-Food…Food and more food.. Turkey day is almost here!!!!
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Digit-Life / iXBT Labs Review: Biostar TA790GX A2+ Motherboard
Excerpt:
“Motherboard examination brings us to a trivial conclusion: engineers fully implemented chipset functionality, having avoided all widespread drawbacks. So we can criticize the motherboard only for the lack of interesting addons, which might have marked it among its competitors.”
Article: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/mainboard/biostar-ta790gx-a2plus-790gx-p1.html
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TechwareLabs has published a review of the Thermaltake Armor+ LCS. Here’s a clip from the review:
Quote: Today we take a look at one of the most feature rich chassis to come into TechwareLabs in a long time, the Thermaltake Armor+ LCS. The Armor+ LCS weighs in just shy of FIFTY pounds but it packs an equally heavy punch in features and cooling. Take a look why this case easily won our Editors Choice award and why we think it deserves a place in your home.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/cases/Thermaltake_Armor+LCS
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It isn’t based on Intel’s latest, but if you’re looking to grab an “older” X48 but still don’t want to part with your DDRs, this board from Gigabyte may be for you.
The Gigabyte X48-DQ6 Motherboard is interesting not because it’s a X48 board, but because it’s a X48 with DDR2 support. The Gigabyte X48 board itself isn’t that cheap, but the cost of the platform should be less than other X48 motherboards since DDR2 is still al ittle cheaper than DDR3. That, or if you got a stock pile of DDR2, you don’t need to throw it out. From an engineering standpoint, this was also a no brainer since the X48-DQ6 design mirrors their own X38 board so a simple chipset swap was all they needed to do at a fab level.
http://www.viperlair.com/index.php/reviews/gigabyte-x48-dq6-motherboard.html
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I4U NEWS published a review of Impact7 Wi-Fi Digital Photo Frame.
Quote from the review:
“Today we are looking at a digital photo frame from eStarling called the Impact7. This frame has a low retail price of $99 and offers features like integrated Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi is something you don’t often find on frames at this price. Thanks to Wi-Fi, the frame can get RSS feeds and images from social networking sites.”
Full Review:
http://www.i4u.com/full-review-509.html
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OCIA.net has posted their review of the SilverStone FT01 Midtower Chassis. Below is a direct quote from the review:
“Using a process never before seen in PC cases, the panel is then arched precisely on two sides with automotive-caliber press machines to create the top, front and bottom sides of the chassis. The end result is an aluminum chassis frame with more than twice the structural rigidity of average steel cases, helping to practically eliminate vibration-induced noise.“
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NEW CONTENT (Digital Lounge) – Ten Ways To Improve The Blu-ray Movie Format
QUOTE: “As I write this, the Blu-ray market is starting to get some serious traction. Some really top tier releases are now coming out, which shows increased enthusiasm on the part of the studios. In addition, hardware makers have finally leapt over the Blu-ray specification grace period and we are seeing some extremely powerful software and very good prices. Blu-ray upgrades, including picture-in-picture enabled ‘profile 2’ have become standard, as has BD Live, Ethernet cable enabled players and finally bitstream and decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio.
However, as great as this is, there is still room for improvement on both the behalf of software and hardware manufacturers. Let’s take a look at ten improvements that can be made which would both improve the format and gain wider acceptance.”
For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1666/ten_ways_to_improve_the_blu_ray_movie_format/index.html
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Title: OCZ Gladiator Max CPU Cooler Review at Overclockers Online
Link: http://www.overclockersonline.net/?page=articles&num=2191
Quote: The goal OCZ’s technicians had when developing this heatsink and fan
combo was to make it silent without sacrificing cooling performance, and
they managed to do just that. Regarding noise levels, I would have no
problem using the Gladiator Max in a HTPC or a workstation PC – the fan is
barely audible from a foot away, and is dead silent from a meter on.
Overall, the performance is perfect for lower voltage processors, but I’d
have second thoughts before popping this onto a quad-core system unless you
really value quiet operation. There you have it, OCZ’s “Gladiator Max” CPU
heatsink and fan.
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Red Alert 3 – PC Review
Date: 11-24-2008Â By Vlad Mihaiescu
As I’ve said, EA has a lot of potential with their titles, but it seems that they do not want to put that extra bit of effort to turn their games into A quality. Unfortunately for EA this is not school; games are a 50 billion dollar a year business and if you’re going to compete in today’s market you better come up with some A quality products once in a while before Ubisoft ends up running you out of business.This is the case with Red Alert 3. It is a mediocre game; a game that had potential to be great. The movie and the acting is somewhat entertaining as is the rest of the game, but the keyword here is SOMEWHAT. If you like spending your money on “somewhat†then please go ahead and purchase this game, but if you actually value your hard-earned cash then you may want to look elsewhere for entertainment. If EA would have invested the money spend on the poster of army chicks dressed like hookers for the actual game, then maybe Red Alert 3 would have more merit, but sadly enough the poster is probably the best part of the game and that is really, really, really sad.
Link: http://www.gamepyre.com/reviewsd.html?aid=1035&p=1
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TweakPC has posted a new article.
Titel:
AMD 790GX comparison of 6 mainboards with benchmarks
Teaser:
DFI LP JR 790GX-M2RS, Foxconn A7DA-S, Jetway HA07-Ultra, Elitegroup ECS
A790GXM-A, Biostar TA790GX3 A2+ and ASRock AOD790GX/128M have to show their
performance in out roundup. Hey-ho, let’s go…
Link:
http://www.tweakpc.de/hardware/tests/mainboards/roundup/am2_amd_790gx/s01.php
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TechwareLabs has published a review of the Nexus Beamair. Here’s a clip from the review:
Quote: From the Funky Files comes the Beamair, a product we were left scratching our heads over. Â Join Jason as we take a look at both the history of the honeycomb as well as the Beamair from Nexus. Will this stylish and sleek adapter direct air where you want it to go? Read on and find out.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/cooling/nexus_beamair
Title: Nexus Beamair @ TechwareLabs
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* Title: Patriot Extreme Performance PC3-14400 2×1GB DDR3 RAM @ APH Networks
* Description: When DDR3 RAM was first introduced to the public in 2007, it
did not seem to be able to capture much of the consumer and enthusiast market
alike. Well, at least that was what the forums I frequented indicated to me.
Every time a person mentioned ‘DDR3′ in their ‘I want to build a new
computer’ thread, the first reply by some enthusiast would be to suggest the
user to get a DDR2 based motherboard and corresponding RAM kits instead.
There’s a good reason for this though, I won’t even try to deny it — when
DDR3 debuted in 2007, the asking price was at least $400-$600 for 2×1GB sets
– there was a very limited amount of people that would have been willing to
spend so much money on 2GB of RAM for <5% performance gain over its DDR2
counterparts. I’m not saying such people don’t exist, but as you will learn
in any microeconomics class, the demand shifts left as price increases. Fast
forward to November 2008 — now. DDR3 RAM is much more affordable now; and
with pretty much every manufacturer offering a complete range of
value-oriented models to high performance DDR3 kits, there must be one for
you, if you really wanted to jump to the DDR3 boat. Today, we’ll be taking a
look at Patriot’s Extreme Performance PC3-14400 2×1GB dual channel kit. Stock
specifications at DDR3-1800 at 8-8-8-20. It’s certainly isn’t the best we’ve
seen so far. But here’s one thing to note: How much do stock settings matter
with Micron’s excellent D9GTS DDR3 chips used in this set? (Read:
Overclocking!) We’ll find out for you today in this review. Also, pretty much
all photos in this review is ‘Photoshop-enhanced’ for your viewing pleasure.
Haha.
* Link:
http://aphnetworks.com/reviews/patriot_extreme_performance_pc3_14400_2×1gb
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Title: Ikonik Vulcan 1200W PSU Review on Technic3D
Link: http://www.technic3d.com/article-779,1-ikonik-vulcan-1200w-netzteil-hoeher,-schneller,-weiter….htm
Quote: “The Ikonik Vulcan 1200W arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review from Technic3D the next Big PSU with modular cable management, 140mm blue LED Fan, 4x 12V rails, 12x Serial ATA connectors and 6x PCI-e 6+2 Pin.”
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CaseCritics.com has just posted their review on the Sunbeamtech Acrylic HTPC Chassis
Quote
“See through cases have been around for a couple of years now. ClearPC Canada is a pretty big manufacturer of pre-assembled cases. But now SunbeamTech came through with their own variations of clear acrylic cases that you need to build yourself. You receive a bunch of parts and through the use of included tools and bits you create a computer casing. The case we are looking at today is especially designed to be used as a HTPC”
Direct Link – http://www.casecritics.com/2008/11/sunbeamtech-acrylic-htpc/
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Title:Â 2008 Supplementary PSU Roundup – Part 2
Summary: In part one of this roundup, I looked at two lower powered models from Ultra and FSP designed to supplement one’s main PSU in providing power for the newer and more watt hungry video cards. In part two, both of those units are in for some “tough” competition in the form of two big bad Thermaltakes – the Toughpower Power Express 450W and 650W units.
Articles URL: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=122
Site URL: http://www.jonnyguru.com
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“While some enthusiasts don’t particularly like a modular cable management on a highend power supply … I find this to work pretty well on the In-Win Commander 1200W PSU. As for looks, it isn’t bad at all … the “Commando Green” colour of the PSU makes it different from the competition. Overall, it is the performance, stability and features that will ultimately be the deciding factor … and I’m pleased to say that the In-Win Commander 1200W have proven to be a real winner.”
Read the rest of the review here … http://www.cpu3d.com/review/6551-1/in-win-commander-1200w-power-supply/introduction.html
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Hardware Bistro has just posted latest preview youtube file on GMC R.4 BullDozer Case. Thanks
Read More:
http://hardwarebistro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1233&Itemid=66
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Quote: Playstation Home Beta comes out and OC3D has a sneak peek for you inside….
Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/news.php?/games_software/playstation_home_beta_-_pictures_and_thoughts/1
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Digit-Life / iXBT Labs Review: Intel Pentium E5200 Processor
Excerpt:
“It’s a good CPU: performs well, does not get very hot (subjectively), outperforms a lot of more expensive older processors (Core 2 Duo E4600, for example). With its price tag, Pentium E5200 is certainly a much better choice than other Pentium dual-core processors.”
Article: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/intel-pentium-e5200-p1.html
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TechwareLabs has published a review of the QNAP TS-409U Turbo NAS. Here’s a clip from the review:
Quote: Businesses are always in need of more storage, and those with experience know that its the data that is important and therefore redundancy is critical. We take a look today at the QNAP TS-409U Turbo NAS which combines several features to bring you a device that is not only easy to use and fast, but also provides redundancy. The TS-409U has a laundry list of features and aims to please everyone from the advanced home user to the most needy of businesses. Is the TS-409U just what the doctor ordered? Read our review to find out.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/servers/qnap_ts_409u_turbo_nas
Title: QNAP TS-409U Turbo NAS @ TechwareLabs
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Title: Ubuntu vs. OpenSolaris vs. FreeBSD Benchmarks @ Phoronix
Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=13149
Summary: “Over the past few weeks we have been providing several in-depth articles looking at the performance of Ubuntu Linux. We had begun by providing Ubuntu 7.04 to 8.10 benchmarks and had found the performance of this popular Linux distribution to become slower with time and that article was followed up with Mac OS X 10.5 vs. Ubuntu 8.10 benchmarks and other articles looking at the state of Ubuntu’s performance. In this article, we are now comparing the 64-bit performance of Ubuntu 8.10 against the latest test releases of OpenSolaris 2008.11 and FreeBSD 7.1.”
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Title: QNAP TS-509 Pro Turbo NAS Review at Overclockers Online
Link: http://www.overclockersonline.net/index.php?page=articles&num=2181
Quote: From start to finish, QNAP has done everything right with the TS-509
Pro. The packaging is simple and filled with useful information for the
customer looking at one at a store. The product is packaged securely with no
place to go and well protected from any possible scratches or dents during
shipment. The specifications scream high end with dual gigabit networking,
RAID 0, 1, 5 and 6 for five hot-swappable SATA II drives.
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