Tech News
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Abit Fatal1ty AN8 @ t-break
Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 | By: DennisI look at this motherboard and say to myself, wow that is pretty darn cool, though when I look closer at it you can see many similaraties between the Abit AN8 and the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra that we reviewed not to long ago. If it wasn't for the LEDs on the back of the board and the red PCB I'd be all "thats not so special"
"One of the other things that stands out with this board is that Abit has placed the nForce4 chip a bit higher than most other manufactures and this works out great. On other boards, youll find the nForce4 chip next to the PCI slots however, as you can see from the picture below, Abit places it above the PCI slots and closer to the CPU on the AN8." -
SilverStone Eudemon Multifunction Panel @ LAN Addict
Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 | By: DennisWe like Silverstone here, and you should too, and the reasons... there are no reasons, who needs reasons when you got passive ventilation grills. (haxX0r3d from Trainspotting)
"As you can see, there are no large, bulbous knobs sticking way out from the Eudemon. This is good news for those of you that have bay-hiding doors on your cases! The two grills you see are for passive ventilation, although I don't see why someone couldn't put small fans or speakers behind those grills, were they inclined in that direction." -
SunBeamTech Light Bus @ TechTastic
Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 | By: DennisLight bus, Fan bus they are just a central location to house your LEDs and switches, however some companies tend to do more than just allow you to flip the switch.
"On the back of the unit we can see that each channel uses a three pin Molex connector to control the lighting. Since some lighting equipment uses four pin Molex connectors Sunbeamtech has included a four adapter wires to solve this problem."
I still think you are better off bulding your own, though this one does do some pretty cool stuff.
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NL: Review Block - Sound Cards
Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 | By: DennisSound card galore, Many sites won't review sound cards since most motherboards come with very decent onboard offerings. While I personally don't like onboard sound it is becoming more and more difficult to find a good sound card these days.
Chaintech AV-710 Audio Card @ Techniz
"The Chaintech AV-710 is a budget 24 bit audio card. It really gives out the 7.1 Channel performance by the 24 bit with 192KHz sampling rate."
X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card Review @ nV News
This here is a very cool card, and 8 channels to boot.
"I can't take it anymore; I've got to see the card. There is something about the smell of new hardware I absolutely love, fresh like a silicon Spring day. The PCB is black with gold text, PCI bracket and connections. There are small capacitors surrounding the channel conversion chips with green caps that give the card a busy, yet purposeful look."
For more block style reviews with or without comments click the link below. -
Gigabyte 8I955X Royal Motherboard @ t-break
Published: Monday, May 9, 2005 | By: DennisGigabyte loves their gagets like the DPS module. Kind of makes you wonder why other companies don't do the same thing?
"Gigabyte specific features include the DPS module that is an eight phase power circuit designed to provide continuous and no-variable power to the CPU. BIOS technologies such as C.I.A. 2 and M.I.B. 2 are also supported by this board (more on them later) while DualBIOS and Download Center keep your BIOS protected and updated." -
Sytrin Nextherm ICS 8200 Case @ Techniz
Published: Monday, May 9, 2005 | By: DennisIf your computer room is pretty hot in the summer or your parents hate to crank up the A/C while you overclock this case might be for you.
"Nextherm ICS 8200, is an advanced integration of a High-End PC case incorporating the revolutionnary PC Air-Conditioning Cooling System, a powerful power supply, and an informative control panel for High-Performance systems. In response to the increasingly critical thermal issues, the innovative cooling technology, "PC Aircon-Conditioning Cooling Systems" is purpose-built in Extherm ICS 8200 to increase the system's life-span and allow demanding users to get the most out of their processors."
Not completely sure it will give you anything extra on your overclock but should help to save on long term electronics cost. -
NVIDIA to Fix “Dual Display Issue"
Published: Monday, May 9, 2005 | By: DennisI was a little curious about this.
"Those of you with NVIDIA’s SLI configuration and dual monitors know that both monitors must run from a single card in order to operate. If dual monitors are enabled, two cards operating as one takes control of the single screen, which leaves the other monitor ineffective." -
MSI P4N Diamond Review @ Hardware Zone
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | By: DennisHardware Zone Loves MSI.
Last year at Computex one of the booth babes caught me off guard and made me say "I love MSI" in Taiwanese for a prize. Not sure I could do that again without some help.
"The P4N Diamond came in a signature black PCB, giving it a no nonsense appearance and we do not think MSI wanted to portray anything less. As with most MSI motherboard designs we have seen of late, the board layout of the P4N Diamond is pretty well optimized." -
ABIT AG8 Motherboard @ LAN Addict
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | By: DennisI can't say I really like this review but I will admit that if you choose to check it out you will be required to read it. Click to see what I mean.
"So how well does the ABIT AG8 rate?! Well, I have to say it is probably one of the better ones on the market. Can it get better? YES! But, you say, Turbo, where can this near heavenly motherboard possibly get better?! Well, there are a few things I would like to see changed: " -
Water Cooling with PolarFLO Article @ nV News
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | By: DennisWe have some PolarFlo stuff in the labs as I write this, pretty good looking stuff too.
"This article is not meant to be a step-by-step guide. It is more of a collection of the many things I've learned from water cooling. Everyone's setup varies so much that a linear guide really wouldn't be of much use anyway. My hope is that the lessons I've learned (based on both honest mistakes, and some deliberate) will shed some light, answer some questions, and give a boost of confidence in general."
This is a pretty good guide though don't think of it as step-by-step.
