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Reviews Around The Web
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Choose Web Reviews from this Maker:
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Friday, July 4, 2008
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A week ago we looked at the brand-new ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card under Linux. This graphics card launch was unlike any in ATI's history where with the introduction of a brand new product generation, Linux users were greeted by same-day Linux support -- both through their proprietary fglrx driver and with the open-source xf86-video-ati driver. In addition, some of the board partners are opting to put Tux on their product packaging and shipping the Linux drivers on their product CDs. As we had also exclusively shared, AMD will soon be approaching a feature parity between the Windows and Linux drivers. Today we're publishing our complete review of the new ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB as well as delivering additional benchmarks from the Radeon HD 4850 under Linux, of course.
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Thursday, July 3, 2008
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Let's cut to the chase. BenQ's G2400W is a no-frills 24-incher that can hardly be called attractive. But it covers most bases in terms of features and costs less than £250. It delivers good image quality thanks to impressive colour separation and greyscale reproduction. Text is clear too, and games perform effortlessly - only the more discerning will notice and be bothered by its deficiencies, If you're looking for a good all-rounder and your pockets aren't deep enough for Dell's UltraSharp 2408WFP, the G2400W will more than satisfy. Just bear in mind that it doesn't swivel, nor can you adjust the monitor's height, so you?ll need to improvise to get it sitting at the right height on your desk. It's also not possible to pivot it into a portrait orientation, either, but it can be tilted backwards and forwards.
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Dynapower USA sent over the TP-LINK 54M Wireless AP Client Router and the 108M Wireless Router. Each of the routers have XR, or Extended Range, technology which can increase the range 2 to 3 times the normal 802.11b range. They both are designed for Small Office/Home Office wireless networks, and integrate Firewall, NAT-router and Wireless AP. The 54M Router additionally sports a 4-port switch. Not only designed for the Small Office/Home application but for those of use on a small budget.
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NVIDIA has recently launched the GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 video cards. Both the GTX 280 and GTX 260 products position themselves at the most elite segment of the GeForce product line, so just imagine how much more powerful the GeForce GTX 280 could become after ZOTAC give it their special AMP! Edition treatment. The recent Radeon HD 4870 launch may have shown how close ATI/AMD can get to NVIDIA's bar of performance, but the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP! Edition graphics card has just raised that bar much higher. Benchmark Reviews tests the ZOTAC ZT-X28E3LA-FCP against the GeForce 9800 GX2 and 9800 GTX, as well as the new Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFireX configuration.
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ThinkComputers liked Sigma's Shark 635W when we reviewed in in February. It was a decent, affordable unit with a unique exterior design. The quad 12V-railed, 700 watt SP-700 is Sigma's newest model, and it ditches most of the qualities which made the Shark so unique. Despite its exterior, the functionality of the unit is still pretty decent. Read on, through, and see where Sigma could improve the SP-700.
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Is bigger better? Well that probably depends on what we are talking about. Right? Get your mind out of the gutter. Scythe sent us their new Orochi CPU cooler and they made no bones about hiding the bulge. This thing is huge, plain and simple. Scythe has manufactured some fantastic high performance coolers, as well as some respectable bang-for-buck quiet mid-range coolers. This time they set their sights on more size and less noise to try to get respectable performance out of the Orochi. They expect this cooler to be used as a passive cooler (fanless) or with a large nearly silent fan. So back to our original question: Is bigger better? Let's check out this monster and find out.
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ASUS finally antes up to the bang-for-the-buck table with a value-priced product in their Xonar family of performance audio cards. It's got a solid feature set, and debuts with ASUS' new DS3D GX 2.0 environmental DSP, but does it break new ground in the price/performance department?
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Today we've got two gaming oriented headsets in hand from SteelSeries and Razer. Both headsets are equipped with built-in microphone booms and offer in-line switches to control volume and mute functions for the microphone. Comparing things of an auditory nature can always be tricky, so first I will give you the specs of both and later on I will give you the impressions of each through a series of tests based on my finely tuned aural senses...
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Asus has launched a bigger (and better) version of its popular Eee PC. Dubbed the Eee PC 901, this new version includes a lot of welcome improvements from the previous model, including more screen real estate, storage, and processing power. Asus also now offers the 901 with either Linux or Windows XP, and both versions cost the same too. We received a Linux version for testing and like it much better than the original unit, though the keyboard is still a bit too cramped for our tastes. We'd also prefer the XP version, as Linux is relatively easy to use but it's still disorienting for long-time Windows users like ourselves.
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Instead of the usual Bluetooth connection, Sennheiser went the Kleer technology route with its CES 2008 debutant, the MX W1 wireless stereo earphones.
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The card we are reviewing today is Gigabytes version of a high end graphicscard based on the RV670 chip from ATI. Gigabyte is known for their quality, which can be proved by taking a look at their product line, which is more about quality than quantity. Besides the fitted Zalman cooler, Gigabyte has also transferred their Ultra Durable components from their motherboards, components that have proven a lot of quality and stability.
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The new TV Wonder 600 PCIe TV tuner card is the PCI-Express x1 entry level model of the new series. This is also the first time that the TV Wonder series is available in Europe with the PAL standard. It can be used for analog or DVB-T signals and manages MPEG encoding by software. The card is built on a fancy purple PCB, comes with an extremely stylish IR receiver along with a remote and PowerCinema 5.
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While there are quite a few manufacturers building GeForce 8800M equipped notebooks, almost all of them are high-end products that demand top dollar for the pleasure. Gateway's "P-Series FX" line-up of 17" gaming notebooks seems no different at first glance. However, careful inspection of their product specifications reveals that the most junior P-Series FX model weighs in at just $1,349.99, a decidedly mid-range price point for this type of machine. Yet it's still powered by a GeForce 8800M, just like the rest of the otherwise high-end FX notebook line-up. This GPU choice alone potentially makes the junior P-Series FX model one of the best gaming and multimedia machines in the entire mid-range notebook price segment, so we couldn't resist taking a closer look. Come on by the site and check it out...
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By taking the decent features and specifications that the ATI Radeon HD3850 GPU offers on its own and enhancing it with a few tweaks here and there, Sapphire just might be able to deliver on the marketing hype found on the box for this card... "Delivering mayhem to the mainstream".
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This small article touches upon a single problem: how memory performance affects the speed of a computer based on a quad-core AMD Phenom X4 9850 processor. However, it would be reasonable to assume that tendencies discovered in this article will be true for at least all Phenom X4 products.
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