Elite Bastards posted an Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 sound card review

Although there are several boards floating around that make use of a reference design based around the CMI8788, of which the b-Enspirer is one, Auzentech have eschewed simply creating another clone of that particular design. Instead, their team of engineers, experts in both digital and analogue audio, have set about creating their own board design around the Oxygen HD core, with the emphasis of their efforts squarely focused on sound quality. While most reference-based designs use only a single-layer PCB, Auzentech have opted for a dual-layer design, due to the larger number of components used on the X-Meridian. Auzentech argues that these additional components, when used correctly and of a suitable high quality, are required to enhance the analogue signal as it travels from the CMI8788 chip to your speakers, and prevent the normal degradation seen as sound travels along a circuit.

Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 sound card Review

CoolTechZone.com posted their CES 2007 Coverage

Here's a list of all the stories we have published thus far covering the International Consumer Electronics Show 2007 (CES 2007) currently held in Las Vegas. Please bookmark this page as we will continue to add a list of new stories that we publish directly from the show floor. We have a lot of exclusive coverage revealing the industry trends in 2007 and beyond.

CES 2007 Coverage



OSWeekly.com takes a look at ZFS: A New File System for Storage Fans

If you were to thoroughly examine the inner workings of an operating system, then there’s almost no doubt that you’d have the worst headache of your life once you pulled yourself away from your research. The composition of the components that make up each operating system are highly complex, and unless you’re a skilled engineer, you’re probably not going to have very much success in fully understanding the intricacies of the overall puzzle.

ZFS: A New File System for Storage Fans

Beyond3D published a NVIDIA G80: Image Quality Analysis

This article, part two of our NVIDIA G80 analysis, concerns itself with the chip's potential and realised image quality, from surface filtering to pixel output options and bits in between. The hardware does us a lot of favours, given its orthogonality in the ROP and filtering hardware, when explaining what it's capable of and displaying things empirically, so we get to keep it short and sweet.

NVIDIA G80: Image Quality Analysis

Legit Reviews posted their day 3 coverage from the CES 2007

Day three at CES included meetings with numerous companies and LR brings you some great coverage from the likes of Antec, Zalman, FSP Group and ECS Elitegroup. LR starts with Antec's 1200W P190 computer case, Zalman's 3D LCD, FSP's small 1000W PSU and the latest in hardware from ECS. Read on to see what these companies are up to!

CES 2007 - Day Three Show Coverage From Las Vegas

TechARP posted Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 11.7

Covering over 290 desktop graphics cards, this comprehensive comparison allows you to easily compare 17 different specifications for each and every card! If you need to find out about the specification of any card, just come over and check out our Desktop Graphics Comparison Guide!

We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly so do check back for the latest updates!

Here are the updates:

- Corrected the Vertex Shaders specifications for ATI Radeon
X1650 XT card.
- Corrected the Architecture, Manufacturing Process & Transistor
Count specifications for ATI Radeon X1950 Pro card.
- Total cards : 295

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 11.7

bit-tech.net have a look at Foxconn's factory overclocked FV-N88SMBD2-ONOC (GeForce 8800 GTS).

One problem at the moment is that the card isn't available to purchase and current pricing estimates indicate that the card will cost around £350 including VAT. At this price, Foxconn's overclocked GeForce 8800 GTS sits right in between BFGTech's 8800 GTS (at around £300 including VAT) and a slew of GeForce 8800 GTX cards that come in for just under £400. This the card's major downfall because unless you don't want to overclock one of the cheaper 8800 GTS's (like the one from BFGTech) or you can't afford to spend an extra £50 on a considerably faster video card, this isn't the card for you.

Foxconn FV-N88SMBD2-ONOC (GeForce 8800 GTS) video card review

XSReviews has reviewed the Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 Kit

When 2gb kits started to become standard among gamers, Crucial ruled the roost with their high end PC4000 kit. Since then it has all moved on to low latency, high bandwidth DDR2 and Crucial is once again trying to dominate the market with their high performance modules. Today I have
with me a mid range PC6400 kit from the Ballistix series. However, these
modules are sporting the D9GMH chips which are touted as the new TCCD. This should mean high performance and some extreme overclocking, lets see how well they do.

Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 Kit Review

BurnOutPC.com has just posted their review on the XTracPads Pro & Pro HS

Over the years i've came to the conclusion, and this is of course my opinion on the matter. That whenever you look for a replacement mousemat / pad, some things come into play. First there's the brand issue. It's like purchasing a car, some like Volkswagen, but Seat has the same parts as a Volkswagen but is much cheaper. Second there's the type of surface you prefer and what size. Lastly it's how fancy you want your mousemat to look and how much your willing to pay for it. If your looking for a high quality, high end mousemat and you have a computer system you spend a fortune on and doesn't want a cheap looking mousemat on your desk than your looking at mousemats / pads up to 50 dollars. Both the XTracPads Pro and Pro HS glide as smooth as you would expect from a mousemat, their not the crappy cloth mats from 10 years ago. It's probably a production error that my surface came loose on the HS but overall both mousemats are quite alright.

XTracPads Pro & Pro HS Review

XYZ Computing has posted their CES 2007 article

Expectation for this year's CES have been quite mixed. While this is the number one time of the year for a company to make a big product release every year can't be a blockbuster and this year was decidedly more about evolution than revolution. The large majority of what happens at CES has to do with consumer electronics, which means that while computer hardware companies do show up they are not the focus and they are definitely not in the majority. When it comes down to it, CES is all about big money consumer electronics products, like LCD televisions and cell phones, not so much computer cases, hard drives, and motherboards. That said, there are more than enough companies here to keep things interesting and while we did a lot of CE coverage, we are going to keep things separate so all you computer enthusiasts can get what you want and then read about the rest if you want.

CES 2007- An Overview

Modders-Inc has a new review online on the Ultra X-Blaster ATX Case

What color? What form factor? What style? These are common questions we ask ourselves when looking for the right case. The options are plentiful and growing by the day. Deciding on which case to go with has a lot to do with what you actually plan on doing with the computer. Today we are going to take a look at Ultra's newest case offering the X-Blaster.

Ultra X-Blaster ATX Case Review

Hardcoreware posted a review on the Thermaltake Armor LCS Full Tower with integrated Watercooling

There are a handful of cases out there that cost over $200. These are the specialty cases that do more than just look pretty; an example of this is Zalman's heatpipe case that works as a fanless cooler for your entire system.

Thermaltake's Armor LCS is another such case. They took their popular Armor case and modified to to fit in one of their top watercooling kits. The result is a watercooled system without the mess and frustration of trying to figure out where to put all the parts. But is it worth the $250 price tag?

Thermaltake Armor LCS Full Tower with integrated Watercooling

bit-tech.net posted a review on the Asus Crosshair motherboard

The first Asus Republic of Gamers board is known as Crosshair and it's based on NVIDIA's nForce 590 SLI chipset for socket AM2 Athlon 64's. Does it aim to strike in the right areas, or will it be fragged into oblivion? Read on for the low down...

Asus Crosshair motherboard reviewed

TrustedReviews looked at the AVM Fritz!Box Fon WLAN 7140

I was quite impressed with AVM’s bizarrely named Fritz!Box Fon WLAN when we looked at it last year and the latest 7140 version builds on its successes by introducing a range of new and useful features. A key function of this router is its ability to deliver extensive VoIP functions using SIP as it operates as a two-port PBX, enabling calls to be made over the Internet and landlines as well.

AVM Fritz!Box Fon WLAN 7140 Review