|
|
Reviews Around The Web
|
Choose Web Reviews from this Maker:
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
|
|
|
|
|
You are probably like most people when they go on vacation and use a digital camera with a few memory cards. It would be great if you didn't need a computer all the time to constantly backup your photos. The MS1U from Sans Digital is billed as a digital photo bank and it does just that. It takes a laptop (IDE) hard drive and converts it into portable storage for your memory cards.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VIA caused quite a stir a few months ago when the company first revealed initial details regarding their low-power Nano processor. At the time, the product was referred to by its internal codename of Isaiah and the president of the design center that was tasked with making the processor was decidedly outspoken, which made for some exciting reporting. When news of the Isaiah core first broke, we hopped on the line with Glenn Henry, VIA's Centaur design center president, and got many questions answered regarding the processor's architecture, features, expected performance, and the company's plans for the CPU. We also covered the official announcement of the VIA Nano processor and detailed the exact models that would be available at launch. One thing we hadn't been able to do, however, was a direct performance comparison of the VIA Nano processor versus Intel's recently released Atom, which is target at the same market segment. Thankfully, we were recently given the opportunity to take a VIA Nano reference platform for a spin to see what it could do and will be presenting our results for you here today.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall it has to be said that Be Quiet! has made a fantastic product - it works, it has supreme efficiency, excellent quality outputs, lots of cable variation (which is perfect for a modular PSU) and is damn near silent to boot. We were really struggling to find things wrong with it because it's really not that expensive when you look at the whole package, and the only thing that grates us is the RMA to Germany - other companies offer better after-sales support.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you find yourself getting sick to the stomach when you see how much cards like the GTX 280 and GTX 260 are and just can't understand why people would spend so much money on a graphics card, the 9500 GT could be in your league. The 9500 GT, as you might have guessed comes in below the 9600 series and well below the 9800s. It's designed for people who are looking at getting away from onboard graphics but don't want to blow too much money. You have to wonder with the new GTX 280 / 260 naming scheme as to why NVIDIA are still continuing to update the older 9000 series of cards. Either way, we have a new low to mid-range graphics card that's cheap and can hopefully offer low resolution gamers something that doesn't break the bank.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I expected the Tuniq Ensemble 1200W power supply to perform well after seeing what the 950W Tuniq Miniplant had to offer a few months ago, and my expectations wound up being exceeded. The unit ran cool and quiet, managing to provide stable power to the beefiest system I could put together while producing a trivial ripple of a fraction of one percent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It seems like NVIDIA graphics card releases run as clock work with the Catalyst drivers from AMD. With the GTX 280, GTX 260 and 9800 GTX+ released not all that long ago, it comes as no real surprise that NVIDIA has gotten up once again and released not only one new card today, but two. The first card is the 9800 GT which is what we have here with us now. The other is a 9500 GT which of course sits at the lower end of the scale when it comes to performance. Unlike some of the more recent releases, it seems that companies are already prepared to attack the 9800 GT with new cooling methods and overclocks. We see here that GIGABYTE has already strapped a Zalman cooler onto the newly released card and Palit are ready to go with an overclocked model carrying the "Sonic" naming scheme, too.
|
|
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
|
|
|
|
|
It carries a hefty $600 price tag, but the TS-409 Pro is a sound investment for a home or small business network. For those who need much more than just file storage and backup, this is the NAS to get. In addition to having a central location to store and back up files this product offers hard disk monitoring, FTP, Web, and SMTP server functions, user/group management, and one touch file copy from a USB disk - and that's just scratching the surface! Everything is managed through a well organized web interface that can be accessed remotely via a secure SSL connection.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The AirTV-1000U DVB-T TV Tuner is something you would not expect from a company like AirLive. They are known for their excellent networking products, not TV Tuners. The USB based AirTV-1000U features some interesting features, like recording, EPG and time shifting support.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When it comes to our computers, we'd love to always have the biggest and the best. However, reality indicates that isn't always possible. But that also doesn't mean we have to "settle" when it comes to memory options. For the PC enthusiasts who are looking for quality and value, Kingston offers the KHX6400D2LLK2/4G Memory Kit, a product in their HyperX DDR2 line. The HyperX DDR2 offers faster speeds, lower latencies, higher data bandwidths and lower power consumption than DDR.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maxtor's diminutive OneTouch 4 Mini pushes the capacity envelope again, packing a positively huge 320 gigabytes of storage into a tiny enclosure. It's also one of the sexiest mini external drives we've seen. Is the OneTouch 4 Mini 320GB a portable storage slam-dunk?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In an effort to market their products, companies resort to naming schemes that offer a clue into that products particular identity. This is no more realized than the newly redesigned Thermaltake Armor+, a full sized ATX enclosure solution that is sure to make any enthusiasts' eyes bleed. With enough features and gadgetry to make even the most tech-hardened nerd succumb to uncontrollable spasms, the Thermaltake Armor+ sits at the forefront of chassis innovation. Or does it? Will the Amor+ be able to withstand the fusillade that is the HardwareLogic review team? Or will the Armor+ lay waste to all that opposes it? Like the medieval times of yore, HL intends to go full tilt to find out!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rather than get into a lengthy and scientific analysis on the thermal resistance of various substances, I'm going to focus strictly on hard testing data. What I hope to answer in this article is simple-are there measurable performance differences between premium grade thermal pastes? And if so, how much?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The CoolIT Systems coolers are certainly a unique way to get into liquid cooling. They come pre-assembled and are maintenance free. We are taking a look at their dual card cooler for two GeForce 8800 GTXs, but CoolIT offers a very similar variant for the GTX 260/280 and for AMD cards as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If music on-the-go is your daily fix, then have a look at the latest music phone from Nokia's lineup, the Nokia 5320 XpressMusic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The last of the big three motherboard vendors, MSI is ready to unleash its DrMOS powered Intel P45 motherboards. We check out the DDR3 compatible P45D3 Platinum and see how it stands against its ASUS and Gigabyte competitors.
|
|
|
|
|
|