"Back in November AMD had launched their"

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"The Delphi Nav300 is a full-featured portable GPS unit that does everything from directing you to the store to playing MP3s."

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"The AirLive WL-5460 builds on the features of the smaller WL-5400 and adds a pan & tilt function and built-in microphone to the device, while keeping the video quality the same. The included software also raises the parallel surveilance capability from 4 to 16 cameras."

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"The new Kingston 19-in-1 Reader with our 8GB 266x Compact Flash card is significantly faster than the previous Kingston readers. The Kingston 19-in-1 reader was found to be 71% faster than the Kingston 15-in-1 reader when it came to read speeds and 57% faster at write speeds. This just goes to show that if you have purchased newer hi-speed memory cards in recent years and have not upgraded your card reader that an upgrade might be due..."

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"GlacialTech has a new case on the market, the Altair A380 Media Center PC Case, which is designed to look like a component in a home theater and not like a typical computer. This review will cover the black version, and with the option to also choose silver, there shouldn't be a home theater system out there that this case wouldn't look right at home in."

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"Sound is the real appeal of the B&W Zeppelin, and it has sound in droves. I like bass to my music , but not to the point of overpowering the mids and high sounds. The B&W Zeppelin has fantastic bass along with crisp and sharp highs and mid range sounds. Sound output is rich and to achieve this the B&W Zeppelin uses three amplifiers, one for the mid, one for left, one for right and one for bass."

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"//As regular readers will know, my interest in computer games doesn’t just extend into the new and current releases, but also into the deepest and darkest of depths of indie, experimental and forgotten computer games. My love of games is such that it causes my wallet to open up and spew money out whenever it finds a bargain bin, and promptly sends letters requesting games from developers which nobody but me has ever heard of. So, in lieu of anything else to do today, I present to you a brand new list. It’s a top ten, but one unlike any other I’ve ever written. This isn’t a list of the best games of the year or the best games I’ve ever played. This is something wholly different and deeply personal to me – a list of the games you’ve (probably) never played. Some of them you may have dabbled with or looked at, others you’ll have disregarded entirely as you scanned the shelves at your local GameStation or international variant. Either way, here it is; my list of underappreciated classics and bargain bin treasures. If you’ve got any cash left over after your Christmas shopping spree or if you just refuse to buy into all that //BioShock hype then you could do a lot worse than to pick some of these up. Most of them are entirely free now anyway thanks to the abandonware movement, but we're going to list them chronologically rather than by status."

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"Ferrari automobiles, Rolex watches and Brioni suits. Each of these items commands respect in their individual fields. Standing as the pinnacle of engineering, each of these products fetch a high premium but with that premium comes the satisfaction of knowing you are getting the very best. While they may not be the most practical choices for one reason or another, they deliver on their promise of quality. Which brings me to the Maximus Extreme, a motherboard that offers the very latest in features and options. Keeping the enthusiast in mind, this motherboard was not designed for a casual gamer or even a hard-core gamer who only loves to play. No. This board was designed for those of us who must tweak and fiddle endlessly, eek out every last MHz of performance. Is it practical? Much like a Ferrari, there are cheaper ways to get to the store but this is the one we all dream about. So come with me as I dive deep into the inner workings of the Maximus Extreme and try to uncover t!"

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"The ZOTAC GeForce 8800 GT 512MB ZT-88TES2P-FSP graphics card features 1800MHz GDDR3 memory paired to an NVIDIA G92 GPU operating at 660MHz. Compatibility with Microsoft's DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 ensures the ZOTAC GeForce 8800 GT is ready for next-generation gaming titles, and with NVIDIA's Unified Shader Architecture the GeForce 8800GT features 112 stream processors for unparalleled 3D processing capabilities. Benchmark Reviews tests this new video card against the most widely used NVIDIA product: the GeForce 8800 GTS."

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"The ZOTAC GeForce 8800 GT 512MB ZT-88TES2P-FSP graphics card features 1800MHz GDDR3 memory paired to an NVIDIA G92 GPU operating at 660MHz. Compatibility with Microsoft's DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 ensures the ZOTAC GeForce 8800 GT is ready for next-generation gaming titles, and with NVIDIA's Unified Shader Architecture the GeForce 8800GT features 112 stream processors for unparalleled 3D processing capabilities. Benchmark Reviews tests this new video card against the most widely used NVIDIA product: the GeForce 8800 GTS."

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"One of the things that I dislike about software is upgrading it. Don’t get me wrong, I love a new version of a good application just as much as any other computer user, but there can be times when compatibility and the actual usefulness of some of the newer features may hinder you from upgrading right away. In addition to those concerns, many software upgrades can be quite pricey, and if what you’re using is working just fine, you may be hesitant to pay to play, so to speak."

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"As a developer and as someone who provides tools for beginning developers, I understand the importance of picking the right operating system to develop for. Of course, these days, cross-platform software is the way to go because you’re able to cover all of your bases, but when I first started programming, I was a Windows user, and I still use a programming language that is tied to Windows. OS X and Linux versions are scheduled to be released, and you can count on the fact that I’ll use them to expand the reach of my software to other operating systems as soon as I can."

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"It's generally good to have multiple products in a particular sector to encourage competition for better prices and rapid innovation. But who needs more browsers? Although some of you might be feeling letdown with AOL's decision to cancel further development of Netscape, it's a respectable decision that should be celebrated. Ignoring it's paltry 0.6 percent market share, sticking with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera is just right."

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"Ever since the early news came out that Google was working on some sort of mobile phone (or gPhone, if you will), there’s been a lot of speculation about what it would actually be like. Google has pretty much been involved in every type of technology project known to mankind, so it only makes sense that they would officially make the jump to a more active and visible involvement in the mobile platform space as well. Now that official details have emerged, the speculation is over, and we can now peek behind the curtain and see what this Google phone thing is all about."

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"Recently, Apple had to deal with two fairly serious flaws that needed to be resolved quickly. The first issue is one that I believe will be a doable fix, and most experts are expecting to see something positive come about soon. With that said, it is pretty sad to have an issue this obvious being released to the general public, guess it is a good thing that my wife is waiting a bit before upgrading to Tiger."

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"AMD is on the heels of releasing the next set of GPU programming documentation to aide in the development of the open-source R500/600 drivers (xf86-video-ati and xf86-video-radeonhd). It's already been discussed what this NDA-free documentation release will have, but one of the questions that have repeatedly come up is if/when AMD will release information on accelerated video playback. AMD's John Bridgman has now stated what they plan to release in the video realm as well as a new requirement for their future graphics processors: being open-source friendly while avoiding DRM."

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"While it's obviously a very capable gaming system, it does get quite noisy when everything is hot and loaded. With headphones on or your speakers turned up this isn't a huge problem; but with it sitting on the desk next to you, it becomes far more obvious than a case sitting under your desk. You could build an alternative system like an Abit IP35 Pro, an Antec P182 and a Corsair HX520 power supply for about £250, give or take a few pounds. Personal choice will vary the components, but in comparison the Shuttle SP35P2 is £293 -- that's £50 more, but the space saving and attention to detail in the design, as well as the integration of the SP35P2's parts is second to none. On the other hand, many people keep their cases between upgrades and sometimes even their PSUs too -- so as a whole purchase, the Shuttle XPC concept gets less inviting. Unless, of course, you're specifically looking for a small form factor with desktop level performance and don't want to be constrained by the inability of a notebook's expansion -- then the SP35P2 should be ideal. Most of the people I know have had at least one Shuttle XPC at some point. We've all tried it, but it's an ideal that all of us grew out of and went back to ATX. My current case is a massive Antec P190, but does the SP35P2 make me pine for that small world after all? No, but it does a great job in trying -- it looks fantastic, its build quality is superb and it's got an unmatched performance-to-size ratio. Even though Shuttle has tried to maximise the SP35P2s flexibility as well, I feel this SFF is stuck in a no man's land between a completely portable notebook and a vastly more extensive and easily upgradeable ATX PC. If you're a LAN gaming nut, then the SP35P2 is a must buy... unless you have a car. Or perhaps the missus just wants one because she thinks they're cute? There's dozens of reasons why it's a good idea, but also a dozen reasons why it's not -- the SP35P2 Pro still hasn't made the XPC a definitive buy."

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"While Ubuntu Linux continues to grow -- in both popularity and new advancements for the Linux ecosystem -- and dance in the limelight, it isn't the choice for everybody. For those that may still be searching for their right Linux mate, Zenwalk 5.0 is a distribution worth trying out. Previously we have referred to Zenwalk as an unsung hero among Linux distributions and with the forthcoming 5.0 release it asserts a very well rounded Xfce desktop."

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"Hard drive space will always be in constant demand, what with the average game install exceeding a gigabyte of space, and fast Internet and file sharing conspiring to fill our computers with things we can't possibly do without. Fortunately, hard disk space continues to expand affordably. As the average computer can use up to three hard disks in addition to a CD drive, it's easy enough to go out and buy a new drive to add extra storage space to your system. Easy enough until you get around to actually putting the drive in, that is. Few other computer upgrades carry more potential complications and complexities than installing and preparing a newly purchased hard drive for use."

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"Rock Band is at its best when you have one or two other people available to form your own band. However, solo artists will also find challenging gameplay good for hours of fun. Both single player and multiplayer modes are available in the game. In multiplayer, you can have any two instruments played or with enough pals and an extra guitar controller from Guitar Hero 1 or 2 you can get a full quartet going with drums, bass, lead guitar and vocalist. I would assume if you are coordinated enough you could also play an instrument and sing allowing for the strange notion of single player play in multiplayer mode."

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"Xigmatek's new NRP-MC851 power supply offers 850W of power on four 12V rails. The cable management has been optimized in a way that the most often used connectors are fixed to the unit and additional cables are optional."

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"Computers have come a long way since their inception over twenty years ago. They have gone from being mere calculating machines to forms of art that allow people to express themselves. As people continue to find new uses for their PCs from gaming to home theatre entertainment, it is up to the manufacturers of computer components to adapt to the changing landscape. Only ten short years ago it was not uncommon to find a plain beige box sitting inside the room of an enthusiast. This was perfectly acceptable as long as that beige monstrosity never found its way to the living room. Today things are very different and PCs have become integrated into so much more of our lives that a plain beige shell just won't cut it anymore. Introducing the KL02 from SilverStone. A stylish mid-range case that would be at home in almost any room in your house. But it's what's on the inside that counts, right? Join me as I find out if this case has personality to go with those good looks or is its !"

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"The rails on this PSU look very beefy, and the breakdown shows that most of the power comes from the 12v rails (Certain manufacturers cheat the wattage ratings of their PSU’s; by pushing up the 3.3v and 5v rails to amounts that will not be used in modern computers as modern computers need lots of power on the 12v rail. And this power supply has plenty of 12v juice)."

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"This sexy player has great audio and video quality, with flexible sound enhancement options and a responsive touchscreen."

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"Up for grabs in week seventeen of Bigbruin.com's Pro Football Pick 'Em is a prize pack of various items we need to give away to clear off our shelves. Among other things, the winner will receive a Kingwin Z1-35EU-BK eSATA and USB 2.0 drive enclosure and a Kingwin Revolution RVT-9225 direct touch heatpipe CPU cooler."

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"With the A770M-A ECS recently released their first motherboard based on the AMD RX780 chipset which has full support for AM2+ and the Phenom processors. The ECS A770M-A costs less than $70 making it the cheapest offering on the AM2+ market. Even though the price is low ECS has included features like Gigabit Ethernet, 8 channel audio and eSata connectivity."

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"Access your files from anywhere in the world with the LaCie Ethernet Disk mini NAS drive."

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"At the end of our ATI Year in Review for 2006, we had stated,"

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"The Vizo Milano Multimedia enclosure plays back all your favorite multimedia files stored on the internal hard drive on your TV at up to 1080i resolution. The ease of use and complete cable set make it a very interesting choice for everyone wanting to not only store these files but also have them at their immediate disposal when needed."

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"It has been a great year to be an enthusiast. With the flurry of 'A list' games that have been released and the new hardware deigned to run them, it is an exciting time. Nvidia and XFX want to make sure you have the best possible gaming experience and they have just released a new card to bring you closer to that goal. The 8800GTS 512 Alpha Dog from XFX is that card. Built on top of the smaller, more efficient G92 core and sporting the same amount of stream processors as the 8800GTX, this card is ready for almost anything you can throw at it. Throw in a free game and XFX's legendary double-lifetime warranty and you have the recipe for greatness. But enough chit-chat and marketing hype, lets get to the heart of the matter; performance!"

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"After much anticipation and hoopla, the next version of Mac OS X known as Leopard has been released, and the early verdicts are in. To sum it all up, people are liking what they’re seeing. Even though I was looking forward to it, I didn’t plan on picking up a copy of Leopard until at least a couple of weeks after its release, but certain circumstances intervened that caused me to purchase Leopard only a few days after its debut."

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"How long did you think it would take for an Ubuntu-based machine to make it into Walmart, complete with Google applications scattered all over the place? Apparently it was sooner than we had expected. As I type this, I'm attempting to download a copy of the OS now so I can get a feel for just how much Google feel this Ubuntu variant is really offering."

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"I have not taken a close look at Flock for some time, mainly because it felt like their focus was too much on picture clipping and the like. But after taking a look at the 0.9.1.3 release, anyone who does blogging or writing for a living is doing themselves a huge disservice by not using this browser - seriously."

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"In the world of business, it doesn’t matter how incredible a certain product may be because if it doesn’t sell, then it’s not going to be around forever. It’s all about the numbers and the bottom line, and if those numbers don’t eventually add up to equal a profit, then there’s a problem. Because of this, once certain products meet generic requirements, they’re sometimes rushed out the door in the hopes that the company will make a quick profit. This happens routinely, but one of the most encouraging things to see is when truly great products that have been meticulously developed are released to the public and do well because they prove that high quality is much more important than being mediocre."

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"While I’ve been testing Leopard, it’s been made clear to me even more so than before that there is a lot to love about OS X. Those of us who use it to have our favorite features of functionality and design, and as a former 24/7 Windows user, I just don’t understand how someone could compare Windows and OS X and pick Windows anymore. For me, the game is over, and Apple has won."

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"Believe it or not, some of the best deals come after holidays; here is what to look for."

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"Expand the HDMI port on your receiver with the Oppo HM-31 HDMI switch. It does one thing and it does it well."

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"The SteelSeries SP mouse mat is the latest hard plastic mat from SteelSeries that builds on the legacy of the S&S mouse pad. The SP features a lot of new innovations such as a macroscopic surface and a solid rubber base. In our testing we were amazed by the glide performance, accuracy and speed of this mousepad which is one of the best gaming surfaces on the market today."

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"The Asus M3A32MVP Deluxe WiFi motherboard was just awesome to work with. The board sets up easy, and has the Asus name to back it, which means absolute quality. Overclocking on this board was certainly easy due to the way that Asus implements its BIOS. There was never a time that we had to use the Clear CMOS at all. If the overclock fails, all you do is reboot. This board overclocked to very good levels, and certainly with a little more time and tweaking this board could likely take us even higher..."

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"In 2005 we started our annual AYiR (A Year in Review) articles for looking at the progress of the proprietary ATI and NVIDIA Linux display drivers over time. Now in our third year of doing this, it's time to see how NVIDIA's binary driver has panned out over the past year. NVIDIA had introduced GeForce 8 support this year as well as a few other features, but nothing major like in past years, and how has the OpenGL performance changed? With benchmarks in hand, we have the scoop for you today."

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"About a week or so ago Scott Sherman, Owner/Publisher of Bjorn3D, approached me about co-authoring a review of Mushkin's XP-2 6400 DDR2 4GB kit. I eagerly responded in my coy I've got one upon you this time voice, 'we've already done it'. Scott then responded in his the boss is the boss because he knows more voice, 'this was a newer product with different specs than we had first reviewed back in April of 2007'. Needless to say I was humbled at not being up to date on this product's release, but yet very eager to see just what this kit had to offer after the excellent results we experienced in our previous review."

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"Well in the end it all comes down to choice really, there are quite a few Media/HTPC style cases on the market with built in touch screens so as a consumer we are spoilt for choice. I would like to have seen a better airflow in this case, although it’s only a few Celsius difference, with a high end GFX card this could change. I could go on about the over spray inside the chassis as well but that would be nit picking as you can’t see it once assembled.."

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"To end off the year, the developers behind the open-source 2D/3D NVIDIA driver known as Nouveau have an update on their recent progress. This issue of the Nouveau Companion covers the RandR 1.2 improvements, GPU overclocking possibilities through Nouveau, and a Gallium3D driver for NVIDIA NV4x and NV5x hardware. However, before jumping out of your seat with joy, this Gallium3D driver has much work ahead. Google Earth and Quake 3 are running with the Gallium3D Nouveau driver, but it's not rendering correctly as you can see from the screenshots. Nevertheless, this is a great open-source achievement."

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"For the size, the OCZ Vendetta is exceptionally capable, providing you run the fan at full speed. If you're anything like us, that'll just drive you nuts, however it seems that some in our community have a greater tolerance to these things so it could suit them well. Using the included 4-pin connector on the fan works well, providing your motherboard has the facility to use it – although you can still swap it for any 92mm of choice and take the performance hit. However, does the cost of an extra 92mm fan on top of this heatsink simply equate to a bigger heatsink altogether? The attention to detail, like the rubber fan mounts and pitted fins, is excellent. In addition to its great build quality and because it's smaller than most heatsinks we’ve seen recently, it should easily fit more restrictive boards as well. It's a great replacement for the stock Intel heatsink but some might not be sure if it's worth £5 more than the Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro which, at the same noise level, should perform fairly similarly to the Vendetta."

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"The Sigma Luna has a clean look with a brushed aluminum finish. It is light-weight, yet I still found it surprisingly sturdy. The large side panel window, sleek door design, silver accents, and chrome trim highly compliment the black satin finish. Top this off with an all aluminum chassis and tool-free installation, and you get a combination that is a pleasure to work with and look at."

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"Picture yourself as a new gamer. You just bought a Wii. You're willing to buying more games for it, but how do you know what's good? You're not actively pursuing the idea of buying a new game, because your life was perfectly fine before you even bought the console -- but you're open to it. Maybe you'll check on the Internet, but you don't know the difference between IGN and wiidudesftwlol.com. You don't have a brand you can trust. You see a commercial on the TV for a new game. Crammed into a fifteen second spot, it all looks a bit complicated. Better to stick to Wii Sports, eh? End. The one thing that TV is better than the Internet at is positioning. TV invented Prime Time. Sure, the net has advert placement, but nothing beats having a glowing box in your living room that mercilessly plays a particular kind of programme with a particular kind of advertisements at a particular time of day without your consent. You just give in to it. Yes, TV has options, but they're still incredibly limited compared to the net. On the whole, the TV audience just accepts it."

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"The Boynq Alibi is a fun, simple to use pop-up webcam that also features an integrated speaker."

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"The Olympus SP-560 UZ is an 8MP camera featuring a mind-blowing 18X optical zoom. But can it compete?"

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"Yesterday the NVIDIA proprietary driver was updated as well as the ATI proprietary driver and the open-source Radeon driver. Continuing in this holiday excitement, the Novell developers have released the RadeonHD 1.1.0 driver just moments ago. This open-source R500/600 driver contains a few new features and fixes since the RadeonHD 1.0.0 release last month."

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"Using the PCMark Vantage test suite the difference between having the TLB patch workaround enabled and disabled was night and day. The system didn't feel any slower on the test bench, but the results showed differently. The performance difference ranged from 2% to 11.7% depending on the testing. It's obvious that the TLB workaround impacts performance..."

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"The performance of the ASUS EAH3850 TOP Overclocked Radeon HD3850 was impressive and definitely exceeded my expectations. In addition to a card that offers strong performance, the bundle of accessories provided by ASUS is also a positive feature... you get a full copy of "Company of Heroes - Opposing Fronts", so you are able to take advantage of the full DirectX 10 potential of the card right out of the box."

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"The Rosewill RX81US-HT-35B-BLK external drive chassis positions itself with the tried and true USB 2.0 as well as the up and coming eSATA standard. With a screw-less chassis, LED activity lights, aluminum construction, and support for up to 1TB drives... is this chassis the answer to your external storage needs?"

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"Don't have a lot of money but need something to get you by for a while? Maybe you need something better than that onboard video but don't need something like an enthusiast might need. Might I offer the Visiontek ATI Radeon HD2600 XT 256mb. Inexpensive, dependable and has low power consumption."

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"The MSI K9A2 CF provides excellent value as the cheapest multi-GPU, PCI-Express 2.0 board you'll find on the market today. The fact it’s not based on the premium chipset in its range means it isn't faster than a 790FX motherboard, but it still keeps up with the crowd and overclocks like a monster if you have the CPU to match. For £60, it's an / /exceptionally capable and very stable motherboard that also has a solid BIOS at this early stage in the 790X’s life. Considering the fact that Phenoms are dropping in price hand over fist and the Radeon HD 3850s and Radeon HD 3870s are good buys already, this board is a perfect addition to an inexpensive upgrade to quad-core and DirectX 10."

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"It's that time of the month again where we get to share with you all of the details on the latest ATI/AMD Linux driver release. This month, the ATI Catalyst 7.12 Linux driver (formally, what is known as fglrx 8.44) brings a host of new changes, mostly in the form of bug fixes. In total, there are just under a dozen noteworthy bug fixes in this release -- including addressing 3D acceleration issues on AGP graphics cards and the well-known OpenGL memory leak that was introduced with the new driver code-base. In addition, the FireGL graphics cards are now supported on this new driver code-base."

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"The Auras SLC-747 heatsink Frostytech is testing in this review for you is designed for socket 775 Intel Core 2 Duo and AMD socket 939/940/AM2/AM2+ processors. As with most heatsinks vying to relace the stock retail thermal solution, the SLC-747 features 95mm PWM fan that scales in speed from a quiet 700RPM all the way to 2400RPM when the heat hits the fan. Versatility is the key to any good heatsink, particularly if you want it to remain quiet and well performing under load."

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"The Razer Tarantula is one of the best gaming keyboards out there, if only they fixed the software installation."

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"The Ballistix DDR3 1600 MHz CL8 Kit is Crucial's only enthusiast DDR3 offering at the moment and as such it has been placed right in the middle of the MHz and CL rating spectrum. The memory kit does actually manage speeds of almost 2 GHz and tighter timings at the stock speed of 1600 MHz."

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"As I finish my testing on three different Linux supported wireless cards from Edimax running them on Ubuntu Gutsy, I discovered something that I think some people lose sight of. Because all three of these cards are using Ralink-based drivers of one sort or another, they tend to run a bit hot. And bundle that with a notebook not sitting on a notebook cooling pad and you have yourself one very overtaxed piece of hardware."

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"If you’ve been following the whole third-party iPhone applications debacle (and I’m sure that you have), then you know that the whole situation up until this point had just become completely ridiculous. Apple may not have been officially supporting the applications, but the hacks were plentiful, and oh so easy to take advantage of."

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"I have not taken a close look at Flock for some time, mainly because it felt like their focus was too much on picture clipping and the like. But after taking a look at the 0.9.1.3 release, anyone who does blogging or writing for a living is doing themselves a huge disservice by not using this browser - seriously."

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"What is the hold-up with Vista, Desktop Linux and Mac adoption? As much as we might not like to admit, there are a number of variables here and each of them is unique to the platform it relates to. In this piece, I will attempt to be as objective as possible, while exploring each of them."

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"Leopard has generated a lot of buzz since its launch, and for many, the question is - is Leopard going to take market share away from Vista? Is it going to have a big enough splash to do that?"

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"Every now and again a product comes along that seems to defy reason. Either it offers performance at levels far greater than similar products in its class or it is offered at a price lower than you would expect. Never have I seen a time where both of these circumstances happened at the same time to the same product. Yet here I am describing to you a video card that seemingly breaks all the rules; immune to the economic forces that keep the world moving forward. So what do you do when you have a video card as powerful as the big boys but costs only half as much? You overclock the heck out of it and sell it to the masses, that's what! Introducing the EN8800GT TOP from Asus. An uncompromising, take no prisoners, deal of the year video card that changes the rules. No longer will you have to choose between cost or performance. Gone are the days of chewing up watts upon watts of power and dumping all that heat into your case. Are you excited yet? Me too. Let's get to it."

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"Frankly, I was skeptical of this product's usefulness when it first arrived here in the lab, and I expected it to have very little, if any, impact on cooling. I was wrong. The HR-11 has proven its worth by lowering both GPU and case temperatures without adding any noise to the system."

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"Not much has been going right for AMD in recent weeks, but I'm happy to say one of the most popular benchmarks used in testing processors wasn't ready for Phenom when the media hacked apart the poor processor apart on launch day. It seems SiSoftware Sandra XII was not correctly optimized for the Phenom processors! We contacted SiSoftware after we were informed by AMD that nearly every memory bandwidth score on the internet was incorrect. Why AMD waited weeks to let us know this is beyond me, but nothing is shocking in this industry..."

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"The Infinity is a big heatsink for sure; it stands 155mm tall, 125mm wide and about 114mm deep with its 120mm 1200RPM fan. The scale tips at 960 grams, or just short of a kilogram. Now as you've come to expect with Frostytech, we'll skip the suspense and just tell you straight up - the Scythe Infinity is an excellent heatsink. It is currently one of the Top 10 Intel/AMD heatsinks we've tested in fact. The Infinity runs cool, and it runs fairly quietly too."

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"Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 2 is due out tomorrow, and while we'll have more extensive testing as the Hardy Heron release nears in April, today we are publishing our first -- very initial -- benchmarks of Ubuntu 8.04 using the 12-19-2007 daily build and comparing these results to Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. These tests are focused upon OpenGL gaming, encoding, disk, and memory performance."

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"Up for grabs in week sixteen of Bigbruin.com's Pro Football Pick 'Em is a NZXT Rogue Small Form Factor Gaming Chassis."

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"FM tuner can store 20 pre-set radio stations. The tuner on the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player is one of the best I have seen. It will display song and track information of the station broadcasts RDS data. You can remember songs you hear on FM radio that you like by saving the RDS track and artist data."

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"The NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI motherboard is an evolutionary advancement, not a revolutionary one. It adds features like support of 45nm Intel quad-core processors, which are not optional when you make a high end enthusiast board. NVIDIA is sure to sell many of these boards because they have an ace in their pocket that they love to have. That ace is 2-way and 3-way SLI and if you want to run SLI, then you have to run an NVIDIA chipset. When it comes to performance between the 680i and 780i our testing showed..."

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"At bit-tech, we’re incredibly lucky to get our hands on almost every enthusiast-orientated product that matters. With the Christmas festivities starting next week, it’s about time we looked back at the many products that have come across our desks this year in order to come up with our top hardware products of the year. Despite the industry moving at breakneck speeds sometimes, some of the products we’ve chosen for this article were released early on in the year... or maybe even last year in some cases, but they’ve still made a massive impression on the market over the course of 2007. If anything, that is a testament to how much of an impression these products made on us over the course of the year. Over the course of this article, we’ll cover everything from cases, chipsets, cooling, CPUs, graphics, memory, motherboards and much more. So read on for our pick from the year’s slew of enthusiast kit..."

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"Zalman's new ZM1000-HP power supply has been designed with fan noise in mind. The heatpipe experts from Zalman have stuck two of these inside their PSU and added a slow running 140 mm fan on top of that. This winning combination results in one of the quietest PSUs we ever tested, especially considering it delivers up to 1000W of power via six independant 12V rails."

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"At a price of around $100 US the Allure is one of the pricier micro-ATX chassis out there, and it is obviously geared toward female users. However being female myself, I have a bit of advice for the guys – if the styling presented by this case is appealing to your wife or girlfriend, build her a system using one. She'll love it, and you can feel good knowing that you've used a unique, quality case in the process!."

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"We think the Temjin TJ10 is easily the most impressive computer chassis we've reviewed in the last 18 months, let alone VL's lifetime. Every aspect screams quality and if you're looking for a case to impress people, this is it. It doesn't come cheap though, ringing in at over $300 USD but this is not a generic case with an underpowered generic PSU."

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"Razer DeathAdder Mouse is intended for serious gamers, but there are better options out there."

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"We've already tested quite a few HTPC-cases, but the one we have this time still manages to stand from the crowd. It's a new product in the GMC's Noblesse-series. The difference between this case and all the earlier ones we've reviewed is that this is as slim as possible. All the HTPC-cases so far have had room for full-size PCI-cards, but that's not the case this time. The slim design has also forced the manufacturer to do some other changes to the normal layout."

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"With the TS-209 Pro QNAP extends their professional NAS series with a dual bay, RAID capable product. It features all the luxuries of the previous model with added redundancy or, if preferred, increased storage space."

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"Overall, Ultra Produts has made a very nice case with the M998. The case is easy to work with and for a midsize tower, and it was found to have plenty of room to accommodate aftermarket coolers, extended length expansion cards, and large body PSU units. Ultra provides black mounting hardware for the drive bay devices to aid the end user obtain the ‘clean’ look by keeping everything the same color. Once a system is installed into the case, it really does look slick as you can see in the picture above..."

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"Cellshock is a newer brand which offers uncompromising quality. This can already be felt and seen when you take a close look at the massive heatspreaders which use real thermal paste and are secured by hex screws. The 1066 MHz kit features black spreaders, while top top of the line 1150 MHz offering utilizes red ones."

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"The NZXT Rogue Small Form Factor Gaming Chassis puts an interesting twist on the concept of a small form factor design. The stylish Aluminum chassis is well made, and includes a variety of interesting features such as a removable motherboard tray, a custom carrying strap for greater mobility, and excellent cooling potential thanks to five 120mm fan mounts."

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"Over the last year or so the 'Bigger is Better' philosophy has permeated the development plans of almost every power supply manufacturer. This mentality is due in no small part to the significant increases in power demands of today's high-end equipment. The enthusiast that doesn't have a minimum of 850 Watts of pulse-pounding power is considered by his/her peers to be sorely lacking! In fact, with almost every system problem described on the majority of computer forums one of the first solutions to be offered is 'get a larger power supply'. Have we made our point? In any case our consensus at Bjorn3D is that that a quality, properly sized power supply (notice we did not say huge) is the single most important element in assuring the functionality of your system as well as future-proofing it."

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"Whether you look at //The Orange Box as one game, three games or five games -- whether you're a newcomer to the series who wants to play it in his living room on a console or a hardened fan who wants the PC experience, there's still no faulting //The Orange Box. If nothing else there's still just an enormous feeling of //value. //Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is perhaps the most perfect and appreciable of the //Half-Life experience yet. The meaty part of the story, //Episode 2 picks up directly after //Episode 1 and sees Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman desperately trying to make it to White Forest Base to deliver a message of the utmost importance to the resistance. The story is brilliantly told and the pace is kept fast so that players are constantly moving, barging through obstacles and knocking foes and trials aside. There is no pause, no relief save those shared between characters at pivotal moments of the plot."

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"I've already talked about the extensive initiative that the wireless industry is going to have to take because of Google. It's scared of Google. If not scared, it wants to get its fair share of advertising revenue from Google. What better way to do that than becoming partners with one of the top online advertising companies. It makes sense. What has me laughing is the knee jerk reaction from wireless carriers. First Verizon, now AT&T. What's up, guys?"

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"Admittedly, this is not an issue for me, since I know better than to put anything Ubuntu puts out right off the bat on my daily use machine. I use Feisty (only recently upgraded) on my PC and then Gutsy on my notebook. Unfortunately, while this did not affect me personally, it seems that ipv6 issues are at it again."

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"Dell, the PC Goliath, is experiencing an upwards trajectory ever since Michael Dell has taken over as CEO. Not only is Dell working on its retail strategy to have people come up and physically touch and feel their products, but from a pure consumer perspective, the company is also focusing heavily on innovation. It's a new Dell. The latest in company news is the release of a special edition World of Warcraft notebook computer with high-end components that are customized for World of Warcraft."

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"Leopard has generated a lot of buzz since its launch, and for many, the question is - is Leopard going to take market share away from Vista? Is it going to have a big enough splash to do that?"

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"In my previous articles, I have talked about the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project, how it works, what the software looks like and the version of Linux it runs. Well, it seems that since last month, we have the opportunity to not only purchase a little green notebook for a child overseas, but we will even be able to finally get one of these green monsters for ourselves, too."

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"Next generation platforms and high performance graphics cards are essential to modern gamers and hardware enthusiasts, just as much as the new software designed to use them. Hiper has been providing performance systems with stable power for quite some time, and with a new focus on efficiency they can offer a penny-wise solution for everyone. Their latest Type M power supply series delivers 630W in the HPU-4M630 model and 880W in the HPU-4M880. The entire Type M series is built to provide excellent performance and efficient power to demanding GPU teams and quad-core systems while being stable and long-lasting to accommodate the needs of bleeding-edge technology for years to come."

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"We think the Temjin TJ10 is easily the most impressive computer chassis we've reviewed in the last 18 months, let alone VL's lifetime. Every aspect screams quality and if you're looking for a case to impress people, this is it. It doesn't come cheap though, ringing in at over $300 USD but this is not a generic case with an underpowered generic PSU."

More information can be found here.

"We think the Temjin TJ10 is easily the most impressive computer chassis we've reviewed in the last 18 months, let alone VL's lifetime. Every aspect screams quality and if you're looking for a case to impress people, this is it. It doesn't come cheap though, ringing in at over $300 USD but this is not a generic case with an underpowered generic PSU."

More information can be found here.

"If you need a reliable camera to take with you on the go, but do not want anything too complicated, the Sony DSC-H3 is for you."

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"The Vizo Ninja II, lovingly called Sumo because of the large size, is intended for 15" to 17" notebooks. The two cooling fans are powered by a USB port of the portable computer. This cable also features an USB 2.0 port itself, so you will not waste one of these precious connection on your laptop."

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"The Thermalright MST-9775 LE is an Intel Core 2 Duo socket 775 heatsink designed with motherboards whose MOSFET cooling solutions are a little too bulky and too close the processor socket. It circumvents obvious problems of clearance by elevating the bulk of the cooling fins 45mm above the base. With its use, MOSFET heatsinks and other electrical components will have the freedom to breath. "

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"V-MODA's Vibe in-ear-monitors are for the style conscious earphone buyer. Their all aluminum body and fashionable woven cable makes them stand out from the crowd. But can they even begin to compete with more performance minded in-ear-monitors."

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"Cirago sent me their micro USB Bluetooth dongle to take a quick peek at. When I first got the information on this I just thought this will probably be the smallest USB device I will ever use. Knowing that Bluetooth devices are becoming more and more popular and useful, I thought I'd give this adapter a try. We'll see how it manages in a house crowded with wireless signals."

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"Microsoft has gone all out with its latest wireless keyboard and mouse combo, dubbed the Entertainment Desktop 8000."

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"Super Talent has teamed up with Bigbruin.com for a new contest. Up for grabs are a total of three 2GB Super Talent DDR2 800MHz Memory Kits! To be entered into the drawing you must provide your e-mail address to be used with the Super Talent newsletter by December 19, 2007."

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"We were prepared to be underwhelmed by the nForce 780i SLI, but in all honesty we’re actually impressed that it isn't simply an NF200 taped onto an nForce 680i SLI board – the nForce 780i SLI reference design looks far better than before and internally things have been re-jigged for the better. The BIOS has been improved a bit too and the new nTune looks frikkin awesome, on the proviso that it actually arrives at some point! Overall, the nForce 780i SLI isn't a new chipset launch so much but rather a nip-tuck and facelift to the nForce 680i SLI, giving it a new lease of youthfulness to an ageing chipset. Thankfully this time around we should see some variety between the reference boards and custom versions from our favourite motherboard vendors, without having to pay through the nose for them. Although, having said that, as much as I want the new Asus Striker Extreme II, I also expect it to be significantly more expensive than the competition. In comparison to the nForce 780i SLI, Nvidia hasn't really bothered to try with the nForce 750i SLI. The core technology is so far over the hill, it might as well make its goodbyes to the family before taking it outback to be put down. The whole"

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"There's a saying that goes 'The best things in life are free'. While that may be true, the best performing video cards are the exact opposite of free. They are downright expensive. So when a video card that performs every bit as fast as the big boys has a sticker price close to half of what they cost, it gets a lot of attention. In case you don't know I am referring to the 8800GT from Nvidia. This amazing card has brought performance levels never before seen in the sub $300 price range. But even that is out of the reach for many people. For the rest of us our boat has arrived! Introducing the XFX 8800GT XXX 256MB Alpha Dog video card. Difficult to pronounce in one breath name aside, this is the video card you want to own. With its single slot cooling design and smaller, more energy efficient 65nm design this card has everything a gamer could want. Now let's see if it's as good in real life as it is on paper."

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"Major changes are expected in 2010 and 2011 as the industry moves into 45nm fabrication, 450mm wafer, 45 micro metre wafer thickness and 3D chip packaging technology. There are many concerns made by companies when technology goes through a paradigm shifts, mostly related to the costs of equipment replacement or retooling, and the degradation of electrical properties in some materials at 45nm or smaller. As the industry moves into 45nm and beyond, there will be more electrical resistances and electronic scattering effects. As circuitry dimension is reduced, electricity has more trouble flowing because of greater resistance in the smaller copper wiring, raising the risk of defects or compromising signal integrity. In addition to improving the 'interconnect' wiring conductivity, another interesting way to improve current flow is to reduce the transistor resistive nature. Manufacturers use advanced material science to improve the fundamental die circuitries and in 2007, Toshiba was able to get 35 percent higher current flow from a transistor by using a different material configuration and dispersing doping agents in the boundary surface between the transistor electrodes and silicon substrate. There has also been some basic research into using Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) as the fundamental circuitries and interconnects. It is regarded as one of the promising elements in sustaining Moore's Law well into 2020. According to, Philip G. Collins, and, Phaedon Avouris, in Scientific American (December 2000 issue), metallic nanotubes can have an electrical current density more than 1,000 times greater than metals such as silver and copper. Using Carbon Nanotubes is challenging on a few fronts for starters, the fabrication and circuitry layout processes are extremely complicated. Various manufacturing techniques have considered including print-on and growth approaches, but both are still extremely young and don't yet directly relate to the application in mass production of semiconductors."

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"For this review I will be looking at a product from highly respected pc hardware manufacturer SilverStone. The product up for review is in fact another power supply, not your “normal” run of the mill power supply as it is the DA700 a 700 watt power supply from the Decathlon range. With the DA700 coming from a company with a reputation like SilverStone has I am expecting nothing but good results, but I guess only time will tell."

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"The Sapphire HD3870 offers several great features such as 512MB of GDDR4 memory, HDMI support, DirectX 10 support, HD support, and Crossfire X support to name a few."

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"Oz Case Modz is having another modding competition. Allot of prizes to be won, and allot of fun to be had. So come on over and check out the competition (even if you ain't entering, check out the awesome entries!)"

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"Last month AMD introduced the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series as"

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"For what it is worth though, let me just say that although Payback starts off well and lets players run around gunning ‘til their hearts are content, it very quickly gets old. The gimmick of gore soon wears off and then it’s clear exactly what //Soldier of Fortune: Payback is – a mediocre game riddled with lazy design choices, cut corners and gameplay elements that got old long before I was even born. It may be good for the first five minutes and it may have a continued macabre charm for some, but most gamers would do best to avoid / /Payback entirely unless they’re sure that they too can get their cash back."

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"Uncharted: Drake's Fortune has been proclaimed by some as the best game so far for the PS3. While this is true to some extent, it has to be judged against the relative paucity of the console's current games catalogue. It's a bit like films that come out in January with posters proclaiming themselves the best film of the year. So, while Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is possibly the best PlayStation 3 game to date, that doesn’t have to be taken as seal of perfection. Thankfully the game is still pretty damn good. There’s enough to keep you coming back for more and the replay value is enhanced by the bonus features. On the first run the game is short enough that it's not a grind to replay on higher levels, but long enough to be enjoyable and entertaining. The frenetic pace sustained throughout Uncharted helps to hide its flaws, but it's impossible to get round the fact that this game is flawed. The pace of the game is maintained by the fact that there are no loading pauses to speak of. Each chapter flows seamlessly into the next, and you're never left looking at a stats screen or standing in an elevator."

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"PCSTATS will also cover the basics of overclocking the processor, memory and video card, so as not to miss out on this important area of extra performance potential. Please pay special attention to our 'Tweak Insurance' tips at the beginning of this guide to help you prepare your system against any potential mishaps."

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"The Logitech V470 is a slick Bluetooth mouse for notebooks, so you can enjoy your wireless freedom on the road. It utilizes two AA batteries as a power source and can be had in either blue or white. The V470 is intended for notebooks with built-in Bluetooth and also comes with a pouch for easy transportation."

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"The last few months were very uncomfortable and stressing for AMD. It seems the $5.4 billion dollar merger with ATI did not do any good for now. Even worse, the current products are inferior to the competition in terms of performance. Because we can't do a damn thing about it we have to watch and monitor what happens next. This particular transaction made a lot of strategical and operational changes to the company. Many wonderfully performing engineers were let go or simply moved elsewhere which in my opinion created chaos and distraction in the departments. Whatever positive things AMD says about the merger and the wonderful products they are just trying not to scare away the investors and potential OEM customers."

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"The enclosure of interest for this review is from Kingwin, a manufacturer of computer components that has been in business since 1992. The first look at their Z1-35EU-BK USB 2.0 and eSATA Hard Drive Enclosure confirms that it definitely earns some style points. Analyzing the speed and reliability will take a bit more effort, but hopefully the sporty appearance is an indication of performance."

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"I discovered the art of modding two years ago and I started to test many materials, including acrylic. Immediately, I was impressed with its strength, its incomparable luminous reaction and moulding capacity, allowing me to create pieces of nearly any size or shape. It was enough to convince me that acrylic was the best choice for my future projects. Obviously, to reach the desired technical level, I had to perfect the skill of cutting, paring, polishing and moulding. I learned these by visiting the factory installations of a friend of mine, who is my acrylic supplier. Through the observation of big machines, I learned that I could recreate the same effect (in reduced scale) by using inventive manual techniques. This is my way: To be able to reach a perfect execution level that looks nearly manufactured, but by using only the usual manual tools, specific methodology, simple procedures...and a bit of craftsmanship, of course. I always loved clean and bold projects, mainly the architectural building ones. This is my style, and LUMINA was not different. I sought to keep away from"

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"HT Omega, Inc. was one of the first companies to offer authentic high-fidelity sound at a true 24-bit level of performance in their Original Claro sound card. Now revised, a new AD8620BR Op Amp from Analog Devices has joined the world class Oxygen 8788 based audio processor in the Claro Plus+. Like the Claro, the new Plus+ model supports EAX™ 1.0 & 2.0, A3D™ 1.0 and DirectSound™, but also adds Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Headphone, and a precision Base Management system. Benchmark Reviews has been fortunate enough to compare the HT Omega Claro Plus+ 24-bit/192KHz 8-channel high definition sound against the entire C-Media CMI8788 family of audio products in this review."

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"Logitech's revamped G15 keyboard is better than its predecessor for sure, but only in small increments. It's a little smaller, a little slicker, and a bit more useful, with new features that almost justify the steep price tag."

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"One of the special abilities of ATI's R600 GPU family is the integrated 5.1 surround sound audio support through HDMI. Many Radeon HD 2000 and HD 3800 series graphics cards also ship with a DVI to HDMI dongle, so that one can experience the full video playback capabilities of these discrete graphics cards. But what level of HDMI support can Linux users expect when using these latest ATI graphics cards? We have done some testing internally and have the initial ATI Linux HDMI video and audio results to report in this article."

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"The Igloo 5710 Silent is shipped with a low noise 1600RPM 92mm fan and a pre-applied patch of thermal compound on its base. A nice touch given its suitability for generic office PCs where non-experts may be tasked with the heatsink's installation."

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"Foxconn jumped on the band wagon and made their first 'overclocking' motherboard in their new Quantum Force product line called Mars. It is based on the Intel P35 chipset, and has been specially tuned for overclocking performance. One reason for the great overclocking potential of MARS is the Gladiator BIOS. It is specially developed for the Quantum Force product series, and is both user friendly and provides powerful OC options. The BIOS features include a voltage multiplier for accessing a much wider range of voltage settings. It is the first one in fact to offer a 0.5 multiplier increment. 'The 0.5 multiplier increment will give enthusiasts more flexibility when it comes to overclocking, so we should see higher clock speeds running in a stable environment' says Peter ‘Shamino’ Tan, Technical Consultant for the Quantum Force product line. 'Quantum Force is not just about a new product line, it is also a complete philosophy about how we develop our products' stated !"

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"GeIL broke into the market with the Golden Dragon Series in the past and have now "resurrected" the dragon in form of the Black Dragon DDR2 line. The memory features a gorgeous looking PCB with a golden dragon head with bright red LEDs as the eyes. The entry level CL4 variant looks quite promising and performs just as well."

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"If you jump ahead to the acoustic measurements or thermal test reports you'll quickly discover that the Scythe Mugen has more cooling power than its predecessor. It also runs about 9dBA louder. As with the Infinity, Frostytech isn't going to delay the verdict for 5 pages - the Scythe Mugen is currently a Top 10 heatsink on both Intel/AMD platforms."

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"When it comes to performance the Radeon HD 3450 isn't going to dominate any games, but it does score a respectable ~1650 points in 3DMark 2006 on the test system powered by a 2.2GHz AMD Phenom processor. If you enable Hybrid CrossFire the score in 3DMark 2006 jumps up to ~2660 points, which is a boost of over 60%. We didn't get a chance to see the ATI Radeon HD 3470 graphics card in action, but AMD said it should score over 3000 points when run in Hybrid CrossFire on 3DMark 2006. AMD let us try out Call of Duty 4 at 1024x768 with decent quality settings on the system pictured here and we were seeing 20-50 frames per second Hybrid CrossFire enabled..."

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"I am actually quite pleasantly surprised at how well 3-way SLI actually works at this early stage and, in fact, I'm almost lost for words -- that's generally not a good thing in my line of work. If you compare this brief experience with the time we spent playing with Quad-SLI on some of the top games at that point in time, they couldn't be much farther apart. The difference is almost like night and day; north and south; east and west... you get the idea. Unlike Quad-SLI, which we had no end of problems with, this wasn't something sent to us by Nvidia in a highly-polished gold flight case, packed to the brim with velvet bubble wrap. Not once did we experience a crash during our time playing around with 3-way SLI and this was on a system that was built and configured by ourselves... rather quickly I might add. The downside of course is that this kind of set up is going to require some megabucks in order to see the benefits. You really need at least a 1920x1200 screen (when you look at //Crysis on its own) and a 2560x1600 screen for anything else. That, on top of the graphics cards, is going to set you back about £2,000. Yeah, it's not cheap. But then, Nvidia has never claimed that this would be anything but expensive. In fact, the company's representatives don't expect to see many users running 3-way SLI for that matter -- it's doing it just because it can; because it wants to. And knowing Nvidia's CEO and President, Jen-Hsun Huang, quite well -- I can probably guess at what his reaction was to the hard words we dished out when Quad-SLI launched. He's an enthusiast, a very determined and passionate guy and he could have hidden away from scaling to more than just two GPUs after the initial failure with Quad-SLI. He didn't though and I'm sure that his determination is part of the reason why we're seeing 3-way SLI being announced today."

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"The bottom line is that AMD's Phenom processors are currently too expensive and don't perform well enough to offer serious competition for Intel's quad-core processors. With the low clock speeds, AMD needs applications that make use of multiple cores to show off the benefits but, as most real consumer applications are single threaded (or maybe occasionally dual-core optimised), there aren't any real benefits to Phenom in its current state. The situation has completely reversed from back in the day when it was Intel's Pentium 4 versus AMD's Athlon 64 -- AMD's Phenom processors are outperformed almost right across the board, and this is especially the case in gaming and single-threaded tests where the processors lack raw MegaHertz. That said, I almost hope consumers will buy them, just to make sure that there's still a market left for us enthusiasts in the future."

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"Nvidia doesn´t want to miss the oportunity of being the most powerful in the graphics cards market and the brand shows it with something many users were waiting for: their G-92 8800GTS."

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"We are definitely in the middle of the digital age. It seems that everything is switching to digital ... TVs, DVDs, and now even picture frames. Digital picture frames aren't new, although, if you haven't seen them around you definitely haven't been paying attention. Benchmark Reviews will examine the Rosewill 10.4" Digital Photo Frame RDF-104 to see how it stands up with other comparable digital frames. Will it be a frame anyone would be happy to have on their desk? It might just be the perfect gift for anyone, even your techno-phobic friend or family member. Let's find out if the product is as good as the marketing suggests it should be."

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"As technology moves forward at a breakneck pace and as more individuals take on pro-level photography and video editing tasks, the need for larger LCD monitors with higher screen resolutions increases. Gateway has been relatively quiet on this front: A few releases here and there between R&D whitespace, then out of nowhere they deliver a gargantuan LCD with some of the most impressive stats seen in years. The Gateway Extreme HD 1600p 30"

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"Vizo has taken the Uranus 3.5 inch enclosure and has shrunk it to 2.5. This hard drive case takes a 2.5 inch SATA drive instead, but still keeps all the features of its larger brother, with a smaller price tag."

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"The Asus Silent Square EVO heatsink looks like a big square block of cooling... and that description isn't too far off. The heatsink consists of two arrays of nickel plated aluminum fins which are wrapped around a 92 mm PWM fan buried within the body of the heatsink. The fan, a Sunon Maglev with Vapo bearings no less, draws air through intake cooling fins and expels it slightly warmer out through exhaust cooling fins on the opposite side."

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"As we move into the age of multi-core CPU's the importance of using a quality heatsink increases exponentially. The days of sticking any old hunk of metal on top of your CPU are long gone. CPU's have begun to put out enough heat to warm a small room and you need a serious cooler to dissapate that heat. This is where Noctua comes in. Noctua may not be a household name here stateside but they posses a lot of expertise when it comes to keeping PC's cool and quiet. Working in cooperation with the Austrian Institute of Heat Transmission and Fan Technology, Austrian Rascom Computer distribution Ges.m.b.H and the Taiwanese Kolink International Corporation, Noctua has positioned themselves to establish a new level of quality and performance. Today's offering comes in the form of the NF-P12 120mm fan and NH-U12P heat sink. The NF-P12 brings full-sized fins complete with turbulence reducing notches and low noise adapters while the NH-U12P packs plenty of kick with its hybrid copper an!"

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"Unless you play at a higher level, most Unreal Tournament 3 and Team Fortress 2 games are actually quite casual and rarely require use of a microphone or regular communication -- unless you suspect there's a spy in your midst. Frontlines, like Quake Wars, isn't built like that. Instead, it's constructed so that players need to communicate if they want to accomplish complex goals. It's something to which the level design is a heavily contributing factor as, in Frontlines, there is rarely any set path or route to follow. It's an open world -- players are given helicopters and tanks and told to do something however they want. The result is that everyone tries to pull in different directions, meaning that communication is essential. This doesn't mean that Frontlines is a bad game, because I had fun whilst playing it and, if nothing else that's a great scale to measure a game by. It does mean that the experience (as opposed to the gameplay) isn't as accessible as some games though -- it targets itself much more at someone who wants to really invest themselves in a game, creating clans and organising matches. If that's the type of thing you find yourself doing often then Frontlines could be right up your street. However, even then Frontlines may not be anything that is especially worth picking up as the game is really quite generic and derivative. Again, it's not that it's that bad; just that it doesn't really take great strides forwards or have anything that really sets it out from the crowd. If the competition manages to make even a small step beyond in terms of either technology or game design then Frontlines could get left behind quite easily. A solid team-based shooter at its core, Frontlines suffers from a lack of accessibility and inspiration, but there is still plenty of time to go until release and the open beta is due to start soon. Shove those two ideas together and you realise that there's still a lot of time for Frontlines to change and become something else -- something worth shouting about."

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"Benchmark Reviews is approaching the conclusion to our High-Speed DDR3 Overclocking and Review Series, which has featured over one dozen different DDR3 kits. Many of the kits we have tested so far have achieved extremely uncommon overclock speeds, while other kits impress us with their combination of performance and value. So far, we have reviewed two of the three worlds fastest DDR3 kits: Patriot PDC32G1866LLK PC3-15000 DDR3 1866MHz and Super Talent PC3-14400 DDR3 1800MHz W1800UX2GP. Today we are especially pleased to test the Corsair Dominator PC3-14400 DDR3 1800MHz 2GB RAM Kit TWIN3X2048-1800C7DF G. You might say that we have saved the best for last, because this kit is amazing!"

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"Up for grabs in week fifteen of Bigbruin.com's Pro Football Pick 'Em is a Rosewill RD600N-2DC-SL-SLV Stallion Series 600W Power Supply."

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"Take your videos and move them from your PC to your television with the SanDisk Sansa TakeTV."

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"Situation - A demand for a portable and self powered audio solution. Two weeks time and 250 euro budget: realistic equation?"

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"The year is winding down and while we have a lot to look forward to next year, what were the greatest Linux innovations of this year? This year at Phoronix, we have published over 325 articles, with most of them being Linux hardware and graphics reviews, and that is in addition to over 700 original news entries. After spending much time in considering what the"

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"We know how confusing it can be choosing the right components for a new computer system, or an upgrade to an existing one. That's why we've assembled the PCSTATS ShoppingList as a guide to help you get good gear. Below you'll find one of the three ShoppingList's which you can print out and bring to your local retailer, or use as a general set of guidelines. We cover the basic components needed to assemble a full system, with monitor, and list the average $USD price each part retails for. Use the ShoppingList as a guide to build a better "white box" system, or follow our recommendations to the letter - it's totally up to you."

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"The Ultra Products m998 Mid-Tower ATX Case offers a number of innovative features that make it extremely appealing. In addition to things you may have seen before, like a removable motherboard tray, a matching paint job inside and out, and the use of casters on the bottom, it has another trick up its sleeve... The Power Bar power distribution system."

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"Geared towards low noise computers, the Thermalright SI-128SE ships without a fan - but that doesn't mean it's intended to be used in an entirely passive manner. Rather, Thermalright expect you to install your own 120mm fan on the SI-128SE heatsink... call it BYOF. The SI-128SE cooler itself is big, a 120x120mm fin array hovering like SkyCity over a compact base connected via four 8mm diameter heatpipes. The Thermalright SI-128SE's many fins are perforated with lots of little vents, a technique borrowed from Thermalright's HR-series. Accommodating AMD K8 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+ and Intel socket 775 processors."

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"If you are a user of flash drives for transporting data that is sensitive or personal in nature, you should consider an encrypting flash drive like the PNY IronKey 4GB flash drive we are testing today. Setting up the PNY IronKey 4GB flash drive is easy and when you first plug the drive into your USB port an onscreen menu pops up to prompt you to initialize the drive. This includes accepting a couple user agreements and choosing your password for the drive. The IronKey then generates the AES keys needed for encryption your data."

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"Today the XFX 8800 GTS 512MB XXX graphics card launches. This card has fantastic performance coming within a hair of the performance the NVIDIA 8800 Ultra is capable of. The new XFX 8800 GTS 512MB XXX has 128 stream processors and the core clock speed is 678MHz, with a memory clock of 1.972GHz and a shader clock of 1728MHz. The card is 9-inches long and requires one 6-pin power connector. Unlike the recently released 8800 GT, the XFX 8800 GTS 512MB XXX is a dual slot card. Outputs include a pair of dual-link DVI ports and HDTV out. The card uses 512MB of GDDR3 memory."

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"The XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB XXX Edition video card was consistently 12-15% faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB in the nine benchmarking games and applications that we tested it on. If you have a 24-30"

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"Despite its horribly confusing naming scheme, Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GTS 512 is a good product at face value, as it delivers unprecedented performance at the price point Nvidia is trying to hit. However, the problem Nvidia has is that if it doesn't manage to hit the price point it's given to us and the price edges up towards the £250 mark, it brings the GeForce 8800 GTX back into play. That said, if the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 hits the ~£220 retail price we've been given, it will hit a sweetspot that will make it a viable alternative to a stock-clocked GeForce 8800 GT and should make it much better value than most of the pre-overclocked 8800 GTs out there. We said the GeForce 8800 GT delivered performance that rivalled the GeForce 8800 GTX, but the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 manages to take the fight to the GeForce 8800 GTX and in many scenarios it's actually faster. It's worth making it clear that the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 is not a GeForce 8800 GTX killer and the GeForce 8800 GTX and Ultra will still continue to rule the roost at high resolutions with anti-aliasing enabled. However, what Nvidia has done is made a similar level of performance available to those with monitors around 1680x1050 at a much lower price point -- if you're looking at playing games on a 1920x1200 (or higher) screen, we'd still recommend the 8800 GTX. Ultimately the decision of whether to buy the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 will come down to how much retailers want to charge for it. That's something that Nvidia unfortunately cannot control, but it could easily be both the making of this product and its downfall too."

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"Today NVIDIA announced their new GeForce 8800 GTS 512 MB which is based on the G92 GPU that has already been used on the GeForce 8800 GT. To our excitement our testing revealed that this $299 card can almost beat the much more expensive GeForce 8800 GTX while generally being quieter and less power hungry."

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"From the moment I saw a case badge included in the packaging I knew that Nanoxia meant business. With the Dual Contact Hybrid Base CPU cooler they have proved that although they are newcomers they can produce top quality products."

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"Dell, the PC Goliath, is experiencing an upwards trajectory ever since Michael Dell has taken over as CEO. Not only is Dell working on its retail strategy to have people come up and physically touch and feel their products, but from a pure consumer perspective, the company is also focusing heavily on innovation. It's a new Dell. The latest in company news is the release of a special edition World of Warcraft notebook computer with high-end components that are customized for World of Warcraft. It's not just that. The notebook is loaded with a series of special packages just for Dell consumers that are relevant."

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"I've already talked about the extensive initiative that the wireless industry is going to have to take because of Google. It's scared of Google. If not scared, it wants to get its fair share of advertising revenue from Google. What better way to do that than becoming partners with one of the top online advertising companies. It makes sense. What has me laughing is the knee jerk reaction from wireless carriers. First Verizon, now AT&T."

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"There is no question whatsoever, once my wife brought her new iMac home, there was no other computing appliance in this residence as far as she was concerned. Yet this likely differs from most households as price over common sense often tends to be the prevailing source."

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"I just finished taking the latest version of Puppy Linux for a spin and was planning on doing a review. However, considering this was on my notebook, that meant connecting to the Internet, preferably via wireless."

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"These days, with the various Vista issues surfacing, I have to scrounge relatively hard to find any kind of positive news from the Windows front. But luckily enough, I managed to come across this sneak peak behind the veil that is a very young and still in development Windows 7."

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"The Glacialtech Igloo 5610 Silent heatsink is identical the Igloo 5610 PWM model in all ways, except that the two coolers use different fans. The Igloo 5610 Silent that Frostytech is testing in this review has a nice and quiet fixed-speed fan, the previous model a louder PWM fan. Both heatsinks are compact LGA775 compatible CPU coolers and suitable for office PCs."

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"The Scythe Ninja Mini SCMNJ-1000 is a compact lower-noise heatsink ideally suited to compact PC chassis. These diminutive PCs have until now not had much in the way to choose from for reduced noise CPU cooling. The Ninja Mini itself looks like a cube, and comes with a small 80mm fan that operates relatively quietly. Among the flurry of 120mm fan packing low noise heatsinks being released, the Scythe Ninja Mini stands just 110mm tall."

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"We discovered back in September when running the Razer Barracuda AC-1 with ALSA 1.0.15 that this sound card was quite problematic with the initial CMI8788 ALSA driver. However, last month we reported that the driver was being rewritten from scratch with a much brighter outlook. We have retested the Barracuda AC-1 with its C-Media CMI8788 Oxygen APU using the latest snd-oxygen driver, which also works with other high-end sound cards such as the ASUS Xonar and Auzentech X-Meridian."

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"The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 is a compact 7-megapixel digicam with a 10x zoom, a large 3-inch LCD and optical image stabilization."

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"The registry is one of the most important parts of Windows. Inside it we find settings that make both Windows and other programs tick. Anyone who has delved into it knows it is a dark and scary place and one you usually try to stay out of unless you really need to change one of those settings Microsoft would wish you did not try to change. Over time the registry, just like Windows in general, has a tendency to fill up with unneeded content, many times left by uninstalled programs that do not know it is not polite to leave stuff behind. Registry cleaning programs have been around as long as the registry has existed. A quick search for “Registry” and “Clean” over at Tucows.com results in several hundreds of results so it is obvious that this is a lucrative niche."

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"As I said during my Radeon HD 3870 architectural review, I’m a big fan of the product and I believe that Sapphire’s implementation is a good one. While Sapphire hasn’t changed much in terms of card design—it’s essentially a reference card wearing Sapphire-branded make up—the company has included a comprehensive bundle in the box. And when you factor in that most of what’s included in the box is useful, the deal just sweetens itself a bit. The one thing that’s plaguing both not just AMD’s partners though, but also Nvidia’s is availability of these newly released graphics cards. Sapphire’s Radeon HD 3870 card is currently unavailable for purchase at any of the major UK online retailers, but it’s on pre-order at a very tempting ?140 (inc. VAT). If you consider that Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 GT is starting at around ?170—and in some cases going over and above ?200—Sapphire’s card looks to be pretty good value. Once you add in the good overclocking headroom, the deal almost seems too good to be true. Thankfully it’s not (as long as Sapphire can meet the demand for the product) and, if you can find the product in stock, I wholeheartedly recommend this card."

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"From OCZ today we have a 2GB 800Mhz memory kit to review. What’s so special about that you ask? Well this is the Reaper CL3 Edition, the ones with the fancy heatpipe on the top for super cooling goodness, and super tight CL3 latencies for excellent performance, so let’s take a look at them shall we…"

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"The Ultra m998 is so named for the exalted m998 HMMWV (better known as the Humvee): a lightweight, high performance, four wheel drive, air transportable & droppable, land mobility system. For comparison: the Ultra's m998 is constructed mainly of lightweight aluminum and plastic parts, sports four optional castors (wheels), a removable motherboard tray, the ability to remove every panel, and also boasts a roomy interior. In concept at least the m998 sounds akin to its name sake's description. Benchmark Reviews however wants to see if Ultra's m998 Aluminum Mid-Tower ATX Case ULT40069 can live up to this legendary reputation, so we've taken this baby for a test drive."

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"Crucial's Newegg Lanfest 2K7 Special Edition memory kit is an extreme overclocking kit at its best. With stellar looks and the potential to simply shatter the rated specifications, this kit definitely won't fail to please the overclocking needs of any PC enthusiast and at a great price to boot."

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"The WINE project is going on 15 years in existence, and two years ago, it finally went into beta. Through the beta stage, there has been a consistent release about every two weeks, which often brings a fair number of improvements to this software for running Windows programs on Linux (and other operating systems). Sparked by curiosity as to how the performance of WINE is affected release by release, we have gone through and benchmarked the past seven releases. While this only represents the past four months of work by the WINE community, the results may surprise you."

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"But now, one year since the introduction of the Core 2 Duo with several new interesting products on the way, it looks as if DFI is finally making its way back to the spotlight. One of the motherboards introduced by DFI this summer is the DFI LanParty UT NF680i SLI-T2R, a motherboard which I've been granted the opportunity to have a closer look at."

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"Umbrella Chronicles isn’t a bad game in the light-gun genre, but it is a bad game by the standards of //Resident Evil. As with any light-gun game it also ends up suffering from having very limited replayability, making up for it by providing an intense and interesting co-op experience. A perfect game to rent for a week or so if you’ve got a friend you want to slaughter some zombies with, / /Umbrella Chronicles offers further glimpses into the //Resident Evil universe for series fans and presents a challenge for those with a love of the genre. It’s certainly not one for casual gamers though and most gamers will have more fun if they head down to the arcade with a fistful of fifty pence pieces instead."

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"The new Zerotherm BTF92 "Overclockers Edition" heatsink is a mirror image of the BTF90 that came before it, save for a different fan and the inclusion of a new fan speed controller gadget the company are bundling in now. The Zerotherm BTF92 OC ed. heatsink is compatible with socket 775 Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad/Extreme and socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+ AMD Athlon64 processors."

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"Coolermaster position the Hyper TX2 heatsink as a "total cooling solution," which is a fancy way to say exhaust airflow is put to use. Behind the Hyper TX2 is a rather large air scoop. It's job is to direct airflow exiting the aluminum fins of the heatsink down towards the MOSFETs, chipsets and other circuitry positioned around the CPU socket on many Intel and AMD motherboards."

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"Sapphire's new HD 3870 card is based on AMD's RV670 GPU which is made in a 55 nm process with 666 million transitors and support for DirectX 10.1 and PCI-Express 2.0. This card that is sold for around $249 is intended to be AMD's new offering for an upper midrange card - but can it beat the GeForce 8800 GT?"

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"The Falcon is a fantastic game controller, although I still think a few kinks need to be ironed out. With the circular grip we used the Falcon quickly became painful to use unless you had a lot of desk space to spread out on, for example. Several of us ended up almost up-ending the Falcon completely with some over-enthusiastic swings, for example. However, just because it is good, it doesn't mean that it'll sell or that it's good for the market. I've been round the block enough to know that selling something like the Falcon, even to seasoned gamers, will be an uphill struggle. This is the major fault of the Novint when you get right down to it, it//'//s an awesome gadget, but it//'//s a pretty sure thing that it//'//ll never really sell well enough to take off. Is it the coolest peripheral we//'//ve ever had our hands on? Undoubtedly and, although the comparison has probably been used before and is a bit unfair to start with, the Novint puts the Wiimote to shame in many regards. Unfortunately though, we can probably only recommend it to readers on the"

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"Any hard drive enclosure will allow you to take your files with you, but what makes the Icy Dock enclosure appealing is the tool-less installation, the build quality, and above average eSATA transfer rates. The MB664US-1SB enclosure is very heavy duty, which provides a little extra peace of mind that your data is well protected while in transit."

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"Ultra’s X3 800-watt Modular Power Supply is the upper-middle class guy in the X3 neighborhood. He hangs out in the modular part of PSU-ville and drives some serious wattage – but nothing over the top like his 1600-watt neighbor. And for the majority of systems out there running enthusiast-class, top end gear, 800-watts is generally more than enough."

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"XFX has done a wonderful job with their XXX Edition video card for the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB series. Their improved cooler is a nice touch that makes their GeForce 8800 GT video cards stand out from the rest. It's tough to make a video card stand our from the crowd, but XFX has been finding ways to make it happen. The bundle with the XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB Alpha Dog XXX Edition was solid and it was nice to see the game Lost Planet included with the bundle. The 650MHz core clock and 1.6GHz memory clocks on the XXX edition are nice as it's a card you can plug in and just run. Users don't have to download third party applications and/or flash the BIOS to overclock..."

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"Winchip Technologies isn't a household name with computer enthusiasts, but we hope to see that soon change. Benchmark Reviews continues our DDR3 Review Series, and today we focus on the system builder and enthusiast user. Many of the kits we have tested so far have helped achieve extremely uncommon overclock speeds right out of the box, and even though some of the kits aren't trying to set new speed records they still manage to impress us with their combination of performance and value. In this review we offer a product that is both affordable and performance orientated as the Winchip PC3-10666 DDR3 1333MHz 64A0TRHN8G17E RAM kit is tested."

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"Palm is at it again, this time fighting for your attention (and money) with the new Centro Smartphone."

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"The SideWinder Mouse has excellent tracking ability, a wide array of customization options, and good ergonomics."

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"The Noctua NH-U12P is a slightly refined take on the companies previously successful NH-U12 heatsink. This time around, Noctua bundle in the NF-P12 fan, and it's not your average 120mm vaneaxial fan either. It's flesh tone coloured plastic draws attention away from its three key innovations; SSO bearings, vortex-control notches, and textured leading impeller surfaces. Noctua's NH-U12P heatsink in one of the few models to breakthrough the low noise handicap and actually perform like a high performance heatsink."

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"Most external hard drives use 3,5"

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"PowerColor's new HD3850 Xtreme is full of customization compared to the reference design. Instead of two DVI ports it has one DVI and one HDMI port which supports HD video playback with HDCP and digital audio straight off the GPU. In addition to that a custom cooler by Zerotherm ensures that the card stays cool no matter what you throw at it. Another bonus is that the memory size has been doubled to 512 MB of 1.0 ns GDDR3 memory."

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"The hard drive is the single most important device behind the mass acceptance of personal computers in the home and workplace. The ability to save significant amounts of data within a computer itself, rather than being forced to place it on external media finally fulfilled the potential that the PC had never quite lived up to, at least as a business tool. Hard disk storage ability has increased massively since the early days of the technology, and will likely continue to increase in the future as drive's cost per megabyte of storage drops equally fast."

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"This is Razer’s latest gaming keyboard and features full, adjustable backlighting. The Lycosa complements the Razer Lachesis well. I like the looks of the Razer Lycosa very much. The rubber topped keys and mate finish on the wrist rest offset the glossy keyboard well. The backlighting is done in a blue color that looks good and is uniformly bright over all of the keys."

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"Earlier this week we published benchmarks of the XRender extension using NVIDIA's latest beta Linux driver, which had a substantial performance boost thanks to Render improvements with this latest driver. One of the questions that have since come up is how ATI/AMD's binary Linux driver compares when using this X extension. Well, right now, it lags behind NVIDIA, but a Phoronix Forums member has discovered a hidden ATI Linux option that should yield XRender performance gains."

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"The Philips VOIP841 is a hybrid Skype/landline phone with plenty of features. But does it work?"

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"The Coolermaster Hyper 212 is a 60mm tall heatsink, and it's comprised of just the right mix of copper heatpipes and aluminum cooling fins. I'll save you the trouble of skipping to the end of this review - the Hyper 212 performs within the top 10 best Intel and AMD heatsinks currently in the Frostytech reference list. Each list is nearly a hundred heatsink models long, so that's quite a feat for this 710 gram puppy. The Hyper 212 heatsink supports AMD socket 939/AM2/AM2+ and Intel socket 775 processors."

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"What better way warm up the winter months than with a jittery caffeinated writer? Xoxide.com has sponsored this showdown of caffeine with drinks and mints. One test subject has been taking in about 24-48 oz of Pepsi for the last couple of years, as well as using the penguin mints to help pick himself up in the morning or afternoon after a late night of gaming. Some extra caffeine couldn't hurt right?"

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"The 256MB version of the XXX is priced even better at around $200. The card is also bundled with the DirectX 10 version of Lost Planet. If you are a gamer and your budget was too tight for the 8800 GT 512MB, the 256MB version may be perfect for you. The XFX 8800 GT 256MB XXX has a core clock speed of 650MHz and a memory clock of 1.6 GHz. The memory bus is 256-bit and the card is HDCP ready and features dual DVI outputs. The memory used is GDDR3 RAM."

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"The ATI Radeon HD 3870 was a solid performer in all of the benchmarks we tested and was able to run all the DirectX 10 game titles we threw at it with no problems at all. The CrossFire drivers still need some help on certain games, but hopefully that will clear up in the next couple driver releases. The Radeon HD 3870 was hands down a faster card than a Radeon HD 3850, but you'll pay for the extra performance. Is the Radeon HD 3870 worth the extra $60..."

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"AMD's new Radeon HD 3850 has been a major upgrade in both performance and efficiency. GeCube has taken the reference design and increased the clock speeds. They also doubled the available memory to 512 MB GDDR3 and use a two slot cooler on the card. But can this yield enough performance to warranty a $30 price premium? We compare it to 17 other video cards."

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"While all of the rage recently has been around Intel's X38 Express Chipset, there is still plenty of life left in Intel's P35"

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"The Ultra Products X3 600 Watt modular power supply has a lot going for it. They have a very high-end look to them with the high-gloss finishes. Along with that they add in the 100% modular design that allows for easy installation, and excellent cable routing."

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"Lately, it seems like power supplies have been a hot topic at many of the major review sites, including here at Bjorn3D. We reviewed three units in October, two in November and will have at least one in December. I think this is due to the fact that many companies have finally realized that PC enthusiasts really do care about the power being fed to their components. And while there are many long-standing companies bringing new lines of power supplies out on to market by the masses, not many of them have the history that Antec possess. The Antec NeoPower line features power supplies ranging from 380 watts to 650 watts, all with three 12V rails, modular cable designs and high efficiency in mind. The NeoPower 650 Blue clocks in at 650 watts and features blue LED lighting to spruce-up the inside of your case. Follow along to see just how the NeoPower 650 Blue performs."

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"Ask any gamer how big of monitor is the perfect monitor and you might just get a response of "the bigger the better". Today Benchmark Reviews takes a look at a LCD monitor aimed squarely at the "bigger is better" gaming crowd. The Hanns-G 28" LCD HG281DPB monitor seems to fit perfect with the typical gamer looking for the largest LCD screen they can get without breaking the bank. Featuring an Active Matrix TFT, 3ms response time, 1920x1200 resolution, and at a cost of under $600. On paper the specifications look great, but how would it actually perform in reality? I had to give it a shot."

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"Let's face it, not all laptops live the cushy lives you see depicted in commercials. Board rooms, airplanes and living room couches may be the domains of Mr. Corporate, but out in the real world, laptops don't have it quite so easy. They get knocked around. They get spilled on. They get stolen. And all of these are reasons not to invest in the latest and greatest model - and instead go with a budget laptop."

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"The HP Blackbird 002 is an amazing system that boasts top-speed performance and a ground-breaking design."

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"Foxconn's MARS motherboard was a breeze to work with, I particularly liked the physical power, reset and clear CMOS buttons. Enthusiasts will find a very tweakable BIOS, and the Gladiator BIOS tools are a real time saver. Be warned though, if you're new to the overclocking game don't go too crazy with the voltage options, you can permanently damage your hardware!"

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"Up for grabs in week fourteen of Bigbruin.com's Pro Football Pick 'Em is a Rosewill eSATA & USB Drive Enclosure! But, if we can get 50 participants for this week's game, the winner will also receive a Bigbruin.com T-shirt."

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"Today we are looking at the ezVision Video Glasses from ezGear. These glasses simulate a 50-inch image from 8.5 feet away. I found that for playing on the Wii where you are standing most of the time the cord from the glasses to the battery was too short. It could have used a few more feet of length. However, when sitting the cable is plenty long."

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"The aluminum hard drive cooler from Ultra is not just eye candy and, as stated on the box, it is highly efficient. The cooler preformed better than I thought it would and in doing it should extend the life of the drive thanks to the lower temperatures. The performance comes at a price though, the MSRP for the cooler is $43, now granted, for that amount of money you're getting a nice part that looks as good as it performs. With a little shopping you should be able to find it for less as PriceGrabber has them starting at $19.99 thanks to a $5 rebate..."

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"This case is a good choice for those who want an attractive, full tower solution with good cooling along with a few useful extras. The aluminum construction keeps the case light so it can be easily transported, and the four included 120mm fans provide plenty of airflow."

More information can be found here.

"Benchmark Reviews continues our DDR3 Review Series, and today we focus on the system builder and enthusiast user. Many of the kits we have tested so far have helped achieve extremely uncommon overclock speeds right out of the box, and even though some of the kits aren't trying to set new speed records they still manage to impress us with their combination of performance and value. In this review we offer a product that is both affordable and performance orientated as the Aeneon PC3-10666 CL8-8-8-15 AXH760UD00-13GA98X DDR3 1333MHz RAM kit is tested."

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"Towards the middle of last month, NVIDIA had released the 169.04 Beta Linux Driver. The change-log was quite lengthy and what we had discovered while benchmarking the GeForce 8 series was that there were improvements to be found in this release and it was far more than a simple version bump. One of the reported changes for this driver release was"

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"The Z-5500 comes packed with four 62 watt satellite speakers, a 69 watt center channel unit and a 188 watt subwoofer."

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"The Glacialtech Igloo 5610 PWM is a compact LGA775 Intel heatsink suitable for office work computers. It's 80mm fan is Pulse Width Modulation compliant, so Intel motherboards can direct it to spin only as fast as required (from a low 800RPM to moderately audible 3200RPM), thus keeping unnecessary noise down."

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"Thermaltake has created a new Xaser case, and this time it is a monster. The Xaser VI is a huge "super-tower" case with room for Extended ATX motherboards, seven 5.25" bay devices, seven hard drives and up to ten PCI slots. There is an incredible amount of ventilation with the mesh on the front, top and sides, and there are even some other features that make this an ideal watercooling case."

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"Hype can be fun to pass along, but let's put all that aside for the moment and take a good look at the Tuniq Tower 120 heatsink. The Tower 120's main claim to fame is an integrated 120mm fan, set uniquely within the body of a densely packed array of aluminum cooling fins. You can't see the fan from the outside, and when dialed down to 1000RPM it is pretty hard to hear the fan either. In that regard, the Tuniq Tower 120 has the making of a good low noise CPU heatsink."

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"If you are a fan of ATI graphics cards looking for performance in the mid range category, the PowerColor HD 3850 Xtreme is a great option. This card has very good performance considering the price in the $200 range. It’s been a while since I have been reasonably impressed by the performance of an ATI card. It’s good to see ATI with something that can compete with NVIDIA and the PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3850 Xtreme does a good job competing with the cards from big green in its price class."

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"After our first review of such a cooler I was left wondering if this design development was really such a good idea, as performance was less than impressive. We're going to give direct touch heatpipe CPU coolers another shot, this time in the form of something from OCZ Technology. They have provided their Vendetta CPU cooler, which looks a good deal like the Kingwin Revolution cooler we reviewed just about a month ago."

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"With its new hybrid cooling design for the XT, Zalman has lost the traditional silence of the previous Reserator systems, but gained significant cooling performance. The Reserator XT is indeed a worthy successor to the Reserators of the past and boasts easy installation, attractive styling and superb materials and workmanship. Digital monitoring of fluid temperature and fan/pump speed control are welcome features, and the mechanical flow indicator adds a visual confirmation of coolant flow rates as well."

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"The integrated controller will get the job done if you have less than 6~8 (depending on the motherboard) hard drives but it soon will hit its limits in a professional environment. In addition, despite the fact that many high-end motherboards come with a few eSATA ports to be used with external storage, these ports usually cannot take the advantage of internal ports’ ability to offer RAID’s performance and redundancy. This is where a dedicated RAID controller will be very useful."

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"Being an E-TEN product, and with no UK network ‘fully' subsidising handsets as yet, the X600 is inevitably going to have niche appeal. If you're someone who places priority on looks over function, its super slick design and impressive pocketability make it a handset worthy of consideration. But despite the wealth of software extras, the GPS and the FM tuner I can't help feeling that I'd want a little bit more for my money."

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"Yay for Sony! For the first time ever, Sony's PS3 has surpassed sales against Nintendo Wii in Japan, one of the most important markets for console makers. According to Enterbrain, a trade magazine, Sony sold 183,217 units of PS3 compared to Wii's 159,193 in November, a striking 15.1 percent difference. Personally, it depicts sign of life for Sony, at least in Japan, which is cool. I'm glad to see Sony is not dying a slow, torturous death against Nintendo. Hey, the yesteryear king of consoles deserves some sympathy."

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"Apple was probably the first consumer electronics company to offer engraving on its music players, and interestingly enough, the market has been very quiet about this. In fact, it's one of the most overlooked features of the music player. Sure, there's nothing special about it per se, but the fact that you can customize your device with your name or a greeting on it is definitely unique. However, it looks like Microsoft was paying attention and expanded on what Apple started. With Zune 80 now shipping at no additional cost, you can select from an array of custom art that's more elaborate than a name. Obviously the best part is that Microsoft isn't charging its customers for the engraving."

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"News like this has to make me cynical for at least a day. Microsoft, the same company who has equated open source to communism over and again is now seeking this as an option as well? I'm not sure if I'm willing to buy into it just yet."

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"If there is one thing that frustrates me, it's articles like this that start off on the right track, only to show the writer's complete lack of understanding about the subject he has selected to write about."

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"Having spent the last few days really examining what Gutsy has to offer on the wireless front, I have been content with improvements made to the network-manager for GNOME. Having thoroughly tested my RT2500 and RT61 Ralink wireless cards, I was impressed with the new wireless stack and network-manager's ability to handle the wireless cards with zero hassle."

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"I didn’t think to record the running temperatures of the previous case to compare this one too, but in terms of noise, this one is ridiculously quiet. The supplied 120mm fans are rated at 16dbm(!) and the loudest component in the case became the CPU cooler fan. This was a nice result."

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"Ever since Heatpipe Direct Touch (HDT) technology was first introduced in exposed copper heatpipe coolers such as the Zaward VIVO, Xigmatek HDT-S1283, and OCZ Vendetta, overall heatsink sizes have been reduced while the cooling performance has dramatically improved. Not eveyone is a believer in the new cooling technique, and some manufacturers have stuck by their tried-and-true designs. Benchmark Reviews has received the Scythe Mugen 5-Heatpipe CPU Cooler SCINF-1000, and the practice of "bigger is better" will be put to the test."

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"The Apple iPod Touch has a sexy design and features integrated WiFi so you can browse the web and by music online."

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"With most motherboards these days, you are provided with a more than adequate number of Serial ATA cables and for most users that is good enough. However, if you are in need of additional SATA cables or are just looking for something different, SilverStone has their CP03 and CP04 cables. The CP04 has a SATA 2.0 connector rotated 90 degrees, while both the SilverStone CP03 and CP04 have a metallic EMI guard layer and a sturdy locking mechanism."

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"Granted, that isn't a problem which immediately detracts from the quality of Galaxy, but it is a problem which will bother some of the grumpier gamers out there (like myself) and will probably be pointed out by some of the Xbox 360 and PS3 fanboys who populate the world. I suppose this criticism comes down to my original bite-sized explanation of the game; that it is essentially just //Super Mario 64 in space. That's not bad, because both //Mario 64 and //Galaxy/ itself are great games, but it is illustrative of a wider issue. Shoving those wider issues aside for a moment though, /Super Mario Galaxy is a game which belongs in the collection of any Wii gamer. It's massive world is one which can be either fully explored, probed and completed, or skipped through when the difficulty curve gets too steep. The new transformations and moves available to Mario are fun enough to keep the game feeling slightly fresh even if it isn't really that much of a breakthrough and the levels themselves are complex and interesting enough to entertain anyone. The fact that it's got the / /Super Mario name on it may put some people off the game who think that Mario games are just for kids, but it really shouldn't. Despite the cartoony and kiddy feel that the game has on the surface there's actually a wealth of longevity and replayability hidden under the crust - //Galaxy is a game which will keep hardcore and casual gamers entertained for hours and hours."

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"The last time we had looked at a SilverStone drive enclosure at Phoronix was in early 2006 when reviewing the SilverStone Storage MS02. This 2.5"

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"It's difficult not to use superlatives and become all effusive when writing about a game like Mass Effect, but in this case it's well deserved. I'm not saying that the game is perfect: it's not, and there are still a few little spanners in the works. The graphical glitches and awkward load points aren't major points, and it's a testament to the quality of the game that I'm essentially forced to nitpick to find something wrong with the game. / /Mass Effect is huge too, both in terms of the area the game covers and the amount of playing time. There are enough side quests and achievements to keep even the most obsessive gamer happy for a year and BioWare has said that once the main game is finished, it's still possible to travel around the galaxy and visit other planets, completing side quests that you may have missed. Add on top of that the chance to replay the game with different dialogue decisions and the additional episodic gaming that BioWare has promised, and //Mass Effect goes from being a huge game to being a mind-cripplingly massive game. It's the type of game which gives '100 percent Complete Perfectionists' nightmares. If BioWare manages to carry on the quality of the storytelling for another two games, plus the interim episodes, it will have done something the likes of which hasn't been seen in computer gaming before. If you are at all interested in video game storytelling or simply want to play a Shooter/RPG which offers colossal replayability without becoming a grind-fest then buy / /Mass Effect. You won't regret it."

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