Monday, January 12, 2004

Daily mailbox: Tweaknews, Bjorn3D, HWZ, Designtechnica, Elite Bastards, Hardware Vault, etc. — Cormac @ 17:06 

HIS Excalibur IceQ 256Meg DDR2 Radeon 9800pro Review @ Tweaknews.net

"The Excalibur IceQ 9800 pro embodies everything I have ever wanted in a videocard. The card is packed full of 256megs of fast DDR2 memory, includes a quiet and efficient monster cooler and for once there are memory sinks installed throughout the card. The performance numbers and results would easily make even the pickiest of gamers happy with the ability to handle quality settings and pump out great framerates without breaking a sweat."

Read more at Tweaknews.

Leadtek WinFast K8N Pro nForce3 Motherboard Review @ Bjorn3D

"The WinFast K8N Pro offers a plethora of features, including four SATA connectors (supporting RAID 0, 1, and 0+1), support for six USB 2.0 ports (2 from front panel header), and an onboard Realtek ALC-658 chip for 6-channel surround sound. Another feature this motherboard boasts is a data security system from eNova called X-Wall IDE. One of the three IDE connectors is coupled with eNova´s X-Wall LX-64 chip, which provides encryption for the hard disk connected to that IDE connector."

Read more at Bjorn3D.

HWZ Article: The CES 2004 Report

"If you’re expecting the latest PC hardware, then you’re in the wrong place. CES is just not about PC gadgets, but electronic gadgets for the home and big boys. Here’s what we saw on the show floor which we think would definitely interest you."

Read more at HWZ.

Talk Back and Designtechnica: The Eight Thousand Dollar Computer

"I think it is safe to say that the computer market has matured or has at least grown to the stage where prices are probably close to the lowest they will ever be. The computer system has become an everyday household appliance - something that almost everyone has and uses on a regular basis. So as with every market, companies selling in the computer market need to find new ways to profit. Selling more systems is always the immediate answer, but with systems from companies like Dell and Gateway selling for under $500 where does that leave the smaller custom computer maker?"

Read more at Designtechnica.

The Simple Antialiasing and Anisotropic Guide @ TweakTown

"Koroush "PersianImmortal" Ghazi is back on the job with his latest guide simply called "The Simple Antialiasing and Anisotropic Guide". What is Antialiasing and Anisotropic Filtering? What does it do for me and my games? What type of hit does it generate on performance? All answers are within."

Read more at TweakTown.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 review @ Elite Bastards

"The arrival of Windows XP has been a mixed blessing — For all the benefits of added features and superior stability it offers, many users have found themselves plagued by compatibility issues when it comes to running their legacy games and applications.
Now help may be at hand in the form of Microsoft´s Virtual PC 2004, an application that allows you to use ´virtual machines´, running an Operating System of your choice from within your normal Windows environment. Is it the answer to all your compatibility needs?"

Read more at Elite Bastards.

Thermaltake Lanfire Case (VM2000) Review @ myWORLD Hardware

"Out from the box, the Lanfire case body was well constructed with aluminium with the front made of high quality ABS Plastic. With its silver colour finish, it looks pretty sleek overall. Located right on top of the case, you’ll find a multipurpose panel which allows you to control cooling fans via its 4 silver dials. On the centre, there is a LCD display coupled with 4 rubber buttons and a tiny screw dial. We’ll look into its functions in detail later."

Read more at myWORLD Hardware.

Bluetake BT500 mouse and BT009X USB adapter @ JSI Hardware

"Both the BT500 mouse and BT009X USB adapter arrive packaged together in a presentation box, the first thing I noticed was the size of the BT500 mouse, it measures a tiny 85.2mm x 50mm x 32.6 mm and weighs only 64g."

Read more at JSI Hardware.

Samsung ML1750 Laser Printer @ Trustedreviews

"First off let’s start with some basic features and specifications. The ML1750 has a 166MHz processor and 8MB of memory, which means that it will be able to process most print jobs you throw at it. It’s capable of a print resolution of 1,200 x 600 dpi which is very good for a laser printer, especially at this price point. You can connect the ML1750 to a parallel port, as well as a USB port and there is support for both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0."

Read more at Trustedreviews.

CES on the floor and even more from CES @ Trustedreviews

"Digital displays are definitely high on Samsung´s priority list and the Korean giant definitely had something to shout about. Only 24 hours after LG showed off its 76in plasma display, Samsung unveiled an 80in plasma screen. The battle for the largest plasma screen is one that Samsung and LG have been fighting for years, and this is just the latest round.
While you’re wondering around a show like CES you’ll find that there’s no shortage of cool new products to gawk at. But every so often you come across something that makes you stop and stare. Stepping onto the Creative stand I came across one such product, the Creative Zen Portable Media Center"

Read more here and here.

Logitechs Extreme PC Gaming Headset — or — Its good to be American @ TweakPC

"A noble appearance, high functionality and very good background noise suppression speaks for PC Gaming Headset. But the good picture is unfortunately clouded by an unusually wretched price."

Read more at TweakPC or this translation.

Diabolic Minotaur Mid-Tower ATX Case Review @ OCIA.net

"You will notice the monster 120mm fan that provides for most of the case’s airflow. There is always a debate over whether negative pressure or positive pressure is better for airflow. I personally prefer negative pressure because it allows cool air to be pulled from any opening in the case. This is not the case with CPU coolers, however, but that is a different story all together. One other thing to point out here is the mechanism above the expansion card slots. This is a hold-down for the expansion cards that replaces the normal screw hold-downs. A very nice feature IMO, as I tend to change out PCI/AGP cards on a regular basis."

Read more at OCIA.

New reviews @ Hardware Vault

i865PE Motherboard round-up — A round-up of three boards: AOpen AX4SPE MAX, Gigabyte 8IPE1000 Pro3 Jetway Altair PE.
Twinhan Visionplus VP-DTV SAT — a satellite card.
Neuston Virtuoso MC-500 — A wireless media cast or media files playback from multiple computers through wireless (or wired) network.

Latest Bios and Drivers updates! — January 10, 2004 @ OnlyNewZ

"Latest Drivers and Bios updates:
- 16 Shuttle Bios updates
- 8 ECS Bios updates
- 8 ASUS Bios updates
- 3 MSI Bios updates
- 5 Gigabyte Bios updates
- 7 ABIT Bios updates
- And more.."

Read more at OnlyNewZ.

Thermaltake X-Blower Review @ Creative Mods

"The X-Blower, from Thermaltake is an interesting product because of variety of included cooling devices. The X-Blower comes with 1 standard 80mm fan, one 80mm blower fan, and a 2 channel fan controller that fits into any 5.25” bay. The combination for these three cooling devices makes for an excellent product."

Read more at Creative Mods.

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra @ NVISION

"Ju¿ cztery tygodnie temu do naszej redakcji prosto z siedziby firmy NVIDIA trafi³ referencyjny model karty z chipsetem GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. Jest to nastêpca serii GeForce FX 5600. Mówi siê, ¿e rodzina FX 5700 bêdzie równie udanym hitem jak GeForce4 Ti. Oczywiœcie poka¿e to czas, a my ju¿ teraz przyjrzymy siê owemu chipsetowi i temu, co nam oferuje."

Read more at .

I4U News: Seiko Epson TV with Built-in Photo Printer

"With three LCD panels, 1280 x 720 native resolution and a 16:9 native aspect ratio, the Livingstation´s wide screen produces unparalleled image quality. Additionally, the Livingstation has one of the thinnest profiles of any rear projection television currently available, measuring only 14.9 inches deep for the 47-inch model and 16.3 inches deep for the 57-inch model.
Epson´s Photo On Demand(TM) technology is a first, enabling consumers to view, print and store their digital photos directly from the TV without the need for a PC. Slots for memory cards, including SD(TM) memory card/MultiMediaCard(TM), Memory Stick(R), Compact Flash(TM) and SmartMedia(TM) enable users view their digital photos. A quiet, built-in dye sublimation photo quality printer produces borderless 4"x6" prints.
Archiving is made simple with the included CD-R/RW drive. Photo On Demand enables users to enjoy and manage their digital photos from the living room, making digital photography a social experience."

Read more at I4U.