ABIT AN8 32X

Bit-Tech just posted a review of the ABIT AN8 32X, socket 939 motherboard today for your viewing pleasure. If you are building an SLI gaming box, you’ll definitely want to read this review. Here is a quote:

Today, we have a look at the company's latest nForce4 SLI implementation, based on NVIDIA's flagship nForce4 SLI x16 platform. The AN8 32X is a board with a few surprises up its sleeve and it shows signs that ABIT is already heading back to the right tracks. The question is, does this board satisfy the needs of the budding hardware enthusiast and go that extra step to cater for the experienced overclocker in one fell swoop?

For fun, you can compare the ABIT AN8 32X to the Fatal1ty AN8, Fatal1ty AN8 SLI and the ABIT AN8 Ultra for a bit of contrast.

MSI NX7300GS-TD256E

Just because you need a new PCIe video card doesn’t always mean you need the biggest and baddest video card you can find. Sometimes, all you need is something like this MSI NX7300GS-TD256E.

Consumers interested in occasional gaming, but not willing to fork out loads of cash should really applaud what MSI has to offer. Its NX7300GS-TD256E videocard is a great starter videocard, and at $78 USD does not require a huge investment.

PSP Faceplate Mod

Want a totally custom look for your PSP? Are all those fingerprints driving you crazy? If you answered yes to either of those questions, our PSP faceplate mod article is the solution for you.

Much the same as you might get bitch slapped if you went and put your fingers all over someone’s sexy black Gallardo, I get somewhat put off every time I pick up my sheik PSP and it looks like it was last played with by “Pizza Boy and his brother Snotty.”

Emagin’s Z800 Head Mounted Display

This is ground control to Major Tom, do the stars look very different through that head mounted display? The fellas at SimHQ have just reviewed the Emagin’s Z800 Head Mounted Display today so head on over (rimshot please) to see if they made the grade.

One of the latest attempts at HMD technology is the Emagin Z800 3D Visor. If you have had the chance to view their web site you may have noticed statements like, “Get inside the game,” or, “they like it! they really like it!” That may be the case, but us flight simmers tend to need a lot more than the average gamer when it comes to performance. Let’s face it, in the combat flight genre, situational awareness is the name of the game. So, how does the Z800 work out for a flight nut?

Arctic Cooling Accelero Impressions

I thought I'd share some thoughts from our motherboard editor, Jake Brewer, on the Arctic Cooling Accelero with you guys today:

The Arctic Cooling Accelero series is Arctic Cooling’s latest product lineup. They have decided to let the aging design of the Silencer series go and start over from scratch with the Acceleros. The new design is more focused on quiet performance than the silencer series coolers and it shows when in action. So far there are only two Accelero’s available – the X1 for nVidia 6800/7800/7900 series cards and the X2 for ATI X1800/X1900 series cards (both for PCIe only). We decided to give the Accelero X1 a go with a BFG 7800 GT OC H20.

Installation of the Accelero X1 is very simple using the stock cooler mounting holes with the included screws. It took me a total 10 minutes to install this cooler from start to finish including removing the stock BFG H20 cooler. Removing reference coolers will take a bit more time and effort. The cooler comes with good looking dark grey colored thermal paste pre applied to the GPU area and 3M thermal pads for the memory chips. I decided to simply go with the pre applied thermal paste instead of Arctic Silver 5 after close examination. The 3M thermal pads were very easy to stick right on to each memory chip on the front of the nVidia 7800 GT video card. After all the screws were in and semi-tight I went back and tightened all the screws as tight as I could without stripping out the Phillips cross-hairs. The included screws are very small and require a good bit of down force to truly tighten like I wanted.

Upon running my main gaming system with this cooler installed I immediately noticed the lack of noise from the video card. My system isn’t exactly the quietest base for testing coolers of this type: It’s based on an Antec Super LANBOY with 2 Antec 120mm system fans and a Panaflo 92mm fan sitting on a Thermalright XP-90 CPU cooler (in the “suck” orientation) cooling a Athlon64 X2 3800+ @ OC’d to 2.4GHz. That said, the chipset fan of my nF4 Ultra-D can be heard over everything else when it spins up to full speed, the new VGA cooler is never noticeable.

Idle temps were recorded by the nVidia driver after ½ hr of sitting on the desktop idle, and load temps were recorded after 1 hr of looping the 3dmark 01 nature demo @ 1280x1024/32bit color and 2xAA.

Overall the temps impressed me quite a bit and I am convinced this cooler is very effective. I feel that my $30 bucks at Newegg were well spent.

Quake 4 Patch Recall

FYI, the Quake 4 1.1 patch that was released yesterday has been recalled. According to id Software, there is an apparent problem with widescreen functionality that may harm a user's monitor.

In case you missed it, id Software has recalled the Quake 4 1.1 patch as "There is a problem with the widescreen functionality that may harm a user's monitor". If you have the patch installed it is recommended that you neither enable or disable the widescreen support. An updated patch is expected soon. In the meantime we do have the updated SDK on FileShack.

Ultra X-Connect II 550W ATX PSU

If you are looking for a modular power supply, be sure to check out this review of the Ultra X-Connect II 550W ATX PSU at Legion Hardware.

The majority of today’s 500watt power supplies feature over 12 unique cables hanging out of them, with at least half of these cables supporting more than one connector. While all high-end gaming rigs (for example) require 500watt power supplies, most do not require such a vast range of connectors. This means the majority of connectors have to be tucked away, which can become a problem.

Unofficial IE Fixes

Two separate companies have released unofficial fixes for the latest IE hole but security experts are warning people to use these fixes at your own risk. In the mean time, experts suggest that you use Microsoft’s workaround until a patch is released.

Both fixes are meant to protect Windows PCs against cyberattacks that exploit a recently disclosed IE vulnerability Microsoft has yet to provide an update for. The software maker has not endorsed either fix, saying that as a rule it doesn't recommend installing outside patches.

Spire VertiCool II and DiamondCool II

OCIA has a couple nice looking heatpipe heatsinks from Spire on the grill today. According to the review, the VertiCool II and the DiamondCool II are both very capable coolers though one does out perform the other on both the cooling front and noise levels.

With today's high-speed processors functioning at an unprecedented speed and output, the demand for better and more reliable cooling solutions has become one of the most important issues in the computer industry today. With that being said, today we're going to be looking at two of Spire's new heat pipe cooling solutions, the VertiCool II and the DiamondCool II.

PowerColor X800 GTO

The PowerColor X800 GTO spent some quality time on the Overclockers Club review bench. How well does this midrange graphics card do when pit against the competition? Let’s head on over and find out.

Today, I will be reviewing the PowerColor X800GTO 16. This is a mainstream video card with PCI-E x16 interface. PowerColor was established in 1999 and while researching the company, I learned that PowerColor is not just a trading company who does not have a production facility of its own; they produce all their boards in their own certified labs.

NVIDIA Using ULi To Pressure ATi?

DigiTimes is claiming that, according to “industry players”, NVIDIA is pressuring ATi by accelerating the elimination of ULi chipsets.

Following the acquisition of ULi in early 2006, Nvidia has accelerated the pace of shutting down the ULi chipset brand in order to discourage sales of ATI chipsets in the channel, the industry players indicated. Nvidia declined to comment on speculation about its southbridge chipset deployment.

Battlefield 2 v1.22 Patch

Wouldn’t you know it? No sooner than I had mentioned the Quake 4 and WoW patches...along comes this Battlefield 2 v1.22 patch. The good news is this patch is only 10MB so grab it if you need it…you should know the drill by now.

Improved Server Stability. Fixed rank up messages in Special forces. Adjusted handling of the Tiger attack chopper. Added delay for aiming reticule when going prone to all support weapons. Adjusted deviation on MG36 and PKM to be in line with other support weapons. Increased rpm from 600 to 900 on the P90. Fixed Lock on error on certain Oil towers. Fixed a Great Wall Exploit. Fixed exploits on Dragon Valley and Karkand.