Tech News
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Biostar TF7150U-M7 @ Overclockers Online
Published: Monday, May 19, 2008 | By: WillWell I think Biostar got put on the map for everyone building computer with there first MATX T-Series boards. So lets see what makes this board want to keep us coming back to Biostar.
"The Biostar T-Series has been seen around Overclockers Online and
has always performed well. In this review, we will be looking at one of
the newer members of the T-Series, the TF7150U-M7 which features an
integrated NVIDIA GeForce 7150 video chip on the nForce 630i platform for
Intel LGA775 processors."The board look to be very well laid out with a DVI port also. This has my attention. Lets keep reading to see what they say about it.
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Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 @ Techgage
Published: Monday, May 19, 2008 | By: WillWell they are starting to get out in the wild. The P45 chipsets from Intel are lining up for launching. So far the review look like the new chipset is going to add lots of new stuff over the last refresh.
"Building a new machine and want DDR3 support? Then the X48T-DQ6 should be up for consideration. It offers great performance, very stable high overclocks (500MHz) and lots of connectivity, including a full eight USB ports at the back. The layout is not ideal, but the board still proves good overall."
Let's hope that prices don't get to crazy high with these new chipsets.
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MSI P7N Diamond @ OCC
Published: Monday, May 19, 2008 | By: WillLooks like we have another motherboard review. This time the board is from MSI using a NVidia 780i Chipset. Let's see what this board has to offer with a man like Diamond at the end of it.
"With the positive results I achieved with on the last 780i board I tested still fresh in my mind, I was looking forward to pushing the MSI P7N Diamond to the absolute limit. Unfortunately, the limit came rather quickly. I tried using the official BIOS and two of the available beta releases, and found that my overclocking efforts were severely hampered by an inability to lower the multiplier on my Q6600 processor. In fact, this same CPU has achieved rock-solid stability with its FSB set at 491MHz - but on the MSI P7N Diamond, stability stopped at 391MHz. The 780i boards are tough nuts to crack, but this one was just too tough, and did not produce much fruit for my labor. After spending a week trying to gain some semblance of stability, I found it at 391 x 9. Voltages up and down the spectrum were adjusted, and I even tried leaving them set to Auto just for kicks. Did the board overclock? Sure it did, but not to the extent I am used to seeing. It may be that a more mature BIOS is the key to unlocking all of the potential of the P7N Diamond."
One thing I have to say is that I think MSI is really putting some great effort into making these Diamond boards. I love the onboard Creative soundcards. This is a great touch. To bad it is not a girls best friend, or this would be the coolest board ever.
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Gigabyte's P45 motherboard plug-fest coverage @ TR
Published: Friday, May 16, 2008 | By: DennisThis would have been a real blast to attend.
Last week, Gigabyte invited a gaggle of international journalists to a "plug-fest" preview of its P45 motherboard line in Taipei, Taiwan. Intel has yet to formally introduce the P45 Express, but given the success of the P35 chipset, we were naturally eager to get a glimpse of its successor. Gigabyte had no less than five different P45 models on display, including a new Extreme board that may well live up to its name, at least as far as overclocking is concerned. The company also unveiled a number of new features that will be spread throughout its P45 family, including an improved version of its Dynamic Energy Saver software, trusted computing compatibility, and a driver-free hardware RAID solution that uniquely combines multiple auxiliary storage controllers. Keep reading for the goods on Gigabyte's upcoming P45 products.
I've been to the computer market featured in this article; the place is amazing and goes on forever. It's like a mini 6 story mall. 3 above and 3 below (in some areas) Heck part of it is built into a freeway overpass.
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Asus latest R.O.G board - the Maximus II Formula @ Overclock3D
Published: Friday, May 16, 2008 | By: DennisYou just have to love the heatsinks on this board, though I do wonder how well they actually work.
First up the appearance of the Maximus II has improved from some of it's predecessors with a rather mean looking black and red heatpipe assembly. ASUS have also been listening to enthusiasts and have made the cooling system partially modular so the Northbridge finned area of the heatsink can be removed and replaced with a waterblock.
Just about every motherboard in existence supports the replacement of chipset coolers, however the process becomes more difficult when the heatsinks are connected with heatpipes.
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NL: Memory Related Items
Published: Friday, May 16, 2008 | By: DennisWhen it comes to memory as a general rule of thumb is to have as much as you can. Of course if you can get fast memory that is just a bonus.
Legit reviews has posted a small article on the effects of memory size and gaming under 64-bit Windows Vista, check it out.
Game Testing 2GB versus 4GB of Memory on Vista 64-bit@ Legit Reviews
Oh and don't forgetMemory LOVES company.
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NL: Review Block - Video Catch-Up
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008 | By: DennisHere we have a couple of video card reviews that should prolly be together.
- ATI Radeon HD 3850 256MB Video Card Reviewed @ TheTechLounge
Followed by
- ATI Radeon HD 3850 256MB Crossfire Reviewed @ TheTechLounge
Kind of makes you wonder if they should have been combined huh?
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Neoseeker reviewed the VisionTek HD3870X2 OC
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008 | By: DennisI have a renewed love for dual GPU cards after having some face time with this particular card, so much in fact that I feel "duals" will be the future of multi-gpu gaming.
When it comes to performance, overall the VisionTek HD3870X2 OC did well, but not amazing. This video card is selling for around $450 right now -- about $30 more than VisionTek's standard, reference design card. While this card will definitely keep your games all flying at a fast clip, this card does face some healthy competition.
It is fast but in some cases can be a real pain to get running.
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NL: Review Block - Misc Stuff
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008 | By: DennisThis is our first review block in awhile, hope you enjoy.
Cooling
- Cooler Master Hyper Z600 CPU cooler review @ Elite Bastards
- Coolermaster Z600 Review @ ChileHardWare
- Xen.Core Carboon Fan Review on Technic3D
- Coolermaster LED Silent Fan Review @ XSReviews
- Coolermaster Aquagate Mini R80 Watercooling CPU Heatsink Review @ Frostytech
- Top 5 Heatsink Charts @ Frostytech
- Vizo Mini Ninja at Modders-IncCases
- Lian Li Armorsuit Series @ TweakPC
- SilverStone Kublai Series KL03 Case Review @ Madshrimps
- NZXT Tempest Mid-tower case Review @ Metku
- Cooler Master Centurion 590 @ Techgage
- Lian-Li PC V1010 Case Review @ ThinkComputersMisc Stuffs
- Buying a New Computer Today: Editorial @ Tweaknews
- ASUS Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1 Audio Card @ HotHardwareWhoa what an amazing review block.
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DFI LanParty DK X38-T2RB Motherboard @ CPU3D
Published: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | By: DennisThe heatsink system on this motherboard is rather unique, not because its an elaborate system of copper heatpipes but rather that you'd normally find it the Dark X48 board.
DFI have made much of its success through their NF4 DR Expert motherboards a few years ago ... now it seems they are about to do the same again with their DK series of motherboards. The LanParty DK X38-T2RB motheboard features Intel's X38 chipset, supports DDR2 ram and DFI's own Genie BIOS, and they've even added a few extras that might appeal to the enthusiasts.
The Dark series is an excellent cost per performance platform in that it comes with many of the overclocking features found on the UT line but constructed with lower end technology to keep mfg costs down.
