Reviews
Since we last took a look at their Athlon 64 FX-53 back in March, AMD has remained relatively quiet. There was a low profile release of the mid-range Athlon 64 2800+ into the channel, but nothing really new has come from CPU lines at AMD for almost 3 months, which is an eternity in "silicon years". AMD's relative...
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Back in October of 2003, we had the opportunity to take a good look at several new Athlon 64 motherboards. We had two high profile boards from ASUS and MSI that came packed to the gills with features, extras and a promise of high performance courtesy of VIA's K8T800 chipset. A third, less prolific motherboard from Shuttle was a...
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The PC has undergone quite a metamorphosis recently. Over the past few years, we've seen the boring beige boxes of yesterday, transform into the multi-colored, windowed and lighted works of art of today. We've also seen (or should we say heard?) the community move away from multi-fan, super-loud cooling techniques, to more...
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Back when I was first stepping into the world of PC hardware, Diamond was quite a contender in the PC enthusiast market. Historically known for their high-end "Viper" graphics product line-up, Diamond's name still strikes home with many a gamer. Unfortunately, back in 2001, Diamond withdrew themselves from the graphics...
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We recently had a chance to talk with representatives from NVIDIA regarding a new initiative they've spearheaded, with the goal of bringing a consistent graphics interface to PCI Express equipped notebooks. Historically, the graphics processors used in laptops / notebooks have been impossible, or prohibitively expensive, to upgrade....
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Foxconn is a relative newcomer to the commercial motherboard market, but they are no stranger to the industry. Like we reported when we reviewed the Foxconn 875A02, they have been producing computer parts for quite a long time, but mostly as a component maker for different OEMs. With the manufacturing facilities already in place,...
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Being successful, especially in the computer hardware industry, is no easy task. While some companies struggle to win over customers with just a smattering of products, NVIDIA's brand recognition almost seemed to guarantee them success on a regular basis. What seems like not so long ago, the nForce2 Ultra chipset was taking the...
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For those of us that like to piece together our own computer systems from the ground up, deciding which piece of hardware to buy can tough. With more and more companies coming to market with competitive products, its never easy to choose which component best suits both your needs and budget. And it's not like one component will...
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There is no question, the year ahead in 2004, is shaping up to be a banner one for leading edge PC technology. New features and performance abound, as new technologies such as PCI Express, DDR2 and GDDR3 find their way into the mainstream. While the past few iterations of platform products have been more or less, "kicker"...
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When they initially released the All-In-Wonder 9600 Pro back in October of last year, ATi introduced a number of new features into their popular multimedia line of video cards. The All-In-Wonder 9600 Pro was the first product in the line-up to offer dual-monitor support. It was also the first to have an integrated FM tuner, and...
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The computer industry has been in a state of flux for the past few years. As the market continues to grow and new technologies continue to evolve, manufacturers are becoming more creative with their products. One of the most successful of these new offerings is the mini-PC, which has given the industry a nice shot in the arm. ...
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The GeForce 6800 Ultra NVIDIA's NV40 Debuts... By, Marco Chiappetta April 14, 2004 NVIDIA is poised to fire the first shot in the next battle of the war for 3D supremacy with today's official unveiling of their new NV40 GPU. The past two years have been especially hard fought. Both NVIDIA and ATI...
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S3 Graphics Interview More DeltaChrome Info Straight From the Source... By, Marco Chiappetta April 13, 2004 S3's DeltaChrome GPU is a different sort of graphics product, combining a few very unique features at very competitive price points, with projected street prices that should attract the masses. With the DeltaChrome...
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By, Marco Chiappetta April 8, 2004 Almost four years ago, we took at a look at Asetek's original version of the Vapochill designed for the Pentium III, and we came away impressed. The enclosure was a basic beige full-tower, which by today's standards isn't very exciting. The installation was...
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Foxconn's 875A02-6EKRS Motherboard A New Motherboard From a Not-So-Familiar Face By: Jeff Bouton April 5, 2004 While computer enthusiasts may not have Foxconn on their "short list" of favorite motherboard brands, chances are they have some Foxconn parts in their rig and just don't...
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Graphic Card Roundup A comparative look at what's out there now By Robert Maloney March 29th, 2004 Let's face it - we've all done it at least once in our lifetime. We've all wanted to go out and put down this month's rent payment on a new all-powerful video card that can play our favorite games at mind-numbing speeds. When...
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The MSI GeForce FX5900XT-VTD128 A Value Priced Powerhouse... By, Marco Chiappetta March 25, 2004 With all of the fan-fare reserved for high-end cards powered by NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5950 Ultra or ATi's Radeon 9800 XT, its easy to forget that these expensive products comprise only small percentage of the overall...
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The Artec Dual DVD±R/RW DriveA Quality DVD±R/RW for Less By,Jeff BoutonMarch 17, 2004 When it comes to CD and DVD writers, the market is filled with quality models from a wide array...
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Sneak Peek: NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5700 Ultra with GDDR3 RAM By, Marco Chiappetta March 24, 2004 Monday, March 22, 2004: Good afternoon folks! An interesting package just landed in the lab, that we thought you'd like to take a look at. At first glance, the card below looks like an ordinary GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, but upon...
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The Advent of PCI Express ATI and NVIDIA Discuss Their Plans By: Chris Angelini March 23, 2004 There was once a time when running an intensive 3D game at a resolution of 1600x1200 was wishful thinking. Frame rates were laughable, at best. And what about Anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering?...
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Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz "Prescott" And Pentium 4 3.4GHz "Northwood" By, Dave Altavilla March 22, 2004 Last week AMD launched their latest "enthusiast" class processor, with the unveiling of the Athlon 64 FX-53. Today, Intel returns the volley with the launch of two 3.4GHz Pentium 4 CPUs based on their Prescott...
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AMD's Athlon 64 FX-53 The FX Gets Its First Speed Bump... By, Marco Chiappetta March 18, 2004 Almost 6 months have passed since the initial release of the AMD Athlon 64. In September '03, AMD released two new desktop processors, the Athlon 64 3200+ clocked at 2.0GHz and a premium product dubbed the Athlon 64 FX-51, clocked at 2.2GHz. ...
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