Reviews
When AMD's Athlon 64 was initially introduced, all of the major players in the core logic chipset business immediately jumped on board, and introduced, or released, full-featured chipsets for the new processor. And although SiS, ALi, VIA and NVIDIA all had similar Athlon 64 chipsets on their respective road maps, it was VIA and...
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Brutally honest. That phrase is a bit of an oxymoron, is it not? Seriously, what's so brutal about truth and honesty, anyway? Perhaps this term stems from another old saying: the truth hurts. Certainly that is the case with respect to NVIDIA's recent launch of its initially PCI Express-based GeForce 6600GT series product, versus...
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In May of this year, we had the chance to evaluate ATi's Mobility Radeon 9700. When our evaluation was complete, we came away impressed. And we weren't alone. The ATi Mobility Radeon 9700 has been almost universally praised by the press, and declared the fastest mobile 3D gaming GPU of its generation. Then, only a few short months later, ATi...
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"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", at least that's what Jack Torrance (Nicholson) in "The Shining" told us. What he was trying to say is that we all need a break from the usual grind every now and then. Even here at HotHardware, where we're usually knee-deep in testing motherboards, video cards, and the...
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With the release of each new processor platform comes the inevitable wait for "enthusiast-class" motherboards to support them. We've seen the same scenario play out time and again. When Intel released its Socket 478 Pentium 4 processors, for example, it was a few months before tricked-out motherboards, with a full complement...
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The recent trend of PC integration into the user's living space finds the once small and dingy computer room becoming a thing of the past. With manufactures now offering PC solutions which showcase features that rival many mainstream audio components, families are now finding their "digital living room" to be the new...
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On August 12th, NVIDIA took the wraps off their new value-based PCI-Express video cards, introducing the GeForce 6600 and 6600 GT. Back then we were given ample information in advance to do a thorough preview on what both cards brought to the game. With a smaller die size, many of the same qualities of the 6800 series and even...
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As the old saying goes, "hindsight is 20/20". That is to say, if you were in the market for a new high end graphics card, back in early August, as a direct result of the launch of Id Software's much buzzed about title Doom 3, you may have opted to go the way of an NVIDIA product. For sure...
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A tarnished reputation is often the hardest thing to overcome in any business. It is much easier for a company to earn a bad reputation than it is to gain the consumer's faith in any given product. Over the years, ATi struggled to overcome a reputation for having sub-par drivers. This impression seemed to grab hold...
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Recently, several big name memory companies have offered new "low-latency" DDR memory modules capable of running with brisk 2-2-2-5 timings at 400MHz. Based on Samsung's latest low-latency ICs, these chips have demonstrated remarkable stability, compatibility and speed as well as the potential to overclock in excess of 500MHz...
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Some of us love lusting after the finer things in life: a Mercedes-Benz SLR, Akoya pearls, Beluga caviar, and Clos du Mesnil champagne. While Intel's 925X chipset doesn't exactly fit in with those other high-end luxuries, it does happen to sit atop a long list of distinguished core logic products, offering the latest...
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ASUS is often considered one of the top manufacturers of motherboards, video cards, and other computer hardware. Along with a broad product line, the company has a strong reputation for making some of the highest-quality products available. Furthermore, ASUS is one of the few companies that offers both NVIDIA- and ATI-based graphics...
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It has been about eight weeks since Intel officially launched their i925X (Alderwood) and i915 (Grantsdale) chipsets, and their new LGA775 "pinless" Pentium 4 processors. Since the launch, we've taken a look at two i925X based motherboards from Abit and Asus (seen here), and we had tested Intel's own D925XCV motherboard in...
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Never before has there been such a level playing field when it comes to higher-end graphics cards. This year, both ATI and NVIDIA have pulled out all the stops, offering the most powerful gaming solutions ever. While we could split hairs with frame rate measurements, in the end, both companies have cards to play anything available...
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Hardcore gamers, with the large disposable incomes necessary to feed their hardware addictions, have a lot to be thankful for at the moment. Both NVIDIA, with the GeForce 6 Series of products, and ATi, with their X800 Pro and X800 XT, have extremely powerful GPUs in their arsenals that are an order of magnitude faster than the previous...
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When Shuttle augmented their marketing strategy for their Small Form Factor PC line-up not long ago, they moved from a barebones only model to a full system approach, which also required them to compete in a different arena. Full system sales require not only the components of the main PC chassis and assembly, but also the related peripherals...
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With the release of both NVIDIA's 6800 Series and ATI's X800 series, the high-end enthusiast has several excellent choices when seeking the perfect gaming card. It really is hard to go wrong either way, with each product line having the muscle to power any game you can throw at it, while offering the best image...
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Back in May '04, NVIDIA introduced the GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition to counter the launch of ATi's Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition, and gamers the world over took notice. Just a few weeks earlier, the GeForce 6800 Ultra was unveiled, and at the time it was smoking through benchmarks like nobody's business. Then, about a month...
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Watch any episode of "This Old House", "Hometime", "The New Yankee Workshop", or any other Do-It-Yourself type program for that matter, and you're bound to hear a certain phrase repeated over and over. Carpenters, mechanics, plumbers, chefs, they all use it. This phrase has almost become a mantra for anyone who...
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While the AMD Athlon XP still remains popular, it is no longer the sought after enthusiast part it once was. This isn't because the Athlon XP is a poor performer, but rather it's because a new era of AMD processors are now in the limelight. Regardless, there are still plenty of reasons to consider a system based on the Athlon...
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With all of our recent articles concerning NVIDIA's latest round of products, it seemed as if our analysis in the graphics space was getting a bit lop-sided. Today, we're aiming to change that with a new card from Sapphire, dubbed the Sapphire Toxic X800 Pro ViVo. This card alone could make up for some of the new mid range Radeon's...
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Back in mid-June we took a look at the latest offering from Plextor, the PX-712A. This drive boasted 12X DVD+R write speeds and maintained the same level of quality we've come to expect from Plextor. For years, Plextor has been in the optical drive business and for most of that time they've been the one company all others can be...
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