"Another year has come and gone, but over the course of the year there are some products that have stood out from the crowd. To make things a bit more interesting we are also including some interesting categories and some new unseen pictures that have not been published on Legit Reviews or the web thus far."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Ever wonder if you could do more with your speakers? Andio has one solution and included configurable picture frames into each of the flat panel desktop speakers."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Image quality will vary depending on what option you decide to use when backing up the DVD. When you strip out the extras, and stick with just one language and no subtitles, the quality is pretty much an exact replica of the original (there will still be some compression if the movie takes a lot of storage space). When you copy the entire disc, including the extras, the image quality can take quite a nosedive, especially if it's a DVD9 disc."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Cooling remains one of the main problems encountered by today's computer society, but as time goes on the thermal solutions available have gotten better. The battle between low temperatures and low noise is one that is continually fought. A new Japanese manufacturer, Scythe, might well have found an edge in this fight with their new Kamakaze heatsink."

More information on this review can be found here.

Seasonic Super Tornado 400W PSU Review

"Seasonic has produced a superb and reliable power supply. The consistency of the 3 power rails is without a doubt comparable to some of the more well known power supplies on the market today. In my opinion the Seasonic Super Tornado is truly “The advanced choice for gamers and over clockers”, as printed on the front of the box."

More information on this review can be found here.

"While the Logitech Z3 speaker system does have its shortcomings, the bottom line is that you will probably be happy with them. Sure they could be improved on, but the design and construction is certainly better than most speaker systems, especially in this price range. Logitech has taken a bold step in designing a system that is aesthetically unique from anything else in their product line and from most systems on the market. The Logitech Z3 system would be better suited in an office versus a dorm room where they can get scratched up. If you are into hardcore gaming or movie watching, you probably want to look at Logitech's Z-5300 THX surround system, which is priced just $25 more than the Z3 and is suited for gaming and movies."

More information on this review can be found here.

"So got a brand new super duper thin-fin-fat-pin-double-clip-four-hole-monster-fan miracle heatsink, and now you want to find out how it really performs. So what software do you use to load up the processor and really stress that new setup? Hang on, and we'll show you the way."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"The benchmark scores clearly tell the tale of this video card, however, there is also basically user experience that can't be quantified here with graphs. Not only does this card perform by sheer numbers, but the quality of the video and smoothness of the graphics are among the best. These are things that can only be experienced by actually seeing the card in action."

More information on this review can be found here.

"A while ago, we started our high-end graphic card roundup, ranging from ATi R9800 to Nvidia FX5950 Ultra. I am sure that everyone drooled over the FPS those cards provided, however, not everyone can spend that much money on a video card. Thus, we bring you this roundup, which is created to showcase "average" gamers' cards, e.g. ATi R9600 and Nvidia FX5700, etc.

More information on this review can be found here.

"CasEdge, an affiliate company of Foxconn Group (Hon Hai Precision Company, Ltd.), has produced a sleek "Limited Edition" case for gamers and enthusiasts this holiday season. Dubbed the "Diabolic Series" (part of the minotaur line of cases), this limited production case sports a lot of features common to their other cases, but they have kicked it up a few notches to make something completely custom looking and over the top. Some very nice features of the case are: tool-less assembly, front USB, audio, and firewire ports, CPU fan cone, 120mm case fan, cold cathode fluorescent lamp, and glowing eyes on the front of the case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"There has been a lot of speculation in recent months about whether or not the upcoming Intel Prescott CPUs will work with current Intel 848/865/875 chipset based boards. After compiling information from a variety of sources, including the web and some of our insider contacts, we think we have finally gained some real insight into this question that is on a lot of enthusiasts’ minds. Let’s just say there is some good news, some bad news, and some news that will make you wonder just what in the world Intel is doing."

More information on this article can be found here.

"With just weeks to go to Christmas, the THG crew got together to offer our loyal readers and especially the hardcore geeks among us something really special. Our brainstorming session quickly lead to extreme overclocking. And so we began our highly complex project that required a whole lot of coordination and planning. The working title of our endeavor: The 5 GHz Project."

More information on this project can be found here.

"The channels sit 180º from each other, so water has quite an involved path to the outlet. Couple this with 1/4" fittings and you get a good idea of why the pressure drop is very high."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Fan controllers are a nice way to add noise control to your box. They allow you to add cooling when you need it and a quiet case the rest of the time. There are many fan controllers from expensive units with temperature displays to simple solid fan controllers. If you are wanting a basic fan controller without the expensive thrills, take a look at Evercool's SCP-A fan controller."

More information on this review can be found here.

"C3 is an event held at CPL each year. C3 stands for Consummate Computer Competition. This is the event for casemodders from around the globe. You’ll see modders that have already had their names etched in the glory board for modding such as: Crimson Sky, Geezer and Mashie. These modders keep ideas pouring out twice a year as they enter both the summer and winter events with new mods each time. I look forward to seeing each of the new creations and appreciate them posting progress pics and finals before the events. The anticipation builds with each new mod posted."

More information on this report can be found here.

"Listening to the Sicuro 2.1 Gaming Speakers with my eyes closed, it is difficult to pinpoint where the satellites are placed, just like it’s hard to tell where a subwoofer is in a room. This is due to the omni-directional design of the speakers. It’s not a full surround-sound effect (like it’s coming from behind you), but the sound is much wider than regular unidirectional speakers. This gives you an immersion that regular 2.1 speakers cannot provide."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Do you need a way to transfer huge amounts of data between computers and a flash drive just won't do the job? Well Bytecc has just the thing with their Aluminum Mobile enclosure. This handy gadget converts any hard drive into a USB device."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Unless you’ve been under a rock the last few years, you know that Shuttle has been the innovative, industry leader of the SFF (Small Form Factor) PC community. These little boxes really make a statement when you show them to your friends or show up at that LAN party to 0wn everyone! These have been out for a while, however, so more and more mainstream consumers now have them. "Modders" (folks who take pleasure in the art of computer case torture and modification) have to have something to make their SFF boxes stand out. Well, ClearView has stepped up to meet the challenge. They give us SFF enthusiasts a little eye candy to let us stand out from the rest: the ClearView Acrylic Case Modification."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we'll have a lesson in 'you get what you pay for'. After a closer look, my opinion of this case slowly dropped. Its NOT an expensive case, and its not an expensive case for a reason. The aluminum can't be any more than 1mm thick and to tell you the truth, I can't tell if its aluminum or just really thin steel. I'd have thought aluminum this thin would be much lighter. It doesn't have a very solid feeling at all."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Who am I kidding, 848P isn't a strange beast really. Nothing more than 865PE with a single memory channel (865PE has two for dual channel operation), it has all the goodness of 865PE, including a CSA interface for a high bandwidth network controller, two port SATA, SATA RAID (with the ICH5/R bridge), built in Ethernet, a 6-channel audio controller, HyperThreading support and DDR400 memory support."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Didn't get what you wanted this holiday? Its not to late, you can still enter to win a bunch of cool prizes. Good Luck and Happy Holidays from XtReMoDs."

Free stuff rules! More information on this contest can be found here.

"Samsung has long been making displays to suite almost every need. If you are in the market for a freaking huge display with inputs for just about anything, the 241MP is just that. I found the lack of DVI and manual screen geometry/sizing settings turned me off using this as a primary PC display. It’s big yes, but there is no point when you can’t use the entire display area without butchering the aspect of your image."

More information on this review can be found here.

"You've seen them on numerous mod sites. Those awesome glowing plexiglass things under your mousepad. Well today I'm here to show you how to make your own in what I think is the simplest way. So if you're ready, let's begin."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"At this time of year, the unending question that we all eventually ask ourselves is what to get the person who has everything. This is an easy question for the lot of us that can afford to buy custom H2's for all our friends or at least we do in our minds. Otherwise there is a full array of nifty gadgets and gizmos available this year that you can use as a late Christmas present that won't nearly break your wallet. The Magic-i that we were provided with from Merconnet is just such a nice little toy."

More information on this review can be found here.

"What do people do when an overclock becomes unstable? They add more voltage! You see people adding more voltage to their CPU's and RAM, why not your video card? This guide will go through the steps taken, in giving your ATI 9800 series that extra boost it needs to run super overclocked speeds."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"The OCZ EL DDR PC-3700 (466mhz) Gold Edition Dual Channel Revision 2 memory kit is aimed at the hardware enthusiast out there who seeks to increase his memory bandwidth, is this memory able to give your P4 setup a boost?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Transfering the images off my camera was noticably quicker with the Crucial, copying the images to the hard drive using Kodak's Easyshare dock about 3 seconds faster than it did with the Sandisk. This pretty much supports the findings of our tests today, where writes were faster with Sandisk, and reads faster with Crucial."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we have for review their highly acclaimed IC7-MAX3 board that is based on the performance 875P chipset and supports features like 800MHz FSB, 8x AGP, Dual Channel 400MHz, SATA RAID and ABIT OTES to name just a few. So let's look at the whole package and find out what ABIT have been doing with this new model."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This menu is an overclockers' haven. If you are one of them, you won't be dissapointed with this BIOS because DFI gives an insanely amount of overclocking range. For example, you can adjust the FSB from 100Mhz to 300Mhz. And if your processor is unlocked, you can adjust the multiplier up to 22x! For AGP setting, you can adjust from 66Mhz to 100Mhz."

More information on this review can be found here.

"In the not too distant past, the thought of getting an aluminum case meant pouring out a huge chunk of change. While there are some high-dollar aluminum cases out there, it is getting easier to find them in a more reasonable price range lately. Come join us as we take a look at a low cost aluminum case with some very high end features and see for yourself if it is worth the meager entry fee."

More information on this review can be found here.

VIA K8T800 Performance Motherboard Shootout

"It's time for the battle of the big guns in the AMD Athlon 64 motherboard department. We've collected three high-end performance motherboards from Gigabyte, MSI and ABIT which are all based on VIA's K8T800 chipset and tossed them all in the ring to fight it to the death with our still shiny Athlon 64 3200+ processor. Let the fight begin ladies and gentleman!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Having a case that's good looking has become a standard. But when you're considering it for an HTPC, good just won't cut it. It has to be great! The style, function and features have to be on par with some of the high tech plasma or LCD TV's that are available to consumers today. Athenatech's all new A106 micro-ATX case hopes to fulfill the demand for such a case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I built some pretty fast machines that were state of the art - for at least six months, anyway. Yet, even after all the time and effort I put into chasing that elusive killer PC that can do "everything", I was never able to match that breathtaking exhilaration I experienced with my old sixty meg upgrade - until now."

More information on this project can be found here.

"Quiet cooling is quite popular these days, which is not surprising at all. Most users would prefer not to have to listen to the howl of their systems being cooled. They just want the job done without a lot of drama. When we reviewed the Thermaltake Silent Boost heatsink back in October, we found that it performed in exactly that way; quiet, efficient, and without a lot of drama. Now, Thermaltake has introduced a new model in the Silent Boost series, the Silent Boost K8, designed specifically for Socket 754 and Socket 940 AMD processors. Today, we're going to find out if this new model is cut from the same cloth."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The FIC K8-800T is a very solid board and is also amongst the cheapest of the current Socket 754 motherboards. With a lot of solid features like on-board audio & lan, together with extra brackets for firewire and USB. If you want to overclock is it the motherboard for you?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"This external on/off-switch, built into a PCI-backplate, is very handy because it enables you to turn off your CCFLs withouth having to open your case or using a baybus. The little switch is connected to 2 molex plugs, one male and one female plug: the one is used to provide the switch (and the invertor) with power, the other can (optionally) be used to provide another device with power. Last there is another small 2-pin plug, this plug perfectly fits the invertors 2-pin plug entrance."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Logitech Z2200 speakers are a great set of speakers that can be found for as low as $100 and for the price they are a great value. Any buyer will find a lot of use for these speakers thanks to their versatility. Whether it's for your computer, game console, or video player the Z2200 speakers are able to deliver the goods. Something I found I liked with these speakers were the smaller footprint compared to a full set of speakers like the Z-680s at only a small loss of quality. The power is still enough to drive the neighbors mad. If you're looking for a set of excellent speakers but have been debating over high quality 2.1 speakers or mainstream 4/5.1 speakers the decision should be made on what matters most to you. If you like your sound pristine at any volume with some of the sickest bass around then these Logitech speakers are what you want."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we'll be looking at Altec Lansing's THX-certified MX5021. The MX5021 are a 2.1 set designed for music lovers, not gamers or movie buffs. They do not sport surround sound but have 90w total system power, a piano black finish, and claim to have very large and powerful sound-- all for a MSRP of $200 (street price $150). In my review we'll be analyzing this set and showing you if they sound as good as they look."

More information on this review can be found here.

"When evaluating a product for a final rating, we look at a number of factors. Firstly, how much has the manufacturer done to appease a wide spectrum of users? How good is its implementation on the whole? What kind of value-adding features does it use that go beyond most others? Is the technology that it is based on sound? We feel that ASUS has done as much as anyone in relation to the RV360. Almost every facet is covered with thought and attention. Priced at around £145, it also represents good midrange value. Highly recommended."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This is a great design for many different reasons. The first is it allows you to see the water level without having to open up your case. The second is that it will self bleed the system of any air since it is the highest point. The third is it looks extremely cool especially when you add the UV water dyes. This version of the Bay-Res features a few improvements over the original release. The first is an addition of the center divider. This separates the turbulence of the incoming water and allows the bubbles to settle before re-entering the system, thus avoiding pumping air back into the system. We also added two 3mm LED holes to the rear of the Bay-Res. With these you can add color to a clear reservoir or add UV LED's for a great effect. The last thing we added were 2 different colors, UV blue and UV green so you can choose the color that best fits you system.

Specifications:

- 1/4" cast acrylic
- Center divider to reduce turbulence
- 3 great colors
- 3mm LED holes in rear of reservoir
- Each one pressurized and submerse tested
- Comes in a variety of barbs
- Easy fill dome plug on top
- Reservoir self bleeds
- Four mounting holes
- Includes mounting screws

More information on this sale can be found here.

"The scenario: You have four case fans, but all have different CFM ratings and your case temps fluctuate more than your Grandma's cholesterol levels. What's to do? Vantec has the perfect answer. It's the Nexus fan controller. Available in silver and black and fully adjustable on four separate channels, this is sure to even out those case temps once and for all. There are several different models available, today I look at the NXP-201-SL."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Albatron certainly have strengthened my views on the GeForceFX 5950 Ultra GPU. Unfortunately, after testing the Gigabyte GeForceFX 5950 Ultra I was left with a great deal of doubt and disappointment regarding the GPU. The card ran consistently hot, which restricted any kind of overclocking success. The most disappointing aspect of the Gigabyte card was its look and feel, that strongly resembled a reference board. Surprisingly, this is how the majority of GeForceFX 5950 Ultra cards have been presented to the market, featuring nothing more than the reference cooling design. Fortunately Albatron have put a little more effort into their solution, pairing it with their 'Wise Fan' technology."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Most lighting effects are contained inside of the case. A less popular way to add lighting to your case is from underneath. SunBeam has entered the LED case foot market and manufactures a case foot, or Case Chassis as they call them. Cutting Edge Case Mods has provided us with Sunbeam's Large LED Case Feet, Chassis, that are made to fit in a Chenming, Antec, Thermaltake, style case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"AMD has quietly launched a new Athlon 64. The Athlon 64 3000+ is a new lower cost Athlon 64 with a cost quickly approaching the $200 mark. While we had been expecting a 3000+ for months it was not what we had expected. We had prepared for a 1.8GHz CPU with a 1MB L2 cache. What we recently confirmed through a reader that had picked up the CPU was that in fact it was a 2GHz part with a 512kb cache."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Of course, the biggest revolution that Microsoft have been touting is the new 'Tilt Wheel'. Not only does this scroll-wheel go up and down, but also side to side. In practice, this works pretty well - the horizontal action is very nice, and facilitates easy navigation of large spreadsheets. I have to question how much it will actually get used by the majority of people, since it does not appear to be assignable from within any game that I have tried - so unless you run a low screen res, you are unlikely to get a whole lot of use out of it, but you may find it useful on occasion."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Cooldrive 4 comes with one Cooldrive 4, four thermal sensors, three extension cables for fans (The fourth fan is situated inside the cooldrive and blows on the hard drive), one 4-pin extension power cable and some screws to mount the device. The 4pin molex is included to power your cooldrive."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I recently received a few items from the fine folks at Directron, and today we'll look at some of their detailing products. After exchanging a few e-mails, I was asked if we could review a few "overclocking" related items, as they would best pertain to us here at Overclockers.com. I thought that would be a great idea. I had originally hoped to get this article done in time for Christmas, but real life has a way of making "the best laid plans of mice and men" go awry. So, the thought process will shift from "Christmas Gift Ideas", to "Here's some cool things you can add to that new case you just got for Christmas".

More information on this review can be found here.

"For those of you who have followed the development of the PC market have probably not missed the exploding growth of SFF system. Small Form Factor, also called Shuttle Form Factor, has become well known. Shuttle who began with SFF have done a great job with keeping it alive and exploiting it. Three months ago, when we reviewed the first Springdale-based SFF-barebone on the market, Shuttle SB61G2, it made a huge impression on us."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Then again what of the scuttlebutt of locking some processors and not locking others? Again this doesn't matter to the average consumer who buys based on a budget. Here lies the root of, perhaps, where overclocking came from. PC buyers are on a budget and often they can't or do not want to pay for the top of the line processor but overclocking provided a performance boost without the cost. Could it be so devious of AMD to have a plan in place to herd the enthusiast towards the slaughterhouse of higher priced processors?"

More information on this editorial can be found here.

"We recently looked at one of the myriad of kit based clear cases here at OcPrices in the form of Soyo’s solution, and whilst it is a very nice case with lots of extras, building the computer case before you even start to assemble your machine may be one inconvenience too far. Beantech was not a particularly well known manufacturer to me at least, but with increasing market penetration here in the UK, they are starting to become a threat to other high-class manufacturers like Lian-Li and Coolermaster. Unlike most other manufacturers, their clear case solution comes fully assembled in the standard well-packaged quality case box."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Water cooling kits have come a long way over the past two years. The individual components and their application varies little from kit to kit now insofar as the basic design. Corsair broke that mold earlier in the year with their HydroCool 200 which was the one of the first true external water cooling unit to hit the streets. The Koolance units are external of course, but they have a footprint the size of a case and generally are mounted on top of a case. Both the HydroCool and the Aquarius III are much smaller rectangular units that are just as much at home on top of a box as they are sitting beside your monitor."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Whisper Rock IV CPU cooler from Spire is a great mid range cooler for many reasons. One of these reasons is because its heatsink is very functional, and is visually appealing at the same time. Another one of these reasons is because the Whisper Rock's fan is extremely quiet. It also does a good job of keeping CPU temps down."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Let's jump into the wayback machine for a minute, and travel back to February of this year, when System Cooling gave you one of the very first looks at an Opteron (K8) heatsink, the AK-851CU, made by Akasa. This basic design has returned, updated to fit all Socket 754 and 940 systems, and is specifically intended to fill the gap between stock OEM cooler and the all-copper mega cooler. The AK-855 is targeted primarily at white-box system builders, but also has the potential to very nicely fill the budget performance niche."

More information on this review can be found here.

"One of the biggest problems today that people have with keeping their cases clean is dust. Dust can destroy your case, and make it look ugly and unattractive. People that do not have a lot of time on their hands do not want to have to clean their cases every week. Well Extra Mod's stainless mesh fan filter can help. They are designed to block dust and dirt from entering your case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Overclocking our hardware on the KV8-MAX3 was nothing but exciting. The motherboard proved to us that it can bring out the full potential an Athlon64 system can currently offer with a VIA K8T800 chipset. Although the overclock was only a hairline above what other K8 motherboards have achieved with the same chipset, ABIT continues to show us they are serious contenders within the realm of the overclocking world."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Gigabyte has always manufactured some of the best motherboard contenders in the market. With their popular blue PCB and feature rich motherboards, Gigabyte has managed to stabilize themselves amongst the PC enthusiasts. Gigabyte is also a well-rounded company with other extensive line of products that include Mini-PCs, laptops, desktops, graphics adapters, networking products and monitors."

More information on this review can be found here.

"As the latest and greatest in Athlon 64 processors and chipsets come out, the nForce 2 chipset still holds its own as king of the castle. These boards continue to provide top notch performance for a relatively low amount of money. It's still the best bang for the buck on the market. You can get this board and a 2500+ Athlon XP for under $200. That's a small amount of money for a board and processor package that you can be happy with for quite a while. So, it's obvious the chipset is not dead, and the Albatron KX18D Pro II is alive and packing a lot of performance into a low priced, high featured board. Let's take a look at the Albatron KX18D Pro II, featuring the nForce 2 Ultra 400 chipset."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This will be our second annual Boxing Day sale and we welcome everyone to take part on the great savings we have in store for you. Got a case for Christmas that lacks accessories? Didn't get that gift you wanted? Whatever your situation is, we will be offering a 15% off discount on all items in stock this Friday, December 26th at our Markham retail store location. Need just a tube of thermal compound? It does not matter how large your order is, everyone will be entitled to this great special. For those who wish to preorder CPU's, memory, cases or motherboards for Friday then please contact us via our e-mail accounts or call us during business hours."

More information on this sale can be found here.

For Boxing Weekend (Friday December 26th through Sunday December 28th) we have Daily Specials listed below, as well as over 125 items heavily discounted from Boxing Day until the end of 2003. Sale pricing only applies to "new" orders. **FREE** Expedited Shipping within Canada for orders over $100.

Boxing Weekend 1 Day Specials

Friday December 26th, 2003

- Black and Silver PWM 5-1/4" Fan Controllers regular $39.95, only $29.95

Saturday December 27th, 2003

-All LEDs are only 50 cents each. Every single LED at way less than cost.
-Black and Silver Thumbscrews for 25 cents each!
-12" 3 Pin Fan Extension Cables
- UV Reactive Red, Blue or Green, steal them for $0.95 each!

Sunday December 28th, 2003

-Genuine Techflex Case Mod Sleeving Kits as low as $19.95 each.

Hot Deals Starting December 26th!

-Evercool Aluminum Frame 80mm Fan only $7.95
-Sunon 80mm 50.6 CFM Fans (3 or 4 Pin) only $5.95
-Galaxy 120mm 4 Pin Cooling Fan only $7.95
-80mm Laser Cut Fan Grills starting at $3.95
-Cable Sleeving (Bulk) from $0.75 per foot
-Split Wire Loom from $1.00 per foot
-Sunbeam Acrylic Computer Case Kits (Ship Expedited for free)
-Aspire 500W Acrylic/Aluminum Modded PSUs only $ 99.95

Don't forget that we have over 125 items discounted from December 26th to December 31st.

More information on this huge sale can be found here.

"On behalf of the staff here at MODTHEBOX, we want to wish everyone and their families a very Merry Christmas and safe Holiday Season. Thank-you for all the support for the past 2 years and we look forward to ending 2003 with a bang!"

"If you ever venture into the forums, you know that I have the odd rant from time to time. This one was a little too big, however, to really fit in a post box, and I figured it's an important enough topic that it should have a little more exposure. It's something that really has annoyed me for as long as I've been reading reviews of computer hardware, but even more so in the past year. It's a bunch of factors that I think have led to it. What I'm talking about here is an abundance of well below average reviews, more specifically, the testing methodology used in them, or the lack there of, for that matter."

This is a very interesting rant and provides some good suggestions on improving testing methodology. More information on this rant can be found here.

"Overall, the VS4121 speaker system is a great solution for those of you looking for a great looking 2.1 speaker set that offers great quality sound. The quality of the sound and the realistic sound level usage make this speaker set a good buy."

More information on this review can be found here.

"With the wide range of DVD RW burners out there, it is easy for one to become confused especially with all the different types, DVD + and – formats for example. Today we are pleased to present you with information on the Lite-On LDW 401S DVD+RW and LDW 411S DVD+RW burners."

More information on this review can be found here.

"When I finished my review of a single Hitachi 7K250 hard drive a few months ago, I immediately knew that I had a winner on my hands. Better yet, after the success of the Maxtor RAID_0 article, I knew that I had to try the same setup with this drive and see what could happen. The result of this experiment was quite surprisiing. Some aspects of the drive were showcased by the RAID setting, while other attributes didn't fare as well. The numbers don't lie, especially not when they're in the spotlight of this article."

More information on this review can be found here.

Signal Hill 12-23-03 - Press Release, for immediate Release

"The MCW50-TFX(tm) thermoelectric water block is specifically designed for nVidia's high-end "FX" (5800 & up) series of graphics cards. "Bench tests using an FX5900 Ultra showed an average 40°C drop in GPU operating temperature compared to stock cooling systems."

More information on this new product can be found here.

"One thing to keep in mind is that any motherboard worth it's grain in salt will allow you to to run async. For example, at 250FSB, if you stick with 5:4, your ram is stuck at 200FSB. Maybe your PC3200 ram can go higher, but faster rated ram like the kit we reviewed today will give you more headroom."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Quite which motherboard you might buy out of this selection of top quality motherboards we cannot say. It really comes down to your individual choice for the particular extras or enhancements a particular motherboard has to offer or overclocking potential. Like the earlier K8T800 chipset motherboards and considering all the factors we are giving this Gigabyte K8NNXP motherboard 2 Gold medals for performance, overclocking and features."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Most of the video cards we have been reviewing are based on the fastest graphics chipsets such as the Radeon 9800 Pro or the GeForce FX5900 Ultra. Even though both ATI and NVIDIA have released newer, faster cards, the 9800 Pro and FX 5900 Ultra are both blindingly fast. Today we will be reviewing the much more affordable Radeon 9800SE from Sapphire. The 9800 SE is more than a hundred dollars cheaper than the 9800 Pro but should provide enough performance for gamers and enthusiasts."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Crucial Radeon 9600 Pro is definitely the beginning of the shape of things to come from ATI chipsets in the near future. With die sizes shrinking and memory solutions becoming more available and affordable, it would definitely seem as though the potential is here for a compromise between the cost of a high-end graphics card and an affordable one. We would not be surprised if the Radeon 9600 followed the way of the 9500 in versatility and cost effectiveness. A very good bargain for the price to performance it is capable of."

More information on this review can be found here.

"During the past months, we've got numerous emails asking "Who makes the finest xxx video card?" Thus, we decided to start several round ups for different categories of VGA card, i.e. one roundup for high end video cards, another one for the mid to low end, etc. Today, we bring you the round up of high end graphic cards, ranges from R9800Pro to R9800XT. Through out the next few weeks, we will be adding more contenders to this round up."

More information on this roundup can be found here.

"Christmas is just around the corner and VR-Zone has a White X’mas special review up as both the SFFs that we will be looking at today are white. AOpen has recently released their XC Cube series of SFF PCs available in 5 different colors; Pearl White, Volcano Gray, Jazz Black, Danube Blue, Cherry Red. We will be reviewing the Pearl White version of the EZ65 as well as the Pandora Claire from Soldam in White Pearl Mica."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Ginger is a VIA Epia 800, hard drive, and power supply encased in a gingerbread village. The idea for this server "case-mod" came from two CIF members who for some reason thought that making a gingerbread village, without putting a computer inside of it was a crime against humanity. Ginger's name comes from a pseudo-ficticious porn star (in accordance with our naming scheme for computers here on CIF)."

More information on this festive project can be found here.

"The defining role of any small form-factor system is to thoroughly question the need for a standard beige box. There's not much it can't do, and it does cause us to ask that very question. It's also fit for a multitude of uses, including file server (Wireless comes in handy here), spare PC, multimedia box extraordinaire, students' PC, office PC. The list goes on and on. This model has made a favourable impression because Shuttle has listened to its customers and created an XPC that was needed. A deluxe model with a standard price tag, if you will."

More information on this review can be found here.

"IPKonfig.com is wrapping up some fine Christmas presents for some lucky winners this Holiday Season! How does DangerDen RBX water blocks sound? How about the MCX462-V famous heatsink from Swiftech appeal? You could be the proud owner of any of these “cool” products, just by sending us an email with your full name, address, and phone number."

Free stuff rules! More information on this giveaway can be found here.

"In this article I'll only be covering the parts of this '3D Jigsaw' I have completely finished at the time of writing. There are more, but they will have to wait until a later article. What you are seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg."

More information on this project can be found here.

"Another mouse pad review creeks up at ASE Labs. This one is unique as it has a lighted base. Does it hold its own to get you to spend the money to buy it? Read this to find out."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Two years ago, I built a water-cooling system for my mighty Athlon 1 GHz (AXIA stepping). I was very successful in overclocking it to 1.5 GHz with this setup. Over those two years, it served me extremely well, without a single failure! It required minimal maintenance, which basically came down to removing dust from the radiator fins every few months. Adding a fan filter could solve that, but I never got around to doing it."

More information on this article can be found here.

"Today we reviewed the SilenX PSU 400w and had a great time doing it. This little box may not be the prettiest PSU on the market but it sure is the quietest! It performed great through all our tests and never had one single hiccup the entire time we were using it."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Exotic heatsinks. Some people buy them for the looks, others buy them for the performance. Which one suits your needs ? We reviewed the Scythe Kamakaze, Swiftech MCX478 V, Speeze EE429B0 CopperSnake and the Thermalright SLK947-U"

More information on this roundup can be found here.

"If you've been building your own PCs for any length of time at all you've probably heard of Thermalright. Thermalright has been making CPU cooling products for a long time. Their products have won numerous awards for innovation and performance. None of this is news to anyone who has used one of Thermalright's heatsinks. Today I'll be looking at the Thermalright SLK-800U."

More information on this review can be found here.

"With graphics cards running hotter and hotter, and companies resorting to using an extra PCI slot just for cooling, Vantec has come up with it's own pci slot cooler, the Spectrum Fan Card, for aiding in keeping these hot new cards cool."

More information on this review can be found here.

Seasonic Super Tornado 400w Review

"Today we'll be taking a look at yet another PSU, this time it's Seasonic's Super Tornado 400w model on the review table. In our review we'll be taking an in-depth look at it, and testing it against Thermaltake's PurePower 480w."

More information on this review can be found here.

"With Christmas just around the corner and your favorite computer-type person wanting that little something special, we have taken a look at a pair of video cards from HIS. With rock bottom prices and some innovative features, it is time to see if the myth of "getting what you pay for" needs to be thrown out the window. Come see for yourself!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today, we get to take a look at their highest performing product, the Asylum GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256MB. Like many of the other companies offering NVIDIA-based solutions, BFG seems to try to differentiate some of their products with unique cooling solutions. I think this board has their best looking and probably best performing cooler yet. It resembles the one that was on the BFG 5900 board, but this time BFG's engineers have employed a heatpipe design for more efficient cooling."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Corsair isn't a new name to the market, as they've been around for quite some time providing consistently high quality memory modules for the discerning computer user. Corsair memory has been a constant in our test systems, as we fully trust the quality of their products, and haven't had problems running Corsair memory in our hardware, overclocked or otherwise."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Albatron did their best to come with a unique card, and quite did it. The FX5700U features the latest Albatron cooling system and packs lots of features. The software package suffered modifications from the one of their previous video cards. Feature rich and backed-up with lots of power to provide great performance, the FX5700U is an interesting card that deserves our full attention."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Available in 20 different colours including BLACK and WHITE there is sure to be a colour for everybody. The black well its black yet the white at first glace appears to be the same as your normal molex until it gets bathed in UV light then it takes on a life of its own."

More information on this review can be found here.

"For many home users, the physical security of your system is not a big deal. It's not likely that anyone is going to break into your house, open your computer, and steal a video card or memory. For others, specially those who live in areas trafficked by strangers, or for those who transport their computer often, such as LAN gamers, a little extra security goes a long way. The product we're looking at today, Enermax's Security Screws, provide that extra bit of peace of mind for those who need it."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The VGA Silencer has a massive aluminum heatsink and a big enclosed fan that draws air in from your case, and then expels that heat out the back via the heatsink fins. All the wires are sleeved right down the heatsink and are held in place by small clips. The design is ingenious. Once out of its retail package, we see there's all kinds of goodies included. The hsf, an instruction pamphlet, a small syringe of thermal grease, a blue backer plate, a grounding plate, and a custom dual pci plate with attached hi/low switch."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Seasonic Super Family series are designed and produced by Seasonic Electronics Co., Ltd., a professional designer and manufacturer of switch mode power supplies since 1975. Seasonic has strived to provide high efficiency and environment friendly products for the consumer by having an ISO 9001 certified factory that ensures high quality products."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Cooling almost 10C better at load than the Swiftech is defiantly an achievement. This goes to show how well the superconductor tube really works. Even using just one fan on the DP-102 compared to the Swiftech the DP-102 still cools better. Utilizing both aluminum 80mm fans really is how the cooler should be used."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Budget-minded customers should seek solace with the AMD Athlon XP 2500+ or 3200+ processor's for now, as our testing shows very little difference in performance between the our Athlon XP @ 2400 MHZ and the Pentium 4 3.2 C, although the Pentium 4 outperformed the Athlon XP-based system in every benchmark when the two processors were run at their maximum stable overclocked speeds."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Christmas is almost upon us and with the impending release of Half Life 2 not too far off and other DirectX 9 games around the corner, you may well be considering getting a new graphics card. Or perhaps you are just looking for the best value for money card to put in your budget gaming machine. Either way, in this round up, we have eight new graphics cards on test. These cards range from the low to the very top of the range and between them, represent a good spread of the graphics chipsets currently available on the market."

More information on this review can be found here.

Graphics Card Overclocking - Worth It?

"In the recent DirectX 9 graphics card round up, the Sparkle FX5900 and the Gainward FX5900 had a difference of 140mhz RAM speed, yet the difference in performance was only 172 3dmarks or around 3.6%, despite a 20% boost in clock speed. This intrigued us enough to see what possible benefits there could be from overclocking, by testing out a few of the cards while we still had our hands on them."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Don't be fooled, the Athlon XP processor is still going strong despite the release of the expensive and not yet mainstream Athlon 64 processor by AMD. Today we've got the Soyo KT600 Dragon Ultra Platinum motherboard on the test bed which is based on VIA's KT600 chipset for the Athlon XP. If you cannot afford the Athlon 64 platform, pay very close attention to this motherboard!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Miniature is a good word to describe the V5, as it measures a mere 7.7” tall, 2.1” wide, and 7.7” deep. Inside the compact silver housing one finds such key components as a 733 MHz VIA processor, 256MB PC2100 DDR memory, and a 30GB hard drive. Its odd for me to know an entire ‘PC’ fits in a box about the size of the one my last hard drive came in."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The PC Power Supply Kit that cableorganizer.com offers makes the competition’s sleeving look horrible. This sleeving doesn’t require you to remove the Molex connectors, is fray and flame retardant and really looks great. You really cannot see the wires through this sleeving, which is not the case in most sleeving kits out there. The one thing you should take into consideration before purchasing one of these kits is how long your PSU leads are. If they are on the long end of the spectrum, you should consider getting 2 kits or buying the sleeving by the foot."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This case is one very classy case even though it may lack some visual pizzazz. For the price I have seen around the Internet, a measly $65 is a steal for the SST-B032FW seeming it has so much drive space and all the features of a $150+ case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"ACRyan is fairly new to the modding scene. They send us some of their most impressive products in the "UVactive Fever" line. Take a look how this high quality modding gear can give a Thermaltake Lanfire the edge!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"With Christmas only just around the corner, there may be no better time than now to look into PC water cooling as an interesting gift to spice up a computer for friends or family. Today we've taken a look at the Thermaltake Aquarius III water cooling system. Read on and find out if this is the right gift or not!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"After hearing about this system, I thought it wouldn´t do much about overclocked systems just like mine. However, right after mounting it, I got surprised with the results. The temperatures are good keeping in mind this is a passive water cooling system."

More information on this review can be found here.

"You've modded it all, think you're done? Think again my mod happy friend, your world is about to be turned upside down. I saw these LED case feet over at The Cutting Edge Case Mods and thought "Those would be pretty cool". Oh how wrong I was these things blew me away! Let's take a closer look at these bad boys shall we?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Over the last six months, I have reviewed several monitors, including the Samsung 192T, which I even ended up buying for myself. There has however been one problem with all the LCD displays I have reviewed so far – they only go up to 1280x1024 in resolution. Since I review many video cards, I really need to be able to go up to at least 1600x1200, and so far I have been forced to use my six year old, trusty Samsung 900P to do this duty. Today, I am happy to give you my thoughts on the new Samsung 975MB. I have been using this monitor for about a month and am ready to give you my opinion of it."

More information on this review can be found here.

"So today we look at two different CD-RW drives from Artec. The first being the Artec WSM-52Z which is a 52x32x52 burner making its recording speed on par with the fastest CD-RW drives available on the market currently. It will be certainly interesting to see how it stacks up against some better known companies. The second being the Artec WRR-52X which is a 52x24x52 burner. Now the WRR-52X is slower in terms of rewritable speeds obviously however the main attraction to this drive is not the speeds but the front transparent bezel as shown on the right picture above."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Last month I was able to get out to California and was given the opportunity to go behind closed doors at Corsair and tour their entire company. Corsair modules are assembled in Fremont, California by a work force of almost 140 employees working two full shifts. I was shown everything they had at their facility, from the Marketing Department to being able to walk up and down the production line while it was in full swing. Corsair was also happy so show how they manufacture what we have found to be some of the best performing memory in the world."

More information on this tour can be found here.

"Recently we had a chance to review Corsair's TwinX 512 PC3200 Dual Channel memory kit and we where quite impressed by the design layout of the chips as well as it's performance and reliability. The TwinX kit is part of Corsair's XMS series modules, which is highly ranked as the most widely used ram choice for overclockers and gamers. But apparently Corsair wanted to give more to these users, offering their new Pro Series lineup of memory modules, specifically designed for the extreme gamer as well as the extreme overclocker."

More information on this review can be found here.

"You had to know it was only a matter of time. With the increasing popularity of AMD's new Athlon 64 line of processors, users were clamoring for a cooling solution with the capacity to handle one of these beasts in an overclocked state. Thermalright has answered the call with their new SLK-948U, the latest in the excellent-performing SLK line. Today we're going to take a look at one and see if it performs up to the level of its older siblings."

More information on this review can be found here.

"You know that feeling of disappointment you get when you're really excited about something that seems so promising, only to be let down by a couple of niggling little details? That's what the K8X800 Pro II is like. Initially good, ultimately a little frustrating. A good attempt from Albatron, hopefully they'll get the details worked out for any future revision or new K8T800 model."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The ABIT AN7 Motherboard has all the overclocking potential you would expect from ABIT but this one has Guru Technology. This technology means that you can control a number of BIOS features right from Windows. Also, this motherboard has onboard RAID, audio, LAN, USB2, Firewire & more. It's an excellent product that combines performance and stability at an affordable price."

More information on this video review can be found here.

"One thing I have learned about dealing with German companies is that they only claim what they can deliver. Innovatek are no exception, they promise to provide you a quiet, conclusive, well made kit that will perform better than stock. To the letter that is exactly what they provided."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Even if the looks of this case are a bit over the top the features of this case cannot be denied. Overall we were very happy with this case and have reservations recommending the Diabolic Minotaur."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Many things in the technology sector are subject to continual updates and reconfigurations. Even though this practice isn't normally seen in the motherboard world that doesn't mean it will never happen. Case in point, the new DFI LanParty Pro875(B). Now with CMOS Reloaded Technology."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Why add fans to your case if your gonna have those old flat cables restricting the air flow. Use these rounded cables and get the most out of your equipment. The 24" dual device cables are ATA 133 compatible and can easily be modified into a 16 inch or 8 inch single device cable. All cables are pictured under natual and UV lighting so you can see the difference."

More information on this sale can be found here.

"In all I'm happy with the CoolSprinter. The idea of water cooling has always been a bit crazy to me, and therefore something I wanted to do. After overcoming the initial worries I don't really think about it anymore until someone comes round and says "what the hell are those pipes in your computer?". I admit I was overly excited about the whole concept, and had very high expectations which the CoolSprinter didn't initially meet. I was ready for rock solid 25 degree temperatures and huge overclocks. But I guess in reality that was never going to happen. With a hugely expensive setup I might have achieved better results, but do I really need them? The CoolSprinter keeps my system at a good temperature and completely stable, and makes very little noise doing it."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Lux-Design sends a reminder of their current Christmas Sale. Right now you can save 10% on everything except cases and performance hardware. This does not exclude water cooling gear. This is a event that is becoming a tradition each and every year. Buy $50 and up of products, insert the word "santa" without quotes in the discount coupon area at checkout, click on recalculate and receive 10% off just like that!"

More information on this sale can be found here.

"The case is also supplied with an 350W ATX P4 PLUS 12V power supply. It is nothing to write home about because it is just a basic power supply having 4 power connections for your hard drives and CDROMs and 2 for your floppy. Most Power Supplies will only come with this many connections, plus a few that know one uses. One thing I will say about this PSU is that it was quite. And the air flow is nice."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Over the last few days many of us have heard the reports of a new AMD Athlon 64 CPUs floating around on retail shelves and that certainly is the case. We heard there was a "3000+" about and many of us expected to see an Athlon 64 3000+ running at 1.8GHz with 1MB of L2 cache. What we got was very different. What we found for sale was often mislabeled with incorrect specifications pertaining to clock rates and caches sizes. What we got was somewhat surprising."

More information on this article can be found here.

DFI LANParty NFII ULTRA B Motherboard Review

"The LANParty NFII ULTRA B is the latest addition to DFI’s enthusiast friendly LANParty line, sporting the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset. The NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset supports all AMD socket 462 based processors including their performance line of 400 MHz FSB processors. The chipset also offers full support for PC3200 DDR memory running in Dual Channel mode. Like most current motherboards on the market, the NFII ULTRA B is a feature complete solution, requiring only CPU, DRAM modules, video card, and drives for a working system."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The X-Turbine has 2 windows. The side has a nicely sized window with an included fan. This will not only cool your case, but also show off your hardware. A cathode would accent hardware through this window rather well."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The popularity of "cube type" small footprint systems has led users to investigate the possibility of building their own small form factor systems. On the surface, building a small form factor system might seem to be utopia solution, but it does come with a price. The applications for small form factor PC vary greatly from user to user and situation to situation."

More information on this review can be found here.

2003 Winter Case Review Part 2: The ATX Avalanche

"With each case review the number of cases we review grows, as does the amount of time required to examine, test and review those cases. The good news is that the choices available to the consumer continue to grow. This second part of the 2003 Fall Case Review thus completes the largest and most comprehensive case review in THG's history."

More information on this review can be found here.

"2003 was an exciting year for technology. We saw mass adoption of wireless technologies both in computer and home theater applications, the prices of our favorite plasma televisions have come down to ranges we are comfortable with, and notebook PC's have reached an all time low on the weight factor. But now that the holiday season is upon us, you are probably wondering what the perfect gift would be for that special someone. Let Designtechnica guide you as we point out our favorite products from the year 2003."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"Quiet computers are all the rage as our PC's move closer and closer to our home media centers. Following this trend, I put my main computer into a built-in entertainment center. In doing so, the ventilation was cut to zero and case and CPU temperatures immediately rose to hazardous levels. I had to use the computer with the door of the hutch wide open for air circulation and that was loud and impractical."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"S3 Graphics will be producing two S8 cards, the S8 and the S8 Nitro, with the only difference between the two cards being clock speeds. S3 clocks the standard S8 at 300MHz on the core and its memory, while the S8 Nitro runs at 315/315MHz. The video card that we received was the DeltaChrome S8, which is a a six-layer board with core and memory set at 300MHz/600MHz."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Confusion aside, Computer memory modules have had some changes in its celerity, We are starting to witness the stabilities along with control as the data is commuting down the information hi-ways and bi-ways of our home computers. At such a rate one has to stop and wonder how it is possible. With introductions of dual channel chipsets To our home computers, The information is traveling even faster by splitting the data and sending it to two modules simultaneously. On the other hand the back and forth action can be slowed if the modules are not matched carefully, the better the matched modules the better the performance rate. As far as the visual aspect of the memory modules there hasn't been a great deal of aesthetics until now with The Corsair XMS Pro Series, Introducing its 18 activity LED's atop of an aluminum heatsink one can now see the performance in more ways than one. Today I'll be looking and testing The Twinx1024 3200LLPRO XMS Pro Series from Corsair."

More information on this review can be found here.

"ASUS did a lot of things right with the P4C800-E Deluxe. The board was very fast, and extremely stable. They don't include a whole lot of frills and extras, but the end result is a cheaper priced board. A nice upgrade from their P4C800 is adding the ICH5R and allowing more vCore voltage."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Gamers will appreciate the size and quality of the XTracPads Ripper mousepad. The pad tracks great and is perfect for any gamer that frequents LAN parties. If you do intend to buy this pad be sure to pickup the XTrac Eels (mouse feet) to go along with it. Without them this pad can snag and catch, otherwise it works great."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Billed as the "Latest Weapon in PC Gaming", the Diabolic series cases are aimed squarely at the PC enthusiast and gamer. The one that we have here today is the TH202 Minotaur and I just know you guys are gonna love the looks of this thing."

I had a chance to preview some photos of this case last night, pretty cool. More information on this review can be found here.

"Looking at the Spiral Cold Cathode Fan Grill there is really only a few things that one can say: If you want to light up your case, get a real cold cathode. If you want a fan grill, get a normal one. This is really not worth the twelve-dollar price tag. While there probably is a place and a time where this fan grill will be a cool addition to a case, in the majority of cases this fan grill will do little more than block the majority of the airflow that your little 80mm fan can blow."

More information on this review can be found here.

"When I first saw this unit on Enermax's website I was pretty impressed with the Enermax UC-A8FATRA Aluminum Fan Controller on looks alone. My feelings didn't change at all once I had received the unit for review."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The FSP Silent-Solution Kit is certainly a very nice product. With great PSUs from leading companies such as Enermax and Antec, it leaves a small gap in the market for other manufacturers to fill in. FSP are climbing their way up the ladder trying to catch up with the big boys."

MTB Labs reviewed this product last week, here is our comparison review. More information on this review can be found here.

"It is easy to see that the 9800 is the most powerful card in this lineup. Acheiving 2,203 points more than the 5900 turbo, which is running higher core and memory speeds."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Thermalright SP-97 Heatsink is designed for the socket 462 and uses the motherboards mounting holes for a secure fit. This heatsink is 100% copper with 32 fins which are soldered directly onto the smooth solid copper base. Something very distinctive about this heatsink are the pipes which come from the copper base up into the copper fins to further assist in cooling."

More information on this video review can be found here.

"It's time to turn the focus on the VisionTek Xtasy 9800 XT, which is a 256MB card just like the 5950 Ultra. Also just like the 5950 Ultra, it's basically just an overclocked version of its father. In this case, that father is a 9800 Pro, which has a VPU core clocked at 380MHz and memory running at 340MHz (680MHz DDR). The XT flexes its muscles a little harder and runs at 412MHz core and 365MHz memory (730MHz DDR). In addition to being clocked higher, the XT features a new and improved cooler design. It's a lot more interesting design than on the basic 9800 Pro cards."

More information on this review can be found here.

"More times then not I see people sacrifice their memory to save money on their systems and with technologies coming out as fast as they are, this is getting to be a big problem. There have been many times where I have had to trouble shoot the latest dual channel motherboards because of blue screening and unstable behavior and the problem ends up being memory that was not intended to run on a dual channel platform. In this article we will not only show the performance difference in running ultra low latency memory against your every day value ram, but we will also go in to why dual channel optimization and low latency is important in today's computers."

More information on this review can be found here.

"From now until 3:00pm EST Friday December 19th, we are offering the brand new SP-97 by pre-order for an unbelievable price. The SP-97 coolers will arrive on Tuesday Dec 22nd, and ship immediately. Pre-ordering at only $64.95 CDN, this is a significant discount over other distributors. This is a one time pre-order special. Do not pass this by as you will not see pricing like this on these coolers anytime soon."

More information on this pre-order special can be found here.

"Say goodbye to sweaty palms. The Xoxide LED fan mouse is the coolest product to hit the market since the cold cathode. This cool mouse is a wired optical mouse with a blue LED cooling fan embedded in the mouse to keep your hand cool and fresh. A three-position switch on the side of the 800 dpi optical mouse adjusts the fan to high, low, and off positions."

Specifications:

- Optical cool mouse
- PS/2 port
- Switch:60 +/- 15 gf
- Advanced optical design, exact orientation
- System requirements: PC for IBM XT/AT and Pentium compatible
- Supporting OS: Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me, NT, or XP
- Safety/Quality Approvals: CE FCC

More information on this new product can be found here.

"The CPL Pentium® 4 Processor Winter 2003 Championship is taking place at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas, Texas, from Tuesday, December 16 to Saturday, December 20, 2003.
Launched June 26, 1997, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) is the world's first computer gaming sports league. Having hosted final tournaments on five continents and official qualifying tournaments in over 40 countries, the CPL is the global leader in professional computer gaming. The CPL has hosted 20 final tournaments in the USA alone with total attendance of over 20,000 gamers."

Online coverage of this event can be found here. Cold Dog from the Pheaton Forums is also providing coverage of this year's C3 case modding competition. More information on C3 can be found here.

"How can you help to eliminate that rat's nest of wiring for your various devices and put everything in one place? The obvious answer is a multi-format card reader. Enter in Transcend's 6-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader. Let's proceed on to see just how this unit stacks up and if it would be a good investment for you."

More information on this review can be found here.

"As I sit here in the dark typing this review, just for the effect, I have to admit to loving it. It is one of those things that is a great item to take LAN'ing for no reason other than it just looks so damn cool."

More information on this review can be found here.

"What can we conclude about the Noisetaker? Enermax has come through with a solid power supply unit that will perform solidly for the average to advanced computer user. The many features of the unit make it very attractive for present and future applications, particularly ATX12V v1.3. The unit itself is whisper quiet, even after the computer was turned off and the fans continued to spin to cool the unit, the fans could not be heard."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Before you buy any computer component, it is very important to do your homework and consider what you need (versus what you want. or crave. or drool over, in my case). If you do not need a $350 video card, why would you buy one? If you are not apt to use all of its features, then save yourself a couple hundred bucks and buy something that isn't as powerful."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This time around, they have something for those who have the need to push beyond PC-3200 barrier. As more overclockers need more headroom to spare, KingMAX introduces its new DDR-433 SDRAM module which they believe is the best choice for avid overclockers. As part of the SuperRAM series, this is something different from the norm. Of course there are other memory modules which touch even PC-4000 but KingMAX is more focused towards regular overclockers with a smaller budget in mind. With no further ado, let's take a closer look at KingMAX's 256MB DDR-433 Memory Module (PC-3500)."

More information on this review can be found here.

"A few months ago, when Intel officially released their Canterwood chipset, we took a look at one of the first Canterwood-based motherboards to hit the market, the AOpen AX4SC Max. In the time since then, the Canterwood and Springdale chipsets have become the performance chipsets of choice for the Pentium 4 platform. AOpen has recently released a second revision to their high-end Springdale motherboard, the AX4C Max II. This motherboard only offers a few extra features over it's predecessor, but remains indicative of the innovation in AOpen's premium offerings."

More information on this review can be found here.

"No one said this was the end of the AthlonXP processor and if they did they need to re-evaluate that statement. With motherboards still in production such as the Abit AN7 and processor prices falling like they are there is still a bright future for the AthlonXP. With that said I expect in the near future to find that companies such as VIA will release updated chipsets for the AthlonXP."

More information on this review can be found here.

"From our point of view this Thermaltake Aquarius III has prolonged life for a great many years compared to a fixed water cooling system. Also you have the excellent front panel control displays and fan control. And lets face it, for those of us who enjoy working on things and in this case the water cooling system the Thermaltake Aquarius III control Unit has the space available for us to make improvements."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I do think the CL10000 does have some interesting potential, even for power users. The size of the CL10000 will make it very easy to install almost anywhere. Though I haven't seen it, I've heard stories of them being installed in cars, but I'm certain many of you can find more creative applications."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we’re going to have a look at a couple of products from CrazyPC.com. First on the agenda is the Scorpio Silver ATX Mid-Tower case. This is a case based on a classic design, but with a few surprises built in. And to accent the case we will add our second item, LED Case Feet."

More information on this review can be found here.

"So, without furter adieu, I give you Atoxx's 100% custom made aluminum case that looks like it belongs right on your rack as much as any VCR would. It has such details as an external PSU with custom made fittings to enable it to be "plugged" into the back of the case much like we plug up anything else to our appliances. He even went as far as to modding an old Keyboard controller to accept signals from custom made buttons!"

More information on this project can be found here.

Silverstone SST-LC01 All Alluminium Case Review

"There are many parts to a HTPC setup that most people just don't think about and we're trying our best to get the news and reviews out there for the public so when and if they decide to build their first HTPC, they'll be armed with the knowledge of tried and tested Home Theater PC parts."

More information on this review can be found here.

"From here on in the Mod really starts to take on its final shape. You can see the internal complexity and vintage Sci-Fi 'Electronic Brain' look that was inspired by the original Blakes 7 Orac. I want the final look to be complex but still following along my main themes and always with attention to the small details. I hope that people will be able to look and look and look at this case in action and just keep discovering something new."

More information on this great project can be found here.

"Over the summer this year we were contemplating what our next computer case should consist of. It was almost a year since the lego case was proudly displayed at LAN Addict and we couldn't let 2003 pass without something that stood out. Thus we were on our way when we saw the AOL CD in the mail. From here, the rest is history."

More information on this project can be found here.

"The Thermalright ALX-800 Heatsink fits the socket 462 and is very similar to the SLK-800 heatsink; however, the ALX 800 is made from a solid block of aluminum and weights 100 grams less. While this heatsink has a three point secure clip design it requires the use of a screwdriver for installation and removal. Overall this heatsink is well designed, performs great and is lightweight."

More information on this video review can be found here.

"Arctic Silver 5 compared to its older brother AS3 and Cooler Master Premium (Shin Etsu). How does it perform? We test it on an Intel system, letting each compound "burn in" for 3 days!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"In this day and age I would expect most of you to have a broadband connection of some flavour. Most of us here in the UK have either an ADSL modem or a cable modem but with the 'always on' aspect of broadband comes the age old problem of security, firewalls being the most common defence be it a software solution or a hardware device such as the DLink unit we have here today."

More information on this review can be found here.

"One of the names that should always come up when thinking of companies that cater towards enthusiasts is BFG Tech. Products and attitude are two defining traits of an enthusiast oriented company; they try to take that extra step and really cater to gamers."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Logitech Cordless MX Duo is Logitech's latest RF wireless keyboard and mouse suite. It boasts the Cordless Elite Keyboard and the MX 700 Cordless Optical Mouse. See how this RF wireless set can fit into your setup through our latest review by our gaming manager, Chris "Thoth" Lahiri."

More information on this review can be found here.

Scythe Kamakaze HSF Review

"This HSF comes in at a price point that makes it affordable and in a package that cools with some of the much more expensive coolers. It can do all this while being completely silent with it's rheostat set at "low" (or silent) on our 3.2ghz Test bench. It takes one heck of a cooler to run silent and keep a 3.2ghz well withing operating ranges."

More information on this review can be found here.

"A lot of you are familiar with the Apple I-Pod, I am sure, and that's exactly what this player is trying to emulate even down to the way it looks. However, this player has features over and above even what Apple's mighty little machine has to offer."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Two boards that highlight the power of the Athlon 64 3200+ to the fullest. Both are extremely fast and carry a reasonable feature set. Yet we feel as if both could be improved markedly with a little more thought for the BIOS, feature set and bundle. If it's raw power that you hanker for, both boards have it in spades."

More information on this review can be found here.

Hercules 3D Prophet 9800XT Classic 256MB Review

"It's these kind of factors that will plague any 9800XT model. Hercules' is a sound one. It does exactly what it says in the box and is quiet in doing so. If you've got a spare £370 or so and absolutely must have the best consumer-level graphics card, the Hercules 3D Prophet 9800XT Classic isn't a bad choice. However, it doesn't do anything special to make it a must-have product. It'll sell, but there's plenty of manufacturers who now want a piece of the high-end pie. A good, solid card that's a little boring."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Neuros Audio Computer is not only an mp3 player. It is an MP3 player on a high dosage of caffeine. One of my favorite features on the Neuros is the HiSi(HearItSayIt). You may hear a tune on the radio while listening to the Neuros that you can’t get out of your head. You must find out the name of the song. The Neuros comes to your aid. Click the orange button on the unit and it will record a 30 second sample of the song. The Neuros uses advanced audio footprint technology made available by Relatable to not only identify the song name but the artist as well. Next time you synchronize your Neuros with your PC it will identify your HiSi requests."

More information on this review can be found here.

"One of the first attributes a person looks for when buying a new case is the appearance. This case looks very promising. The fireball looks great; the premodded window and temperature displays are a modders dream. On the side door, the window is cut in a creative X shape and a fan is installed in the window. On the front, the temperature display is backlit by a blue light, red if alarm is triggered."

More information on this review can be found here.

"SilverStone is becoming a familiar name on this site and things keep being varied as we first looked at their internal/external card reader, then one of their power supplies, and today we have one of their more mainstream cases. This case we are looking at today is designed as a gamers case and comes with a window, cooling options, room for expansion, and more in a small mid-tower form. This case is dubbed the SST-B032FW and has so much to talk about that I ask you to sit back, get a cup of whatever it is you drink, and read along as I try to hit every detail of this case and my experiences with it."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Mountain Mods award winning U2-UFO Aluminum Cube is sporting two new coats just in time for winter. The new Powder Coated Series offers the same great Aluminum Cube design with an alternative finish. Now you can pick one up in Mirror Black or Patriot Red. The case undergoes a process of Chromate Conversion to alter the surface of the aluminum. This altered surface allows for maximum adhesion for the paint. The case is then baked in an oven melting the paint to a smooth automotive like finish. This finish is not only aesthetically pleasing but adds durability. It is highly scratch and fingerprint resistant. The end result - Pigmentation and Protection."

If you haven't had a chance to check out the U2-UFO, this is one of the best pre-fabricated cases currently on the market. More information on this product can be found here.

Along with our new posted review, there is currently a special discount for the MTB community over at the ADPMods website. Enter the code MTBKVM (case sensitive) on checkout to get $2.95 off. This lowers the price of the StarTech PC Switcher KVM Switch to an even $50 CDN. This offer is only good until December 31st, 2003 while quantity lasts. A big thank-you goes to ADPBoss for the hookup.

More information on this promotion can be found here.

"The SkiveStream II is a nickel plated copper heatsink with a 70mm fan. This cooler is shipped in a box that looks like it has been made with quality. Spire doesn't include thermal paste although there is a square patch of thermal paste on the bottom of the heatsink just incase your worried about using/applying thermal paste. The SkiveStream II has an excellent finish on the bottom sure to yield the best cooling results possible. A good heatsink for the average user."

More information on this review can be found here.

"If you are planning or have an UV theme in your case lighting, these connectors are a must. They add a small but noticable detail to your case. Combine these with some planned cable management and your case will be noticed for sure."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Noise Isolator PWM Fan Controller incorporates a few interesting features that are welcome refinements to the relatively simple design of your typical rheobus. The high (20W per channel) power rating, six 3-pin fan headers, and two 12V power switches make this device as functional as it is attractive."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Enermax Ultimate Fan Controller is a brand new all aluminum fan controller and thermal monitor. If you been waiting for a high quality product that gives you the option of controlling four case fans, monitor four temperature areas and give you a look that you can't get from any other unit, then this Enermax is for you."

More information on this review can be found here.

Akasa PC Modding Kit Review

"Akasa has come out with their PC Modding Kit just in time for the Holiday Season. It contains everything budding first time modders could want and then some. The PC Modding Kit is available in the UK and Europe, but after reading this, you better get on over to your High Street reseller, because they’re selling like hotcakes and you wouldn’t want to disappoint the modder in your household!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"My first impressions were pretty good. It has a nice box and a lot of information on it. It is retail packaged and readily available to be housed on a store shelf, which is something I would like to see at retail stores like Best Buy and CompUSA. This is all nice and good but how does it perform?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"As of yesterday, I would say that the 5700 Ultra is an awesome performer (especially with driver improvements), and definitely worth considering for $190 or so. Hopefully the price will drop to below $150, because if it did, this card would once again be an absolute steal!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Since the first picture broadcast in 1926 from one room to another, The Television has become the most known domestic device in the world. In the seventy some years of its existence it has seen many improvements. Besides the toaster and sliced bread, another constant growing phenomenon to become part of our everyday home life is the computer. It too has had much advancement in its short life among us, enabling us to view our favorite movies, create instant photos, and among other things listen to the beat of our music collections while we budget the family funds. To have these two cross paths in a user friendly form of a remote control, whether it is from another room or right beside each other would only make sense."

More information on this review can be found here.

"What things ultimately come down to is the overall experience. The packaging is excellent, the contents are among the best in the business, and performance is top of the line. This board is a perfect fit for the LAN party regular who wants a show centerpiece without sacrificing options or performance. For the rest of us, it offers top-notch engineering, excellent performance, and a host of useful features. I’ve had the opportunity to be around some of the most awarded AMD-based motherboards in recent years, and the LanParty nForce2 Ultra Revision B tops them all."

More information on this review can be found here.

PowerColor 9800XT Water Block Mod

"For most of us, putting a waterblock on the new Radeon 9800XT has meant trying to find alternate RAM cooling to replace the removed top heatsink and copper shield. Envy's resident dremel-meister Ken O'Rielly has put together a quick and easy guide to modifying the top heatsink so that a water block can fit comfortably without losing the precious RAM cooling. A quick cut here and there is all you need, no extra RAMsinks or thermal compounds required!"

More information on this guide can be found here.

"Lian Li's latest aluminum case series takes care of any possible fault I have found in any previous versions. With the inclusion of the top blowhole and additional rear exhaust, this case would be a great option for the overclocker or a conventional computer user that wants a cool running system. The universal front panel is the first I have seen on the market to date and will allow the user to customize their new case to match their taste and preferences."

More information on this review can be found here.

Cooler Master has set new standards in the case market because of their innovative designs. Cases like Wave Master from CoolerMaster have won many industry wide awards, proving their quality. CoolerMaster seems to be quite popular with their heatsinks as well as other utilities that aid in overclocking. CoolerMaster recently announced Praetorian as a new edition to their fine line of cases."

More information on this review can be found here.

"VICTORIA, BC, CANADA -- Touted as one of the most innovative PC enclosures to hit the consumer market this year, The Upgrade Path Inc.'s new ClearPC® Briefcase is set to alter our concept of portable computers. What is the ClearPC® Briefcase? Answer: An all-clear acrylic computer case modeled after James Bond's attaché, or so Franjo Goluza, manufacture of ClearPC® computer cases and owner of The Upgrade Path Inc. would have you believe.

"This thing is James. It's portable, low-profile and James-Bondian in its styling: the modding possibilities are endless. Even LCD displays take on a completely new meaning in this case."

The ClearPC® Briefcase is the first commercially produced computer enclosure of its kind. That's not surprising from a company that is consistently at the forefront in enclosure design, producing unique PC cases and modified acrylic products."

More information on this press release can be found here.

"It is still pretty hard to sound excited about a fan, why? well because all they do is to spin and sometimes flash. This leaves a risk that innovation and advancements in that simple bit of kit that we all have can be missed."

More information on this review can be found here.

"A closer look at the sub-woofer reveals some of the main differences between this set and the Z-680's. Two simple "right" and "left" RCA-type connectors for the satellites and the same D-sub interface for the controller box. As with the other model, the power supply is contained inside the box so all you have to deal with is a simple power cord which is great in my eye."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Given the popularity of Cooler Master's line of 5.25" bay devices, namely the Aerogate II and Musketeer, it was only a matter of time before they expanded their product line, and now they have done exactly that. Today, we're going to take another look at these two products, but instead of the traditional silver, they are both decked out in black, which should make many users quite happy."

More information on this review can be found here.

Icy Dock SATA Removable HD Enclosures Review

"Modularization using the 3 in 2 concept seems to be growing in popularity with both Cooler Master and Lian-Li offering cases that contain modular units, but the Cremax Icy Dock MB235SPF is the very first we've run into that also features the removable drive feature, the others are strictly internal units."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This time around we have a DVD burner in the hot seat. With DVD burners now in the affordable price range, more and more customers are picking them up. The drive we are testing today is AOpen's DRW4410. This drive has really started to get some press as one of the most affordable drives in its class. This 4x DVD burner is one of the first to break the US$100 barrier."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today 3dxtreme has the pleasure of reviewing the Cooler Master Musketeer. The Musketeer is a multi-purpose function panel that displays CPU temperature, fan voltage, and sound pressure with adjustable sliders for fan voltage and sound pressure."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Has there been a time when you were listening to your portable CD/MP3 player and your friend wanted to listen? It is a pain to be switching back a forth between both of you. Most of us do not have portable CD/MP3 players, but almost everyone one of us has a FM stereo lying around. How can the FM stereo help? Well Digiana has a Wireless audio portable FM linker. What this device does is link any portable device with an FM frequency."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The OCZ Gladiator 3 is built with the computer modding community in mind. They use attention getting colors and lights to help bring attention to the CPU. Overall with an approximate price of $15 - $20 I think the OCZ Gladiator 3 is a great consideration for building a new system. It is no louder than a stock fan, and at the same time offers much better cooling ability."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This case has been designed to be in the quiet and stylish market. There have been a plethora of products that involve making the pc more tolerable to the ears. The quiet market has steadily grown from low rpm/ high cfm fans to the extreme of water cooling. While the stylish market has gone from pre mod windows to glossy paint. This is how Antec combined both to create the Antec Sonata."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Dynatron 80mm UV fans offer a lot for the money. They glow very bright under UV lighting and have a 16 inch 4-pin lead for power and 3 pin lead for RPM reading. The 4-pin lead has a purple braided sleeving on the blue and orange fans and black sleeving on the green fans. The 3-pin leads are the same color as the fans. All fans spin at 2400 RPM and push 34 CFM."

More information on this sale can be found here.

"The MCX159 is Swiftech his latest air-cooled Northbridge cooler. It is available for both AMD and Intel motherboards and in this review I'm going to test it on the Pentium 4 platform, with a Springdale motherboard from AOpen. The motherboard has a very simple aluminum heatsink for passive northbridge cooling, and temperatures were pretty high with it. Read further to see what Swiftech his MXC159 Northbrigde cooler was able to do."

More information on this review can be found here.

"A few common trends are shown up by these figures. Higher end cards are more heavily crippled by a slower PC, but slow cards do not perform significantly better with a fast PC. It seems that the speed of the PC only acts as a bottleneck, which will determine the upper limit of your possible graphics performance, unless the limits of the graphics card are reached first."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The CD/RW industry seems to be slowly but surely fading away. This could be due to the fact of CD/RW drives starting to reach their speed limits and DVD/RW
drives becoming more and more popular. One approach to bring some more light to the CD/RW market is to release a variety of products that bring different and unique features to the drives. MSI looks to be trying that with their latest CD/RW drive we are testing today."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I like pumps: big pumps (reactor coolant pumps), little pumps (HPLC injection pumps), high-pressure hydraulic pumps, and low-pressure PC watercooling pumps. But to be useful pumps must be controlled. The purpose of this article is to discuss several different PC watercooling pump control strategies, ranging from very simple, low-cost solutions to more complex, failsafe circuits capable of initiating an emergency shutdown of the computer."

If you're into water cooling, this is an excellent reference article on pump automation and sensor control. More information on this article can be found here.

"Overall, I was quite impressed with the ICY Dock. It did a fine job of keeping my hard-drive cool and is amazingly easy to remove from its tray if needed. I was rather pleased with the included 12V fan, which did a superb job of keeping my ICY Dock well below average case temperatures."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Bouncing and Beaming: The Cantenna Solution Wifi can be a PITA to get working reliably. If you’re having problems trying to get your wireless, well, wireless, there are alternative ways to making yourself a portable device. Here’s a look at the EtherDesigns Cantenna boosters."

More information on this review can be found here.

"ATI not being content with their recent performance decided to up the ante yet again leaving NVIDIA to react. This time, it was the launch of their XT line of Radeons, specifically the 9600XT and 9800XT. To help quench our thirst for speed and one great price ATI gave us the 9600 XT to test and play with this Holiday Season."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I don’t believe hardcore gamers would purchase a RADEON 9500 or 9600, but people on a budget will. If you belong to the best-for-your-buck gang, then find one of the few 9500 PROs remaining. If you cannot afford the higher price tag of the 9500 PRO, the 9600 PRO is a great replacement. While it does not give the highest framerates available on the market, it will adequately fulfill any gaming needs any mid-range system requires. And with WinDVD 4 bundled in Crucial’s 9600 PRO, along with s-video and tv-out ready to go, the price is nice."

More information on this review can be found here.

"It seems that a consistent theme is being used in many of today's better heatsinks. Copper absorbs heat better than aluminum while aluminum sheds heat. Aluminum fins therefore shed the heat faster while the copper base is more efficient pulling the heat from the CPU due to its better thermal absorption properties."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The pictures you've seen here today just don't illustrate how well made these blocks truly are. Performance was excellent, and with the exception of the nylon parts, and lack of documentation, these blocks are simply the best we've tested."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The drive for cooling and the control of cooling measured with style and noise has brought around a new variety of products. As part of these products are fan controllers which have been developing and increasing in their diversity and functionality. Today we have a product from Super-Flower that is following along these lines to give end-users the ability to controller more than just your fan speed, the Fan-Master SF-609 which indeed does allow you to master your PC environment."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The purpose behind this guide is to give you a general idea of what kind of high-end gaming PC is possible with a budget of $2500. While the individual components are top notch, we take a look at the larger picture, and decide which pieces meld together the best to form the highest-performing, feature-rich gaming PC possible. We recommend configurations for both the Intel and AMD sides of the spectrum, and are not here to promote one platform over the other."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"As far as case designs go, most manufacturers tend to stick to the plain old box-type design, which leaves the case looking like a box; nothing but right angles and long straight edges. Enermax takes case design one step further with their CS-5190AL-061 case which features a funky slanted front bezel and an automotive-grade paintjob."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Time for another great sale from Voyeurmods. The holiday season is closing FAST and we know that their are a lot of "LAST-MINUTE" shoppers that still need to get gifts for friends and family. Our Sales Event is simple, spend $50.00 or more and receive 10% off your entire order. How do you get the discount? Once you have added $50.00 or more of merchandise to the cart, simply type in the following discount code into the discount code area on checkout."

More information on this sale can be found here.

"Though bulkier than SFF cases, slim towers are very compact and not limited to the grossly underpowered ITX motherboards. Instead, they use mATX motherboards which is just an ATX motherboard, minus a few PCI slots. The SilverStone GD98-LED is a slim tower cases. Even though it is not as small as SFF cases and does not have the interior of a mid tower, as you read on, you will see that the GD98-LED is still well suited for the majority of computer users."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The sound of all of those 120mm fans is so great that I have had to fit switches to them so I can turn them off at meal times. We simply could not hear the kids talk. The cat, of the long haired variety, started to look wind swept and we did notice that the room was getting warm."

More information on this article can be found here.

"The power supply is the most overlooked component when building a system and the wrong power supply can cause instability, and sometimes even failure of other hardware or even the power supply itself. So, what does it take to be a quality power supply? Just how well does the Turbo-Cool 510 Deluxe perform? Read on to find out."

More information on this review can be found here.

Thermaltake PurePower 480w PSU Review

"Today we're hitting you with another PSU review, this time it's Thermaltake's Silent PurePower 480w unit on the table. Thermaltake has previously made themselves very popular i the CPU cooling market, and recently with their Xaser series of cases, in the computer case market, but only recently have they started to make power supplies. We'll have to see today if their 480w model is worthy of your overclocked beast of a computer."

More information on this review can be found here.

"While the company Slim Devices has been around for over two years, we only just learned of their SLIMP3 networked music player this summer. We checked out the SLIMP3 for a review and loved it. In that review, we mentioned that the only thing it lacks are digital outputs and wireless capabilities. Just as if the folks at Slim Devices had catered to our every whim, only a week after we posted our review of their SLIMP3 they were telling us of their new networked media player, the "Squeezebox".

More information on this review can be found here.

"Ever since the invention of the floppy disk, companies have been finding new ways to transport large amounts of data between computers. Although the Zip disk, tape, and CD-R were all breakthroughs in their day, nothing came close to the mammoth storage capacity of an internal hard drive. The hurdle of turning your internal hard drive into an external one was solved when IDE to USB 2.0 bridges were developed. One company to take advantage of all this technology is Bytecc. Their latest offering, the ME-350U2, turns an ordinary internal hard drive into a portable storage solution."

More information on this review can be found here.

"In the first of our AMD Athlon 64 Motherboard Head to Head articles we put the Albatron K8X800 Pro II up against the EPoX 8HDA3 which are both based on VIA's K8T800 chipset with the VT8237 Southbridge."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Something that I really like and neglected to mention on the review of the AK79D is the color coded front panel connector. This makes inserting HD leds and power switches a lot simpler. As someone who works around computers all day, small touches like this are much appreciated as I do not need to go looking around for the instruction manual to figure out where to connect the different headers."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Soltek SL-K8AV-R plays an integral entry-level part in the Black Thunder series by providing a very cost effective and classy motherboard to the budget-minded consumer."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Crucial recently released their winter line-up of graphics boards, with the RADEON 9800 Pro 256MB leading the pack. Unfortunately, they are a little late to the game with this one for two reasons. First, as seen in the benchmarks, NVIDIA has gained ground with the 52.16 driver release. Second and most importantly, the price of this board cannot compete with 256MB GeForce FX 5900 Ultra boards that have been on shelves for months, especially since they have decreased in price even more since the release of the 5950."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we are taking a look at the AOpen's H360 Micro ATX Case. Selecting the right case is an important part of the small formfactor PC building process. Since these cases are typically used in a location where they are visible to others, enthusiasts try and avoid a boring beige case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The second, larger door on the top surface of the case has an 80mm fan on hinges. When the door opens, the fan rotates up slightly, and also allows everything to be closed down for transportation. Part of this top assembly also pops up and becomes a sturdy handle. I had no fear of carrying this case around using the handle, even fully loaded."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Unfortunately, Gigabyte did little to change the appearance of the GeForceFX 5950 Ultra, leaving it based on the NVIDIA reference design. While this design works well, there is nothing setting the Gigabyte GeForceFX 5950 Ultra apart from all the other GeForceFX 5950 Ultra cards based on the reference design, apart from a Gigabyte brand sticker. On the other hand, this is an intelligent way for Gigabyte to keep the cost of their GeForceFX 5950 Ultra solution to a minimum."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Once again XtReMoDs has put together a sweet giveaway. This time we pulled together some sponsors and some of our personal inventory. There will be 5 winners!"

More information on this contest can be found here.

"This Thermaltake power supply works for us and does exactly what it says it will do. How often do you buy a power supply so you want to buy one that will last for years giving top quality service. We certainly do not think you can go wrong by this Thermaltake Purepower 480w Butterfly Power Supply with its peak loading of up to 550 watts while being able to run all day at 480 watts loading."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we're looking at a rather unique product, a product that you would not usually find on a hardware review site. The product we are looking at today is a cAntenna, and that's no spelling mistake. cAntenna obviously comes from the word, Antenna and a cAntenna is an Antenna made from a Can (Pringles chip can, soup can, or what have you) hence the name. cAntenna's are mainly used for wardriving, freenet operators, and system administrators to run WiFi assessment tests."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Not everyone has a personal MP3 player or CD player or even a cassette tape player, but the majority do have a FM radio kicking around somewhere, whether it is in the living room or in your car they are not hard to unearth or hear for that matter. For those that do have one of these melody machines you are now able to share your private music collaborations with others through a frequency on FM radio with the Audia X-Wireless FM Transmitter. Today I'll be taking a look and testing the Audia X's capabilities."

More information on this review can be found here.

"XMS ProSeries, the wild child offspring of the XMS Series continues Corsair's legendary memory industry dominance with top-level performance, rock solid stability and looks to kill for. In other words, ProSeries for the ProSerious Enthusiast!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"If you want to tweak a bit extra out of your kit then its important to get good RAM. We evaluated two sets of RAM from Corsair and Transcend against gaming/system benchmarks, there was a difference, if you want to overclock which would be the best option for you, read on to find out in our official review."

More information on this review can be found here.

PowerColor Radeon 9200 SE Review

"With all the excitement of the high end video cards on the market today, we tend to forget that not all of us have $300-$500 to spend. Today, PowerColor brings us the Radeon 9200 SE. Aimed at the budget consumer for as little as $53 retail, we put it to the test and find out if the performance is worth the price."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Last month we checked out Highpoint's e.SATA v2.0 external storage kit. Today we have the latest e.SATA Kit in from the folks from Highpoint in Taiwan which sports true support for Serial ATA drives and increased performance over the older version. If external storage interests you, don't miss reading about this product."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The results speak for themselves. The Swiftech 462-V is an excellent choice in the war against heat and noise. It seems to be too easy for a company to repackage a heatsink with a more powerful (read louder) fan these days. Swiftech took the route less traveled with this heatsink, designing a heat sink to out-cool the competition with a high CFM or a low CFM fan installed."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The 8KNXP include technologies how Dual Channel, Hyper-Threading, and PAT, all bringed by the i875P chipset. Have 6 memory sockets runs at DDR400, obviously with 3 different positions to use the Dual Channel technology. For IDE hard discs: GigaRAID have the control of his RAID0, RAID1 or RAID0+RAID1, and for SATA HD's: Sil3112 is the chip that manages the RAID of 4 extra HD's, because the chipset could take control about other 4 HD's. The new Audio Jack-Sensing, is a new technology from Gigabyte, that enables to the connectors detect what peripheral is connected to him, and work at his necessity, for example we could hear music connecting the speakers in the microphone connector."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Matrix Regenerator Project is the second in a series of two case mods based on The Matrix movies. The first project, The Matrix: Rebirth 8.0 was a recreation of the scene where machines are breeding humans for their electric power. Regenerator will show the second stage in that breeding process, where adult humans are plugged in to their power plants, dreaming their dream within the Matrix and providing power for the machines."

More information on this project can be found here.

"On Monday, January 5th, 2004, CompuVision will be giving away an ATi Radeon 9800XT Retail Boxed Video Card to some lucky person. This promo is straight out of my pocket as I am not sponsored for throwing this promo, however, we want to thank all of our customers aboard for checking back with us from time to time and watching us progress into the future. In order to enter this contest, you will need to place an order of more then $75.00 CDN dollars off of our website and/or retail store and you will be automatically drawn into our contest. Please note that all participants must be over the age of 18 to enter. If a participant is under the age of 18 and wishes to particiapte in this contest then a parent and/or guardian must be notified and informed and authorization must be given. Contest winners under the age of 18 who do not have a parent or guardian present when picking up the prize will be refused of the spot."

More information on this promotion can be found here.

"MTB has received word from our good friends at Lux-Design that they have introduced new products from Cooler Master and Primotech Technology. The CoolDrive 4 combines all of the functions of our newly released Aerogate II & the solid hard disk drive cooling device like our CoolDrive 3. The Aerogate 1 is designed to adjust these fans to minimize the noise while providing sufficient cooling. Also included in our inventory are new UV Blue Typhoon Quad and Floppy Bay Reservoirs."

More information on these new products can be found here.

"In the first part of the trilogy of articles we will be looking at how to properly install a combination of an 80mm Blue LED Fan and Lasercut grill making a blowhole to be located at the top of the case to blow hot air out of the system. The advantages of this mod are as follows: Exhaust hot air out of the system in order to cool and create stunning looks from a small budget."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"Besides the case wrap itself, there is also a set of instructions included, with color pictures. The included instructions surprised me with their quality and thoroughness. There is also an install video on CrazyPC's website as mentioned on the instruction sheet. I watched this video through twice, and it gave me complete confidence when applying the case wrap. CrazyPC went above and beyond with their instructions, and no one should have trouble with this product."

More information on this review can be found here.

"While they weren't really known a few years ago, the release of their successful, not to mention gorgeous and high performing, SLK line of copper heatsinks, has lead them to become quite a common household name in the cooling community, ranking right up there with longtime heavyweights like Swiftech. But what can one do to build upon and improve a product line that is already stretching the current known limits of simple surface contact cooling? You add some heat pipes of course!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Well this card is a bit of an enigma. It is a budget card with all of the failings of a budget card. It has weak bass and high CPU usage. It produces a reasonable volume, but your neighbours are still going to talk to you. At this point it should stop, however it does produce 7.1 surround sound."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Forget the drama of Mike Tyson biting off ears or the mystery of Don King's ever expanding volume of hair because that is nothing compared to the controversy and excitement that is generated in the videocard world. In the middleweight division of video cards we have but two contenders. Forget about the chest thumping Xabre or the some 2-bit integrated solution. When push comes to shove it comes down to shove in the 200$ price range we have only two fighters contesting for undisputed value champion."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The WinFast A380 Ultra is not only worth considering because of its performance and price but also because of its great features and decent bundle. The VIVO features are a nice extra that add value to the package. I'm happy to see that Leadtek includes a VIVO cable with HDTV support. I'm also quite pleased with the cooler design that Leadtek implemented on the A380 Ultra. It is heavy, but it gets the job done well and quietly."

More information on this review can be found here.

"With bandwidth numbers encroaching and surpassing 6000Mb/sec, the XMS4000 is by far the fastest memory I have tested to date on Tweaknews.net. If you are a serious overclocker and require only the best for your system, this memory kit with definitely take the memory hindrance out of the equation. When coupled with the Abit IC7-G, I could easily overclock a 2.4C to well over 3.45Ghz which is where I was limited by the motherboards 2.8volt memory voltage limit. From what I have heard, this memory kit is capable of handling amazing memory over-voltages over 3.4 volts and if you have a motherboard that supports such high values, I can't see a 3.6Ghz overclock from a 2.4C being nothing but a couple BIOS settings away."

More information on this review can be found here.

"If you're in the market for some quality and affordable memory, you can check out our review of Crucial's PC3200 256MB modules. While they're not exactly aimed at the high performance seekers, users looking for stablility and quality should find exactly what they need."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Saying that, at stock speeds, the K8V Deluxe is one fast motherboard. At speeds under 209FSB, the system ran extremely stable and never hiccuped once. The board is fairly easy to work with, outside of the CMOS jumper, and booted up just fine out of the box."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we're looking at the DFI Lanparty NFII Ultra Rev B which pretty much packs the kitchen sink, plus the UV reactivity that has made DFI famous in recent months. The Rev B adds a couple of features over the Rev A, which we'll cover in this review. We'll also answer the question you're wondering about, this board looks nice, but can it do the job?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Ready for the Next Gen in water cooling reservoirs, in UV colors? With the Typhoon design, you will be able to return your warm water to the reservoir, instead of the "Next Block" in your system. Perfect for any "Multi-Block" cooling system. This Floppy Bay needs to be mounted in 2 empty 3 1/2" bays.

Features:

- Easy to install/Refill
- Looks great installed
- Superior performance
- Expandable configuration
- All parts included
- 4 Fan Mounting Screws
- Rounded corners gurantee injury free install

More information on these new products can be found here.

"The RBX represents Danger Den's latest foray into water block design. Incorporating both impingement and channeling, along with a few novel designs, the RBX steps forward to take on the competition. I will present the waterblock, and test it against my tried and true maze style block. To further evaluate this new cooler, my Co-Pimp AntiM will test the RBX against one of the prime waterblocks in his arsenal (I could tell you now, but why spoil the surprise!)."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The holiday buying season is in full swing, and represents another prime opportunity for an update to our Value Gaming PC Buyer's Guide. As always, we're hard at work looking for the best value gaming PC, and trying to find the optimum configuration for the budget-minded gamer. The scenario is bit different than some of the other buyer's guides on Sharky Extreme, as we limit the budget to $1,000 in cold, hard cash while the goal remains the same: to assemble a kick-ass gaming system that will play today's hottest games and have some power in reserve for tomorrow."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"Sheer performance isn't great with a discrete AGP card. However, the combination of the factors listed above raise it from being a poor system to one that has merit. This could have been the killer S478 SFF platform. As it is, and at the risk or repetition, it's good in certain areas and weak in others. It's worth a look if its talents match your requirements exactly. We'd probably opt for a SFF system without integrated graphics and add a cheap discrete card instead."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The CA-AP107 sports several surprising features usually reserved for higher end cases. Behind the very sturdy front flip panel hides two front mounted USB 2.0 ports as well as headphone and Mic ports plus a spot for a 1394 Firewire upgrade. With its gunmetal finish, blue LEDs, and chrome accents, the CA-AP107 was shaping up to be one sweet case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"In many ways, the computer case business has started to look like the automotive business. You have your sedans, hot rods, and sports cars. When Cooler Master released the Wave Master back in May, its great looks and tremendous quality cemented its place as the Lexus of the computer case world. Now Cooler Master is back for an encore, releasing a new version of the Wave Master, the TAC-T01-EK, which is clad in a jet black finish that has to be seen to be believed."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Servo motors are used in radio-controlled models (cars, planes), robotics, theme park special effects, test equipment, industrial automation. At the hobbyist end of the market they are small, compact and relatively inexpensive at around $US20. The motors themselves are black boxes which contain a motor, gearbox and decoder electronics. Three wires go into the box; 5V, ground and signal. A short shaft comes out of the motor which usually has a circular interface plate attached to it. Most servos will rotate through about 100 degrees in less than a second according to signal input. This kit will control up to 4 servo motors simultaneously."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"PolyGFX couldn't have done a better job updating their skin, their new paper is fantastic to work with, no airbubbles, a fantastic look for your laptop, and it's cheaper than airbrush. Installation was a pain. but that's because I wanted the skin all around the front cover, there other ways to do it without removing your warranty. The end result however speaks for it self! Overall a kickass product, and way better than their earlier skins which used normal vinyl."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Turn the clock forward to 2003 and VIA is again producing Asynchronous core-logic designs. We have recently introduced the PT880 chipset for the Intel Pentium 4 platform and early Q1 04 will see the introduction of the K8T800 Pro with Asynchronous bus design and 1GHz FSB for the AMD 64 platform."

More information on this review can be found here.

"PowerColor has been making video cards for a long time now and they seemed to have captured the hearts of many gamers and enthusiasts. Only basing their cards on ATI's GPUs, PowerColor is keeping up with its competitors in the market. This is a good time for ATI GPU based manufacturers esp. when ATI has managed to gain lead against Nvidia."

More information on this review can be found here.

"ATI's super fast Radeon 9800 XT graphics processor has been on the market for a little while now. Today we've got Power Color's vanilla version for you and we've put it head-to-head against its older brother, the Power Color 9800 Pro. Read on and find out if it is worth upgrading!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"The module allows a user to add an additional 3 x 3.5 inch hard drives in the space taken up by two empty bays. It is similar to the stock hard drive rack that also houses the power LED, activity LED, power button and reset button. In place of the LEDs and buttons it has a large Lian Li logo about the size of a case badge on the front."

More information on this review can be found here.

"M-Audio might not have as much consumer audio market share as Creative Labs but their Revolution 7.1 sound card definitely packs a punch and has a street price of $99. It’s too bad that not as many people know about M-Audio’s offerings. They're well known in the professional audio market. Creative Lab’s Audigy sound card, since it is marketed by a huge corporation has most of the gossip among tech gurus. Little do they know that M-Audio based in Arcadia, CA has a better product out and it has a street price less than Creative’s offering."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The D-Link DVG-1120M VoIP Gateway is a major factor in my enthusiasm for VoIP, as it provided me with a quick and easy installation and excellent phone call quality. The extent to which my Internet speed decreased surprised me, but I guess the packets sent for voice transmission use some serious bandwidth (major understatement)."

More information on this review can be found here.

"As many computer enthusiasts are wanting more hard drive space and faster drives, hard drive cooling is becoming more commonplace. There are all sorts of hard drive coolers ranging from a single 40mm fan to custom water cooling devices to bring those motor temperatures down. Today we will be looking at the Vantec Vortex VTC-CO1-SL hard drive cooler, with a Seagate Barracuda V hard drive for testing purposes."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Musketeer is the size of a standard CD/DVD drive which means you must have an empty 5.25" bay to install it. It has three VU meters on the front panel which measure voltage, audio, and temperature respectively. Two levers on the front panel control voltage and volume control. The back panel has connectors for temperature monitoring, power, audio monitoring, and fan power."

More information on this review can be found here.

"AOpen motherboards are synonymous with well-roundedness, and the AK77-600 Max lives up to these expectations with a large bundle of accessories and a quality motherboard. Physically, the board is a pleasure to look at and install, with logical placement of just about every component."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The P160 Anodized Aluminum Super Mid Tower is now Antec's premium case, in the tradition of the Sonata it takes a quiet computing chassis with looks to die for and puts a whole new spin on the meaning cool. The ultimate gaming case as Antec like to put it. Lets put this thing to the test shall we?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Global Win SilentStream was tested using the CPU Die Simulator. I measured fan noise at 51 dBA with a Radio Shack sound meter placed 8" from the fan's intake; this is fairly quiet, though not silent."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I used to think that the mousepad made little or no difference in computing. Because of the Icemat, I now see the error of my ways. The mouse is one of the most used devices on your computer and it relies almost completely on surface texture to work properly. As such, the mouse pad used should optimize your mouse's performance and efficiency."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Virtual-Hideout, along with the support of PolyGFX is having a Holiday Giveaway! The Santa over at PolyGFX is giving away 10 Caseskins with matching Ratpadz GS gaming surfaces (skin and Ratpadz!). That's right! You stand a chance to win a PolyGFX CaseSkin with a design of your choice and a matching Ratpadz Skin with the Ratpadz underneath it just by answering two simple questions! Head on down to the Contest Page for details!"

More information on this contest can be found here.

"The pad has two functional sides; one side is smooth for ball mice, and the rough side, for optical mice. I tested this pad with my MX700 for a couple of weeks, and loved it. Being that this test is completely subjective, I can just give my thoughts about my experience with it. The smooth side wasn’t for optical mice, but I figured I’d try it anyways, I was unable to get any tracking at all on this side, and my pointer just stayed put no matter how hard I tried."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Thermalright has had the golden touch when it comes to heatsinks as of late. When they released the SLK-800 and SLK-900 they both literally took over the market. After this great success it made me wonder what they could up with next to eclipse the previous two. The answer is the ALX-800; a hybrid copper and aluminum heatsink designed around the principle of the 800/900 but is it safe to mention this new addition in the same sentence?

More information on this review can be found here.

"If you need to backup or transfer large amounts of data between machines then you need an external disc drive. With a whopping 300GB the Maxtor OneTouch 300GB External Hard Drive could be the ideal solution. But what about design, features, cost and performance? Find out in our official review."

More information on this review can be found here.

Heatsink Thermal Compounds Review

"For your heatsink to reach its full potential its important to use a good thermal compound. We reviewed products from 2 leading compound suppliers Arctic Silver and OCZ. How did they perform and is it worth paying a little extra, read on to find out in our official review."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Logitech offers many headsets and they all perform very well. The USB 300 is unique because instead of the standard audio jacks it simply plugs directly into your computer's USB port which makes installation a snap. Unlike the USB 300 model, The Internet Chat & PC Gaming headsets have a behind-the-head design for maximum comfort. Also, all have a very convenient in-line mic & volume control."

More information on this video review can be found here.

"Just when you thought there was nothing left on your case to mod Sunbeam has come out with these great LED feet to replace the old pivoting plastic feet on your case. They come in blue, red and green and will fit Chieftec, Antec, Thermaltake, X-Alien, TurboCase or other cases that have similar foldout feet. This is a quick mod that will make an immediate impact on the look of your case."

Specifications:

- Very Bright
- Comes in 3 colors
- Quick and easy mod
- Fits most case with pivoting feet
- 12V DC
- Plug and play

More information on this special can be found here.

"Looking at the software bundle, Gigabyte is pretty generous in bundling three games and a PowerDVD software. Not the best bundling we had seen, but certainly not to shabby. Users will also be happy to note that a S-video cable and a DVI-VGA adaptor is included. No fancy items in the bundling package, but we would be happy if more games are included."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Soltek are a company who are known for producing many different value-end motherboards. Today we have their SL-87CW-EL motherboard based on the Intel Canterwood chipset for the Pentium 4 on the test bed which offers great value for money."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The P160 Anodized Aluminum Super Mid Tower is now Antec's premium case, in the tradition of the Sonata it takes a quiet computing chassis with looks to die for and puts a whole new spin on the meaning cool. The ultimate gaming case as Antec like to put it. Lets put this thing to the test shall we?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Sniperus Boomslangicus: Latin for "really sensitive gaming mouse!" That is exactly what the BFG Sniper Boomslang 2100 mouse is. With a radical shape and some pretty radical technology to boot, this mouse will bring you new life in your gaming sessions, or put you to an early death."

More information on this review can be found here.

"If you're in the market for a power supply you know that there are many choices out there. There is an ever-growing list of power supplies whose performance will satisfy most users. But what if you're not like most users? What if you want and need something with that extra kick and you want it to provide that power in total silence?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Despite lower than expected voltage readings, the PC Toys PowerMaxx 470 provided reliable power with no stability issues during testing and subsequent use. Nice features such as the AC outlet, fan speed controller, and an abundance of internal power connections make it appealing for use in just about any situation."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Corsair picked out IC’s, a PCB and a form factor that make a winning combination for everyone that is in need of registered memory. Having the ability to run super tight timings of 2-3-2-5 on registered modules with no stability issues is a sign of good engineering and is what all enthusiasts and gamers want to be running at."

More information on this review can be found here.

"In the past we have reviewed several Zalman products. Their headphones are a quality product, and the WB2 waterblock performed excellently in our testing. Furthermore, we have had our hands on their passive GPU heatsinks and we were impressed. Today we have their growingly popular CNPS7000-A Cu heatsink for testing. The 7000 Cu is aimed at the quiet computing crowd, and sports a very large full copper design."

More information on this review can be found here.

"With faster and faster CPUs about, you can get a great deal on the second best CPU on the market. Let's see what this 3GHZ CPU can do."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The ALX-800 provided me with the lowest temperatures of all of the heatsinks I tested. After testing the ALX-800, I would recommend it to anyone who uses air cooling and wants considerably low temperatures. The heatsink is good in the fact that it provides normal users with good, stable temperatures that will in turn increase the life of your processor as well as provide the more extreme users with a considerably large overclocking horizon."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Power Color has produced a top performing and solid card based on the Radeon 9800XT VPU from ATI. With the addition of two full-featured games such as Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness and Big Mutha Trucker on top of the promise of Half Life 2 when it is released; Power Color is trying to talk to your inner gamer and not your pocket book. With the full support of DirectX 9 games currently available and those that are soon to be released along with its 256MB of memory, I know my inner gamer can hear them."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Performance was very impressive, and more so when you consider VIA's history with pricing. If they can get these boards to market at a competitive price, Springdale boards are going to have a real fight on their hands."

More information on this preview can be found here.

"Thanks to the higher core/memory frequency, R9800XT is around 5~11% faster than an R9800Pro in benchmarks. The R9800XT truly shines when comparing with Nvidia's flagship, FX5950Ultra. The FX5950Ultra's performance is on par with R9800XT at standard setting; however, ATi's R9800XT takes a commanding lead (up to 40%) when FSAA is enabled."

More information on this review can be found here.

"With the revision A we did have a few BIOS glitches with the DFI but with a great turn around from the Tech support it was soon fixed. Now if the new board has resolved these issues I'm happy, if it has more performance, then Titch won't be."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Nowadays motherboard have one thing in common, that is if you look at in terms of design and features wise, most of them are basically the same old design. Choosing a "suitable" board is almost as hard as picking up the freshest fruits in the market. However, manufacturers like ABIT are constantly picking up with the pace in order to meet the never-ending savor for the latest and greatest of the high-tech equipped boards."

More information on this review can be found here.

"ABIT's first stab at S754 glory is a decent enough attempt. We'd prefer a revised layout that makes installation easier and a newer BIOS that uses AMD's Cool'n'Quiet tech. to the fullest. Like ASUS, we'd like some form of control over the CPU's multiplier. The KV8 MAX3 isn't the perfect S754 board, but we feel that it has enough going for it to convince performance seekers over to the AMD 3xxx+ camp. It's extremely fast, stable with the correct DIMM population and boasts a refined BIOS and bundle. Perhaps a rev.2 board will iron out some of our more pressing concerns. MAX3 magic has been sprinkled on to the VIA K8T800 with encouraging results."

More information on this review can be found here.

"As with our comments on the earlier K8T800 chipset motherboards if you are looking for a decent top quality AMD Athlon 64 motherboard and do not mind the limitations imposed by the Via K8T800 chipset then this MIS K8T Neo-FIS2R motherboard should also be on your list."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Platinum XP case from Koolcases.com is a nice mid range case with many interesting features. The case has a temperature display, a 2 speed fan controller, a pre modded window, 2 prestealthed 5.25" drive bays, front USB, and some handy dandy thumb screws."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Minuet is a special looking case that would suit just about any kind of desktop environment. Appearance aside, the case’s functionality is questionable and will really only be suitable for specific users. This is due to the unfortunate limitation of expandable PCI/AGP devices that can be installed into the Minuet. Sadly the low-profile expansion slot design of the Minuet will greatly limit what can be used in your system, given you use this case. For this reason I feel the Minuet will only be a viable solution for a limited amount of users."

More information on this review can be found here.

"First I dismantled the watercooling system, and put it in a box, I decided that it would be best to skip out on watercooling this time and save it for another day. I then decided that I did not want a typical front panel. So I set out to make my own. I knew I wanted to make it round, but could not find anything that suited my needs. Finally, I found something. A 7-inch diameter HVAC pipe. It was thin enough metal that I could shape it easily, and was already in the diameter I needed for my half round piece. I cut the piece to length, and then cut a half circle out of it. Bending the edges flat, I taped it to the front of my chassis, drilled holes, and riveted the sheet metal to the frame."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The heat sink industry, however, uses "optically flat" even more loosely than the "Christmas trash" telescope usiness and frankly, even using the manufacturer stated accuracy, they have a laughable amount of error for an optical surface."

More information on this review can be found here.

"There's no denying the power and usefulness of the ATI All-In-Wonder series of multimedia graphics cards. The All-In Wonder 9600 pro is based on the powerful and popular 9600pro GPU and includes 128MB of RAM, and has a TV tuner and FM radio tuner built in. It allows you to record TV shows and FM radio, edit video, and play the latest games with the details cranked. With so many features and accessories, what's not to like? Read on and you may be surprised."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Swiftech MCX159 chipset cooler is available for AMD systems (MCX159-A), Intel systems (MCX159-P) and a retail version (MCX159-R). The MCX159 is unlike any other chipset cooler because of its very unique design and the results reflect this. With a 40mm fan and many aluminum pins that mount directly into the solid copper base, it's one of the best on the market today."

More information on this video review can be found here.

"For the more enthusiast minded, it would be nice to see ATI push it a bit harder and hopefully this will be the case in future revisions of the Catalyst drivers. It would be nice to see a Coolbits type utility from ATI instead of having to rely on 3rd party tools."

More information on this review can be found here.

AX4C Max II Motherboard Review

"A difference between the AK77 600 Max and the AX4C is the RAID implementation. On the AK it is IDE Raid while on the AX4C AOpen has chosen to go with SATA RAID. Personally I think SATA RAID is a better choice seeing as how the highest performance SATA drives, the Raptors from WD, are only available through SATA interface and to be wanting to RAID usually means that you are a performance nut. That being said, the 4 SATA ports is very generous."

More information on this review can be found here.

"In the last year Kingston has decided to attack the enthusiast market (that has long been dominated by the likes of Corsair, Mushkin, and Geil) with their HyperX line of high speed RAM. Today we are taking a look at the Kingston KHX4000K2/512, better known as HyperX PC4000 CL2 512mb Dual Channel Kit which consists of a matched pair of 256mb 184-pin 500mhz DIMM sticks."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we will take a look at one of their latest motherboards, the IC7-Max3. This will make the second ABIT motherboard that I have had the pleasure to own, the first one being their KG7-RAID. Let's get a few things out in the open first though. I absolutely loved the KG7-RAID. This could give a slight bias toward ABIT, but honestly, the hardware speaks for itself. Many other reviews have been given on this board, with nothing but raves for the board's performance. For this reason, I will not concentrate on the board's performance as much as its usability, convenience, and innovation."

More information on this review can be found here.

"We've got two very capable Pentium 4 based chipsets under the spotlight today from Intel based on DFI's new line of LANPARTY "B" motherboards for the enthusiast. We compare the more expensive Canterwood to the cut-down Springdale chipset but tweaked up by DFI. The results may surprise!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"For the price, this is an excellent flex ATX/micro ATX case. The sleek front with the hidden devices allows you to use it in your home theater. The 60mm fans would ensure a quiet entertainment box. All that would be required is a graphics card capable of supporting a good video out stream, such as the ATI Radeon All In Wonder 9800 Pro."

More information on this review can be found here.

"This case is perfect for use as a home theater PC, small footprint desktop, or dorm computer. With a few fancy features like a lighted front and stealthed drives, it will fit in great wherever it finds a home. This case, even with its tiny footprint, is very well designed and uses some very creative drive mounting features."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The P3000 was designed for comfort. The grips are rubber and pad is extremely light even with the rechargeable battery installed. There are Dual Analog controllers or an 8-way D-Pad all of which is active within the game you are playing."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I decided to review one of these displays as I am looking in to the idea of building a htpc for home. Most cases don't have LCD displays on them, so this was an obvious choice me - to be able to see temperatures, tv channels etc. I must point out that this display is designed for the Accent Home Theatre range of PC cases. After playing with this for an hour or so I could see the potential of putting it in almost any PC case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"We've been working very hard to make this a memorable change for the better for everyone so we've gathered together some prizes for LAN Party Hosts, and Gamers! So you might be curious as to what the goodies are, well here the are:

Provided by GearGrip

- GearGrip-Pro Harness
- GearGrip CRT
- GearGrip LT

Provided by Bleu Jour

- Laser-cut 80mm Fan Grills (3 Sets)
- Thumbscrew Sets (2 sets)

Provided by Stardock

-Windows Blinds 4.0 (3 Sets)

Provided by LAN Addict

-Max Payne 2
-Endless Ages (with 6 Months Pre-Paid)
-SiS 648 Reference Motherboard

Now you might be wondering what the catch is, and its very simple, we're giving back to the community from which we have grown from. All of us at the LAN Addict staff were at one point in our lives annoyed at pesky give aways requiring x number of posts in forums, or finding the secret code through a banner."

Free stuff rules! More information on this giveaway can be found here.

"There you have it. What can only be called an excellent modern, stylish hard disk cooler for any computer in the office or home that works very well. One can only congratulate Vantec on this excellent Vortex as we are sure you do as well."

More information on this review can be found here.

"One nice thing about owning and operating a review site is you get the chance to learn something now and then. In my case, it's normally alot more now than then. While reviewing the new Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 - 80 GB SATA hard drive I actually came away from the review feeling like I had learned quite a lot. Perhaps when you read it you will as well."

More information on this review can be found here.

"A few months back, we take our first look at PolyGFX's Caseskin, a product that helps you turn your boring beige box into a work of art. It gives your case a whole new look, like a custom airbrush job, just without all the hassles of the actual work. I had a custom artwork done up and actually enjoyed installing it onto my case. It was a great product and I never thought that they could do anything else to improve it but PolyGFX thought otherwise. They got to work printing on a new vinyl material that's even easier to apply than it's predecessor. PolyGFX call this the EZ Apply Material and it has micro air-channels on the adhesive side so that air could pass thru the channels and prevent it from being trapped under the vinyl, thus preventing any ugly air bubbles."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Well, with a blast of fanfares nVidia launched their two new cores, the little one being the FX5700. Now when they came out I had a choice, to go for the FX5950 or the middle card. Instinct told me that the FX5700 would be where the real action was, so that was the one I went for."

More information on this review can be found here.

"For the user looking to add a little flair and maximum performance from their PC the Corsair XMS ProSeries 3200LL might be just what you are looking for."

More information on this review can be found here.

"As you can see from the scores that I was in fact able to softmod this card. This mod does not harm the card in anyway, it will either work or not. The way it works is that a driver for the graphics has been developed by enthusiasts to modify and unlock the the other 4 channels that have been disabled. There is no golden batch number, board reference on any other real pattern to get this working. This topic of which ones are best has entered most discussion forums for enthusiasts sites around the world as the new overclocking phenomenon."

More information on this review can be found here.

"DFI has not let down the overclocking crowd when it comes to the system BIOS as they have offered VCore settings all the way up to 1.975V, VDimm up to 2.9V, and AGP voltages up to 1.8V. With settings such as these, DFI has positioned the PRO875B against the enthusiast motherboard competition very well indeed. DFI's CMOS Reloaded is a useful feature as it allows the end user to save a given BIOS setup and gives them the ability to restore those settings automatically at any point."

More information on this review can be found here.

"For the image-minded enthusiast, as well as the LAN gamer, FIC has put together a great package combining both performance, as well as an eye-catching design. Like I said earlier, the design itself will either be a hit or miss with some people, but there is no doubt that the clear windows and blue LED lights will catch your attention."

More information on this review can be found here.

The CPL has officially announced the Consummate Computer Competition (C3) for the CPL PentiumR 4 Processor Winter 2003 Championship, taking place at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas, Texas, from Tuesday, December 16 to Saturday, December 20, 2003.

The C3 is the world's most prestigious competition of privately modified computers, in which the winning computers are selected based on aesthetics, ingenuity and performance tuning. For the Winter 2003 Event, the leading sponsor is CompUSA, offering a total prize package worth approximately $10,000.

Prizes - "Best of Show" ($1,000)

1. $2,500, Motherboard, Video Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.
2. $1,500, Motherboard, Video Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.
3. $500, Motherboard, Video Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.
4. Motherboard, Video Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.
5. Video Card, Mad Dog Accessories, and case of Bawls.
6. Video Card, Mad Dog Accessories, and case of Bawls.
7. $50 CompUSA Gift Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.
8. $50 CompUSA Gift Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.
9. $50 CompUSA Gift Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.
10. $50 CompUSA Gift Card, Mad Dog Accessories and case of Bawls.

There are only twenty (20) spots available for this competition and registration will close Monday, December 1, 2003 at noon central.

Registration:

1. Go to www.thecpl.com/register/ and select the CPL WINTER event, your age range (you must be 17 or older to enter) and press "Continue Registration."

2. You must select Competitor, C3 Tournament *and* BYOC on the next page to enter. Don't forget to read the Terms & Conditions Agreement. Press "Continue Registration."

3. Fill out all of the requested information accurately. Admission to the Winter Event is $75 payable by credit card only.

Important Notice:

If you are currently registered for the Winter 2003 Event and you want to participate in C3, then you must send an email to C3@thecpl.com with your complete name, address and (if available) your registration reference number.

More information on this event can be found here.

"This power supply review will focus on two factors. The first factor being how quiet the power supply is and what the values of voltage-rails are compared to their ideal values. CoolMax sent us two power supplies of the Taurus CX series, which have one controllable 120mm fan. The idea being that a larger fan running at a lower rpm should effectively reduce noise".

More information on this review can be found here.

"In this series of guides I'll be introducing you to the concepts and practicalities of electronics, and how to use this essential and rewarding skill to add a little something special to your PC. Each part will introduce a few concepts and then a practical project or skill that demonstrates these. In this part we'll be looking at circuits, how they are wired, prototyped and some of the basic building blocks they are made of."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"Case lighting is absolutely the most popular pick of the modding community; outside case's that is. Case lighting is here to stay and we are here to keep up with the new products released. Sunbeam has been offering cutting edge mod accessories since their inception and has some nice twists to throw at you. Once again they have what it takes to shine. We're going to take a quick look at 3 new products. They sent us 3 lighted fan grills all of which utilize different lighting techniques along with their new UV reactive Molex plugs."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Even before I pulled this thing out of the box I knew I had something special. Not only is it packing power, this thing is packing good looks too. The brushed aluminum body looks very cool and definitely deserves a close-up look. While many PSUs on the market are a simple steel gray, this PSU would be the runway model of the bunch."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Most DIY fanbuses have you use two single line speaker terminals, one on each side of the box. I opted to use the bigger speaker terminal and put it on top. I felt this made the unit look cleaner and function better rather than connecting to the sides. The side mounted terminals make overall construction somewhat simpler in the long run though, so the design is up to you. Virtual Hideout has a good tutorial on the fanbus with side mount terminals, but the basic concept is exactly the same."

More information on this guide can be found here.

"End of the day the temperatures even without cooling are no cause for concern but if you do have a heat problem for your hard drive then this Vortex is the only dedicated cooler I would recommend. It's the only one I have seen that actually does cool the drive."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The P4AL800 performs quite well among the single channel DDR motherboards. The gaming performance isn't the fastest but very closed to other single channel DDR motherboards. In the business arena, P4AL800 competes head to head against its ASRock brother P4I45PE which is the fastest among all motherboards."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Today we've got ATI's very first mainstream desktop Intel Pentium 4 based chipset on the test bed to go under the grinder in the form of the FIC P4M-RS300 motherboard. The ATI Radeon 9100 IGP is designed to compete against Intel's Springdale chipset. Read on and find out just how well it does!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Although, overclocking on the KV8-MAX3 was nothing mind blowing, getting just an extra 200MHz out of the 3200+ processor. Abit are most likely not to blame here, as the KV8-MAX3 has produced the best overclocking results from an AMD64 motherboard to date. Therefore the AMD Athlon64 3200+ processor is most likely at fault in this situation. Overclocking aside the KV8-MAX3 offered extremely solid stability with a highly tweakable BIOS."

More information on this review can be found here.

"The Swiftech MCX478-VT heatsink is designed to fit the socket 478 and offers all the performance of the MCX462-V heatsink which was released a few months ago. This heatsink has 374 pins which are mounted directly into the 1/2" solid smooth copper base to allow for maximum heat dissipation. Also, the heatsink itself is quick and easy to install as is a 80mm or 92mm fan."

More information on this review can be found here.

"VR-Zone has taken take a close look at two of the newest models from Shuttle and Soldam, the SB75G2 and Altium RS4 respectively. The SB75G2 is based on the Intel 875P chipset and the case is made of black brushed aluminum, which makes for a very cool and stylish look. The Altium RS4 is based on the Intel 865G chipset and the case is made of silver colored aluminum with the front looks really stylish and modern. Both SB75G2 and the Altium RS4 are highly recommended for both power users and gamers alike."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Performance and stability were both good. Noise is another subjective issue. ABIT helps the user counter it by supplying an excellent BIOS. The hardware monitoring section allows for some fan-speed adjustment. Our feelings about the ABIT AB-2003 DigiDice are mixed. If there's one word to describe it, it's competent. It does a lot of things well but then lets itself down in other areas. It's a little too big for our personal liking, its front seems flimsy in comparison to other systems', and it doesn't quite make the best use of its feature set. On the other hand, it's fast, stable and different. We reckon it has enough appeal to warrant sales on pure merit. It's an acquired taste. You'll now have to decide if you've acquired it."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Home Theatre PC cases are the fastest growing sector of the enthusiast market at the moment and with good reason. Most of us have tricked out our desktop PC's with flashing lights, super fast components, and basically everything but the kitchen sink. There comes a time in a computer enthusiast's life when the need to tinker with a new project hits us.What better way to get another PC into your house than to make one part of your living room?"

More information on this review can be found here.

"I have a fun product to review today, have you ever been sitting at your computer for hours and uncofortable as hell, or had a hard day at work and just want to relax? If so, I have a cool new product that you will not want to live without."

I could actually use one of these devices. More information on this review can be found here.

Just a reminder that there are 5 days left until BigBruin.Com is going to be giving away the following items on December 05, 2003:

- A black Logitech MX-300 Optical USB Mouse
- A black Steelpad 4S Mousing Surface
- A black USB keyboard with PS2 mouse pass-through

More information on this contest can be found here.

"Even for an aged CPU like mine that tends to run quite hot these days, it was tamed by the Volcano 11+. The speed controller is a feature that many companies are adding to their products but Thermaltake has taken that concept one step further with two different options for manual speed adjustments and have also included a thermostat for automatic speed adjustments."

More information on this review can be found here.

"Not only was the player physically robust, but its feature list would go toe to toe with any normal DVD player on the market. As stated earlier, the visual and audio quality were flawless and you would never tell the difference when compared to the bigger alternative."

More information on this review can be found here.

"I found that the assumption made earlier, that the fan would be more effective if pushed by the case fan, and by also receiving cold air would be a better cooler was in fact incorrect. There were no noticeable temperature differences reported when the fan was turned."

More information on this review can be found here.

Vantec Nexus Fan and Light Controller NXP-305 Review

"This is a great controller, you can have flashing lights, and full control for such. Couple this with a 3 channel (18w per channel) fan controller and you have yourself a bay device that will bring control of your fans and CCFL's to the front of your case."

More information on this review can be found here.

"AMD has given us mainstream 64-bit processing and now we have a bunch of chipsets to join the joy ride. Today we pit all the newest chipsets from VIA, SIS, nVidia and ALI and find out who our best choice is for our Athlon 64 powered motherboard!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"Tower PC cases come in a wide variety of designs and options but the choice for a Home Theatre PC case at a fair price is relatively limited. SilverStone Technology is a comparative newcomer in the HTPC case market with the Lascala SST-LC01. The Lascala series squarely targets the HTPC builder with its classical lines designed to blend with other home theater components. It may look familiar but it does come with a bonus."

More information on this review can be found here.

"SuperFlower is becoming more and more popular nowadays. The reason is simple. They make decent, good looking and competitively priced cases. We take a look at one of their latest offerings, the SF-561T2, a pre-modded case with some great features!"

More information on this review can be found here.

"With the large and seemingly ever-increasing number of computer cases on the market today, a manufacturer needs to do something to distinguish itself from the background noise of mediocre offerings in order to succeed. Some companies do this by offering a unique appearance. Others accomplish the task by offering large feature sets, high quality, and/or exceptionally low price. With the case we're looking at today, the TT301B, Super Flower has taken the concept of the aluminum mid-tower case, chosen a tried and true set of features, executed them in a quality fashion, and still manages to offer the case at a price normally associated with bargain cases."

More information on this review can be found here.

Soltek Qbic EQ3401 SFF Barebones System Review

"When the first SFF (Small Form Factor) systems were introduced, many people were inclined to let slide the relative lack of performance when compared to full-sized machines. As the genre matured, however, consumers became more demanding. They not only wanted the small size, they wanted the performance, too! To that end, more and more of the SFF systems you see today offer performance and features rivaling that of their big brothers. This is where Soltek comes in, with their Qbic system, a SFF system that thinks it's a giant."

More information on this review can be found here.

"On Saturday November 29th, MTB Staff decided to get together for a fun filled afternoon by visiting the last Computer Fest Show for 2003. This years show was held at the International Center, Hall 1 in Mississauga, Ontario. It was a very cold day and had snowed the night before trapping poor Shatterstar at his house, but Mantis, Shennon and I decided to proceed with Dr. Mobius in spirit."

More information on this mini report can be found here.

"The LANFIRE case was designed with LAN-goers in mind. Its lightweight aluminum construction weighs in at 4kg, cutting the weight down by slightly more than 50% from the original Xaser III aluminum series. There are tons of features on this case that include a Hardcano fan control unit/temperature monitor, the Fireball EL flash lighting, as well as an pre-modded x-window to show off your killer hardware. Here's a list of the specs and other features this case includes."

More information on this review can be found here.