Tech News
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Buying Upgrades: When to Save or Spend on HDTVs, PCs, Digital Cameras and More @ Digital Trends
Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009 | By: WillA good read for the not so techie type people on new hardware purchases. It would even be a good way to help us guys that love to grab new hardware to have some kind of reasoning. Our wallets might like us if we read this little guide.
"A pair of white gold cufflinks, a fine Swiss watch, and a set of stainless cutlery will last a century. An HDTV, a laptop, and an iPod will not - which makes knowing when to break out the high-limit American Express and invest in something nice, and when to make a trip to Wal-mart and buy the cheapest box on the shelf, a tricky game. On one hand, everyone would like to own a Dell Adamo, a Sonos music system, and a 50-inch Pioneer Kuro. But then again, most of us would love mansions and Ferraris, too. So unless you're reading from a teak deck on your sailboat in the French Riviera, it might be wise to figure out where to spend and where to save."
Well over that little moment come wallet time to be tortured.
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20 Essential Outlook Tricks Every User Should Know @ Maximum PC
Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | By: WillBeing a huge fan of Thunderbird maybe reading a few of these tricks might make me go back to Outlook. Yep these tips and tricks would most likely make me change.
"Are you stuck using Outlook at work? We feel your pain. Compared to the alternatives, like Mozilla's light-weight and customizable Thunderbird client, Outlook is slow, bloaty, and downright unwieldy. Add to the fact that it isn't free and Outlook doesn't appear to have much going for it.
But whether you use Outlook because you have to or have grown accustomed to its interface and are reluctant to switch (or maybe you just want to justify the cost of Microsoft Office), we have some tricks to help you manage your email and contacts like a pro. After all, if you're going to use Outlook, no matter what the reason, you might as well get the most out of it, and we're here to help you do just that."Sarcasm is so lost in writing on the internet.
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Nvidias DX9 ION LE is DX10 after all @ eTeknix
Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | By: WillWindows 7 launch has gone off with a bang, and most everything this time is ready to deal with the new OS. NVidia has also made sure to prepare the ION platform to take full advantage of Windows 7.
"In order to capitalise on Windows 7s improved performance on lower specification machines, Nvidia have recently released the ION platform, which includes the Intel Atom processor and a GeForce 9400M graphics based MCP79 chipset. The ION is fully DirectX 10 compatible, something that Windows XP can't support, and this would be something that Microsoft and Nvidia will be using to help push Windows 7 netbook sales."
This beats the "Vista Ready" situation a while back.
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Thermaltake Toughpower XT 750W PSU Review @ JonnyGURU
Published: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 | By: WillOne of our favorite places for torturing Power Supplies till they give in or die has a ThermalTake PSU on hand. Let's see how this new PSU from ThermalTake handles it.
"Once upon a time, Thermaltake sent me a brand new unit called the Toughpower XT. This unit, although priced and targeted as being one of Thermaltake's best, ultimately came up short when it came to performance.
Thermaltake wasn't content to just let things be, however. They went back to the drawing board and now claim to have improved the performance of the Toughpower XT series. Today, I have one of these new units on hand, rated at 750 watts. We're going to find out how much improving they did."Muhahahah!
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Intel Launches TRIM Firmware For 34nm SSDs @ Legit Reviews
Published: Monday, October 26, 2009 | By: WillLooks like Intel is finding a way to keep your SSD Hard Drive in tip top shape. The new firmware will keep the drive cleaned and optimized to make the speed and value of these new drives.
"With the release of firmware version 02HA, the Intel 34nm SSD family becomes even more impressive. Intel delivered on their promise of releasing a non-destructive firmware update that supports the Windows 7 Trim command along with an end user tool to allow users to optimize the performance of their SSD on Windows XP and Vista operating systems. Those that have the 160GB 34nm SSDs got a very nice performance boost this morning as well. By just installing this firmware update you will see an instant performance boost on the sequential write speeds that allows you to reach speeds well over what you could have gotten with the existing firmware version..."
Trust me this is a very good thing for the speed is amazing on these bad boys.
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Corsair TX950W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets
Published: Monday, October 26, 2009 | By: WillLooks like Corsair is keeping up on there legacy of selling some of the finest Power Supplies on the market. 950 Watts of goodness will keep about any system in line and the high-efficiency is welcomed as well.
"The latest power supply from Corsair, TX950W, is a single-rail power supply featuring a DC-DC converter on its secondary, which is the preferred design to achieve high-efficiency nowadays. Differently from models from HX series, TX950W does not have a modular cabling system. Let's see whether this is a good power supply or not."
Very impressive.
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SilverStone RV-02 Raven @ Bjorn3D
Published: Monday, October 26, 2009 | By: WillSilverstone has really been working on the Raven Series of cases to keep adding all of the cool features to this design. The new Raven 02 is looking to be the next step in the right direction.
"When I first received this chassis to review, I looked at the name of this chassis Raven, I then said to myself 'Nevermore'. I have no idea why this came up, but after thinking about this for a few minutes I finally figured out why it reminded me of the phrase 'Nevermore'.
Every once in a while we get a chassis that is so unique in styling and layout that it completely changes the entire concept of a chassis design. SilverStone has always come up with unique designs with their chassis. It first started years ago when SilverStone put the PSU on the bottom of the chassis. Now SilverStone has thrown in another out of the box thinking design that is completely re-defying how chassis should be designed for today's computer components. Lets take a look at the Raven RV-02 chassis."Stay tuned for Ninjalanes review will be up soon.
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P55 Extreme Overclockers: Check your sockets! @ Anandtech
Published: Friday, October 23, 2009 | By: DennisThis is a very interesting article indeed. It would seem the extreme overclockers on the Anandtech payroll are burning P55 sockets left and right, and their reasoning behind the issue? LGA sockets mfg'ed by Foxconn.
We have a pretty good relationship with Foxconn and when asking about their P55 board the reply we got was that the board is delayed while they wait for a component. After reading this article I suspect the component in question is the LGA socket. (Unconfirmed)Normally we do not worry too much about mishaps during extreme overclocking testing as they are typically caused by factors outside of the supplier's control. The overriding concern is that we have damaged every motherboard in our possession for the P55 overclocking (extreme) shootout as well as two very expensive i7/870 processors. These problems are the cause of a single component and are repeatable. As such, we thought we would provide details on current problems and will provide an update once all of the motherboard manufacturers affected have had a chance to properly respond.
One thing is for certain, when the Inferno Katana does finally hit the market the sockets will be under the microscope by most every overclocker in the business
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An Unofficial History of The Unboxing @ TestFreaks
Published: Thursday, October 22, 2009 | By: WillThe excitement of getting a new gadget(toy) and opening it up to play with is awesome. Still there is a couple new terms for this that I never knew existed for doing this action.
"Gadget pron, gadget porn, unboxing, unpacking, uncrate, it's been called many things, but it's The Unboxing. Why is it that we love to unbox our gadgets, what is it that excites us so much about unboxing a new gadget or any tech related toy? "
Never in my days did I think pron.
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Windows 7 The Whopper of a Release!
Published: Thursday, October 22, 2009 | By: WillMicrosoft Realeases the new Windows 7 OS for all of us to enjoy, and BK unleashes some serious meat to celebrate. Hmm... Every spin on this one is going to look bad from me.
"Confirming our belief that Japan is at once among the coolest and craziest places on this planet we all call home is Burger King's exclusive Windows 7 Whopper. Seven stacked beef patties extend your usual Whopper to over five inches in height and the whole thing costs an appropriate ¥777 (or $8.55). It'll be available for one week only -- or seven days, get it? Join us past the break to see the full towering size of this meaty monstrosity."
Enjoy!
