PCI Express GPU Comparison, Lite-On DVDR, Doom3 Benchies and More

Good evening friends, welcome to HH.  The news trend from this morning has continued throughout the afternoon and we have quite a variety on tap for you tonight.  Whether you want hardware suitable for Doom3 or info on an entry level upgrade, we have you covered.  Pull up a chair and settle in, here is your evening shot of juice...

 Mid-Range PCI Express GPU Comparison @ GamePC Labs

"Today at GamePC, we've compared two new PCI Express graphics cards which have recently hit the market. Reresenting the ATI Radeon X600 XT PCIe is Asus's Extreme AX600 card, which is pitted against Gigabyte's NX59128D, representing nVidia's GeForce PCX 5900 GPU. These cards are both considered mid-range cards, and we've compared them to their AGP counterparts to see if their new, high-speed interface gives them any performance benefits."

 Lite-On LVW-5005 All-Write DVD Recorder @ Bjorn3D

"DVD recorders continue to gain popularity but not just for computers. DVD recorders are becoming major components in consumers' home theater setups. It's no surprise that many of the big names in consumer electronics, like Panasonic, Pioneer and Toshiba, have released DVD recorders, but some of you might be surprised to see Lite-On enter this fray for your hard-earned cash. Lite-On is a name most of you probably know from inexpensive yet good-performing optical drives, such as CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives."

 New Doom 3 Benchmarks @ VR-Zone Hardware

"What we learned today was that NVIDIA's backing of Doom 3 is definitely not unfounded. At press time we weren't able to get a working GeForce 6800 GT or Ultra graphics card running on the AGP bus, but we'll be getting those in later this week. Still, the standard GeForce 6800 was able to run Doom 3 almost as fast as the Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition, a card almost double its price."

 AOpen MVP Player @ TrustedReviews

"Once you've installed a hard drive inside the caddy, downloaded your movies onto it and placed it in the docking port at the top of the MVP Player you're ready to go. Just be careful when you insert the hard drive into the MVP Player and make sure it is switched off – there's no support for hot swapping of the hard drive, not even in standby mode. That's as complicated as using the MVP Player gets and you can now enjoy your movies on the display of your choice. This has to be one of the easiest ways to get your movies across from your PC to your TV."

 nVidia GeForce 6800 GT (PCI Express) @ Bytesector

"This is truly an action packed graphics card; it has been fixed up with 256MB GDDR3, support for the PCI Express bus, 0.13 micron process technology, DVD and HDTV ready, and the very interesting SLI connector. What does this mean for you? Two words; Performance and Quality! nVidia brings forth many new technologies that enhance the gaming experience for users while maintaining an above average level of performance; not an easy feat, but one that has been accomplished with the 6800 GPU. Let us ju..."

 Mushkin PC3200 Special Edition Memory Review @ Madshrimps

"How do the old but not forgotten Winbond BH-6 chips stand up against the competition? Thanks to the Mushkin PC3200 Special Series we were able to find out. Want to know how it feels to put all the memory options in your BIOS to the most aggressive setting?"

 PimpRig Review - Shuttle AN51R nForce3 250

"There isn't anything too exceptional about the layout of the AN51R. Even though there are plenty of capacitors near the CPU socket, they are low enough where almost all heatsinks would clear it. The ATX connector, IDE1 and 2, and floppy connector are all conveniently bundled near the top back of the board which makes wire management easier, but once again, the 4 pin 12V connector is located clear across the board right below the CPU socket."

 Coolermaster Real Power 450W PSU @ ExtremeMHz

"Last week we took a look at the SST-30NF, a power supply designed to be as silent as possible, but at the expense of raw power. This week, we'll be taking a look at the other side of the coin, with a power supply designed for the overclocker and high performance enthusiast. Usually when someone mentions high performance power supplies Cooler Master is not at the top of the list...but it looks like they're out to try and change your mind! On the test bench today is the Real Power 450W power supply-complete with paint, an LED cooling solution, and a load meter. Let's check it out!"

That's all I have friends.  Catch me back here in the AM, sleep well :) - Cheers