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.
When it comes to high end graphics cards, too much is never enough. As gamers, our insatiable thirst for more pixel pushing power leads to a never ending cycle of exotic, enthusiast level videocards, including dual GPU models that take up two or three expansion slots on our motherboard. Add In Board (AIB) partner companies like EVGA regularly...
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Western Digital recently began to ship a new series of Caviar hard drives that included the company's Advanced Format technology. The new Caviar Green models are nearly identical to their standard brethren, but offer double the cache (64MB instead of 32MB at 1-2TB) and have a different model number. A WD10EARS is an Advanced Format drive;...
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Synopsis: EVGA's Interview Dual Monitor System incorporates a pair of 17" widescreen LCDs with an innovative rotatable stand that allows the user to flip a panel over to share a desktop display with someone sitting across from them on the other side of the desk. These twin TFT displays support a native resolution of 1440X900 and...
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Nearly every motherboard manufacturer on the market today makes at least one line of products for the "enthusiast" market. Typically, these motherboards are a bit flashier, offer better cooling, enhanced overclocking, more features and are priced significantly higher than their mainstream variants. In the majority of cases, these boards are...
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Bigfoot Networks generated quite a bit of buzz back in 2006 when the company launched the original Killer NIC M1. As many of you probably remember, the original Killer NIC was / is a PCI-based device that featured an on-board network processor, or NPU, that was supposedly able to lower in-game ping times and free up CPU resources, which in...
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A few weeks back, we took an in-depth look at the dual-GPU powered NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295. Just to recap a bit; the GeForce GTX 295 is NVIDIA's current flagship graphics card that couples a pair of 55nm GT200 GPUs with 1792MB of frame buffer memory, culminating in what is ultimately the fastest, single graphics adapter on the market at this...
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AMD has been fighting an uphill battle on two fronts for the last few years. For a time, fierce competition from NVIDIA, coupled with some of their own problems executing, put the ATI graphics division in a deep hole. And ever since the introduction of the original Core 2 processors, and more recently the Core i7, AMD's processor division...
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Intel's recent launch of the Core i7 processor and its accompanying chipset platform, was met with plenty of buzz and splash, due not only to the product's architectural enhancements but also its performance gains. However, the new serially enabled Core i7 also brought fairly significant platform changes as...
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Here at HotHardware, we have a special place in our hearts for companies that transcend the norm in order to better appeal to the small, niche group of hardware fanatics that we like to call enthusiasts. The end result often times is that new design innovations are also introduced to the mainstream, due in part to this focus on the technophile's...
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When we think about ECS and their product lines, we typically expect a budget-minded approach. Solid products at reasonable prices that don't exactly wow the consumer, but don't hit them hard in the wallet either. The ECS X48T-A motherboard that we looked at a few weeks ago was one of the first steps by ECS to...
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As enthusiasts, we'd all love to own a killer quad-core powered rig complete with a healthy amount of RAM, super-fast hard drives, and a pair of NVIDIA's flagship GeForce 8800 GTX cards pushing the pixels. The kind coin required to assemble a system like this puts them well out of reach for the majority of us, however, hence the immense...
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When we first took a look at the Gigabyte GA-SN-SLI Quad Royal motherboard a few months back, we gave it solid praise, yet lamented on what we thought was an exciting opportunity. The board was capable of supporting up to four individual PCI-e based graphic cards, but the Quad Royal was only able to support two GeForce cards running in...
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"I wish we could open our eyes to see in all directions at the same time. Oh, what a beautiful view . . ." - Death Cab For Cutie Welcome Some "Special" folks at E3... Gears of War Mural Classic Gaming in Kentia Hall More Classic Gaming... And Zaxxon - Such Memories! Hello & Goodbye - The Final Day At E3, Day Three There's...
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As ECS continues to gain respect and attention in the enthusiast motherboard market, the company is of course extending its reach into the segment it is best known for - the budget segment. While high-end and enthusiast-level boards often cost $150 or more, budget and entry-level motherboards can usually be had for $70-90. Entry-level doesn't...
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"To game is to live." - Anonymous Gamer The Day After Yesterday - Welcome To E3, Day Two The majority of yesterday was spent in the West Hall, which consists primarily of console games with the Sony and Nintendo booths overshadowing everything else in the hall. I tend not to spend as much time in this area, but thought that you might...
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"You'd do better in a volcano with a nitroglycerine towel." That's a quote from our E3 shuttle bus driver sans non-family friendly commentary. Welcome To E3 Here I am back for my 10th E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) - unfortunately, I missed out on the very first one in 1995. Hopefully, never again. E3 is many things to...
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Looking back on 2005's list of hot products, dual-core CPUs and dual-graphics solutions are a couple of things that immediately come to mind. Adoption of dual-core processors continues to increase, with both Intel and AMD bringing their own renditions to the frontline. Both company's products have their own pros and cons, however. ...
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If we took a moment to reflect on some of the biggest technological advancements in recent history, SLI has to be on the short list. Thanks in part to the increased bandwidth of PCI Express, NVIDIA paved the way for running two matching PCI Express based video cards concurrently, resulting in what we know today as SLI. As with...
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Almost immediately after we begun working with NVIDIA's reference GeForce 7800 GTX cards in the days and weeks leading up to the launch, we were contacted by a handful of NVIDIA's launch partners and informed that they'd have retail hardware ready to coincide with the official announcement of the GeForce 7800 GTX. Leadtek, Gigabyte,...
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When Intel released the i925XE chipset, it took their existing line of top-tier motherboards to the next level, by providing additional support for CPUs running on a 1066MHz bus. The current list of CPUs that run at this speed is, however, quite short. Combine this fact with the imminent release of Intel's dual-core processors and...
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Back in May '04, NVIDIA introduced the GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition to counter the launch of ATi's Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition, and gamers the world over took notice. Just a few weeks earlier, the GeForce 6800 Ultra was unveiled, and at the time it was smoking through benchmarks like nobody's business. Then, about a month...
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It's been a long time since several pioneering companies bridged the gap between the TV and the PC. What initially started out as a novelty is now driving the industry in a new direction with the merging of TV and Radio with the personal computer. Today, thanks to faster hardware, and the advent of the mini-PC, manufacturers and...
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