So yeah, we won the Super Bowl… woo-hoo, they gave the kids a 2 hour delay for school because we won? What kind of message is that sending to our kids? So now apparently football is more important than an education?!?!
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Title: The Micropod
Dock Pack @ TestFreaks
Review Link: http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/the-micropod-dock-pack/
Review Snipit:
“Scandyna is a company out of Denmark that makes iPod accessories, very interesting looking ones, very stylish and almost surreal looking in their shape, and form. Today I’ve got the Scandyna Micropod
Dock pack for review, it consists of two pod looking speakers, a powered
dock, remote control and several iPod
dock adapters. “
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Title:
Cell
Ranger Port @ TestFreaks
Review Link: http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/cell-ranger-port/
Review Snipit:
“Cell
Ranger, a division of Best Signal Wireless Inc, has released a new product to relieve those
cell signal lapses – the
Cell
Ranger. This device increases the signal strength to your
cell phone using a cellular amplifier. There are two versions of this product, the Port which can be plugged into a powered USB connector and the Stix model which uses a cigarette lighter for power. The
Cell
Ranger is really simple to setup and use; it comes with a magnetic antenna and fifteen feet of cable. For today’s review, we will be looking at the
Cell
Ranger Port. “
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Hardware wise the Dragon Black Edition certainly looks promising. With 4 GB’s of DDR2 high performance OCZ memory, 600 watt quiet OCZ PSU. 750GB of hard disk space, Radeon 4870 512mb Graphics card and an AMD Phenom II X4 - 940 Quad Core that comes pre-overclocked to 3.5Ghz!
We will be comparing the Dragon BE with the Intel Warbird and Nighthawk XT and our Original test rig system which is comprised of a Gigabyte GA-EP45 DS5 motherboard, Intel Core 2 Q6600 2.4Ghz, Kingston HyperX DDR2 PC2-9200 2Gb Kit, a Radeon HD3870 512MB DDR4, PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 860W PSU, running Windows Vista with native DX10.
Read the rest o the review here … http://www.cpu3d.com/review/7094-1/yoyotech-amd-dragon-black-edition/introduction.html
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Title: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB Kit DDR3 PC10667 CL6 Memory Review on Technic3D
Link: http://www.technic3d.com/article-801,1-crucial-ballistix-tracer-4gb-kit-ddr3-pc10667-cl6.htm
Quote: “The Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB Kit DDR3 PC10667 CL6 Kit arrived Technic3D. Technic3D will see as good they are with Overclocking against the Apogee GT Blazer 1.800 Memory Kit on Windows Vista 64Bit Ultimate SP1 and the XFX nForce 790i Mainboard. You can see 1.818 MHz with CL8 in the following Review.”
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Title: Thermaltake V9 Black Edition Review at Overclockers Online
Link: http://www.overclockersonline.net/?page=articles&num=2461
Quote: I’ll admit I’m a junky for full tower cases as I love all the room they
have to offer. With that being said I was quite pleased overall with the mid
tower V9 Black Edition. I never felt cramped or had to contort my hands while
assembling the PC. The twin 230mm fans do a great job of keeping things cool and
the front 120mm also sports a red LED. The black powder coating really sets off
the interior and makes for a very attractive package.
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iXBT Labs Review: Intel Core i7 In Detail – Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost
Excerpt:
“In this review we shall analyze Core i7 performance in the “minimalistic” mode (without Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading), with only Hyper-Threading enabled, and with only Turbo Boost enabled. And, of course, we’ll compare the results to the nominal mode (both are enabled).”
Article: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/ci7-turbo-ht-p1.html
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TITLE: Antec Veris Basic @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: High-end PC gaming can be considered a niche market without too much of a stretch. Its expensive and doesn’t always translate well in the price to performance ratio department. Home theater PCs, on the other hand, are a niche within a niche, due largely to the pain and expense necessary to maintain a separate computer simply to watch television. Furthermore, you can’t use just any hardware in an htpc. If you want one that can decode high-def movies and television or even lightly game you can’t just slap the oldest stuff you have lying around the house into a case – the tech has to be somewhat competent. Antec has recently come out with the Veris product line to help blur these lines a bit. Whether you’re looking to turn your main rig into a pseudo-htpc, or trying to spice up an already assembled home theater solution, read on for our experience with the Veris Basic.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/reviews/antec-veris-multimedia-station-basic/
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Slingbox Pro-HD and SlingLink Turbo review
http://www.techspot.com/review/138-slingbox-pro-hd/
Some of the best inventions are envisioned when ordinary people find a void in the marketplace and aim to exploit it. The Slingbox concept was developed by two sports fans in 2002 when they were away from home and missed some key MBL baseball games. Three years later, the Slingbox became a reality.
The Slingbox is a placeshifting/media extending device, meaning that it allows you to listen or watch media remotely over the Internet. The latest Slingbox model is eloquently called the Slingbox Pro-HD, as its name suggests, the Pro-HD offers high-definition streaming to Windows-based systems out of the box as well as other notable improvements over the previous Slingbox Pro.
We will also be taking a look at the optional SlingLink Turbo 1-Port accessory which lets you extend your wired connectivity at home using power lines.
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Title:Â Hiper Type M 1000W Power Supply Review
Summary: I’ve looked at several Hiper power supplies in my time here at jonnyGURU.com, and some have been better than others. Today, I’m looking at the brand new Type M 1000W unit; Hiper’s first foray into the kilowatt jungle. Let’s now find out if this one is a hit or a miss.
Articles URL: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=132
Site URL: http://www.jonnyguru.com
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Title: Samsung S1 Mini 1.8″ External HDD Review @ ModReactor
Direct Link: http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Samsung-S1-Mini-1.8-External-HDD-Review.html
Quote: “Miniaturization is becoming vastly popular and here are we with one follower of that trend, follower in the form of portable hard drive. Today we’re reviewing the Samsung S1 Mini, a portable 1.8†hard drive.”
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Title: Coolermaster UCP 900W Power Supply Review – Tech-Reviews.co.uk
Briefing: When buying a power supply, the efficiency of the unit is an increasingly prominent factor due to the threats of global warming etc, it’s therefore important for us to do our part in helping to save the planet. One way we can simply help is by purchasing an ’80 Plus’ PSU. What is an ’80 Plus’ power supply though you wonder? A unit certified as this is 80% or greater efficient at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated load with a true power factor of 0.9 or greater. Cooler Master has stepped up the game though. Instead of being just the bare minimum to classify as 80 Plus (80%), the UCP 900W however is rated at 88% more efficient making it seem very promising. Let’s take a closer look…
Link: http://tech-reviews.co.uk/reviews/coolermaster-ucp-900w-power-supply-review/
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| ASUS HD 4850 MATRIX HTDI 512M A Review |  |
Author: Ben Sun Date: 02-01-2009
The positives of this card include an excellent cooling solution that doesn’t quit and keeps the card running cool. Under load temperatures of 44C maximum at default clock speeds is just amazing. The card overclocked successfully to near the maximum allowed by the Overdrive utility or the ASUS iTracker utility. The card is very popular among enthusiasts as it offers high performance at a reasonable price. The only questions I have as to this card is what the next generation from both NVIDIA and ATI will bring later this year as its over 6 months since the launch of the HD 4870 cards. ATI tends to release new graphics cards every year and the next generation shouldn’t be too far away. ASUS’s design works well within the confines the HD 4850 set.
Review Link: http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1854_1.html
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Quote: H.D.T Technology, vector fins, four oversized heatpipes and a Skt1366 kit should ensure our toasty i7 920 keeps cool. Find out how we get on in our latest review…
Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cases_cooling/ocz_gladiator_max_cpu_cooler/1
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TITLE: Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews
DESCRIPTION: So you want to be a rock star huh? Well just like the Stones say, you can’t always get what you want. Some of us realize we are just normal people and must settle for our daily mundane tasks. The same holds true for computer graphics cards, or does it? Today Benchmark Reviews will look at a mainstream card with a bit of an identity problem. The Sapphire Radeon HD4670 GDDR4 graphics card. This little guy thinks it’s a rock star! Maybe it thinks that “6″ in it’s name is an “8″? It does have 512mb of GDDR4 RAM. Well, I’m positive this card is no HD4870 but that hasn’t stopped this little fella from rockin’! Let’s see if this HD4670 has what it takes to be a real star.
ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=291&Itemid=72
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Date: 02-01-2009Â By Vlad Mihaiescu
If you got dragged to Madagascar 2 by your kids you might as well take Jr. to a gaming store so he can spend that crisp 50 dollar bill that grandma send him for Christmas within a card still unread. Only make the rules clear or otherwise there’s going to be another seven-year-old kid playing GTAIV. This game is rated E10+ (Everyone age 10 and up) for mild cartoon violence, mild suggestive themes and simulated gambling.
Link: http://www.gamepyre.com/reviewsd.html?aid=1054&p=1
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NEW CONTENT (Motherboards) – MSI X58 Eclipse SLI Core i7 Motherboard
QUOTE: “Core i7 is Intel’s first CPU to finally integrate a memory controller directly into the CPU and because of this a whole new socket and motherboard architecture needed to be designed. All previous Intel chipsets were now useless to run the brand new CPU since it now has an external FSB but communicates with the chipset through a whole new interface called Quick Path Interconnect (or QPI). Because of this Intel has released its X58 chipset aimed at the top end of the spectrum.
We have already seen both GIGABYTE and ASUS put their offerings on the table; today we have yet another high-end board from a very highly regarded company, MSI. On the chopping blocks today is the MSI X58 Eclipse SLI. This board promises to have it all and then some. But as expected, a board of this calibre certainly comes at a price. You can currently purchase it from Newegg at 349.99 USD. But is it worth every penny? Let’s take a look and see.”
For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1734/msi_x58_eclipse_sli_core_i7_motherboard/index.html
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We have just posted up a comparison between the Phenom and the Phenom II. Our test subjects are the Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition that clocks in at 2.6GHz stock speed and we put it against the Phenom II X4 940 that clocks in at 3.0GHz stock. We do some overclocking on the Phenom II as well as clock up the 9950 to 3.0GHz for some clock-for-clock comparisons. Is the Phenom II the shiznit? Catch our review for all the details.
Title: Phenom vs Phenom II
URL: http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6707&Itemid=40
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InsideHW.com has reviewed BIOSTAR TPower X58 motherboard. Here is a quote from this review:
“BIOSTAR motherboards are known for their price/performance ratio thanks to which BIOSTAR motherboards won InsideHW Best Buy Award few times. This result BIOSTAR achieved by using second best chipset, that can be found on the market at the moment (P965, P35, P45), on their motherboards instead of using the best and the priciest (X965, X35, X45). This time BIOSTAR applied different approach and they built new motherboard on eXtreme chipset. Of course we are talking about advanced X58 chipset. How well did BIOSTAR rise to the challenge you can find out if you continue reading our review…â€
Article link:
http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Motherboards/BIOSTAR-TPower-X58.html
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Spire SP331CB USB CombiPod Card Reader:
Link: http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Spire/Sp331cb/1.php
Quote: Nowadays you can find memorycards almost everywhere. Digital cameras, mp3 players, PDA:s , mobile phones and even some laptops use them as their storage device. Having a card reader in your computer can boost data transferring from the memory card significantly. Spire has provided us their newest USB2 card reader which we will have a look.
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Titel: Titan Fenrir
Text:
In unserem letzten CPU-Kühler-Roundup schauten wir uns den Cool Idol TTC-NK75TZ von Titan genauer an. Passend zum neuen Sockel 1366 von Intel hat Titan nun auch einen neuen Kühler auf den Markt gebracht, der auf den Namen Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ hört. Der Kühler im Tower-Format, welcher mit vier 8-Millimeter-Heatpipes arbeitet, nutzt wie viele seiner Kollegen ebenfalls die H.D.T. Technologie und soll so der Konkurrenz das fürchten lernen. Wie sich der Kühler auf unserer Core i7 Teststation schlägt, erfahrt ihr im folgenden Review.
URL: http://www.dexgo.com/index.php?site=artikel/view.php&rubrik=Hardware&id=344
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%3D344
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%3D344&sl=de&tl=en&hl=de&ie=UTF-8
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Tech Arkade has just published a review on the IN-WIN Commander 850W Power Supply. Checkout the link here: http://techarkade.com/component/content/article/43-power-supplies/71-in-win-commander-850w.html?directory=63
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InsideHW.com has reviewed Logitech Comfort Lapdesk for Notebooks. Here is a quote from this review:
“If you are a proud owner of an notebook it is most likely that you don’t use it only at your work desk. If that is the case, Logitech has interesting new product for you: Comfort Lapdesk. “Natural environment†for Comfort Lapdesk to be used in, is living room or bedroom. One of the purposes of this “device†is to protect you from heat that is dissipated from the bottom of the notebook and second is to provide you comfort while using notebook in your lap by increasing stability that results in better body posture. Logitech Comfort Lapdesk is not notebook cooler so if you are looking for a device that will chill your notebook this is not right solution for your problems…â€
Article link:
http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Notebooks/Logitech-Comfort-Lapdesk-for-Notebooks.html
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We have with us an Asus special edition series video card that is equipped with a large heatsink for better performance and better overclocking capabilities. ASUS presents the 9800GTX+ Dark Knight TOP Edition ready to rumble on the PC.
Full Article:
http://www.tbreak.com/articles/45/1/Asus-EN9800GTX-Dark-Knight-TOP/Page1.html