Audigy 2 to Audigy 4 Softmod: Is it worthwhile?
Hardcoreware looked at the Audigy 2 to Audigy 4 Softmod

Recently there has been a lot of buzz on hardware forums regarding a set of hacked drivers that have actually been around for a while, that will allow you to 'turn your Audigy 2 or SB Live! into an Audigy 4'. Basically, the drivers will make Windows detect the soundcard as an Audigy 4, and you will be able to use Audigy 4 software to control your Audigy or SB Live! series soundcard.

From what I've seen, nearly everyone who tries this mod claims major improvements in gaming performance and audio quality. Knowing that the actual differences between these soundcards are at the hardware level, I was curious to find out why so many people perceived this. I did some research and ran some benchmarks, to find out what the softmod really does for you.

Audigy 2 to Audigy 4 Softmod: Is it worthwhile?

Sansun Galaxy Midi Tower Chassis Review
Techniz posted a review on the Sansun Galaxy Midi Tower Chassis

The Galaxy Chassis from Sansun is a very stylish case and available in black and silver color. The size of the Galaxy Chassis is a midi tower case. The case itself has a lot of great feature such as the tool free design for the PCI slot, the LCD display panel and also the huge 250mm cooling fan. Furthermore, the Galaxy Chassis comes with four case fans, and the left side of chassis is equipped with dual USB2.0, IEEE1394 Firewire, audio & speaker ports. Beside that, the side panel is a very unique shaped of honey comb design...

Sansun Galaxy Midi Tower Chassis Review



OCZ 2GB Gold PC2-8800 Review
Techgage posted their thoughts on OCZ's latest kit, the Gold PC2-8800 2GB

It was only a matter of time before a company would release speedy DDR2-1100 modules, and OCZ has officially become the first. As one would expect, with such speed also comes loose timings. 5-6-6... ouch! We will see if tightening of those timings is possible, and also see if we can push them beyond their 550MHz speeds.

OCZ 2GB Gold PC2-8800 Review

Thermaltake Armor Jr. Case Review
ThinkComputers.org posted a review on the Thermaltake Armor Jr. Case

Thermaltake Armor Jr. Case Review
Usually when we think of Thermaltake we think of flashy cases. Well today's case is much different. The case's tagline is "Discover the beauty of Simplicity". The Armor Jr. is the smaller version of Thermaltake's Armor case. The case has a very simple, but effective design. It also has some really cool features that I have not seen in any other case. Thermaltake always surprises us so let's get this review started.

Thermaltake Armor Jr. Case Review

Neatreceipts Professional Review
XYZ Computing has posted a new article out on the Neatreceipts Professional scanner

The Neatreceipts kit is made up of a portable scanner and a software application whose combined goal is to scan, analyze, and store your receipts. Once the receipts are scanned and saved on your computer the software will help you organize the receipts. Later on you will be able to create expense reports and prepare for taxes. Because receipts must be saved for your own records, this package allows you to cut down on the paper in your home or office and to view the items in a highly organized way. If that was not enough, the program also can be used to scan and sort business cards.

Neatreceipts Professional Review

Internet Safety Tips for your Children
The TechZone has posted up some Internet Safety Tips for your Children

Children are often introduced to the Internet at an early age, at which time the parent has full control over their child's Internet use. As the child develops however, parents naturally have to gradually relinquish this control, whilst at the same time doing all they can to keep their children safe form the dangers that the Internet poses.

Internet Safety Tips for your Children

Opera 8.0 vs. Pocket IE: The Battle of Mobile Browsers
OSWeekly.com posted a comparison review between Opera 8.0 and Pocket IE

With the advent of mobile Internet age, it is not uncommon to find even common people with sophisticated devices. Thanks to the mobile revolution, the prices of both the devices as well as the services are coming down. Handset vendors continue to pack their little sets with better and powerful hardware components while mobile operators find new and innovative value-added services. In this article, we will look into two mobile browsers - the software that makes our mobile Internet experience better.

Opera 8.0 vs. Pocket IE: The Battle of Mobile Browsers

Kensington SX 2000 Speaker for iPod Review
CoolTechZone.com has posted a review on the Kensington SX 2000 Speaker for iPod

There are numerous iPod exclusive accessories in the market, which includes everything from speakers to docks to independent mini gadgets. While the mini gadgets are all well and good, the audio sector is especially seeing a boom from established companies, such as Altec Lansing, Logitech, Bose, Apple and now Kensington.

Kensington SX 2000 Speaker for iPod Review

NEC MultiSync 20WMGX2 20 Inch Monitor Review
I4U News reviews the NEC MultiSync 20WMGX2 20 Inch Monitor featuring TV Tuner and PIP.

Of course, it's only 20 inches, so it's probably not going to dwarf your TV in terms of size, but it is nice to have for those times you need to multitask, for example when you need to type up your doctoral thesis and watch the American Idol finals at the same time.

That's where my personal favorite feature of the monitor comes in picture-in-picture. This feature is what turns the monitor from a power-packed gadget to a meticulously created marvel. So, if you want to play Xenosaga on your PlayStation 2 while keeping up to date on your MySpace page, you can do it all on one screen.

NEC MultiSync 20WMGX2 20 Inch Monitor Review

HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo DL-DVI DVI 256MiB GDDR3 CrossFire evaluation
HEXUS posted a review on the HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo DL-DVI DVI 256MiB GDDR3 CrossFire video card

Recently, we reviewed a whole bunch of X1600 cards. Performance from a single card, when evaluated on our midrange testing platform, was reasonable enough from a ~£95 SKU. What we wondered was just how well two cards would function in dongle-less CrossFire mode.

HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo DL-DVI DVI 256MiB GDDR3 CrossFire evaluation

ATI CATALYST 6.8 performance
Elite Bastards posted an ATI CATALYST 6.8 Performance Analysis

OpenGL may be the poor relative of Direct3D when it comes to the number of titles utilise it, but there are still a handful of notable games which make use of the API, and all of them have been covered under the improvements listed in CATALYST 6.8. To use ATI's own words: 'Improved shader compiler and transform engine optimizations have led to many significant performance gains in OpenGL applications across the entire Radeon X1000 Series of products'. So, let's now fire up some of the OpenGL games cited to see how things are looking.

ATI CATALYST 6.8 performance

ASRock 939Dual-VSTA ULi 1695/1567 Native AGP/PCIe mainboard Review
OCW posted a review on the ASRock 939Dual-VSTA ULi 1695/1567 Native AGP/PCIe mainboard

ASrock 939Dual-VSTA is VistaT Premium Logo Hardware Ready full fledge ATX board based on the ULi M1695/M1567. It supports the Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64x2, 64, FX, Sempron processors with a FSB of 1GHz of HTT. It supports cool n quiet, 4 GB of Dual channel DDR 400. It has 1 AGP 8x, 1 PCIe x16 slot,1 PCIex1 slot and Future CPU Upgrade Slot. This board offers 2 IDE channels for connecting 4 IDE HDDs and 2 SATA ports for SerialATA 1.5Gb/s, RAID 0,1,JBOD. There is another SATA II 3.0Gb/s SATA connector for a third SATA HDD. Audio wise, 7.1ch audio is supported using Cmedia codec. It has 4 ready to be used USB 2.0 ports with 4 more thru expansion cables. There is no GbE but it is equipped with Fast Ethernet LAN.

The board also supports ASRock U-COP, Boot Failure Guard, CPU Multiplier Adj, CPU Vcore Voltage Adj, CPU Freq Stepless Control, AGP/PCIE Freq Control, DIMM Voltage Adj, CPU Quiet FAN.

Vccm (DRAM): Low (2.6v), Normal (2.7v), High (2.8v) V(NB): Normal (2.0v), High (2.1v) V(SB): Normal (2.0v), High (2.1v)

ASRock 939Dual-VSTA ULi 1695/1567 Native AGP/PCIe mainboard Review

G.Skill F2-6400CL4D 2GB DDR2 Memory Review
Virtual-Hideout posted a review on the G.Skill F2-6400CL4D 2GB DDR2 Memory

What do we think of this 2GB PC 6400 Kit that can be found for $199.00? There is really nothing bad to say about this memory. The kit is only rated to 800 MHz at 4-4-4-12 timings, but held up to 900 MHz with typical voltage changes.

G.Skill F2-6400CL4D 2GB DDR2 Memory Review

Benchmarking On Trial
Tech-Hounds published an article examing the peculiarities of replays / timedemo runs and real world gameplay test.

Performance evaluations are never easy and the argument of using synthetic and real world benchmarks is one that's neverending among reviewers, the general public and even manufacturers. While they are not the perfect tool to capture performance a hardware will offer, they do give us an idea of hardware performance. In this article, we took the time to learn the peculiarities of the old, still widely used replay / timedemo runs and gameplay testing sessions.

Benchmarking On Trial