Tech News
-
Crucial PC3200 DDR400 Memory Review @ Tweaknews
Published: Monday, January 26, 2004 | By: Dennis"Crucial offers a fantastic product for mainstream users. Its memory is stable and reliable. It is not meant to overclock, yet I was still able to get a nice boost without damaging the modules. The temperatures remained warm (not hot) even without the use of heatspreaders."
I agree Crucial does make a mean stick of ram though due to the very relaxed timings and limited speed selections I wouldn’t suggest Crucial for any high-end system that you intend to overclock. -
NL: Review Block - To Much Video
Published: Monday, January 26, 2004 | By: DennisEveryone wants to do video card reviews, and I don't blame them. Video cards can make or break a gaming system and also happen to be largely misunderstood, even by review sites.
Video Cards
- HIS Excalibur 9600SE VIVO Edition @ Legit Reviews
- PowerColor Radeon 9800XT Review @ 3DChip [de]
- Chaintech FX5600 Personal Cinema Review @ GruntvillE
- Inno3D GeForce FX 5700 Ultra Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Misc.
- Mousemat Review @ Dans Data
Brought to you by... -
Installing Slackware Linux @ Bitbender
Published: Monday, January 26, 2004 | By: DennisSlackware is the only distro of Linux that I use and though I haven't converted my desktop to Linux my main multipurpose server happens to be built on Slackware.
"What's this about "friendly"? You heard that Slackware was too damned hard, didn't you? If you are expecting cute graphical wizards and penguins automating every configuration step for you, that may be true. However, in essense, Slackware is one of the simplest distributions there is if you are proficient with a Linux system. If you aren't, a little perseverance with Slackware and you will be."
The best advice I can give it be patient, read the docs, and be patient, the install goes pretty quick but configuration of the system can be a little exhaustive if you are new to Linux. -
Thermaltake Xaser V Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Published: Monday, January 26, 2004 | By: Dennis"The first thing that struck me about this case was the front and the look it conveyed to me. The checkerboard design on the classic Xaser series front 'X' reminded me of an old 50's style diner."
I would agree the "X" is cool. Would have been cooler if Ninjalane actually got one of these cases for review, but alas the site just can't shake the "send them heatsinks, they won't mind" thing.
-
FSP Silent Solution Kit @ A True Review
Published: Monday, January 26, 2004 | By: Dennis" The Silent Solution Kit certainly does what it said it would. The case fan and power supply work superbly, but the CPU cooler's performance is below average. If you’re into modding, removing the aluminum piece and lapping the base will defiantly shave a few degrees off."
On a side note check out the Molex plugs on the powersupply, they remind me of an interesting thing happened to me during Computex.
For those of you fortunate enough to attend a trade show you will know about the hundreds of people around the building handing out stuff. Well one item that was being given away was a sample of these new Molex plugs, though what is interesting is how the sample kept coming back to me. First off I tried to refuse the sample though later found it shoved into my hand through some stealthy means of Taipei Kung Fu. For the remainder of the day the sample kept falling out of my bag as I was walking along and every time a friendly local would bring it to my attention saying "sir sir, you dropped this!" and give it back to me.
I think the tiny little Molex sample is still floating around the Ninjalane Labs. -
XGI/Club3d Volari Duo V8 256mb Reviews
Published: Saturday, January 24, 2004 | By: DennisSome of you may remember the XGI photos I took at Computex 2003. Computex was big for XGI since that single event spawned a lot of hype about the new video cards.
Looking back I didn't think much about how they had their demos setup but after reading these reviews everything has come full circle. The XGI booth/room had two Pentium 4 3.0Ghz systems running the Duo and V8 (single chip) video card. Each system was setup with 3Dmark and that was it. I figured they choose that due to the benchmark being well known. As it would turn out 3Dmark appears to be the only thing XGI wrote drivers for.
- Driverheaven Volari Duo Review
- x-bit labs Volari Duo Review
I don't think nVidia or ATI have anything to worry abut, yet.
-
NL: Review Block - High-End Ed.
Published: Friday, January 23, 2004 | By: DennisClick at your own risk, some of these I didn't even read..
Video Cards
- Albatron GeForce FX 5700 Ultra Review @ 3DXtreme
Motherboards
- Abit AI7 Motherboard Review @ GruntvillE
- Chaintech 9CJS ZENITH Review @ Madshrimps
- ABIT AI7 865PE Review @ Viper Lair
- ASUS P4P800S-E Deluxe Review @ Legit Reviews
Again, brought to you by... -
LanParty NFII "B" Review @ ClubOC
Published: Friday, January 23, 2004 | By: DennisThe owner of this site lives like 40 miles away from me and yet we never talk and my news is never posted there. It must be a pretty exclusive club, but I digress.
"I have been using the original LAN Party NFII Ultra review board in my main system for 6 months now. I can say that it has been one of the most reliable and trouble free motherboards I have used. I run it at 230fsb with 7222 ram timings. Certainly any flaws would have surfaced by now."
I would agree, both nForce2 Ultra boards from DFI are very good, Even though I eventually had better luck overclocking the Rev A board the Rev B is what I would recommend that people buy.
Check out both of our DFI LanParty nForce2 reviews here and here -
Albatron PX865PE PRO II Review @ EnvyNews
Published: Friday, January 23, 2004 | By: Dennis"The recent overclocking craze has been all about the 800-MHz FSB capable Intel Pentium 4 CPUs. The launch of the i865 wasn’t a day most enthusiasts had marked on their calendar as the i865 was seen as the i875 minus the performance improving PAT implementation."
So true but yet not the case anymore, just about any "good" i865PE motherboard comes with some sort of "PAT"'ish performance ability just watch out for the ones with the floppy connector under the last PCI slot. -
Intel Tejas Pushed Into Q2 2005
Published: Friday, January 23, 2004 | By: Dennis"After numerous delays faced by Intel’s Pentium 4 “Prescott” and “Dothan” processors, it is not really big news that Intel is pushing code-named Tejas processor into the second quarter of 2005, about half a year later than according to the original schedule."
Who didn't see this coming? Just means that the current Pentium 4 will enjoy a little longer life, not necessarily a bad by any means.
Read more at x-bit.
