Tech News
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APEVIA X-Qpack2 Micro Enclosure Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Published: Monday, June 4, 2007 | By: DennisHere is a fun little HTPC'ish case in m-ATX form. This case is of course a pre-mod but is done so in a fairly tasteful manner.
Apevia Corporation is the new name for Aspire International Corporation which was established in March 1999. Due to lots of confusions between Aspire cases, Acer's Aspire Notebook systems and Aspire Credit Cards, we have decided to change our name to Apevia Corporation in June 2006. With the strategy of standing behind our customers to ensure their total satisfaction, -
Guide: Open hard drive surgery @ AOA
Published: Sunday, June 3, 2007 | By: DennisHere is a fun little guide on how to perform open drive surgery.
What do you do when you have a dead drive with data that you really,
REALLY need to recover? Well, you can either send the drive to a data
recovery outfit and spend lottabucks, or you can take the approach of
the hardware hacker, and find another drive in your junk pile that is
similar enough to swap platters. -
Welcome to the NEW Ninjalane.com
Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | By: DennisWell it has been a long, long process but the new Ninjalane (v3) is now live!. This refresh marks the first major design and architecture change in 5 years. Aside from the obvious design change we are hosting a new feature called Upgrade Alley. Upgrade Alley is our version of a system building guide and covers 4 different system levels. You can find more information on Upgrade Alley and what systems are available in the Upgrade Alley section.
Behind the scenes we are featuring a completely new article publishing system that will allow us to post articles quicker and in different formats (mobile, RSS, etc..) The publishing system comes with an integrated photo gallery while this gallery isn't available to the public there are plans to do so in the future.
Of course we still have the Ninjalane Message Forum; it has been a stable here at Ninjalane since the beginning and still has active members from the very beginning. Registration is free and I urge you to join.
On the horizon there is a whole set of features planned including:
Membership system - Current plans will allow Ninjalane members sign up for our newsletter, post comments, etc. Paying members will have exclusive access to Upgrade Alley and be able to see the upgrades before they go live to the public.
Comment system - The extent of the comments has yet to be decided but current plans are to allow Ninjalane members the ability to chime in on the news and articles we post. Until this is implemented please head over to the Ninjalane Message Forum and post your comments and feedback there.
Ninjalane Store - A few years back we tried a logo shop using Cafepress however the finished product was less than stellar so we're going to open our own! There will be some prototype shirts and such with us at Computex this year along with some photos in the Ninjalane Message Forum.
Well that's about it, personally I would like to welcome you all to the new Ninjalane and am curious to know what your thoughts are. So please either contact me directly or post your comments in the Forum.
Btw Computex starts June 5th and runs thru the 9th in Taipei Taiwan and we're going to be there! The plan is to have daily show coverage including photos and commentary so stay tuned!
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Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC8500 2x1GB @ EclipseOC
Published: Friday, May 11, 2007 | By: DennisWhen it comes to buying high performance memory there are two things to keep in mind.
a) you can "assume" that if the company mfgs memory chips and then sells modules they will be using their own chips on the modules.
b) you cannot "assume" that they will actually horde the best stuff for themselves when other companies are willing to pay big dollars for "the good stuff"
so why does this quote not surprise me?
"As I have mentioned a few times in the past, Crucial is a part of Micron. As such, it is a sure thing that Ballistix sticks will come with Micron chips, just as they have since a few weeks after their introduction back in the DDR1 days. Upon asking which chips these DDR2-1066 kits use, I was told that it was not possible to know. I did some investigation on with this kit and found that underneath the heatspreaders lay D9GMH chips with a -18F marking. Crucial has rebinned the 333MHz, cas5 chips up to 533MHz with the same timings."
Well its because EVERYONE in the industry does this to a certain degree, an while faster chips exist the majority of 1066Mhz modules are CAS5 and have been “overclocked” from the factory. Why do you suppose it requires 2.3v+ to keep them running? -
Super Talent 4GB PC2-6400 @ Techgage
Published: Friday, May 11, 2007 | By: DennisThis has got to be one of the strangest comments I have ever seen related to memory heatspreaders…. ever...
"The heatspreaders leave a bit to be desired though. To me it looks like a spreader doused with a bunch of candy sprinkles and then painted over. Once again though, they do their job. I am unsure how this method would compare to others, but it's better than some I've come across."
I will admit the Super Talent heatspreaders are not much to look at but they do look and work pretty well to they can’t really be that bad.
Btw here are my picks for the best memory heatspreaders on the market...
Patriot = has the best looking
Corsair = the most functional
Adata = the cleanest -
News to follow
Published: Monday, May 7, 2007 | By: DennisHello everyone, Sorry for the lack of news postings, I've been a little busy with another major project that should see the light come Computex 07.
As the subject says, news to follow. -
Noctua_NC-U6_chipset _cooler Review @ OCC
Published: Monday, April 30, 2007 | By: DennisOne thing the enthusiast market needs is more high end Northbridge / MCP coolers as the stock ones rarely do anything to help high FSB overclocking.
Sadly the downside to good NB cooling is the cooler becomes rather huge in the process.
"Can you hear it? Silence, that's one of the calling cards for the Noctua NC-U6 chipset cooler we will be looking at today. This chipset cooler features heatpipe cooling, 29 aluminum fins, soldered connections and you guessed it, no fans. With today's hot-running chipsets, the stock cooling is marginal at best. For those who want to reach for and achieve the highest possible clock speeds, replacing the chipset cooling with something better is not optional - it is mandatory. Can a passive chipset cooler fit the bill for your performance needs? Let's find out." -
NL: Review Block - Motherboards
Published: Monday, April 30, 2007 | By: DennisNormally I try to break out each motherboard review with a few comments but for this round I've opted to just list them in a standard review block. I hope nobody minds, then again nobody says anything either way.
- EPoX Optimus EP-AD580 XR Motherboard Review @ Motherboards
- ABIT IN9 32X-MAX 680i-SLI Motherboard Review @ Virtual-Hideout
- EVGA nForce 650i Ultra Review at NVNews
- XFX 680i LT SLI Motherboard Review @ Motherboards
- Abit and MSI take on the nForce 650i @ TechReport
- XFX 680i LT SLI @ Bjorn3D
- DFI Lanparty UT NF590 SLI-M2R/G @ EclipseOC
- DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G @ NordicHardware
- abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD Motherboard Review @ Motherboards
- Foxconn N5M2AA-EKRS2H AMD Socket AM2 Review @ Redaktion
- DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G @ TechReport
Be sure to check back as we'll have a new board review here shortly. -
NL: Review Block - Memory Modules
Published: Monday, April 30, 2007 | By: DennisIt is time for another review block featuring memory reviews from around the web.
- Crucial Ballistix PC8500 Review - XSReviews
- Crucial PC5300 2x1GB @ EclipseOC
- Crucial 2GB DDR2-1066 Ballistix Tracer @ Techgage
- Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-8500 Memory @ 3DGM
- Mushkin XP2-6400 4GB Kit @ Bjorn3D
- Mushkin XP2-8500 2GB Kit DDR2-1066/PC2-8500 Memory Review @ Redaktion
Pretty much all Crucial and Mushkin, just a couple of US based memory makers; funny thing is I think they are both using the same memory chips.
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DFI LAN Party UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R Review Posted
Published: Monday, April 30, 2007 | By: DennisIn the Enthusiast hardware world "custom" is the name of the game. This is not a hard and fast rule but when you look at what people do to get the best performance you cannot deny that enthusiasts like to change things. It might start with something simple like watercooling or something extreme like voltage mods, either way the system is no longer stock.
