DDR vs. DDR2, Crucial Ballistix, Soltek K8AN2E and More

Good evening friends, NJ stopping in with another dose of HH's special brand of juice.  On tap tonight we have a variety of flavours that should suit just about everyone's taste.  So, go grab a mug and pull up a stool, I am starting to server...

 DDR vs. DDR2 @ Legion Hardware

"After recently reviewing the Gigabyte 8GPNXP motherboard, I received a whole heap of e-mails regarding the boards dual memory support. It would seem that a lot of people are unsure about the differences between the original DDR memory and the new DDR2 memory type. Most of the questions were "Which memory type is faster?", "Can both DDR and DDR2 be used at the same time?" and of course "Which memory should I buy?". In today's article I hope to clarify all these questions and shed some more light on the situation."

 Crucial Ballistix PC5300 DDR2 Memory Review @ PC Stats

"And so, without further delay, PCstats is testing out a pair of Crucial's brand spanking new Ballistix PC5300 DDR2 memory. Each heatspreader encapsulated DDR2 module is 512MB each in size, and features sleek black PCB shielded by orange aluminum heatspreaders! By default the DDR-2 Ballistix memory is capable of running up to 333 MHz (or PC5300 speeds) while maintaining 4-4-4 memory timings at a voltage of 1.9V. It appears as though Crucial is not to wary of consumers raising the voltage a bit to reach those higher speeds either. The memory timings are on the conservative side but then again so are most PC5300 DIMM's on the market."

 Soltek K8AN2E-GR NForce 3 250Gb Review @ Neoseeker

"With the K8AN2E-GR, Soltek has managed to bring a NForce 3 250Gb based board into the realm of a value priced board while giving up nothing in terms of performance. On the Athlon 64 side, the 250Gb remains on the pinnacle in terms of feature set. No other chipset currently offers an onboard firewall, a Gbe solution that resides off the PCI bus or RAID capability that is as flexible as Nvidia's solution."

 Logisys Cold Cathode Kits Review @ Mikhailtech

"Each inverter can power two bulbs and has cutouts on top for ventilation (the electronics inside can get a bit warm). It still makes a tiny bit of noise when working, but nothing noticeable more than a few inches away. The provided velcro strips are cut to size and have adhesive backing for easy application, allowing you to mount the lights anywhere in a case. The cables are good length so placing two cathodes on opposite ends of a case is no problem. The molex connector is pass-through and is wired to a PCI slot with a simple on/off switch. Even better, this switch is removable so if you aren't satisfied with it being mounted in the rear of the case you can easy place it anywhere else with screw holes or plain old tape. As for the bulbs, they're rated for 30,000 hours of operation or approximately 3.5 years of continuous use. Assuming you don't have your computer on 24/7, these could very well last you into the next decade."

 OCZ 2GB PC3200 Performance Series Dual-Channel Kit @ HEXUS.net

"If you can honestly find a meaningful use for 2GB of unbuffered memory, OCZ's £400 dual-channel pack is as good as any. We'd pair it with AMD's new S939 Athlon 64 FX-53 and ATI's Radeon X800 XT PE. That would lead to a multi-purpose system that's equally at home with the most demanding of games and adept at handling professional image and rendering applications. For most users, though, it's one of those options you select when deciding on your dream system. 2GB of system RAM has its uses, sure, but they are few and far between for most of us."

 Testing Wattage consumption of your computer equipment @ IceTeks

"Measuring your equipment's wattage is a good way of knowing if you are overloading your UPS, or if you have too many things plugged in to the same circuit. This article will show you how you can test wattage of your equipment using a multi meter and a few wires..."

Time for me to get back to work friends.  Catch you later :) - Cheers