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:: PC Perspective . News Archive
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.:News Archive ( 4/2007 )
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: TweakTown | Subject: Storage
TweakTown managed to get their hands on a pre-production solid state drive from Team. At 16GB and a 2.5" profile, this is designed to be a rugged hard drive for a laptop. With no moving parts, the noise and heat that most HDD create are completely absent. Unfortunately, the large speed benefits that SSDs were hoped to have is also absent, but don't sneer at a cool, quiet and nearly indestructible (under normal usage) HDD.
"It has been said that, within the next ten years, SSD (Solid State Drives) will replace the aging hard drive, and in the
interim HDD / SSD hybrids are likely to increase in popularity as the storage technology of choice. Today we get our first
look at SSD technology as we check out Team Group's 16GB 2.5-inch notebook solid state disk. At 16GB the drive is not a
monster when it comes to total storage capacity, but as we take a look at this pre-production product it should give us a
good introduction to the potential of SSD technology."
Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: TECHGAGE | Subject: Memory
OCZ's 2GB PC2-9200 Reaper HPC kit is designed for speed and quiet at the same time. The DIMMs are totally covered in a black heatspreader that has a heat pipe running along the top, and extends to another heatspreader located above the DIMM, attached only by the heatpipe. It is timed @ 5-5-5-18 out of the box, and is capable of 642MHz at those timings. TECHGAGE covered a lot more timings in their full review, so give it a look.
"OCZ is an innovative company and it's easily seen by viewing their product line-up. They recently announced a new passive
heatspreader dubbed Reaper HPC. Is this the fanless overclockers dream?"
Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Legit Reviews | Subject: Case and Cooling
The Ultra ChillTec Thermoelectric CPU Cooler is designed in such a way that the TEC part does not begin to draw power until a certain temperature is reached allowing you a bit of savings in electricity. It also comes with an LCD panel to display current temperatures, fan speed and the load that the TEC is under. Since it is a TEC, the cooling capability is quite impressive allowing you respectable overclocking potential, as Legit Reviews proves here.
"The Ultra Chill-TEC's control unit does not apply power to the TEC unless the CPU reaches a certain temperature. Up to
this point, the CPU is cooled by the heat-pipes on the "cold" side of the TEC. Once the CPU is hot, power is applied to
the TEC and the CPU is chilled. The hot side of the TEC is cooled by the second set of heat-pipes."
Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Extremetech | Subject: General Tech
The Saitek Obsidian Wireless Rechargeable mouse has a very sleek look to it, to the point where scroll wheel has even been removed. In it's place is a touchpad that acts as the scroll wheel, as well as being able to perform a few more tricks as well. Head to ExtremeTech for the full review, and find out if this mouse has been designed more for style than usability.
"Hailing from Planet Saitek, from a galaxy far, far away, comes the Obsidian Wireless Rechargeable Mouse, an ambidextrous
pointing device unlike most others. Aside from its oval shape and futuristic design, the Obsidian replaces the standard
scroll wheel with a small scroll wheel-sized touch pad, which allows users to perform various scrolling techniques that
can't be done with a regular mouse."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: General Tech
After a long hiatus, [H]ard|OCP presents a new State of the Silicon Union address. There is a lot to talk about, with AMD/ATI losing ground with their aging architectures, both CPU and GPU. nVIDIA also causes him to wonder, as many companies have managed to start partnerships but nVIDIA is still going it alone. Head over and read the full editorial
"Where are AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA headed? We give our thoughts and predictions about what is going to happen in the
computer technology market place over the next few years."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Corsair Memory | Subject: Storage
Fremont, CA (April 30, 2007) – Corsair®, a worldwide leader in high performance computer and flash memory products, today unveiled the new Flash Survivor™ family of USB drives. Designed and engineered to be the industry’s toughest USB drive, the Flash Survivor is a water-resistant, aluminum encased, shock-proof way to store user’s information and files. Offering unique features and the highest price/performance solution in the market - the Flash Survivor is immediately available in two variations:
* Flash Survivor GT 8GB – MSRP $129.99 USD * Flash Survivor 4GB – MSRP $59.99 USD
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Inquirer | Subject: Graphics Card
Thanks to The Inquirer, we now have the stats on the 8800 Ultra, it's GPU runs at 612MHz, the 128 scalar units runs at 1.5GHz and the memory is 2.16GHz. That also puts the theoretical memory bandwidth below the upcoming Radeon HD 2900XT; the Radeon will be 105.60GB/s to the Ultra's 103.68GB/s. Looks like you are better off with a volt mod.
Don't miss out on Ryan's newest review of the XFX 8600 series, both GT and GTS.
"Yes, you have read this correctly - in order to create an 8800Ultra, you would have to search the search engines of today
for schematics of 8800GTX and raise the voltage of the memory by two 0.05V notches, and the clock of 2.13GHz should be
achieveable by almost every 8800GTX board out there. "
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hi-Tech Reviews | Subject: Case and Cooling
The Fatal1ty brand has expanded into cases, with the release of the Zalman Fatal1ty Champ1onship Series FC-ZE1 Chassis. Now you can build an entire PC, barring the processor, out of Fatal1ty branded parts and peripherals, although you will probably still lose to him in a CS:S match. There are some things about the case that disappointed Hi-Tech reviews, but overall they were very impressed. The ingenious HDD cage and the 5mm (1/5") thick aluminium that the case was made of were their top 2 picks.
"To say that the Fatal1ty Cham1onship Series Chassis is made of aluminum is somewhat like saying the sky has a star or
two. Decked out with panels that measure 4 to 5 mm in thickness, you can see why this case was has been approved by the
"King of Gaming." Johnathan Wendel has gone on to become the most recognized faces in computer gaming simply because he
has won the most publicized contests to date."
Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: TweakTown | Subject: General Tech
TweakTown reviews Theatre of War, a new World War 2 RTS with a bit of a twist. This game is not based around starting a base from scratch and climbing troop tiers, or on the fly research. You are forced to use strategy and terrain, not simply reflexes in order to win the battles. The army you battle with in a campaign is slightly modifiable, but once you take the field you aren't going to get to build more troops. If you are aching for an RTS that relies more on careful planning than quick reflexes, then this may be what you've been waiting for.
"World War II and RTS gaming - they go together like, well, the most popular war era in the world and (amongst developers
at least) the most popular war game genre in the world. PC gaming could be by all intents and purposes dead, and there
would still be developers scattered around the globe producing WWII RTS's. One of those developers would probably be 1C
Company, and together with Battlefront.com, they have created what could be the finest WWII RTS ever made in Theatre of
War, although it is definitely not an RTS for everyone."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Ars Technica | Subject: General Tech
Ars Technica has put some effort into finding out more about Larrabee that what was revealed in the PR from Intel. One of the first things they try to do is kill the rumour that Larrabee has anything to do with the Terrascale project ... they are not related. Read on to see what they did manage to find out.
"When Intel's Pat Gelsinger finally acknowledged the existence of Larrabee at last week's IDF, he didn't exactly clear up
very much about the project. In fact, some of his comments left close Larrabee-watchers more confused about the scope and
nature of the project than ever before. I count myself among the folks that were thrown off a bit by what little we heard
about Intel's forthcoming "many-core" coprocessor, so I did some digging and asking around in an effort to get a bit more
clarity."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AMD | Subject: General Tech
SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 26, 2007 -AMD (NYSE:AMD) will hold its Annual Meeting of Stockholders at 9:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDT) on Thursday, May 3, 2007 at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California.
A real-time audio webcast of the meeting will be available at http://phx.corporate-ir.net entID=1499479 A replay of the webcast can be accessed at this site approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live event and will be available for 30 days after the meeting. The webcast will also be available at www.amd.com.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Overclockers Club | Subject: General Tech
Lefties of the world rejoice, Logitech has designed an MX 610 just for you. It is cordless, and sports 10 programmable buttons and scroll wheel in total, including volume controls and a mute button. Join in the celebration at Overclockers Club, where the resident lefty is quite satisfied that this isn't just a bad gimmick.
"At first I was somewhat reluctant to actually see the contents of the box, was Logitech just trying to make me believe
this was a “Lefties Only” mouse or is it just another ambidextrous mouse with buttons on the left side? Well low and
behold, it's a true, left-handed mouse, and the buttons are right where I want them to be."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Pro-clockers.com | Subject: Graphics Card
The new mid-range cards from nVIDIA are the 8500GT, 8600GT and the 8600GTS, and Pro-clockers have rounded up one of each from Zotac. The cards they tested do not appear on PriceGrabber, but other manufacturers have priced the 8500GT at about $100, the 8600GT at $160 and the GTS at about $200. Read the article to see if these low price cards can compete, or if you are better off investing the extra $60 in an 8800GTS.
"Today we will be taking a look at the release of the 8500GT, 8600GT and the 8600GTS. Zotac was nice enough to send over
one of each of the cards for testing. With the DirectX 10 support and the price point of these cards it looks like Nvidia
as well as Zotac have a real winner on their hands."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Tech Report | Subject: Motherboard
Abit's Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI and MSI's P6N SLI Platinum are both based on the new 650i nVidia chipset, although the implementation is different. Abit's board is less expensive, though that comes at the cost of Firewire and eSATA while the MSI gives you those few extras that many people want. The problem is that MSI's is also one of the most expensive 650i boards out there, expensive enough that a more powerful chipset can be purchased for nearly the same price. The Tech Report tests them both thoroughly, check out how these 2 midrange boards perform against the competition.
You can also read Ryan's review of EVGA's implementation of the 650i at the top of our front page.
"The latest 650i-based motherboards to hit the market are Abit's Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI and MSI's P6N SLI Platinum, and we've
been abusing both in our labs for the last couple of weeks. Can a textbook MSI offering challenge Abit's first attempt to
adapt the Fatal1ty brand to a mid-range mobo? Read on as we test these boards against half a dozen others to find out."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Case and Cooling
The Thermaltake ToughPower 1200W is one impressive PSU. With four 12V rails, and a combined output of 100A, [H]ard|OCP thought it sounded to good to be true until they loaded the PCI-E with a full 1200W and 100A and the PSU pulled it off easily. If you are looking for that kind of power, then read on.
If that's too much power for you, check out Lee's review of OCZ's ProXStream 1000W.
"Having a PSU that is rated at 1200 watts is a big deal. Having a PSU that will give you 1200 watts under stressful
conditions is quite another. We put the Toughpower 1200w into the oven and see if it stands up to its 1200 watt power
claims. Don't miss this one."
Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Ars Technica | Subject: Case and Cooling
The next time you use a free WiFi connection to surf, you should probably question who provides it. Some of those networks could easily be run by someone trying to harvest your personal data, and not just an altruist with bandwidth to spare. Ars Technica tells you just how easy it is to fall prey to a scheme like that.
"Open wireless networks are rapidly becoming an important part of urban culture as modern digital nomads increasingly
eschew offices in favor of coffee shops. With the rise in popularity of WiFi-enabled mobile computing devices and publicly
accessible access points, a new kind of WiFi security threat is beginning to emerge. Security researchers are beginning to
note increasing instances of so-called "evil twin" attacks, in which a malicious user sets up an open WiFi network and
monitors traffic in order to intercept private data."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Motherboard
Based around the I965P and ICH8R chipset the ASUS P5B Premium sports all the features you would expect, and it claims to be fully compliant with TPM. As there really isn't a way to test compliance with TPM yet, [H]ard|OCP couldn't include that test in their review, but they've more than made up for that with a slew of benchmarks.
"The P5B Premium is ASUS’ latest introduction in their P5B series, touting full Windows Vista Trusted Platform support.
With the stellar performance seen with the rest of the P5B series, this board shows lots of promise."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Intel Press Room | Subject: Memory
SANTA CLARA, Calif. and BOISE, Idaho, April 25, 2007 – Intel Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc., today announced they are sampling industry-leading 50 nanometer (nm) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory manufactured by their NAND flash memory joint venture, IM Flash Technologies.
The new MLC NAND flash memory components feature a world-class die and cell size ideally suited for use in today's computing and consumer electronics devices that are increasingly smaller and more efficient themselves. The 50nm MLC technology, sampling at a 16 gigabit (Gb) die density, complements the previously announced 50nm single-level cell (SLC) products that the companies are shipping today at a 4 Gb die density.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Intel Press Room | Subject: General Tech
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 24, 2007 – Eighteen schools have been named as finalists for the Intel® Schools of Distinction Awards. The annual program honors schools for implementing innovative and replicable math and science programs that produce positive educational results. Schools compete for $1 million in grants and awards from the Intel Foundation and sponsoring companies. The winners are announced in May 2007.
"These 18 schools share a common passion, commitment and drive to improve students' educational experience and learning, serving as role models for schools across the nation," said Brenda Musilli, Intel Corporation director of education. "Each school has achieved academic excellence in mathematics and science by embracing such 21st century learning skills as digital literacy, critical thinking and problem solving, as well as teamwork and community involvement."
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: X-Bit Labs | Subject: Case and Cooling
Zalman has redesigned their Reserator, and are aiming for zero noise. The pump is absolutely silent, and there are no fans on the radiator to make noise. As X-bit Labs discovered in their testing, this change of focus has lead to a degradation in the performance of the cooler, especially when the optional waterblock for the VGA is installed and running.
"We are about to check out the second version of Zalman’s liquid cooling system. Silent operation being its highlighted
feature, what about its cooling performance proper? Let’s find out how much more efficient has Zalman Reserator 2 become
from our detailed review!"
Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Digital Trends | Subject: Mobile
HP's ultra portable tx1000 offers a full set of features perfect for a laptop, including a screen that can be rotated 180° and reversed, as well as a button to reverse that mode for lefties. The 12.1 WXGA screen may not be as large as many laptops, but it does keep the weight down to about 5lbs and the battery going for over 2 hours. Read on at Digital Trends to get the full review.
"The design of the HP tx1000 is meant to fuse together sleek styling and ease-of-use features, along with a tablet-enabled
screen and enough horsepower to run multiple applications under Windows Vista Home Premium edition - definitely no small
task. For an entertainment notebook that will be used for so many different types of activities - taking handwritten
notes, watching DVDs, listening to music, web conferencing with both audio and video, playing games, and all other general
productivity tasks - the physical characteristics of the notebook become extremely important. Fortunately, the tx1000
product designers did a thorough job envisioning all of these types of activities when planning the physical layout of the
notebook."
Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hexus | Subject: General Tech
Taking his games even further, Tom Clancy is preparing End War for release. If you have been a fan of GRAW and his other games, this will take you into the field of WWIII and showcase physics and AI that will make full use of the latest hardware. HEXUS has a bit more, and will certainly be keeping an eye out for new developments.
"Ubisoft has announced a new brand in the Tom Clany series, entitled Tom Clancy's EndWar. Led by strategy veteran and
Ubisoft creative director Michael de Plater, Tom Clancy's EndWar is being developed by a world-class team at Ubisoft’s
Shanghai studio whose members have experience developing Ubisoft’s hit franchises including Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Tom
Clancy’s Rainbow Six and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. Tom Clancy’s EndWar is scheduled for release on next-generation
consoles in fiscal year 2007/2008."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Wired News | Subject: General Tech
Wired News takes a look at some of the more (in)famous mascots of the recent, and not so recent history. Clippy makes an appearance at the top of course, but were you aware each Windows OS received it's own manga style mascot?
"Technology has always had trouble appealing to the part of our hard-wiring that expects advanced machines to behave like
sentient beings. It's this problem that makes software product managers run screaming to careers in TV marketing, pet
supply sales and toy manufacturing. In the meantime, they come up with blatant attempts to personalize tech products
through animal and humanoid mascots."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Big Bruin | Subject: Memory
Super Talent's T1000UX2G5 2GB PC2-8000 DDR2 offers great potential, with a 20% overclock possible using the default timings, or you can tighten the timings at 1000MHz. Big Bruin did find little difference between that and the reference PC2-6400 they tested it against, which costs about 1/2 as much. Don't let that deter you from reading the full review, as these DIMMs will allow you more flexibility when OCing a CPU.
"The Super Talent T1000UX2G5 2GB PC2-8000 DDR2 Memory Kit performs great at its advertised speed of 1000MHz and fairly
relaxed timings. Using more aggressive timings (4-4-4-12) allowed this memory to operated error-free up to 1075MHz, and
changing the timings back to the default 5-5-5-15 allowed the memory to run stably at 1200MHz."
Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Tech Spot | Subject: Storage
The Tech
"While often overlooked, the hard drive plays an important role in the system’s overall capacity and performance which can
be vital in ensuring a smooth-running, glitch-free experience. If data bogs down at the hard drive, you won’t have a chance
in Zanzibar to experience the full power of your system, no matter how much processing power you’re packing.
Hard drives can differ in capacity and performance. Over the last several years, advancements in technology have pushed the envelope in these two these areas and an understanding of each will help you chose the best hard drive for your needs." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Tweaknews | Subject: Display
Viewsonic's 22" Widescreen LCD display and it's integral Viewdock, 2.1 speakers card reader and USB hub are under investigation at Tweaknews. The Viewdock is a dock for an iPod, allowing you to charge your iPod as well as listen to the music on it. Read on to find out if they forgot to focus on a good display while adding on all the additional features.
"As I personally see it, Viewsonic had great intentions to make a monitor that would be perfect for the iPod user. With the
iPod dock and the integrated speakers, your iPod purchase does indeed have more functionality other than just a portable
media device when you purchase this monitor. The functionality is there but there are some wrinkles that need to be pressed
out...."
Here are some more Display articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Tech Report | Subject: General Tech
At some point in the recent past, Apple's iPod became THE MP3 player to beat. Many have claimed to have created an iPod killer (including Apple with their iPhone), but so far no one has delivered. Microsoft's attempt is the Zune, and it has been on the market long enough to mature and get the early kinks out of it's software. The Tech Report has been listening to both an iPod and a Zune over the past 3 months, and have posted their findings on the differences between the two, and which they prefer.
"During the iPod's ascension, Microsoft worked with various hardware partners on all sorts of would be iPod killers, with
little success. Then Redmond took matters into its own hands, creating the Zune media player to directly challenge Apple's
iMonopoly. On paper, the Zune looks like a competent challenger, too; it has a much larger screen than the iPod, integrated
wireless capabilities, and support for subscription-based music services. But is it any better than Apple's status quo?
I've spent three months with an iPod and a Zune to find out, and the answer might surprise you."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: HotHardware | Subject: General Tech
The AutumnWave OnAir USB HDTV Creator is a high def TV Tuner that connects via a USB cable, and allows you to watch HD programming on your PC. It also comes with a nice software suite allowing control over channels, recording times as well as image tweaking. While HotHardware was reviewing the tuner, they were very impressed by the proper display of the image, but found the software a little less than reliable.
"Today, we're going to review a TV-Tuner that addresses several areas where options have historically been limited. The
OnAir USB HDTV Creator is a USB 2.0 based TV-Tuner solution from AutumnWave that supports analog and digital TV signals and
is one of the few model available that can deliver HDTV over a cable connection rather that just OTA sources. As USB based
product, the unit is compatible with any PC available, from the smallest laptop to a full-fledged gaming PC or workstation.
Matched with an LG tuner and NVIDIA's PureVideo Silver decoder, the OnAir USB HDTV Creator brings a host of features that
look impressive from the outset."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Chipset
An interesting link came into my inbox this morning with the tag line "LinkBoost" and it pointed to the NVIDIA.com website. Here on the Tech Specs page for the nForce 600 series chipsets, if you scroll ALL the way to the bottom, you'll see this note:
Well, that's a surprise. If you remember way back in the nForce 590 SLI launch, LinkBoost was introduced to the world as some automatic overclocking when using NVIDIA chipsets and NVIDIA graphics cards.
Here's the information we presented in that review in May of 2006:
Admittedly, performance gains from this feature were rather limited and almost impossible to test effectively. However, even in the recent 600-series nForce chipset launch, LinkBoost was listed as a feature, at least in the high end 680i SLI product. When the 680i LT SLI chipset was launched, NVIDIA's lower priced version, LinkBoost was missing but nothing mentioned dropping the feature from the entire line.
Today though, it looks like we have seen the end of NVIDIA's LinkBoost technology; and maybe we are better off -- one less marketing term to try to explain to users even though it was never useful. It does bring the question up on why to get rid of the feature mid-life on the 600-series of chipsets; is the reason technical or simply PR related? I am sure we'll hear from NVIDIA soon on this as the news percolates through the media. If we get any new information on the reasoning behind this feature being dropped, we'll definitely post it here.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: OCZ Technology | Subject: Case and Cooling
Sunnyvale, CA-April 23, 2007-OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and power supplies, today announced the new StealthXStream Power Supply. This new 600W PSU features a conservative look with a sleek, black case and fan. Designed for the value-minded consumer seeking simple, quiet performance, the StealthXStream includes OCZ's acclaimed reliability and feature-sets with a lower price point. The StealthXStream is kept supremely cool with a large 120mm fan features a standard ATX power supply form factor resulting in a compact footprint to accommodate virtually all computer towers. With a sustained output of 600W and four +12V rails to provide uniform distribution of power, the StealthXStream is well-suited for and driving today's higher end systems. The rock solid StealthXStream is built to provide sufficient output to power dual GPU and CPU platforms, complete with two PCI-Express cables and a 4/8 CPU auxiliary connector which are wrapped in a flexible mesh promoting a tidy environment inside the case.
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