USB Hubs are a very common product now, everyone has so much stuff that they seem to always need to plug something else in but there never seems to be enough ports to do it. Since there are so many brands and styles of hubs, what does a company do to make theirs stand out from the crowd and make you buy it over any others out there?

Today for review I’ve got a product that not only adds five more USB connections to your computer but also adds an SATA port and an eSATA port. It seems to be a well made product with good intentions on creating something that could be very useful to many people out there.

So continue on to learn more and see the tests that I ran…

Read Full Review HERE 

AMD Phenom 9850 X4 Black Edition CPU Review

Author: Ben Sun Date: 03-30-2008

One thing AMD is stressing is the upgradeability of their older motherboards to support their new Quad Core CPUs. AMD sent a list of compatible motherboards that are on AMD’s Recommended List and it includes older motherboards including the nForce 570 chipset M2N-32-SLI and the AMD 690 boards that were prevalent a couple of years ago. Newer boards like the AMD 790FX and NVIDIA GeForce 7050 and presumably the upcoming 780a are being tested and qualified but few if any are on the list at the moment. The other consideration is for the home builder wanting to build an inexpensive motherboard+CPU combo. The 9850 is retailing for $235, add a 780G motherboard from AMD or an equivalent NVIDIA integrated board like the 8300 and you’d have a system that’d be hard to match on the Intel side dollar for dollar, especially with the state of Intel’s graphics drivers not even supporting DX10 as of yet. As an upgrade to existing AMD systems is where this CPU will be the sweet spot. This is due to the fact that if you have a slower CPU, but still want a faster system, this is an easy buying decision to make and will most certainly speed your system up from an older AMD CPU.

Review Link: http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1762_1.html

As storage has gotten more expansive, Microsoft has gotten very good at unnecessarially using up this extra space. One of the biggest storage hogs is System Restore, which was rather easy to modify in Windows XP. In Windows Vista, there is no easy way to change the amount of space that System Restore uses, so Vista is likely keeping the restore point from the time you wiped your butt with a new roll of TP.

In Windows Vista, the storage problem has gotten even worse, because Vista now has found a way to bloat even System Restore. The new feature is called Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which enhances System Restore by making backup copies of deleted or changed files. Most of these “shadow copies” cannot be deleted: they just take up space for no reason whatsoever.

Fortunately, there is a command line utility that will allow you change the amount of space Windows Vista uses for Restore Points and Shadow Copies, and is called the vssadmin.exe (Volume Shadow Copy Service Admin).

Review URL ::
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1105

We’re always on the lookout for Asus Eee PC updates and today we’ve come up with some breaking news for you relative to the Windows XP variant that is due to hit the market in April.  Actually, it’s more than just some breaking news; we’ve got one.

Though the machine isn’t due out until sometime mid-next week, we were able to get our hands on a full retail bundle well before they hit store shelves in the US.

Direct Link:

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/Asus_Eee_PC_4GX_Windows_XP_Unboxing_Preview/

Canon Powershot SX100 IS Review Online!

We’ve just published our review of the new 8 megapixel Canon Powershot SX100 IS - the camera features a 10x optical zoom lens with image stabilisation, a 2.5″ screen, DIGIC III processor, 1cm macro mode, pop-up flash, manual controls, and ISO upto 1600. The SX100 is available for £149 from Amazon UK “This camera has been an excellent companion and has coped extremely well in a wide variety of situations - the optical image stabilisation helping in low light - and the 10x optical zoom lens allowing me to zoom into the subject. Despite my reservations about Face Detection Focus, I’ve actually found the feature useful - for quickly checking whether the subject is smiling and not blinking!”

Read our Canon Powershot SX100 IS Review
View our Canon Powershot SX100 IS Sample Photos

Need For Speed Pro Street PSP Review

Date: 03-28-2007 Written By Vlad MihaiescuWhite in itself, Need for speed is plum packed with content, that content however is ruined by the blur effects of the game. While the cars are rendered beautifully, the only way to take advantage of that is by looking at them in your garage. The second you hit the tracks, the blur takes over. If you are a racing fanatic like me, maybe then this game is worth it. If you are a car collector, this game offers a decent variety, so this game might be fun, but if you are the average Joe looking for a fun game to purchase, then you may want to look elsewhere. This really should be a lesson to future racing games: give us the option to turn settings on or off. By my standards, this is a no-buy; not until it hits the $20 shelf anyhow.

Link: http://www.gamepyre.com/reviewsd.html?aid=942&p=1

Title: ASUS EN9600GT TOP 512MB @ Techgage

Quote: http://techgage.com/article/asus_en9600gt_top_512mb/

NEW CONTENT (Visual) - NVIDIA 9 Series Naming - Inappropriate

QUOTE: “NVIDIA choosing to move their latest line-up of cards to a whole new next generation naming scheme would have to be one of the worst things we’ve seen from a company in recent years. Having now looked at the 9600GT, 9800GTX and 9800GX2 we have a fairly good idea of what exactly we’re dealing with, and an e-mail we received the other day really sealed the deal.

Anyone who has really been keeping up with the latest models will tell you the same thing. NVIDIA should have chosen to move from the 8800 series of cards to the 8900 series to avoid any confusion in people thinking that this was going to be the next big thing for graphics cards.”

For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1365/nvidia_9_series_naming_inappropriate/index.html

Best Regards,

The TweakTown Team
http://www.tweaktown.com

The ASRock ALiveNF5SLI-1394 Socket AM2 motherboard is based on the nForce 560 SLI chipset,
which is better known as nVidia NF4SLI or NF500SLI.
This ASRock motherboard with SLI technology and AMD Phenom CPU support is available
for a little bit more than 50 Euro.
The following overclocking review will show, if ASRock succeeded once again in creating
an attractive board for AMD processors and if this board offers nice overclocking features.

Title:
ASRock ALiveNF5SLI-1394 AMD Socket AM2 Motherboard Review

Link:
http://www.ocinside.de/html/results/mainboard_asrock_alivenf5sli_1394.html

Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest

Posted: 30 Mar 2008 05:31 PM CDT

It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned.

He took the first of three laptop computers — and a $10,000 cash prize — Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference’s PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.

Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on the system, using a previously undisclosed “0day” attack.

—————

Legal battle over Warcraft ‘bot’

Posted: 30 Mar 2008 05:31 PM CDT

The makers of World of Warcraft are locked in a legal battle with a firm that has produced a tool to automate many actions in the virtual world.

Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly, the creator of the MMO Glider program, which performs key tasks in the game automatically, such as fighting.

Both sides have submitted legal summaries to a court in Arizona.

——————-

IBM Takes Stake in Open Source Database Vendor

Posted: 30 Mar 2008 05:31 PM CDT

For more than a decade, PostgreSQL has been a cornerstone of the open source database market. In recent years, EnterpriseDB has emerged as a leading vendor supporting and driving PostgreSQL forward.

It will now continue its efforts thanks in part from a little help from IBM (NYSE: IBM). EnterpriseDB is also re-branding and expanding its PostgreSQL efforts to take even more direct aim at its rival MySQL on the open source side and Oracle on the proprietary side.

Title: Creative: Doing Little to Please Consumers @ Techgage

Quote: Despite Creative being a leader in PC audio, their stature as such is being comprised with newcomers releasing superb offerings. To make matters worse, they’ve just added to the pile by banning modded X-Fi/Audigy drivers, a move that received an outstanding response from the community.

Title: Thermal Compound Roundup on Technic3D

Link: http://www.technic3d.com/article-645,1-roundup-8-waermeleitpasten-im-vergleich.htm

Google Translate: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technic3d.com%2Farticle-645%2C1-roundup-8-waermeleitpasten-im-vergleich.htm&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=de&ie=UTF-8

Quote: “Three new Thermal compounds from Arctic Cooling, Noctua and Tuniq arrived Technic3D. We will see how good is the High-End compound MX-2, NT-H1 and TX-2 against the Collaboratory Metal Pad or Arctic Silver with a High-End CPU Heatsink.”

HIS & Jetway HD3870X2 Compared and Tested

“ATI partners have brought their HD3870X2 products to their market for quite some time now, we compared the performance of samples from Jetway and HIS, unfortunately the results are not as encouraging, CrossFire can be a blessing or a curse depending on the games used. If you wonder what the other sides of the medallion looks like… keep on reading.”

http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=686

Monday marks the final day for our contest where we are giving away a full gaming PC!

Title: Techgage 2008 Birthday Contest - Final Day! @ Techgage

Link: http://techgage.com/article/techgage_2008_birthday_contest/

Title: Cooler Master Aquagate Max vs Thermaltake Bigwater 760i @
hi-techreviews.com

Quote: Are you interested in having a system that is a great deal
quieter than it was when it came from the factory, then perhaps it is
time for you to consider adding a water cooling kit to you computer.
Today’s water cooling kits cool as good as the best fan and fin
heatsinks on the market, and offer you a huge noise reduction. So
come on along as we check out two of the big name units, the Cooler
Master Aquagate Max and the Thermaltake Bigwater 760i.

Link:
http://www.hi-techreviews.com/reviews/current-reviews/cooler-master-aquagate-max-vs.-thermaltake-bigwater-760i.html

NEW CONTENT (Visual) - NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX in Tri SLI Tested

QUOTE: “Well here I am again finding myself locked in the iBuyPower bunker with more graphics cards than I can poke a stick at. Alongside three 9800 GTX graphics cards we also have two 9800 GX2s all ready to go into the funky water cooled system that we’ve been provided with today.

With Tri SLI drivers in hand, more benchmarks than we had last time and some Dominos Pizza and Dickens Energy Cider, we’re ready to get stuck into the wonderful world of expensive VGA setups which is overkill for most of us, but still wanted oh so badly.”

For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1363/nvidia_geforce_9800gtx_in_tri_sli_tested/index.html

Best Regards,

The TweakTown Team
http://www.tweaktown.com

Logitech MX5500 Revolution Cordless Desktop Review:

Link: http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Logitech/Mx5500/1.php

Quote: When it comes to computer upgrades, nothing provides a more visceral impact than a new keyboard and mouse.  These essential input devices have come along way since the early days, yet still companies are finding innovative features to add.  Logitech, well-known makers of peripheral devices, has developed a new keyboard/mouse combo, the Logitech MX550 Revolution Cordless Desktop.  Will this combo live up to its name as a revolutionary product?  That is what we’re here to find out in this review.

Title: SilverStone KL02B-W Case at Overclockers Online
Link: http://www.overclockersonline.net/?page=articles&num=1652
Quote:  With only a few warts, the positives outweigh the negatives. I love
the look and solid feel of the case and the cooling performance is actually
quite good and silent. The quick disconnect fan is a very innovative idea
that I wouldn’t mind seeing used in other cases. The tool less feature in
the case, 5.25″ bays, are really easy to use and hold the hardware solidly
in place. While a purely personal opinion, I think the case has a clean and
elegant look to it that would fit in any office or room. In the end
Silverstone has a solid case, but could use a boost in a few areas.

NEW CONTENT (Mobile) - i-mate Ultimate 8150 Smartphone

QUOTE: “i-mate might not be the most prolific of the Windows Mobile device brands out there, but the company has been around since 2001 and is based in Dubai. In the early days i-mate used to re-brand HTC devices, but that stopped a few years ago and i-mate started designing its own devices.

Although the company has had some fairly affordable, albeit basic Windows Mobile devices in the past, it announced its Ultimate range over a year ago. This has finally come to fruition and today we’re taking a closer look at the Ultimate 8150.”

For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1364/i_mate_ultimate_8150_smartphone/index.html

Best Regards,

The TweakTown Team
http://www.tweaktown.com

Title: Crucial Ballistix 2×1GB PC3-12800 Memory Kit Review @ Virtual-Hideout

Review link: http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/Crucial_Ballistix_DDR3_1600/index.shtml

Quote: “Crucial has been all over the market as of late with new capacity Flash Cards, USB drives, Solid State Drives, and especially Performance DRAM. I’ve been thoroughly testing and experimenting with their latest Ballistix DDR3 PC3-12800 2GB Dual Channel Kit, or DDR3 1600MHz memory. And yes, this kit does scream at 1600MHz. Read on and see.”

KVM switches are one of those things that you either have a need for or you don’t, but it’s nice to know that they exist as they really do make life much easier.

Today for review I’ve got the Trendnet TK-408K 4-Port PS/2 KVM Switch Kit w/Audio and it’s a basic KVM switch that works exactly as it should. I encountered no problems with it in the few months that I’ve used it, response time is excellent when switching between systems and it even supports high resolutions as well.

So, read on to check it out…

Read Full Review HERE 

NEW CONTENT (Motherboards) - ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi X48 Motherboard

QUOTE: “Intel originally planned for the X38 chipset to be the big kahuna for the Core 2 platform, but unfortunately its extremely poor overclocking, heat generation and lack of support for the 1600MHz FSB made Intel go back and bring up a new chipset. X48 however is not actually a new chipset, rather a hand picked X38 silicon that works at higher FSB clock speeds along with a lower voltage draw than that of the X38. But this also means it carries a premium with it, thus Intel decided to give it X48 naming.

To date we have already tested the MSI X48 Platinum motherboard based on the new DDR3 version of the X48 chipset, and today we have our second DDR3 supporting X48 from ASUS. We used this same board in our DES Vs. EPU article, that being the P5E3 Premium WiFi. How well does it stack up? Let’s take it for a spin and see.”

For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1361/asus_p5e3_premium_wifi_x48_motherboard/index.html

Best Regards,

The TweakTown Team
http://www.tweaktown.com

USB flash drives are almost standard issue amongst IT professionals, and are useful for students and pretty much anyone who uses more than one computer. The capacities of today’s flash drives allow us to carry many gigabytes of personal data, so the write performance must also increase to fill the drive in a timely manner. It was only two years ago when a good flash drive could read at a rate of 10 Megabytes per second, and today’s Memory Monsters are expected to reach 25MB or more.

Due to the nature of flash memory, it cannot be written to in the same way as volotile memory (like your computer’s DDR2 RAM), so a clever way to increase throughput is to make it dual-channel (as most motherboards have implemented to increase performance).

OCZ addresses the performance shortcomings of other USB flash drives with their Rally2 Turbo USB drive, which features dual-channel technology coupled with faster non-volitile memory, which should theoretically enable faster read and write throughput.

Review URL ::
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1108

Title: NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M @ Phoronix
Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=12124
Summary: “Earlier this month we took a look at the NVIDIA Quadro FX1700,
which is one of NVIDIA’s mid-range workstation graphics cards that
boasts 512MB of video memory, support for CUDA (Compute Unified Device
Architecture), OpenGL 2.1, and the power consumption for this PCI
Express graphics card is less than 50 Watts. In the tests that followed,
the FX1700 had performed quite well at the workstation-oriented
SPECViewPerf benchmark and we had compared its Ubuntu Linux performance
to Solaris Express and Microsoft Windows Vista. The NVIDIA Linux driver
with the FX1700 had the best performance and it ended up being a nice
graphics card for around $500 USD. Today we are looking at the NVIDIA
Linux workstation performance once again but this time it’s on the
mobile front with the Quadro NVS 140M, which can be found in a number of
business notebooks including the Lenovo ThinkPad T61.”

I4U NEWS reviews the XFX 9600 GT Alpha Dog XXX Video Card.

Quote from the review:
“Today we are looking at the just released XFX 9600 GT Alpha Dog XXX. This video card has the highest overclocks you can get your hands on and comes bundled with one of the best games on the market.

There is a lot to like with the XFX 9600 GT ALPHA DOG XXX. The card retails for $169 and includes one of the best games on the market right now. Call of Duty 4 still sells for around $50 in most stores. The card also performs well. The only complaint I had is that the new fan used on the card is louder than the fan on the stock clocked cards.”

Full Review:
http://www.i4u.com/full-review-400.html