PC Components, Peripherals And Gadget Reviews And News
Dig into our deep-dive product reviews and news of PC components from processors, to motherboards, graphics cards (GPUs), sound cards, and storage, along with other gadgets and peripherals that complete the computing experience. Whether you're a DIY PC enthusiast builder or just looking to read-up on what should be inside or connected to your next pre-built PC, here's where you'll find all the nuts and bolts sorted on what makes modern computer systems tick, as well some of the best user interface devices to go with them.
Almost five months have passed since AMD and Intel released new flagship processors. Back in June, AMD launched its Athlon 64 FX-53 and Athlon 64 3800+ processors, and Intel officially took the wraps off of its LGA775 platform and the 3.6GHz Pentium 4 560, along with a few lower-speed processors and a pair of supporting chipsets. ...
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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, they pave the way for their more modestly priced siblings,...
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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 months. It's still uncertain when the other OEM...
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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 Express-based GeForce 6600GT series product, versus...
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A tarnished reputation is often the hardest thing to overcome in any business. It is much easier for a company to earn a bad reputation than it is to gain the consumer's faith in any given product. Over the years, ATi struggled to overcome a reputation for having sub-par drivers. This impression seemed to grab hold...
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ASUS is often considered one of the top manufacturers of motherboards, video cards, and other computer hardware. Along with a broad product line, the company has a strong reputation for making some of the highest-quality products available. Furthermore, ASUS is one of the few companies that offers both NVIDIA- and ATI-based graphics...
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Hardcore gamers, with the large disposable incomes necessary to feed their hardware addictions, have a lot to be thankful for at the moment. Both NVIDIA, with the GeForce 6 Series of products, and ATi, with their X800 Pro and X800 XT, have extremely powerful GPUs in their arsenals that are an order of magnitude faster than the previous...
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Today, avid computer enthusiasts have their pick of some of the best computer hardware ever made available to the public. Processors and graphics cards have truly matured in the past few years, giving the general public computing power to do just about anything. Whether you're a hardcore gamer or you want to develop your own independent...
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2004 is easily shaping up to be a banner year for the graphics card market as NVIDIA and ATI continue to trade blows with their high-end offerings. We've seen huge increases in performance between the current and last generation of video cards from both manufacturers, and the competition is as intense as ever. Today, there are...
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Intel's recent new platform launch of the i915 and i925X chipsets marked a major overhaul of the Pentium 4 system level architecture and brought with it a host of new features and technologies. At the processor and IO levels, the addition of DDR2 memory and the PCI Express interface significantly...
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It has been a few weeks since ATi officially unveiled their Radeon X800 line of graphics cards based on the GPU formerly codenamed R420. In our initial look at the Radeon X800 Pro and X800 XT Platinum Edition back in May, we found ATi's latest flagship GPUs to be very capable performers, besting their previous high-end product,...
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Since the release of AMD's Socket 939 processors, motherboard manufacturers have wasted little time transitioning to the newer design, but that doesn't mean previous AMD platforms are now completely obsolete. Like the older Athlon XP, the 754 pin Athlon 64 processors still have some life left as a relatively economical alternative. With...
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Anyone who follows the computer hardware industry knows that, aside from developing a broad range of Graphics cards, ATI has carved itself quite a niche in the multimedia market as well. Known for their "TV Wonder" and "All-In-Wonder" series multimedia cards, ATI is a true pioneer in the industry, being one of the...
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It has been barely over a week since we first took a look at AMD's new Socket 939 Athlon 64s, and motherboards equipped with the new socket have already started to arrive in the HotHardware Labs. The first motherboard to land on our test bench is the fully-loaded Asus A8V Deluxe "Wireless Edition". The A8V Deluxe...
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Water cooling is becoming increasingly more popular amongst hardcore overclockers. Not only does water cooling provide the utmost in cooling potential, short of refrigeration, but it can also quiet things down significantly. With today's processors producing upwards of 100 Watts of heat energy, cooling them down has becomes...
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We've taken a look at quite a few dual format DVD burners over the last few months, and found some to be better than others for various reasons. Most, if not all, of the drives we've reviewed shined in one area, but were lacking in another. Whether it be slower CD-R burning speeds, lack of options, or slow access times, we keep pressing...
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Recently ATi spent time with us going over their soon to be launched PCI Express based offering of 3D Graphics cards. Although we're unable to share performance metrics with you today, due to the current NDA embargo status of Intel's forthcoming i925X, i915G and i915P chipsets (and ATi's coordination of availability for that launch),...
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Since we last took a look at their Athlon 64 FX-53 back in March, AMD has remained relatively quiet. There was a low profile release of the mid-range Athlon 64 2800+ into the channel, but nothing really new has come from CPU lines at AMD for almost 3 months, which is an eternity in "silicon years". AMD's relative...
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For those of us that like to piece together our own computer systems from the ground up, deciding which piece of hardware to buy can tough. With more and more companies coming to market with competitive products, its never easy to choose which component best suits both your needs and budget. And it's not like one component will...
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There is no question, the year ahead in 2004, is shaping up to be a banner one for leading edge PC technology. New features and performance abound, as new technologies such as PCI Express, DDR2 and GDDR3 find their way into the mainstream. While the past few iterations of platform products have been more or less, "kicker"...
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When they initially released the All-In-Wonder 9600 Pro back in October of last year, ATi introduced a number of new features into their popular multimedia line of video cards. The All-In-Wonder 9600 Pro was the first product in the line-up to offer dual-monitor support. It was also the first to have an integrated FM tuner, and...
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