Title: SAPPHIRE ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-E Video Card @ TestFreaks.com
Review Link: http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/sapphire-ati-radeon-hd-4870-512mb-gddr5-pci-e-video-card/
Review Snipit:
“So yes this is a review of the Sapphire HD4870 with 512mb of ram, but it’s also a comparison of what differences, if any there are between having 512mb or 1gig of ram on your video card. I’m comparing the Sapphire 4870 512mb to my Diamond 4870 with 1gig of ram to figure out if it’s worthwhile to double the ram or not. Both card run the same 750Mhz Core Clock and 900Mhz memory clock, and both have the 256bit memory interface, they pretty much the same except for the onboard memory. ”
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When Windows Vista first hit the scene, it was quite a departure from Windows XP. It had been a while since a major desktop operating system release from Microsoft, and consumers along with many businesses, were slow to adopt. Add to that the new and sometimes cumbersome security features, plus reports that Vista was slower as a gaming platform, and you had an equation for low initial adoption. Even as service pack 1 was released adoption was still less than stellar, prompting Microsoft to launch new marketing campaigns in an attempt to sway public opinions (think Mojave).
As news about Windows 7 leaked to the public, many wondered what type of improvements it would offer. That curiosity changed to a fervor when Microsoft announced the first public beta of Windows 7 was to be released. The scheduled release date was surrounded by such anticipation that when it was time to deliver, Microsoft could not handle the download demand for the their latest version of Windows. After a small delay the public finally has access to the first beta of Windows 7. We here at HotHardware have been experimenting and testing it and have compiled a first look, replete with plenty of screen shots and benchmark comparisons between Windows 7 and Vista as installed on the same hardware platform…
Windows 7 Up Close and Personal
http://hothardware.com/News/Windows-7-Up-Close-and-Personal/
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eXtreme Outer Vision ( http://www.extreme.outervision.com/
<http://www.extreme.outervision.com/> ) has just released new eXtreme Power Supply Calculator update. Quote – “Added NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 (216 SP), NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2, ATI Radeon HD 4550, and ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics cards. Added AMD Phenom II X4 920, AMD Phenom II X4 940, AMD Phenom X4 9450e, AMD Phenom 9750B, AMD Phenom X3 8850, AMD Athlon X2 6500, AMD Athlon X2 7450, AMD Athlon X2 7550, AMD Athlon X2 7750, AMD Opteron 8354, AMD Opteron 8356, AMD Opteron 8358 SE, AMD Opteron 8360 SE, AMD Opteron 8378, AMD Opteron 8380, AMD Opteron 8382, and AMD Opteron 8384 processors.”
Direct URL -
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp
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Well, I’ve played all of the last generation PoP games, and I must say this one is both weaker and stronger. I also played Okami, and I’ve played Assassin’s Creed.
For one, the element of Okami, the beautiful graphics, are worth the play all on their own. The contrast between pure and corrupted highlights the cel- shaded graphics that were beautiful in previous generations and are only that much better in high definition. You almost want to cleanse each area just to see the crisp, sharp shadows from the shining sun.
Review URL ::
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1460
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Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP/Vista in three easy steps
http://www.techspot.com/guides/143-dual-boot-windows7/
Now that Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 7 (beta) is publicly available, almost everyone is itching to get their grubby paws on a copy and take it for a test drive.
However, because this is only a beta release most people simply aren’t willing to part with their established installations of Windows Vista or XP. With that mind, we’re going to look at one easy way of dual booting Windows 7 Beta with either Vista or XP in three painless steps.
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iXBT Labs Review: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Processor
Excerpt:
“First of all, these tests show that the competition in the CPU market is growing interesting again. Phenom II is evidently a success. Moreover, in a number of tasks we can speak about it even without mentioning prices.”
Article: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/amd-phenom-2-x4-940-p1.html
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Before Coolermaster released the original Stacker case back in 2004 (has it really been 5 years?) they had a line of cases called the ATCS (Advanced Thermal Cooling Solution). ATCS cases where all aluminum cases that at the time was a major change from the steel cases made by many of the other manufactures. With pc case styling going to the bigger is better look, the ATCS’s went away in favor of cases like the Stacker. Recently they went back to their old designs and came up with the idea of bringing the ATCS back, but with updated features to compete with modern cases and a serious focus on making the case simple to use. They called the new case the ATCS 840; the 840 caught my attention as soon as I saw pictures giving me reason to contact Coolermaster about working with them on reviews. Because of that, I now have a chance to check it out, so let’s get to it.
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TITLE: Intel X25-M SATA 80GB MLC SSD @ Benchmark Reviews
DESCRIPTION: In early September, 2008 Intel released their mainstream series of solid state drives.  In its initial offfering Intel brought two drives to market, the X18-M and the X25-M built respectively on the 1.8″ and 2.5″ form factors. The initial capacity of these drives was 80 GB and recently a 160 GB version was released. Solid State Drives are rapidly changing the computing landscape, and many enthusiasts are using SSD technology in their primary systems to help boost performance. Benchmark Reviews has tested nearly all of the products available to the retail market in this sector, and several have done quite well while others fall flat. It used to be that performance was the largest hurdle for mass storage NAND Solid State Drives, followed by stability, and later price. In this review, we will give a thorough overview as well as benchmark test the linear bandwidth performance of the ! Intel X25-M 80 GB SSDSA2MH080G15E solid state SATA drive and compares it against the top competition.
ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=283&Itemid=60
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NEW CONTENT (Audio) – Hercules XPS 2.150 Multimedia Speaker System
QUOTE: “The very first product I took a look at from Hercules was the Game Theater XP sound card quite a few years ago. At the time this was the sound card to have and helped build a great reputation for the company. Some water has passed under the bridge since then and Hercules now has a brand new line-up of exciting products to show off.
One of these new products is a multi-purpose 2.1 speaker kit called the XPS 2.150. Finished in a very classy piano gloss black with orange speaker drivers, the XPS is out to make a strong aesthetic impression. The XPS features compatibility with just about anything you might want to use, such as MP3 player, gaming console, TV, DVD or Blu-ray player. The system also features a headphone output and a line input on the side of the left speaker. Read on to see how they sound during testing.”
For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1722/hercules_xps_2_150_multimedia_speaker_system/index.html
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Title: Raptoxx RT-EBAD1200 Exxtreme 1200W PSU review @ ModReactor
Direct Link:
http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Raptoxx-RT-EBAD1200-Exxtreme-1200W-PSU-review.html
Quote: “When we speak of ultra-high class computer, we usually refer
to one with motherboard having the latest chipset, multiple core
processor, fast memory, video cards in SLI or CrossFire mode and fast
hard drives – all of them quite expensive and power hungry. But the
backbone of any computer is the PSU, and the responsibility for the
well being of all that hardware costing thousands of dollars lies
squarely on its shoulders. Yes, no doubt about it, choosing the right
PSU is very important, so today we will be talking about one such
top-class PSU. One that can improve the overclock results of an
hardware enthusiast due to its enormous power and extremely stable
voltages or to provide inner peace to the fellow that poured the money
equivalent of half new car into computer. In other words – today we’re
reviewing Raptoxx Exxtreme 1200W – modular PSU with power efficiency
rating over 80% for maniacs.”
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Title: Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler Review @ ModReactor
Direct Link:
http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Sunbeam-Core-Contact-Freezer-CPU-Cooler-Review.html
Quote: “As we all know in order to receive the best ever experience
from our PC, first we must give it the very best hardware. But every
overclocker knows to prepare for the tricks that the inevitable high
temperatures will play with his hardware. One of the main components
intended to counter these tricks is the good CPU cooler. Our friends
from Sunbeam supplied us with their new Core-Contact Freezer. Is this
cooler exactly what most users need? Let’s find out.”
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| Thermaltake DH-101 VF7001BNS Case Review |  |
Author: Ben Sun Date: 01-19-2009
Thermaltake took a long look at what a Home Theater PC needs and provides everything that one would want and need to make a full-fledged HTPC. Just provide the motherboard, the CPU, the memory the drives and the video card and you are good to go. The DH-101 is meant for a Digital Home user and is easy to install and use. The unit is in full-time use at Doc’s house as his Blu Ray Disc or HD-DVD player can accommodate anything a regular PC can. The HD 2900XT is a rather long video card and fit into the case without problems. If you are looking for a fully featured HTPC case with plenty of airflow and room for expansion this is the case for you. An excellent design and an excellent unit for the Media PC.
Review Link: http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1851_1.html
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Known as power spikes, surges, brownouts, and blackouts, these fluctuations can cause anything from fire to data loss in an unprotected laptop computer. When power returns, it can come in a rush, rising significantly above standard household voltage levels to burn wires, overwhelm circuits and potentially cause damage to laptops, adapters, and any external peripherals that may be connected to the computer. Even when the power surge is not strong enough to knock out a system, it can slowly damage the computer’s components, reducing its reliability and lifespan. A surge protector diverts the extra voltage from a power surge to a ground wire, sparing harm to any connected electrical devices.
Review URL ::
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1268
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Title:
Leadtek GeForce GTX 285 1024 MB
Link:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Leadtek/GeForce_GTX_285
Brief:
NVIDIA’s latest addition to their graphics card lineup is based around the 55 nanometer GT200b. The new card offers more performance, consumes less power and is quieter than the previous model. Yet these improvements cost you a premium of about $70 over the GTX 280. Is that price justified?
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Titel: ATEN CS661
Text:
Jeder der mit mehreren Rechnern parallel arbeitet kennt das Problem. Es gibt zu viele Tastaturen, Mäuse und Monitore auf dem Schreibtisch und zu wenig Platz. Auch wenn schnell von einem Rechner auf einen anderen Daten kopiert werden sollen, muss entweder ein Netzwerk vorhanden sein oder aber ein USB-Stick. Beides kann nervend sein und ist auch nicht immer zur Hand. ATEN, 1979 gegründet und in Taiwan ansässig, hat sich auf KVM- und Remote-Hardware spezialisiert und hat mit dem CS661 Laptop USB KVM Switch ein Gerät auf den Markt gebracht, welches die genannten Probleme umgehen soll. Was man von dem CS661 erwarten kann erfahrt ihr in diesem Review.
URL: http://www.dexgo.com/index.php?site=artikel/view.php&rubrik=Hardware&id=341
English translated by Babel Fish: http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=de_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dexgo.com%2Findex.php%3Fsite%3Dartikel%2Fview.php%26rubrik%3DHardware%26id%3D341
English translated by Google: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dexgo.com%2Findex.php%3Fsite%3Dartikel%2Fview.php%26rubrik%3DHardware%26id%3D341&sl=de&tl=en&hl=de&ie=UTF-8
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Title: Topower PowerBird 1100W PSU Review on Technic3D
Link: http://www.technic3d.com/article-792,1-topower-powerbird-1100w-netzteil-im-test.htm
Quote: “The Topower PowerBird 1100W PSU arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review from Technic3D the next PSU Review with a good price, modular cable management and a high efficiency. The Topower have a 120mm fan, 16xSerial ATA connectors, 2x PCIe 6-Pin and 2x PCIe 6+2 Pin connectors.”
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Ninjalane was fortunate enough to be invited to the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo and wrote up a little something about the experience.
Some of the stuff in this article isn’t safe for work but its nothing explicit either.
Subject: AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009 (NSFW) @ Ninjalane
URL: http://www.ninjalane.com/display.aspx?docname=avn2009
Quote: In the tech world we have big name magazines like Wired, CPU, and PC Magazine. Well there are equivalents in the adult world and the biggest adult trade magazine is AVN. AVN covers all aspects of the adult industry, movies, people, trends etc. much like the big name magazines we read in the tech world.
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Whoopty has reviewed the HIS IceQ4 4850 GPU.
Title: HIS IceQ4 4850 Review @ XSReviews
Review Link: http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/graphics-cards/his-iceq4-4850/
Quote: “While XSReviews has had the chance to check out GPUs from many different companies, one of the ones we haven’t worked with much is HIS, but recently they’ve decided we’re worthy of their attention. With that in mind they’ve sent us a HD 4850 with their special IceQ4 branding. Let’s see how it compares to some of our recently reviewed GPUs from other manufacturers.“
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Date: 01-19-2009Â By Vlad Mihaiescu
For the most part, the gameplay is great. I had a blast running my own covenant and although I have not managed to beat the game yet (I made war on everybody before I was ready), I know that I will play this game for a while. I had and I’m still having lots of fun bashing monsters and other opposing covenant members around.
Link: http://www.gamepyre.com/reviewsd.html?aid=1046&p=1
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