More and more modding is the way that the hardcore computer user is going and having the most unique toys sets one apart from the rest. Crystalfontz provides toys for the modder or for the system admin who wants an easy way to monitor his hardware without having to hook up a monitor to the computer. They provide a wide variety of LCD displays for just about every application imaginable. Today we have the pleasure of reviewing the 634 LCD (CFA634-TFB-KU) with drive bay kit. It is a 4 line by 20 character display that is backlit and has the option of being connected to USB or serial connection.
Gateway builds and HTPC and htpcnews reviewed it.
Quote: We set out to find out if a pre-built HTPC could finally rival one that we enthusiasts would build. We found one that looked as if it might and decided to give it a run for its money. Joshua Schipmann reviews the Gateway 901x and takes it through all the standard HTPC ropes so you guys can make an informed decision on your next HTPC purchase. Come see if it's worth your dollar or if it would be better spent somewhere else.
ATI All in Wonder Radeon 9600 Multimedia Videocard Review
Article Snippit:
"With yet another All in Wonder weapon in its arsenal, ATI is yet again proving to the market that it has no intention of slowing down and taking it easy. Sure they have taken a huge market share that has been held tight by their rival for years, but ATI is not stopping. With a product cycle coming close to the lifespan of a suicidal lemming, it seems that every time I have a review of an All in Wonder written and finalized, there is another one at my door waiting for some attention.
The All in Wonder 9600 fills a rather wide performance gap between the AIW 9200 and the AIW 9600pro/xt and is targeted towards the mainstream consumer that want a boat load of multimedia features and fully compliant DX9 gaming, but also with a pricetag that is equally attractive."
"With yet another All in Wonder weapon in its arsenal, ATI is yet again proving to the market that it has no intention of slowing down and taking it easy. Sure they have taken a huge market share that has been held tight by their rival for years, but ATI is not stopping. With a product cycle coming close to the lifespan of a suicidal lemming, it seems that every time I have a review of an All in Wonder written and finalized, there is another one at my door waiting for some attention.
The All in Wonder 9600 fills a rather wide performance gap between the AIW 9200 and the AIW 9600pro/xt and is targeted towards the mainstream consumer that want a boat load of multimedia features and fully compliant DX9 gaming, but also with a pricetag that is equally attractive."
OCZ PC4000 Dual Channel EL 1GB Kit
TheCrucible give you the low down on OCZ's PC4000 memory kit. The results are pretty darn good considering they only ran it at stock voltage. Check out the review for more info.
Quote:
OCZ has produced a quality dual channel memory kit that does what it is supposed to do, and more. It runs at it's rated timings and frequencies without any problems. You can still squeeze a few extra megahertz out of it, even at only it's rated 2.8v. I personally would recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality very fast one gigabyte hunk of memory. You cannot really go wrong with this OCZ' PC4000 Dual Channel EL memory kit.
Quote:
OCZ has produced a quality dual channel memory kit that does what it is supposed to do, and more. It runs at it's rated timings and frequencies without any problems. You can still squeeze a few extra megahertz out of it, even at only it's rated 2.8v. I personally would recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality very fast one gigabyte hunk of memory. You cannot really go wrong with this OCZ' PC4000 Dual Channel EL memory kit.
Asus SK8N @ DriverHeaven
The board layout is quite different to the SK8V, the SK8N features a CPU socket much closer to the centre of the board and memory slots which run parallel to the top of the board. This layout does make working in the case slightly easier as the CPU and memory are further away from drives and cables than normal. Cooling of the ram may also be assisted depending on the cooling of your case or PSU. All IDE, SATA and power sockets are placed down the edge of the board which allows for greater air flow through the rest of the system where it is needed. The final design point of note is the PCB space to the side of the PCI slots is free from components and traces, something that is rather useful as capacitors in that area makes the addition and removal of PCI cards more difficult.
X-micro WLAN 11g PCMCIA CARD Review
Hardware Pacers has posted a review on the X-micro WLAN 11g PCMCIA CARD. Here is a snippet:
"The X-Micro WLAN 11g PCMCIA Card (802.11g) provides all the compatibility a wireless card can get. It can be used in combination with any WLAN Adapter (11b - 11g - 11g Turbo) to incorporate any Notebook to the wireless world." X-micro
"The X-Micro WLAN 11g PCMCIA Card (802.11g) provides all the compatibility a wireless card can get. It can be used in combination with any WLAN Adapter (11b - 11g - 11g Turbo) to incorporate any Notebook to the wireless world." X-micro
Vantec NexStar 2.5
Quote:
"Removable storage has always been convenient; just look at the popularity of the Iomega Zip drive. While Iomega has lost most of it's luster from the Zip 100, removable storage is good for a lot of things. Vantec has released a new USB powered, 2.5" Hard Drive external enclosure. So let's begin looking at the aluminum enclosure, the NexStar..."
"Removable storage has always been convenient; just look at the popularity of the Iomega Zip drive. While Iomega has lost most of it's luster from the Zip 100, removable storage is good for a lot of things. Vantec has released a new USB powered, 2.5" Hard Drive external enclosure. So let's begin looking at the aluminum enclosure, the NexStar..."
Review: Corsair XMS4400 1Gb DualChannel kit @ XtremeNews
Corsair Memory has great amount of memories in the market, between these models we can find oriented modules to different works like servers, Athlon64 or memories for enthusiastic, today we will analyze fastest of this last category, with the amazing speed of 550MHz the XMS4400 of Corsair becomes a luxury for overclocking, if you want to know this product just click in the image.
Spire WhisperRock IV Cooler Review
Marketed as a product for computer users looking for a quiet cooling solution with competitive cooling capabilities, the WhisperRock performs exactly as Spire claims it to. While I wouldn’t recommend this cooler to overclockers, it is a fine cooler to put in any other computer. The build quality was great, it has an attractive look and it’s near-silent.
Logitech MX510 Performance Optical Mouse @ GeekExtreme.com
More red-hot review action coming your way. On the heels of the Razer Viper, a truly kick-ass optical gaming mouse, we've got the Logitech MX510 Perfomance Optical Mouse.
Quote:
Optical mice, since they became available to the general consumer, have traditionally won out over their un-nuetered bretheren in almost everything, save for gaming. More recently Logitech and a few other companies have come up with mice that were "okay" for gaming, but the balled variety of mouse always offered the gamer a better deal in the end. On the heels of our Razer Viper review, we now take a look at Logitech's "gaming" mouse - the MX510 Performance Optical Mouse. Sporting a slightly "better" sensor than the Viper and an ergonomic feel, does the Logitech MX510 have the "balls" to unseat the Viper from it's throne?
How did it fare?
Read on . . .
Quote:
Optical mice, since they became available to the general consumer, have traditionally won out over their un-nuetered bretheren in almost everything, save for gaming. More recently Logitech and a few other companies have come up with mice that were "okay" for gaming, but the balled variety of mouse always offered the gamer a better deal in the end. On the heels of our Razer Viper review, we now take a look at Logitech's "gaming" mouse - the MX510 Performance Optical Mouse. Sporting a slightly "better" sensor than the Viper and an ergonomic feel, does the Logitech MX510 have the "balls" to unseat the Viper from it's throne?
How did it fare?
Read on . . .
Intel Prescott 3.4E Processor Review @ Tweaknews.net
It's honestly a tough call on the new Prescott core and Intel's new flagship CPU. On one hand you have just a couple core revisions for improved speed scaling and performance improvements when the 1MB L2 cache and the new SSE3 instruction set is used, but there are some definite drawbacks that have to be addressed in order for this CPU to become a popular and safe desktop CPU for the enthusiast or the everyday consumer.
NZXT Guardian Case Review
OCIA.net checks out the NZXT Guardian Case in their latest review. Below is a direct quote from the review:
This steel chassis mid-tower case brings a unique look as well as providing some nice ease of use features, including an almost completely screwless design. Its most prominent feature though has to be its unique "Guardian Eye Motion LED", which could make you the envy of any LAN party.
This steel chassis mid-tower case brings a unique look as well as providing some nice ease of use features, including an almost completely screwless design. Its most prominent feature though has to be its unique "Guardian Eye Motion LED", which could make you the envy of any LAN party.
OCZ PC4400 Memory Review
Recently, OCZ along with Corsair announed their DDR550 memory. It is currently the fastest DDR "I" memory you can purchase. Today we will be taking a look at OCZ's PC4400 or DDR550 RAM. Obviously the DDR550 memory modules are fast but how fast? Read on to find out our conclusion of this lightning speed wonder.
Cool-Cases CF1 microstructure water block
The Madshrimps thoroughly tested this water block several times, and this review ended up taking three days, positioned, and re-positioned the TTF-103 thermistor at least 15x, to ensure optimal contact was achieved, very impressed with Cool-Cases.org. We can honestly say they may be the most innovative H20 PC-cooling company out there.
Intel Pentium 4 3.4E
Here's a list of sites that have thrown up their reviews of Intel's Pentium 4 3.4E Prescott-based CPU!
Amid the spectacle of wardrobe malfunctions and abnormally large caches, some noteworthy developments got a little lost. For one, the new Prescott processor was a shockingly major replumbing of the familiar Pentium 4, with an uber-deep 31-stage pipeline and a host of internal tweaks. These changes made Prescott usually a little slower, clock for clock, than the previous Pentium 4.
Amid the spectacle of wardrobe malfunctions and abnormally large caches, some noteworthy developments got a little lost. For one, the new Prescott processor was a shockingly major replumbing of the familiar Pentium 4, with an uber-deep 31-stage pipeline and a host of internal tweaks. These changes made Prescott usually a little slower, clock for clock, than the previous Pentium 4.
Mentor Deluxe 3D 5.1 Surround Headphones @ DiscGamer.com
For anyone who lives in an apartment or other cramped space and can't add 5.1 surround goodness to their computers, might want to check out this review. Today DiscGamer.com takes a look at an alternative solution to 5.1 speakers, the Mentor Deluxe 3D 5.1 Surround Headphones.
"The Mentor Deluxe 3D Headphones from Listen to Believe aim to provide true 5.1 surround in a tiny headphone package. At first I thought "Are they kidding? How can you get true surround sound out of a pair of headphones?" Amazingly, Listen to Believe has pulled it off."
"The Mentor Deluxe 3D Headphones from Listen to Believe aim to provide true 5.1 surround in a tiny headphone package. At first I thought "Are they kidding? How can you get true surround sound out of a pair of headphones?" Amazingly, Listen to Believe has pulled it off."
Seasonic Super Silencer 460W PSU Review
OCIA.net checks out the Seasonic Super Silencer 460W PSU in their latest review! Here's a snip.
Most people don't even think about their power supply. The most vital part of the computer that, for the most parts, sits quietly and keeps your rig running smoothly. Folks have started paying more attention to the PSU lately, coming out with products that are anodized, come with LED fans, and many other gizmos to tickle your fancy. This power supply, however, isn't one of those. This is what people in the automotive world call a sleeper, or an eagle in disguise. For that same fact, we will be calling this PSU the SS, which stands for Super Silencer. It may look like your standard generic PSU, but it hides some very interesting technology inside.
Most people don't even think about their power supply. The most vital part of the computer that, for the most parts, sits quietly and keeps your rig running smoothly. Folks have started paying more attention to the PSU lately, coming out with products that are anodized, come with LED fans, and many other gizmos to tickle your fancy. This power supply, however, isn't one of those. This is what people in the automotive world call a sleeper, or an eagle in disguise. For that same fact, we will be calling this PSU the SS, which stands for Super Silencer. It may look like your standard generic PSU, but it hides some very interesting technology inside.
Case4U Mona Designer ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case Review @ Tweaknews.net
The Mona case from Case 4u is the lazy modder's dream: It requires no hard work to improve its appearance and can have lights and fans added without drilling or cutting to put in a window or fan opening. While the case requires nothing extra to make it look great, there is room for additions which makes the case a viable option for advanced modders as well. I enjoy the case thoroughly as I am one of those people who want to do nothing to the case but still have an impressive looking computer.