Tech News
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Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 Review @ Overclockers Online
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006 | By: DennisThere is nothing like a sexy red motherboard to brighten the day. Actually the only thing better than a red motherboard is a super sweet red video card to complement the offering. Sadly the "new" Gainward kind of blows and MSI needs to play katsup. I guess that leaves ATI branded cards, sheesh what is the world coming to.
"The layout of the board is good. The 24-pin ATX power connector is in a descent spot away from the socket area. Those installing long video cards may need to be wary of the caps next to the DIMM slots; the 6800GSs used in testing were long enough to pass by them, but they sit rather close, so be careful when inserting/removing long video cards. Something that's missing that I really like seeing are the color coded front IO jumpers. "
As if you need to access the jumpers after the board is installed, I mean really why bring Gigabyte into the picture when this is a Foxconn review. -
NL: Review Block - More memory
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006 | By: DennisIf I'm not careful Ninjalane will become the memory hub of the internet.
- Corsair 2GB Twin2X XMS2 @ Hardware Hell
- Corsair TWINX-2048 3500LL PRO Memory @ Viperlair
- Corsair TwinX2048-4000PT Evaluation @ techFEAR
- OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-4200 Gold GX XTC @ TechPowerUp
- OCZ 1024MB EL Gold GX XTC PC3500 @ Big Bruin
- OCZ PC2-5400 EL Gold Review @ Link Force Corner (or something)
- Corsair 4000PT 2GB DDR500 @ Future Looks
- John Beekley of Corsair Memory @ Legit Reviews Interview
- Crucial Ballistix 1 GB Kit @ Pro-Clockers
Of course we have our own memory reviews and opinions as to what is best. -
News Coming
Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 | By: DennisHey everyone thx for your ongoing support. I've been working my tail off here in the Ninjalane Labs abet sadly not on Ninjalane things.
It saddens me to see review hardware just setting next to my primary workstation just begging to be turned on. (not to mention 300 plus news emails all wanting to be posted)
Things will get better, and I'll post some news in the AM.
As for now, its sleepy time.
Oh and if you are curious about what hardware I'm speaking of, check out this forum thread. -
How Manufacturers Test Heatsinks @ FrostyTech
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006 | By: Dennis"Testing a heatsink with an actual CPU is perhaps preferable in several respects to some, because the uneven heating characteristics of a CPU die are what you'll actually find in the system. It's an extremely costly and unpredictable method once 'loading & stressing software' enters into the mix though."
We've always used real processors in our heatsink reviews; this is good in that the tests are done using real-world methods in a real-world environment. The only deviation is that our testing is done open air environment to reflect the best case scenario if in fact your particular case is well ventilated. -
Thermaltake Big Water 745 @ techPowerUp!
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006 | By: DennisThis would be a pretty sweet watercooling kit if it didn't look like a carry over from the early 80's.
"The Big Water 745 comes with a 240 mm external radiator along with the 120 mm radiator. The dual 120 mm rad is external only, but with the single 120 mm it can be installed inside the case or outside. The external 240 mm radiator is exclusive to the Big Water 745 in the fact that it comes with stands to mount the radiator."
I do like the dual radiator approach. This might have to be incorporated into my next casemod. -
Asetek WaterChill Xtreme 12V Pump-Reservoir Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006 | By: DennisHere we have a rockin pump, be sure to check out our review of the same product for comparison.
" As we know Asetek is famous in computer cooling; with their WaterChill and VapoChill products. Today we’ll have a look on their latest pump; WaterChill 12V Xtreme pump. Asetek WaterChill 12V Xtreme pump is a fully integrated pump and reservoir. One of the unique features of WaterChill 12V Xtreme pump is the software monitoring and controlling feature. We’ll see this interesting pump more in this review. " -
Neoseeker Cooler Master Stacker 830 Review
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006 | By: Dennis"The original Stacker was unique in a few ways. It was one of the first mass market BTX compatible cases, and it only contained 5.25 inch bays for installation. Sure it had an adaptor to convert some of those 5 inch bays to 3.5 inch hard drive bays, but on the outside it sure looked like a CD duplication unit."
I would tend to agree, while the Stacker did have a ton of places for drives and such it didn't offer much in the way of original design. However with that being said I can count at least 3 companies that copied the design shortly after its release. -
The Western Digital Raptor X HDD @ Legit Reviews
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006 | By: DennisNow this is the hot shite!
"As you can see from the image above the drive is perfect for anyone with a clear case or those with a case window showing the hard drive bay. The clear window does flex when pressed on and it was advised not to press hard on the window as it might break the seal. During use the Raptor X looked great when at idle on the desktop since you can see the arm inside the drive jitter while the platter is spinning. "
Being that I like to think I'm rich I'll be putting these on my must have list, however I am a little disappointed in that nothing was said about these drives being SATA2. -
Albatron K8SLi Motherboard @ Viperlair
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006 | By: DennisCrappy photos are back in this Viperlair exclusive (for the time frame).
"The first thing I noticed about the board was its size. The board was less wide than a standard ATx board by about 2 inches. To give a good idea how much thinner this board is compared to a standard ATx board I placed it on top of a Winfast board I had laying around. This made me think that Albatron should have simply cut off a few of the PCI slots and made it a mATx board."
Its kind of amazing how some sites can get away with poor quality control when it comes to images, I mean its easy to fix just drop the image into Photoshop and run a couple of color and contrast plugins.
I've generally been displeased with Albatron board layouts but this one is actually pretty good in terms of component placement. -
DFI NF4 SLI Infinity motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006 | By: Dennis"Everyone knows that DFi is the king of the hill when it comes to AMD 64 overclocking. There is no other motherboard out there that offers you the controls over the voltages and timings. When DFi brought the LanParty line of boards to the market, it offered all the goodies that would make the inside of your case look as good as it would run. But some of us enthusiasts don't need all that added flare, so DFI gave us the Infinity line."
15 pieces is the minimum and if you are content with the minimum that's fine but, some people choose to wear more and we encourage that.
