card's core can be overclocked."

Hardware Pacers has posted a review on the Seasonic Super Silencer 400W Power Supply! Here's a snip.

The 80% power efficiency surpasses the market average by 12%. The power supply furthermore saves 15% of energy and runs 40% cooler because it uses less electricity than other less expensive power supplies.

ALi M1687 Athlon 64 K8 Reference Mainboard reviewed with a 3100+(recent bioses degrade it to 2900+).Need I say more?

With AGP 1x/2x/4x/8x support, M1687 provides system designers with enough headroom to interface with different graphics solutions to fulfill various market requirements. The M1687 introduces HyperTransport? bus, a next generation link bus that can reach up to 6.4GB/sec to K8 CPU side and up to 1.6GB/sec to our south bridge side in bandwidth.

With new video board models coming out about every six months, it can get a bit difficult staying up with just how the top players compare with others in the market. Come join TweakTown's Cameron "Sov" Johnson as he takes a look at one of the latest video boards to hit the streets; the Gigabyte Radeon 9800 Pro 256. With DDR-II and the hottest VPU to hit the marketplace, it is time to see just how much better it really is compared to other present competitors. Come see for yourself and decide if it is worth the entry fee!.

Hardware Pacers have posted their review on IOGear's COMBO 3.5 ION Drive 60GB!Here's a snip.

The Ziff Davis Media's Business Disk WinMark 99 and High-End Disk WinMark 99 benchmark results showed that the GHD135C60 achieved majority of the higher scores. The external hard drive loads programs faster than the DiamondMax Plus 9, especially when connected through Firewire.

SilverStone is a new Taiwanese company, with a strong background in aluminum cases and power supplies. A few months ago Coolermaster merged with ATCS Technology, a daughter company from Coolermaster which produces computer cases. Most of the members of ATCS leaved, and most of the R&D and marketing people became part of SilverStone. At the moment SilverStone has three product lines ; Cases, power supplies, and also accessory. We are going to have a look at one of their silent power supplies.

Just got word that RipNet-UK, have thrown up their first instalment of 'Project Omerta - The Search For Silence'. The review subject is a pair of Quiet PC Radial Fin CPU coolers, the question is, can they reduce the noise of twin Pentiums on a VP6 to an acceptable level?

In its present noisy state it has three hard drives, two CPU coolers, two 80mm inlet fans and the same exhausting at the rear of the case, a twin-fan 350W power supply... All told the computer is an annoyingly noisy beast - even running in its normal state with both the 80mm inlets and both the rear exhaust fans all switched off it can clearly be heard from the next room in the house..

Hartware.net hat sich genauer mit dem Thermalright SP-94 mit Heatpipe und dem Thermalright SLK-947 (dem Nachfolger von SLK-800/900) beschäftigt. Anlässlich dieser Tests haben sie dann auch gleich acht weitere Kühler für den Intel Pentium 4 Prozessor in den Review mit einbezogen. Darunter waren so interessante Kandidaten wie der 773g schwere Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu (W2S TIP!) mit eingesetztem 92mm Lüfter und der in der Xaser Edition sehr umfangreich ausgestattete Thermaltake Spark 7+. Außerdem getestet wurden: Arctic Cooling Super Silent 4 TC, CoolJag JAC362A-A, Cooler Master Aero7, Q-Link T.M.D., Verax P16Cu und ein Standard Boxed Kühler. Wer von diesen der leiseste Cooler ist, welcher am stärksten kühlt und welcher den besten Kompromiss aus Kühlleistung und Geräuschentwicklung bietet, erfahrt ihr im Review.

DiscGamer.com unleashed another hardware review, this time they take a look at the Logitech's Cordless Comfort Duo and determine if it's worthy of your gaming system or not..

What really sets this combo apart from other cordless kits from Logitech or other companies, is the ergonomic keyboard, which is great if you spend a lot of time typing like I do. The split and angled sides of the keyboard allow for a more natural position when typing, taking the pressure off of your wrists, which should help prevent the onset of carpel tunnel syndrome and other degenerative problems that can develop from repetitive stress to your hands and wrists.

Heatsink And Fan Unit Reviews

ATrueReview.com : Galaxy Tech Cold Cathode Fan Unit Review
Hardware-Pacers.com : Zalman CNPS7000A-CU Heatsink And Fan Unit Review
3dXtreme: Coolermaster Aero 7+ CPU Cooler Review

Memory Reviews

ViperLair.com : OCZ EL DDR PC3700 Premier Dual Channel DDR Memory Review

Chassis Reviews

OCAddiction.com : Cooler Master Wave Master Aluminium Case Review

Drive Enclosure Reviews

ModSynergy.com : Coolmax Gemini Series CD-510B-U2 3.5"/5.25" Aluminium USB 2.0 External Drive Enclosure Review

Graphics Card Reviews

HotHardware.com : ATi FireGL X1 And NVIDIA Quadro FX 2000 Graphics Cards Comparative Review

Graphics Card Reviews

HotHardware.com : Leadtek WinFast A350 TDH MyViVo And ABIT Siluro FX 5900 OTES Graphics Cards Comparative Review
TweakNews.net : Palit Daytona Geforce FX5200 Ultra Graphics Card Review

Heatsink And Fan Unit Reviews

3DGameMan.com : Zalman CNPS7000A-ALCU (Socket 478/462/754) Heatsink And Fan Unit Video Review

Memory Reviews

SystemCooling.com : Corsair TwinX512 PC3700 DDR RAM Review

Game PC have thrown up their review of Asus?s upcoming PC-DL Deluxe Intel 875P motherboard! which supports the latest dual Xeon CPU on 533MHz FSB, dual-channel DDR333 architecture, Intel CSA Gigabit LAN, Hyper-Threading Technology, various high speed interface and revolutional intelligent features!

Digital Imaging Equipment Reviews

HardAvenue.com : HP Photosmart 850 And 935 Digital Cameras Review

Chassis Reviews

Hardware-Pacers.com : RaidMax Scorpio-668 Silver Case Review