Tech News
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ATI HD 2400 XT 256MB Video Card Reviewed @ TheTechLounge
Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 | By: DennisPerish the thought!
It's hard to believe, but there are actually many people who don't want the trappings, and cost, of gaming hardware. Integrated graphics aren't always an option and, when they are, they use precious system resources that, for only a little extra cash, can be un-tethered.
We actually reviewed a video card based on this GPU some months ago and found it to be very solid and quite the little trooper. The best part was the HDMI output and 63" gaming goodness!
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NL: Review Block - Mems
Published: Monday, April 7, 2008 | By: DennisSome say doing memory reviews is worthless but I have a different theory, Instead of reviewing the technology why not review memory products for how well they complement your system, either in performance, style, or gossip factor.
- OCZ PC3-10666 ReaperX 4GB Memory Kit @ 3DGM
- Kingston HyperX 1GB PC2-9600 DDR2 Memory Kit Review @ Bigbruin
- Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2Gig DDR2 Memory Kit Review @ Tweaknews
- OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB Edition @ Bjorn3DWe've been fans of so many memory companies over the years and what do we have to show for it? Nothing
We throw rocks at the Crucial building and get called in to clean them up (they are located within a stones throw of the Ninjalane Labs),
We arrange a meeting with Corsair and they fail to tell us where they are,
Patriot is extremely nice but damn if they forget about you in a second.
Oh ya we can't forget about OCZ, a friend of ours from DFI starts work there and when we go by to say hi to that person we get the 10th degree as to why we're wanting to talk to our friend and not their marketing person.A-DATA is a company of extremely hot chix so we can't exactly diss
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5 PC games that deserve sequels @ XSReviews
Published: Monday, April 7, 2008 | By: DennisHere is a fun little article about games that need to be reborn a second time. While sequels in games do not suffer the same scrutiny as movies there is also less money being thrown around to whoever can do the most coke or has the best casting couch.
Age of Empires 2, Call of Duty 2, Red Alert 2, Half Life 2, the list of great video game sequels for the PC is almost endless. Why then, are so many franchises left to die at the side of the road, despite the first game having an original concept or a great fan base? Unfortunately, in most cases it probably boils down to money, but there are many reasons that games just don't get made. Still, in an effort to see our dreams come to life, XSR has come up with our top 5 PC games we'd love to see sequels to.
My personal vote would be to have NetHack as a sequel but less so in a cheezy way but more as a turn based FPS.
yes yes I know, I'd better get cracking on that.
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NL: Review Block - Cases
Published: Friday, April 4, 2008 | By: DennisWe got quite a few cases this week; here is a good cross section.
- CSX Wraith Tower Case Review @ OCIA
- Cooler Master CM690 @ Viper Lair (Check out our review of the same case here)
- Thermaltake M9 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
- SilverStone KLO2 Kublai Series Case Review @ Motherboards
- Cooler Maste Cosmos S Review @ TechwareLabs
- Apevia X-Supra G Type Case Review @ HardwareLogic
- Apevia X-QBOII Micro-ATX Case Review @ OCIA
- Antec NSK4480 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Ultra M998 Chassis Review @ Driver Heaven
- Cooler Master Centurion 590 system chassis review @ Elite BastardsQuite a few cases there, We'll have our own posted in the next week or so.
Also keep in mind, even though we post news about crappy cases don't think we would remotely endorse them for normal consumption.
We're still a little curious about that Ultra case as we've seen it someplace before way back in our Ninjalane past.
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Sunbeamtech Acrylic HTPC Case Review @ Mikhailtech
Published: Thursday, April 3, 2008 | By: DennisIts not every day you see a HTPC case made from clear acrylic but there is a first time for everything.
Sunbeam, well known for their fascination with acrylic and lights, shipped us their new Acrylic HTPC with, you guessed it, more lights! Building a case is serious business, especially when dealing with enthusiast hardware. Some of the design considerations include good cable management, good airflow with clean air, room for plenty of hard drives, quiet, and let’s not forget aesthetics! This is quite a large list! Let’s take a look at Sunbeam’s work at how they incorporated all of these considerations.
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No April Fools This Time
Published: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 | By: DennisI actually had a very cool april fools gag all planned up and ready to go but alas at the last minute the idea was pulled and tabled for sometime later. Maybe as a project or april fools next year.
No to be outdone by anyone else I do have the super cool review from last year. Check it out!
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NL: Review Block - Misc crazy stuff
Published: Monday, March 31, 2008 | By: DennisTo start (or end in this case) our daily news postings where is some stuff just strange enough to stay in the inbox.
- Zalman FPSGUN FG-1000 Gun Style Gaming Mouse @ ixbt
- Zalman FG1000 Gun Mouse FPS Controller Review @ Tweaknews <- Remember these guys?, makes me wish there was a news search for context.I'm not really sure what this article is about but they show a busted up Creative sound card so at least they have that going for them
- Creative: Doing Little to Please Consumers @ TechgageWe always like to see watercooled stuff and here we have a videocard, from ATI, watercooled. (OMG what is the world coming to)
- Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 X2 Atomic WaterCooled preview @ Elite BastardsNot saying Kyle has any bearing on how enthusiasts choose their hardware but a "green" 1TB drive has my attention
- WD Caviar and RE2 GreenPower 1TB Hard Drives @ HotHardware
And if that wasn't enough here is a 1TB HDD round up.
- 1TB Hard Drive Roundup Review @ TheTechLoungeThat pretty much concludes this entry in the Secret public news postings, The next time you're around readin' the news here do us a favor and hop into the forums and say something like "I read the news, how about you?"
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NL: Review Block - Memory, Cases, Cooling
Published: Monday, March 31, 2008 | By: DennisThose of you that have been with Ninjalane since the beginning will know that even when I say there will be a news posting without comments there always at least one sly remark, and for this post.... I have nothing.
Memory
- Patriot Viper Series 2GB PC3-12800 DDR3 Memory Kit Review @ Bigbruin
- Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB PC3-12800 Memory Kit Review @ Virtual-Hideout
- Mushkin Redline XP2-8000 4GB Memory Kit Review @ HardwareLogic
- Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red DDR2 4GB PC2-6400 Review @ ASE Labs
- US Modular Cold Fusion DDR2-800 2x1GB Memory Kit Reviewed @ TheTechLounge
- Diamond Viper Fin DDR3 PC14400 2 x 1 GB Review @ OCC
Ok I couldn't resist. did anyone notice a trend with these memory reviews? Yep you guessed it they are all from sites that don't post our news. Sad huh?
Cases
- SilverStone KL02B-W Case at Overclockers Online
- Silverstone GD02 HTPC Case Review @ OCIA
- Cooler Master COSMOS S Chassis @ HotHardware
- Apevia X-Qboii Mid Tower Case @ Pro-Clockers
- Antec Mini P180 mATX Case review in Metku
- Mediasonic SU2LA Dual Bay RAID + NAS Enclosure Review @ Hardware Canucks <-- Not really a case but close, 'kinda'
Cooling
- Thermaltake Bigwater 760i Water Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews
- NorthQ Siberian Tiger CPU Water Cooler @ 3DGM
- Cooljag Mini LED Flash Fans Review @ ThinkComputers
- Cooler Master Hyper TX2 Review @ OCC <- yep another one, how did that happen
-So now this begs the question, what more is there to post?
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Foxconn X38A Digital Life @ Bjorn3D
Published: Monday, March 31, 2008 | By: DennisFunny thing about this review is the quote they sent out in the review release I swear its longer than the whole review!
Here is a "short" snip
Upgrading your rig can be such a pain can't it? Trying to figure out where technology is headed so you don't waste your money on obsolete garbage.
Nice board though, I would't mind having one.
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C2Q Q6600 Heatsink Roundup -12 Tested @ DragonSteelMods
Published: Sunday, March 30, 2008 | By: DennisI have noticed a funny thing in the heatsink and cooling industry and it has to do with sound and geographical location. Seems that we here in the US are pretty content with our PCs making a little bit of noise. However when it comes to folks in Europe the less is more approach seems to be where its at.
The trend is baffling and in a way I'd like to know why.
Dragonsteelmods has done a fancy dancy heatsink round up suitable for the Q6600 quad core. They all happen to be heatpipe towers with a stock intel cooler acting as the control. I would have liked to see Cooler Master in the mix but it would seem they are too loud?
Dunno.
