[H]ardNews 7th Edition

Shuttle XPC SK83G:

The Tech Report has the socket 754 VIA K8M800 powered Shuttle XPC SK83G small form factor PC in-house for a little review action. Overall I would say that the TR crew seemed to really like the SK83G.

The SK83G's competitive benchmark scores with a Radeon 9800 XT, the cube's south bridge Serial ATA RAID controller, and its 16-bit/800MHz HyperTransport link, the SK83G is also a capable option for performance-oriented gamers and enthusiasts.

AOpen XCCube EZ18:

Bjorn3D covers the AOpen XCCube EZ18 nForce2 SFF in their latest review. While they are no means “state of the art” anymore, these older socket A style systems make inexpensive back-up machines, HTPCs or LAN box. The reviewer thought he would share this little nugget of information with you as well:

If you want a sleek and sexy nForce2 SFF system that offers at least average performance, then I definitely recommend the EZ18 to you. I reserve the word 'sexy' for female homo sapiens almost exclusively, but I made an exception with the EZ18.

CPU Vs. GPU:

Guru3D has posted a CPU/GPU scaling article today comparing graphics cards on different platforms. What video card should you buy to match your lower end CPU? How about a high end CPU? Guru3D tries to answers those question for you.

Right now I look at it this way, up-to a 3000 MHz you simply are better suited with a Radeon x800 Pro or GeForce 6800 GT. If you have a faster than 3 GHz (3000+) system and want the best of the best, then and only then I can recommend you the GeForce 6800 Ultra or the Radeon x800 XT.

I must also say that our very own Brent Justice wrote a great CPU/GPU scaling article the other day that is definitely a must read.

Spyware Removal:

Aselabs has a quicky-two-pager write up on spyware removal using Adaware. I can sum up the article in a few words “download and use spyware removal tool…the end”. There you have it.

As I just stated above, run Adaware first. Make sure you get the latest definitions. After you have the latest update, run the normal smart scan. It'll go through the registry and some of the hard drive and clean out the most important areas for spyware.