Graphics Cards, PC Monitors And Computer Audio Reviews And News
The sights and sounds of the modern computing experience are driven by key user interface technologies like graphics cards, display monitors and various audio solutions. Here you'll find reviews and news on the latest in cutting-technologies for GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), LED and LCD computer display monitors, sound cards, PC and wireless speaker systems and more.
When shopping for a new video card, naturally, we all want the fastest card available performance wise. However, many simply can't justify the price that some high-end cards currently command. With many premium models now selling for more than $500, gamers on a budget often need to focus their efforts on finding a good,...
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It's been a little over six months since ATI first announced the All-In-Wonder X800 XT, but in the months following the announcement the card never made it onto retail shelves. It's no secret that ATI has struggled through some supply issues recently with their high-end GPUs. Since the time that we were first introduced to the card, ATI has...
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Years ago, when computers with a 200MHz Pentium processor and 32MB of RAM were all the rage, we came upon a nifty device that came pre-installed in a wimpy Packard Bell PC. This device was a PCI TV Tuner Card. Back then, the ability to watch TV on a computer was somewhat of a rarity. And now, while there are many more options available,...
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Five plus years ago, there weren't many "must have extras" to include on your do-it-yourself list of desired PC components, minus that relatively expensive Sound Blaster and a pricey, yet affordable, 3D Graphics card. In fact there weren't too many extras to consider in a configuration other than perhaps an optical drive of some...
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Back in December 2004, NVIDIA introduced their latest evolution in the budget graphics card market with the release of TurboCache technology. The focus with TurboCache was both system resource utilization and economics, in an effort to deliver a quality business-class/casual...
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It has been a little over two months since we first got to play with ATI's Radeon X800 XL, and we have now begun to receive retail products based on this eagerly anticipated GPU in the HotHardware labs. For those unfamiliar with the Radeon X800 XL, it is a .11 micron GPU, with 16 pixel pipelines, 6 hardware vertex shaders and all of...
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One of the major up and comers in the video card industry is HIS. In recent months, HIS has garnered some attention with several impressive additions to their product line. They put a major emphasis on overclocking, cooling and stability, while providing competitive...
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If you are looking to add a TV tuner card to your computer, there are a broad range of choices currently available, ranging from economical solutions to high-end cards that offer more advanced capabilities. However, if you are looking for a TV/Video card combination, there are fewer choices, namely NVIDIA's Personal Cinema, S3's OmniChrome...
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We've been hearing details about NVIDIA's on-chip programmable video processor ever since the NV40 originally launched about eight months ago. Back then NVIDIA had stated that the NV40's on-chip video processor incorporated a high-quality adaptive de-interlacing engine, along with better filtering and scaling techniques, video de-blocking...
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Back on December 1, 2004 ATI officially announced their latest flagship GPU, the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition. The GPU powering the Radeon X850, previously code named R480, is an evolutionary product designed to improve yields and hit higher clock speeds than the older R423 GPU used on PCI Express variants of the Radeon X800. ...
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The performance and capabilities of 3D graphics cards for the PC have been increasing at an exponential rate these past few years. High-end video cards that debuted at $500 just over a year ago, are now being surpassed in features and performance by cards being introduced at prices at or below $200. This unyielding drive to push...
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There's a certain allure in being able to make the claim that you can double the performance of anything. All too often, overzealous marketing campaigns in the high-tech field have made a "theoretical" claim of this sort, all the while falling well short in real-world performance...
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NVIDIA's SLI technology (Scalable Link Interface), which allows two PCI Express GeForce 6800s or 6600s to work in tandem to increase performance, has been getting a ton of press these past few months. So much press that it has some PC enthusiasts wondering what ATi has been up to and what the Canadian-based graphics giant would do to...
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In the past few months we've seen numerous announcements for PCI Express equipped core logic chipsets, and we have already evaluated a few of them as well. We've previously looked at Intel's 900 Series of chipsets, NVIDIA's nForce 4 and ATi's RADEON XPRESS 200, and hope to get our hands on VIA's K8T890 and SiS' x56 chipsets very soon. ...
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Over the last six weeks, three new chipsets for the AMD processor platform have been announced that all have one very important feature in common. NVIDIA's nForce 4, VIA's K8T890, and ATi's RADEON XPRESS 200 all have support for the emerging PCI Express standard. PCI Express, which was first brought to market with Intel's 900 series...
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Back in September, NVIDIA released the latest of their line of mid-range or value priced video cards, dubbed the GeForce 6600. The only version available at the time, however, was for PCI-Express, which left many users out in the cold since the standard had only been available on brand new motherboards based on the i915/i925 chipsets. ...
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With a majority of the market focusing their attention on high-end graphics cards, many forget about the consumers who are seeking a low-cost upgrade or replacement part. These consumers are often willing to sacrifice performance when looking for cards with price points that are substantially lower than enthusiast-class boards. ...
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When we think of TV/Video combination cards, we often think of ATI's All-In-Wonder series and NVIDIA's Personal Cinema. Each company has been offering various hybrid cards for quite some time, covering the spectrum from high-priced enthusiast-class to the value-priced solutions. ATI clearly has the name recognition with its All-In-Wonder...
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With the advent of Personal Video Recorders or the "PVR", TV and Multimedia industries have entered a new realm of technology. The ability to pause, rewind, and record live TV all with the click of a button is not only cool, it is extremely convenient. Let's be honest, how often do you have the time to catch your favorite...
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It seems that high-end graphics cards are always in the lime light upon the initial launch of a new graphics processor architecture from any of the major players. Although there's a limited number of potential consumers, relatively speaking, for these flagship enthusiat-class boards...
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With much anticipation and fanfare, the next generation in video card interface has arrived. PCI Express, the successor to AGP, is now available on a number of Intel-based boards starting with the 900 series chipset. VIA, SiS, and others are sure to follow in the coming...
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Brutally honest. That phrase is a bit of an oxymoron, is it not? Seriously, what's so brutal about truth and honesty, anyway? Perhaps this term stems from another old saying: the truth hurts. Certainly that is the case with respect to NVIDIA's recent launch of its initially PCI...
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