Mid-End Heatpipe Cooler Shootout
Digit-Life posted a Mid-End Heatpipe Cooler Shootout

Today we'll focus on 21 Mid-End coolers and their tests. It won't be a traditional shootout-we don't want to wear our readers out and distract them from their preholiday cares. So we'll try to keep away from purely technical details, paying more attention to practice. We hope that our shootout will help you choose the right cooler in the new year.

Mid-End Heatpipe Cooler Shootout

DDR2-800 vs. DDR3-1333. Does DDR3-1333 Make Sense?
Digit-Life posted a comparison review between DDR2-800 and DDR3-1333 memory

We're going to compare performance of two processors in combination with different memory modules: standard DDR2-800 and higher-clocked DDR3-1333. The Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor (1333 MHz FSB) will be tested with one and the same motherboard that supports both memory types (Foxconn X38A). And the Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processor (1600 MHz FSB) will be tried with two motherboards, different in supported memory types.

DDR2-800 vs. DDR3-1333. Does DDR3-1333 Make Sense?



Foxconn X38A Motherboard Review
Legit Reviews posted Foxconn X38A Motherboard Review

The Foxconn X38A motherboard is the flagship Intel LGA775 board from Foxconn. This motherboard supports the latest industry technologies - Intel Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo processors, and DDR3 1333MHz memory. With Foxconn Combo Memory capability, both DDR3 and DDR2 memory are supported on this motherboard, which means you can upgrade your memory without changing your motherboard. Read on to see how it works!

Foxconn X38A Motherboard Review

Logitech Harmony One Review
I4U NEWS reviews the new Harmony One Universal Remote that just has been introduced at the CES 2008.

The Harmony One can control up to 15 home theater and home automation devices. All you need to know about your components to program them into the remote is the brand and model number. You choose the brand from a drop down list with a huge amount of choices, there were companies listed I had never heard of before. After choosing the brand you put in the model number and you are ready to program.

Logitech Harmony One Review

LANCOOL K7: Hybrid Aluminum Case Review
TechwareLabs has published a review of the LANCOOL K7: Hybrid Aluminum Case.

LANCOOL (Lian Li) has sent us an aluminum/steel hybrid case to test out. With a black annodized aluminum exterior and sporting multiple interior design features that we find lacking in many cases the K7 may be an excellent case from several viewpoints. We explore the K7 in our review and take you from unpacking to installation and give you our conclusion on this "metal boned" new enclosure for your system.

LANCOOL K7: Hybrid Aluminum Case Review

MSI 8800GT 512MB Review
XSReviews has reviewed the MSI 8800GT 512MB graphics card

The 8 series of nVIDIA cards have been around for over a year and have almost completely dominated the market in terms of high end support. Now with the 9 series just around the corner, partners are finishing up with their last set of performance cards before focusing on the next generation. One of these last cards is the 8800GT; near performance of a GTX with a sub GTS price tag.

MSI might be a bit late in the game to release an 8800GT model, but they've done it none the less and it's here with me today. Let's see if it lives up to the 8800GT's sterling reputation.

MSI 8800GT 512MB Review

Foxconn Blackops Motherboard Prototype
Hardware Secrets took a look on the prototype of Foxconn Blackops motherboard, a socket 775 motherboard based on the forthcoming Intel X48 chipset coming with a water-cooling solution and targeted to extreme overclockers.

During CES 2008 Foxconn displayed the prototypes of two motherboards targeted to overclockers: F1, which we have already posted here, and Blackops. Blackops is based on the forthcoming Intel X48 chipset, have three PCI Express x16 slots, a myriad of overclocking options and a cooler that refrigerates the chipset and the transistors from the voltage regulator circuit that can operate as a simple passive cooler, as a water cooler or adapted to accept dry ice or liquid nitrogen. Sounds impressive? Read on.

Foxconn Blackops Motherboard Prototype

Motherboard Roundup Jan 08 (Asus Maximus Extreme, Asus Maximus Formula)
DriverHeaven published a motherboard roundup

For anyone buying a socket 775 motherboard the choice is now quite bewildering. For a while the number one choice was the 975X chipset but more recently the G33, P35, X38 and X48 have all been released with each targeting a specific market segment. Today we will be looking at the mainstream and enthusiast models to identify which boards offer the best value, performance and features.

Motherboard Roundup Jan 08 (Asus Maximus Extreme, Asus Maximus Formula)

Diamond Multimedia HD 3850 Ruby Edition 512MB Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the Diamond Multimedia HD 3850 Ruby Edition 512MB

Diamond has designed their HD 3850 Ruby Edition with additional cooling performance in mind. Their cooler is a custom dual-slot solution which does quite a good job at keeping the card cool. In addition to that the memory has been doubled to 512 MB of GDDR3.

Diamond Multimedia HD 3850 Ruby Edition 512MB Review

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Review
Hardware Secrets tested the newest version of the G15 keyboard from Logitech, which features a LCD display, backlit keys, special keys and much more.

Already a force to be reckoned within the gaming mice niche (as the previously reviewed G9 mice can attest), Logitech is trying its hand on the gaming keyboard market – for the second time. Their G15 gaming keyboard is being re-released with a new design, fewer programmable keys and more support for popular games like World of Warcraft. It's a hybrid product – to use the word that's making waves in the automobile industry – since it can be used either for gaming or for serious work, without the need of changing keyboards each time you want to play or have to do some spreadsheets. The programmable keys can be assigned to gaming functions (spellcasting, changing weapons, and invoking powers) or to open media players and check the email. And the LCD display is back from the previous version, allowing the user to see relevant gaming information (health bar, ammunition capacity) and which MP3 is being played.

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Review

Tagan ICY BOX IB-3220 Review
GideonTech.com posted a review on the Tagan ICY BOX IB-3220

Following in the ICY BOX line, Tagan has come out with another external enclosure in the same family of products. The original ICY BOX I looked at earlier this year was a nice product that supported a single 2.5" SATA drive. The ICY BOX IB-3220 I have today takes a single USB cable and attaches two 3.5" SATA drives to your computer via the USB port. Double the pleasure, double the fun.

Tagan ICY BOX IB-3220 Review

HIS HD 3870 IceQ 3 Turbo 512MB GDDR4 Video Card Review
3D Game Man posted a review on the HIS HD 3870 IceQ 3 Turbo 512MB GDDR4 Video Card

The default speed on the stock 3870 video card is 775MHz for the core and 2.25GHz for the memory, but HIS has this card's speeds set much higher. The core speed on the HIS HD 3870 IceQ 3 Turbo 512MB GDDR4 Video Card is 850MHz and the 512MBs of GDDR4 256 bit memory is 2.38GHz DDR. It comes with 320 stream processing units for vertex, pixel and geometry data, 16 texture units, 16 raster operators, the pixel fill rate is approx. 13.4 GPixels/sec and the memory bandwidth is 76GB/s. This is the perfect video card for a HTPC gaming rig! Watch the video to find out more and check out the bloopers at the end.

HIS HD 3870 IceQ 3 Turbo 512MB GDDR4 Video Card Review

OCZ ReaperX HPC PC2-6400 4 GB Memory Kit Review
OCIA.net has posted their review of the OCZ ReaperX HPC PC2-6400 4 GB Memory Kit.

And since there are still uses for it, the memory guys are still designing and building new DDR2 memory modules, treating us to lower latencies and higher frequencies than previously available.at ridiculously low prices.

OCZ ReaperX HPC PC2-6400 4 GB Memory Kit Review

ASUS P5K3 Deluxe WiFi-AP Intel P35 Motherboard Review
Benchmark Reviews has released a new article on the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe WiFi-AP Intel P35 Motherboard

Market forecasts predict DDR3 memory poised to replace its predecessor DDR2 as the main volume product for 2008. Already aware of this, memory chip manufacturers like Micron, Samsung, Hynix, and Qimonda have begun tooling up for mass production. As a result we should finally start to see the dizzying prices of DDR3 come down - being affordable will no doubt help to spur adoption in the market. With price drops looming, many will be looking for quality motherboards suitable for high-speed DDR3. With this in mind Benchmark Reviews thought it would be of interest to examine one of the more mature DDR3 based motherboard offerings on the market today; the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe Wi-Fi-AP Motherboard based on the Intel P35 chipset.

ASUS P5K3 Deluxe WiFi-AP Intel P35 Motherboard Review

AMD 5000+ Black Edition AM2 X2 Processor Review
OCC has published a new review of the AMD 5000+ Black Edition AM2 X2 Processor

In the AMD world, the 5000+ Black Edition should be on your short list if you are looking for a quick overclocking fix, or upgrading from your aging 939 system and not ready to take the Phenom plunge, but secretly hoping it will magically pull performance out of its hat. With the 65W TDP of the CPU, the Black Edition would be right at home in an HTPC where it wouldn't break a sweat, and you would have the ability to crank it up a bit to get your game on. At stock speeds, the 512KB of L2 Cache on the 65nm Brisbane core seems to hamper the performance of the CPU when compared to its older brothers, the 6000+ & 6400+ on the 90nm Windsor core, but it has them both beat in power efficiency.

AMD 5000+ Black Edition AM2 X2 Processor Review

SilverStone TJ10 Full Tower Review
Techgage posted a review of SilverStone's latest full tower, the TJ10B.

Got a hankering for a new case? Been bit by the water cooling bug? Having a bit of trouble reconciling the two? You should have a look at SilverStone's TJ10B. Despite the nay-sayers claiming it's not ideal for water-cooling, you might just be surprised!

SilverStone TJ10 Full Tower Review

NZXT Rogue SFF Gaming Chassis Review
Techgage posted a review of NZXT's SFF gaming chassis, the Rogue.

If on the search for a great-looking gaming chassis that's also portable, NZXT might have you covered. Their "SFF" label might be a bit of an understatement though - this case is far from being small. Despite that, it looks good, offers a whack of functionality and is definitely worth a look.

NZXT Rogue SFF Gaming Chassis Review

Super Talent 2GB Pico Series USB Drives Review
HardwareLogic posted a review on the Super Talent 2GB Pico Series USB Drives

On one hand, there are the USB drives that are designed for urban warfare; the drives you can trust to back up and keep safe documents while sky diving or roving the lunar surface. Then there are the drives that appeal to us more down to earth folk, with the office boss our only danger. Super Talent's new Pico series USB drives may be just the thing for the latter group, but can the inexpensive solution compete with the more popular and heavily armored models?

Super Talent 2GB Pico Series USB Drives Review

Nvidia's Hybrid SLI technology
Bit-Tech published an in-depth look at Nvdia's Hybrid SLI technology

On the whole then, I'm quite excited by the prospects of Hybrid SLI but I can't help but feel that there are some things that Nvidia could have improved in hardware---and I'm not even considering software at this point because it's early days---to make the technology that bit more appealing. The real kicker for me is the display support on the nForce 700a series motherboards because, from everything I've seen so far, there is only one digital output available.

That's not good for anyone who runs dual digital displays---like me for example---because you either leave your power hungry graphics card turned on with the displays plugged into the digital ports on it, rather destroying the point of having HybridPower technology in the first place. Alternatively, you could run one of the displays on the analogue VGA port on the motherboard and the picture quality is awful. With dual digital outputs, you can at least use one or two DVI-to-VGA converter(s) to connect your CRT monitors up to the motherboard -- and the best part of it is that the picture looks just as good when you use a DVI-to-VGA converter.

I have asked Nvidia why it made this design decision, but my questions on the subject are yet to be answered -- I've been promised an answer though, so I will update this when one arrives. Hopefully, I'm wrong and the chipset does actually support dual digital displays but given how long it's taken to get an answer, I am not too confident in that being the case.

Aside from this point though, Hybrid SLI looks to be an incredibly sound technology on paper, but we're going to have to reserve final judgement until we actually have hardware (and drivers) to test this properly.

Nvidia's Hybrid SLI technology