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.
Whether you're a serious overclocker or simply want a quiet and cool running system, choosing a quality CPU cooler is crucial. There is no shortage of choices available, making the decision factor a daunting task for some, but taking the time to research the right cooler can result in a positive long term experience. Some coolers specialize...
Read more...
Last month we took a look at two recent sets of memory from Corsair and Kingston that were pushing DDR2 technology ahead, offering higher clock speeds and lower latencies to complement leading edge motherboard technologies. Each set did very well in our benchmarks, offering up premium peformance with solid stability. But, besides...
Read more...
When ATi announced their new CrossFire multi-GPU rendering technology months ago, it could have been viewed by many enthusiasts and the market as more of a reactionary response to NVIDIA's SLI multi-GPU technology than anything else. When our preview showcase article was posted, hardware was still months away from being a reality and...
Read more...
Whether you are contemplating building a standard desktop, multimedia PC or that killer gaming rig you've always wanted, one of the biggest things to consider today is noise. There is a major shift in thinking lately, as a growing number of users, and companies alike, are tackling the problem of ambient noise in the quest for a quieter...
Read more...
Without question, it is typically far more interesting to read about the latest flagship $600 graphics card than it is to hear about a budget card's performance. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us doesn't have the luxury of being able to afford those high-end cards and must instead focus our attention on some more realistic alternatives....
Read more...
The beige box; you had one, I had one, just about everyone and their mother had one. It wasn't that long ago either, that we all had our generic cases on display for no one to notice. Of course, this was back in the day when megahertz ruled, megabytes were plentiful, and a 56K modem was a bragging right. Fast forward a bit, and now we're running...
Read more...
Over the years, we've evaluated multiple versions of Asetek's famed Vapochill vapor phase-change cooling system. In fact, our first experience with a Vapochill dates all the way back to June of 2000. The first Vapochill we evaluated hardly resembles today's more refined models, however. Gone is the standard beige case, replaced with a custom...
Read more...
After recently reviewing the Leadtek WinFast TV USB II Deluxe and Diamond's Xtreme TV PVR 550 Power Pack, there are certain things we've come to expect in PC TV tuners. For one, easy driver and software installation is important. And the bundled software and its functionality is a primary concern as well. After all, what good is a TV...
Read more...
Looking back over the course of PC history, as processor clock speeds have risen, we've seen larger and typically louder heatsinks, fans, and other cooling measures implemented, with the singular goal of keeping temperatures in check. Some would say it's a small price to pay for the performance gained, but an increasing number of PC...
Read more...
As we move into the third quarter of 2005, dual-core processors are gaining ground in the mainstream market. Both Intel and AMD now offer competing dual-core processors in the form of AMD's Athlon X2, and Intel's Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition. As we've touched on in recent articles, AMD's strength lies in their backward...
Read more...
When NVIDIA launched the GeForce 7800GTX back in June, most of the retail cards we saw were cookie-cutter replicas of each other, at least physically. About the only things that differentiated one card from another were various clock speed tweaks depending on the manufacturer or the...
Read more...
It's been less than two months since NVIDIA initially announced the availability of their new GeForce 7800 GTX, and already we ourselves in the enviable position of showcasing a third retail-ready version of NVIDIA's flagship card. We've previously showcased BFG's Editor's Choice Winning GeForce 7800 GTX OC and EVGA's e-GeForce 7800 GTX EGS,...
Read more...
Over the course of the last few years, we've managed to make our way to a countless number of events all over the country. Without question, one of the highlights of each year would have to be QuakeCon. Whereas the foundation of most events is based around a vendor showcasing their latest products, the foundation of QuakeCon is entirely different....
Read more...
It's been only about seven weeks since the GeForce 7800 GTX was officially launched on June 22, but NVIDIA is already making news yet again today with the latest addition to their GeForce 7 Series of cards, the new GeForce 7800 GT. As its name implies, the GeForce 7800 GT is very similar to NVIDIA's current flagship GeForce 7800 GTX, but the...
Read more...
When we last checked in with Shuttle back in April, we took a look at their current entry for the Intel platform, which was based on the latest chipset at the time, the i925XE. Our introduction for that piece went something along the lines of how the SFF market typically lags behind the full-sized board market, but how Shuttle was right...
Read more...
With today's ever advancing PC technology, it seems that two things ultimately remain unchanged; an increase in performance usually means an escalation in heat output. Currently, air cooling techniques can still keep most computer hardware operating at reasonable temperatures, but those...
Read more...
About a month after Intel officially unveiled their flagship Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor, the crown jewel of their initial dual-core Pentium D processor line-up, AMD revealed their inaugural assortment of dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors, which included the current flagship Athlon 64 X2 4800+. After assessing the Athlon 64 X2 4800+...
Read more...
For years, AMD has been a growing thorn in Intel's side. Early on, AMD had a much smaller market share than the elder silicon giant, but as the years progressed, AMD's foothold grew. By continually introducing new products that compete directly with Intel's product line, AMD has grown to be a formidable foe for the incumbent chip...
Read more...
NVIDIA most definitely has been on a roll as of late, with the introduction of a very successful 4th generation motherboard chipset with the nForce 4, and more recently with their GeForce 7 series launch and market introduction of the GeForce 7800GTX. In these launch articles we often times work with platform "reference" hardware...
Read more...
When we last took a look at some DDR2 memory back in October of 2004, the technology was still a bit new and didn't seem to offer any tangible performance benefits over standard DDR RAM. Higher speeds could be...
Read more...
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,...
Read more...
Tomorrow on nZone.com, NVIDIA will release a new set of Forceware drivers that bring with them a few new features, and the prerequisite list of bug fixes. And whether you're a budget conscious gamer or a hard-core graphics junkie, the new features unveiled in these drivers are sure to...
Read more...
