Opteron Vs. Xeon, DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D, Samsung SyncMaster and More!

Hey there everyone, JeffB stepping in with your Thursday morning news update.  We've got a shootout between an AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon as well as a good looking Samsung LCD.  If you are in the market for a laptop, Designtechnica has a look at a Gateway M210XL.  For more on how to select the right laptop for you, check out our Buyer's Guide here.

DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D Motherboard @ Bigbruin.com:

"There is no end to the amount of tweaking you are allowed on this board. With very minor effort and time, I was able to get a FSB of 300 MHz at a multiplier of 8 for a CPU frequency of 2400 MHz. With some time spent, this board will go much higher, although this particular (AMD A64 3000+) CPU was not helping. This seemed like a good place to run a complete set of benchmarks for comparison..."

AMD Opteron 252 vs. Intel Xeon 3.6 GHz / 2MB @ GamePC Labs:

"We have AMD's new Opteron 252 processor, sporting new SSE-3 extensions and a new low power design, pitted against Intel's new Xeon 3.6 GHz / 2MB Xeon, which expands upon previous generation designs with double the amount of L2 cache for higher performance levels. We test the chips in workstation apps, gaming, and webserving, in addition to running tests on the power consumption levels of each processor line."

Samsung SyncMaster 920T LCD review @ ipconfig.com:

"The SynMaster 920T comes equipped with Samsung's famous MagicTune , and Magic Bright technology. This technology gives a higher edge to its monitors by providing ease of use with high accuracy color."

Gateway M210XL Review @ Designtechnica.com:

"The M210 series of laptops from Gateway is the company's new line of lightweight laptop computers and competes directly with Sony's S series, Dell's new 700M, and a few of Panasonic's more stylish Toughbook laptops among other brands. Weighing in at 5.29lbs the M210 is Gateway's lightest laptop currently available and features a wide-screen display and some pretty powerful hardware under the hood. When it comes to styling, Gateway has pretty much been hit or miss but we think the new M210 has the stuff to compete with the likes of Sony, but ultimately you will have to decide on that. There are three models available in the M210 product line. The M210S which starts at $749.99, the M210X which starts at $999.99 and the ultra-loaded M210XL which is what we are reviewing today."