News for january 29th – I hate Winter!
I hate winter, the last two days have been like useless, my kids were off yesterday for snow day, and today they had a two hour delay, I had a bunch of running around to do, so I got like nothing done, now I’ve got to go pick them up from school in about an hour… the days is gone, amazing…
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Title: iPig iPod Dock Speaker Sound System @ TestFreaks
Review Link: http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/ipig-ipod-dock-speaker-sound-system/
Review Snipit:
“This year at CES, Amethyst introduced the world to a new type of iPod dock sound system, the iPig. Yes, I said iPig! When this first got here, I thought it was rather cute, and so did my wife and kids, my three year old loves it, but I thought it was pretty much just another cheap gimmicky item, but boy was I wrong. The iPig features five speakers producing 25 watts of power, touch sensitive ears for volume control and even a remote to help navigate your iPod. ”
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The Bourne Trilogy Blu-Ray Review @ Ascully.com
Quote
“Let’s talk about the women in all three movies. They are strong, well acted, not damsels in distress, and they all make sense. I mean, they aren’t just tossed in for effect or to give a bit of ying to Bourne’s yang, if you know what I mean. They are important characters who further the story, the whole story, not just as token adversaries, love interests or companions for our leading man. Joan Allen, Franka Potente, and Julia Stiles all deserve notice for their memorable performances….”
Article Link – http://www.ascully.com/blu-ray-reviews/the-bourne-trilogy/
Podcast link – http://www.ascully.com/after-the-show-54-the-bourne-trilogy/
Article Title – The Bourne Trilogy Blu-Ray Review @ Ascully.com
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Title: Hiyatek HB-8700 7-Port USB Hub
URL: http://www.bigbruin.com/2009/hiyatekhub_1
Quote: Â If you find yourself contemplating what to unplug each time you want to use a different USB device, perhaps it is time to pick up a hub. A unit like the Hiyatek HB-8700 7-Port USB hub will provide you much greater connectivity without taking up much space, while offering the convenience of a vertical or horizontal installation.
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Recently I got the chance to speak with Jeff Gardiner, lead producer for Fallout 3 DLC about the latest addition to the multi award winning game.
OCMS: What is the background and setting for the new material?
JG: Operation: Anchorage is allows the player to discover the location of a secret military installation housed deep inside of Washington, D.C. The Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts are trying to requisition top-secret military technology from a long dead war? But the only way to open the safe is by successfully completing a training simulation in which the player will have to liberate Anchorage, Alaska from an invading Red Chinese occupying force. This battle played out hundreds of years ago, and is a staple of the Fallout 3 canon. Once inside the sim the player will have to utilize stealth and combat cunning to overcome a huge military presence; they?ll even have the opportunity to outfit and order their own Strike Force in the process!
Review URL ::
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1467
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Instead of opting for the typical dual slot fan cooling, the Atomic sports a single slot self-contained water-cooling solution that also supports the CPU. The addition of a new CPU waterblock is something which I find quite unsual … as Sapphire are not really specialists in CPU cooling. This unusal waterblock has a built-in 12V pump which is required to pump the coolant around the entire watercooling system. The coolant is then passed through a 120mm radiator or heat exchanger, which is cooled by a single 120mm fan.
Read the rest of the review here … http://www.cpu3d.com/review/7095-1/sapphire-atomic-hd-4870×2-h2o/introduction.html
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With the pending release of the latest Microsoft Windows operating system, I like many other PC users have questions about the latest system currently known as Windows 7. I recently was able to speak with a Microsoft spokesperson for the new OS who took the time to provide us at OCModShop with this interview.
OCMS: What new enhancements does Windows 7 offer?
A: For consumers, Windows 7 breaks down walls and makes new things possible ? we?ve made investments in user experience, multi-touch capabilities, media streaming and integration with devices that make it easier to find the information people care about regardless of where it?s housed on their PC, network, devices or on the cloud and do some cool new things.
Review URL ::
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1468
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“By incorporating the all-out performance of CrossFireX graphics and quad-core processing, the M17 delivers an impressive feature set at an aggressive price point. Gaming is where the M17 really shines, and it makes an able job of it with two ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs in a CrossFireX configuration. As a result, this monstrous desktop replacement runs modern games at respectable frame rates. Unpredictably, it goes without saying that M17’s battery lasts for around 90 minutes, so it’ll spend most of its life tethered to a wall. The M17 is definitely worth considering if you’re a gamer on a budget, but get carried away with the options and you’ll easily walk away with a £3450 bill.â€
http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=895
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TechwareLabs has published a review of the InWin Commander 850W PSU. Here’s a clip from the review:
Quote: Looking for something to power that rig? Is that five year old 300 Watt Power Supply just not cutting it? Today we look at something that will have no problem handling all your components. Join Erik as we let the InWin Commander take command of our computer.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/PowerSupply/inwin_commander
Title: InWin Commander 850W PSU @ Techwarelabs
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Quote: Built by a company with an outstanding heritage in overclocking. Can the DFI X58 T3eH8 claim top spot over the other X58 motherboards already reviewed?
Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/dfi_x58_t3eh8_ultra_motherboard/1
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Title: XSReviews Competition – 1 week left @ XSReviews
Article Link: http://forums.xsreviews.co.uk/showthread.php?p=32232
Quote: “Happy Birthday XSReviews! To celebrate our 3rd anniversary in the review game, we’ve got a shed load of prizes to give away to our forum members. The rules are simple, just sign up for an account if you haven’t done so already, and post 5 times anywhere on the forums. That’s it. We got gaming mice, mats, PSU, router and plenty of other bits. You don’t want to miss this one.”
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“With every release of Photoshop you wonder how Adobe can possibly improve this awesome image editor. Photoshop CS4 is a performance powerhouse and packs in tons of enhancements, a wealth of non-destructive editing features, numerous tool tweaks, and an improved interface that helps reduce panel clutter. Make no mistake, Photoshop CS4 is not for casual photo hobbyists. Designed primarily for photographers and imaging professionals, the software is very expensive and has a huge learning curve – just check out the range of tutorial books in your local bookstore and the number of training courses available throughout the world! Sadly, the software’s text support is still slow, awkward, and often produces subpar output because it’s bitmapped opposed to vector text. The only workaround to get professional results is to import the final image into a vector-based program such as Adobe’s Illustrator or Corel’s CorelDraw, then add crisp vector characters to your picture. If you want the best, don’t mind the cost, and have the hardware to run it, Photoshop CS4 Extended is the best. For most of us not needing the special 3D features of Photoshop CS4 Extended, Photoshop CS4 is just the ticket.â€
http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=894
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Quote: “Most of the 3.5″ external HDD enclosures are quite similar and the major difference will be the design of the enclosure’s casing. Today we will review a unique 3.5″ external HDD enclosure; NA which is the latest HDD enclosure from In Win. Let us move on to find out more about this product as this external HDD enclosure is very special and totally different than other ordinary HDD enclosures.”
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“Managing the 3130cn is a snap thanks to the informative toner management system. Dell’s Toner Management System Monitors not only monitors your toner levels (as expected), but automatically notifies you when toner is getting low and allows you to reorder toner online – kerching!. The front panel open easily to access the toner cartridges, but also exposes the delicate transfer belt. Overall, however, Dell’s Colour Laser Printer 3130cn gives you the best of both worlds: simplicity, speed, high-quality black and white printing and clear, vibrant colour printing. It’s perfect for smaller businesses looking to add colour to their printed materials and it is easily networked across your office so all your staff can take advantage of the new investment. The major disappointments are that it’s a tad bulky and automatic duplexing doesn’t come as standard. And now if you’ll excuse me I have some party invitations to print while the coast is clear.â€
http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=893
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TITLE: OCZ Apex 120GB SSD OCZSSD2-1APX120G @ Benchmark Reviews
DESCRIPTION: OCZ may not have created the Solid State Drive, but they’ve done more to bring SSD technology mainstream than any other company in the industry. Once SSDs could outperform their HDD counterpart, it was all about price and capacity. The OCZ Core Series helped to offer affordable Solid State Drive technology to the masses, but capacity and stuttering became new issues. Using a pair of JMicron JMF602B SSD controllers to organize two banks of Samsung K9HCG08U1M DRAM modules into a JMB390 controller, the new OCZ Apex Series SSD offers an impressive capacity with internal RAID-0 performance to subdue stuttering. Benchmark Reviews tests the performance of the OCZSSD2-1APX120G against over two dozen other products in this article.
ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=290&Itemid=60
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TITLE: Tuniq TR-1 Thermal Paste Remover
DESCRIPTION: Getting the best performance out of your heatsink depends on the perfect application of thermal paste. If there is old thermal paste left over or to much is used you can decrease the performance of even the best heatsinks. In the past I’ve just wiped thermal paste off with a towel, if it gets really tough I used rubbing alcohol. Tuniq realized that there is an issue where most people don’t clean their CPU off properly. They developed TR-1 as a reaction to that problem. Considering how often I am swapping heatsinks I am excited to see how this will perform.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/reviews/?p=2062
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NEW CONTENT (Visual) – The Fastest VGA Setups Examined
QUOTE: “If I had to name my favorite piece of computing hardware, it’s graphics cards. And with the popularity of our articles and reviews focusing on graphics cards, it’s pretty safe to say you love them, too. What makes them so interesting is the fact that they tend to be the best single component to give a boost in performance where you need it.
But today we bust open the piggy bank, max out the credit cards and hit the daily limit on the savings account; we take the time to examine the fastest graphics card setups available to us today.”
For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1730/the_fastest_vga_setups_examined/index.html
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Date: 01-28-2009Â By Vlad Mihaiescu
While the character customization is week from a visual perspective, from a gameplay perspective is original and interesting. I like the fact that what you eat affects your stats. I also like the fact that for the first time ever an RPG/hack-n-slash game finally realized that humanoids have more then just one finger on each hand. I’ve seen some girls with rings on their thumbs (I’m pretty sure they weren’t magical), but I’m more then happy with this game’s ability to let me equip 8 magical rings at once. Basically, if you don’t really care about sound and the fact that your character looks like Harry Potter and if you have lots of free time, then Dungeon Maker II – The Hidden War would be a game that you might just get a kick out of. However, I’m going to mention this again just so you can’t say that I did not warn you; this game is very slow moving.
Link: http://www.gamepyre.com/reviewsd.html?aid=1052&p=1
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| XFX MB-X58I-CH19 Motherboard Review |  |
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 01-28-2009
The XFX MB-X58I-CH19 motherboard is XFX’s second motherboard to use an Intel platform, with the first being the G31 based board we reviewed last year. XFX has diversified successfully with their two Intel boards and numerous ATI based video cards as of late. If you want a motherboard based upon the X58 chipset the XFX board has some good positives including a generous bundle, good support and a fully featured motherboard based upon the best chipset on the market today.
Review Link: http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1853_1.html
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Title: Laptops vs. Desktops
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/blog/123
Category: Blog
Here is a snippet:
“Will Laptops Ever Replace Desktops? This is a recurring question and it seems that everyone has his or her own opinion on this matter. Let me share mine.”
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Title: CSX CSXO-CEC-800-4GB-KIT Review at Overclockers Online
Link: http://www.overclockersonline.net/?page=articles&num=2451
Quote: When I started this review I’ll admit I wasn’t familiar with CSX’s
memory, but I will say I have come away with a very positive outlook. While
typically PC6400 kits don’t get a whole lot of fan fare, CSX’s CEC line delivers
on their goal of overclocking with a budget kit. If what CSX has to offer in
their budget line is any indication, I can understand why their Diablo line has
made some noise in the enthusiast market in other countries.
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TITLE: Coolermaster Hyper N520 Reviewed @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: With our trip to CES this year I had a rare opportunity to get a closer look at Coolermaster’s current and upcoming heatsinks. They showed off their “Top Dog” the v10 mostly, and because of that coverage and enthusiasm the new Hyper N520 was slightly overshadowed. Targeted at the budget crowd who is looking to get the best performance for their money I don’t expect it to break any records. But we have been surprised before, will the Hyper N520 out perform its competitors?
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/reviews/?p=2033
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Title: Enermax Liberty ECO 500 W Power Supply Review
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/688
Category: Reviews
Summary:
The new Liberty ECO series from Enermax comes to replace their popular Liberty DXX series. Is Liberty ECO 500 W a good product? Check it out.
Here is a snippet:
“The new Liberty ECO series from Enermax comes to replace their popular Liberty DXX series, featuring a modular cabling system, 120-mm fan, active PFC and labeled at 40º C – i.e., the manufacturer guarantees that the unit can deliver its labeled power at this temperature. The main problem with the Liberty DXX series was efficiency, which dropped below 80% if you pulled more than 60% the unit’s maximum load. Since we had already reviewed Liberty DXX 500 W it will be really interesting to review Liberty ECO 500 W to see how this new version compares to the old version. Is Liberty ECO 500 W a good product or has the same efficiency issue as Liberty DXX 500 W? Can it really deliver 500 W? Check it out”
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Title: NZXT Lexa Blackline ATX Case Review – Tech-Reviews.co.uk
Briefing: Following on from the Whisper which was recently reviewed here at Tech-Reviews, we have another of NZXT’s PC enclosures up for review today. This time, to go under scrutiny is the Lexa Blackline. It’s been around a little while but will it still be able to compete with its newer competitors? Let’s find out…
Link: http://tech-reviews.co.uk/reviews/nzxt-lexa-blackline/
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Title:
Tagan SuperRock 680W TG680-U33II
Link:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Tagan/SuperRock_680W_TG680-U33II
Brief:
The Tagan SuperRock 680W is a great power supply for budget aware users who are looking for a cost effective way to power their system. With 680W it should be good for almost everything you can throw at it. During our testing we found out that the PSU is running very quiet which makes it a good candidate for a silent media PC system, too.
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Whoopty has reviewed the XFX 9800GT 512MB
Title: XFX 9800GT 512MB Review @ XSReviews
Review Link: http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/graphics-cards/xfx-9800gt-512mb/
Quote: “Considering how long it took XSR to get it’s first high end graphics card review, it’s interesting that they are now one of our most oft-reviewed pieces of hardware. Not to be the exception to the rule is our recently acquired 9800GT from XFX. The smaller brother of the more well known GTX branding, the GT saw excellent sales during the 8 series for it’s high end performance, with lower end price tag. Let’s see if increasing the initial number by 1 makes much of a difference.“
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When AMD launched the Radeon HD 4870 X2 a few months back, the company hinted at the impending release of another, more affordable, dual-GPU powered card aptly named the Radeon HD 4850 X2. Like the more powerful 4870 X2, the 4850 X2 would sport a pair of RV770 GPUs on a single PCB, but on the 4850 X2 they would be clocked somewhat lower and would be linked to more affordable GDDR3 memory.
At the time, AMD planned to release the card at a slightly lower price point than the competing GeForce GTX 280, but it took quite a while for the Radeon HD 4850 X2 to finally materialize. When it did arrive, in the form of the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2G GDDR3 we’ll be showing you here, the 3D graphics landscape had changed somewhat. Come on by the site and check it out…
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2G GDDR3
http://hothardware.com/Articles/Sapphire-HD-4850-X2-2G1G-GDDR3
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