Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, July 29, 2002, 9:03:59 AM

Author: hitek

New MTB Staff Member Announced! "Its is with great honour that I announce the latest member to join the MTB Staff here at MODTHEBOX. A big congratulations goes out to Mantis who has accepted a position as a Staff Reviewer and Forums Administrator. In the past, Mantis has shown great dedication in terms of his participation in the Forums and to the MTB community. There were a few side projects which he took on his own time to help out when not asked. As well as his willingness to go over far beyond the call of duty. This is the type of stuff that I look for as the site continues to grow and I can only see things getting much better. For the future correspondance should anyone need to reach him at the site, his official e-mail is mantis@modthebox.com. Welcome aboard Mantis! More information on this announcement can be found here. Swiftech MCW462-UT Water Cooling Kit Review @ Mikhailtech (c) 2002 Mikhailtech "You can see the TEC just between the waterblock and the copper cold plate in the picture above. Speaking of the TEC, the one on MCW462-UT is rated a huge 226W and heats up like hell on one side, while the other side is below 0C. But this kind of TEC needs a lot of power. It uses a standard 12V rail, but it can also use a 15V rail if you have a special TEC PSU. The biggest problem is the amperage, because the TEC is rated to require about 20-24A from a 12V rail. This is pretty high, since most 300-350W PSUs only have 18-20A on the 12V rail. More powerful PSUs like the 400-550W version might have enough power for this TEC, but only a select few." More information on this review can be found here. Nexland Internet Sharing Box Pro 400 Review @ myWORLD Hardware "We can see some companies such as DLink, Planet and just to mention a few, has come with their own networking hubs. The hubs done a nice job but the only thing that came into our minds is, the most important part, security! Yes, security is very important because since the broadband is a "always-on", consumer might leave their computer 24/7 thus leaving their computer in risk of being attacked by hackers. Some solution in order to prevent this tragic event is by using software based firewall program. The drawback of the firewall software is that it needs constant updates and patches. Briliantly, Nexland has come out with their own solution and released their latest product known as Internet Sharing Box Professional Series - Pro 400!" More information on this review can be found here. Gainward GeForce 4 PowerPack Pro/450 Review @ DeviantPC "The Gainward card is unusual in the fact that it does not stick to the NVIDIA guidelines; Gainward always try and push each card to give it "something else" over other manufacturers' cards. In this case Gainward have added 5.0ns DDR-SDRAM to the MX420 instead of the SDR-SDRAM depicted above. The additional memory bandwidth provided by the DDR should boost the Pro/450 over other GeForce 4 MX420s." More information on this review can be found here. ABIT IT7-MAX Motherboard (Intel 845E) Video Review @ 3DGameman "The ABIT IT7-MAX Motherboard is legacy free and loaded with goodies like onboard, Audio, NIC, USB2, Firewire, and RAID. It doesn't stop there; this motherboard is one of the best on the market for overclocking yielding fantastic results. Just be sure to have a USB keyboard and mouse on hand." More information on this video review can be found here. FrontX Port Extender Review @ AusPCWorld "Have you ever had to get on your knees behind your computer to plug something in, I know I have many times. Their is nothing worse then crouching under a dark desk, looking at the back of the PC to plug in your Microphone, or USB cable. Ever wondered why they dont put these to the front of your PC for easier access? A product called the Front X does all that and more and attempts to eliminate these kind of problems." More information on this review can be found here. NickLock Hard Drive Selector Review "Have you ever bought a new PC and ever needed to switch back to some data you had on the old one? NickLock enables you to have two independent OS's running on two different Hard disks, with the easy of a lock and key, you can switch from one to the other. Keeping your data secure and detached from the other hard disk." More information on this review can be found here. Apex Supercase Model #7C523-119 Review @ Overclockers Canada "Everyone is looking for that perfect case with everything you want in it. Question is which one is it? If you are looking for a new case with some cool features or you are new to detachable components, well this case may be the one you are looking for. This case to seems to have it all so lets have a look at see how it looks." More information on this review can be found here. Kingwin KT-436BK Black Aluminum Alloy Case Review @ Tweaknews.net (c) 2002 Tweaknews "Want a aluminum case? What to save a couple of bucks? Don't need a window? Well, I would have to say that this would be a safe and intelligent purchase. For approximately $30 dollars less than the equivalent competition, you get sturdy aluminum-alloy lightweight construction, 150cfm's of airflow, removable motherboard tray, all black finish, gold trim and completely toolless entry." More information on this review can be found here. Californeon PC LightStrip @ Think Computers "Today I will be looking at the PC LightStrip Kit from Californeon.net Most of us have seen EL Cable kits, Cold Cathodes, Light strips and many other ways of accenting your case. But this product is a custom kit put together by the nice people over at Californeon especially for your PC." More information on this review can be found here. Shattered Web Window Appliqués Review @ ReviewSource "If you're a big computer modder, then you probably have a window kit, or two installed on your computer, right? Why leave that window showing your computer parts sit there plain, with out any excitement on it? Why don't you add a exciting custom made logo to it!?" More information on this review can be found here. Soundcard Roundup Part 2 @ RADIATIVEnz "Sound plays a huge part in the overall computing experience, even more so now that computers are becoming a central multimedia device in the home. In this release we had the pleasure of taking a look at the Leadtek Winfast 6X, Philips Rhythmic Edge & the Philips Acoustic Edge." More information on this review can be found here. Triplex Xabre Pro Graphics Card Review @ Tweaktown "The graphics market is heating right up lately with a lot of different high end solutions emerging. For those though who are after a budget card which performs fairly well, you really can't go past SiS' latest Xabre400 chip. Today TweakTown takes a look Triplex's Xabre400 solution, namely in the Xabre Pro." More information on this review can be found here. How To Install CrazyPC Window Kit Guide @ ExclusivePC (c) 2002 ExclusivePC "What we're doing in this guide is showing you how to install a precut double-sided molding window kit from CrazyPC. CrazyPC sells a variety of kits with different shapes and sizes that come with the ideal parts to install a window as quick as possible. We chose their blue rectangle window kit for this guide. The kit included a clear blue acrylic sheet which is rectangular shaped with rounded corners, the double-sided molding with a locking strip, a washer, and a paper with installation instructions. I'll guide you step by step with pictures along the way to show you how I installed the window." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Weekend News Edition Part 2..

Date Posted: Sunday, July 28, 2002, 4:59:49 AM

Author: hitek

"Bye Bye July" Summertime Promo @ Bigfoot Computers "Summer is halfway done, it's hot in the summertime and we like to run promos...instant rebate! Running through to Sunday night any new order placed today from 7:00pm EST to 11:59pm EST Sunday is entitled to a 10% coupon to a maximum of $10 on any new Order. To redeem your coupon simply enter SUMMER10 on the coupon line on our payment screen. You need to click the "redeem coupon" button to activate it. We will reduce the coupon manually to it's maximum if it discounts higher than the allotted $10.00 per order. Anything time-stamped by the system during this period can redeem the coupon. We are unable to reverse old submitted orders with our new system and you must redeem the coupon to receive it. If you do not see it on your order it is not active and not valid. You can place an order and have it picked up no problem. It does need to be picked up or shipped by Monday or it is voided as the offer will expire. ADDED BONUS: Panaflo Low are back on special this weekend with one catch - Panaflo Low cannot be discounted by the "SUMMER10" coupon. What that simply means is that we will invoice your Panaflo Low separately if you bundle with other product. Feel free to order multiple items though, this way you can still make use of the coupon on other product. There is no need to order multiple times, we'll do the hard stuff for you. You can order just for the fab deal on Panaflo Low's if that suits your fancy." More information on this promotion can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Weekend News Edition..

Date Posted: Saturday, July 27, 2002, 2:18:28 AM

Author: hitek

Shuttle SS51G XPC Case Review @ Hexus.net (c) 2002 Hexus "A few manufacturers have taken it upon themselves to be innovative both inside and outside the box. Following the lead laid down by the hi-fi business. Shuttle, perhaps more known to you as a decent motherboard manufacturer, have been producing a number of diminutive, attractive and 'cool' bare-bones units that rival mini hi-fi's in appearance. The idea is to produce a PC that does not skimp on features but only on space. With general PCs being largely homogenous in appearance, something totally different has the potential to do very well." More information on this review can be found here. Neon Maxx Clear Spray Paint Review @ HiTechMods "Neon Maxx Clear spray paint is just like any other spray paint in the way you apply it but the only difference is that when you paint it it's clear under normal lighting. For the color to show up you need to use UV (blacklight) and then you will be able to see the color." More information on this review can be found here. WinTasks4 Professional Review "What is WinTasks4 Professional? It is a tool that gives you the power to manage and control the potential of a computer's different resources in an easy and convenient manner. WinTasks4 Professional enables you to start and stop processes, change the priorities of these processes and examine their use of, DLL's, CPU and memory. Defragmentation of hard disks. the troubleshooting and optimization during the development of software and locating viruses and trojans are just a few areas of use." More information on this review can be found here. Plextor PlexWriter 40x12x40 Review @ DeviantPC "Plextor have always had a good reputation for selling good, well-built drives which were expensive. But now their drives have come down in cost whilst the drives themselves are getting technologically better every few months." More information on this review can be found here. Samsung/Powmem PC2700 RAM Review @ Phlux.co.uk "With the CPU FSB at 133MHz, and the RAM at 166MHz (333DDR - the rated speed of the RAM and motherboard) CL2, I booted into Windows fine. So I started overclocking the system a little, keeping the RAM at HCLK+33 to provide a RAM speed of 33MHz over the FSB all the time. Eventually I got a stable speed of 143MHz with the RAM at 176 (352DDR) with some fairly aggressive memory timings in the BIOS. CAS 2-3-5-3 with 4-bank interleave, 1T command enabled, memory speed set to Ultra (the fastest) and burst length set to 8QW. I managed to boot with less aggressive settings and CL2.5 at 147FSB (360DDR for the RAM) into Windows and take a WCPUID screen grab." More information on this review can be found here. Geforce 4 Ti4200 Video Card Review @ Overclockers Canada "This card was impressive in keeping up with my Asus! For a company that I have never heard of, they have made quite the impression with me. Companies can either walk the walk or talk the talk, this company can do both. This card beat my Asus Ti4600 right out of the box. Only way that my Asus can beat this card is by overclocking it. I almost hit 300FPS twice with Ti4200 very impressive. Nice feature to have the Thermaltake fan on it as well. I'm still in shock with the performance with this card." More information on this review can be found here. Zalman CNPS5100-Cu Heatsink Review "Yesterday, I did a review on the CPNS6000-CU heatsink, another Zalman product. Today, I will be reviewing a newer product that Zalman offers, the CNPS 5100-Cu heatsink. The CNPS 5100-Cu doesn't look as unique as the CPNS6000-CU heatsink, however it does have its own unique design. Zalman, has chosen to engineer the CNPS 5100-Cu like the conventional heatsinks we are use to seeing, but with their own little twist." More information on this review can be found here. The OC-Melbourne Home Entertainment PC (HEPC) Mod @ OC-Melbourne (c) 2002 OC-Melbourne "With the release of PC-DVD drives and codecs such as "DivX", PC's began to be included in home theater systems. While the cost of buying an entire PC simply for playing DVD's on is a little exorbitant, since standalone DVD players can be had for under AU$200, while an entire PC may cost over AU$500. What if, however, this PC could do more than just play DVD's. Ever tried playing your favourite PC game on a big-screen TV? What about emulating your favourite console on the PC and also playing that on the TV (NB: only use an emulator if you own the console and the game that you are emulating, as not doing so is effectively stealing). Do I even need to mention DivX?" More information on this project can be found here. How To Customize Your PC Case & Achieve Professional Results @ Tom's Hardware "Whether you subscribe to the belief that customizing your case is an art or that it is a science there is no denying that PC "Case Modding" has become increasingly popular over the last year, while the demand for customized PC cases continues to grow. In my previous THG article, How To Select The Right Case we touched on the topic of case modification, and based on the number of questions we received, it was obvious that this was a topic about which our readers wanted to know more. According to Michael Chang of Directron, "Case modification's growth and popularity has exploded over the last fourteen months, and the number, as well as the types of customizations, continues to increase at a torrid pace." More information on this interview can be found here. FrontX Multimedia Ports Review @ Monkey Review "FrontX has covered all the bases with this product. The only real question is whether or not it is right for you. At first I didn't think I would get much use out of this product. Once I had it all hooked up, I don't think I could live without it. I love the fact that when I'm not using my steering wheel I can easily disconnect it and store it away without breaking my back reaching behind my computer. The same goes for when I'm playing a game and I need to be quiet. Now I can actually plug a set of headphones in and play. The last bonus that this unit offers us is simply one more possible way to eliminate the mess behind all of our desks, that alone in our opinion was worth the $28US." More information on this review can be found here. WinXP Tweaking: From Reformat to Relax @ Tweaktown "You've just reformatted your hard drive and are installing Windows XP. You may be new to XP, or you may be a veteran and system slowdowns, instability or problems have lead you to reinstall. Now comes the installation of all the applications and games. Then all the drivers. Finally, there's the dreaded job of going through all the settings and tweaks all over again to optimise your system. Welcome to what we are certain is the most comprehensive collection of tweaks collected and published on the Internet today in this walkthrough style tweaking guide for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system." More information on this guide can be found here. ThermalTake G4-VGA Copper Cooler Review @ System Cooling "Since the release of the history making Thermaltake Blue Orb two years ago, Thermaltake has become the enthusiast market's leader in graphic chipset cooling solutions. With each new release of the Geforce line Thermaltake created a new version of their famous orb-shaped cooler. First was the Blue Orb with the Geforce 2, then the Chrome Orb for the Geforce 3, and now the G4-VGA Copper Cooler for the Geforce 4 family of graphic chipsets." More information on this review can be found here. Online Mod Dictionary @ Directron "Herein we have compiled the most common terms used in the computer mod field. We wish this dictionary helps the standardization of language used in this relatively new field, which in turn helps increasing the mature of it. If you come across a term that you think should be included here, please e-mail to editor@directron.com." Good idea to help the newbies! More information on this modders dictionary can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

T.G.I.F News Edition..

Date Posted: Friday, July 26, 2002, 11:32:22 AM

Author: hitek

Exclusive Thermaltake Xaser II Plus Aluminum Case Review @ Overclockers Cafe (c) 2002 Overclockers Cafe "The aluminum drive bay cover is a hard one to miss with that big red X on it. That door is no flimsy piece of sheet metal either. Depending on if you measure the thickness on the recessed black areas or the sides you will find it to be 2 - 12 mm thick. There was enough metal there that with no components in the case, it was decidedly heavier up front and very much unbalanced. This was intentional on the part of Thermaltake. You will see why shortly." More information on this review can be found here. Sigma Designs XCard Review @ VN Roundup "The XCard is the first commercial hardware DivX/DVD decoder add-in card. To put it simply, think of Sigma Designs' Hollywood Plus, and add DivX playback support; you've got yourself the XCard. Thankfully, the XCard does not stop at DVD and DivX hardware acceleration. Just as you would expect from a stand-alone DVD player, the XCard supports hardware acceleration of MPEG-2 (SVCD) and MPEG-1 (VCD) titles as well." More information on this review can be found here. Logitech iFeel Mouse Review @ Viperlair "On the front of the box, Logitech claims that this mouse will help the average user "Feel the web for easier navigation" and "Feel [his or her] desktop for improved accuracy." Now, despite how much I disagree with this, I must give Logitech some credit for how dynamic the range of "tactile sensations" are generated by this little thing. The vibrations range from short bursts to long shakes, it can even make musical notes when it vibrates." More information on this review can be found here. Stomp Inc. MySoundStudio Review "Loading in a stereo MP3 displays the waveforms of both the left and right channels allowing you to edit them separately. You can add a multitude of effects to the entire track or just a selected part of the track via the pull down effects menu. All of these effects pop up a window to allow you to tweak the individual effect to your liking. More information on this review can be found here. Icemat Glass Mousing Surface Review @ Hardware Masters "We're taking a break from our Summer of Wireless series and taking a look at a really neat product: a glass mousepad. We've always enjoyed reviewing mousepads because they give us a break from a lot of the more in-depth hardware reviews. Well, the Icemat is a mousing surface made completely of glass. A very unique product, the Icemat comes in two flavors: regular glass and black 'Icemat After Dark.' In this review, we will take a look at the 'Icemat After Dark.'" More information on this review can be found here. EL Badge Kit Review @ Monkey Review "Today we add another notch to the modding bed post. With the addition of a really neat Electroluminescent Lighting Badge Kit from the great people at Pham Computer, who were kind enough to send us this kit for reviewing purposes. For the small price this unit goes for, I am very pleased with its results." More information on this review can be found here. Antec SX-830 Vinyl Dye Mod Guide @ Mikhailtech (c) 2002 Mikhailtech "There are many modifications that can be done to your case, but one of the easiest, most cost effective, and aesthetically pleasing mods is a relatively simple vinyl dye modification for your front bezel. It can easily be completed in one afternoon, but it requires a good deal of patience to prevent from over-spraying the surface. The end result of this mod can turn your plain and drab looking beige tower case into an original and unique case that shows off your personality." Don't forget MTB's own Vinyl Dye Guide which can be found here. More information on this review can be found here. Changing Optical Drive LED's Guide @ Twisted Mods "The first step to disassembling your drive is to remove the front bezel. You need to open your drive, and slide off the trays part of the bezel, usually done by sliding it up and off. Then locate the various clips around the front of the drive. These can be pushed in using a flathead screw driver, which will then pop the larger bezel off." More information on this guide can be found here. ABIT Media XP Interface Technology Video Review @ 3DGameman "The ABIT Media XP implements audio, USB, IEEE1394, IR remote control and card readers in one small unit which fits into a 5 1/4" drive bay. A feature packed product like this will make life a lot easier. However, this unit is only compatible with Abit MAX series motherboards." More information on this video review can be found here. Bitspower 12" Green Cold Cathode Review @ OCModShop "Case lighting is one of the biggest parts to a successful case mod in my opinion. Without lighting no one can see your work in the dark and even if they can during the day lighting will only make your case look much better. There are many different ways you can light the inside of your case some of which I have reviewed before and this is the best option that is available right now in my opinion. I have seen a lot of cold cathode kits and some are really nice and some have a lot to be fixed. A lot of the time the cheap cold cathode kits are really poor in quality and have a lot of problems which are not worth the few dollars less that you are going to pay." More information on this review can be found here. Antec LED Fans Reviewed @ Ascully.com (c) 2002 Ascully.com "You see it all, from the copper wires to the ball barings. The LED lights are placed in 3 corners of the fan while the wiring occupies the fourth corner. The green strip you see around the edge of the fan is the actual electronics needed to light the fan. There are other manufacturers doing this type of fan but none have the elegance of this setup. Compare this Antec version with the cheap alternatives and you will see a lot of work went into this design." More information on this review can be found here. Leadtek Winfast A250 TD Geforce 4 Ti4400 128MB Review @ Explosive Labs "Taking a first glance over this card you will notice it is unusually unlike most Geforce 4's on the market because of the huge heatsink that spans across most of this card's front and back. Since you can imagine how hot this card runs under operations, you are going to need fans to dissipate the heat that gets generated from the GPU and RAM. Leadtek has placed two fans on the front of this card, one in the upper right and one in the lower left." More information on this review can be found here. Zalman CNPS6500B-AlCu Review @ Pimped Out Cases "It seems most cooling products today are geared for the overly savvy tech head, of which pushes their pimped out machine to the far reaches of where no computer should go. But what about all those normal people, the people here still on earth, who would like a very simple, effective, and quiet solution for keeping there machine cool?Someone who does not care so much about looks, but would like a very straightforward cooling solution for there Socket 478 CPU. It seems Zalman has come to the rescue with such a product and that product is named the CNPS 6500B-AlCu." More information on this review can be found here. The Xabre $10000 CPL/C3 Competition Winners @ Pheaton.com "Well as we drive back over the plains of Texas and Dallas has become nothing more than a speck in the rear view mirror, I can reflect on the insanity of the last few days and the event itself. The main attraction for me was the Xabre $10,000 consummate computer competition, which was presented by SIS (the makers of the Xabre series graphics card) as well as So-trick computers and Intel. The judging took place on Monday which was the 3rd day of the event and the winners were announced in a ceremony that took place the next day. The quality of entrants was very high and predicting who would be in the top five was near impossible, the judges definitely had their work cut out for them. Many attendee's had their personal favorite and but only the judges opinion matters in the end." More information on this competition can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, July 25, 2002, 12:54:07 AM

Author: hitek

PC Geiger Review @ DeviantPC (c) 2002 DeviantPC "The PCGeiger markets as a PCI Bus Malfunction Analyser, which is true, but it is capable of much more. It provides an easy interface with the hardware in your system. It provides data on boot up sequence (error), displays overclocking information and can use functions such as CMOS reset or IDE master/slave selection." More information on this review can be found here. Nexland ISB SOHO Router Review @ IPKonfig "We see routers and hubs all over the place in our favorite computer stores. Some wonder if it's something they need, or even want, for that matter. I've found myself walking through some of these stores watching others scratch their heads and pondering if what they're about to purchase is the right equipment. Nexland, fortunately, has made deciding, choosing and buying a tad easier for wannabe home networkers, and have even made it affordable! Setting up the Nexland ISB SOHO router is quite straightforward. The steps laid out in the manual are very clear-yes, even for you illiterates. Nexland has included everything from the manual to the cable." MTB Labs featured this product last month, check out our comparison review. More information on this review can be found here. DDR Ram Guide Update @ Overclockers New Zealand "Samsung PC-2700 is able to achieve a high operational frequency of 191 MHz at 2.5-3-3 setting. Its performance is just shy of our current king, Corsair XMS-3000. It should not be surprising as they both used the same chip, Samsung TCB3. However, Corsair handpicked the top batches. Overclockers on a budget should consider it as a good substitute for the XMS-3000." More information on this guide can be found here. TDK External Cyclone 40/12/40 CD Writer Review @ Reviewmakers "The drive achieved 100% perfect DAE quality and accuracy in the test, with 0 data and synchronization error. The offset (misalignment at the read start of the track) is a record-low 24 bytes / 6 samples. There are 75 samples per second in the Audio CD specifications, therefore 6 samples equal to 0.08 seconds, which is an extremely low and minor error. Thus, the DAE capability of the drive is very good." More information on this review can be found here. SunBeam Dual Cold Cathode Kit Review @ Phluk.co.uk (c) 2002 Phluk.co.uk "Since I've had no previous experience with cold cathode lights, I didn't know what to expect to receive, but I was pleased with what I got. The features of the SunBeam kit are quite impressive. Things like having the power wires from the tubes both coming from one end and the inverter having a dual output are certainly not as standard!In fact, I believe this to be the ONLY dual output inverter on the market." More information on this review can be found here. Nikao Zeus Case Review @ Review Nation "I am going to be using this Zeus case for a long time, I can feel it. It's everything I look for in a case; sturdy construction, high user-friendliness, and the phrase, "Blue Steel," comes to mind every time I look at it. The case sports a plexiglass, oval-shaped, side window, which is great since it allows all your friends to marvel at the engineering masterpiece you have created inside. The mid-tower features four 5.25 inch bays and seven 3.5 inch, (six hidden for hard drives, one exposed for a floppy drive.) That is a lot of bays for a mid-tower. It supports three 80mm fans, on the back, top, and front, although the front is rather tricky to reach. It's a great case with a sleek look, but there are a few, albeit minor, problems." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC-50 Case Review "Aluminum cases have come along way in terms of market acceptance. What used to be an expensive novelty item, is now a mainstream product, and a must have for PC enthusiasts. From their great "brushed" aluminum look, to there lightweight and quality build, these cases have become extremely popular. Well today we will look at one of the biggest players in the case market, Lian Li. James was nice enough to send us over a PC-50 for review." More information on this review can be found here. Old Computer Fun Guide - Part 2 "Is that computer totally useless? So what if it can't run any recent software? It can still access files, right? Ever wished you could share your mp3's with all the computers on your home network without leaving your noisy computer on? Well, that old (and almost inaudible) computer can quite quickly be turned into a full functioning file server!." More information on this review can be found here. OnStream ADR2 60USB Digital Tape Drive Review @ Techno Yard "The OnStream ADR².60usb is ideally suited for entry-level servers and workstations with 60 gigabytes of capacity, transfer rate of up to 5 MB/s* and high-speed easy to use USB2.0 interface. Delivered with live Tapeware XE server software package including Disaster Recovery for Windows® operating systems for today's heterogeneous networks and workstations." More information on this review can be found here. Zalman CPNS6000-CU Heatsink Review @ Overclockers Club "Today, I'm reviewing a heatsink from ZalmanUSA.com, the the Zalman CPNS6000-CU. This is not your ordinary looking heatsink. It is actually the most unique looking heatsink that I have ever came across. It is made mostly of solid copper, with HUGE copper fins fanning out, and is sometimes referred to as the flower heatsink. Because of this design, it has to be the coolest looking heatsink I have seen, but does it cool as good as it looks? Lets find out!" More information on this review can be found here. Dremel Launches Official Case Modification Contest! "We're looking for the coolest cases developed using a Dremel rotary tool. Enter our contest for the coolest case mod and you could win a top prize package consisting of Dremel tools, attachments, and accessories worth over a suggested retail price of $350! The coolest case will be posted on dremel.com as one of our Featured Projects! We will also award prizes to the second and third place cases." Very cool! More information on this contest can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Wednesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Wednesday, July 24, 2002, 1:56:16 AM

Author: hitek

World Premier: DesignComp Acrylic Case Kit Review @ System Cooling "When Andrew Smith of DesignComp, inc. first told me he was sending me this case kit for review, I asked him one question; "are the directions idiot proof" his reply was "yes Bob, even you can put it together" and he was right. I think there was a hidden message in what he said! Each packet of parts/screws, etc. is meticulously labeled and they have even included a pair of white gloves to prevent smudges or fingerprints on the acrylic parts during assembly." More information on this review can be found here. Globalwin Aluminium Case GAT001 Review @ Tobitech.de "At first view the aluminum case differs from others. The GAT001 has a window with inserted fan. Optical the case works very well processes and nobly. Availablity is scheduled for the end August, but at this price the is un-certain and might lie at 200 - 250 Euro." More information on this review can be found here. Q-TEC 550 Watt PSU Review @ Casefreakz "All these pictures look nice, the gold look of the supply also looks nice, but we want to see performance, pure performance! I tested the powersupply with two different computer configurations. The first one with an Enermax 431 Watt powersupply and the other with a Codegen 300 Watt powersupply." More information on this review can be found here. How to Modify Your Case Guide @ Review Source (c) 2002 Review Source "This guide is designed to help all you would-be case modders out there. You know who you are, always drooling over the fantastic cases you see in case galleries, but never thinking you could actually try it yourself. Well, it's not really all that hard, you just need a few basic tools and some imagination." More information on this review can be found here. Belkin FC6800-UNV Review @ MrPCPro "A closing circuit breaker can cause a small short or power spike that can find its way to some electric components (such as your computer) and destroy data and the components themselves. Now, not only are you going to be unable to finish that document in time, but you are also going to be out a few hundred; or even a few thousand dollars. Granted any surge protector will be able to protect your components again power surges, but that's not going to be of any help when the power goes out." More information on this review can be found here. Fanner’s Releases New SkiveStream™ AMD Recommended HSF "From the research and design department in Shen Zen The Fanner Group would like to announce the launch of it’s latest Skived Fin(A.K.A. Micro fin) cooler. The SkiveStream™ model number 5R265 is the first from the Fanner Group with a 3-piece motherboard-fixing clip on both sides of the cooler. The heat sink is of the Skived Fin design but with the added benefit of a solid copper core running through it center directly above the core of the processor. As this is a high performance model the SkiveStream™ utilizes a 5000 rpm fan pushing out 22.0CFM of airflow but operates at just 30.0 dBA. As with all of the ball bearing range from the Fanner Group the life expectance of the SkiveStream™ is 50,000 hours. This model has been recently approved by AMD for XP series." More information on this product can be found here. Case Modding Supplies on Sale @ Lux-Design Lux-Design is currently having a sale and has lowered prices some good case modding items. Right now, you'll be able to find reduced pricing on: Cold Cathodes Kits including extensions are at $46.99 (CAN) PCMods Clear Top Mount Window Kits at $32.99 (CAN) 9 X 12 Clear Window Kits at $29.99 (CAN) 12 X 16 Clear Window Kits at $39.99 (CAN) All EL Wire Kits at $39.99 (CAN) Zantec 1 Windows at $49.99 (CAN) Zantec 10 Windows at $59.99 (CAN) If you have been holding off on purchasing parts for that special case modification project, now is your chance to cash in on the savings. More information on this sale can be found here. Alienware Area 51 Review @ BJorn3D "When the gang at BJorn3D found out that I was getting a new computer, and wasn't building it myself, they wanted to know what I was getting, why I was getting it, and how much it would cost to build it myself. I can say that it was well worth the money spent. If you want a fast machine and have the money in your budget for one, but don't have the time or skill to do it yourself, give Alienware a look. You won't be disappointed." More information on this review can be found here. ATi Radeon 9700 Preview @ Actiontrip "If we consider the situation we have on the market today, we can see that Radeon 9700 surpasses GeForce 4 Ti4600 in practically all aspects. It has a faster GPU, faster memory, and a twice as wide memory interface (128bit GF4, 256bit R300), and in turn twice the memory bandwidth and fill rate (GPix/s) etc. There's also the AGP x8 (and AGP x4) support which provides a 2.1GB/s communication with North Bridge." Some review sites have pegged this card as the Nvidia GF4 Ti4600 Killer, current benchmarks have been impressive. More information on this preview can be found here. Holesaw Blowhole Mod Guide @ Phlux.co.uk "The first stage of the prepping for the cutting is to mask off the holes. I de-tacked the masking tape by sticking it to my clothes then pulling it off, so as to not damage my case's paintwork when it is removed after cutting, then stuck it so it covered the mounting holes and the hole itself. Once this has been done you come across one problem, you cannot see the holes that you punched, but don't worry, if you push the masking tape down enough and scan the surface you can see where the punched holes are. To make them easier to see once you have found them pencil or pen in a dot over it." More information on this review can be found here. AquaXtreme XG Watercooling Kit Review @ ProCooling (c) 2002 ProCooling "Cooltechnica's newest flagship product is a barebones system that includes an aluminum case, a customizable water cooling setup, and optional features such as temperature monitoring and fan control. The package can be purchased with the cooling system completely installed and filled with water. All the end user needs to do is add a system. This package is called the AquaXtreme XGL. Cooltechnica also gives the more technically-minded the option to install the cooling system themselves with the AquaXtreme XG package." More information on this review can be found here. Mushkin PC3200 / Crucial PC2700 on the KT333 Review @ 3DXtreme "This review is going to be approached a little bit differently than most 3dXtreme reviews. While it's not really a roundup it's more of a comparison. The market for ram has been changing so quickly right now it's hard to keep up. Faster ram hitting the market and the prices have been fluctuating quite a bit. So what ram is the right ram for you right now? Do you buy something like Muskin's pc3200 (400 mhz) which will take us into the next generation of mo! therboards the kt400? Or do you buy something like Crucial's pc2700 (333 mhz) and worry about buying faster ram when the kt400 boards arrive? More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Tuesday, July 23, 2002, 12:45:59 AM

Author: hitek

Case Modders Coverage @ Summer CPL 2002 "The Cyberathelete Professional League 2002 has officially launched in Dallas, Texas from July 20 - Jul 24, 2002. One of the highlights of this years event is the popular C3 or Consummate Computer Competition. A contest for case modders of all walks of life to compete with the top 5 winning award prizes. This years stakes have risen with SiS exclusively sponsoring $10,000 total in cash prizes for C3 now entitled The Xabre Consummate Computer Competition. In addition, SiS is providing twenty ECS Xabre AG400T8-D64 Graphics Cards (which received the Ocworkbench High Recommended Award) and ten ECS Xabre AG200T8-D64 Graphics Cards (Raffled-off gift during the event) supported by Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS)." Cold Dog over at the Pheaton Forums has been busy posting some of the cases featured in this year's competition. You can check out some of the highlights right here. Live coverage can be seen via webstreams right here. Build Your Own RheoBus Guide @ PimpedOutCases (c) 2002 PimpedOutCases "Having a loud computer is something we all hate. This is especially the case when avid overclockers and hardware enthusiasts insist on the need for more fans spinning at higher speeds, thus creating more noise. To combatant this, the use of a fan controller called a RheoBus is used, which will allow you to have your case fans spinning at max or simply turned off. This application also allows for the user to control how fast the fans spin, all in all creating a much friendlier computer environment." More information on this review can be found right here. i845E Motherboard Roundup @ Explosive Labs "It seems that the i845 line has prevailed in the Pentium 4 line up. Specifically, the i845e has become the most common, and offers one big thing. It is an Intel chipset. Who better to use a chipset from, than the maker of the processor too, right? Well, this has not always been the case. In the past, VIA and SIS have made a good effort at being a platform for Intel processors, and in many instances they have come out on top. [In many times they still do.]Their fade from this scene is due to two things. Intel marketing has done a good job of setting themselves at the "official" Pentium 4 chipset maker, using the line of thinking that the maker of the processor should be the maker of the chipset. And with all the Pentium 4 compatibility issues, the Intel chipsets offer standardized features and better optimization." More information on this review can be found right here. Dynalink RTA020 ADSL Router Review @ Tweakers Australia "As you can see the Dynalink router is packed full of features and supports a number of programs. I have had no problems with any program as of yet, and MSN runs with out a hitch along with games such as Counter-Strike and Quake 3. If you didn't know already, the router is also an ADSL modem, this gives people the opportunity when signing up for ADSL not to spend so much as most companies have a cheaper set up fee for people who already have modems. One of the more handy features is the "DHCP Server function for IP distribution" making it a lot easier for people to plug into the network and get access to the Internet quicker." More information on this review can be found right here. Swiftech MCX4000T Heatsink w/TMD Fan Video Review @ 3DGameman "The Swiftech MCX4000T Heatsink with the Tip Magnetic Drive Fan is simply an unbelievable combo for fantastic cooling results. The heatsink itself has a huge copper base with 429 pins and a very quiet fan that spins 5800 RPM and pushes about 36.8 CFM of air. Achieving great cooling results at reasonable noise levels puts this cooler in a class of its own." More information on this video review can be found right here. eVGA MX-440 1U/5v Cooler Mod Guide @ Mikhailtech "After going to my balcony and setting up the "workstation" (old magazines for a table and a plastic bag as the floor mat), I was ready for some cutting. Basically I needed to shave off about 2-3mm from one of the sides. There was a convenient protrusion from the bottom but it was slanted inward to I decided against cutting from that side. This was dumb, since in the end that would have been the easier route. Instead, I started cutting the fins from the top. There was a lot of slipping, a lot of bending, and a lot of sweating. Two of my wheels broke in the process (either the rotation speed was too low or they got temporarily stuck in the fins). I could have sworn one of them bounced off my goggles before vanishing; good thing I had a pair on. After going through four wheels with little done I decided enough is enough." More information on this guide can be found right here. Lian Li PC-72 SCA Review @ Heatseekerz "Lian Li computer enclosures are not for those among us stuck to a low budget. High costs are often put forward as a major con by most reviewers. I’m not going to consider this as a predominant factor during this review. When you buy a Lian Li, you pay for a certain quality, which comes at a certain price. What I will be taking into consideration is this so called ‘certain quality’. Does Lian Li deserve its rock solid reputation ? This is the question which we’ll answer today." More information on this review can be found right here. BlueCooling's BTMS Water Cooling System Review @ [H]ardOCP (c) 2002 [H]ardOCP "Over the last few years water cooling has reemerged and captured the interest of the overclocking community and enthusiasts alike, spawning a number of small companies that decided to tackle the chore of making water cooling a viable alternative cooling solution. Being that the water cooling community is still in its infancy, opinions among users about which product to buy ranges wildly from one end of the spectrum to the other." More information on this review can be found right here. How to Lap a Heatsink Guide @ Overclockers "Most heatsinks have a relatively rough base after their machining process (this is where thermal grease comes in). Even though it may feel smooth and flat, there are microscopic peaks and valleys which impede the transfer of heat from the CPU to the heatsink." More information on this review can be found right here. Noritake Graphic VFD Review @ Bit-Tech "The serial controller on this display works at baud rates from 4.8kbps to 38.4kbps with a default speed of 19.2kbps, it's as fast as they come then. Unlike some graphical controllers Noritake's has no buffer, a sign of it not being needed due to the speed of the controller or a cut-back on the part of Noritake? We'll have to wait until testing to find out if it's missed. The controller does have non-volatile memory for eight (up to 400 byte) macros thought. It also has three permanently stored fonts, in 5x5 (proportional spaced mini font), 5x7 (fixed spaced normal font) and 10x14 (fixed spaced large font) varieties." More information on this review can be found right here. Soyo P4I Fire Dragon Review "Looking around the board a little, we see the usual heatsink clip for the standard socket 478. What's really nice about the Fire Dragon is that it offers a metal strain relief piece on the rear side of the board. If you choose to use an alternate cooling solution, you can tighten down your cooler with confidence since the strain relief piece will keep the board from flexing excessively under the tension. Soyo has done a good job of providing for non-stock cooling solutions in their layout." More information on this review can be found right here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, July 22, 2002, 10:24:55 AM

Author: hitek

Antec SX-830 Case Blowhole Guide @ Mikhailtech "The next step is to cut the blowhole itself. The cutting disks work very well, but the 2mm cold rolled steel of the Antec case chewed them up very quickly. I went through five disks in cutting the hole. It was after running out of disks that I decided to try and use the carbide cutting bit, much to my chagrin. It is obviously not adept at cutting steel in the manner which I hoped, and I ended up gouging part of the steel outside of the blowhole in the process. After returning from the store with a fresh batch of cutting disks I finished cutting out the blowhole. At this point the hole is very rough and unfinished. The grinding stone becomes very useful at this point in order to shape the hole and remove any metal burs that would like to find their way into your fingers." Be sure to check out MTB's Blowhole Guide. More information on this guide can be found here. Q. Power Water Cooled Case Review @ System Cooling (c) 2002 System Cooling "The vast majority of liquid cooling today uses quite offensive methods. When I speak of offensive, I'm talking performance, and whether or not the kit/system is actually quiet. Most think quiet means sacrificing performance; combining them is very hard to accomplish by any means or is it? Swiftech has already moved beyond the cooling market, with many popular products that sell very well. Most agree: Swiftech has laid out some very impressive goodies for the consumer. But this time, we're going to look deep inside the Q Power Case, a fully loaded liquid cooled system that has many asking lots of questions about its performance. When the makers of the Q Power Case began development, two factors were of the utmost importance: quietness, and true performance. But, as you'll find out, there are many special features about this case." More information on this review can be found here. The Shuttle SS40G Case Review "One look at the Shuttle SS40G will conjure up all kinds of ideas as to its potential use. I was struck with the idea that this would make an ideal second computer, especially where available space is at a minimum and fancy features found in high-powered systems are not a necessity." More information on this review can be found here. AOpen AX4G Pro Motherboard Review @ Tweakers Australia "The 845G GMCH is cooled by a passive aluminium heatsink, which is large enough to dissipate heat with an additional fan, and is secured to the PCB with two short retention hooks. An AGP slot, six PCI slots, and one CNR slot are situated just below the cooler in their traditional positions. The AGP slot has a small card-lock mechanism on the end, which can help prevent a card from popping out unexpectedly. The ICH4 Southbridge is located across from the third PCI slot, and integrated support for up to six USB 2.0 channels." More information on this review can be found here. FannerTech Spire/Speeze Heatsink 2nd Round-Up Review @ myWORLD Hardware "Looking from the side, the heatsink comes with a very unique fin design that is micro fins. With the micro fins in it, this will surely helps increases the efficiency of the heat dissipation of the heatsink, but, still too early to say that as we will find out the final result from the last page." More information on this review can be found here. EL Cable Kit Review @ Think Computers "Today I will be looking at a EL Cable Kit from Lux-Design. Most of us know what a EL cable kit is, we refer to it as "glow-wire". I'm sure most of you have read reviews on EL cable kits, but in this review im going to point out just about everything that you can do with it as well as how Lux-Design ships items, and the quality of them." More information on this review can be found here. Headphone Breakout Box Guide @ Spodes Abode (c) 2002 Spodes Abode "When I packed for "Camp AOA" I decided not to bring speakers and run the headphones. All was well until I sold The Spyder my K7master-s and started running a K7s5a. If you've ever messed with this board you know that the onboard sound output is not nearly enough to run a pair of phones, so I started lookin for a cheap set of powered speakers to plug them in to. The cheapest ones I could find with a headphone jack were $20, but I could get a pair for $4 without, so I decided I would do that and add my "headphone jack mod" to it. The mod went well , but when I plugged the speakers in was treated to what sounded like music playing from the receiver of a telephone left on the table, fortunately the headphones sounded great." More information on this guide can be found here. Antec Performance Plus 660 Case Review @ AntecAsylum "The latest craze out there is to have the biggest and finest of cases to pimp off online. With that all said and done there are times when LAN parties come up and the owners of these big Antec SX1240’s, Chieftec DA-01SL-D’s and Lian-Li PC70’s come more than a nuisance to carry around. If you didn’t have a wheel barrow before, you will when you decide to go to a LAN with a case weighing 40-100 pounds (depending on the items inside); you’ll be running to the local Canadian Tire or Home Depot for one. So today I will review an alternative case for the average user or for the super LAN party attendee. The Antec Performance Plus 660." More information on this review can be found here. Antec 1080 Performance Plus Review @ Ascully.com "The front comes with the usual buttons (see image on right). Power on/off, reset (that needs to be pressed in with a sharp object to avoid accidental resets), a green power on LED, an orange HDD activity LED and 2 extra LED's that can be wired up to any device that supports them. This is a new feature to the case, wiring one to your network card is great because it flashes when packets are being sent. Not very functional, but cool none the less." More information on this review can be found here. V.L. System L.I.S LCD Indicator Review @ Tweaknews "My first encounter with LCD indicators pointed me to Matrix Orbital and Eio.com who sold 4 x 20 LCD's or smaller. As time went by the products improved and not just in size. PC-bay inserts got introduced and on many forums the LCD made it's staggering way to our computers. Today I'm going to have a look at the Platinum Blue 2 x 20 L.I.S. LCD indicator by V.L. System. P.S. - L.I.S. stands for Lost In Space." More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake Hardcano2 Review @ PC Extreme "Although the Hardcano2 is advertised as a hard drive cooler, it really doesnt do much to cool your hard drive because of the single small fan, and lack of any type of heatsink. The Hardcano2 does have one redeeming quality. It may not cool well, but it looks damned cool installed in your PC, and the LCDs are really nice looking as well. It is an attention getter at LAN parties, and would look excellent in an aluminum case like a Lian Li." More information on this review can be found here. AKASA Silver Mountain 2Q @ ViperLair "I'm not the only one out there who wants a quiet PC and some manufacturers are starting to realise this and cater for those with a desire for low noise whilst retaining good cooling. AKASA is one such company and have very kindly sent us for review the Silver Mountain 2Q Quiet cooler. AKASA believes that the properties of this cooler are good enough to allow proper cooling with a quiet fan. Well were about to find out for ourselves here at the lair." More information on this review can be found here. PSU Mods Guide @ PC PowerZone (c) 2002 PC Powerzone "By their nature, computer power supplies are boring and case fans are boring too. I mean, you fit both using four screws, plug them in and then switch them on - that's about as exciting as it gets! But in the world of case mods - put them both together, mix in some lights and variable speed action - and we have a neat case mod!" More information on this guide can be found here. Koolcases Prince Case Review @ OCModShop "There is a feature on this case which I really do like though, on the back of the case instead of using screws there are tabs which hold the side panel onto the case. To remove the side panel all you have to do is give the tabs a little pull and it will release the panel from the case. The back of the case is also very nice, there is a spot for an 80mm exhaust fan and the cutout for the fan is really good because there is not much metal blocking airflow." More information on this review can be found here. KoolCases Prince Case Review @ Review Nation "Well, not many people think much about their computer case, but sometimes a good case will make life a lot easier, not to mention the fact that you'll look like a dork if you bring a plain beige case to your next LAN party. If you don't have the cash for those fancy aluminum enclosures, then this might be your tower. If you build enough PCs you get to know what a good case is, sturdy, no sharp edges and room to work in. Cool Cases has a wide selection of cases to choose from, like the "Prince," which we'll be testing in this review. It's a steel tower that has plenty of room to grow." More information on this review can be found here. ChillBlast's Noise Control Magic Fleece "Noise is a huge problem among us hardcore OCers and DIYers. We load our cases up with delta and tornado fans to keep our expensive components cool, then realize that when we turn our speakers all the way up, we can still hear our computer running like a champ in the background. So lets break this down. Loud and cool, or quiet and hot. Well most of us will go with the consequences of the loud and cool, and though we don't like it, we live with it because its good for our machine. Well ChillBlast has brought us a very nice product that lets us keep our hardcore cooling and eliminate the noise. Today we'll be looking at ChillBlast's NoiseControl Magic Fleece." More information on this review can be found here. ExoticPC Freez Case Review @ PimpRig (c) 2002 PimpRig "As for aesthetics again this case is great in its silver steel color and the plastic clear bezel made a great location to slip some glo-wire for a neat effect. The wire fits underneath the plastic and fits pretty tight so there was no need to glue or ruin anything. As you can see from the pics it’s really a neat effect." More information on this review can be found here. Hercules XPS 210 Review @ Monkey Review "One of the things most basic computer speaker sets are severely lacking in is bass. They typically employ a pair of cone woofers and not a lot else. Now and then you'll find them ported out, and that gives some more response, but there isn't a lot bass. Newer speaker sets these days have a handy dandy Sub woofer that usually tops out at 10" or 12" if you go to the higher-end powered systems. The XPS210 speaker system is part of their new line of speakers that are made to compliment theirs and most any other manufacturer's line of sound cards. So far they look impressive." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Weekend News Edition..

Date Posted: Saturday, July 20, 2002, 9:38:14 AM

Author: hitek

Matrox Parhelia-512 128MB Video Review @ 3DGameman "The Matrox Parhelia-512 128MB Video Card is one totally amazing card that immerses you in visual enjoyment with high fidelity graphics. While not the fastest 3D gaming product on the market it has no problem running current games. Like all Matrox Video Cards they have super crisp clear text and this card really brings 2D to life with 10-bit GigaColor technology." More information on this review can be found here. Mikhailtech Online Radio Interview @ Mikhailtech "Information about the hardware that goes into a computer system has been available in various magazines for over 20 years now. But what with the advent of the internet and the ease of creating websites, many online alternatives have surfaced. These hardware sites cater to everyone from the computing neophyte to the hardcore tweaker and offer many levels of in-depth and timely information that the magazines are not always able to top. One of these sites is Mikhailtech.com, run by Mikhail Ivanenkov. Mikhailtech.com focuses on everything from processor coolers to cases complete with in-depth information, pictures and truthful reviews which not only entertain but inform as well. Mikhail began his talk with GPF about how he was initially introduced to the computing and hardware world." More information on this online interview can be found here. Thermaltake Geforce 4 Powerbooster Reviewed @ Ascully.com (c) 2002 Asully.com "Stock cooling not good enough for you on your new Geforce 4? Enter Thermaltake, leader of all things cool, this copper GPU cooler will have you amazed with its good looks and superb cooling abilities." More information on this review can be found here. Asus P4T533-C Motherboard Review @ DeviantPC "Naturally the progression was to move to a 533MHz bus. The introduction of the i850E chipset allowed use of Pentium 4 Northwood CPU's with a Front Side Bus of 133MHz (quad pumped to 533MHz) coupled with PC1066 RAMBUS memory. This increased overall system bandwidth has allowed Intel to retake the performance crown that, according to many performance users, AMD had held for some time." More information on this review can be found here. Mitsumi CR-480ATE CD Writer Review @ Alltechbox "The writing speed of this new model is 32X while the rewriting and reading speeds remain unchanged (12X and 40X respectively). Obviously the CR-480ATE is provided with the ExacLink technology which successfully prevents buffer underrun errors." More information on this review can be found here. Cooler Master AF8-25IM-74 Case Fan Review @ CaseFreakz "Summer has arrived, also for my pc. My pc temperature has risen a lot these past few days so I decided to get some extra case fans. I already had one front intake and one front outtake. After browsing the website of a local shop I sometimes visit, and after some advice from a friend, I made my choice. Two extra Cooler Masters should do the trick, one extra intake behind my semi-open bezel and one extra outtake next to the CPU." More information on this review can be found here. 80mm Heat Sink Mod @ Spodes Abode "What I wanted to do was to put an 80mm fan on this sink. I took off the old fan, and the plastic widget that it screwed into. This left the outside fins with clips on to hold the plastic widget. My idea was to bend these out, and clip them onto an 80mm fan." More information on this project can be found here. Old Computer Fun Part 1 @ Review Nation "If you're an avid computer user like me, you probably have an old computer or two lying around providing homes for all the dust bunnies. And, you probably don't see any reason to use them; what good are they? They can't run any good games, and you'd probably trade them for a pack of blank CD's. n this guide (which consists of four projects in total) will be looking at lots of fun (and some even useful) ideas or "projects" of what you can do with that old 486/Pentium box." More information on this guide can be found here. EL Wire Ice Blue Kit Review @ GiBTEK "As the need for case modding becomes more and more wide spread, people are beginning to demand more and more. Some manufacturers have been pretty slow of the mark to produce what the masses want. Cold Cathodes is and example, another is EL wire. EL or Glow wire is basically a copper wire with a phosphorous powder coating protected by an outer PVC layer. The wire operates on "AC" (Alternating Current) this is supplied by an Inverter. When an oscillating voltage(50-130V [rms] AC @50-5000Hz) is applied to the wire the phosphorous reacts by giving off an electroluminescent glow. Hence the name EL wire." More information on this review can be found here. Chaintech 7VJL Apogee KT333 Motherboard Review @ Explosive Labs "Many motherboard manufactuer's these days and in the past have used special names for their series of motherboards. In this situation the word, "Apogee" means The farthest or highest point; the apex. I am guessing Chaintech believes very strongly in their motherboards performance to come up with a name like this. Let's see if they can live up to that name." More information on this review can be found here. Pyramid I Fan Silencer Review @ AusPCWorld "Today we look at the Pyramid I Fan silencer from Cobalt 3. Not only does this look damn cool and in this model light up my case in a red glow, it also has the ability to adjust fan speed to keep your PC quiet and cool. Especially when most of our Modded PC's make a noise like an aeroplane." More information on this review can be found here. Heavy Water Project @ Atomic Maximum Power Computing "The transition from "Web Writing", where space is not an issue, to "Print Writing" where space is everything, has been a change of pace for me. Using heaps of photo's to illustrate a point is easier, but in an Atomic issue, that just isn't possible. And then there are deadlines. *Looks at Dick Tracy watch nervously* These photo's are meant to be used with each of the relevant Atomic MPC tutorials, as a way of getting a 'closer look at the action' - viewed on their own, they are just happy snaps, worth a look, but not overly informative." Some great modding by a good friend of mine. More information on this project can be found here. Translucent Quad LED 60/80mm Fan Review @ OCAddiction (c) 2002 OCAddiction "I patiently awaited a shipment of goodies in from our pal at ZXMods and finally got the package. I was not sure what was coming in, only that there would be something very different and very "exclusive" to review. I opened the box with baited breath and saw 2 beautiful items. The first being a nice shinny new SpiderMax Fan Grill which we will mention in another review. And then the most excellent Translucent Quad LED 60/80mm Fan. Here we see it beside a standard 80mm fan and a 60mm Pabst." More information on this review can be found here. Macase Galaxy II KA-280W Mid-Tower Case Review @ Case Junkiez "The first thing you notice about the Galaxy ][ is the size. It is considerably larger than most mid-towers at 540 millimeters tall (that's 12 and 1/4 inches for you imperial guys) including the feet, 475 millimeters (18 & 3/4 inches) total length, and 210 millimeters wide (8 & 1/4 inches). The case is constructed from 1mm thick steel giving it a weight of roughly 14 kilos (including the PSU). The case uses a C structure type design for 'added rigidity' which means that the base, the right side and the top are all one solid piece of steel. An unusual design to say the least, and doesn't make it very mod friendly. There is very little flex in this case due to the design of the chassis, but this is also helped by two steel support bars on either side at the top of the case that run the length of the chassis and are firmly riveted in place." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

T.G.I.F News Edition..

Date Posted: Friday, July 19, 2002, 12:28:27 AM

Author: hitek

Copper Tube Case Mod, Part 3 @ DPWG (c) 2002 DPWG "The swivelling casters look right at home at the bottom of each leg. Since the mounting base on the casters was wider than the bottom of the legs, I let the mounting bases protrude from the sides of the legs and used copper tubing to form a hoop that sits on top of the protruding bases. As I type this article, the copper tubing along the front is functioning as a foot rest." More information on this review can be found here. Plextor PlexWriter 40/12/40A ATAPI CD-RW Review @ BJorn3D "Most of you hardcore PC enthusiasts out there have heard of Plextor, right? Thought so. Plextor is a well-known name for many reasons, including its reputation for delivering some of the highest quality optical drives on the market and its ability to do this while making them some of the fastest drives available. With the use of the invaluable BURN-proof technology, Plextor has also been a very innovative company. I remember when it took about an hour to make a CD on my brother's old HP CD-Writer (I think its write speed was 4x), and you couldn't touch the computer while the copying process was active or you'd make another friggin' coaster! Now, you can make one in less than five minutes while multi-tasking at the same time." More information on this review can be found here. WinTasks 4 Professional Review "WinTasks 4 Professional is a tool that allows you to have greater control over your computers resources and processes. It can be thought of as a much-improved version of the Windows Task Manager that we have all used at one time or another offering many additional features for fine-tuning and analyzing system performance." More information on this review can be found here. Samsung Synchmaster 151b 15INCH TFT Review @ Monkey Review "Using the SyncMaster 151B was a pure joy on the eyes. For the first time I was able to work for over 5 hours without even batting an eye. Using any CRT monitor for more than an hour or two tends to leave my eyes tired and watery. The viewing angle allows you to see the screen from almost any angle. This allows you to collaborate with others without having to give up your seat as you sometimes find on other lesser quality LCD displays." More information on this review can be found here. CoolerMaster HSC-V62 Variable Speed HSF Review @ Voided Warranty "The heatsink is made of pure copper. As you can see CoolerMaster has used "THE FIN" technology, or as they like to call it "skived fin technology". I have a feeling that we will be seeing much more of these fins as time goes on. Why? Because they work!" More information on this review can be found here. CoolerMaster Transparent Rounded Cable Review "Cooler Master added a feature that makes installing the cables much easier than conventional cables, this feature is color-coding. Each connector is colored and labeled so you can't go wrong." More information on this review can be found here. GigaByte AF64DG-H RADEON 9000 PRO GPU Info @ AusPCWorld "Featuring ATi's the latest "TRUFORM" and "SMART SHEADER" technology, Gigabyte AF64DG-H graphics accelerators provides more powerful 3D performance for gaming. Shipping with 64MB double data rate(DDR) SDRAM onboard memory, AF64DG-H graphics accelerators provide an excellent performance of graphics accelerators, 3D quality for gaming and 3D applications." More information on this review can be found here. Skyhawk MSR-4620 Aluminium Case Review @ Virtual Hideout (c) 2002 Virtual Hideout "There's no doubt that aluminium seems to the material of choice nowadays for the PC enthusiasts when it comes to buying a case. Ever since Coolermaster and Lian Li blew the market open with their infamous line of cases, it has been flooded by cases from various other manufacturers. And Skyhawk is one of them. Based in Taiwan (doh! like they'll be based anywhere else!), Skyhawk has been making computer chassis since 1992 mainly for the OEM and server markets. Using that expertise, they've also came up with their own designs of aluminium cases for the consumer market and we're taking a look at one of them today, the MSR-462 Mid Tower Case." More information on this review can be found here. Antec TruePower 550 and Starnet 550 PSU Review @ PC PowerZone "What's so important about a computer's power supply then? Well, a good PSU (Power Supply Unit) can make the difference between a stable and unstable machine, a highly overclocked machine can soon fail with a poor PSU and a hard-worked, 24/7 machine will soon cause a poor PSU to give up and die." More information on this review can be found here. ThermalRight SLK-800 Review @ Overclocker Cafe "This time however, the principle of bigger is better is employed. Bigger sink and bigger fan... if you want. What this means is that the SLK-800 can take 60mm, 70mm, or 80mm fans of varying heights. While a novel concept that is certainly noteworthy but who is gonna put a small fan on a fat sink? Versatility is great but hey, if you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly!" More information on this review can be found here. Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Review @ Viper's Lair "Turtle Beach, now Voyetra Turtle Beach, has been creating sound cards, including more professional sound cards for over 17 years. In fact to quote Turtle Beach they "pioneered PC-based hard-disk recording". Whether this is true or is just marketing babble is debatable, but TurtleBeach sound cards are of very high quality. They have produced such cards as the Montego series of sound cards and their most recent product, the Santa Cruz." More information on this review can be found here. OCSystem Nickel Plated Copper Ramsinks Review @ Mikhailtech "They're significantly larger the standard sinks that come with most manufacturer's video cards and are 100% CNC machined copper coated with nickel. To my surprise, each sink comes with a perfectly sized piece of thermal adhesive on the backside. All you do is peel the clear plastic film (see far left) and stick it on. As I found out with my Radeon 8500, the adhesive isn't permanent but it works quite well (you can shift it slightly with your fingers if you really try) and is ready to go seconds after application, as opposed to epoxy which takes time to harden." More information on this review can be found here. Mikhailtech July 2002 Giveaway - Week 3 "This week we're giving away a pair of Cyber Cooler blue translucent 80mm case fans. Nothing fancy, but free stuff = free stuff." More information on this review can be found here. Bluetake 100M Bluetooth USB Dongle @ OtakuPC "Bluetooth, it was supposed to be a revolution in seamless networking. It promised to integrate every electronic appliance in the home and office without wires, effortlessly. It’s been four years now, almost to the day, that blue tooth was first announced and yet my office is still wired. I suppose my expectations are rather outlandish. Bluetooth was never intended to replace pre-existing wired networks. Its maximum transition rate is rated at 1mbps under optimal circumstances. For comparison many of today’s home networks operate on Fast Ethernet connections at 100mbps, and enterprise level networks can be even faster." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, July 18, 2002, 2:50:51 AM

Author: hitek

AMS gTower PC Case Review @ Via Hardware "The gTOWER is quite an attractive case, constructed fully out of brushed aluminum with a 1/3” thick Acrylic Bezel Faceplate that is mounted with 6 heavy polished screws. A thin, polished aluminum faceplate sits beneath the acrylic bezel, and both can be removed by simply taking out the retaining screws. The exterior is polished to a high gloss shine, and coated with an anti-scratch resistant coating. Both side panels are easily removable by simply unscrewing the thumbscrews and sliding the panels off, allowing easy access to both sides of the interior of the case." More information on this review can be found here. Coolermaster ATCS 710 Tower Case Review @ UK Gamer "In the aluminium case market there are only two main competitors. Coolermaster and Lian-Li. Whilst Lian-Li targets the enthusiast, producing cases and add-ons, such cut panels, Coolermaster aim to produce a professional finished product with can cater for both professionals and enthusiasts. We have reviewed Coolermaster cases in the past (ATCS 200 & ATCS 201) and both models have exceeded our expectations. Therefore, we had quite high expectations on this model too." More information on this review can be found here. GeForce 4 Ti4200 VGA Round Up @ Overclockers New Zealand "Leadtek tops the chart when cards are running at stock speed. This is due to its higher memory speed, 513MHz as oppose to 446 MHz for 128MB cards. We can see in the overclocked graph that memory speed no longer dictates the speed of the card. In GF4 line, core speed is as important as the memory speed." More information on this review can be found here. Genica Removable Hard Drive Bay Review @ PC Extreme "The Genica removable hard drive bay allows me to carry my 80 gig HD to and from work, in a nice container. It allows easy hookup of the drive anywhere that may have one of these devices. It also is nice to be able to hookup other HD's I have lying around the house w/o having to crack the case open every time." More information on this review can be found here. EPoX nForce2 8RGA+ Motherboard Review @ Tweakers Australia "EPoX sent us the word on their new motherboard based on the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset. The new nForce2 will make the proven nForce chipset even faster and better. Now, EPoX, as a tier-1 manufacturer, partners with NVIDIA to bring the ultimate gaming revelation. Additionally, EPoX combines the best-integrated NVIDIA GeForce4 MX, USB 2.0, IEEE1394a (Firewire), Dual-LAN support to provide users with one of the best mainboards or even game serverboards on the market." More information on this review can be found here. Samsung Syncmaster 152T "ULTRA THIN" 15inch TFT LCD Review @ TweakNews (c) 2002 TweakNews "Thin, thin, thin. Is this monitor the thinnest TFT out there, YES!!Does it still keep it's great visual quality, YES!! This monitor lacks nothing but a size increase. If Samsung could make a bigger model of this particular, I would be the first ta grab it, ta hold it, ta squeeze it, and call it George =)." More information on this review can be found here. Epox 4G4A+ Motherboard (Socket 478) Video Review @ 3DGameman "The Epox 4G4A+ Motherboard has just about everything you will need in a motherboard. With onboard Video, Audio, NIC, USB2, RAID. etc. it's packed with goodies and it's great at overclocking." More information on this video review can be found here. TRENDware TEW-211BRP Wireless Broadband Router and Access Point Review @ Hardware Masters "The Summer of Wireless continues with this weeks review of the TRENDware TEW-211BRP Wireless Broadband Router and Access Point. A little different than our first review in the Summer of Wireless series, this product has the same technology, but is for a different audience and implementation into a network. To see how the TEW-211BRP performed, be sure to check out the testing and performance page." More information on this review can be found here. TherMagic Thermal Compound Review @ OCIA "Reinstall the Swiftech heatsink, and we are ready to test. We allowed 24 hours for the TherMagic to "burn in" before we began official testing. Once again, idle temps were attained after 20 minutes of no system activity. Load temps were attained after 20 minutes of running the RC5 client. The RC5 client stresses the CPU to its max. Room temp was 76 F. Temps were recorded with Motherboard Monitor 5.1" More information on this review can be found here. Everglide Giganta Mousepad Review @ Casetest.de (c) 2002 Casetest.de "The Everglide Mousepad heard with to the best Gamer pads. The pad is manufactured of hard plastic and has a roughened surface. On the underside rubber feet are found, which care in return, that the Pad remains at his place.It is large and offers sufficient area for the mouse. Has the mouse more precisely with the roughened surface moved. One the feeling has, the mouse would glide and that without effort." More information on this review can be found here. Arkua Socker 478 Cooler (868S-6M) Review @ AusPCWorld "Cooling is a part of life, you don't keep your CPU cool you can have an endless amount of problems, especially if you want to overclock it!Today we take a look at the new Arkua Socket 478 868S-6M Cooler made by Arkua Corporation." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Wednesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Wednesday, July 17, 2002, 4:24:32 PM

Author: hitek

ATI All In Wonder Radeon 8500 Review @ Review Nation "ATI and Nvidia, two video empires battling for control of your AGP slot. The latest generation of chips, ATI's Radeon 8500 series (R200) and Nvidia's GeForce4 (NV25) are two very different pieces of technology. The GF4 is built to push polys, with speed being its major feature. The All in Wonder (AIW) Radeon 8500, which will be the focus of this review, is a feature-oriented card, with the emphasis on TV, DVD, and video editing. (Although it's quite capable in the gaming arena as well.) Please note that in this review I will sometimes refer to this card as simply a "Radeon," so please do not confuse the All in Wonder 8500 with some of ATI's past generation chips." More information on this review can be found here. Scorpio vs AVGS Cyber Fusion @ Phlux.co.uk (c) 2002 Phluk.co.uk "The case is very heavy which suggests rugged construction and looks rather slick. The front panel has plenty of ventilation slats to allow good airflow and has an unusual yet rather fetching curve to it. There's space for a case badge on the door so I quickly popped a tasteful "Hamster Inside" badge there (gives me an idea for a mod - cackles in an evil maniacal fashion as loved by mad tyrants and bond villains the world over). The door is well constructed and clicks shut although the top often catches and needs a nudge to give it a flush fit." More information on this review can be found here. Actiontec Cable/DSL Router Review @ Overclockers Cafe "Location 5 is in my Jeep on the road. From about 250' to 300' in either direction the speed was 1.0 - 1.2 Mbps. My last contact point was about 325' at less than 1 Mbps. I lost the signal there. Once the signal dropped I had to come back to around 200 feet before I could get it back. One interesting note. One of the neighbors has a 802.11b network, it is not secured." More information on this review can be found here. Globalwin CAK488T HSF Review @ System Cooling "The stock CAK488T comes complete with everything you'll need for whichever CPU you decide to use it on. The 80mm Blue LED fan is heat sensor-controlled from 1680 to 4000 RPM, 22 to 52.5 CFM, with a noise level of from 19 to 44 dBA. The CAK488T is an all-copper heatsink manufactured using skive technology, with two rows of 41 skived thin fins machined from a single piece of metal, thus offering excellent heatsink efficiency." More information on this review can be found here. RaidMax A288 Aluminum Case with X-Window Case Review @ 3DXtreme "Let's start off the review by giving you a brief description of the reviewer, myself. Prior to setting my eyes upon this case, I was a firm believer that case windows, lights, and case modding was altogether just a waste of time. However since that day I received the RaidMax case and opened the box, I believe I have switched to the other team. The RaidMax A288, simply said, is just gorgeous." More information on this review can be found here. Dual Cold Cathode Light Kit Review @ HiTechMods (c) 2002 HiTechMods "As we have seen many Cold Cathode Light kits before I must say this was the first one that I have seen with dual output for 2 lights. he kit is very easy to install, even for the beginner modder, only one round hole needs to be drilled for the on/off switch and the rest a snap." More information on this review can be found here. PS2 Gamepad to PC Convertor Review @ GiBTEK "Basically the connector is a convertor. It uses USB, so is simple to install, and it comes with it's own driver. Plug it in, let windows find the device and then point the wizard to the floppy disk, or path, where the drivers are. You then can access the controller software through the control panel/controllers icon. If you click on the properties on the PS2 Connector you will be presented with the control panel for the controller. From here you can set various settings and test the rumble and shock features. It's very basic but does the job of letting you know if the controller is working properly." More information on this review can be found here. NewQ DAP Review @ VN Roundup "NewQ provides a nice solution to this hassle with their DAP device. The DAP connector essentially extends your sound card's speaker and microphone connectors for easier access and provides a very useful pushbutton to switch between headphone and speaker output, without having to unplug any wires." More information on this review can be found here. NVIDIA nForce 2 Preview @ DeviantPC "In a quest for ever increasing overall system performance and hence bandwidth, NVIDIA have outlined the successor to their Twinbank memory architecture featured in the original nForce. Twinbank supposedly doubled system memory bandwidth and reduced latency by up to 50%. Dual DDR Architecture again features 2 64bit controllers combining to create a 128bit memory interface. The two 64bit controllers working independently and theoretically outperform a single 128bit controller." More information on this preview can be found here. NVIDIA nForce 2 Preview @ BJorn3D "Today, NVIDIA is officially announcing the release of nForce 2, their latest attack on the AMD motherboard chipset market. Bjorn3D presents the technical specs of NVIDIA's two new chipsets and at what configurations that we can expect to see hit the market. With options like dual ethernet adapters,on-board Geforce4, and DDR400 support, performance and features appear to be NVIDIA's aim." More information on this preview can be found here. NVIDIA nForce 2 Preview @ Viper's Lair "Despite the criticism, the nForce really was a decent chipset. For first-time buyers, or casual gamers, the nForce IGP was more than enough, and cheaper than buying every component separately. Performance was very good, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding was excellent. nVidia has listened to the public, and will hopefully address the mistakes they've learned from their last attempt to get into the chipset market." More information on this preview can be found here. V.L.System's LIS LCD Package Review @ Tech Dreams "About a little more than a week ago, my good friend Diceman over at Virtual-Hideout gave me a link to a site and told me I should check it out. So of course having similar tastes in certain areas (cough AMD owns you), I took the liberty of clicking on the link. First impression--WHOA! The link he gave me was for V.L.System they boast the slogan, overclocking and cooling solutions for thermal management. V.L.System's is based out of Korea, and has been developing and manufacturing products related to the PC since 1997, targeted at the Power User and Overclocker. So what the hell am I talking about? Well see for yourself, introducing the L.I.S (Lost In Space) LCD Indicator by V.L.System." More information on this review can be found here. Stomp Inc's ClutterBuster Review "Ever wonder what do to with all the junk on your desk? Ever have organizers keep falling or tipping over on your desk only to make things more of a mess? We all know that desktop realty is precious since it comes in such a limited supply. Late night games could leave your desk somewhere under a pile CDs and empty cans of your favorite drink. Add to this clutter papers and books that you used during the day, and you have a pretty big mess on your hands. Of course, with all this mess, you probably missed some frags or gotten fragged while you were gaming since your mouse movements were inhibited by all this clutter." More information on this review can be found here. Interview with cpuFailure of CompuDepot "Well, at the age of about 7 or so, I finally figured what a computer was from a much older cousin, who was playing a game on what looked like to me to be an elaborate typewriter. I eventually talked my parents into buying me a Texas Instruments TI 99/4a home computer. My father insisted that I not play in the "Basic" programming language, and stick to a few of the games that they had bought me (Hunt the Wumpus, Miner 2040 9'er, lol). From there I worked my way thru a TRS-80, A Tandy color computer, Tandy color computer 3 with 128k ram, and then the Tandy 1000sx with dual 5 ¼ floppies. With the Tandy 1000sx at my side, I could now upgrade internal components. A technician was born at the age of about 12." More information on this interview can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, July 15, 2002, 11:46:06 PM

Author: hitek

Custom Designed 3dGameMan.com Case Video Review @ 3DGameman (c) 2002 3DGameman "Computers Devine started modding cases all the way back in 1996 when modding was not as popular as it is today. They offer complete custom designs catered to client specifications and requirements. Custom designed cases turn heads with there great looks and uniqueness, however, like most quality products they are very pricy." More information on this video review can be found here. Intel Pentium 4 "Northwood" 2.4GHz CPU Review @ Explosive Labs "For all too long, Intel has been considered the company to turn to for industry standard microprocessors. However, over the last several years Intel has lost a lot of footing in the microprocessor market due to AMD, and even though things have cooled down, Intel has taken several hard hits due to heightened competition in the corporate semiconductor market with Motorola and Siemens." More information on this review can be found here. MSI GeForce4 Ti4600-VTD Review @ Reviewmakers "We must admit that we were admiring the bundle in awe upon opening the box. There are altogether 9 CDs of full version games and applications, separately stored in colorful slim CD casings. Various cables and adaptors are included, giving this graphics card the out-of-the-box capabilities of video capturing and dual-monitor display." More information on this review can be found here. ABIT NV7m nForce mATX Motherboard Review @ Mikhailtech "When using both slots, the CPU and GPU can access both controllers simultaneously. And since they're interleaved, CPU memory requests can be started ahead of time, thus providing nearly perfect bandwidth usage. Since each controller can provide 2.1Gb/s of throughput, theoretically the two combined can offer a whopping 4.2Gb/s of bandwidth. This also reduces CPU latency greatly. While this is nice, it also means that unless you have a pair of DIMMS installed, you won't be able to take advantage of the added bandwidth. As a matter of fact (as you'll see in the tests shortly), performance-wise using a single 64-bit controller sucks. Integrated into the MCP-D is a 10/100Base-T Ethernet controller (Realtek 8201L) and a 56k soft modem with HomePNA1.0/2.0 support." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li Aluminum PC-68USB Mid Tower ATX Case Review @ 3DXtreme "This is the best looking and performing case that I have had the pleasure of reviewing so far. Lian Li has again incorporated a good-looking case with a lot of accessibility and great cooling. By improving their cases with little things like a blowhole and a lock latch they will always have a top notch case. It just shows you that Lian Li always strives to make their consumers happy." More information on this review can be found here. Vantec CopperX Vs Akasa Silver Mountain 2 Cooler Review @ PC PowerZone (c) 2002 PC Powerzone "We've received two 60mm fan based coolers for testing - the VANTEC Copper X CCK-6040H and the Akasa Silver Mountain 2. Both these coolers use the latest technologies to give the ultimate cooling action. We put both coolers head to head with our current champ, the Coolermaster Heat Pipe HHC-001 and see what they have to offer." More information on this review can be found here. Peltier Basics Tutorial @ GiBTEK "Watercooled systems have one great drawback, however efficient your system is, it can only get as cold as the temperature of the air passing through your radiator. Some people put radiators out of windows or in fridges, but this is never a satisfactory solution. Therefore if you want to go below ambient and to try for subzero temperatures then you have to opt for two solutions. The first one is evaporative cooling such as that employed by a freezer unit. This is harnessed by companies such as vapochill, but is expensive. You can build the systems yourself, but you have to start playing around with very dangerous chemicals, with little room for error. The second solution and the one I am opting for, is to go for a Peltier or Thermal Electrical Component (TEC)." More information on this guide can be found here. Evolution of a Swiftech Thermo-Electric Block "With the marketing of the new Swiftech MCW 462UT-H I wondered what the performance difference actually was. So I went and bought one and leaving all other system components the same I installed the new block. It is interesting to note that although the barbs on the new Swiftech are ½ inch the actual barb opening is no wider than my original 3/8 in barbs on the "old" Swiftech." More information on this how-to can be found here. NVIDIA nForce 2 Preview @ Bjorn3D "Today, NVIDIA is officially announcing the release of nForce 2, their latest attack on the AMD motherboard chipset market. Bjorn3D presents the technical specs of NVIDIA's two new chipsets and at what configurations that we can expect to see hit the market. With options like dual ethernet adapters,on-board Geforce4, and DDR400 support, performance and features appear to be NVIDIA's aim." More information on this preview can be found here. Antec Performance Plus 1080 SOHO File Server Case Review @ OCAddiction "Preparing the case to receive the components for my system was relatively easy. Just a little trial and error on where to set the standoffs, and the motherboard was ready to mount. One of the upgrades I did during this swap was changing out my Thermoengine HSF to the Alpha Pal8045U. That done, I mounted the motherboard and proceeded to install the various cards. While installing the cards, I noticed that Antec did not provide relief cuts to make it easier to get a screwdriver or nut driver on the screws that hold the cards. All of my previous cases have had these indentations or relief cuts. After that came the drives. My first disappointment came when mounting the 3.5" floppy drive." More information on this review can be found here. CPU/Memory Watch - 7/15/02 @ Sl Central "SLCentral.com has posted an update to their CPU/Memory Watch. This week there very many changes in processors, but DDR and Rambus both go up in price quite a bit." More information on this report can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, July 15, 2002, 3:01:02 AM

Author: hitek

1CoolPC's hdd_HO "Ultimate Hard Drive Cooler" Review "We all want to keep our PC as cool as possible. We put nice aftermarket fans on our CPU to keep it cool and to get the best performance possible. We do the same for our video card GPU, to get the most FPS we can. Your hard drive is no different. It generates as much heat as your CPU if not more. The hdd_HO, or "Ultimate Hard Drive Cooler" will remedy the situation with its massive heatsink and two high output fans. This is one of the few hard drive coolers that I have seen that actually works!" More information on this review can be found here. Corsair XMS3000 DDR RAM Review @ Overclockers Cafe "193MHz was the wall of error free benching. We still want to know how hard can we push this stick until it gives. At a pass the tissues my nose is bleeding, we found that 206MHz was the ceiling. Again, at this level, our system was not 100% stable but we were able to run several series of benches without crashing." More information on this review can be found here. Vantec Tornado Case Fans Reviewed @ Ascully.com "Very loud, very fast fans are what we are talking about today, a lot of manufacturers are obsessed with bringing us the quietest fans on the market but not Vantec they are brave enough to hurt our ears and keep our PC's super cool in the process. Read on for more on these super powerful case fans." More information on this review can be found here. MSI K7D Master-L Mainboard Dual MP @ ViperLair "Many people fail to see any reason to pay $600 for a mainboard, memory and processors when they can get a decent KT333 combo for under $300. Is building an SMP capable system worth all of the cash?It is really a matter of personal taste. SMP systems do tend to be more stable and perform better than their single-CPU cousins, but whether or not the extra stability and performance is worth an extra $300 can be debated forever." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC65 Case Modding @ Review Nation (c) 2002 Review Nation "In this article I will tell and show you how to add an extra rear exhaust fan in the back of your Lian Li case for better air cooling. When first looking at the rear fan inside your case you will think that there is no way that the fan will fit. Well right under the other rear fan it fits just right and looks sweet. If you mess up your case or do something else I'm not responsible neither is Review Nation with that out of the way lets roll :)" More information on this review can be found here. LiUtilities WinTasks 4 Pro Review "LiUtilities offers a program called WinTasks 4, which comes in two versions, Standard and Pro. (Today's review will cover the Pro version.) LiUtilities was founded in 1999 by a small group of professionals. Their headquarters are located in Ostersund, Sweden. You can get the WinTasks 4 Pro by downloading it, ($37.99,) or by ordering a retail boxed version, ($57.99.) Setup is done by a small, self-installing file, just click on it and follow the on-screen directions, simple enough for anyone to install." More information on this review can be found here. KDS Rad-7c 17" LCD Review @ Think Computers "The LCD performed very well. Very clear image, great sound, also great in games. I took a stroll down to my local pc store to compare the clarity of other 17" LCD's and as far as I can tell the KDS was the clearest of them all. Should we talk about style? Well this LCD definitely has it. With a combination of the dark grey speakers/base and the lighter grey trim it makes it a head turner for sure. The easy access buttons on the side of the LCD have all your controls, volume and power switch. So the front of the LCD is very clean looking." More information on this review can be found here. Samsung SpinPoint P40 SP8004H 80GB Review @ Monkey Review "Let's face the facts, when it comes to hard drives we have been able to surpass many limitations, the most recent being size, I'm thinking most would probably agree. In a day where it's not uncommon to see desktops equipped with 100GB drives many are left to wonder, what can they possible enhance next? Well after looking at the SpinPoint P40 SP8004H 80GB Hard Drive from Samsung we have a few clues." More information on this review can be found here. Icemat Mouse Surface Review @ BlargOC "You know how it is, you splash out on a high quality mouse such as the Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer Wireless and you want a surface to 'mouse' on that's going to do justice to this magnificent (well in my eye's at least) piece of engineering. Enter the Icemat! "A mouse mat made of ice?" I hear you say, no not quite, but it is something equally weird but wonderful glass." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC-60 Case Review @ Virtual Underground "Each panel is about 18 inches wide by 16.5 inches tall and can be removed with ease by taking off two thumb screws for each of them and just pulling them back a few centimeters. The whole top section of the computer is flat, no metal bars or plates getting in your way so you may add more fans on the top or a window without having to remove extra pieces of metal." Lian Li PC-60's are old news, but still one of the best cases on the market. More information on this review can be found here. Laptop Cooling Mods @ Overclockers.com "I decided to start a new project since so many of us have already mastered the "desktop" scene. I was wandering around the house one day trying to find something new to add to my desktop when I glanced down at the desk and noticed a Totally Virgin laptop sitting there! IDEA! "Why not try some mods on it?", I asked myself. My response was,"hell no that thing cost to dang much!" More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Weekend News Edition..

Date Posted: Saturday, July 13, 2002, 1:24:25 PM

Author: hitek

L.I.S LCD Indicator Review @ Bit-Tech (c) 2002 Bit-Tech "There's no doubt that small LCD and VFD displays are growing in popularity day by day as the market grows and develops, few now doubt the usefulness of these displays as a supplement, or in some applications, an alternative to a traditional monitor. This week saw a new offering from VLSystem land on my desk for testing, bred and fed in Korea it's time to find out if the Korean's build LCD's as well as they play football." More information on this review can be found here. Akasa LED Fan Review @ Unique Hardware "Its a 80MM, good standard size, can go on your case, your HSF with a 60 > 80MM adapter or even your head if your that way inclined. The fan will move 32.4 cubic feet a min, thats a good amount for the sound it produces, which is a mere 27.85 dB, with it on you only get a slight high pitch whining, only _very_ slight. The main attraction being the LEDs, each fan has two flashing blue LEDs." More information on this review can be found here. Antec LED Fans Video Review @ 3DGameman "These Antec LED Fans add a personality to your case, are quiet and functional all at the same time. This fan spunk will cost you a little more than a standard fan; however, these fans are a very welcome change." More information on this video review can be found here. USB Flash Drive Roundup @ Explosive Labs "Don't you hate sorting through your cd's and floppies to find that one file you need? Or what about having to waste CD-Rs or slow CD-RWs to transfer pesky 10MB files from computer to computer? Do you hate carrying CDs and floppies from computer to another? Well, it seems the makers at Soyo, Easydisk, and Transcend have created the answer, the USB flash drives." More information on this review can be found here. Triplex Xabre 400 Pro AGP 8x GPU Review @ AusPCWorld "The Xabre Family series Graphics Processing Unit is the industry's first AGP8x compliant chipset. By integrating 8X8 design, MotionFixing™, Coloredeemer™ and Pixelizer™ technologies, the Xabre Family GPU chipset is the most high performance, feature rich, cost effective, and highly integrated GPU for the mainstream market. It is the only mainstream GPU to be DirectX8.1 compliant that will allow gamers to enjoy the latest games with unearthing realism. The 8X8 design refers to the AGP8x plus the DirectX 8.1 compatibility." More information on this review can be found here. iROCK 520 Digital MP3 Player & iROCK 300W FM Wireless Transmitter Review @ Tweaknews (c) 2002 Tweaknews "These two products have it all, quality, good construction, lots of features and one of the smallest MP3 players and FM transmitters on the market. I personally love these products and use them everyday whether I use the small MP3 player during a workout, or by using the transmitter in in car on the way home to listen to MP3's without constantly burning them onto a disc. If you have never tried a MP3 player, you won't know how you enjoyed a workout as much without it." More information on this review can be found here. Belkin 8-Port Network Kit Review @ BurnOutPC "The 8-Port Network Switch (10/100Mbps) is an excellent solution for building your 10/100Base-T Ethernet Network! Simply connect each PCs network interface card or adapter to a port on the Switch. Configure your network quickly and easily using Belkin SOHO Networking Software to take the guesswork out of the configuration process. With the software's user interface you can set-up sharing options, view all resources and files available on your network and much more. The dedicated bandwidth provided to each port reduces collisions and provides error-free data transmission. Using Windows 98, SE, Me, or 2000, you are able to share your Internet account with up to 8 users." More information on this review can be found here. Raidtronics SRC-A10 Aluminum File Server Case Review @ GamePC "With the ever-shrinking amount of storage space in full-tower and server-tower cases today, it's becoming more difficult with time to find pure storage-only designed cases on the market. It seems nearly every case on the market is trying to converge multiple markets together, as most case designers are hoping to gather more attention to their cases by adding more and more consumer-level features. The selection of pure disk array cases have diminished over time, and the technology has seemed to have stagnated." More information on this review can be found here. Firewire vs. Ethernet Networking @ Tweaktown "As far as protocols go, Firewire networking natively supports TCP/IP connectivity. The Internet Connection Sharing built into Microsoft's operating systems also supports sharing through the Firewire connection. TCP/IP is generally all that is needed for today's modern networks, additional protocol support such as IPX/SPX, NetBEUI and AppleTalk are provided by third party software such as Firenet." More information on this guide can be found here. AMS Electronics gBOX (P4) CF-S868 Aluminum Mini PC Barebone System @ Little White Dog "The chassis measures 9.5”(H) x 8.3”(W) x 12”(D) and has been constructed using a combination of aluminum and plexi-glass. It is sold as a bare-bones system that includes: the case, 150watt power supply, and a CFI-S86 P4 Socket478 Flex ATX MB. The CFI-S86 motherboard has been built around the VIA P4M266 chipset, and includes a very large number of integrated features; including everything from integrated sound and video, USB 2.0, to an ATA 133 controller." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

T.G.I.F News Edition..

Date Posted: Friday, July 12, 2002, 10:40:43 AM

Author: hitek

Swiftech Quiet Power Barebones Case Review @ Viper's Lair "One of the solutions to this problem is water cooling. While providing a much better method of removing heat from your processor, motherboard chipset and video card, there is also the danger of a leak turning your computer into a boat anchor that an 8086 would be proud of. This risk can, of course, be minimized with care." More information on this review can be found here. Packard Bell Fast Media Remote Control Review @ Mikhailtech (c) 2002 Mikhailtech "The top half of the control unit contains mouse movement arrows with two buttons on each side, as well as 8 buttons on the top. The buttons at the top are mostly for optional components, such as an answering machine on the computer (Message button) and control over 3-D Amphitheatre Stereo Sound (SRS button). The mouse movement arrows are most likely my favorite feature in this model. There are two buttons on each side of the center circle, the one on the left is for simulating a left click, and the one on the right is for right clicks. Of course, you can configure them to do other tasks, but being placed so near to the mouse buttons, having them act as mouse buttons is pretty logical." More information on this review can be found here. How to Paint a Keyboard Guide @ GiBTEK "Most of us modify our cases, cut a hole, quick coat of paint? But we tend to forget the things that we use day in, day out. How about a funky new looking keyboard to go with a funky looking case? I know you can buy coloured keyboards, but why buy a new one when for a few bucks you can have a brand new look?" More information on this guide can be found here. Nintendo Gamecube Review "You get a good idea of what the current crop of games are, good or bad. I realise there are more games coming out all the time, perhaps we can follow this up at a later date with some more." More information on this review can be found here. Leadtek WinFast TwinForce 2 Review @ PC PowerZone "By now, most of you should know that the NVIDIA Ti4200 video cards are by far the best 'bang for your buck' video card around, almost reaching Ti4600 levels of performance for less than half the price. The NVIDIA nForce chipset has established itself as a great platform with such onboard features as 6-channel Dolby Digital sound, twinbank memory architecture, high speed pipeline between North and Southbridge's and so on. With these two great NVIDIA products in mind, Leadtek have brought them together to form the Leadtek WinFast TwinForce 2 bundle." More information on this review can be found here. Madplayer Competition "Wannabee a DJ on the move? You can be now…. if you get into the crazy digital pleasure of the MadPlayer, a revolutionary, hand-held music device which made its world debut at the Ministry of Sound on May 22 and is due for UK release at the end of July. MadPlayerTM is the world’s first GeneractiveTM hand-held digital music player/recorder that allows you to create, play with, change, listen to, and store music of exceptional sound quality, even when you’re on the move." More information on this contest can be found here. Cornerstone c910 Monitor Review @ MonkeyReview "With CRT monitors slowly being phased out by LCD's, price remains to be a major deciding factor when making any purchases. This is where Cornerstone passes the competition, they have managed to make a quality 19" monitor with an amazing picture, for a very reasonable price. This is the type of move that will keep CRT monitors in the market for a long time to come." More information on this review can be found here. Lian-Li PC-6087A Case Review @ Phluk.co.uk (c) 2002 Phluk.co.uk "From the start to finish of this review, I was continuously greeted by nice little features, and minor things that were so incredibly helpful, yet I would have never thought of myself. The look of the PC 6087A obviously won't appeal to everyone, but to me, it was just another plus point. The shine of the plexiglass door adds a really nice touch to the smooth aluminium exterior, and makes it one of the nicest looking cases around." More information on this review can be found here. ABIT KX7-333 Motherboard Review "For years, Abit has been a motherboard company that has tried hard to make a name for itself in the motherboard industry. Abit has come out with many upon many motherboards that advertised power, speed, and stability. Alongside that, Abit has claimed that their motherboards are very overclockable and can remain stable at very high speeds. One of Abit's newest motherboards that is designed to take advantage of the KT-333 chipset is the KX7-333." More information on this review can be found here. X-trac Optical Mouse Pad Review @ 3DXtreme "PCXMods.com contacted me recently to review one of their X-trac optical mouse pads. The X-trac optical mouse pad is marketed as a precise mouse pad good for gaming and graphic application usage where accuracy is critical. The X-trac is also optimized for use with optical mice." More information on this review can be found here. IWILL Serial ATA Solution Review @ Tweakers Australia "The most innovative motherboard manufacturer, IWILL Corporation, shows its superior competence to support the latest storage interface technology, Serial ATA, which is much faster than parallel ATA. It's designed to address many limitations of the parallel ATA and at the same time maintain 100% software/register compatibility with parallel ATA. Serial ATA provides higher data transfer rate (150MB/s) with lower voltage and thinner cable. Following the trend, IWILL offers Serial ATA PCI adapter card , IWILL SATA, and motherboards with Serial ATA on board, IWILL P4G, which will satisfy your need for storage and give you the fastest performance." More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake Volcano 9 Review @ Overclocker Cafe (c) 2002 Overclockers Cafe "The Volcano 7 showed itself as having two weak points over time; the clipping mechanism and the fan speed control sensor being on the fan as opposed to the point of heat generation. Thermaltake has addressed these points directly with the V9. Being that much of the improvement is due to the fan, we want to give proper credit. The fan on the Tt Volcano 9 is the revision of Tt's Smart Fan, which is called, what else but Smart Fan II." More information on this review can be found here. CyberLink PowerDirector Pro 2.0 Video Editing Software Review @ Futurelooks "Looking for a video-editing package that doesn't cost an arm & a leg, yet still offers a good feature set? Cyberlink just might have what you're looking for, in the form of their PowerDirector Pro 2.0 software package." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, July 11, 2002, 1:53:42 PM

Author: hitek

Corsair XMS 3000 and 3200 DDR Memory Video Review @ 3DGameman "Corsair has been bringing performance, service and reliability to the market since 1994. Both the Corsair XMS 3000 and 3200 DDR Memory can satisfy even the most demanding overclockers." More information on this video review can be found here. Samsung SP4002H 40GB Hard Drive Review @ Futurelooks "Does your computer make too much noise? Does the sound of a grinding hard drive annoy people around you? Well Samsung's newest line of hard drives might be the answer! The SP4002H is one of the quietest drives you will ever hear, or not hear." More information on this review can be found here. 40x CD-Writer Shootout : Iomega (40x12x40x) vs TDK (40x12x48x) @ Reviewmakers "This indicates that either IOMEGA or Plextor has understated the drive's reading capability. It functions like a 42X CD-ROM drive in the above tests, which generally represent the normal operations of a CD reader. We find that it will be more appropriate to categorize the drive as a 40/12/42 contestant. For the TDK drive, it lives up to the expectation for a 48X CD reader." More information on this review can be found here. Exclusive - Compex WP11A Wireless Access Point Review @ Hardware Masters (c) 2002 Hardware Masters "We're kicking off the Summer of Wireless here with the Compex WP11A 11Mbps Wireless Access Point. Being that there are so few wireless reviews online, we decided to create a pseudo wireless primer before diving head first into the review. This review is the first of ten wireless reviews we will complete in the coming weeks. So, come on in and find out why we recommend this product." More information on this review can be found here. Samsung SyncMaster 152B LCD Monitor Review @ 3DXtreme "This LCD was very good and I couldn't believe that I actually liked it. I am used to a big monitor with outrageous refresh rates and instead I was treated with a very crisp LCD monitor that I would recommend to anyone." More information on this review can be found here. TherMagic Thermal Interface Material (TIM) Review "The idle temps of TherMagic are not quite as good as Arctic Silver 3, however the load temps proved to be lower in the testing results shown here. Lower load temps are more important that lower idle temps in my opinion. Clean up with TherMagic is easier than Arctic Silver 3, with a dose of Isopropyl Alcohol doing a great job. The cost for a 2.5 gram tube is only $6.99 making TherMagic very affordable. We hope to see an evolution with this product in the future and look forward to the next generation of thermal compound by Evergreen." More information on this review can be found here. Enermax Fan UC-8FAB Review @ Casetest.de "The Enermax air fans can multi-functional use e.g. as case-fan, power supply air fan or as a CPU air fans in connection with a fan adapters. The special at the air fan he has a potentiometer. The rotations per minute of the air fan can be regulated thereby manually." More information on this review can be found here. M-Systems DiskOnKey Review @ BJorn3D (c) 2002 BJorn3D "DiskOnKey is a personal, portable, and reliable flash storage device that could fit onto a key chain or in your pocket. Containing an onboard CPU the DiskOnKey is driverless and allows computer users to save music, store Word documents, pictures, graphics or virtually anything that could be saved on a computer." More information on this review can be found here. Icemat Black & White Mousemat Review @ AusPCWorld "You have modded your PC, added case windows, neon lights and more. You even have that trendy LCD monitor on your desk. But what about that ugly mousemat you have, or don't even take notice of anymore. A piece of foam or rubber, not changing much ever since mice were invented. You obviously haven't seen the Icemat have you?" I'm still partial to Ratpadz. More information on this review can be found here. OverclockersClubCanada.com Official Web Launch "OverclockersClub.com have launched a sister site called, OverclockersClubCanada.com. This site will specialize in reviewing hardware and mods that are available to Canadian's. They will also be reviewing products that are available in the USA and other parts of the world. However, every product they review will be available to Canadian's." More information on this launch can be found here. Installing a Case Handle Guide @ Case Junkiez "Ever carried a PC from your room, to your car, then out of your car, in to your friends house or to the big LAN hall only to have to reverse the process to get it home again? Carting a PC around on a regular basis can be a real hazard. You not only run the risk of dropping it, but if that monster full tower chock full of hardware has no wheels on the bottom, you can damage your spine. Many regular LAN goers overcome this potentially traumatic exercise by bolting a handle to the top of their PC case to make transport easier." More information on this guide can be found here. 3x The Fun : Parhelia Surround Gaming and TripleHead @ GamePC "Matrox's Parhelia 512-based graphics cards first hit the mainstream review circuit exactly two weeks ago, where they inspired a series of mixed emotions from many readers and press alike. On one hand, the cards themselves are packed with lots of nifty features like Triplehead monitor displays, 16x Fragment Anti-Aliasing, and superb 10-bit output abilities. On the other hand, 3D performance is severely lacking against ATI's Radeon 8500 and nVidia's GeForce4 Ti solutions, which now at the time of Parhelia's launch, are quite a bit cheaper, not to mention proven 3D solutions in the marketplace." More information on this review can be found here. Gainward Plant Tour @ [H]ardOCP "We get the opportunity at least once a year to travel to Taipei, Taiwan for the Computex computer hardware show. While there, we get to meet the guys that build all of the marvelous equipment we're lucky enough to show off to you guys on a daily basis. This year we scored a tour of the facility where Gainward builds their video cards. You might have heard of the term "fabless" applied to chip builders such as ATi and NVIDIA." More information on this tour can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Wednesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Wednesday, July 10, 2002, 2:09:11 PM

Author: hitek

Antec 80mm Blue LED Fan Review @ AntecAsylum (c) 2002 Antec Asylum "The fan measures only 1" wide. It will fit well in all but the tightest spaces in your case. I especially liked the feel of the fan. It is a solid unit. The plastic does not feel "cheap" and the blades and motor are tight. I liked the fact you could see the workings of the motor through the clear casing. Antec has also not wasted the opportunity to splash their name all over, including it on both sides of this unit. They just know your going to show this beauty off!" More information on this review can be found here. Clear fan w/ Blue LEDs Review @ OCModShop "We have all seen fans before, the plain old black housing with nothing special on it, and those are all well and good. There is a better solution for your cooling needs however. Case-Mod sent over one of their new fans which has a totally clear housing and blades with blue LEDs in the middle of it. This particular fan has blue LEDs in the middle of it and should be pretty impressive, lets see what these things can do." More information on this review can be found here. ZXMods Grill Standoff Kit Review "ZXMods is a company which produces high quality case modding gear which is very unique in most cases. They have a lot of different things that you can use to mod you case, I think their trademark product would be their Antec window kits. They were kind enough to send over this laser cut fan grill and standoff kit and have been very patient with me while I got it done. The idea of this kit is to have the grill standoff of the case giving it a 3D look to it and should look pretty cool." More information on this review can be found here. Cobalt3 Pyramid I Temperature Controlled Fan Silencer Review @ Tweaknews "Automation, the ultimate addition to your computer. Why should you have to bother with temperature and fan controlling when you can have a small device like this put your cooling on "cruise-control" and allow you to enjoy your computer. This component has no flaws whatsoever and would make a great addition to any case, especially the windowed variety." More information on this review can be found here. FannerTech (Speeze Spire)'s Breeze Fan Reviewed @ myWORLD Hardware "FannerTech has done a very good job this time by producing a very small yet useful personal cooler. I don't find any problem with the fan as it really make my daily computing cooler! It's quiet, efficient, sleek, and compact! I could also bring it around with me and I don't have to worry about spoiling the fan as it comes with a cover protection. And if you have any electrical appliances that have an USB port, you could also use the BreezeFan, as it just need to draw the power from the USB source." More information on this review can be found here. CDROM Stealthing Guide @ Twisted Mods (c) 2002 Twisted Mods "Looking for a way to make those ugly beige CD-Rom drives fit in with the rest of your pretty case? Well this is probobly the easiest and most stylish way of doing so. Follow this step by step guide to turn those drives into a masterpiece." More information on this guide can be found here. Intel Itanium 2 Processor Coverage @ Tweakers Australia "Today we were informed by Intel Corporation that it has begun initial commercial shipment of Itanium 2 processors and that systems and software based on the new processors are expected to be available beginning this quarter. Over the next year, a broad base of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are expected to offer a range of server and workstation models with support from leading enterprise software and operating system vendors, the company said." More information on this report can be found here. Swiftech Quiet Power MCW40 GPU Water Block Upgrade Article @ Liquid Ninjas "Now that it has been a few months since my entry into water cooling, and I've expanded my knowledge and comfort level with the technology, I feel ready to begin doing more with the Quiet Power. And that's just fine because Swiftech offers a number of parts which can work themselves nicely into the basic Quiet Power system. They have a GPU water block, fully assembled TEC CPU and GPU water block units, and a dedicated TEC power supply which will fit into the Quiet Power case with minimal modifications. I intend on getting all of these parts into my Quiet Power case over time and see just how far we can push the performance of the original product." More information on this review can be found here. Jazz ROCCO 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS Speaker System Review @ RADIATIVEnz "Performance via the analogue input the speakers performed adequately, as you would typically expect from a sub/satellite system there is a lack of mid-range frequencies, which was not unexpected, and I thought that the bass was boomy, somewhat loose, and seemed to suffer from a lack of power. The boomy and loose nature of the bass probably stems from the fact that the woofer enclosure is plastic and the port seems overly large for a 4" driver. A wooden enclosure would have given a better reverberation and a smaller exhaust port would have tightened the bass quite a bit." More information on this review can be found here. "3dfx Goes On A Rampage" @ VN Roundup "VN Roundup has posted a new article written as a special by Tim Zegers of Rashly's 3dfx fansite. The article reflects on 3dfx's troubled past, and their future (implementation of technology) through nVidia." More information on this article can be found here. NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti4200 Reference Card Review @ DeviantPC "NVIDIA swept the market clear by releasing 6 graphics cards in 2 distinct sections in order to cater for every segment of the market; budget right up to the performance level. There was always going to be a sweet spot in terms of best bang-per-buck and it seems as though the NVIDIA GeForce Ti4200 fits the profile nicely." More information on this review can be found here. Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer Optical Review @ Ascully.com "As always with Microsoft mice they are simple to install. This version of the Explorer comes with a USB connection only. You cannot convert the mouse to work with the PS2 port like most others. I am not sure why this is, but suffice to say the mouse works perfectly fine in a USB socket." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Tuesday, July 9, 2002, 2:43:57 AM

Author: hitek

Project Anemone Worklog by Mashie (c) 2002 Mashie "Witness the conversion of a 1946 Bush DAC 90 bakelite radio into a home entertainment PC. Two 10-channel audio spectrum analyzers embedded in clear cast resin. A true masterpiece of case modification. This is how Anemone ended up looking. The big brass buttons on the front is power and reset switches. Between them in the round window are 200 red LEDs connected to two 10-channel spectrum analyzers connected to the left and right channel on the sound card. On the top is a modified CrystalFontz 634 LCD display (inverted and changed from green to red). On the side is the CD-ROM drive mounted. The big round brass plate is just decoration." More information on this project can be found here. Chaintech 7VJL Apogee KT333 Motherboard Review @ Overclockers New Zealand "ChainTech includes everything but the kitchen sink in Apogee. The inclusion of rounded cables is a first that I've seen. This will improve the airflow in the case. Body theatre is the fancy name for earphone. Do not expect punchy bass from a bundled earphone though. I find ChainTech to be a bit skimpy with 7VJL's manual. It does not fully explain the function for each of the jumpers on board. The front panel connector is a pain to connect as they are not labelled in anyway, e.g. speaker, reset, etc." More information on this review can be found here. GeForce4 Memory Cooling Kit Review @ BlargOC "Following on from my review of the eVGA e-GeForce4 MX 440 where I looked at overclocking the cards GPU core this review looks at how far the memory can be pushed. To do this I used the GeForce4 Memory Kit supplied by 2CoolTek. This is basically eight heatsink's to cover the memory on both sides of your video card supplied with Arctic Alumina thermal adhesive to attach them to your card. A very simple solution but just how efficient is it?" More information on this review can be found here. Akasa Luminous Rounded Cables Review "Okay so you've seen loads of rounded IDE cable reviews on the net but these cables from Akasa are very special. These are luminous meaning they glow when in the dark! Cool eh? Also, they are compatible with the new ATA-133 specification." More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake Crystal Orb Chipset Cooler Review @ 3DXtreme "The Thermaltake Blue Orb Chipset Cooler has always been popular with people looking for a solution to chipset cooling. From cooling Northbridge Chipsets on Motherboards to GPU Chipsets on Video Cards Computer Enthusiasts have depended on the popular Thermaltake Blue Orb Chipset Cooler for their chipset cooling. Well now it looks like Thermaltake has brought us another high performing Chipset Cooler with the Thermaltake Crystal Orb Chipset Cooler." More information on this review can be found here. MSI 845E Max2-BLR Motherboard Review @ ViperLair ""Unlike your typical "vanilla" boards, the Max2 series come stacked with features. The i845E chipset is here of course, and along with it comes USB 2.0, ATA100, and a 133 FSB, quad pumped. Also present on the board is RAID ATA133 support, 6-channel sound, LAN, and a surprising entry, Bluetooth support." More information on this review can be found here. Ammunition Box PC Project @ Spode's Abode (c) 2002 Spode's Abode "When The AOA camp out came to be, I knew I would have to get myself a rig to take with me that wasn't the putty brick I am known to tote around. So I set aside a Sunday to head down to the local "flea market" to see what I could come up with to slap a PC into. Right outa the gate I spotted a 10 inch Rotron fan complete with finger guard lying with some old cabinet speakers. Having never seen one before, I snatched it up at the advertised price of $4 and noticed an old grenade box full of miscellaneous cables that looked like it would be perfect for a PC. After convincing him it was only to "carry the fan in" he let me have the case for $8 as well." More information on this project can be found here. 80mm Panaflo Promotion @ Bigfoot Computers "For as long as stock lasts we've got a decent promo on Panaflo 80mm "Low" 24cfm fans. Marked down about 10 bucks and stock is limited. The fans are complete with a 2 wire lead and motherboard molex connector. The promo can be found at the top right of our homepage under featured items." More information on this promotion can be found here. Albatron Geforce4 MX-440 Video Card Review @ Mikhailtech "And as far as I tested, this HSF cools as good as it looks because even when in my room was almost 35C, the back of the GF4 MX440 chip didn't get very hot. This is due to good cooling, both the HSF and the paste that sits between it and the GPU, but also because the GF4 MX does not heat up much anyway." More information on this project can be found here. Mikhailtech July 2002 Giveaway: Week 2 "This week we're giving away a retail copy of SiteWorks Professional V3.0, a $200 website suite for those who want to make powerful, good looking, no-nonsense sites in a matter of minutes." More information on this contest can be found here. Thermaltake HardCano 2 Video Review @ 3DGameman "The HardCano 2 is a good product for monitoring system temperatures and the all aluminum construction makes it a perfect match when installed into any silver aluminum case. One drawback with this product is its poor hard drive cooling ability due to a single small fan." More information on this video review can be found here. Exclusive Madplayer Review @ PC PowerZone (c) 2002 PC Powerzone "Today we have something a bit special for review. One of the things I love about writing for PC PowerZone is getting my hands on some new piece of technology before everyone else. Every so often a bit of hardware comes along that you aren't too sure about, but when you see it in action your jaw drops and you just think "WOW!". I would definitely put the Madplayer in this category." More information on this review can be found here. CPU/Memory Watch Update - 7/8/02 @ SL Central "SLCentral.com has posted this weeks CPU/Memory Watch update. This week in processors there is quite a mixture of prices, with a mostly upward trend. PC800 Rambus goes up in price as does SDRAM." More information on this update can be found here. Portable Athlon II Project @ Wesley's Toolbox "The original Portable Athlon was signalling its retirement. The highly overclocked GeForce2 MX in the system finally failed, probably due to extensive operation under the cramped environment. The card seemed fine at first, but it invoked hard drive errors during booting (I thought the hard disk had gone bad at first). I think it was sending unstable signals and risking the stability of the system. Also, the case design had very limited expandability, with no PCI extension cards installable, and without a room for a floppy drive or a CD-ROM drive. I was sort of getting annoyed by that. I decided to get over this, and started building a new version. I'll show the journey around with lots pictures." More information on this project can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Monday News Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, July 8, 2002, 1:09:13 AM

Author: hitek

MTB June 2002 Case Giveway Winners Announced! During the month of June from the 12th-30th, MODTHEBOX and Directron launched our first official case giveway contest. The rules were very simple and required users to submit creative entries demonstrating their support for MTB. Entries were based on the following criteria: 1. Originality 2. Concept 3. Creativity 4. Design After a week of deliberation, the staff of MODTHEBOX would like to congratulate the following three winners on their entries: 1st Place - mc909 - Directron Color "Hydraulic" ATX Case 2nd Place - Mantis - Directron Mirror Mid-Tower ATX Case 3rd Place - Icy Wolf - Directron Imperial Mid-Tower ATX Case All the winning entries can be downloaded from the contest page: http://www.modthebox.com/contests.html Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who participated in the case giveaway. We look forward to running our next contest to be announced in the forums. All winners can e-mail Hi-TEK to claim their prizes. More information on this contest can be found here. The Ultimate LAN Rig @ Bjorn3D (c) 2002 Bjorn3D "Tired of lugging that 17" monitor and tower case to your local fragfest every month? You're not alone! Most of us are too cheap to do anything about other than cuss but Shaker was a man with a vision. He's built what may be the ultimate LAN rig and was kind enough to share what went into it with us here at Bjorn3D." More information on this project can be found here. Coolermaster ATC-110 Case Review @ Actiontrip "If I had to pick one word to describe the appearance of the ATC-110, it would be "elegant." This is not a complicated case; unlike many cases, it does not rely on fancy features and gimmicks in order to appear sophisticated. The front sports a door in front of the 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" drive bays and an aluminum grill at the bottom, in front of two 80 mm fan mounts. The door has Cooler Master's logo near the top and is purely for aesthetic purposes; some cases I've seen have had lockable doors, but the door on the Cooler Master ATC 110 has no lock." More information on this review can be found here. RaidMAX A288 Aluminum Case Review @ PC Extreme "Everything about this case is high quality. No cheapo box here. This thing comes with just about everything you can think of, and a few things that are beyond what you would expect. It is extremely light and has a prefab window in the side that is nicely done, and stylish. Instead of the plain-jane square window, RaidMAX decided to put an "X" through it, with a 80mm clear case fan right in the middle. At just under $70USD, this case in an outstanding value." More information on this review can be found here. Logitech Z-340 Speakers Review @ Virtual Hideout "When one thinks of Logitech, what usually comes to mind are peripherals such as mice, keyboards and game controllers. While Logitech has been involved with audio devices for a few years now, it has not been until the past few months that they have begun to be noticed as a contender in the audio market. Their Z-series of speakers, released last year, has really taken shape and has been noticed by the community, especially the high-end Z-560 set. Today, I'll be looking at the entry-level Z-340 system, a three-piece system that is geared towards affordability." More information on this review can be found here. Hercules XPS510 Speaker Review @ Monkeyreview "Something that definitely adds to this units value is its Wooden Subwoofer enclosure. Although the satellites speakers were constructed fully with plastic, pushing only 8W RMS will not throw off the same vibrations you would expect from it's accompanied 20W RMS Sub. This all combined, equates to 60RMS, although not the most powerful, it can throw off some very nice bass at the lower." More information on this review can be found here. Ripper Lanbag Review @ Phlux.co.uk "Anyone who has a proper SLR camera bag will know the type of strap the Ripper Lanbag uses. It's a 2.5" wide heavy duty thing, with a padded shoulder area. The strap is also adjustable for those with uncommon height attributes." More information on this review can be found here. The Caffeine Machine Project @ PimpRig "With more and more people buying computer cases with windows, cold cathodes, bay buses, even custom paint jobs, the truly hardcore case modders are quickly finding themselves having to search harder and harder for an original case mod. Everyone has done black cases with blue lights. Everyone has installed case windows, cut blowholes, and maybe even installed a baybus. The modding community needs fresh, new ideas, and I believe I may have one." Bravo! This is the true essence of case modding. More information on this project can be found here. Lindows OS Review at HiTechMods "Lindows Operating System - Is this OS the second coming or just another Linux distribution that will fall by the wayside. Since Lindows.com has released its Insiders from the initial Non Disclosure Agreement which was a confidentiality agreement that prevented us from discussing the OS anywhere outside of the Insiders Forum I am now able to give some insight to this mysterious OS." More information on this review can be found here. Sunbeam Cold Cathode Kits Review @ PC PowerZone "This is the first time I've seen a dual inverter and case modders around the world will really like this feature. Having to fit multiple inverters has always been a bit of a pain, so these kits are a great solution, the inverters have a quality feel to them and are well made." More information on this review can be found here. Intel 845G & P4 2.53GHz Article @ Tweakers Australia "In May we saw the release of Intel's 845E chipset, the latest mainstream P4 DDR platform incorporating a 533MHz front-side bus speed teamed with the new ICH4 Southbridge. We also saw their 845GL chipset, still using the older 400MHz front-side bus and no AGP slot, but integrated video. Last but not least we were introduced to the 845G chipset, essentially a hybrid between the 845E and 845GL chipsets utilizing the 533MHz front-site bus, ICH4 Southbridge, AGP as well as integrated video". More information on this guide can be found here. Do-It Yourself Window Etching @ System Cooling "One of the latest computer modding trends, which really exploded in the past year, has been adding case windows. Whether you were one of the pioneers and did it the old fashioned way with a jigsaw or Dremal tool, or took the easy route and purchased a window pre-installed, you will want to make that window even more unique. Most purchase a lighting kit to show off the hardware and some go for etching." More information on this guide can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Weekend News Edition...

Date Posted: Saturday, July 6, 2002, 10:27:05 AM

Author: hitek

DCi PC707-69 Slim Desktop Case Review @ System Cooling (c) 2002 System Cooling "During my recent search for different and/or specialty computer enclosures, I happened to mention my quest to Andrew Smith of DesignComp, Inc.--and he had just what I was looking for. So today we'll look at it together. The photo above displays the hybrid(aluminum and steel) DCi PC707-69 slim desktop case designed for a very special application, with some really unique features." Very nice, desktop style cases seem to be making a comeback. More information on this review can be found here. Prometeia Cooling System Review @ BlargOC "For years now, the only choices for the serious overclockers looking to push their computers to the absolute limit on a daily basis have been a watercooling setup with peltiers/waterchiller or the Asetek Vapochill. Using vapor-phase cooling, similar to the way a fridge works, this allowed people to get their processors to negative temperatures with minimal fuss and became quite popular amongst hardcore overclockers. But gradually as the heat produced by processors has increased the Vapochill has been struggling to keep temperatures down, and especially with Pentium 4's reaching 3GHz and beyond, can no longer keep CPU's in negative temperatures. With this it was time for another company to step forward with their own sub zero cooling solution, in the form of the Chip-con Prometeia cooling system." More information on this review can be found here. OCZ Technology and Samsung PC2700 512MBs Comparative Article "DDR memory these days, is as David Dickinson would say "cheap as chips", and there is a lot of it about. In this review I'll take a look at two PC2700 sticks and see which deserves to be found inside your system." More information on this review can be found here. eVGA e-GeForce4 MX 440 Review "The GeForce4 range of cards is huge now and there are many different manufactures battling it out to produce the fastest card possible. For the high performance user on a big budget you can get yourself a Ti4600 variant of the GeForce4 chipset. But for us poor student types the MX range of cards is probably the way to go. This review looks at a a card based on the the middle-of-the-range MX chip - the MX 440." More information on this review can be found here. EPoX BlueTooth EP-4BEAV Mainboard Review @ Tweakers Australia "EPoX introduces the latest Intel 845-based EP 4BEAV mainboard that combines the newest wireless BlueTooth communication technology all integrated into one motherboard to enhance your computing experience. The striking 4BEAV is built with the notion of speed and stability while drawing the freedom and connectivity of BlueTooth technology." More information on this review can be found here. Project Jellybean @ Via Arena (c) 2002 Via Arena "There's a rule of thumb about estimating how long a project will take to complete. Take the time you think it will take, multiply it by two, add 10% and then change the unit of measurement to the next largest unit. Building JellyBean was no exception, but in the back of my mind I knew it was unlikely that Computex would be postponed so I could get the paintwork just right, or incorporate just one more feature that I thought would be cool." Cool case modding project! More information on this project can be found here. 300 Watt Ultra-Quiet Power Supply Video Review @ 3DGameman "The 300 Watt Ultra-Quiet Power Supply is a fantastic product offering very low noise levels and quality power. As a matter of fact, this 300 watt power supply will outperform many low end 400 watt power supply units on the market. It provides ample power to run all the hardware necessary to complete most computer systems." More information on this video review can be found here. DC1206BM-P625 HSF Cooler Review @ Think Computers "I guess its that time of the year to do cpu cooler reviews. Here is another, from our friends over at Dynatron! We will be looking at another one of their cooper coolers, the DC1206BM-P625. So lets see how it does compared to the other dynatron coolers." More information on this review can be found here. Western Digital WD1200JB Review @ PC Extreme "I have to say that this drive is, without a doubt, the fastest single hard drive I have ever tested. With 120GB capacity, it is also the largest single hard drive tested here at PCExtreme.net to date. Since the drive spins at 7200PRM, it is already 50% faster than any 5400RPM drive. But what really gives this "Special Edition" Caviar its edge is the whopping 8 megabyte cache buffer that it has onboard. The speed difference is quite frankly astounding. If I didn't know better, I would think that it was a RAID array running in RAID 0. In fact, I decided to benchmark it against my RAID setup." More information on this review can be found here. Liteon 48x12x48x Internal CD-RW Drive Review @ 3DXtreme "I have been impressed with the quality and reliability of Liteon products for some time now. The Liteon 48x12x48x does not disappoint! This is the fastest CD-RW drive and the best price/performance drive on the market. Liteon continues to push the envelope by increasing burn speeds while providing a high quality product at a very reasonable cost. I've already seen this drive shipping for about $95 and around $100 shipped. If you're in the market for a new CD-RW there's no good reason not to look twice at this drive. You won't be disappointed!" More information on this review can be found here. Thermaltake Volcano 7+ Review @ Review Nation "We got the pleasure of reviewing Thermaltakes Volcano 7+ supplied to us by Max Cooler. The cooling industry has been in fierce competition lately w/ all of the new CPUs that produce so much heat. So which is the best? Which keeps your nice shiny new XP 2002+ working like a champ? Well that's why we're here to let you in on that valuable information, which will keep you from buying that el cheapo heatsink from CompUSA just so you can watch your CPU go up in flames. Thermaltake has always been a name brand in cooling, and they show us why with their newest HSF, the Volcano 7+!" More information on this review can be found here. Koolance PC2-C Case Review @ BurnOutPC (c) 2002 BurnOutPC "The top has a special duct from plastic where the three fans are seated. It also has the led, with buttons. The led will show you the temperature of your CPU, in Fahrenheit or Celsius. It also has a power Led that let's you know if the pumps are working, and an Accel led that let's you know when the fans are running at their highest speed. The C / F button let's you change the Celsius to Fahrenheit temperature, and the Mode button will let you change the speed / noise of the fans. You got 3 modes. Mode 1 : Quiet, mode 2 : 12 volt but still quiet, mode 3 : Fast / more noise but better cooling." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

T.G.I.F News Edition...

Date Posted: Friday, July 5, 2002, 10:34:53 AM

Author: hitek

Antec PP352X Power Supply Review @ Monkeyreview "The Antec PP352 offers us many nice and desirable features along with its brunt power. Take for instance this model has a sensor; this was something we were looking for after the install of our Digital Doc2. This PSU has 7 IDE connectors, 2 floppy connectors, the p4 connector, the regular ATX connector as well as the 4 Pin attachments for the higher end Intel Boards. The PP352x also has 2 fans covered with some nice grills; these do add a nice touch to the tower." More information on this review can be found here. Hais USB PC Joypad Review @ Ascully.com "Our friends at Divineo bring us yet another great product from the Far East. As I said in the USB to PC Converter review, these products are something a normal consumer may never encounter. They aren't the type of thing you'll find down at your local K-Mart or in a mass marketed commercial campaign, but give these products a chance, you might be surprised." More information on this review can be found here. Windows XP Services Tweaking @ DeviantPC "There is a significant gain in performance to be had if certain services are disabled in WindowsXP. It's just finding the right ones that's the problem." More information on this guide can be found here. Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250 Review @ Bit-Tech "Television has become a very large part of the entertainment sector and now almost every household in the UK and US has at least one Television set. Putting TV on your computer seems like a natural step to take, by doing this you can eliminate the need for another bulky, heavy item on your desk and allow you to integrate your PC with the TV. The question remains, what is the best method to get TV onto your computer screen. There are a few methods, some being more feasible than others, a PCI or USB TV tuner, a graphics card with Video Input or a graphics card with an inbuilt TV Tuner." More information on this review can be found here. Belkin Wireless Kit Review "Well, I've worked with wireless network gear for a few years now, mostly with the commercial-grade stuff in and enterprise network. But I'm taking a look at some of the gear aimed at home users, and writing a review for a popular website in the UK." More information on this review can be found here. Lian Li PC-9300 Case Review @ Dan's Data (c) 2002 Dan's Data "The PC-9300 is finished in Lian Li's trademark hard anodised brushed aluminium, which doesn't show finger marks (the bottom and back of the case are just plain aluminium and are easy to leave fingerprints all over, but nobody's likely to see them...), doesn't scratch easily, and looks very nifty, if you ask me. The power and reset buttons are plastic, but they're silver-finished too, and look fine." The Cooler Master ATC-600 is still far better looking than Lian Li's latest offering. More information on this review can be found here. GPU Shootout with Unreal Tournament 2003 @ AnandTech "It has been a full six months since we started benchmarking with the latest build of Epic's Unreal Engine. When we first introduced the Unreal Performance Test benchmark, Epic had just announced Unreal Tournament II and we were putting the pressure on the hardware vendors to get drivers ready for the game's release later this year. In a matter of weeks Epic will be releasing the first public demo of Unreal Tournament 2003 (formerly UT II), which will stress your graphics cards unlike any first person shooter (FPS) you've ever played." More information on this guide can be found here. Asus P4T533 Motherboard Review @ CPU3D "After an impressive review of the P4T533-C with PC800/PC1066, we finally take a look at the Asus P4T533. This is the lastest P4 motherboard which uses the Intel i850E chipset supporting 533Mhz FSB. It also offers the latest in RDRAM technology ...using 32-bit RIMM 4200 modules. One of the reason for Asus to introduce these two motherboards is to cater for an existing market of 16-bit RDRAM users, mainly PC800 and PC1066. The new 32-bit RIMM modules are still quite scarce and availability is low. However, there have been some reports that motherboard manufacturers are actually bundling 32-bit RIMM modules with their i850E motherboards. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but more than likely not true as the new 32-bit RIMM modules will probably be quite expensive." More information on this review can be found here. PC Expo 2002 Show Report @ SubZeroTech "I had a chance to go to PC Expo this year in my home city NYC. PC Expo isn't like Comdex or Computex but instead it's more like a show that shows off the top of the line stuff, nothing new that you'd find in the more popular shows. So instead of being able to see the upcoming hardware/software all you saw is the latest top of the line models from hardware/software manufacturers." More information on this report can be found here. Kick-Ass LAN Party Rig @ OCIA (c) 2002 OCIA "LAN parties have become a big hit as of late, much like case modding. Whether it be a couple of friends getting together for some gaming action, or a much more serious event like the CPL, LAN parties simply kick ass. The one slight problem with LAN parties is that 99% of the time, you are required to bring your own PC. Having your own gaming rig at your disposal is gobs of fun, but packing up everything to bring to and from the event can be a real drag, especially if you own a full tower case. So what's the simple solution here? Get a smaller case! (that was pretty easy). But like your PC at home, you don't want a plain-jane case, you want something that stands out above the rest, an attention-getter. So what to do next? Mod the hell out of it! And that's exactly what we are going to be doing here today. Our unfortunate victim? The Lian Li PC30." More information on this project can be found here. Glowball Modding Guide @ Moddin.net "Solder the positive and negative legs of the LED on the positive and negative wires you just spliced onto the existing 5v+/ground feed. (You could use an LED socket found on many AT/ATX cases so you can just plug an LED in instead of soldering legs, this is what I did)." More information on this guide can be found here. Soldam MT2200 Plus Case Review @ Procooling "Aluminum enclosures have earned quite a favorable reputation in the last year or two among computer hobbyists/enthusiasts. Manufacturers tout the questionable ability of aluminum to move heat away from your components more efficiently than the standard steel enclosures, but most people are attracted to their feather-light weight and extremely chic appearance. The brushed metal or high-gloss appearance of Lian Li and Coolermaster cases have become the pinnacle of badass for many PC enthusiasts. A year ago, only a few online retailers could be found selling those Lian Li gems but now you can drive down to your local computer retailer and find them on the shelves." More information on this review can be found here. PC Buyers Guide - July 2002 @ TweakTown "Reading a lot of tech related websites gives you the impression that some people have been conned into buying product A, which is rubbish, while others have just bought it cause it looks cool. Other people go out and buy a brand name computer like Dell, Compaq etc, and wonder why it can't be upgraded in the future. Yet more people are asking if product B is better than A or C and eventually go back to square one because they get so many different opinions.This guide is here to give you a good idea of the products on the market that can fulfill your requirements." More information on this guide can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Thursday News Edition..

Date Posted: Thursday, July 4, 2002, 10:35:49 AM

Author: hitek

Chaintech GeForce 4 Ti4200 VGA Review @ Overclockers New Zealand "It seems to me that nearly all the manufacturers are using the reference Ti-4200 design to shorten time-to-market and to cut down R&D costs. The use of black PCB and golden HSF gives a refreshing look to this card. I am sure that case modders would love it." More information on this review can be found here. KDS-RAD5 Monitor Review @ Ascully.com "I had no idea what to expect from this flat panel, kindly supplied to us by KdsUsa, but I love to experiment with new technology so the scientist in me just had to give it a try? I moved my normal CRT monitor to a different room and tried to cope using the flat panel. It took a bit of getting used to. The size is a definite disadvantage. Going down to a 15 inch monitor seems a bit silly, but it's all in the name of science!" More information on this review can be found here. Athlon XP Unlocking Guide @ Phlux.co.uk "Epoxy (some have used superglue or even CRAYONS, but I recommend epoxy). This is going to be the filler in the L1 bridge. It is important that it is non-conductive, because we don’t want the metal in the trench to conduct in anyway to the L1 bridge, or you will be stuck with an 11x multiplier. I don’t know where I got this, it was laying around the house. You can probably pick it up at a department store or something." More information on this review can be found here. SilentDriveT Hard Drive Enclosure Video Review @ 3DGameman "The SilentDriveT Enclosure is an excellent product for anyone who is interested in keeping their Computer(s) quiet by reducing Hard Drive noise by over 90%. The only major drawback from this design is the enclosure traps in heat and therefore increases Hard Drive temperatures drastically." More information on this video review can be found here. 1COOLPC's Thermalright SLK-600 Heatsink Review @ Tech Dreams "A while ago I reviewed the SK-6 heatsink from Thermalright and was instantly hooked, and continued to use it still to this day. So when Thermalright released there SLK-600 heatsink I was eager too review it and try it out for myself. Although my job, and family kept me from reviewing it sooner, we asked Bart Lane of 1COOLPC if we could review the SLK-600 from them on a Thursday, and without hesitation, Monday afternoon the heatsink was at my doorstep waiting to be opened." More information on this review can be found here. Stomp Inc's Click N' Share Photo Review "We live in an age where we share just about anything and everything, including photos. We send pictures to our friends, our loved ones, and even people we don't really even know. Before digital cameras, there was always the hassle of scanning the picture, cropping and editing the same image in Photoshop (or another photo editor), and finally emailing the picture. Of course, some people were content with just sending images taken with their web camera. Although a web camera takes low quality pictures, the images can be saved to the hard drive and sent almost immediately. And now, with the ever growing popularity of digital cameras, sharing photos has become even more common. What if we want to share more than just a photo or two? What if we needed to make a professional slide show of the pictures we took for a job or a school presentation?" More information on this review can be found here. Logitech MOMO Force Review @ Actiontrip (c) 2002 Actiontrip "The Logitech MOMO Force uses the IFORCE2 Force Feedback instruction set. Basically, when the car rumbles one way and the wheel would turn in real life, the wheel does turn. The servos inside the wheel are extremely strong. I'm a big man yet at full power, I can't come close to controlling the wheel when the wheel wants to go in a certain direction. This strength should be tweaked to find the sweet spot where you feel the feedback but it's not driving for you." More information on this review can be found here. Morrowind Review @ RADIATIVEnz "The Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind by Bethesda Softworks has been a long awaited game, with teaser screenshots having been available for quite some time. Bethesda has been making RPG games for many years and Morrowind is their latest and greatest. The first thing you notice about Morrowind is the absolutely superb graphics. They are first-rate and are the best I have seen in any form of first-person game, let alone an RPG which are renowned for average, and often below average, graphics." More information on this review can be found here. Warcraft III Review @ Reviewmakers "As expected from Blizzard, the graphics are nothing short of fantastic. The graphics in this game is built around a 3D-engine that gives an even better effect than Diablo II. There is a sense of depth and realism in the graphics. You see trees sway when they were chopped, waves formed as the water from the river flows, and tracks imprinted onto the sand or snow as huge units moved. Even the way the trees fall look real. And the flames from the fire look just short of being the real thing." More information on this review can be found here. Dynatron HSF Shootout @ ReviewNation (c) 2002 ReviewNation "Today we have are having a look at two different CPU coolers from Dynatron Corporation. Dynatron was founded in Taiwan in 1991 and has an office in office in Fremont, California. The DY1206BH-638 copper super e cooler uses a 7,000 rpm fan. The second CPU cooler is the DY1206BH-610 and it uses a 5,300 rpm fan. From here on out I will be using 7,000 rpm and 5,300 rpm when referring to them in this article. Also I threw in the stock fan that came with my Athlon Xp 1900+ for a reference fan. Both models use the same heat sinks made of all copper and micro fin design." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Wednesday News Edition...

Date Posted: Wednesday, July 3, 2002, 10:43:47 AM

Author: hitek

Custom Window Etching @ Phlux.co.uk "While I was etching my design into the plastic I found it seemed to work better going in one direction than the other. I found that going in a specific direction would cause white marks to appear on the plastic. I recommend that you don't engrave from one direction to the other. I only used the Dremel in one direction and had a much better result." More information on this review can be found here. Antec True430 PSU Review "If you have a fair knowledge of computer PSUs, you'll know that the maximum quoted wattage is actually shared across the 5 and 3.3 volt lines. However, this is where the Antec differs greatly. The "True" in the model's name is there because it can deliver a true wattage output. Antec does this by using a seperate dedicated output circuit for the 3.3, 5 and 12 volt lines. This means that where a standard power supply may cause 3.3 volt devices to fail under a high load on the 5 volt line, the Antec will not." More information on this review can be found here. Make Your Own Cathodebus Guide "The cold cathode inverters can produce some heat and to stop them overheating in this confined space they need some cooling. I decided on a 60mm blowhole as I didn't want the cathode bus to make much noise. I placed a 60mm fan grill and then drew round it so I had a guide on which I could cut round." More information on this review can be found here. Noise ShootOut of 80mm Case Fans @ Directron "Noise from a personal computer is getting more and more attention in the PC design and market place. Words such as "quiet", "silence", "whisper", "low-noise", and "noiseless" are increasingly used as a marketing tool on product labels by many component and system manufacturers. However, these words can be confusing and misleading for several reasons. More information on this guide can be found here. Chilli Professional 1/4" III mATX Cases now available @ PCMods (c) 2002 MODTHEBOX.COM Our good friends at PCMods have informed MTB, that they have brought in a new shipment of Chilli Professional 1/4" III mATX Cases. For you eager modders that want a challenge and a product which is unique, now is your chance. PCMods is offering three different colours in blue, black and grey. More information on these cases can be found here. Triplex GeForce4 Ti4200 Review @ Tweakers Australia "The core itself is clocked at 250MHz, and the card sports 128MB of Samsung DDR memory rated at 4ns and clocked at 500MHz. 4ns rated memory can only officially supports speeds of up to 500MHz, which will usually result in average overclocking potential compared with the 2.8ns DDR memory used on Ti4600 cards that leave around 60MHz of headway. If your thinking that the extra memory cooling provided by Triplex is going to help perform miracles, think again, because it is a fact that DDR memory simply doesn't run hot enough for additional cooling to become effective." More information on this review can be found here. AMD Overclocking Database Updated "Tweakers Australia has just updated the AMD half of the CPU overclocking database with some new additions including the new Duron 'Morgan' based processors, as well as the XP2200+ processor. Find out what sort of success people have had with a particular type of CPU, and compare results!" More information on this database can be found here. CyberDrive DM166D 16x DVD-ROM Review @ Mikhailtech "As with CyberDrive's other devices, this one came bare. That is, no retail box, manual, software, screws, or cables. And no free DVD. It's a standard 16x part with a maximum throughput of 20mb/s. Although it doesn't exactly match the picture on the website, this is in fact their DM166D and was detected by my test system as such. It's also rated as a 40x (max) CD-ROM. It's not the shortest drive in the world; my Creative Labs 52x CD-ROM is significantly smaller. The length can be compared to that of a Plextor burner and so can the weight." More information on this review can be found here. Plextor PlexCombo 20/10/40-12A Review @ Monkeyreview "This drive is a good choice for someone building a new system from scratch or looking to upgrade their existing burner. You get a solid CDRW drive that writes at 20X reliably due to the Burn-Proof feature that can also play DVD's. I had a lot of fun with this drive. I was able to run it through its paces by burning 52 CD's in a row and when that was done watch a DVD movie with no complaints." More information on this review can be found here. Xtreme 256MB DDR PC2700 Review @ Viper's Lair "The RAM we are testing today is guaranteed to run at 333 MHZ DDR at CAS Latency 2, 1T Command. That is right. Unlike other memory manufacturers that guarantee their RAM to run at CAS 2.5, XtremeDDR rates theirs for CAS Latency 2. I intend on testing their claims in just a bit, but for now let's focus a bit more on the module and the technology on it." More information on this review can be found here. GlobalWIN TAK68 Heatsink Review @ GiBTEK "Well, to the block itself. It comes in a nondescript box with the maximum rating being Athlon XP2100+ printed on a shiny gold label. On opening the box you a presented with a mammoth block of aluminium with two slimline 60mm fans stuck to its sides. It also comes with a GlobalWIN case badge and instruction manual. The bit I like however is the spaghetti of wires which allows you to run the two fans from a molex, a single header or two headers; allowing you to choose the configuration that best suits you." More information on this review can be found here. Zantec1 Window Kit Review @ 3DXtreme "ZXMods did a great job putting a complete and easy to follow kit together. I believe that computer enthusiasts looking for something different than your average run-of-the-mill case window design should check out ZXMods." More information on this review can be found here. Lik-Sang's Neo 4.5 Modchip Review @ Review Nation "The Neo4.5 is the latest in the long and reliabl line of Neo modchips. It comes in two flavors, a gap version and a no gap version. The two models are to compensate for the many different types of Playstation 2s, and you must know beforehand which type of PS2 motherboard you have. The Neo4.5 is a "no swap" chip, which means that you no longer need to insert a "real" PS2 disc and eject it before you can play your copied disc. The chip does exactly what is says it will, allowing you to play backups of both your PS1 and PS2 games, as well as disabling MacroVision, a copy-protection device on most DVD players which scrambles the picture if you try to export it, preventing you from transferring your DVDs to a VHS tape or other format." More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Tuesday News Edition..

Date Posted: Tuesday, July 2, 2002, 1:15:30 AM

Author: hitek

2x15 LED Stereo VU Meter Review @ HiTechMods (c) 2002 HiTechMods "I know when you first look at the kit it looks like it will be hard to make if you have no electronic skills but if you follow the instructions you should not have a problem making one. Soldering knowledge is required for building the kit, if you do not have any then just practice soldering on some wires first. Since I wanted to be able to mount this kit anywhere and be able to change the LEDs I added the LED pigtail wires. I plan on getting Clear Blue and Red LEDs for the VU Meter to match the rest of the lights on my case." More information on this review can be found here. CoolerMaster HHC-001 Cooler Review @ 3DXtreme "In other words there is a liquid in the middle of the tiny tubes, once it gets hot enough the liquid turns to gas and flows to the top of the tube. As it reaches the other end, the fan cools the gas back to a liquid state and it returns to the bottom again waiting to go back through the same process. This is the core feature of the CoolerMaster Heatpipe and the technology that makes it successful." More information on this review can be found here. VisionTek 48X CD-RW Drive Review @ Bjorn3D "As my PC booted and listed the IDE devices installed, I checked to make sure the new CD-RW drive showed up and was surprised to find it listed as a LiteOn LTR-48125W. That's cool with me. I've been wanting to check out one of LiteOn's drives anyways. LiteOn has been gaining a very positive reputation lately with many good reviews out on the Web and in magazines. They are reasonably priced drives with solid performance." More information on this review can be found here. AOpen AX4B-Max Motherboard Review @ Overclockers Cafe "You will notice below two BIOS options listed of Load and Save EEPROM Defaults. Say you get your mobo tweaked just right. You can save these settings in the EEPROM so you have an alternate default of sorts. This is useful if you try something new and want to get back to where you were quick and easy." More information on this review can be found here. Clear Case Fans Review @ PC PowerZone "Fans are just fans right? I mean what can you say about a fan that hasn't been said already a million times in other reviews? Not much if anything really, but every so often a fan comes along that is worth a look. When Kustom PC's contacted me and asked if I wanted to take a look at a couple of 100% clear fans, I jumped at them. I've been after fans like these for a long time, case modders have been shouting for clear fans for ages now, and finally they are here." More information on this review can be found here. BG Micro VFD How-To Guide @ Twisted Mods (c) 2002 Twisted Mods "Different types of displays have been getting more and more popular in the case modding community. You see people using a variety of LCD’s and VFD’s in their projects, and with big name companies like Matrox Orbital and CrystalFontz, your bound to see more and more of these displays being used. But what about us modders who don’t have the big bank, and can’t afford those fancy displays? Well that’s what I’m here to help you guys out with today. We will be covering how to wire up your B.G. Micro 2x20 Vacuum Fluorescent Display." More information on this guide can be found here. Motherboard Tray Mod @ BitBenders "A must Mod, if you own or are thinking of getting a bolt through heatsink, like the Alpha 8045. My first mistake was to use the nylon nuts, supplied by Alpha,for fastening the standoff's through the MB. My second mistake was not doing the mod the first time I had my tower disconnected and out in the open. However,like most of us, I had a new toy in my hands and wanted to play with it NOW! I devised a method to get the standoff's fastened,without removing my MB." More information on this guide can be found here. Where's My Free Stuff? @ Icrontic "A year ago I began this odyssey to the inner sanctum of Icrontic and now, for the first time, I will reveal my secrets of what it takes to become an integral part of any hardware review website. If you are a geek on the outside looking in then it must seem as though we reviewers are in computer hardware nirvana. You may see website after website apparently receiving product after product in what appears to be a ceaseless supply of 'free stuff'." This article is a real good read for those of you who want background information on how the review process works. More information on this article can be found here. Case Mods Part 3 @ Monster Hardware "After you have cut the hole in the case, attach the plastic weather strip so that the edges look smooth and nobody will cut themselves on the edge. Then cut the plexi to the approximate size of the hole (a little larger to accommodate for the velcro strips) and stick the glass to the inside of the door." More information on this guide can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu

Happy Canada Day Edition..

Date Posted: Monday, July 1, 2002, 3:45:36 PM

Author: hitek

Exclusive: NatriumTech UltraDM Digital Rheobus Review @ Virtual Hideout (c) 2002 Virtual Hideout "A few years back, when I just started out this crazy obsession we now call modding, I stumbled across a nifty and useful little product called the Fanbus. It was the brainchild of a man we all now know as Cliff Anderson. The Fanbus is simply a device where all the power of the fans in your case can be centralized to minimize cable clutter, thus helping to improve overall airflow. From there, the spectrum of products from Cliff A begins to widen and it includes the Baybus, Dual-Voltage Baybus, Rheostats Baybus and a few others. All these devices helps control the one trade-off that all modders face when adding fans to their case, and that is the noise from all of them! Over time, we've seen all kinds of variations of the gadgets from DIY'ers all over the world and also from a number of case-modding online stores." Very sweet! More information on this exclusive review can be found here. Xoxide C6 Modified Case Review @ Viper's Lair "We all need a case and as all the components inside of them get faster, they produce more heat. Some examples of this are the newest line of video cards which produce a fair amount of heat, even heating up to 40+°C without any stress being put on them. There is also the processor, which as we all know needs a heatsink and fan on it to keep it under 50°C. Lastly there are hard drives, which can, if they are 7200 RPM versions, heat up to very high temperatures, in some cases too high for reliable running. Standard ATX cases are not designed to provide large unimpeded amounts of airflow needed to cool all these hot components inside a standard computer." More information on this review can be found here. Nexland ISB Pro800Turbo Load Balancing Router Review @ Overclockers Club "Nexland products are honestly, very new to me. Until this day, I have never tried a Nexland product. I really don't buy a lot of networking gear, and when I do, it's usually always Linksys or D-link, for some unknown reason. The Nexland product that I am reviewing today, is called the ISB Pro800 Turbo. The most appealing feature of the ISB Pro800 Turbo, is that it can load balance two DSL, Cable or T1 connections. It will even load balance mixed connections, like one DSL connection and one Cable connection. Another very cool feature is if one connection goes down the ISB Pro800 Turbo will route all traffic to the good line, automatically. I will be testing all of these features plus more, later on in the review." More information on this review can be found here. Gigabyte GA-8IEXP i845E Motherboard Review @ Tweakers Australia "Most i845E and i845G board I've seen up to date feature a passive heatsink for cooling the Northbridge, whilst this time around Gigabyte has gone for an active design to carry out the job - more precisely, a stylish gold colored cooler. Neighboring the cooler lies one standard AGP slot, six white PCI slots and one CNR slot. CNR or Communications and Networking Riser slots are all the rage these days, neglecting the fact that most people don't even know what they are, let alone have a use for them. Nevertheless Gigabyte provides you with one of these little brown slots, which may very well come in handy somewhere in the near future." More information on this review can be found here. Bluetake USB Dongle and Poke2 Bluetooth Adapters Review @ PC PowerZone (c) 2002 PC Powerzone "This one is of a couple of products from Bluetake in the form of two USB Bluetooth™ wireless adapters, the BT007 USB Dongle and the BT009 Poke2 USB adapter. Using these products allow you to link two computers together to communicate without the restrictions of running cables, you can transfer files, share an internet connection plus lots more. Wireless technology opens up many more options than would otherwise normally be available to you. Bluetooth™ operates in the 2.4GHz frequency range under the 802.11b wireless standard." More information on this review can be found here. Dynatron DC1206BM-L/610 Review @ PimpRig "The clip design was one of the only problems I noticed. It took a lot of pressure to install the HSF on my KT7A motherboard. With the amount of pressure I had to use it very possible to break the core. The good thing was that after I installed the cooler the 2nd or 3rd time, the metal clip had stretched a little and it was a lot easier to install." More information on this review can be found here. Insomniac's Paintshop Pt. 3 - Rubout for a Mirror Finish "Our resident paint expert, Insomniac, shows you how rubbing the right way can bring you happiness... Not for THAT... you already know that sort of rubbing. I am talking about rubbing out your case to get that mirror finish you always wanted." More information on this guide can be found here. Thermaltake Volcano 7 Review @ Monkeyreview "By looking at the results from our benchmarks and testing you can clearly see the temperature drop we were able to achieve after installing the Volcano 7 not only on our CPU but also the inside of our tower which really impressed us. The only thing we would have liked to see would have been a full copper base rather than just a slug. For its current $20 price tag with it's combined performance we think it's great it's a must for the budget builder." More information on this review can be found here. Athlon XP1600+ AROIA Overclocking @ Phlux.co.uk "No fancy tricks here. Max timings, 1.9v vcore, air cooling. I could have possibly brought it higher, but some part of my system doesn’t like bus speeds above 146MHz. The best part? It cost $70 USD. That’s less than HALF the price of a thoroughbred XP 2200+." More information on this guide can be found here. Fan Lighting Mod "I soldered 4 red LEDs in series. One of these LEDs had a controller chip in which made all of the LEDs in the circuit flash on and off. To be honest I was very surprised when this happened as I had thought that they were only the normal type. Another bonus of the flashing LED was that it allowed the whole circuit to run directly off of 12 volts without a resistor." More information on this guide can be found here. New Gibtek Forums and Competition "We are pleased to say that GiBTEK's new competition is now open. We realised that our old forum was not up to the job so we have decided to create a new forum. Now to celebrate the opening we will be having a COMPETITION, details of which are available on the forum. If you are interested in winning something, better get head over and sign up!" More information on this new forum can be found here. Samsung 181T TFT Monitor Review @ DeviantPC "The Samsung 181T 18.1" TFT costs about £700 in the UK and about $900 in the US. This is about as much for a top of the range 17" TFT, but why is it so cheap? Is it because the TFT panel is not very good? Is it because the customer support is lacking or is it because the general build quality is poor? Maybe it's due to a totally different reason. Read on and find out." More information on this new forum can be found here. Trek 16 Megabyte USB Thumbdrive Review @ 3DXtreme "I used a Windows XP machine here to test it and I simply plugged it in. Windows XP dinged me and chugged for a second on a taskbar icon then it disappeared. Windows XP installed it as a USB drive. Just open 'My Computer' and it will be shown as a removable storage device. It acts just like every other USB drive does. I copied a couple files and that was it, took it to another machine (Windows 2000) and it showed the files on there with no issues at all. I was able to get the files off like a normal drive." MTB Labs previously reviewed this product, here is our comparison review. More information on this review can be found here.

Discuss in Forums | Top Menu