| | ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe (WiFi-AP @n)... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we are taking a peak at a new motherboard from ASUS featuring an upcoming Intel chipset. Codename 'Eaglelake' this new chipset will be soon better known simply as P45, and as you have probably already guessed, this will be the successor of the popular Intel P35 chipset. This new chipset supports a range of new features thanks to the inclusion of the ICH10 south bridge chip...
Overall, ASUS has created an impressive motherboard and we have struggled to find much wrong with the P5Q3 Deluxe. Although the board is expected to be quite expensive, this price tag is typical of such a high-end motherboard. Far too few motherboards offer such an extreme level of performance, features and stability. When you consider the impressive bundle that comes with the P5Q3 Deluxe, the price should be easily justified. The ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe will be a hot motherboard for anyone hunting down the very best of the best.
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| | Gigabyte GeForce 9600 GT Turbo Force Edi... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we have another GeForce 9600 GT review for you, this time based on a more unique design featuring a completely silent cooling solution. Despite offering a number of new features, the Gigabyte GeForce 9600 GT Turbo Force Edition graphics card is very reasonably priced, costing only slightly more than the generic cards...
Without a doubt the Gigabyte GeForce 9600 GT Turbo Force Edition is easily the most complete 9600 GT graphics card that we have seen to date. This product really is flawless, offering everything you could really ask for in a sub $200 US graphics card. While the inclusion of a HDMI port would have topped things off nicely, we can understand why Gigabyte did not include such a feature, still this would have made this graphics card ideal for HTPC users.
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| | Thermaltake DuOrb (CLP0464) CPU... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we will be checking out a relatively new product from Thermaltake, the DuOrb, which is a universal CPU cooler targeting the performance sector. Not only does this new product look very impressive, but it has the performance to back the looks, with a fairly straight forward installation process to top it all off...
Without a doubt this is the best Thermaltake Orb series cooler yet and at $65 US we were hoping that it would be. The DuOrb did perform at a satisfactory level for a high-end cooler and we found the operating volume to be well within acceptable limits, truth be told when in the case it went completely unnoticed. This is all very good news, but even so, at this price range you cannot help but expect a little more.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008 |
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| | Inno3D GeForce 9800 GTX Overclocked... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we have a new GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card from Inno3D designed to deliver additional performance at no added cost, or at least this is the ideal of the “Inno3D GeForce 9800 GTX Overclocked” graphics card. Unfortunately this new GeForce 9800 GTX does not differentiate itself from all the other 9800 GTX graphics cards by including an improved cooling solution, but it does come with a cool game as a consolation prize...
While the performance of the Inno3D GeForce 9800 GTX Overclocked and the GeForce 9800 GTX in general is impressive, particularly for a $300 US graphics card, it is not exactly a huge leap forward when compared to the GeForce 8800 series. Although GeForce 8800 GT owners would see reasonable performance gains if they were to upgrade to the 9800 GTX, overclocking the 8800 GT would deliver a similar affect.
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| | Kingston HyperX 2GB PC3-13000 (DDR3-1625... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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It has been a while since we reviewed a DDR3 memory kit so today the new Kingston HyperX DDR3 memory is getting put to the test. Armed with some very impressive features this HyperX memory is designed to work at 1625MHz while we were able to push it much further than this...
Therefore the only real weakness we have found while reviewing the HyperX PC3-13000 memory has to do with the price versus the performance. The only other negative comment we can make has to do with the heatspreader, which by today’s standards is quite ordinary. Although it does work very well when using just 1.9v at 1625MHz, overclockers will most certainly try and squeeze a lot more out of these modules and the current design will only allow so much.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008 |
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| | CPU Scaling With The GeForce 9800 GX2... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we are looking at how the latest quad-core and dual-core processors from AMD and Intel compare when powering the almighty GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card. This CPU scaling article looks at gaming performance and should help those looking at building high-end gaming systems...
In the past we have compared the Phenom X4 9850 to the Core 2 Duo E8400 using GeForce 8800 GTX and 9800 GTX graphics cards. For the most part the E8400 was only slightly faster, while there were a few rare cases of the Phenom X4 9850 taking the lead. However as we just found when testing with the GeForce 9800 GX2, the Phenom X4 9850 gets blitzed by Intel’s 45nm dual-core series. At this point in time I am not quite sure why this is, why does the GeForce 9800 GX2 not perform on the AM2+ platform or why can’t the Phenom X4 9850 push it hard enough?
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| | Gigabyte Odin Pro 1200w... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Over the years we have reviewed quite a number of high-end power supplies, with our first 1000w product review posted way back at the start of 2007 when we tested the OCZ ProXStream 1000w. Since then half a dozen power plants rated between 1000w-1500w have hit our test beds, powering the very latest and greatest Crossfire and SLI setups, and today we have a new 1000w+ power supply review for you...
The Gigabyte Odin Pro 1200w is a serious power supply, made evident by the enormous output rating and of course retail value. Priced at $320 US, the Odin Pro 1200w is actually one of the cheapest 1200w power supplies on the market, with units from Thermaltake, Silverstone, PC Power & Cooling, Tuniq and Xigmatek costing more and in most cases quite a lot more. Even so, at $320 US the Odin Pro 1200w is still an expensive power supply regardless and we recommend that you research whether or not you need such an insane level of power output.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 |
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| | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 vs. AMD Phenom X... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we are pitching the new Phenom X4 9850 against the ever so popular Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor. Currently both these affordable quad-core processors are sitting in the same price range, leaving the question to which you should choose, AMD or Intel?
The very first article that we published this year, on the 1st of January, was titled “Clock for Clock: Phenom vs. Core 2 Performance” and that particular article told us a great deal about the Phenom’s performance. In fact, the data that we recorded in that article shows very similar performance trends to that seen between the Core 2 Quad Q6600 and Phenom X4 9850. In that original article we took the Core 2 Quad Q6600 and Core 2 Duo E6850 processors and compared them to the Phenom X4 9500.
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| | Thermaltake Nvidia ESA-enabled Platform... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we are going to take a look at what Thermaltake is calling their new “Nvidia ESA-enabled Platform”, which as the name suggests takes advantage of the new Nvidia ESA standard, designed to hand over more control to the end user. Thermaltake has selected their most acclaimed products to create this new platform, so the results should be interesting.
Honestly, before beginning this review we thought that ESA was going to turn out to be a pointless technology from Nvidia, that was nothing more than a cheap marketing ploy to try and sell more hardware. Although we did not embrace the technology right away, the more we began to play with it the more it all made sense. The ability to monitor and adjust virtually everything gives the user a great deal of control over their system and this is certainly something that enthusiasts will appreciate.
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| | OCZ Vendetta Series... | [Posted by: Steven Walton] |
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Today we are checking out two CPU air-coolers from OCZ, as we check out the original Vendetta along with the more recently released Vendetta 2. These coolers are designed to cool the latest processors from AMD and Intel, offering improved efficiency when compared to standard coolers.
Putting the OCZ Vendetta series into perspective, I would say that they are extremely quiet, high performance and relatively affordable. Although cooling performance was not significantly better than the standard Intel cooling, they did manage to match other high-performance products. At times we did see a 10 degree drop in temperatures without having to increase the operating volume. Therefore, although these Vendetta coolers are hardly record breakers, they do offer a good level of performance with a near silent operating volume.
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