Friday, October 31, 2003

Daily mailbox: DarkVision Hardware, 3DChip, HWZ, MonkeyReview, TrustedReviews, Tweaknews, etc. — Cormac @ 18:47 

Icemat Black review @ DarkVision Hardware

"Most good mousepads are made from hard plastic, so you might be wondering if there are any good alternatives out there which are not made of plastic. In this review I´m going to give you a look at the Icemat Black. The Icemat Black is made out of glass."

Read more at DarkVision Hardware.

Forceware v.52.16 vs. Detonator FX v.45.23 @ 3DChip

"Was lange währt wird endlich gut", so sagt es jedenfalls der Volksmund. Ob diese Weisheit sich auch bei der neuen Generation von Grafikkartentreibern aus dem Hause nVIDIA bewahrheitet, wollen wir im nachfolgendem Test näher unter die Lupe nehmen. Dazu haben wir den brandneuen Forceware Treiber mit der Versionsnummer 52.16 gegen den letzten offiziellen Detonator FX v.45.23 antreten lassen und diese beiden Treiber durch unseren neuen Benchmarkparkour gejagt."

Read more at 3DChip.

HWZ Review: GigaCube RADEON 9600 PRO Game Buster (128MB)

"To sum it up, although the GigaCube RADEON 9600 PRO may not have an attractive appearance, but it certainly performs well (overclocking included), priced reasonably and gets the job done."

Read more at HWZ.

Asetek New Generation WaterChill Review @ MonkeyReview

"Before looking at temperatures, I first noticed the audible noise levels, or the lack thereof. At 7v, there’s no question that it was running quieter than my previous setup. I’m confident that the difference in noise levels would have been more dramatic had my previous setup been using a standard HSF and not a WC kit. At 12v, the fan does have a slightly higher pitched whine, however still bearable, and as you’ll soon see, the performance gain, in some cases may prove worthwhile."

Read more at MonkeyReview.

CCL PowerQube Zero-One (Soltek Qbic EQ3702A) @ TrustedReviews

"The PowerQube Zero-One from CCL Computers certainly looks the part with a brushed silver finish and a bright blue power LED on the front. It’s slightly larger than other cube systems like the e-Style II from Evesham, but it’s not what you’d call large. Unlike the the Evesham which is based on a Biostar chassis, the PowerQube is built on a Soltek platform. There was a time when your only choice in the cube PC arena was Shuttle, so it’s good to see that there’s more variety available now."

Read more at TrustedReviews.

Chaintech FX-71 Geforce FX5600 Ultra Videocard Review @ Tweaknews.net

"With not a single corner cut, the great looks and industry leading cooling technology coupled with great performance and a great software and accessory package makes the FX-71 an excellent videocard to put on your short list if you are considering a mainstream targeted videocard."

Read more at Tweaknews.

Albatron K8X800 Pro II @ Legion Hardware

"As I suspected due to the integrated Athlon64 memory controller there really is little performance difference from one K8T800 motherboard to the next. The K8X800 Pro II was virtually identical to the K8VNXP in every test. What separated these two boards was the Quake III Arena audio test. In this test we saw the K8X800 Pro II come from 0.4fps behind when audio was disabled to a huge 10.8fps ahead when audio was enabled. This was made possible by the extremely low CPU utilization of the VIA Envy 24PT audio chip."

Read more at Legion Hardware.