Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, February 28, 2002, 1:29:15 AM

Author: hitek

Phoebe Micro TV Master + FM TV-Tuner/FM Tuner Card Review @ SL Central "The buttons aren't well spaced, or shaped. The volume up/down is the same size and shape as the channel up/down - not usually an issue, as they tend to be arrow based, or the two control types tend to be orthogonal to each other. Nevertheless, Phoebe found a way to deviate from the norm, and screw it up: not only are the buttons the same size/shape, they are also equally spaced from each other, thus making it easy to get the volume down confused with channel up, and vice versa. Surprisingly, this is not so much of an issue, because the buttons don't work half the time anyway." More information on this review can be found here. Plextor PlexWriter 8/8/24U USB 2.0 CD-RW Drive Review @ Futurelooks "Ever since the dawn of CD-R and CD-RW respectively it seems as though there have been many companies who have come and gone. There are those who we trust, while there are others that we’d let sit wrapped up in their original manufacturers packaging rather than battling with it! Plextor, in the last few years has come to be a company that has been given a reputation around the computer world as being reliable." More information on this review can be found here. AVM Fritz DSL Card Review @ Tobitech "The Fritz DSL Card connects a PC to high-speed ADSL Internet access and at the same time provides all ISDN services, including as telefax, text messages and file transfer." More information on this review can be found here. Leadtek GeForce 4 MX & Gainward GeForce 3 Ti 200 Reviews @ Overclockers New Zealand "We received a Leadtek A170 GF4 MX card. The card is designed to replace GF2 Ti/Pro/GST lines. However, the name of GF4 MX is a bit confusing. GF4 MX is like a hybrid of GF2 Ti and GF4, with all GF4's DX8.1 features taken out. In short, GF4 MX is a glorified GF2 Ti. However, many consumers may think GF4 MX is faster than a GF3 Ti200 since it's from a later generation. In order to clarify this, we get in a Gainward GF3 Ti200 128MB graphics card to show how the two stack up in real world situation." More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake Volcano 7+ HSF Review @ Tek Sector (c) 2002 Tek Sector "An effective cooler has become a crucial element in the formula for a stable system, and while ingredients can sometimes be substituted, that doesn't bestow a worthy excuse for using outdated milk. In other words, there are a lot of CPU coolers out there, but finding the right one can sometimes take some time. As we all know, in order to get the performance and stability that we require out of our systems, it will take a lot more than an old, outdated hunk of metal…It will take a good, effective cooler to make this possible." More information on this review can be found here. EverCool CUC-610 Hybrid Heatsink Review @ Mikhailtech "There are 30 large fins, each cut vertically at 6 points, for a total of 180 aluminum fins. The heatsink is extruded from a single piece of Aluminum 6063T5, so heat transfer between the base and the fins is as good as it gets. Note that there are grooves on two opposite sides of the sink. Here, the shroud is held to the sink via plastic clips from the shroud itself. I am not going to talk about the dimensions since they were already mentioned above in the specs." More information on this review can be found here. CPL Case Modders @ Intel Developer Forum 2002 The Top 5 case modders from last years 2001 CPL Case Modding Competition in Dallas, Texas were recently at the 2002 Intel Developer Forum last week to show off their tricked out cases. It seems that Intel is fully behind the case modding community, now if we could only convince AMD to follow the same path. Here is a quote: "The stability and reliability of the Pentium 4 processor lends itself to the radical, out-of-this-world PC designs that are being shown at IDF," commented Gabe Achanzar, who oversees Intel's relationship with the PC modder community." You can also catch these winners in the March 2002 edition of Maximum PC. More information on the Intel Developer Forum can be found here and the adventures of these case modders in San Francisco has been documented here.

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MODTHEBOX Domain is moving..

Date Posted: Wednesday, February 27, 2002, 8:44:49 PM

Author: hitek

IMPORTANT: MTB Site Announcement Please be advised that I will be migrating the domain over to a new dedicated server in the next few days. When the site does proprigate certain functions will not be available this includes front page news and access to the forums. Most of the site content has been moved over but we will not be 100% operational. I'm estimating that most of the problems will be fixed in as little as a week. I will definately keep our readers and affiliates posted. Thanks for your continued support.

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Wednesday News Edition...

Date Posted: Wednesday, February 27, 2002, 2:26:45 AM

Author: hitek

CoolJag JAC301C CPU Cooler Review @ Think Computers "For my first ever heastsink fan review I will be taking a look at the CoolJag Jac301C. To be honest I had never heard of CoolJag. I stumbled apon their website surfing the web. Well they have just took a entry into the category of PC thermal cooling. Their coolers utilize the latest "Skiving" technology for superior performance. This technology enables greater surface area and thus increased cooling performance." More information on this review can be found here. TweakMonster Light Strips Rev. 2 Review @ OCModShop "If you have a window in your case you know that the next step in your case modding journey is to now add lighting so that the inside of your case will be even cooler looking. There are many different ways in which you can light up the inside of your case, neons, cold cathodes, LEDs, and now light strips. With neons, cold cathodes and LEDs you don't have much variation on where you can put them in your case. With these light strips you can put it practically anywhere, the light strips come in 3 diffrent colors green, pink, and blue." More information on this review can be found here. ClutterBuster Desktop Organizer Review @ Mikhailtech "The kit consists of several pieces, all of which are interchangeable. You get the main unit with Velcro attachments, two CD holders, two big compartments and two smaller ones. Also included is a top holder with a deep recession (for pencils, pens, rulers, etc) and a frame to house either a photograph or the included 2001/2002 mini-calendar. There are many rails extending from the top of the CB all the way down, in turn allowing for an almost infinite number of configurations. Simply slide an adapter in and there you have it. From the feel of it, the CB is made of a very thick and sturdy plastic so you needn't worry about anything breaking." More information on this review can be found here. Gainward Geforce4 MX440 Video Card Review *UPDATE* "I didn’t have enough time to do all test I wanted when I first wrote the review, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to complete the article with more benchmarks. First of all, I did more Quake3 benches, this time only two resolutions, 640x480 and 1024x768, because I had some problems with my monitor and I had to switch back to 14” so I can’t go higher than 1024x768. But more quality options this time. And I tested Fastest, Normal, High Quality and MAX. By MAX I understand all sliders to the max, default color depth (16 bit in this case) and Bilinear filtering." More information on this review can be found here. Custom CPU Waterblock @ Digital Explosion "Using the same technique as before (drill press) I cut a couple of 10mm holes for the fittings. I then soldered them in and attatched some 90 degree elbows so the plastic tubing wouldn't kink. If you look at the next couple of pics, you can see that the main block has some odd looking holes in it. I realised that having dirlled the holes for the bolts, there were a couple of components that were in the way! To solve it, I simply filed the copper back a little." More information on this guide can be found here. Lazer Leds Review @ Extreme Overclocking "If you have wanted to add a bit of light to your case but don't want to go through the pain of installing a neon or cold cathode then this review is for you. Recently I received one of these little lights from Crazy PC. Personally, I have been wanting to add a light to the inside of my case for quite some time, but had been putting it off. I was dreading the amount of time it would take for me to mount a cold cathode or neon light and really didn't feel like going to the trouble. I had honestly been putting it off for about a month and a half when I saw this little thing." MTB Labs reviewed this product last week, check out our comparison review. More information on this review can be found here. Enermax 431 W PSU @ Inside Project "Enermax has certainly made a name for itself in the overclocking and modding community. They are well respected for the quality products they manufacture that are specifically geared towards power hunger users. Their line of power supplies are decked out to crank enough juice to just about anything you can hook up to it. To top it all off, they have added an extra fan to give you the cooling you need. Does the 431 Watt Power Supply unit live up to Enermax's previous standards? How about the cooling, is it really needed, and does it make a difference?" More information on this review can be found here. Cameo 400 DV (Firewire PCI Card) Video Review @ 3DGameman "A Firewire card that can be plugged directly into your Power Supply and has an internal 1394 port" ~3dGameMan.com More information on this video review can be found here.

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Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Tuesday, February 26, 2002, 12:13:26 AM

Author: hitek

Belkin Wireless 802.11B PCI Adapter Review @ Virtual Hideout "This first thing you should know is that this Desktop Wireless PCI Network Adapter comes in two pieces, the PCI Adapter and the Network card itself. I was a bit perplexed as to why this was, but it soon became clear to me why almost all manufacturers (not just Belkin) are doing this. The reason is that the Network Card itself is a PCMCIA device that is meant to be used in notebooks/laptops where wireless technology would have the most benefit for roaming users. Desktop computers need the PCI Adapter to use the Wireless Network card. The PCI Adapter is installed into your computer, and the Wireless Network card simply plugs into that." More information on this review can be found here. Copper RAMsinks Review @ OCModShop "Most video cards these days come with RAMsinks preinstalled, some however do not. If you are an overclocker and want the get the most out of your video card you will want to cool the RAM so that you will not damage it while overclocking." More information on this review can be found here. Video Card Cooler Mod @ Tobitech Tobitech demonstrates how to modify the Titan Graphic Card Cooler with ramsinks to improve stock cooling. More information on this review can be found here. Millennium Thermal Solutions Glaciator II HSF @ Tek Sector "Today, we have a look at Millennium Thermal Solutions Glaciator II HSF. This is a great cooler if you're looking for a good quiet overclocker. Tired of your room sounding like a jet airport? Yeah? Well, this is the cooler for you. Straight from the folks at Millennium Thermal Solutions, this is a great buy! Come join us as we get into a detailed investigation as to what makes this sucker tick!" More information on this review can be found here. Codegen 1701 Budget Case Review @ Mikhailtech "After the side panels were off it was high time the top went. Much to my surprise it was secured not only on the rear but also on the sides of the fixed 5.25" rack, which added to the stability. Speaking of which, when the top is removed, the rest of the case is extremely wobbly. On the better side of the road, removing the top yields great modding possibilities. You can easily make a 120mm blowhole without having to take out your rig's entrails. But this is where you need to be extremely careful. "It's all fun and and games until someone loses their head." Not quite what happened, but you can no doubt see the resemblance." More information on this review can be found here. Gamerzstuff Case Lite Review @ Burnout PC "Casebadges are not as important as your cpu or your mobo but a case is not done without a badge. But you can't see one in the dark, so Gamerzstuff.com came up with an innovative product called the Case Badge Lite. Is it just a led behind some piece of plexi? Yeah, something like that but you won’t find anything that works better." More information on this review can be found here. Pentium 4 Northwood Review @ Hardware Extreme "After a long wating, Intel finally give their P4 a step more, changing the manufacturing process from 0.18 to 0.13 micron (130 nanometers). This is very interesting because Pentium 3 had firstly became the first test bed of the 0.13 microns CPU." More information on this review can be found here. Sound Blaster Extigy Review @ MGON "This product is filled to the brim with features that many other soundcards lack and in some cases are unique to the extigy itself. Some of the features include the ability to hook it up to a Playstation 2 and DVD player and enjoy Dolby 5.1 surround, all without the aid of a computer. The extigy is a modified Audigy chipset and thus offers most of the features which are standard now such as EAXHD. This is the new EAX standard for 3d surround sound games. Unfortunately there are no games on the market with this technology enabled yet but once they surface, it will finally show the full prowess this card and the Audigy has to offer." More information on this review can be found here. Blingcase Mod by EyeCannon (c) 2002 EyeCannon "This is one of those briefcase mods and is not a guide on how to make one. Everyone makes them differently, but this article might give you some cool ideas." More information on this case mod can be found here.

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Important MTB Site News & Updates

Date Posted: Monday, February 25, 2002, 8:30:18 AM

Author: hitek

Important MTB Site Updates It has been a while since I posted a site update, so let me run down what has been going on behind the scenes at MTB: 1. First up is our review on Highspeed PC's FrontX Mutlimedia Ports + USB Add-on. This product conveniently allows you to relocate your rear ports to the front of your case. 2. MODTHEBOX is happy to report that we have signed on a few new sponsors. Please welcome Pham Computers, Caseace Products, Icemat and Laserbay. We look forward to some great reviews of products from these vendors. All the most important announcement of all.. 3. A decision has been made to purchase a dedicated server for MODTHEBOX, since we've outgrown our existing provider. This means that some downtime on the site is imminent, until our domain transfer is complete. I'm hoping that the transition to the new server will not impact the sites productivity. More information will be posted on the main page when available.

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Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, February 25, 2002, 8:10:50 AM

Author: hitek

Thermalright AX-7 Heatsink Review @ Mikhailtech "The clip on the AX-7 catches all three hooks on both sides of the socket, six hooks in total, and it is pretty stiff so be careful with the installation part; if you fracture your CPU core you lose warranty. But if you install it correctly, then you won't have to worry about the pressure applied to the CPU; it is very uniform and the heatsink won't shift at all. And not to mention that you don't have to take the motherboard off when installing." More information on this review can be found here. CAK-II 38 Heatsink Review @ OCModShop "I was really impressed with this heatsink and it is one of the best that I have tested so far. The Globalwin CAK-II 38 performs very well, temperatures on the overclocked Duron could not get much better. I like the solid copper design of this HSF and the fact that you get a 3-4 pin adapter which allows for RPM monitoring. However I did not like a few things, again the clip I never like any that you need to use a screwdriver with, they provide a thermal pad rather than a compound and the delta is loud. If you are looking for a great heatsink which will keep your socket A CPU nice and cool this would be a very good choice." More information on this review can be found here. AMD Athlon XP Shim Review @ Elite-Hardware "With faster processors continuously coming out, heat buildup is becoming more and more of an issue. The solution to this heat is a large, bulky heatsink. Large heatsinks put a lot of weight on your small CPU core. AMD places pads on their CPUs. They are placed to help keep the heatsink from slipping and to act as a cushion. However, the pads are just not enough. You need something that will distribute the weight of the heatsink, so you don't crack or chip the CPU core. That solution is what we call a CPU shim." More information on this review can be found here. IXOS and Ministry of Sound DJ1001 Headphones Review @ Futurelooks "Do we have any DJ's in the crowd? Well if we do, then we know you'll like this review. The DJ1001 Headhpones, offer excellent features, quality sound, at an extremely reasonable price. Built for DJ's, by DJ's." More information on this review can be found here. Dragon Box Etch FAQ @ MachinaX "Well its finally here. The Dragon Box Etch faq is Here. In this article we take a look at how the dragon etch was done for the Dragon Box a while ago. This article features an In depth account as each line was etched. Even better news. In as soon as 1 month from now CUSTOM etched mousing surfaces will be available for purchase online @ a (store to be announced). Thats right you send a picture and it will be etched to a piece of plexi by trained pro's. Discussions are still being made as to what the exact details will be. However, for your viewing pleasure you can check out how you too can create a work of art in plexi. As promised the Tutorial is riddled with crystal clear pictures and amazing photos." More information on this guide can be found here. The Invisible Case @ Bit-Tech "In building my acrylic case, I had a few goals in mind. I knew I wanted a perfect cube, and I knew I wanted to showcase my windowed hard drive. I had pretty much ruled out polycarbonate (Lexan) in favor of acrylic (Plexiglas or Perspex). Most of my design decisions were dictated by those constraints plus a few others. I developed the process described in the first article as part of my efforts to refine what I wanted to do with this case; that was purely a side effect." Nice work Linear! More information on this guide can be found here. Backup My PC Software @ Overclockers Club "Regular backups are something that is neglected by a lot of people. I know I was one of them! It might be because the backup software is to hard to use, doesn't include the options scheduling or is very limited on its features. Well, here comes Backup My PC from Stomp Inc. A very easy to use backup program that has all the features almost anyone could want." More information on this review can be found here. Be sure to also check out Overclocker Club's new OCC Download Center. Corsair Micro XMS2700 Ultra-performance DDR333 RAM Review @ PC Powerzone "Corsair Micro have been associated with high performance RAM for quite some time now. When you speak of high performance RAM, Corsair always comes into the equation along with others such as Mushkin, Kingmax, OCZ, etc. Corsair have very stringent component selection and testing routines, only using the very best around to secure high performance and reliability for all their modules." More information on this guide can be found here.

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Weekend News Edition Part 2...

Date Posted: Sunday, February 24, 2002, 1:26:09 PM

Author: hitek

Canada's AMK Services Shuts Down Business First Tweakbox.com announced that it was closing down and now we have received reports from AMK Services that they are closing down their web business. Here is the official press release: "We are shutting down our operations and are selling our domain names www.amkcomputers.bc.ca and www.amkcomputer.com We have listed our name one Ebay at the link below http://cgi.ebay.ca/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1708489797 I would like to thank all the sites that have helped us in the past with prodcut reviews and news posting." Thank you very much in advance Andrew Killen AMK Services 4631 East Hastings Street Burnaby BC More information can be found right here. Senfu Digital Thermometer Mod Guide @ Tobitech "Some time ago we reported already about the thermometer Senfu Digital.In the test we recognized that too short cables can generate problems.Even if one must bend down near small towers, nothing other remains over to install in a disk drive shield as the thermometer Senfu Digital." More information on this guide can be found here. Chenming 601 Full Tower Server Case Review @ Tek Sector "Today we take a peek at the new Chenming 601, which is one of the latest and greatest full tower cases out on the market right now. This case has got lots of style, plenty of options, an array of cooling features, and an affordable price that won't break your wallet. Used by Alienware as thier official case, no wonder the Chenming 601 is out of this world! This is a super-cool case without a doubt!" More information on this review can be found here. MP 1800 Review @ MachinaX "Many gamers (my-self included) have been searching for the ultimate display. However with the increasingly limitless amount of display alternatives choosing the one that’s right for you is a worthy task. Who has never dreamed of gaming on a 150 inch crystal clear screen? Well I don’t know about you guys I sure has hell have. With this thought in mind the attention turns to the Compaq MP1800 projector that was graciously given to us for this review. Traditionally projectors have been bulky, heavy, and painstakingly evil to set up. However, with the introduction of some space age materials the average projector has evolved from a gigantic mess of wires and plugs into a simple 4.1 lbs package. In this review we take a look at the Compaq MP1800 Projector. This projector is the smallest and cheapest projector that Compaq has to offer. With a price tag of $2,999 this projector might very well be way out of the average computer user’s budget. But for those of you with money to burn have a look-see." More information on this review can be found here. Litewave Cold Cathode Kit Review @ PC Extreme "The cathode itself is housed in a polycarbonate case which is about 10mm in diameter and is very solid making it very hard for the cold cathode to be snapped in your hands or other ways , as last time I had a blue cold cathode it was snapped by my cat who decided it would be fun to throw it of the table and it hit something hard. There is a double sided sticky pad on each side of the cathode to place it in your case." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC-70 Case Review @ Overclockers Club "When I got my Lian Li 70 case a few day's ago, I felt like a 10 year old boy on Christmas day :) I have been wanting one of these cases for a very long time.. and I finally have one! ..The Lian Li 70 case that I am reviewing today is very famous for it's size, looks, and inovative design. However, it's not so famous for it's hefty price tag of $250 USD. Let's get in to the review, and find out if it's really worth such a price tag!" More information on this review can be found here.

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Weekend News Edition...

Date Posted: Saturday, February 23, 2002, 3:47:32 AM

Author: hitek

Gigabyte GA-8IRX I845 DDR Motherboard Review @ Overclockers New Zealand "8IRX provides good overclocking options in the BIOS. FSB ranges from 100 ~ 200 Mhz in 1 Mhz increment and multipliers supports from 8 ~ 23. The host/dram clock ratio allows you to run the dram at host clock or host clock + 33 Mhz. Enabling "CPU Host Clock Control" allows you to select FSB manually. The system will reset the CPU back to default speed when boot failure. You can adjust the DRAM voltage (2.6v ~ 2.8v) and the AGP voltage (1.6v ~ 1.8v) as well! But there is one important tweak is missing - Vcore." More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake Crystal Orb Review @ SLCentral "The original Blue orb provided an alternative to this, and the Crystal orb is obviously the successor to it. The Crystal orb is a very intriguing design in and of itself. It is a copper based cooler, which was plated in nickel, giving it a very chrome look. The other notable change is that they added a very shiny "lid" to the cooler, so it has a less industrial look than the old versions did. The only downside to the lid, which is worth noting, is that should it get knocked out of its guide ridges, it can possibly catch the fan blades, causing them to seize up." More information on this review can be found here. How To Cut A Blowhole Guide @ OCModShop "Cutting a blowhole in your case is probably one of the easiest case mods and one of the most effective for cooling down the inside of your case along with the CPU. You can put the hole anywhere in the case that it will fit. If you are an overclocker, especially with AMD you know that those CPUs can get hot. If you have no air flowing through your case the hot air will build up within it and be pushed back over the CPU thus making it hotter. Adding fans to your case will give it the airflow it needs." More information on this guide can be found here. Battle of the Mice Review @ Tek Sector "A good mouse will always get you through the day no matter what the occasion, and with today's choices of mice out on the market, no wonder everyone makes it through the workweek! There are all different breeds of mice out there now: cordless mice, optical mice, vibrating mice, wheel mice, big mice, little mice, futuristic mice, funky mice, USB mice, PS-2 mice and…well, you get the idea. There's a lot of em! Choosing a good one isn't the most difficult task in the world either, considering most of them are fairly inexpensive. I mean, it's not like you're about to spend your life savings on your new dream house!" More information on this review can be found here. Tennis Addict for the PocketPC @ Futurelooks "Do you crave tennis in the rain? So maybe you’re not hardcore player, and only like to play in that warm weather. How can you get your fix for tennis if it does rain? If you’re a PocketPC or WindowsCE user, one remedy would be Tennis Addict from Hexacto." More information on this review can be found here. Logitech Cordless Desktop Review @ Bit-Tech "Cordless technology for PC peripherals is becoming more popular, with the first wave of products using infra red as their method of communication. Whilst Infra red is cheap, it has the disadvantage of requiring line of sight with the receiver which somewhat limits its usefulness. Infra red is now being replaced by radio technology which has dropped to comparable cost and does not require line of sight. In other words, it is vastly superior. Logitech, always at the forefront of PC peripheral technology have several cordless radio products on the market and I am going to look at their current flagship desktop product. The Logitech Cordless Desktop - Optical." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC-42 & PC-65B Reviews @ Dan's Data "Lian Li, purveyors of drool-worthy PC cases to the gentry, have a pleasing policy of plugging gaps in their range. They make black versions of cases previously available only in light colours, for instance. And versions with a window, side, overclocked PC components for the showing off of, one." More information on this review can be found here. Build An Overclocked PC @ Overclocked Cafe "OK, it's been a while now since the first installment and that means either I'm really slack or it's the position of the planets, take your choice, I comfortable with either answer. As promised I'll look at several sources to get inexpensive components from, where you can save some hard earned dollars at in a system, and where you just need to bite the bullet and spend the money. More information on this guide can be found here. Laser Cut Fan Grills @ Burnout PC (c) 2002 Burnout PC "These days, modding is normal, as are highly overclocked cpu's. Along with this fact people tend to add some fans and more fans and more fans, but when you cut a freeking big hole in your case it looks ugly. So do normal round fan grills. So, because normal fan grills really do not cut it, Laser Cut fan grills came into being. Today we are going to look at Laser Cut fan grills from Innovatek.de" More information on this review can be found here. Antec Sx1000 Case Review @ Think Computers "After finishing my last case with the top window, side window and neon. I figured that it was time to start a new project. And that would turn out to be PROJECT ANTEC. I went out to one of my local pc stores and found that they carried the Antec Line of cases. I chose the Antec sx1000 case I could not afford the SX1030B. The one good thing about the sx1000 is that it is exactly the same case but just not in black. As you can see it comes in the standard packaging." More information on this review can be found here.

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T.G.I.F News Edition..

Date Posted: Friday, February 22, 2002, 1:12:43 AM

Author: hitek

Coolermaster ATCS 600 Exclusive Review @ Hexus.net (c) 2002 Hexus.net "Coolermaster are constantly looking at their existing case line to see where they can improve and what products people are after. There has been for a long time a demand for decent looking, good cooling desktop cases that has been ignored by most case manufacturers for a long long time. This is the product that hopes to plug this gap the Coolermaster ATCS 600. Now the desktop case used to make up 99% of all computer cases until gradually bit by bit, maybe this case will signal the return back to the desktop era." More information on this review can be found here. Tweakmonster Rev.2 Lightstrips Review @ Mikhailtech "There's the connector, appropriately sealed inside. It's actually held down by some kind of tape, and likewise I found a piece on the other end. This all shows once more that it's probably some type of electro-luminescent material. If you recall, the initial model was sensitive to UV rays so that may be an indication. Whats more, the lightstrip is weatherproof so if you find a way to completely insulate it submersion wouldn't be a problem. I don't see why anyone would want to do such a thing but as long as the challenge is there someone is bound to. Finally, it lasts for 15,000 hours or roughly 3 years. Not too shabby." More information on this review can be found here. Get The Best Overclock and Performance From Your DDR RAM @ Icrontic "Command Rate. This setting is a hit or miss affair. Some people find they can run it at FSBs so high the air is thin, whereas others such as myself can only run it up to 173mhz. It seems as dependant on other components such as pci cards, agp cards and motherboard as it does on memory. Experiment with this setting as it gives a large performance boost. You may find that combining this with setting some of the above settings at 2 will give you the best overall bandwidth." More information on this guide can be found here. Coolermaster ATCS 210 Case Review @ Xtreme PC "When you hear the name Coolermaster what do you think of? CPU heatsink and fans (HSF’s)? If so then you’d be right, last year alone Coolermaster shipped over 12 million HSF’s. Some may also know that Coolermaster produce aluminium cases. Back in spring 2000, Coolermaster wowed websites and PC owners alike with the release of the beautiful and excellent ATC200. Since then they have gone on to release a number of aluminium cases ranging from the huge ATC310 server case down to the diminutive ATC500 (the ideal LAN box), with various others in-between, including rack-mount cases." More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake P4 Tiny Fin 478 Review @ Vipers Lair "We've looked at several Athlon heatsinks, but not once have I had the need to look at a Pentium 4 solution. Truth is, most of the Athlon coolers were of the "performance" variety, simply because they run that hot. We've had a Dell Precision P4 1.8GHz in house for quite some time, and the stock cooling did what it needed to do. I had contemplated a rack encased entertainment unit for awhile, but that's a project I haven't started for a number of reasons, one of which is a decent cooler that would fit into a 1U case (think pizza box). Well, I have still yet to get my rack mount case, but we're still going to put this heatsink to the test." More information on this review can be found here. How To Set Up A Home Network @ Tech Angel "With more and more homes having more than one computer, it's more likely than not that YOU (yeah, YOU) have more than a single PC in your house. Whilst they're pretty useful on their own, you can get more out of them my linking them together on a network. Share files, printers and internet connections between the PCs, play network games against a family member or friend." More information on this review can be found here. Noise Control Magic Fleece @ Inside Project "The kit consists of 4 large pieces (40 x 38.5cm) and 2 small pieces (20 x 38.5cm) each with a self-adhesive backing. This is quite a bit of material to work with, and will give you more than enough for one case. One downfall that is apparent right when you open up the box is the musty smell the fleece has. If you have bad allergies, I would let this stuff sit outside for a few days before bringing it inside. The smell does go away, but you just have to give it a little bit of time." More information on this review can be found here. Neon String Keyboard Mod @ Unique Hardware "Now the string is hopefully fully secured, feed the power wires out as discreetly as possibly out of a key channel. If you have a more discreet way to hide the power wires, please mail me. As the invertor is attached to the neon string, the wires give you 30cm to the neon invertor, then another 30cms to the PSU to the 4 pin molex connector. The neon string PSU also has a sticky pad on the bottom, so stick it under your desk or on the side of your case. Then feed the molex end of the wires through a drive bay, or round the back of your PC through an I/O port." More information on this review can be found here.

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Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2002, 1:49:03 AM

Author: hitek

3R System Santafe Case Review @ Mikhailtech "The 3.5" bay is attached to the chassis by 2 small screws, in addition to 4 hooks on the top which slide into their appropriate holes on the 5.25” cage. You can install up to four drives in this cage, or whatever your setup is. Note that three of the drives are installed inside the cage; the last drive, however, is installed upside down under the bottom side of the cage. The cage is neither tight nor wide so installing drives shouldn’t be a problem." More information on this review can be found here. Aladdin eToken - USB Authentication Device @ Futurelooks "The eToken by Aladdin can be used for generating and securing storage of passwords and digital certificates, secure authentication and also digital signing and encryption. It's based on the smart card and requires no special readers. Is it the solution for your security needs?" More information on this review can be found here. Coolermaster HHC 001 HeatPipe @ Tobitech (c) 2002 Tobitech "The HHC-001 is the second CPU-Cooler from Coolermaster with a HeatPipe because the first version was not good enough. At the moment Coolermaster is the only manufacturer who produces such a System for Desktop Computers. In many laptops HeatPipes are already used for cooling." More information on this review can be found here. Get Some Bawls @ Overclockers Club "Overclockers Club is giving away a case of bawls. Bawls is great for gamers that need the extra energy to play RTCW or CS all night long. It's also great for the 31337 h4x0rz that stay up all night. The contest will end on March 9th, our 1 year anniversary. All you have to do is go to our contest page and signup. Overclockers is also running a Alluminum SkyHawk case giveaway too!" More information on this contest can be found here. Inverting a LCD How-To @ ICEHardware "Incase you dont know, inverting a LCD means to rotate the polarising film infront of the screen, making the dark bits light up and the lighted bits go dark if you know what I mean. If you dont, all will be revealed." Very cool! More information on this how-to can be found here. Lian Li T-4 LCD Thermometer Review @ Dan's Data "Component temperature is something of an obsession for a lot of PC enthusiasts. The reasoning's simple enough - the cooler your computer runs, the better, and the cooler your CPU and graphics card run, the higher they can be overclocked." More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake Smart Case Fan Review @ Viper's Lair "As you probably know, faster fans usually, always result in more noise. Now, to be honest, in about 99% of all cases, your heatsink fan will likely drown out the noise of the case fans (more on how we can fix that later), but cutting down the decibals with quieter case fans is a good start. In comes Thermaltake's Smart Fan." More information on this review can be found here. Microsoft Office Keyboard in Video Review @ 3DGameman "A USB keyboard that's very well organized, quiet keys & looks cool" ~3dGameMan.com More information on this video review can be found here. Inflow Direct's Blue Cold Cathode Review @ OCIA "The plastic protective rod is a smart move on Inflow Direct's part, as the cold cathode tube is very thin and could break easily. The tube itself appears to be a little over 1 ft. in length, give or take an inch. I did not have a tape measure handy to get exact length, but that would be my best guess. Installation of this kit is as easy as can be. Just plug in the corresponding wires to the back of the on/off switch, plug the molex connector into your power supply, and your done!" More information on this review can be found here.

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Wednesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2002, 1:11:52 AM

Author: hitek

H2O Cooled X-Box @ [H]ardOCP "Water-cooling, when done correctly, is far superior to any air cooled system. This is especially true in small, cramped spaces where fans do barely more than circulate the trapped hot air. The inside of an Xbox is certainly cramped...and being the damn thing is made up of PC components...it gets pretty hot inside." This is an absolutely sweet modification to Microsoft's X-Box Gaming console. More information on this guide can be found here. Heatsink Factory GlobalWIN SAK38 HSF Review @ Virtual Hideout "As you can see from the fan specifications it is quite a loud fan. I believe that the fan is more then likely a Delta 60mm fan with a Global WIN sticker on it. The heat sink itself is a very nice looking heat sink with exceptional quality. The only thing the heat sink laps is a smooth surface. As a matter of fact, I think you will be able to smooth 600 grit sand paper with the heat sinks base. I have personally owned Global WIN heat sinks in the past, and never do I remember a base as bad as the SAK38 has. The base has a copper insert just like you would find with the Alpha's and the Taisol's. The clip at first, I was not to happy with. It is a very tight fit with the clip inside of the heat sink and is hard to slide all the way down. Once you have it slid down, attaching it to the CPU Socket is not all that hard. You will need a screw driver in order to attach the clip, but the notch on heat sink will ensure that you do not slip with the screw driver and possibly damage any components around the socket." More information on this review can be found here. HDD Window Mod - Part 1 @ Moddin.net (c) Moddin.net "Bored one day tigermain @ Moddin'.net looked at a pile of HDD's on his desk and decided he'd join the l33t group of modders out there who dared window them. Not only that but he adds his own twist with leds and points out the issues for all you sceptics" More information on this how-to can be found here. Also be sure to check out the free Moddin.net Baybus Template, download it right here. Enermax EG365P-VE (FMA) Review @ OCModShop "Enermax has always been one of the best manufacturers of high quality power supplies along with many other things. This is their newest model of switching power supplies; it has a knob on the back of the unit which allows you to change the speed of the 2 fans from 1500-3000 RPM. This is a really great feature because you can turn it up when your computer is running hot and down when its not. Enermax uses a dual fan setup which when installed pulls hot air off the heatsink and out of the case." More information on this how-to can be found here. Silver Thermal Epoxy Review "Silver is one of the best conductors of heat, it dissipates it better than copper and aluminum. This silver epoxy contains 60% to 65% pure micronized silver and was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity. Even though it is made to not conduct electricity it can so do your best to keep it away from anything that is carrying a current. If you need to attach a heatsink or RAMsink or something of that nature to a computer component for cooling purposes you will want to have the best interface possible. Thermal tape is by far the easiest but does not perform well because its only tape, not a thermal compound. This silver epoxy should do a much better job." More information on this review can be found right here. Vantec's 6035D HSF Review @ TekSector "Vantec has been throwin' blows in the heat sink arena for some time now. Not only have they brought a wide selection of HSFs to the market, but have also produced many other high quality PC cooling solutions as well. With the introduction of copper heat sinks, it was very doubtful that Vantec would be left out of the battle. So amidst the seemingly endless attempt to combat the results of today's extreme heat emitting processing units, the CCK-6035D was born. Make no mistake about it…when this battle hardened unit was unleashed, it was unleashed with one sole purpose...To defeat the enemy!" More information on this review can be found right here. 3-Way IDE Hard Disk Shootout @ PCPowerzone "But increased size does not come at the expense of performance, modern IDE drives share many similarities with their SCSI counterparts. With most new drives now sporting 40Gb per platter, improved acoustics and electronics, the time was right for us to take a look at three top contenders. Most users look for high performance in an IDE drive, with capacity coming as a secondary factor. Multiple large, cheap, high performance IDE drives in a RAID array make a very viable alternative to much smaller, more expensive SCSI set up. More information on this review can be found right here. Dragon Case Window Etch Mod @ Machinax Plexi etching seems to be the rave nowadays and Machinax gets down and dirty with a very cool custom Dragon etch. Be sure to check out the video although the quality isn't the greatest. More information on this how-to can be found right here. PSU Modding Guide @ Hardware Pub "Ever wanted the extra cooling of a second PSU fan but don't want to drop the big bucks for an Enermax power supply? I was thinking the same thing about 2 weeks ago, so I decided to add a fan to my existing PSU. Looking back at the project, its a lot easier to do than you would think. All you need is a fan, fan grill (not necessary but helps keep fingers and small pets intact), drill, hole saw the size of the fan being added, a dremel, wire cutters, pliers, and some Radio Shack (or any other local electronics shop) connectors." More information on this how-to can be found right here. Unlocking the Multiplier on Intel Processors @ DWPG "Ever since August of 1998, Intel has locked the multipliers on the CPU’s. This was done to prevent unscrupulous dealers who would overclock the CPU and sell it as a higher speed processor. After fabrication and testing, the multiplier is locked on the die itself by using programmable laser-cut fuses. This is what we are going to do -- remove the fuses that the lock is consisting of." More information on this how-to can be found right here.

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Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2002, 1:28:02 AM

Author: hitek

HighSpeed PC AMD XP Unlocking Kit Review @ OCModShop "Unlocking Durons and Thunderbirds was an easy task to do, all you needed was a pencil. With the new Athlon XP CPUs this is not possible anymore. When AMD cuts the L1 bridges on top of the CPU with their laser it cuts into the CPU itself and goes down far enough to expose the bridges underneath. If you were to simply use a pencil like you would do with a Duron or Thunderbird you would be unsuccessful. To correctly unlock your Athlon XP CPU you need to cover the valley in-between the L1 bridges with a non-conductive substance and then bridge them with something conductive. HighSpeed PC provides a kit which includes everything you will need to successfully unlock your Athlon XP." More information on this review can be found here. Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX®-Certified Speakers Review @ Futurelooks "If you care about music, the first thing you need to do is throw out those speakers that were bundled with your system. That's it! Throw them right out the window! It's time to make that machine of yours sound like a monster. As someone who has converted totally to living out of their notebook, no one knows crappy sounding speakers than me. The speakers that come on most notebooks aren't great, and definitely weren't meant to power a party." More information on this review can be found here. Mitsumi CR-4809TE 24x12x40x CD Writer Review @ Alltechbox "Looking at the specs we notice this CD writer distinguish itself from competition thanks to the largest buffer ever seen (16 Mb) and the highest rewriting speed that is 12X, while its opponents reach 10X. Rewriting is also possible at 4X and 10X, while writing on a CD-R is possible at 4X, 8X, 16X (CLV) or 16X, 24X (Z-CLV)." More information on this review can be found here. Stomp Inc's BackUpMyPC Review @ Teksector "I've got three words for you: hard drive crash. Sorry. I didn't mean to give you that horrible feeling of certain hopelessness that crawls down your spine by the mere utter of those words, but that's exactly what you'll feel when it happens. Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever witnessed the sheer destructive power of a hard disk failure? Well I have, and I'd like to let anyone that has escaped this painful process know that you can still save yourself before it's too late!" More information on this review can be found here. Gainward Geforce4 MX440 Review @ Mikhailtech "And as you can see, Gainward is sticking to their bright red PCB used for GeForce3 cards. I like this color very much although I have no case window. By closely looking at the edge of the PCB I think Gainward has opted for an 8-layer design, at least for Golden Sample cards to increase stability, overclocking potential and image quality. And they’ve succeeded as far as I can tell because the card is clocked at 290/400 MHz by default, right between the Safe and Enhanced settings in ExperTool. The GeForce4 MX440 from Gainward uses Samsung 4ns rated chips, four in total, two on one side and two on the other. If you ask me, placing the memory on both sides of the card is not a very smart thing to do because it makes it harder to install RAMsinks, but there’s no need for those on the card I tested. And 4ns memory should easily achieve 500 MHz DDR speed and maybe even above 500 MHz." More information on this review can be found here. Being Seen Technologies Light Tape Kit @ Serial Addiction "What is tape light? Essentially it is a strip, thicker than normal tape, which, due to a reaction, glow's when power is applied to it. This is called Electro luminosity. The great thing about tape light or light strips is that they are small, thin, produce huge amounts of light with no heat and they will fit anywhere." More information on this review can be found here. Build Your Own Clear Case for $20 @ Overclockers.com "My experience building a clear case for my Home Theater PC - and with only $20. The plexiglass sheets were under $6 each at Lowe's, the fastening hardware a few dollars total, and the corner protector about $3. They even cut my pieces for free of charge." More information on this how-to can be found here. Over Clock Prove Pro Gamer Aluminum Midtower Case @ IANAG "There is salvation for those on a budget and still want to keep in style at the lan parties, a company called Skyhawk Eagle manufactures a very affordable, and attractive anodized aluminum case model # 4378 you have probably seen this case in the past, and have heard of its great looks. The 4378 is a quality case and many have bought this case from one vendor or another, but many did not due to most vendors price it to match the Lian-Li PC60." More information on this review can be found here.

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Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, February 18, 2002, 12:26:33 AM

Author: hitek

Iwill P4D I845 DDR Motherboard Review @ Overclockers New Zealand "I was able to achieve 1895 Mhz at fsb closed to 118.5 without raising the Vcore. I actually hit 1900 mark but random reboot occurred at that speed. Raising Vcore doesn't help to stabalise the system but make it even worse. The system refuses to boot as soon as the Vcore rose even at default speed. This makes the Vcore tweaks virtually useless. An 18% increase in Mhz is average for P4 1600 Mhz and the lack of voltage tweak limits us to go further. One thing I noticed is that the default speed CPU is 1603 Mhz instead of 1600." More information on this review can be found here. Vantec Hard Drive Cooler (HDC-502A) Review @ Overclockers Club "The aluminum alloy hard drive cooler from Vantec, a great way to cool those hot 7200RPM drives. The package includes an aluminum alloy heatsink type structure with two 5000RPM fans mounted on it, four screws and a pass-through molex connector for power." More information on this review can be found here. ZXMods' DIY Window Kits and ZXMods 12" Bare Bones Cold Cathode Kits @ TekSector "The personal computer has evolved from a dusty workstation hidden behind the debris of a storm-swept office desk, into a glowing, power hungry beast that loves human affection! While the speed and performance of the PC has improved, so has the innovation and characteristics of its design. This brings us to the business at hand: ZXMods' DIY Window Kits and ZXMods 12" Bare Bones Cold Cathode Kits. We're not only about to give you the lowdown on both of these goodies, but we're also gonna provide all of you newbies out there with a detailed How-To, so when you're ready to put YOUR case on the slab, you can get the job done right." More information on this review can be found here. Directron's Rounded IDE/Floppy Cables Review "You can never have enough coolie cool hardware in your case no matter how hard you try. There's always SOME new component that you can add once you get tired of your same-ole' setup. Right? Unfortunately, the more components you add, the more jumbled up all those cords get inside your case. This leads to untidiness and an all out 1980's looking case. And ewwww…Those damn IDE cables are just the worst!" More information on this review can be found here. Antec Reference High-Performance Heatsink Review @ Mikhailtech "The first thing that came to my mind was "Swiftech-wannabe". It's true; this is the only other cooler I've seen that follows Swiftech's design very carefully. There are several important differences, but overall the principle is the same. Upon initial examination I was pleased. The whole thing is light (that is, no copper) and the black-anodized look is quite appealing. There are four spacers between the heatsink and the fan. The fan itself appears to be a high-output model due to the 3-pin tachometer wire being separated from the 4-pin molex. And of course there's the welcoming chrome fan grill. On both sides there are a pair of springs but no way of attaching the heatsink. The rest of the goodies are included in a bag." More information on this review can be found here. Zalman Fan Mate Review "In essence, you can fully customize it to your needs and in the end have a fan with "specifications" no one has ever heard of. It all depends on your taste. The other option involves lengthening the wires. Simple stripping and twisting (or soldering for the overachiever) will do. You can then cut out a tiny hole somewhere in the case to feed the knob through. Now you have a new rheostat! All in all this is another tinker toy: not something you should strongly consider, but nice to have around." More information on this review can be found here. AMK PC86 Vs. AMK GameTunnel II: An Education In PC Cases @ Icrontic "Not another case review! No this is an education in what makes for a good choice in a PC case and Icrontic takes a look at two cases that are quite different from each other in options and price. Each fulfills a niche purpose. AMK Computers supplied us with their modified Lian Li PC86 and GameTunnel II for us to crack open and determine what makes a good PC case. We'll show you side by side what's hot and what's not when it comes to looking for a new PC case to house your components." More information on this review can be found here. ASUS V8170DDR- GeForce 4 MX 440 Review @ TBreak "nVidia recently announced the two new GeForce chips- the NV17 and the NV25. The NV17 is commonly known as the MX chipset whereas the NV25 is labeled as the Titanium. It will be just a little bit longer until retail cards based on the NV25 start appearing, however, the GeForce4 MX is in full swing with all the retailers boards and their reviews popping everywhere on the web. We have one such card with us today as well and its by ASUS- their GeForce4 MX440 chip based V8170DDR." More information on this review can be found here. GlobalWin YCC-8870 Aluminum Case Review @ Tweakers Australia "GlobalWin, one of the worlds top cooling gear manufacturing compaines has now advanced into the world of high quality ATX and Server case products, competing with the likes of Coolermaster and Lian-Li. Thanks to our contact at GlobalWin USA, today we are looking at the YCC-8870 Aluminum case. Not to long ago aluminum cases were simply an overpriced novelty. Now that they have fallen into the 'affordable' category, the benefits of an all-aluminium case heavily outweighs traditional steel and plastic based cases. Read on as well take a closer look at the YCC-8870 from GlobalWin." More information on this review can be found here.

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Weekend News Edition...

Date Posted: Saturday, February 16, 2002, 3:16:18 PM

Author: hitek

Dr.Thermal TI-V77L Heatsink Review @ Mikhailtech "I was somewhat puzzled when I first removed the heatsink. It took me all of two minutes to figure out that the included fan was 70mm, not 60 like I thought. That means the V77L is larger than the socket as well which might actually translate into better performance. In terms of height, it's relatively short yet still a bit tall to be considered a 1U cooler. I'm wondering how a heatsink with these dimensions could be very effective, considering it's not copper. The clip had me awestruck as well, since I couldn't find any way that it could work until I discovered the lever on the side. Clumsy as I am, I managed to break off a small piece of plastic. Luckily, it wasn't anything important." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC-60 Case Modding @ PCPowerzone (c) 2002 PC Powerzone "It was while I was in this state of mind that I decided that if I was to start another case from scratch, then it had to be really different. Something that would stand out from the crowd - at least for a while! I looked over a few possibilities - perspex, cubes, even a desk-mounted rack was considered (and might still happen!), before I decided that there was really only one choice .... a Lian Li PC-60." A very good mod article by Rikk, more information can be found here. Ultra Silver II Review @ OCModShop "Ultra Silver II is similar to Artic Silver II in makeup, with ultra pure (99.9+%) micronized silver and high silver content (~75 - 85% by weight). It has a thermal conductivity of (~ 8-9 W/m*K). I will be testing it against Artic Silver II and Artic Silver 3. This Ultra Silver is about half the price of Artic Silver 2 and 3, this 6 gram tube costs about as much as a 3 gram tube of Artic Silver 2 or 3." More information on this review can be found here. Pelican 1490CC Laptop Computer Case @ Futurelooks My notebook has become the most important part of my digital lifestyle. I take it with me everywhere, yet I am always afraid of someday breaking it while out on the road. My notebook was meant to be used and I couldn’t really be bothered with pampering it all the time, thus I went looking for a super hard core notebook case that could take as much abuse as I could dish out, and that case is the Pelican 1490CC!" More information on this review can be found here. Samsonite 'Tech Series' Convertible Laptop Shoulder Bag "If you're looking for a bag that is big enough to carry your full size laptop computer, all its accesories, your PDA, cellphone, digital camera, and maybe a few books, this one might be what you are looking for. This bag is lightweight, offers tons of pockets and organizer areas for all of the above, and even turns into a backpack for those extended portages." More information on this review can be found here. Creative 3D Blaster GeForce3 Titanium 200 @ BlargOC "With all the hype around about the NVIDIA Geforce4 series of cards arriving on the shores of the UK, it would be too easy to forget about the now relatively cheap Geforce3 series. So today we've taken a look at Creative's 3D Blaster GeForce3 Titanium 200 card, which is their entry level Geforce3 card." More information on this review can be found here. Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical Special Edition @ CoolHardwarez "Most computer users will encounter no problems installing a mouse. Especially with a USB mouse, just plug-it-in and you're ready to install the software. The mouse is compatible with both PS/2 and USB. You might ask which is better. I suggest using the USB! Why? Because USB is a truly plug-and-play feature(even you can plug in while your PC is running) and it is as easy as 1.2.3, and you can even hook up to several mouse with the Logitech MouseWare and have all of them with different settings." More information on this review can be found here. Project Plexi by Bob Templeton "Several months ago, I built a compact computer in a modded old tape drive case for my home server...or at least that's what I thought. Once my wife saw this compact computer and said "It's soooo cute!!!! That'd look great with my flat screen on top of it...", I didn't have my "micro server" anymore. I now had the ugly mid-tower box that used to be hers for my server. That just didn't cut it. I was going to repeat the micro server project on a smaller scale, but when I couldn't fit everything into a smaller tape drive case Project Plexi was born." Excellent home made plexi case and interesting guide. More information on this how-to can be found here. Lian Li PC-35 Review @ Pheaton.com "Every once in a while someone designs something that has a life of its own. You not sure if you like it or hate it but you are sure that it is definitely different. That is the kind of reaction I had to the PC-35, the newest design to come out of the Lian-Li factory, Yet after several days of contemplation I still can’t figure out what the designer was trying accomplish with it. The enclosure is feature packed with a skewed vision of the normal Lian-Li aesthetics the most prominent feature being the hot swappable drive enclosures mounted vertically on the front of this box" More information on this review can be found here. Cen-tech Model #35017 Auto-Ranging Multimeter Review "Whether you're a veteran modder or a n00b, the casemodding experience will eventually lead you into the world of electronics. And whether you enter this world voluntarily or get dragged in kicking and screaming, you need to be equipped with the proper tools. Nothing beats having a good auto-ranging multimeter by your side when you enter. Ever since casemodding caused me to start using my multimeter at home for more things than just checking the batteries in the smoke alarms and the occasional auto work, I've been on the lookout for a good, decent and affordable auto-ranging multimeter" More information on this review can be found here.

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T.G.I.F News Edition..

Date Posted: Friday, February 15, 2002, 12:14:07 AM

Author: hitek

OCZ Dominator² Review @ OCModShop "Overall the OCZ Dominator² is a really good heatsink, it has a good and easy to use clip and comes with a high-powered fan to keep those hot AMD CPUs at a good temperature. I really like the ability to monitor RPMs with this heatsink; most high-powered fans need a 3-4 pin adapter, which means you cannot monitor RPMs. Although the base is not finished to the highest quality I don't think that lapping it to a perfectly smooth surface would necessarily make that big of a difference it would just be nice to have it finished correctly. Overall I really like this heatsink and if your looking for a powerful heatsink to keep your overclocked CPU cool this will definately do the job." More information on this review can be found here. Vantec Rounded Cables Review @ Mikhailtech "The rounding is done professionally. After leaving the connector, the individual wires are kept together by a thin transparent outer coating for about 1cm before splitting apart. This ensures that you don't rip any out of the connector. The wires are then bunched together into a cylindrical shape and pushed down. For further protection there's a plastic "mouth" which covers the exposed wires so they don't get ripped up. Of course, this is standard with all rounded cables nowadays, but still. In terms of flexibility, these are incomparably more versatile than their flat ribbon counterparts." More information on this review can be found here. Directron SF201-B Aluminum Case Review @ Virtual Hideout (c) 2002 Virtual Hideout "The overall quality and fit and finish of this SF201-B from Directron is excellent. There were no major flaws that I've found, just little quirks as with seemingly every case. The style of the case is way above average and the useability is above average also. You may be wondering if this case is better then the Lian Li PC61, it's main competition,..well, In my opinion, they're too close to call. The one thing this case does not have is the removable 3.5" floppy drive cage like the Lian Li's do. Is that a big deal? No! I think that piece being removable is pretty damn useless.....heh. It's more of a pain in the arse to remove it anyway, at least with my big clumsy fingers trying to get them thumbscrews off...heh. The SF201-B setup is just fine" More information on this review can be found here. MSI K7T266 Pro 2 RU Motherboard Review @ Overclockers Online "The K7T266 Pro2-RU comes is available in several flavours: the full monty, one without USB 2.0 support, one without RAID, and so on and so forth. The one I am discussing here is the K7T266 Pro2-RU, which is the top-end version featuring every single option there is available. Expansion will most certainly not be a problem with MSI's board; it has 5 PCI slots, 1 CNR slot, 1 AGP slot, 4 USB 1.1 ports and 4 USB 2.0 ports (USB 2.0 is around ten times faster than USB 1.1 we all use now, in theory at least)! Add to that the onboard Promise RAID controller which let's you connect an additional 4 IDE devices and you are all set." More information on this review can be found here. Xoxide's Z-40 Storm Review @ Pimprig "With the ever increasing popularity of case modding it's no surprise that there would be companies starting up that would provide premodded cases. There are modders out there that enjoy doing the old hack and slice on their cases themselves and there are people that want the function of extra fans and the showmanship of a nice window kit but don't like the idea or the pressure of possibly severely butchering their virgin cases. Personally, I would rather have any cutting done by a professional and the case sent to me in order for me to add to it further. Xoxide is one company that sells these premodded cases. They offer professional premodded cases and well as cases with no mods and an impressive assortment of DIY mod kits." More information on this review can be found here. TITI Dr. Thermal CPU Cooler @ SLCentral "Now we're down to one of the most important parts of the heatsink...How easily can you install it? For those of you who remember the Thermoengine, this was the one place it came up short. SERIOUSLY short, mind you. It had a nasty habit of killing CPU's during install and removal. Since it's built so similarly, you'd expect the Dr. Thermal to have similar issues, right? Well, in a word, no." More information on this review can be found here. Prolink GeForce4 MX440 Video Card Review @ Tweaktown "We've all been hearing about them, and now we can see what the truth really is. With all the rumors flying around about the new GeForce4 MX cards being overpumped GeForce2's, it was time to do a little digging to see what the scoop REALLY was. So come join TweakTown as they do a little midnight testing on the Prolink GeForce4 MX440 Video Card." More information on this review can be found here. Ahanix C47 Mini Server Case @ IpKonfig.com "The specifications of the C47 are as follows; four 5.25" exposed drive bays, two exposed 3.5" drive bays and five internal 3'5" drive bays for a grand total of eleven. The C47 is 200 (W) x 440 (H) x 480 (D) mm and can handle all variations of the ATX form factor. LAN party goers will be happy to hear that the C47 is quite light for a steel case, weighing in at only 17 pounds." More information on this review can be found here.

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Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, February 14, 2002, 12:28:33 AM

Author: hitek

VU-Meter DIY Kits Now Available @ PCModKits.com (c) 2002 PCModsKits.com "What started as one college student's ambitious case modding project, eventually grew in popularity among fellow case modders. As this VU-Meter gained more and more exposure, more people became interested in this little piece of electronic eye candy. So B-Squared designed a VU-Meter kit that could be easily installed in a PC, with a flexible light system which could be mounted in almost any configuration on a case." More information on this exciting new kit can be found here. The Poseidon Project - Part 1 @ PCPowerzone "The advantages in water cooling are many. The two biggest plus-points are near-silent running and also better overclocking through lower temperatures. Switching from a highly overclocked, air-cooled rig with multiple high-powered fans blasting wind and noise, over to a water cooled one running the same hardware at the same or faster speeds in near-silence is pure aural bliss!" More information on this watercooling project can be found here. Siemens SL45 Modding @ Moddin.net "Peeps, tigermain has finally put up part 1 of the Siemens SL45 article. Check out how he got my phone upgraded to support Java and kewl blue LEDS over at Moddin'.net - Looks soooo tasty :D" More information on this review can be found here. Crystal Orb Review "Now this is sexy, don't you just love shiny things? Well this is about as shiny as they come!! Check it out rubjonnys view of the Crystal Orb @ Moddin'.net" More information on this review can be found here. Silent Drive Review "Have you ever sat next to your PC and thought, damn my hard drive is loud, but I can't afford to get a better one right now? Well if you have today is your lucky day, for the SilentDrive has been reviewed at Moddin'.net" More information on this review can be found here. Logitech Dual Optical Mouse Review @ Elite-Hardware "Now I have used my old Logitech mouse for about a year and I swore I would never buy another mouse. That was until I saw this one. One thing that really caught my eye was the two infrared sensors. This was the only mouse that I saw feature this kind of technology. The dual optical lasers are in place to help increase accuracy of the mouse. This improves the overall performance on any surface. That is not the only nice feature this mouse has. Logitech also included a third button on the side of the mouse. The placement of this button is excellent for gaming. If you play Counter-Strike or other FPS like I do, you can bind this button to pull out a secondary gun." More information on this review can be found here. Globalwin CAK-II 38 Copper Heatsink Review @ Mikhailtech "As is the case with most clips, this one is controversial. It's a good improvement because there's now a secure spot for the screwdriver to go so it doesn't slip and damage anything. Unlike the SAK38, the CAK's is attached with a lot more ease and didn't snap when I got it on the socket. Being a steel clip, getting it on with your bear hands is extremely difficult and not a very wise thing to try. It's actually a lot safer using a screwdriver, believe it or not. What's bad about the clip is that 1) you still have to use a screwdriver (where's the finger-pushing plate?) and 2) it only covers one socket tab. This could pose a problem if one of your slugs is broken. On a more common note, be careful not to slide the heatsink and/or a CPU shim, which can be quite easy to do when dealing with such a retention mechanism." More information on this review can be found here. ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV Review @ I Am Not A Geek "ATI's very popular All-In-Wonder series of video cards has been around for years. Today I will be looking at the latest card in this series the All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV. Not surprisingly this is the most advanced All-In-Wonder card to date. The card is based on Radeon 8500 GPU, a core that has proved to be an excellent performer, rivaling NVIDIA's GeForce 3 Ti500. Of course this is more then just a 3D video card it has a lot more to offer including many features that are new to the All-In-Wonder line." More information on this review can be found here. Senfu WaterCooling Kit Review @ PureOC "Ever since AMD released the Athlon Tbird people have been dreaming about a water cooled computer. Why ? The Athlon does get quite hot and you need to cool it down. So a big heatsink or a strong fan is needed. Either way your computer will be loud! And it is this people are complaining about. Watercooling is the only answer for you unless you want to buy Intel." More information on this review can be found here. Socket-A/7/370/462 Heatsink Guide @ Designtechnica "The heatsink you choose to cool your computer's processor is one of the most important decisions you make, especially if you plan to overclock your CPU. A poor cooler will be noisy, or allow the processor to overheat and crash. A good cooler may run quietly and allow you to overclock to incredible new heights." More information on this HSF guide can be found here. 3DMark 2001 SE Released @ MadOnion "MadOnion.com is pleased to announce the release of 3DMark®2001 Second Edition, a major enhancement to its 3DMark® benchmark solution, originally launched in 1998. Combining DirectX 8.1 support with the latest in 3D graphics, 3DMark2001 SE objectively measures how effectively a PC runs 3D graphics applications and provides users with an online results comparison tool that allows them to make informed hardware assessments and upgrade decisions." 3DMark2001 is one of the best 3D video card bench mark utilities available. More information on this benchmark program can be found here.

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Wednesday News Edition...

Date Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2002, 12:04:54 AM

Author: hitek

Tyan Tiger MPX Dual CPU Motherboard Review @ Overclockers New Zealand "I've got a Dual CPU Computer. The general response you will get is likely to be "Wow, that's a very powerful PC" or "Wow, you are so 1337 (geek)". To most people, it is like having two engines in one car, which leads to a sudden jump and horsepower and torque. However, it is not that simple in computer world. Applications and Operating System must be made to take the advantage of dual processors otherwise your super high-end dual processors computer is going to behave like any single CPU computer or even worse (we will get on that later). In simple terms, dual CPU PC is NOT meant for everybody, even if you got the money to burn." More information on this review can be found here. SVC Glacial Cooler 68 Review Review @ OCModShop "Most heatsinks these days are either 60mm all the way or 80mm all the way. 60mm fans are usually loud and high pitched and 80mm fans usually quieter and lower pitched. If you are trying to get a good overclock without having your computer sound like a plane taking off you probably know there are only a few heatsinnks that will do this job. What happens though if you want a 60mm base and a 80mm fan? Well you can get an adapter however these usually decrease the performance of the heatsink considerably. This heatsink though has a 60mm base and accommodates a 80mm fan." More information on this review can be found here. 3DCOOL.COM Hellstorm 3000 Case Review @ Hardware Pub "Enter the realm of the HellSTORM Case. An improvement on the Tornado series cases since the HellStorms are equipped with true automotive paint. These cases are sanded, primed, painted, clear coated then baked to perfection. The colors are the exact same as found on exotic vehicles such as Lamborghini and Ferrari. This is the same brand paint and the same exact finish you would expect. According to 3DCOOL.COM Inc each case involves close to 8 hours of labor in order to achieve its perfection." More information on this review can be found here. Modded Enlight Breeze by Xoxide Review @ BurnoutPC (c) 2002 Burnout PC "There is an explosion of companies manufacturing pre-modded cases, how can you possibly choose. How about a company that makes professional, well equipped, efficient, good looking cases? Sound good? How about at a reasonable price? Better? Well look no further than our friends at Xoxide.com . Xoxide deals with Lian-Li and Enlight cases, today we have a review of the Enlight Breeze." More information on this review can be found here. PCCG Fan Hole Molding @ Case Junkiez "The PCCG fan hole molding is custom-made C-strip rubber that is very soft and extremely flexible. The dimensions of the C-strip measure 4mm wide, 5mm high, and the depth of the groove is 4mm deep by 1.5mm wide. That's just about perfect for steel PC cases, but a dab of glue around the inside of the hole before applying is recommended. I used some good old Tarzan Grip (general-purpose adhesive) It's probably best to not use super-glue, as that stuff leaves a nasty white stain around the area you have glued. The rubber is easy to shape and cut, and when mounted to your freshly cut hole really looks quite good. Of course, being soft and flexible means that this stuff is also excellent for running over any sharp edges you have in your case to protect your fingers and to also add a little class to your custom case." More information on this review can be found here. NoiseControl Fan Voltage and Splitter Video Review @ 3DGameman "Take control of your fans!" ~3dGameMan.com Check out the latest video from Rodney, more information on this review can be found here. Thermalright AX-7 Review @ AMDMB "Radical and innovative design is nothing new for Thermalright and the AX-7 continues the trend set by the SK-6. The one huge difference in the AX-7 is unlike the high performance SK-6, it can be anything you like; extreme performance, high performance, mid-range performance and even quiet!! In this study we’ll attempt to capture the AX-7 in each of its roles." More information on this review can be found here. AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Review Review @ Bit-Tech "I'm sure you guys know the deal by now....AthlonXP. Athlon, in a modified packaging, a bit cooler, wierd rating system :) We're looking at a 2000+ chip here...thats 1.667 gigs. Whilst some people have voiced objections to the new rating system of AMD processors, I'm personally in favour...anything that puts AMD on a more equal footing with Intel, and gets AMDs foot in the retail market, has to be a good thing IMHO." More information on this review can be found here.

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Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2002, 12:08:04 AM

Author: hitek

New Database-Driven CoolCaseGallery @ Virtual Hideout Virtual-Hideout.Net is proud to annouce that our New Database-Driven CoolCaseGallery is now up! Amongst the new features are; - Searchable Database - Favourites Section - Ability to submit and edit your case submissions and more! This is great news and I'm glad to see the CCG back online. More information can be found here. Leadtek WinFast Titanium 200 TDH Review @ Gibtek "I should imagine the results won't blow your socks off as they didn't do much for me either. I'm not sure what I was supposed to be expecting but on the whole there is a marked improvement, 3DMark2001 is up by nearly 2000 including the overclocked score marks which is quite impressive. The frame rate has also improved as I expected, not by a great deal as these games have been around for some time and I would have thought my GF2 Ultra was more than a match for these type of game formats. Perhaps thats why when you compare the Ultra as your base line it ain't a bad piece of kit in any ones language and is still a tough cookie to give a whipping. I should have looking back done some testing at the higher resolutions and some of the other settings enabled or disabled." More information can be found here. Flush Your Watercooling System @ Gibtek (c) 2002 Gibtek "For those new to water-cooling this article is about some common issues such as maintenance and water flow. Unlike an air-cooled system, water-cooled systems are like kids, needs constant upkeep and consistently spend your money. One of the reasons for this is because you have water kept at luke warm temperatures, just right for bacterial and algae growth. Though this can be minimized by the use of ionized water and additive, it can never be completely defeated." Nice work TiTch, more information on this how-to can be found here. Coolermaster Cool Drive 4002 Review @ OCModShop "With hard drives getting faster and faster, the heat is increasing. If you have ever run your computer and then touched your hard drive it can be very hot. Whenever computer components are exposed to heat they break down faster. This hard drive cooler is one solution; it's called the Cool Drive 4002 and is made by Cooler Master. The Cool Drive 4002 is aluminum and comes with a installation guide, and 12 screws for installation, and a 40mm fan." More information on this review can be found here. Globalwin SAK38 Heatsink Review @ Mikhailtech "The clip is another story altogether. For once Globalwin really surprised me. This 3-prong design is very effective for various reasons. First off, it prevents shifting during installation, therefore reducing the risk of a cracked core, regardless of whether or not you have a shim. Secondly, if one of your socket's tabs breaks (and this has happened more than you think) there are two more to compensate. Finally, when moving the computer around the heatsink won't shift from side to side, once again insuring safety. Instead of implementing a finger-friendly attaching mechanism, Globalwin remained with their screwdriver idea, only this time it's a lot easy and much less nerve-wracking. I was still petrified when I heard a snap upon the final push though; good thing it wasn't my core." More information on this review can be found here. KSM-GOLD Case Review @ ThinkTechie "Take a look the sleek, stylish look of the KSM-GOLD Front Side USB. Don't let the name fool you, The outer chassis is charcoal grey with a reflective grey/crome front with textured covers for the bays. The outer style makes this case a excellent addtion to any modern home office." More information on this review can be found here. GlobalWin YCC-8870 Aluminum Case @ GideonTech (c) 2002 Gideontech "The case comes with a front cover that swings open. Kind of reminds me of those old Compaqs, but a lot classier. There are two (2) 5.25" bays that can be accessed without swinging open that front cover. One strange thing is, the case badge area is hidden! You can't see it without open the front cover, not exactly sure why that was done" More information on this review can be found here. MSI K3T Ultra-ARU Motherboard Review featuring the VIA KT333 Chipset@ TBreak "VIA's KT333 is the third chipset for the Athlon platform that is aiming to bring PC-2700 or DDR-333 into mainstream. We looked at the first two chipsets supporting this faster type of memory- the ALi Magik in the form of Iwill's XP-333 and SiS 745 in the form of ECS K7S6A. Unfortunately, both the chipsets disappointed as far as DDR-333 performance was concerned. Would VIA be able to succeed where ALi and SiS failed? We'll find it out today with the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU motherboard, based on the highly anticipated KT333 chipset." More information on this review can be found here. Chieftec Black Dragon Full Tower Case Review @ 3D Velocity "The DA-01BD Black Dragon full tower cases is exactly the same as Antec's SX1240 full tower. This imposing case sports six external 5.25" bays and two 3.5" all hidden away behind a lockable door. It's built like the proverbial brick outhouse and though it isn't exactly dripping with features like front mounted USB and multimedia ports or chromed plastic trim, it remains in my opinion one of the best all round cases on the market today." More information on this review can be found here. Hard Disk Water Block @ Digital Explosion "So how do you cool two hot disks with water? Well, some imspection of my Seagate Barracuda's revealed that there's what appears to be a large aluminium heat-transfer block that runs right through the disk. This is the bit you normally attatch to your case. So, the best option I figured would be to bolt a couple of plates to this and cool them with water. Unfortunately, bolting to the sides only gives you quite a small contact-area so to increase the effectivety of the cooler I decided to sandwich the two drives around another cooled plate. To cool these plates down the easiest thing to do is solder some copper pipes directly to them and connect it up to my existing rig." More information on this how-to can be found here.

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Ratpadz Free Giveaway Winners..

Date Posted: Monday, February 11, 2002, 12:47:27 AM

Author: hitek

On January 28th, MODTHEBOX and Bigfoot Computers teamed up to sponsor our first Ratpadz Free Giveaway Contest. The contest ran for a period of two weeks with the final entries received on February 8th, 2002. The rules were very simple, all you had to do was tell us the funniest way to use your Ratpadz other than computer gaming. After a weekend of deliberating our judges have choosen our three winners: Shennon (with a outstanding 51 entries) Big Daddy Shade Here are some of the humourous entries: Shennon: 1. Spoiler for my sweet 89 Chrysler Dynasty. 4 cylinders of hot smokin' love, or I'm just burning oil, I'm not too sure which. 2. Put it on my wall & call it "Christmas at My House" or "128 Strings Of Christmas Lights Does Not Work Well With Only A 110 Volt Line Into The House - A Contemplative Mosaic Of Thoughts And Reflections." 3. An english saddle for use on a fat horse. 4. Rosanne Barr's louffa sponge. 5. Heavy duty nicotine patch. 6. The pad & 8 - 10 rolls of duct tape & I can have that flat stomach finally. Big Daddy: 1. Osama bin Laden's Coffin. After the Americans are done with him, that's about all the space we'll need to hold what's left. 2. Something to cover a razor cut on Jay Leno's chin ... cause God only knows tissue ain't gonna do a d**n thing! Shade: (TOP TEN Reasons to give SHENNON the darn RatPadz) 10. He'll stop talking about it during coffee night...it's selfish I know but I do love my coffee 9. His sister doesn't want him to win and we all love to thwart siblings, even if they'd not ours. 8. His mother got a Tom Green mousepad and refused to share........he's now emotionally scared for life. 7. If Shennon wins, thousands of lab ratz can be freed from prototype testing and go on to lead exemplary lives in our community as lawyers and such........Shennon will gladly donate his body to pad science. 6. Anyone who spends this much time posting NEEDS a Ratpadz. 5. A twisted mind deserves technical support 4. He fixes my computer when I bust it ........again. 3. He doesn't call me a moron when I bust it. 2. He's generally an all around nice guy and deserves a little light in his life.........the sad part being this would actually do it for him. And the number one reason to give Shennon the RatPadz: You'll never have to read another twisted post about its possible uses again!!! All winners will need to contact Hi-TEK to claim their prizes. Thanks to all who participated, the next contest will be announced in a few weeks.

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Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, February 11, 2002, 12:18:43 AM

Author: hitek

Epox EP-8KLM2 Mainboard Review @ PC Powerzone "It was actually possible to have a decent game and I wasted about an hour before I realised the time. I decided against doing timedemos in Q3 as it would be a bit unfair (and I got a bit carried away actually playing), take my word for it when I say that this isn't a high end board for 3D Gaming, but when you get fed up number crunching in excel or writing your latest novel in Word, you can unwind with a quick game without any difficulty." More information on this review can be found here. Everglide Bungee Crystal Pro Mousing Surface @ Tweaktown "It seems that everyone is looking for that little edge that will keep them at the top of the food chain when it comes time to frag. Everglide has been in this particular arena for some time now, and still put out a number of products based on the needs of the gamer. Come join TweakTown as they take a look at the Everglide Bungee Crystal Pro mousing surface/bungee setup. It's an interesting contraption, but does it work? Let's find out." More information on this review can be found here. Also be sure to check out Tweaktown's Gigabyte GA-8IRXP Motherboard Review. Thermaltake Volcano 7 Heatsink Review @ Mikhailtech "Today I found out something that others may have been missing: it's not the fan that's the issue, it's the heatsink. As shown by the graphs, the difference in temperatures with a high output 60mm fan and an 80mm are nearly identical. But in both cases there's still a huge leap from idle to load. So for those who assume that modifying the fan's thermistor placement will improve efficiency (not to be confused with performance), think again. Overall it's a good heatsink and will handle the hottest of processors, but be ready for a hefty temperature increase when loading your CPU. The biggest selling point has got to be the price: for $22.50 this kind of performance is well worth the cash." The Volcano7 was featured last month in the MTB labs, see our original review here. More information on this Mikhailtech's review can be found here. Vantec CCK 6035D HSF Review @ OCModShop "Overall I would say this is a pretty good heatsink for your Socket A or Socket 370 CPU, however I would like to have seen a better clip on it. The fan as you may know is very loud but the noise produces good results. Also the fact that you get a free 3-4 pin adapter and thermal compound makes it a good buy for someone who may not have either of these." More information on this review can be found here. CaseAce, the GearGrip CRT Review @ Virtual Hideout (c) 2002 Virtual Hideout "If you've had to frequently move your CRT monitor, you'll soon realize what an annoyance it is. These monitors can be heavy, but the biggest problem is that they are bulky, making it cumbersome to pick up one and move it about. I often worry that my hands will slip and then the poor CRT will come crashing to the floor. To add to the problem, with some monitors you cannot remove the cable that connects to your videocard! It is easy to see how walking around while carrying one of those could be unsafe. For those of us who cannot afford a good LCD display or simply do not like LCD's, CaseAce's GearGrip CRT seems to be the ideal solution. Today, let's take a look at it and see whether it is an effective solution or not." More information on this review can be found here. Blizzard Z4 Watercooling Kit @ IPKonfig "Water cooling, two words that mean a lot. Here's a water cooling kit that is by far one of the cheapest and most effective ways to cool down computer components. This kit, however, is a lot different than most we've seen on the market. The Blizzard Z4 consists of very few parts, is easy to install, and is 100% internal. The best part about the Blizzard Z4: it's hand-made by OverclockersHideout!! OCH has gone far beyond just bringing a top tier water cooling kit to a home PC, they have taken the time to design one that truly performs, and meets all the demands of today's market." More information on this review can be found here. Gainward GeForce3 Ti/550 Golden Sample @ BlargOC "As you may have guessed by this point this isn't the case with Gainward's Ti500. Open up the box and you're greeted by a very flash looking red PCB (perfect for those who want to create a colour 'theme' inside their PC) featuring not simply TV-Out but VIVO support along with a decent selection of software, Intervideo's WinDVD 3.0, WinProducer and WinCoder to allow you to watch, edit and encode MPEG2 files, a very interesting proposition for the home editting fan who wants top notch 3D performance as well. You also get trial versions of CyberLink Medi@Show, PowerVCR and VideoLive Mail to help round off the package." More information on this review can be found here. Global WIN CAK-II38 Solid Single Copper HSF Review @ OCIA "If you are in the market for an air cooled processor solution and you(or others around you) are not bothered by a fan spinning at 7500 RPM's, then I would say the Global WIN CAK-II38 is for you. While it's Solid Single Copper construction is not the cheapest material, you definitely will get your money's worth, and after seeing the results provided by this Heatsink Fan, I give it an OCIA.net seal of approval." More information on this review can be found here. Crucial 256MB PC2100 Memory Review @ SubZeroTech "Through the years, Crucial has always been a top competitor in the memory market. They have always produced top quality RAM at reasonable costs. With memory prices on the rise, you must make sure to get the best bang for your buck. Today, we are going to see how Crucial's PC2100 fares." More information on this review can be found here.

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Weekend News Edition...

Date Posted: Saturday, February 9, 2002, 11:02:48 AM

Author: hitek

The Futurelooks 'Double Trouble' T-Shirt Giveaway! It's time to give away a bunch of T-Shirts! With over 12 T-shirts from various sources to giveaway, this will be Futurelooks biggest T-Shirt Blitz Yet! It all starts on Monday, February 11, 2002. Check out the contest details to find out how you can enter the "Double Trouble" T-Shirt Giveaway, and most of all WHY it's called "Double Trouble"! More information on this contest can be found here. Athlon XP Blue Anodized Shim Review @ Mikhailtech "I couldn't find the exact specs or any "formal" installation guides, search as I might. So you're on your own. Overall I'm satisfied: it looks nice and does what it's supposed to. But is it really necessary? For any processor under $100, I doubt it. And if you have a heatsink with a good retention mechanism (like the Swiftech line), then you really don't need one. On the other hand, for Globalwin and Vantec users this may be what you're missing." More information on this review can be found here. DIY Active RAM Cooling Guide @ PC Powerzone (c) 2002 PC Powerzone "I guess that everyone would be aware of the ThermalTake Active RAM Coolers by now, and many of you probably even own one ... but for those of you that have one of the 'old', blue ThermalTake passive heat-spreaders, and like to Do-It-Yourself, then I thought that there might be a bit of fun in the following article." More information on this how-to can be found here. PC Powerzone also reviews three new AMD coolers from Sibak Tech. Check out the review right here. Pentium4 1.6A Northwood Preview @ [H]ardOCP "We have all seen the 2GHz+ benchmarks of the Pentium4s that are out there. What we really want to know is if the P4 1.6A is going to be the next 300A? This is not going to be a long drawn out article. What we simply want to outline for you today is the success we have had with our own 1.6AGHz Northwood CPU supplied to us by AZZO Computers." More information on this review can be found here. Zalman CNPS6000Cu HSF Review @ Tweaktown "A lot of folks have been complaining lately of the noise that emits from a decent cooling setup. It's pretty common to have to withstand 45+ decibels of sound in order to get passable temperatures, but there may just be a new system that can help. Come join TweakTown as they take a look at the Zalman CNPS6000Cu HSF and find out if it can handle the load AND remain quiet." More information on this review can be found here. BestByte Blue Window Kit Review @ OCModShop "Best Byte Computers was kind enough to send over a blue window kit for me to review. By adding a window to your case you can show off your killer machine and impress all your friends." More information on this review can be found here. Epox 8KHA+ Motherboard Review @ Icrontic "Overclocking the 8KHA+ turned out to be a mixed bag of results. Using Corsair XMS PC2700 I was able to push the FSB all the way up to 170Mhz and still run a few set of benchmarks. Since the system was unstable at 170Mhz I have only posted scores for the highest stable FSB speed of 166Mhz. On the downside, I did experience the infamous warm boot problems with the 8KHA+ at FSB speeds above 150Mhz. While this doesn't affect stability or performance, it does become a tremendous nuisance when you have to cold boot your system every time you try a new FSB setting." More information on this review can be found here. Compucase 9106 Review @ Void Your Warranty "Compucase may not have a very recognizable name, but they certainly have a very recognizable case. However, you may not know it as a compucase. In fact, this same chassis is used by AOpen in their H_08 series and Antec sells a completely identical unit (same bezel and all) with power supply unit under their name as the KS-188. Today we take a look at this infamous chassis that so many modders have fallen in love with in one form or another." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC35 Review @ Overclockers Online "Lian Li has become a very respected case manufacturer over the past few months, manufacturing sweet mid-towers like the PC20 and PC60, server cases like the PC626, and many others. Although many companies copied the Lian Li cases, the quality was never up to their level. Today I am reviewing another new computer housing made by Lian Li, featuring some sweet and useful gadgets. I am discussing the PC35, which will be a hot item in many computer grounds. The case is not too big and can easily sit next to your fine 22" monitor. Add to that built-in removable hdd racks, a removable motherboard tray, case cooling, and you know you're in for a treat. Strap yourself to your chair, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the show." More information on this review can be found here. Soyo K7V Dragon Plus Review @ Explosive Hardware "With the large success of Soyo's K7V- Dragon (KT266) the Soyo K7V Dragon Plus was a very anticipated board mainly because of the KT266A chipset and all that surrounds it. The KT266A chipset supports DDR200/266 memory which provides extremely fast access to system memory. The VIA KT266A features performance driven design, which includes tightened timings and deeper queues to greatly increase memory and system bus performance resulting in faster access timings. VIA chipsets are very reliable and stable system platforms making them great for high end users such as gamers. The end result is the industry's fastest DDR memory controller." More information on this review can be found here.

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T.G.I.F News Edition..

Date Posted: Friday, February 8, 2002, 4:37:32 AM

Author: hitek

Last Day to Enter the Ratpadz Free Giveaway Just a reminder to all our readers, today is the final day to get your entry into the free Ratpadz Giveaway. More details are available in our forums. All entries will be judged this weekend and the three winners will be announced on Monday February 11th, 2002. Computer Fest & Mac Expo 2002 If you are located in Toronto, Ontario the first annual Computer Fest and Mac Expo 2002 will be held this weekend at the CNE National Trade Center in the Automotive Building from Friday February 15th to Sunday February 18th. This is the perfect time to cash in on some excellent deals at extremely low prices. Two of our sponsors, Bigfoot Computers and E-Compuvision will be down at the show selling some case modding gear, so be sure to stop by and pay them a visit. More information can be found on the official Computer Fest website. CrazyPC LaserLED Kit Review @ Virtual Hideout "Waterproof? Why do we need it to be waterproof if it is inside of a computer? Easy. These LED's were not made specifically for computers originally. As a matter of fact, these Laser LED's were originally manufactured for the Automobile and the Marine industry. I have seen these same exact Laser LED's at local auto shops retailing for about the same price as the online stores are carrying them for. How could these puppies be waterproof? Is it safe? Well, water and electronics aren't ever really safe. If anyone wants to argue this one, come here to Chicago. My science teacher taught us all the hard way back in the 80's. Just to prove to you that they are in fact waterproof, I grabbed a clear glass and filled it with water. Plugged in a cheap power supply and the Laser LED's, and commenced to submerging them. I did however have one hand on my power supply just in case anything fishy was to to happen, I could immediately shut off the power. Here take a look for yourself." More information on this review can be found here. Dual PSU Device Review @ Moddin.net (c) 2002 Moddin.net "Hard core ocers are always needing more power, and when your psu cant cope the next best thing to do is strap on a old spare atx to power your fans and lights. This little device allows you to power 2 psu's off a a single power button." More information on this review can be found here. Kingmax DDR-333 (PC2700) Memory Review @ Tweaktown "With newer motherboards coming out all the time and faster chipsets being par for the course, there just has to be a way for memory to keep up. Come take a peek at TweakTown's exclusive review of a 256MB stick of Kingmax DDR-333 memory. It's aim is higher performance for today's faster motherboards. Lets go see if it succeeds, shall we?" More information on this review can be found here. Z4 Watercooling Kit Review @ Heatseekers "CPUs are becoming faster and faster. But with the increase of speed comes the increase of heat. There are lots of different coolers on the market, but there are two things everybody wants in a CPU cooling device; great cooling capabilities and it has to be as silent as possible! Did somebody say watercooling…" More information on this review can be found here. Arena Computers Custom Modded Case Review @ Inside Project "Arenacomputer.com is probably known best for its wide variety of computer hardware. They have everything from memory to monitors. The people who run the joint are hardcore computer enthusiasts who love to tinker with computers. They have a passion for case modding and tweaking, and thought that it would be an awesome idea to add some products and services to their store for people just like them! What a great idea! Now Arena Computers offers a full line of the best case modding parts. And to top it all off, they even offer a custom case modding service!" More information on this review can be found here. Northward Graphics Vinyl Image Kit Review @ Extreme Overclocking "There are so many mods that can be done to the typical PC case, however many of them require drilling, cutting, painting, or other time consuming efforts. Also, an unskilled person could actually end up making their case look worse if not done correctly. Fortunately, Northward Graphics has some DIY items that even the most novice case moding enthusiast can install properly and give their case a really custom and professional look." More information on this review can be found here. Budget Video Shootout - ATi vs Nvidia @ Hardware Pub "As time passes, computer hardware dramatically drop in price, while increase in performance. Four years ago, a Diamond Monster 3D-II sold for $300. Today, for about the same price, one can pick up a nice retail-box ATi Radeon 8500 (or GeForce3 Ti 500) off a store shelf, or for a lot less online. However, the majority of computer users cannot afford to invest several hundred dollars into a video card. Thus, this article will serve to cater to those who want the best "bang for the buck." So, let's take a look at what performance can we expect from a sub-$100 video card based on ATi and Nvidia graphic chipsets." More information on this review can be found here. Shuttle AK31 V3.1 KT266A Review @ OCAddiction "Today we have the Shuttle AK31 V3.1 KT266A based motherboard up for review. Recently we have seen several manufacturers introduce their version of VIA's KT266A chipset based motherboards, and there are several reasons for this, most notably is that performance is very high, and the price is very low, as you'll see here today with the AK31." More information on this review can be found here.

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Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, February 7, 2002, 2:16:18 AM

Author: hitek

Lian Li PC-50 Aluminum Case Review @ Pheaton.com "The PC-50 is one of the latest creations from the revered Lian-Li Company. It features an all aluminum construction, Motherboard tray, factory Blowhole and USB 2.0 ports up front. Finished in the trademark Lian-Li hard anodized brushed aluminum with carbon fiber accents, this enclosure exemplifies all that has made Lian-Li a powerhouse in the high end PC case market" More information on this review can be found here. SmartDisk USB Compact Flash Reader @ Futurelooks Just like floppy disk drives are standard on all PC's, Media Readers that read Compact Flash, Smart Media, and other formats are on their way. In the meantime, SmartDisk, the makers of the SmartDisk floppy-based Smartmedia reader, has come out with a line of readers to take care of every format on the market. We get a chance to check out their USB, Compact Flash version right here: "There are a lot of devices out there that use memory cards. Digital Cameras, MP3 players, and PDAs all use memory cards for storage duties, and each of these devices have their own interface, usually through USB, to shuffle the information to and from your PC. Wouldn't it be easier if you could just have one device, plugging into one USB slot, rather than a cable for each device you own taking up a slot? That's where the SmartDisk Compact Flash Reader comes in." More information on this review can be found here. Prolink Geforce3 Ti200 Video Card Review @ Mikhailtech "Our test subject, the Prolink GF3 Ti200 card beats the Leadtek counterpart in all 3DMark tests, even though only by a small margin. The Ti500 produces much better results but the question is: do you really need it? You also have to consider the tests were run on a very powerful CPU that is also expensive so it doesn't quite fit in a value system while the Ti200 is designed for value systems. My opinion is the Ti200 has very decent results and with a bit of overclocking (trust me, the Ti200 has a lot of OC potential which I'll discuss later) you can almost reach Ti500 performance, so why pay $100 extra when you don't really need it and new cards will be available until the next time you get an upgrade?" More information on this review can be found here. Aluminum AL4377D-SL SkyHawk Case Review @ Overclockers Club "Aluminum cases are so much more lighter than metal cases, you can easily see why they have became so popular. There seems to be more and more aluminum cases showing up on the market today.. ..My first "Full tower" case was a Sky Hawk, and ever since then, I have been fonded of Sky Hawk cases. The case I am reviewing today is the all aluminum AL4377D-SL sky hawk. This model includes the front redirect ports such as, dual usb, audio ports, game port, volume control, and a firewire connection." More information on this review can be found here. DFI NB70-SC Motherboard Review @ Tweaktown "DFI is a company that has been dealing with OEM corporations for some time now. But it seems that they are in line to jump into the wonderful world of "Overclocking Enthusiasts" full bore. So come join TweakTown as they take a look at the DFI NB70-SC Motherboard. It's time to see if the folks at DFI have a contender on their hands." More information on this review can be found here. PCMods Fan Led Kit Review @ Bit-Tech (c) 2002 Bit Tech "Trick yo case? Just when you thought you had seen enough part II. I saw lighted fans late last year when some Nutter decided to implant LED's into his fans! For some people this may have proved difficult to do. PCMods had also been secretly developing this product around the same time how do we know? We Know *Everything* - cue X-Files music." More information on this review can be found here. Geoforce 4 Video Card Review @ [H]ardOCP "The GeForce4 has not one, but two distinctly different product lines: The Titanium series and the MX series. The GeForce4 Titanium series is the high-end/enthusiast's card, while the GeForce4 MX line is positioned for mid-level/mainstream users. The GF4 Titanium will range from a top price of US$399 to US$199 and will include three card models. The GF4 MX line will most likely fall to price points below the US$175 mark and will include three models as well." More information on this review can be found here. Abit BD7-RAID Motherboard in Video Review @ 3DGameman "Pop in an Intel P4 Northwood CPU and you're smokin'!" ~3dGameMan.com Check out the latest video review from Rodney right here. Lian Li Faceplate Mods @ Void Your Warranty "If you have an aluminum case, then you have to deal with the fact that all of the cool drives and multimedia accessories cater to the beige case majority. Plenty of people paint their bezels silver to match, and this looks ok. There is no way to match the brushed finish of a Lian Li with paint though, so the truly obsessed modder is most likely going to start thinking about alternatives. I want to present you with my work: custom made faceplates from Lian Li bay covers for the drives and accessories." More information on this how-to can be found right here.

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Wednesday News Edition...

Date Posted: Wednesday, February 6, 2002, 3:00:20 AM

Author: hitek

Noblesse Electric Blue Case in the MTB Labs We are happy to give you a sneak peek at what is currently brewing in the MTB Labs. Our next review will be centered around the very popular Noblesse Electric Blue Case from Nikao. This is the first of many products to be featured this month. Expect a full length review as well as a major case modification project. More details to follow, so stayed tuned. PC VU-Meter Kits Available Soon from BSqaured Online I have received a mini press release from BSqaured Online that DIY PC VU-Meter Kits will soon be available for sale. You might remember BSqaured's work from our Lian Li PC-60 Mod Article Part 3. More details can be found at the official website right here. Cable Clamp Review @ Future Looks For those of us that like to bundle cables, and tidy up things around the cable jungle, zip ties seemed to be the only answer. Zip ties are great and all, but what do you do if you want to undo them and move around stuff? You can't! Looks like the Cable Clamp is the answer: "You spend tons of money on your home theatre system or computer, and you spend even more money on those funky, overpriced, Monster Cables. After everything is set up, you spend even more time Zip Tying all the cables up neatly, and tucking them all away. Then one day, you decide to move things around, maybe even just a component. All those zip ties need to be snipped off and thrown away. You can't reuse them! Now you have to go back and install new Zip Ties. What a pain! That's where the "Cable Clamp" comes in." More information on this review can be found here. Kingwin Hard Drive Mobile Rack Review @ Overclockers Club "..I have one of these in my work computer and one in my home computer. This makes it very easy for me to take my work home with me. When I get thru at the end of the day, I pull the drive out, take it home, and push the drive in my mobile rack at home. This would be great for video editors, because they work with very large files, and there is no way they can put all of their work on CD and take it home with them..." More information on this review can be found here. Hot Exclusive: VIA Eden Platform Review @ PC Powerzone "Now we have the Eden™ Platform which goes further and fully integrates a CPU into the PCB, which in turn lowers power consumption further - hence the environmentally-friendly 'Eden' name. The embedded market is unlike the desktop market, in that high levels of integration, low power consumption and heat generation are prime factors in decision-making, not how many millions of polygons the graphics card can shift. The VIA Eden™ Platform brings the most stable, feature-rich, reliable, native X86 platform to the industry - and it runs fanless and silent too!" More information on this review can be found here. Build Your Own Watercooling Resevoir @ OCModShop (c) 2002 OCModShop "If you have ever built a watercooling system or researched prices and components you know that it can get pretty expensive. Not everything has to be expensive though; with this guide you will be able to build a reservoir for around 10 dollars. The reservoir cost me $4, the barbs were $1 each, the J-B weld was $5 and I had everything else." More information on this how-to can be found here. DDR Performance Guide @ GyroTweak With more and more DDR chipsets being released, many are wondering whether it would be logical to go with PC2100, PC2400, or PC2700 memory. VIA is soon to release the KT333 based chipset which will make full use of the new DDR333 (PC2700) spec, and will improve memory bandwidth. We have gathered up some PC1600, PC2100, PC2400, and some PC2700 to do this article. In this article we'll be comparing performance between the different memory speeds, and hopefully help a buyer make a decision on the proper memory purchase. More information on this review can be found here. Blizzard 550 Case Review @ Overclockers Cafe "Today we are looking at the Blizzard 540 case from FrozenCPU. It’s a mid-tower case that is geared to the overclocker, case modder, and gamer (or, all of the above). The case arrived at my door safe and sound, mainly due to the extra care taken when packaging the Blizzard, it’s double boxed and padded to help avoid any problems due to a UPS delivery guy who was just dumped by his girlfriend, and looking to take it out on someone." More information on this review can be found here. Everything There Is To Know About the Xbox: Technology, Games, Accessories and What's At Stake @ Tom's Hardware The video game console market is both extremely lucrative and extraordinarily difficult to penetrate, because the console targets a family audience, which by definition covers a wide range of ages and social categories. The obstacles are considerable: the manufacturer has to provide a device that is affordable, appeals to a vast audience and is positioned at the forefront of computer technology. This is a very informative insight into Microsoft's X-Box and well worth the read. More information on this report can be found here. Get More Out Of Your Thermaltake Volcano 7 Fan @ Extreme Overclocking "After posting the Volcano 7 Fan Tip, people started writing about if it was possible to wire up a switch to the fan sensor to go between the sensor control and full speed. In theory it sounded possible, so I decided to try it out on my Volcano 7 fan to see if I could wire in a switch." More information on this how-to can be found here.

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Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Tuesday, February 5, 2002, 2:21:56 AM

Author: hitek

4 Days Left in the MODTHEBOX Ratpadz Giveaway Time is running out for your chance to win 1 of 3 Ratpadz Gaming Mousepads. Contest rules are very simple, just tell us the funniest way to use your Ratpadz other than computer gaming. How do you I enter? 1. You must be a registered forum member in order to participate and enter the competition. 2. You may enter more than once, but keep entries tasteful. 3. The final three entries will be choosen by the MODTHEBOX staff. All decisions are final, no exceptions. This contest is sponsored by Bigfoot Computers. Join in on the fun by registering in our forums. Multifunction Transfer Panel @ OverclockersClub "I have been wanting to get one of those Compunurse temperature probes for sometime now.. One reason is because I don't really trust the "on-board" temperature reading diode, and I would like to have another temperature to compare with. However, right before I was about to buy one of those Compunurse probes, I found a company called KingWin, which had a familiar looking device, which came with a Compu-nurse temperature monitors." More information on this review can be found here. Multiplaycity EL Case Badge Kit Review @ Virtual Hideout "We're always looking at ways to personalize our modded case(s) and one of the very popular ways is having a case badge. You will find badges/stickers from CPU manufacturers like the AMD and Intel badges. Motherboards too have their own badges included with their packages like Asus and MSI. Even cases manufacturers provides their own badges like AOpen and Lian Li. You can also get the badges in a whole range of designs like the ones over at Directron.Com, or head on over to CaseETC.Com for their range of designs. But what if you wanted your own designs on the badges? Get a case badge kit! And before you go spend your green, take a look at this EL Case Badge Kit from MultiplayCity! That's right, A lighted case badge! You've got neons, cold cathodes, LEDs, EL cables, etc Why not an EL Badge?" More information on this review can be found here. Enermax FS-710BB Server Case Review @ Mikhailtech "The upper cage is used primarily for housing external 3.5" drives, there's no fan bracket. The lower cage is different. This is the same one used up front and on the rear of the case, allowing for the placement of an 80mm model and acting as a sort of hard drive cooler. Naturally, this pushes the drives out a bit which could present some difficulties in hooking everything up. If you run into such an issue, you'll be glad to know that the bracket is removable, which in turns allows for a "normal" drive installation. On a final note, both racks are very sturdy and well designed." More information on this review can be found here. Speeze HSF Cooler Roundup @ Gideontech "We had a chance to get in touch with Fanner Tech, the makers of the Speeze line of coolers. Formed back in 1991, Fanner Tech has been in the cooling business for quite a while. ISO-9002 Certified in 1998, they plan on bringing out even better quality components in the future. In todays review, we're rounding up some of their socketed cooling units for some tests. We have the BigRock, Super Rock and the copper GoldenRock." More information on this review can be found here. Global WIN SAK-38 and CAK-II 68 Reviews @ Overclockers Cafe "Like everyone involved in overclocking, I am always in search of the "perfect" cooling solution, I also am part of that club who's motto is "If it can't be air cooled - I ain't going to do it", that isn't to dis all the liquid cooling aficionados out there in reader-land, I'm just to damn lazy to deal with the additional hassles of water cooling." More information on this review can be found here. VIA KT266A Motherboard Roundup @ Via Hardware "Ever since it’s introduction, the KT266A became a hit among enthusiasts and system integrators instantaneously. Being introduced in September 2001, the KT266A faced tough competition from rival SIS with their SIS735 and ALi’s sub-par performing MAGiK-1. There were rumors floating around that ALi was going to release their newer stepping MAGiK-1 that offered better performance, but that was late to the market and was only adapted by few motherboard manufacturers such as IWILL and Asus." More information on this review can be found here. FireWire LAN, running at 400Mbps? PC Powezone shows you how.. "Creative sound cards - arguably the best 'value for money' sound cards around - just got better, with the recent release of the Audigy series. The Audigy is the real bridge between "just having sound capability", and the professional recording-studio offerings such as the Creamware Pulsar II .... check out their price when you want a culture shock, they cost about as much as a good second-hand car! But with the release of the Audigy, Creative has equipped their card with something unique - something that gives this sound card a whole new reason for purchasing it ... IEEE1394, FireWire!" More information on this review can be found here. Dual Switch Baybus Review @ BurnoutPC "Directly below the switches are the LEDs, which are 2 color (red and green), further down are the "trimmer pots", or variable speed control. These trimmer pots are very interesting; they allow you further control over your fan speed. The trimmer pots are used to supply a predetermined amount of power to the terminals." More information on this review can be found here.

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Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, February 4, 2002, 9:38:50 AM

Author: hitek

Directron SF-201-B Black Aluminum Case @ AtlantaOC "The case itself is pretty big, but extremely light considering it's contents. I was really surprised at how light it actually was but that's one of many reasons you've got to like aluminum. There's a plastic handle on the top of the cardboard shipping case that seemed laughable when it arrived, but this thing is light enough that the handle is more than enough....." "The front bezel is actually 2 separate parts. The first is a 1/4" thick piece of clear acrylic. It gives the front of the case an already modded appearance, and it quite cool looking if you ask me. Beneath that is a thin black aluminum plate, creating a flat black color beneath the acrylic. Very smooth looking and it opens countless modding possibilities involving colored lights....." More information on this review can be found here. Silverprop Cyclone 2 Waterblock & Silverstorm 2 Radiator Review @ Mikhailtech The water path is pretty well studied: cold water is pumped in the center of the waterblock, right on top of the CPU and then it makes a clockwise rotation around to remove heat from the non central part of the waterblock as well before being expelled. All the water path is built with what they call “turbulent walls” that maximize the exchange surface, and makes sure most of the water molecules come in contact with the copper instead of only the ones in the external part of the flux, as could be without these kinds of walls. More information on this review can be found here. Keyboard LED Modding Guide @ PC Extreme (c) 2002 PC Extreme "Are you fed up of the boring green LEDs on your keyboard? I certainly am, so I'm going to show you how to change them to different colour LEDs which is not difficult…" More information on this mod can be found here. Arctic Silver 3 Review & Thermal Probe Installation Guide @ OCModShop Arctic Silver 3 does not contain any silicone. The suspension fluid is a proprietary mixture of advanced polysynthetic oils that work together to provide three distinctive functional phases. As it comes from the tube, Arctic Silver 3's consistency is engineered for easy application in a thin even layer. During the CPU's initial use, the compound thins out to enhance the filling of the microscopic valleys and insure the best physical contact between the heatsink and the CPU core. Then the compound thickens slightly over the next 50 to 200 hours of use to its final consistency designed for long-term stability. More information on this review can be found here "Not only socket thermistors unreliable in my opinion but they are also inconvenient. Whenever you want to check what your CPU temperature is you have to open some kind of software to see what it is. What happens though when you want to see what your CPU temp is when you are playing a full screen game like say Half-Life, Return To Castle Wolfenstein or Quake 3? With a Compunurse mounted on your CPU so that it is directly touching the CPU you will never need software again to monitor temps. I will show you how." More information on this how-to can be found here. Elle-P Case Review @ Moddin.net "Aluminium cases are definately the leaders in computer style. But recently steel case manufacturers have given their designers a pay rise and we are getting some seriously schweet looking products on the market. This case is of no exception, and tigermain @ Moddin'.net had done a review of the Elle-P" More information on this review can be found here. Hellstorm 2000 Case Review @ Gideontech "The overall color scheme of the case is yellow and black. The power button, which is located right next to the floppy drive, is painted black. As well as the reset button underneath the case badge. The case itself is really an Inwin Q500, which by itself is already a solid case. I use one myself." More information on this review can be found here. Northward Graphics Window and Neon Light @ BlargOC "In the hardware scene there seems to be two main factors, the overclockers, and the case modders; Both vying for the limelight, one for the highest overclock and the other for the flashiest case. The overclockers have the definite advantage, if they are daring enough to crack open some liquid nitrogen the case modders always fight back with some new type of light, window, or material to allow them to steal back some of the attention. It's kind a like a digital Westside Story but without the cool dancing, or the leather jackets, or the love story." More information on this review can be found here. Cheap Video Card Cooling Guide @ Overclockers.com "Some people are content with the stock cooling on their video card, be it a small heatsink or an even smaller hollowed-out heatsink with a small fan stuck inside. Others replace it with more effective and/or sophisticated methods." More information on this how-to can be found here. OCZ Goliath w/ Delta 50cfm Fan Review @ MVNews "The OCZ Goliath is a copper monster. This copper cooler is an identical twin of the Dynatron DY1206BH-638, with two small modifications; the fan shroud is a cool blue color, and the base comes without the four pinholes marking the thermal pad location." More information on this review can be found here. Super Duper Slot Fan Review @ ThinkTechie "Today I will be reviewing the Super Duper Slot Fan cooler from 3dcool.com. We have all at one time or another looked at a slot fan either at a store, in someone’s computer, or at a computer show, and have wondered if this $15-$20 crapola will make any difference for our computer. Well, I have finally got my hands on one." More information on this review can be found here.

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Weekend News Edition...

Date Posted: Saturday, February 2, 2002, 6:20:12 PM

Author: hitek

4" Green Cold Cathode Kit Review & Directron Accessories Update @ Virtual Hideout "Who here case mods? Who here doesn't case mod? Well even if you don't, you still need one of these puppies. One of what? I'm getting there, hold on to your shorts!!! ZXMods has been kind enough to send over one of their new 4" Cold Cathode Kits. Some of you may already know about their 12" Cold Cathode Kits and may have even read my review on the 12" kits. This time around, ZXMods takes a 12" Cold Cathode Kit, sticks it in the dryer on high temp for an hour or so, and offers to you the shrunken version. Well, that's not how they did it really, but it is close. If those 12" kits are just to big for your plans and ideas, then a 4" kit may be just what you are looking for." More information on this review can be found here. "Time for another accessory "showcase" article for you guys. I do this from time to time to show you guys the little things on the market that you may be missing out on while you're all caught up in the hype of the newest, fastest, biggest, baddest, and most expensive toy on the market. While those are fun to have , and heck even "must have's" for most of us geeks....Ya need the little stuff too!..LOL! In this article I'm gonna give you a closer look at some of the new accessories from Directron.com for you DIY'ers and some neat little adapters that we've all needed at one point or another and well, had to hack one together ourselves, or find another way....heh." More information on this review can be found here. CoolJAG JAC012C Heatsink & 1COOLPC monitorHO-FAN Review @ AtlantaOC "The heat sink is one of the best built that I've seen recently. Since the base and fins are made out of one solid piece of copper, creating a seamless thermal joint, there is no need to worry about the quality of the construction. Speaking of fins they are a lot of them! 60 of them to be exact, they are very densely packed thus requiring a very powerful fan. In other words if you are wanting a quiet heat sink combo this one will not be the one for you. After closer inspection I saw that the fins had two different textures to them. On one side the texture is extremely smooth and shiny. The other side has a rough almost bumpy texture to the fins. I am assuming that the different fin textures are from the forces that the skiving process puts on the copper. The base of the heat sink was in excellent condition, I could see some swirl marks left on it from the manufacturing process but I could not feel any with my finger nail." More information on this review can be found here. "The monitorHO-FAN from 1COOLPC is a fine product at a fair price. A quiet, long running fan in a simple plastic housing that is super easy to install. Though maybe not a must have product, it's worth buying if it saves your monitor from additional heat and extends it's life. Especially when you consider that your monitor is likely the single most expensive component you will purchase. While maybe not quite Monitor Insurance, the monitor HO-FAN does come close to that description." More information on this review can be found here. PC PowerZone previews the new VIA Eden Platform (c) 2002 PC Powerzone "PC PowerZone has posted some images of the new VIA Eden Platform they received from VIA for review. Hopefully this should quench the thirst of those who keep emailing us about it and silence any doubters, only 3 of these systems were sent out across the globe and we have one of them (other Eden mainboards were sent out but only 3 systems!" It looks like a nice and compact little system. More information on this preview can be found here. Codegen 350watt Power Supply Review @ Mikhailtech "The rear is decent. The 80mm exhaust fan grill isn't the best in the world. The ideal model would use a chrome guard because of all possible setups, that restricts airflow the least. However, the amount of air that doesn't come through is also dependent on the kind of intake as well as the speed of fan (i.e. a slower fan will have less restricted air whereas a high-output model will have a lot pushed back). There's the standard AC plug and the 115/230v switch. Actually it says 110/220v, but still works fine. I'm not sure why this is so. What's interesting is the inclusion of an output connector. These were originally used on older power supplies for connecting monitors and other devices. Doesn't do a whole lot, but it will turn off your CRT at the same time as your computer." More information on this preview can be found here. Mikhailtech is also running a contest to win a dual 80mm fan CC-290 System Coolers. Nanotherm Thermal Compound & Everglide Gaming Mat Review @ Tweaktown "For most of us who overclock our systems, Arctic Silver has been the only real contender for use as a Thermal Interface Material. The folks over at ESG Associates want to change that thought pattern, and have brought out a second rendition of their Nanotherm compound to try to make it a reality. But can Arctic Silver be bested, or even matched as far as effectiveness? Come join TweakTown as they delve into this very question." More information on this review can be found here. "For those who demand the best in gaming accessories, many have turned to Gaming Mousing Surfaces. Come join TweakTown as they take a look at the latest addition to the Everglide range, the Everglide Gaming Mat. It has some innovative features that may help you get that vital edge when you get into your next rigorous Deathmatch." No match for the Ratpadz! More information on this review can be found here. Windows XP Tweaking Guide @ Overclockers Club "So you have had Windows XP for a few months now.. but you have found that it has became slower and slower by the passing weeks.. Well, I think this guide will help speed up your computer one way or another. The best way, (not the fastest), is to run Disk Deframenter. This can sometimes take hours and hours to complete, depending on your computer's speed, disk size, and how bad fragmented your files are. If you want a quick way to speed up your computer, continue reading!" More information on this guide can be found here. Build Your Own Watercooling Enclosure @ Caseguy "This is a simple little how-to that I was asked to make by jodynicH. This whole project started of when I got interested in watercooling. The problem was that my small case wouldn't be able to hold all the things that I needed it to hold. Then I came across a great mod that was made by S14 Racer (member of [H]ard Forum), and shortly thereafter I started building this thing." More information on this how-to can be found here. Auto Delay Your Boot Time @ Bit-Tech "Recent net surfing has brought to my attention a new hardware problem that is starting to do the rounds. I.E. a failure of the system to cold boot, usually after a motherboard, CPU, graphics card upgrade or on completely new systems. I too have recently been struck by this bug after a recent graphics card upgrade. My once rock steady KT7aR/1400 T'bird system has started failing to boot. Requiring a hard reset after power up to correctly boot. The upgrade was only a minor GF2 to GF2 Ti. but this was enough to cause the problem. Although this doesn't prevent the PC from working, it is irritating if you forget to press the RESET." (c) 2002 Bit Tech More information on this how-to can be found here.

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T.G.I.F News Edition..

Date Posted: Friday, February 1, 2002, 12:30:25 AM

Author: hitek

Mikhailtech reviews the Swiftech MCX462 Heatsink "Also, now the pins have a smaller diameter compared to the ones on the MC462, 2.38mm compared to the 3.17mm. MC462-A, the first version, has 269 fins while the new and improved MCX462 has a total of 371 aluminum-ribbed pins. With the change in both shape, size and number, the increase of surface area from MC462 to MCX462 is 50%, or at least that's what Swiftech claims and I believe them. But not only large surface makes a heatsink great, the base must also be good. In this case it's even more. The pure copper of the MCX462 is thick, large and very very flat." More information on this review can be found here. Tweaktown reviews the VIA P4XB-RA Motherboard "We've heard about it, but now its time to see what the story really is. What am I talking about? Well the new Pentium 4 chipset put out by VIA of course. Come join TweakTown as they tell us all about the VIA P4XB-RA Motherboard that uses the brand new P4X266A chipset. The original was a good buy, but can VIA keep up with that tradition? Come find out for yourself!" More information on this review can be found here. OCIA has posted a new guide on making your own HDD Cooler Are your HDD's hot to the touch? Maybe you don't have this case but your HDD's are still hot to the touch. If any of these sound like your situation then this case mod is for you. Not only will this help those HDD's last longer, it will sure make your case look sharp! I will take you step by step through this case mod, so you can get the best results possible. More information on this how-to can be found here. Performance ATA Hard Disk Shootout @ GamePC "While the IDE hard drive market has lacked any true innovations in quite a long time, we are seeing the emergence of many third, fourth, and fifth generation "performance" hard drives from the major players hitting the market. Even while IDE drives are still stuck at 7,200 RPM spindle speeds, the other major factors contributing to good overall disk performance have gradually gotten better with time." More information on this review can be found here. Moddin.net reviews Northward Graphics Computer Tattoos (c) 2002 Moddin.net "As some of you may remember, a few months ago I introduced a new competitor in the moddin' world - Northward Graphics. They are a new American site specialising in custom cases and computer tattoos." More information on this review can be found here. BurnoutPC reviews the Innovatek Socket 370 Watercooling Kit As we enter the New Year it is clear that more people are overclocking and modding their PC. In the quest for ever higher framerates we need to discuss high performance cooling, water cooling. For those situations where aircooling doesn't quite cut it Innovatek has provided an easy to install and robust water cooling kit. More information on this review can be found here. Virtual Hideout Fan Grills Now Available (c) 2002 Virtual Hideout & ZXMods These originals were designed right here at ZXMods. The plain finish comes with regular mounting holes and a machine grained 180 grit vertical finish. The "Premium" finish option has the ZXMods exclusive countersunk mounting holes and a hand finished 220 grit super fine satin finish on the presentation side. These grills add a personal touch of class that really stands out. Enhances the looks of any personal computer. Reflects the light coming from any Colored Cathode or Neon light! There's plenty of air flow with these grills! You know you've hit the big time when you get your own grills. More information on these grills can be found here. Pheaton.com Project Of The Month Contest Just a reminder that you still have a chance to enter the Pheaton.com Project of the Month Competition to win some great prizes. To enter an enclosure in the project of the month, send the project's name, a short description of the modifications done, and the projects URL (if any) along with two pictures (250x250 pixels Max) to: potm@pheaton.com You may submit as many projects as you wish, but each project must be submitted separately. More information on this review can be found here.

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