Reviews
When Intel released the first batch of Pentium 4 processors based on their Prescott core, which were built using a .09 micron manufacturing process, analysts found that the CPUs generated more heat and consumed more power than similarly clocked Pentium 4 processors based on the .13 micron Northwood core. These...
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Back on December 1, 2004 ATI officially announced their latest flagship GPU, the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition. The GPU powering the Radeon X850, previously code named R480, is an evolutionary product designed to improve yields and hit higher clock speeds than the older R423 GPU used on PCI Express variants of the Radeon X800. ...
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The performance and capabilities of 3D graphics cards for the PC have been increasing at an exponential rate these past few years. High-end video cards that debuted at $500 just over a year ago, are now being surpassed in features and performance by cards being introduced at prices at or below $200. This unyielding drive to push...
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As Intel's Alderwood and Grantsdale chipsets have brought a whole new platform of technology to the P4, OEMs are now in full swing, bringing their own flavors to the mix. With support for Intel's new LGA775 processors, DDR and DDR2 and PCI-Express, the playing field has certainly changed. Granted, while upgrading will require a...
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There's a certain allure in being able to make the claim that you can double the performance of anything. All too often, overzealous marketing campaigns in the high-tech field have made a "theoretical" claim of this sort, all the while falling well short in real-world performance metrics. The PC graphics industry has had its...
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In recent months, Intel's i915G/P and i925X chipsets have taken center stage as the premier chipsets for the Intel P4 desktop platform. With the new "Grantsdale" and "Alderwood" chipsets came the next major shift in computer technology. The latest designs employ the newest Pentium 4...
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More and more homes these days contain multiple PCs, and in this age of increasingly common broadband connections it's a no-brainer to want to connect these machines together over a WLAN, or Wireless LAN. Doing so will allow you to share files and the broadband connection so that everyone can surf the web...
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NVIDIA's SLI technology (Scalable Link Interface), which allows two PCI Express GeForce 6800s or 6600s to work in tandem to increase performance, has been getting a ton of press these past few months. So much press that it has some PC enthusiasts wondering what ATi has been up to and what the Canadian-based graphics giant would do to...
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In the past few months we've seen numerous announcements for PCI Express equipped core logic chipsets, and we have already evaluated a few of them as well. We've previously looked at Intel's 900 Series of chipsets, NVIDIA's nForce 4 and ATi's RADEON XPRESS 200, and hope to get our hands on VIA's K8T890 and SiS' x56 chipsets very soon. ...
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Shuttle went through a complete metamorphosis as a company a few years back, and they haven't looked back ever since. Their wildly successful line of "XPC" small form factor (SFF) PCs has taken off like no other physical incarnation of the PC has in a very long time. Not even Mr. Jobs could have predicted the kind of...
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Over the last six weeks, three new chipsets for the AMD processor platform have been announced that all have one very important feature in common. NVIDIA's nForce 4, VIA's K8T890, and ATi's RADEON XPRESS 200 all have support for the emerging PCI Express standard. PCI Express, which was first brought to market with Intel's 900 series...
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Back in September, NVIDIA released the latest of their line of mid-range or value priced video cards, dubbed the GeForce 6600. The only version available at the time, however, was for PCI-Express, which left many users out in the cold since the standard had only been available on brand new motherboards based on the i915/i925 chipsets. ...
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With a majority of the market focusing their attention on high-end graphics cards, many forget about the consumers who are seeking a low-cost upgrade or replacement part. These consumers are often willing to sacrifice performance when looking for cards with price points that are substantially lower than enthusiast-class boards. ...
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Now that the DVD format war is essentially over, thanks to the advent of Dual-Format drives, the market's next big push is towards Dual-Layer recording. One of the most noticeable differences with the next generation of DVD drives is low pricing from the start, unlike the initial DVD offerings of years past. This instant affordability...
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Using the sheer number of "NVIDIA vs. ATi" articles posted on-line or published in every popular computer magazine as a gauge, it would be easy to surmise that these two rivals battled each other for dominance in the desktop 3D graphics space alone. Numerous head-to-head comparisons between NVIDIA's GeForce 6 series and ATi's...
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The folks out in Sunnyvale have been releasing new additions to their Athlon 64 processor lineup with the kind of fevered pace we've come to expect from major-league semiconductor manufacturers. So too has the ever-dominant Intel. With 78,000 employees worldwide and almost 10 times the revenue of its nearest competitor at...
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Choosing a recordable DVD drive has always been somewhat of a difficult task. There was a bit of initial uncertainty as some wondered which format would win out, DVD+R or DVD–R. After all, each format has its advantages. In the end, however, unlike the Beta vs VHS battles of the early 80s, this war was quelled...
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With the launch of their 900 series chipsets, and LGA775 based Pentium 4 processors, Intel introduced the use of DDR2 system memory on the desktop. DDR1 system memory had been the standard for quite a few years, and DDR2 memory had been used on the occasional...
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When it comes to manufacturing motherboards, Taiwan-based Epox is well respected amongst enthusiasts. While we've only had the opportunity to review a few of their motherboards over the years, the small sample we have tested were fairly impressive. In fact, late last year we reviewed the Epox 4PDA2+ v.2, one of the many Springdale...
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When we think of TV/Video combination cards, we often think of ATI's All-In-Wonder series and NVIDIA's Personal Cinema. Each company has been offering various hybrid cards for quite some time, covering the spectrum from high-priced enthusiast-class to the value-priced solutions. ATI clearly has the name recognition with its All-In-Wonder...
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NVIDIA's ride as a chipset designer and manufacturer has been tumultuous in spots without question. The first two iterations of its nForce product family were immensely popular because they addressed weaknesses that plagued other chipsets, such as memory and integrated graphics performance. However, they are correspondingly more expensive...
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Almost five months have passed since AMD and Intel released new flagship processors. Back in June, AMD launched its Athlon 64 FX-53 and Athlon 64 3800+ processors, and Intel officially took the wraps off of its LGA775 platform and the 3.6GHz Pentium 4 560, along with a few lower-speed processors and a pair of supporting chipsets. ...
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