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Motherboards.org Reviews
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 12-28-2006 Category: Hardware The 8800GTX is the fastest single graphics card on the market today bar none. The performance with two of them just flat outperforms everything on the market and then some when it works. Two of these cards working together in SLI
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 12-13-2006 Category: Hardware The DIAMOND X1950 Pro is an interesting contrast to the other X1950 Pro from ASUS I reviewed recently. The card performs better in many respects, but as the cards are identically clocked, this could be due to the driver on the dri
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 11-20-2006 Category: Hardware The GIGABYTE 7900GS is an excellent card for the money in terms of today's performance and features, outperforming the 7900GT in many instances and outperforming ATI's X1950 Pro in many instances on the performance spectrum. This
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 11-09-2006 Category: Hardware The future is Microsoft Vista and Shader Model 4, and the GeForce 8800GTX is the first fully compliant Pixel and Vertex Shader 4 card on the market. That means even if you purchase the card today, it will allow you to play the gam
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 11-08-2006 Category: Hardware Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than ATI's most loaded, able to render millions of Pixels in a single bound, it's going to burn the comp, that's the plan and it's NVIDIA, yet once again. The GeForce 8800 series signal
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 11-06-2006 Category: Hardware This card sports a lot of surprises for a 7900GS card. The performance of the card is on par with the slightly more expensive 7900GT reference card, and that is a good thing. The ASUS EN7900GS TOP is available on Newegg's website
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 11-01-2006 Category: Hardware Anyone who runs applications like Photoshop for Photo editing or Maya 3D and CAD for modeling will see huge benefits from the QX6700 Extreme as its multithreading abilities will be taken advantage of. In another instance if you ar Author: Doc Overclock Date: 10-28-2006 Category: Hardware Overall the case has good looks, and an ergonomic design that combined with its predisposed nature to use a liquid cooling kit, makes it ideal for the enthusiast's user who wants to use the best cooling available. There is enough
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 10-19-2006 Category: Hardware For a street price of $116 after mail-in rebate, the 7600GTS is a good alternative to the 7600GT, as its performance is very nearly the same, but the price is lower. After consultation with EVGA, they say the 7600GTS is a cross be
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 10-04-2006 Category: Hardware For a MSRP of $129, the TV Wonder 650 brings a lot of capabilities to the computer. These include free OTA HDTV (with an amplified antenna attached), cable television reception, a FM radio, a DVD Player, a Personal Video Recorder,
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 09-26-2006 Category: Hardware ATI's X1950XTX is supposed to be retailing for $449 as a MSRP. It is currently available at Newegg.com for $419, not a bad price for what you get. Performance in the high-end today is sufficient for high resolution gaming with ant
Author: Tulatin Date: 09-19-2006 Category: Hardware Now, with a considerably lower mass than many other sinks out there, it stands as a wonder that this sink was capable of holding a load when the temperatures ramped up. The only thing of worry, is that these figures may change dep
Author: Tulatin Date: 09-17-2006 Category: Hardware Enthusiasts shouldn't be expecting the world from such a small heat sink, but at the same token, there's no chance of breaking the bank, bending the board, or even botching this installation. So in the end, this sink is an excelle
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 09-14-2006 Category: Hardware A big plus of the 7950GT is performance that rivals that of the 7900GT of earlier this year for $299, over $100 less than the MSRP of the 7900GT at launch. It is always interesting to see how video card manufacturers package their
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 09-12-2006 Category: Hardware Intel and AMD are moving towards more efficiency in their CPUs and that's a good thing. The "Green" initiative is about conserving energy and saving our environment. With power requirements on every facet of the computer going up
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 09-07-2006 Category: Hardware With the announcement of the 7950GT and the 7900GS, NVIDIA looks to bring the 79xx series into the upper mid-range of the market with price points of $199 for the 7900GS. At this price point, you get all of the performance and fea
Author: Tulatin Date: 08-14-2006 Category: Hardware Sure it might be a novel idea, and an easy way to get a front audio port, but what did you guys really expect - that a $50 audio "enhancer" could turn terrible, bottom of the barrel audio ICs around, and pump theater quality surro
Author: Tulatin Date: 08-09-2006 Category: Hardware Though it didn't have the most stellar results coming out of the gate, or the most comforting design, Cooler Master's eXtreme Power Duo 650W is a fairly good buy for the price. Generally, it seems to be a power supply for gamers o
Author: Tulatin Date: 08-08-2006 Category: Hardware So what is it, you ask, that makes this unit stand out? Apart from everything I've listed above - the stable power, good looks, and handy modular capability - it's just that feeling of security, when working with the beefiest comp
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 08-01-2006 Category: Hardware With the announcement of the AMD-ATI merger, the video card market is in a state of flux. The 7600GS is a good mainstream card, available on Newegg for $129.99 after a $20 mail-in rebate. For this price, you get 512MB of memory; d Author: Tulatin Date: 07-31-2006 Category: Hardware A good design, plenty of features, a full complement of fans, and good looks - so what's stopping Sansun from coming out slugging? Once again, I've got another case that'd be a damn hard one to find out there in the open market, w
Author: Tulatin Date: 07-28-2006 Category: Hardware Pick your poison ladies and gentlemen - CAS3 DDR2-800, or CAS4 DDR2-1066, either way this memory was smoking fast. Right out of the gate, there were some problems with overclocking, though when an additional power connector was at
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 07-26-2006 Category: Hardware The 7600GT supports all DirectX 9.0 features including Pixel Shader 3.0 and Vertex Shader 3.0. These are the features that one should look for when purchasing a video card today, as virtually every game released today require them
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 07-18-2006 Category: Hardware Wow, not only did Intel make a comeback they have done it in a much cooler fashion, as the new X6800 and E6700 CPUs are not only fast and furious, they run at a much lower temperature threshold than the previous generation Pressle
Author: Tulatin Date: 07-14-2006 Category: Hardware To the point, though. For $150, you could either outfit the perpetual in your system with good, silent air cooling, or the Nautilus 500, and considering that you'll be running just one fan instead of several, it just makes sense t
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 07-10-2006 Category: Hardware SLI works well for those wanting the absolute best performance in games today, especially when NVIDIA 7950GX2 cards are utilized in SLI (“Quad-SLI) or two 7900GTXs are used in SLI mode. The extra features such as DualNet, FirstPac
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 07-06-2006 Category: Hardware One thing that sets EVGA apart from other companies is the support EVGA puts behind each and every product they sell. If you go onto EVGA's message boards, it is clear that they care about the customer. Lifetime Warranty, 24/7 Tol
Author: Tulatin Date: 07-03-2006 Category: Hardware To be fully honest, I loved this case since it came out of the box. It's fit and finish is superb, and its good cooling is backed by a well thought out design. While it may be impaired by a half heartedly designed side panel, and
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-23-2006 Category: Hardware As to the performance, though? Very, very good if you pick apples with oranges on the Gigabyte 8I955X Royal I had used as a test platform for a while, though testing could be only done at stock. Though future testing may be done,
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-22-2006 Category: Hardware Overall, I'm quite happy with the Microfly. This, of course comes after using it for a few days on end as a 'Daily Driver' type of machine. It's sturdy, and has enough airspace that cooling is decent, without forward intake. On th
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-17-2006 Category: Hardware When you look into the quality control of the new boards, and just how much they go through, it's basically a complete turnaround from the ECS I once knew, aka the vender who ran with PC-Chips. The boards have gone from functional
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-16-2006 Category: Hardware Computex was really and truly a blast for me. With this being my first time around this block of the tech world, I wasn't jaded or bored by the show in any way - for me it was like walking through a giant computer store with ALL t
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-11-2006 Category: Hardware After one hell of a long day, and just under 500 photos shot, it felt good to hit the nightlife. The trade show was going great, and with the flight to China coming the very next day, my body needed a little R&R. Especially after
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-09-2006 Category: Hardware Who else showed you overclocking Core 2 Duo at Intel. More to the point, though. The remainder of our coverage (a healthy dose of Thermaltake, Coolermaster and others), will be posting on the eve of the morrow, and you can rest a
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-08-2006 Category: Hardware What a way to spend a first day - caught up in the contests and products of Gigabyte, impressed by the diversity and quality at ECS, and absolutely gobsmacked by Corsair's performance. If there anything more that I can ask for? We
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 06-06-2006 Category: Hardware As far as sheer performance goes, all I can say is WOW! At this moment in time, the XFX 7950GX2 XXX Edition is unchallenged as the fastest single out of the box 3D card in existence and will challenge most SLI systems as well. Aft
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-05-2006 Category: Hardware Today, I’ll be covering the basics of the core of your system, and sitting down with Gigabyte, ECS and Corsair, talking about all sorts of future issues and potential things, such as support for the Conroe chip on current and futu
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 06-05-2006 Category: Hardware The X1900XTX is the best available video card on the market today in terms of image quality. The ability to use HDR+MSAA in games like Oblivion makes the X1900XTX the choice for the discerning high-end consumer. I've always felt t
Author: Tulatin Date: 06-01-2006 Category: Hardware In the end, everything came across quite well. The kit was able to keep the chip chilly, even at increased frequencies. It didn't leak, or demand extra liquid or even begin raising its fan past the indoor volume. Heck, everything
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 05-23-2006 Category: Hardware This round shows the gap between Intel and AMD taking a wider gap in favor of AMD for the first time; to be candid the FX62 was a smoking gun as an out of box product. AMD has really made advancements the past year with new faster
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 05-22-2006 Category: Hardware The 7800GT is still a great card for the high-end enthusiast. While it has been replaced in NVIDIA's lineup by the 7900GT, there currently isn't a higher performing card that's passively cooled. ASUS has done an admirable job with
Author: Tulatin Date: 05-18-2006 Category: Hardware After that unfortunate defeat at the Overclocked section of the Intel area, I'm sure that some wind has been taken from the sails of the Mini Typhoon. But for me, that's hardly the point. What matters here is that with a little mo
Author: Tulatin Date: 05-14-2006 Category: Hardware Though priced a touch on the high side, and meeting us with disappointing overclocks, the simple fact that these modules ran perfectly with tightened latencies out of the box, and the fact that they're backed by a lifetime warrant
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 05-05-2006 Category: Hardware ASUS has put together an excellent package with the X1600XT Silent. You get totally silent operation, the features you expect from a video card today and the performance to play games like Oblivion and F.E.A.R. at medium resolutio
Author: Tulatin Date: 05-03-2006 Category: Hardware Outlandishly fast, straight from the box. Perhaps the most impressive thing I've found to Corsair over time is that they've got a beautiful balance of a forgiving nature, and raw power in the products. With the sheer ease which I
Author: Tulatin Date: 05-02-2006 Category: Hardware Unfortunately, a great name and cool looking modules just can't make up for piddly poor overclocking at such a high price point ($170 at time of writing) for this kit. For $50 less, you can purchase yourself a nice, entry level ki Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 04-28-2006 Category: Hardware Good points on the Kamakiri II include the silent operation, the steady power under load, and the myriad of connectors. I would like to thank our sponsors at Directron for providing the PSU for review, but can't recommend it for S
Author: Tulatin Date: 04-24-2006 Category: Hardware With ever rising energy costs in all forms, and the habits of some users to be overtly clumsy (with an input voltage of 100-240V, you're mostly covered), we'd figure that you're set when it comes to a solution here. As such, we'd
Author: Tulatin Date: 04-18-2006 Category: Hardware In the end, while the military styling might not win you over, the rugged construction, beautiful ease of use, and convenient features (the handle is just plain cool) should. While we definitely aren't happy about the lack of spac
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 04-17-2006 Category: Hardware Diamond has done a wonderful job with their X1900XTX card, in that the card is an ATI reference card through and through. Virtually every X1900XTX manufacturer has followed ATI's reference design for the X1900XTX cards, in PCB lay
Author: Tulatin Date: 04-12-2006 Category: Hardware Though aesthetics may not have been the forte and flavor of the day, the ability to hit PC2-6400 speeds right out of the box, not to mention the further increase to near the border of DD2-1000 was indeed quite nice. Along with tha
Author: Tulatin Date: 04-10-2006 Category: Hardware High capacity, high speed, and slick looks make this memory a very solid product. Couple that with swanky new heat spreaders that’ll keep the sweltering chips chilly when the clocks go sky high, and you’ve got a formula to come ou
Author: Tulatin Date: 04-05-2006 Category: Hardware With the fans finally spinning down, we can see that through mounting difficulties, the monstrous heatsinks, predictably, came out on top. While there are no clear cut recommendations to be made today, we're hoping that this revie
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 04-04-2006 Category: Hardware The performance of two X1900s is simply mind-blowing when a game works with it properly. NVIDIA has a solution with four GPUs, Quad-SLI but this isn't on the market in any numbers as of yet and will cost the buyer 2x or more a Cro
Author: Tulatin Date: 03-29-2006 Category: Hardware With its amazing features, amazing looks, and its sturdy construction, there's little not to love about the Aluminus case, that is, up until you hit the price tag as it is a bit pricey at $140.00 and that can be a determent to tho
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 03-26-2006 Category: Hardware There are many liquid cooling solutions out there to choose from, the good things about the 3D Galaxy are it's really good looks, its ergonomic design and its price. As far as being the best cooling solution out there, no it's not
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 03-25-2006 Category: Hardware The XFX 7600GS is a good example of what kind of performance you can expect from a mainstream video card today. And it's a good one. The card is on Newegg today for a price of $143, putting it squarely against a X1600XT in price c
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 03-20-2006 Category: Hardware Spire has done a good job with their Rocketeer 500W Power Supply Unit. Performance on the unit was stellar, easily handling SLI and Crossfire on two different systems. With more and more dual video card systems sold today, SLI or
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 03-17-2006 Category: Hardware So the bottom line on the card is this. A X1900XTX provides the best image quality experience bar none on the market today. I guess I have to make a decision as to where I rate the EAX 1900XTX card. At a retail price of $650, and
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 03-09-2006 Category: Hardware The spring lineup for NVIDIA cards is a strong one in many respects. The decreased die size of the chips compared to the last generation and the move to the 90 nanometer process, will likely combine to increase yields and lower ma
Author: Tulatin Date: 03-08-2006 Category: Hardware As with all of Swiftech's goods in their time, the blocks look great and perform just as well. Considering that GPU temperatures could be kept so low, even when the CPU was being clocked upward dumping heat into the loop, we can r
Author: Tulatin Date: 03-03-2006 Category: Hardware Fast, Beautiful, Stable and Spacious. Things you'd normally say about a sports car or a luxury beast before being jerked back by the missus so you don't drool on it. That's exactly how we feel about this memory. This memory is pe
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 02-20-2006 Category: Hardware To my mind, the XFX XXX 6600 256MB card is the perfect upgrade for the casual gamer that is tired of using integrated graphics. The inclusion of a game like Far Cry which can showcase the features like Pixel Shaders and HDR on the Author: Tulatin Date: 02-16-2006 Category: Hardware In the end, the ability to hold up the voltages necessary, the fairly tight regulation of said voltages, and the efficiency of the supply once the fans spin up, and the low cost make this a definitely an appealing product for thos
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 02-14-2006 Category: Hardware There's still an upgrade market for the AGP user. After all there's literally hundreds of millions of systems based upon the old standard still in use today. The 7800GS AGP Extreme Edition is positioned to take advantage of the fa
Author: Tulatin Date: 02-11-2006 Category: Hardware What impressed me the most was that even while holding down a high powered SLI setup, voltages didn't fluctuate all too much more than normal, and noise levels didn't budge. Considering the stylish casing and clean modular cables,
Author: Tulatin Date: 02-06-2006 Category: Hardware In the end, while the OCZ Rally's dual channel technology did give it a performance edge, I'm fairly doubtful that it can stand up to even half of the more extreme abuse tests that I've seen the Flash Voyager put through. The poi
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 02-03-2006 Category: Hardware At the end of the day the ASUS EAX X1800XT TOP card is a good card that can hold its own in today's ever changing market, and although the X1900 series has arrived, the TOP X1800XT still rocks in the gaming world. Author: Tulatin Date: 02-02-2006 Category: Hardware Considering that we easily pegged 245MHz at 2-2-2-5 with just 3.2V and no errors, and 250MHz with the same timings and voltages with only minor errors, OCZ has come out swinging with a winner, now offering the same low latencies t
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 01-31-2006 Category: Hardware The A-I-W X1900 is quite simply the fastest most feature-rich multimedia video card you can buy today. For a MSRP of $499, you get great performance, features, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Premiere, a TV tuner a FM Radio and mo Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 01-27-2006 Category: Hardware What you get with the X1600XT is full DirectX 9.0 Pixel and Vertex Shader 3.0 compliance, HDR support with Anti-Aliasing at the same time, high quality Anisotropic Filtering and Adaptive Antialiasing. These combine to give the bes
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 01-25-2006 Category: Hardware Overclocked, good looking and fast, that is my opinion of the new XXX 7800GT from XFX as it delivers what’s promised right out of the box. Package content is above the average and at least gives you a few decent game titles to wet
Author: Doc Overclock Date: 01-23-2006 Category: Hardware This monitor is an excellent product and some positives of the monitor include the ability to have 30 inches of viewable area horizontally, matching the highest end Cinema displays from Apple in the overall viewing area. If you wa
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 01-19-2006 Category: Hardware One concern with modern PSUs is the ability to provide enough solid power for two video cards at the same time in a system. I mounted two CD-ROM drives, 2 7800GTs in SLI mode, a FX-60 CPU, 2GB of memory and a SLI motherboard and r Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 01-14-2006 Category: Hardware The Silverstone Temjin TJ05 case is a very solid and beautiful design that works as well as any case I've worked with. Aesthetically the case does the job, as black cases appeal to my sensibilities of style in my computer room tho Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 01-13-2006 Category: Hardware 6800GS cards are retailing for under $200 online, which is a good buy as it has similar performance to the 6800GT which was so popular at $399 last year. This forced ATI and their partners to lower the MSRP of their X1600 Pro to $
Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 01-01-2006 Category: Hardware Feature-wise the A-I-W 2006 fully supports Shader Model 3.0, HDR and is the equal of it's bigger brother, the X1800 in most respects. The inclusion of Adobe's Premiere Elements is a $99 value, and is an excellent video editing pro
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