New for December 4th 2008

December 4th, 2008 by Kristofer

“At first glance Samsung’s T260HD looks like a television, but it’s actually a high-resolution computer display that has multiple inputs. Thanks to these inputs and some internal magic from Samsung, the display even doubles as a 1080p television. The T260HD is, unquestionably, irresistible, inside and out. The high-definition monitor cum television not only looks stunning thanks to its glossy piano black finish, curvaceous bezel and funky clear plastic edging, but picture quality and features are equally up to the task. If you have a small living room where you want a television and a computer display, but don’t have room for both, the T260HD is for you.”

http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=867

——————————–

NEW CONTENT (Motherboards) - Albatron Mini-ITX Evolves – KI780G On Display

QUOTE: “Albatron are no strangers to Mini-ITX, in fact we have already tested a couple of boards from them on a Mini-ITX format, including a Socket 754 based and an AM2 based board. Today, however, they are raising the stakes just a little higher. Phenom may not be the highest clocking kid on the block and it can’t keep up with Intel on a clock-for-clock basis with Core 2, let alone Core i7, but where AMD lacks in the enthusiast market, they do have the goods in the power friendly market. Not only that, a top clocking Phenom X4 processor can also be had for cheap now.

Today Albatron have sent us their Mini-ITX KI780G board based around AMD’s very popular IGP chipset, the 780G. Let’s see just how well it’s able to perform compared to VIA’s Nano platform.”

For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1676/albatron_mini_itx_evolves_ki780g_on_display/index.html

———————————————-

Quote: After reviewing the 650w model earlier in the year, be quiet! offered us a chance to take a look at its slightly beefier bigger brother. Will it woo us just as much, read on to find out…

Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/power_supply/be_quiet_dark_power_pro_850w_atx_psu/1

——————————————

Hardware Bistro has just posted latest review; Xthermal BTF120PRO Cooling Fan. Thanks

Quote: “Recently we have reviewed quite number of case cooling fans such as Noctua NF-P12, GELID Wing & Silent, and Nanoxia FX. Today we are going to review another case cooling fan; BTF120Pro from Xthermal which is a cooling supplier base in Poland. BTF120Pro is a transparent case fan and it has two versions; LED and without LED. Let us have a quick look on these fans.”

—————————————–

Title: Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H @ Techgage

Link: http://techgage.com/article/gigabyte_eg45m-ds2h/

Quote: On the test bench today, we have Gigabyte’s latest Micro ATX offering, the Intel G45-based EG45M-DS2H. This board carries the typical Gigabyte enthusiast charm, but also caters towards those looking to build a media center. But how does it stack up against the other Intel mATX boards we’ve tested recently?

—————————————-

OCIA.net has just posted their 2008 Holiday Contest. Below is a direct quote from the contest page:

“The Holiday Season is a time of giving, and that is exactly what we here at OCIA.net are all about. We have teamed up with OCZ Technology to create a unique and fun Holiday Contest for all of our readers. One winner will take home the entire prize package, consisting of a 2GB kit of SLI-Ready Memory, Alchemy Series Elixir Keyboard, Behemoth Regulator Mousepad and an OCZ t-shirt!”

Direct Link: http://forums.ocia.net/showthread.php?t=3848

—————————————

Title: Cavalry 32gb 2.5\\\” Solid State Drive Review @ FusionMods.Net

Link: http://www.fusionmods.net/index.php?theCase=viewThread&threadID=1800

Quote: “When looking for a boost in load times, or just looking to extend the battery life of your laptop, getting a Solid State Disk drive is the way to go. Thanks to Cavalry, the SSD is now closer than ever to being more affordable and feasible.”

———————————————-

[OC]ModShop and Nexon are giving away gamecards for use in the new ‘Combat Arms’ online shooter.

For those of you who don’t know, Combat Arms is an online game that is absolutely free to play. You can upgrade your weapons and equipment by purchasing in-game items with real money… and since we know you’re all cheap bastards we’re giving you the money!

First prize: $50 game card
Second Prize: $25 game card
Third Prize: $10 game card

Review URL ::
http://www.ocmodshop.com/contests/combat_arms/

——————————————-

The AMD 790FX was a solid platform, but for many boards, including one MSI 790FX board we looked at earlier this year, struggled a bit on the overclocking side of things. Fooling around with the MSI DKA790GX Platinum for the last couple weeks has certainly showed us the newer SB750 South Bridge has improved on this a lot. The South Bridge aside though, what else does this AMD board show us?

“From a performance standpoint, the MSI DKA790GX performed on par with the 790FX in a stock speed scenario. Overclocking tells a different tale as the 790GX was a very good overclocker. The new SB750 South Bridge is a lot more stable in this department and for those of you looking to squeeze more out of their CPU, you will want to think about this if you’re due for a motherboard upgrade.”

http://www.viperlair.com/index.php/reviews/msi-dka790gx-platinum-review.html

———————————————-

NEW CONTENT (Motherboards) - MSI IM-945GSE-A Mini-ITX Fanless Atom Motherboard

QUOTE: “While we like to look at all the high-end motherboards at TweakTown, we also like to focus on some of the smaller, more budget oriented choices that come to the scene. It’s not the large enthusiast based hardware that manages to make it into the average mainstream or HT PC and you won’t find any ATX boards in car PC’s or project PC’s, it’s most always the mini that gets all the action.

Today we have something you may not consider for your desktop PC, but more for the digital setup unit or a car PC. MSI has sent us their Industrial IM-945GSE-A Mini-ITX board to see just what we can get out of it.”

For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1675/msi_im_945gse_a_mini_itx_fanless_atom_motherboard/index.html

—————————————–

Title: BFG MX-550 Power Supply Review
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/665
Category: Reviews

Summary:
The new MX series of power supplies from BFG features a modular cabling system, one 120-mm fan and one 80-mm fan that only kicks in when temperature is above 50º C. Let’s see if the 550 W model is a good product.

Here is a snippet:
“The new MX series of power supplies from BFG features a modular cabling system, one 120-mm fan and one 80-mm fan that only kicks in when the temperature on the secondary heatsink is above 50º C. Let’s see if the 550 W model (MX-550 or BFGI550WMXPSU) is a good product.”

————————————————

Ace KUC500 Slick Touch Keyboard Review:

Link: http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Ace/Kuc500/1.php

Quote: Today we are taking a look at another Ace product, this time we got a keyboard on the test bench. Will this work well together with the Ace mouse we reviewed a few days ago? How will this keyboard work vs Logitech and Microsoft keyboards that have been dominating the market for a longer period? Let’s have a closer look to see what we can come up with.

————————————–

Sparkle 9800 GTX+ With Custom PCB and Cooling Review

“In time for holiday shopping spree Sparkle launches a custom Geforce 9800 GTX+ which features onboard HDMI and a silent GPU cooling. Can it run the latest games fluently? We test twelve on them to find out…”

http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=890

——————————————

TechwareLabs has published a review of the NZXT TEMPEST - Enthusiast Steel Mid-Tower. Here’s a clip from the review:

Quote: Join Matt as we look at the NZXT Tempest Enthusiast Steel Mid Tower Computer Chassis. With a professional look that can fit anywhere, youre sure to intimidate others with the very presence of this case. Lets stand back and watch as Matt puts this case to the TechwareLabs test.

LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/PowerSupply/nzxt_tempest_mid_tower

Title: NZXT TEMPEST - Enthusiast Steel Mid-Tower @ TechwareLabs

———————————————-

TITLE:

TheTechLounge’s Toys for Tots Raffle and Fundraiser

QUOTE:

“Today we are launching a raffle benefiting the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. The objectives of Toys for Tots are to help needy children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas; to play an active role in the development of one of our nation’s most valuable natural resources - our children; to unite all members of local communities in a common cause for three months each year during the annual toy collection and distribution campaign; and to contribute to better communities in the future.

For every $5 you donate, you will receive one chance to win one of over 80 prizes, including the Grand Prize: a custom-made, hand-painted SmoothCreations PC gaming system, equipped with some of the latest high performance gear on the market.

In these tough economic times, we would like to give some sense of hope to those less fortunate. Our communities need us now more than ever, and we can’t do it without you. Every bit helps, so please donate whatever you can afford to help us reach our goal of $25,000.”

ARTICLE URL:

http://www.thetechlounge.com/toysfortots.php

———————————————

Title: Laptop Input Devices
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/blog/111
Category: Blog

Here is a snippet:
“The subject for this week is input devices. How small can the keys be? Can the keys be virtual? Trackpad? Mouse? Rolling ball? Touch screen? Voice?Rea”

————————————————

TechwareLabs has published a review of the Altec Lansing SoundBar. Here’s a clip from the review:

Quote: Looking for a set of computer speakers that are compact, but still loud enough to blow you away? Are you a audiophile that really wants to hear your music while at the office? Look no further. Today JasonD takes a look at the Altec Lansing SoundBar. Featuring XdB bass technology, the SoundBar is definitely something to check out.

LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/audio/altec_lansing_soundbar

Title: Altec Lansing SoundBar @ TechwareLabs

———————————————-

Whoopty has reviewed the AXP Supernova 1000w and 800w power supplies

Title: AXP Supernova 1000w and 800w Review @ XSReviews

Review Link: http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/power-supply-units/axp-supernova-1000w-and-800w/

Quote: “Power Supplies are one of the more mundane upgrades to a PC as all it really does is make sure everything else runs properly. It’s important but not exciting. That’s why it’s always nice to test something from a relatively new manufacturer on the scene. Today we’re looking at the AXP Supernova units in 800w and 1000w. Let’s see how they get on.”

—————————————–

Title: Real World Benchmarks Of The EXT4 File-System @ Phoronix
Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=13199
Summary: “With the EXT4 file-system being marked as stable in the forthcoming Linux 2.6.28 kernel, and some Linux distributions potentially switching to it as an interim step until the btrfs file-system is ready, we decided it was time to benchmark this journaled file-system for ourselves. We ran a number of disk-centric Linux benchmarks along with several of our real-world tests from the Phoronix Test Suite to gauge how well the EXT4 file-system performance will be noticed by desktop users and computer gamers. We have compared these EXT4 results to the EXT3, XFS, and ReiserFS file-systems.”

—————————————-

Palit has reinvented the HD 4870×2… or have they? VR-Zone finds out if
the humongous triple-slot cooler has much of an advantage, if any.

Article:
Palit Revolution R700 Deluxe

URL:
http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/palit-revolution-r700-deluxe/6223.html

Article Brief:
For those who missed it, the HD4870 X2 is essentially two HD4870s
operating in Crossfire mode, albeit on a single card. And as if the
original wasn’t already huge enough, Palit has super-sized the HD4870 x2.
What it calls the Revolution R700 Deluxe takes up a grand total of 3
slots.

——————————————-

Category: Everything and Anything, Product Reviews |