Good morning, good morning. I missed yesterday’s news post so today will encompass everything sent to us over the past 48 hours. As I mentioned before, I’ve been busy lately working outside the home (like a real person!) with my dad on some projects. When at home, I’ve been using most of my time applying to jobs. Once again, we’re at that point where the current income just isn’t cutting it, as the workload for one of my other clients, a small video productions company, is basically nonexistent. But that’s not your problem.
Today’s tech links hook you up with info about a ton of graphic cards, Modern Warfare 2, some mice and mouse pads and more goodies. Check them out.
Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter for Nintendo DS
http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/drawn-to-life-the-next-chapter-for-nintendo-ds/
Now we have a sequel that puts us right where the first game left off. They call it Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter (for a game based around creative input, not a real creative title, huh?). Using many of the elements of the first, with some improvements, this clever little game has a rich concept and can surely provide some fun for a younger crowd. Today we’ll take a look at the DS version of Drawn To Life: TNC, its features, its faults, and get a taste of how horrible an artist I really am.
Black Friday Shopping Guide: The Best of The Best
http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/information/black-friday-shopping-guide/
On November 27, 2009, people will be flocking to the stores looking for the best deals this Black Friday… hoping to find just the right gifts for family and friends this Christmas. This holiday season we are helping you take the guess work out of your post Thanksgiving Day shopping.
Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock+
http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/seagate-freeagent-go-dock/
Recently I reviewed the Seagate FreeAgent Go portable external hard drive. Today I will look at a handy accessory designed specially for this drive that makes transferring data to and from your desktop a breeze. The dock allows the transfer of files across the USB connection but like they say on that infomercial – Wait! There’s more! It also doubles as a USB hub allowing up to three USB 2.0 devices to be connected to one’s PC. It has an AC cable for providing additional power to the hub to charge devices such as iPods, Zunes and PDA’s.
QNAP TS-419P Turbo NAS
http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15384&Itemid=1
Today for review I’ve got a rather large NAS box, the TS-419P from QNAP that houses four hard drives to give you a ton of storage. The TS-419P not only offers a lot of storage but tons of other features as well, so read on to learn all about it…
CoolerMaster Silent Pro M 600W Power Supply
http://www.techwarelabs.com/coolermaster-silent-pro-m-600w/
Power supplies should never be overlooked when building a computer. In fact it can prove to be a crucial choice because it can be a source of many unpredictable error message and crashes. PSU’s are often overlooked when they occur. Not only is PSU usually the first hardware to falter with age it can also be the reason of other hardware failures. The PSU are often ranked by wattage, 500W, 600W, 850W, etc. This is however only a marketing scheme, if you will. These numbers do not paint the whole picture to the customer, far from it. Solid amperage and constant power at higher temperatures, efficiency and reliability is what makes a power supply superior. Efficiency ratio is power output over power input at different work loads.
What Happened To Apple’s Software Quality?
http://hothardware.com/Articles/What-Has-Happened-To-Apples-Software-Quality/
And remember, it wasn’t that long ago that the industry at large considered Apple a sitting duck. The outfit’s share price was abysmal, the management in disarray and the product line nothing short of woeful. Of course, we all know that Steve Jobs returned to his chair in the CEO corner office in order to turn things around, and things have gradually improved ever since. Few remember that the iPod revolution actually started in 2001 with a bulky, FireWire-bound device that held but 5GB of music at a cost of $100 per gigabyte.
Gigabyte GTX260/275, HD 5870
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/video/giga-6-p1.html
What should partners do, when GPU manufacturers haven’t rolled out new products for a long time already? Right, they should invent new solutions based on the existing ones. Hence all these “Overclocked,” “Turbo,” “Super turbo,” and the like. We won’t be surprised to see “UltraMegaSuperOverclocked” or something of the kind. Today we are going to review a couple of such products: GTX 260 and 275 SuperOverclock from Gigabyte.
Coolermaster Sentinel Advance
http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/peripherals/coolermaster-sentinel-advance/
One of the tactics that some companies have used to help themselves through the tougher times of the global recession is by diversifying their product range. Since they also have a pseudo gaming division with their Storm chassis, Coolermaster seem set to take advantage of the growing pro-gamer market. The Coolermaster Storm Sentinel Adance is the company’s first attempt at producing a gaming mouse, and with their recently released range of mouse pads it shows a whole new direction from them. Lets see if it was a good one.
Modern Warfare 2 – Graphics card benchmarks of the latest Call of Duty
For our benchmarks we use the beginning of the mission “The Gulag” from the second chapter. Sgt. Gary “Roach” Sanderson and Captain McTavish are sitting in a Little Bird hovering over a Russian Gulag camp and finally landing there. A huge explosion with smoke Post Processing effects, heat haze as well as Depth of field, a high draw distance, a lot of shadows and two more Little Birds plus more soldiers are primarily stressing the graphics card. The minimal fps rate in this scene is quite a good indicator for how low the framerate will drop in intense combat – and especially in such situations you might need as many fps as possible to survive.
Tuniq TX-3 Thermal Grease
http://www.bayreviews.com/computers/385-tuniq-tx3-thermal-grease
A good choice of thermal grease will not only allow your system to run cooler but will also be easy to apply and take off without making a huge dent in your wallet. So we look at the Tuniq TX-3 which is the predecessor of the TX-2. Let’s check out what the TX-3 can do for us.
Orphan DVD
http://www.ascully.com/blu-ray-reviews/orphan/
The menu isn’t much to talk about, as with most discs these days. However, the cover is really eye catching for me. I don’t often like cover art, but this time, the bold full frontal portrait like image of the young girl is creepy enough to make me want to see the movie, and a little bit haunting enough to make me not so sure:)
AZZA Helios 910R Review
http://www.hi-techreviews.com/index.php/review-links-mainmenu-80/9810-azza-helios-910r-review
The last case we reviewed from AZZA Technologies was the Solano 1000, this case proved to be one of the nicest budget priced cases we have reviewed in long time. This unit while having a lower price point that the Solano 1000 we reviewed has a number of features that we think the owner will like. So stick with us as we delve into the inside of this attractive looking case and see what makes it tick.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Video Review
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1971_1.html
Feser One Non Conductive Fluid
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1704
When most people inexperienced with water cooling they are both amazed and frightened at the same time by the thought of water being in close proximity to their computers. We all know water conducts electricity quite easily, which is a constant fear that even hardcore water cooling users have. There is no question of what will happen if we spring a leak in our cooling loop, we know things will get frie
SilverStone Raven RV02
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=silverstone_raven2&num=1
Earlier this year we reviewed the SilverStone Raven RV01 and loved this high-end computer chassis. We did not think it was quite superior to the SilverStone Temjin TJ10 that has been our favorite for years, but now SilverStone is out with the Raven RV02. Are there enough improvements in the RV02 to see if it can finally surpass the Temjin TJ10 as our favorite? Actually, yes.
De-Branded HP Sempron LE-1250 2.2 GHz Desktop PC
http://www.monster-hardware.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=148
The De-Branded HP Sempron box was well-protected and arrived undamaged after its long journey in typical OEM style packaging. Inside the main box were two smaller long rectangular boxes. One contained a black PS/2 keyboard, and one contained a black PS/2 mouse and system power cord. Noticeable by its absence but prominently noted in Geeks advertising was a lack of documentation, system drivers, and OS (more on this below).
EVGA GeForce GT 220 SSC DDR3 Video Card Review
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1121/1/
Last month NVIDIA silently launched the GeForce 210 and GT 220 graphics cards, which are aimed at the entry level discrete graphics card market. Both cards fall below the $100 price point and are clearly aimed at those that have a desktop system that runs integrated graphics and are looking to be able to add in an inexpensive graphics card that will help boost system performance.
Lowepro Outback 100 Camera Bag Review
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/lowepro-outback-100-camera-bag-review/
I’ve been to quite a few conferences and events where I’ve had to carry my Digital-SLR (D-SLR) camera around. It sometimes can be a pain, especially if you are carrying around a lot of gear. We have taken a look at a lot of Lowepro bags, but the Outback 100 is a bit different, it is a belt pack that not only has room for your camera, but room for 2 extra lenses and a few other accessories. Let’s see if this is the camera bag for you!
SteelSeries 9HD Mouse Pad
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/SteelSeries/9HD
SteelSeries has recently launched what looks to be the successor to the much praised SteelSeries S&S mouse mat. Dubbed 9HD it maintains the design of the S&S, but adds an all new and improved surface. Besides the new more flashy design, the 9HD features a new type of base which should eliminate unwanted desk movement.
Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ 896MB Razor Edition Video Card
The model we continue to see from NVIDIA partners is the GTX 260+; it went through many variations since its launch and for the most part has offered some great performance. Today we see Galaxy launch a new series with the model; the new series is labeled the Razor Edition and we hope that it manages to stand out a bit.
SteelSeries Ikari Optical Mouse
http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=494
Critical to our company’s success is also our reinvestment in the gaming communities and the individuals who support them. As a result, our corporate philosophy is to take a substantial portion of our revenue and put it back into the gaming community to help spur industry growth. We support our community in numerous ways, ranging from co-hosting tournaments like Iron Lady and King of the Hill, and supporting gaming competitions of all sizes, to promoting the top and up-and-coming gaming teams/organizations.