Reviews
When someone talks about ways to enhance your gaming experience, we typically focus on faster graphics cards and high resolution monitors. Over the years, this has typically been the only way to dramatically enhance the way games were played. However, with the launch of Doom3 roughly a year ago, the gaming world soon realized that there was...
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Over the last couple of years, we've evaluated quite a number of socket 939 motherboards for AMD Athlon 64 processors. The vast majority of these motherboards were based on NVIDIA's very popular nForce 3/4 chipsets, although a smattering were based on chipsets from SiS or VIA as well. In November of last year though, ATI also chimed in with...
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We certainly do evaluate and showcase our fair share of ASUS products here at HotHardware, and it's no great mystery because Asus is also typically one of the first out of the block with a new chipset technology. The company's new A8N32 SLI Deluxe motherboard is no exception. NVIDIA's new nForce 4 SLI X16 chipset has been out the...
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Asus recently presented us with an opportunity to evaluate a rather unique video card, namely their soon to be released Extreme N7800 GT DUAL. What makes the Asus Extreme N7800 GT Dual somewhat unique is that this card sports a pair of NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT GPUs and 512MB of GDDR3 RAM on a single PCB. The Extreme N7800 GT Dual...
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Foxconn manufactures a wide range of products, ranging from video cards, to connectors, and as we'll explore today, motherboards. Over the years, we've had some experience with Foxconn, and while their products have not always been hardcore-enthusiast friendly, they have produced decent products. Today we'll be sampling Foxconn's WinFast NF4SK8AA-8EKRS,...
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Thermaltake is a company that offers a wide variety of products for custom computer builders. Whether you are looking for specialized cooling solutions, such as an active hard drive cooler, a water cooling kit or a quality CPU cooler like the Golden Orb II we recently reviewed, Thermaltake has an answer. Top that off with Multifunction...
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This past year has been a tumultuous one for ATI. The Canadian graphics giant has been plagued by well-documented supply problems and have had to deal with multiple delays to their next-gen product, being developed under the code name "R520". The situation is reminiscent of NVIDIA's prior to the launch of the NV30 which later became...
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In the past, notebooks and gaming were two mutually exclusive things. Granted, you could get away with some Solitaire or Pinball though that was just about the extent of any gaming for mobile users. Over the course of the last few years, we've witnessed the notebook industry go through some dramatic changes. Gaming-specific notebooks were...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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....
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Budget priced notebooks make a lot of sense for a multitude of people. The simple fact is, we all don't need to game. And not all of us need the most powerful computer on the planet. Plus, parting with a handful of greenbacks isn't the easiest thing to do when there are bills to be paid. So, it's no wonder that budget notebooks from Dell and...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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 software and game bundles that were included. ...
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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,...
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Although Dell, IBM, and HP/Compaq get a lion's share of the press, there are several other major notebook brands vying for your hard earned dollar as well. Recently, Winbook's marketing machine has been in full swing emphasizing their new notebooks in the North American market. This means two things for potential notebook consumers. One, you...
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