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.
For the past few years, Intel's desktop processors have been playing second fiddle to AMD's Athlon 64 in a number of ways. Both single and dual-core variants of the Athlon 64 have been at the top of most benchmark charts essentially since their introduction, and AMD's processors have been more energy...
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The never ending see-saw battle between NVIDIA and ATi has resulted in quicker card releases to the market. Whereas such events were met with much anticipation and speculation from the online community, the onslaught of new releases with their various "flavors" have also perhaps confused the average prospective buyer somewhat in...
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Corsair Introduces Revolutionary Dual-path Heat Xchange (DHX) Memory Technology Launches New DHX XMS2 DOMINATOR Product Line In Worlds Fastest DDR2 PC2-8888 CAS-4 Module Pair Fremont, CA (August 28, 2006) - Corsair Memory, the worldwide leader in design and manufacture of high performance memory, today unveiled the latest innovation in high...
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PLEXTOR ANNOUNCES BLU-RAY DISC DRIVE FOR NORTH AMERICAN MARKET Burner Records 25GB to 50GB Discs for Removable Data Storage, Computer Backup, and High-Definition Video FREMONT, Calif. - August 28, 2006 - Plextor Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced...
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Kingston has been known throughout the industry as a steady-hand, a reliable partner, a company which is stable and never really pushed the bar in terms of enthusiast memory modules. If you wanted a solid, name-brand memory module which would be almost guaranteed to work, Kingston was one of the few brands which one should look for. They were...
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The fastest single graphics card in the world. This is the goal that NVIDIA was shooting for when they conjured up the GeForce 7950 GX2. Some might argue that a GeForce 7950 GX2, however, with its double stacked dual GPU powered PCB design, is anything but a single graphics card. We'd remind you that it does drop into...
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As power users, we'd all love to own one, or perhaps even two, of today's latest and greatest graphics cards. But wanting to own the best and having the means to do so are two totally different things. Lucky for us, there are usually a multitude of products that fall in just behind the top-of-the-line that tend to offer similar...
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While many of us are impressed with the features and performance promised by today's top of the line graphics cards, in reality, not too many of us have the budgets to afford one of these gaming powerhouses. Often times, the common user needs to keep things in monetary perspective and consider a more practical approach to...
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Now that the dual-GPU GeForce 7950 GX2 has hit the streets, the GeForce 7900 GTX is no longer NVIDIA's flagship desktop graphics adapter. But that doesn't mean it should all of a sudden be disregarded and brushed aside as an afterthought for a high-end gaming rig. In fact, the 7900 GTX may even become a more attractive option for some...
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Seagate recently released its new Barracuda 7200.10 storage line, and with that, the company introduced the largest hard drive on the market at 750GB. While that is impressive in itself, there is more to the story. Along with bringing a new line and the highest capacity drive to the market, Seagate is also the first company to bring 3.5"...
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Earlier this month we gave you a taste of what AMD has to offer in their next generation AM2 platform launch for the Athlon 64. While AMD's new DDR2-based platform seems to offer smallish incremental performance gains, and increased memory bandwidth, it is widely agreed that it is high-time that Intel responds to AMD's consistent...
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It's a shame, really. After nearly one year on the market, Socket-939 Athlon64 motherboards are finally getting to a point where we've always wished they would be. Feature packed, refined, tweakable, and quiet. Why is this a shame? Well, as AMD is transitioning to their new Socket-AM2 interface, interest in Socket-939 platforms...
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In January of this year, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NVIDIA and Dell jointly unveiled an ultra high-end gaming system equipped with a pair of specialized graphics adapters that were each powered by a pair of GeForce 7800 GTX GPUs and 1GB of memory. The final configuration consisted of two "cards", four GPUs, and...
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With the advent of Windows XP Media Center Edition, a whole new playing field was created to help advance the relationship between multimedia and the PC. Designed solely for use in OEM systems at first, Windows XP Media Center Edition helped open the door for OEMs to create PCs with an increased emphasis on all things multimedia. ...
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Market share is the name of the game in the Computing industry and AMD has been slowly chipping away at Intel's market share over the past few years, with the release of faster Desktop processor cores with significantly better performance per watt, clock-cycle and dollar. AMD's performance advantage also...
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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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Trends in PC hardware usually come about for a good reason. As processor and memory speeds continued to rise, many manufacturers responded by producing more elaborate air cooling apparatuses. Some of them worked well, while others offered almost no improvement at all. In either case, lowering temperatures in this...
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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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When we look at the Small Form Factor platform's relative size and shape, it is easy to see why these systems are becoming extremely popular as dedicated living room or home theater PC's. With the gradual adoption of Media Center PC's in the home, Shuttle is now trying harder than ever to ensure that those systems are small...
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Though DDR2 has been out for sometime, and both AMD and Intel have platforms supporting DDR2, there are still a large number of people who still require DDR ram to power their computers. While many users don't care what type of ram is inside their computers, there are many who no only care about the brand of ram they use,...
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