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Zalman Fatal1ty FS-V7 GPU cooler

Friday, March 3rd, 2006 | News, Video Card Reviews | No Comments

The Zalman Fatal1ty is designed to kick in where modern cooling solutions for graphics cards leave off. With their increased noise and less than great performance and upgrade of your graphics card’s cooler will help to keep things cool as well as make it quieter in this case.

The Zalman Fatal1ty FS-V7 is designed with good looks and quiet performance in mind.

The fan itself operates at two different speeds a higher speed and lower speed, as well as an idle. Temperatures for the test done at benscustomcases showed that temperatures at the fans lower speed were still lower than the temperatures attained by the stock eVGA cooler on the card they tried. The lower speed also means its quieter.

In the end the cooler does help, but you may be stuck for space as its wide enough to make the slot next to your graphics slot unusable, and very close in a SLI setup.

LINK

Aerocool ExtremEngine 3T Aluminum Computer Case

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006 | Computer Case Reviews, News | No Comments

The Aerocool ExtremEngine 3T case is built around the bigger is better mentality clear from this cases design. The case is big and designed with lots of circulation for cooling in mind.

The most unique thing about them is their airplane turbine shaped fans, with one huge 25cm one directed over the CPU in the side panel. This design allows a huge amount of air to pass through the system, but is reported to create very little noise at the slowest settings. Their are 3 knobs to control the speed of the 2 fans that are supplied, leaving an extra one for an extra fan if you choose to install one.

The looks are nothing to write home about, but are decent enough. Considering the great cooling that comes from so much air passing through the system, I would overlook the looks for the functionality of the system.

Accessibility through the opening front doors is easy and their are no extra covers for the USB ports at front. Certainly worth having a look at.

LINK

ATI Radeon X850 PRO 256mb GDDR3 AGP Video Cards

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006 | Reviews, Video Card Reviews | No Comments

The ATI Radeon X850 Pro delivers very strong gaming performance aimed at the elite gaming segment. The X850 Pro contains 12 pixel pipelines, sports quick frame rates, and includes a load of 3D technology to take your system to a strong gaming level. There are several X850s in the series, including two platinum editions (one AGP, one PCI), the X850 XT, and the X850 Pro. While the X850 Pro is the baby of the bunch and trails behind its big brother in terms of stand alone specs, it remains a strong initial point of entry for gamers that want an elite experience without paying an elite price.

The biggest difference between the X850 Pro and other cards in the series is the number of pixel pipes – the X850 PRO has 12 and the other models have 16. Pixel pipes aside, the ATI Radeon X850 PRO still performs very well. Memory speed and engine clock speed each come in at 500MHz, and the pixel fill rate is an impressive 8 gigapixels per second. Along with an advanced design, the X850 PRO sports advanced ATI technology.

SMARTSHADER HD
CPUs historically have played a leading role regarding graphical output due to their flexibility and programmable nature. The ever improving speed and versatility of graphics cards has lessened this burden, but an optimal graphical effect has still been challenging to develop. SMARTSHADER HD is ATI’s fourth generation shader technology that allows developers to program an unlimited range of visual effects that execute on the graphics processor. This leads to more sophisticated effects and great performance.

SMOOTHVISION HD
SMOOTHVISION HD is also a fourth generation technology developed by ATI. The result of SMOOTHVISION HD integration is a high performance smoothing technology that cleans up rough edges and results in a cleaner, crisper graphic.

3Dc
3Dc is comparatively new ATI technology. 3Dc is a compression technology that highlights details while minimizing memory requirements to view them. 4:1 compression is possible, meaning that game designers can add up to four times the details, without adding memory requirements.

CATALYST
CATALYST CONTROL CENTER is a driver configuration tool that really puts the ability to tweak in the gamers’ hands. The configuration tool allows you accelerate or decelerate you graphical environment, which allows you to determine your preferred graphics solution.

Specifications:

• CPU - RADEON X850 PRO
• Maximum Resolution - 2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz
• Video Memory - 256MB
• Memory Type - 256-bit GDDR3
• Interface Type - AGP
• Interface Speed - 4X8X
• Connector(s) - DVI, TV/S-Video, VGA

In the Box

• ATI Radeon X850 Pro Video Card
• User Guide
• Drivers CD
• Dual S-Video/Composite Dongle
• Component Dongle
• S-Video Cable
• Composite Cable
• Power Connector
• DVI to VGA Adapter

In Sum
When ATI released the X850 series, they took an important step toward reasserting themselves in the premium video card market. The X850 Pro is the lowest end card in the series, but still packs a strong gaming punch. If you want to enter the elite gaming market, can compromise a little on speed and rendering, and don’t want to pay an arm and a leg, then the X850 PRO might be the card for you.

Roundup of 2.5inch Laptop Hard Disks at Tomshardware

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006 | Hard Drive Reviews, News | No Comments

Tomshardware have a completed a review of 8 name brand 2.5 inch laptop hard disks. Ranging in size, all the way up to 160GB there is a whole spectrum of good disks on display.

All the drives are 5400RPM drives except for one. There is an even spread of ATA100 and SATA interfaces too. Comparisson of the disks shows the implementation of new technologies like perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) which help to get more information onto a single platter.

The Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 came out as the performance king in this test, outperforming all of the other drives. The Seagate Momentus 5400.3 manages to take the crown for the most capacity, even though it can’t match the speed of the Hitachi Travelstar offerings.

Poor Samsung comes out the loser in this test.

LINK

Connect 3D Radeon X850 XT Platinum 256mb Video Card

Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 | Reviews, Video Card Reviews | No Comments

There is a certain segment of the gaming community that demands the highest level of graphics quality, optimal rendering, and brilliant effects interwoven into their game play experience. You know who you are, and you know what you want – a premium video card that will deliver. The Connect 3D X850 XT Platinum will get you there.

The X850 XT Platinum is the most robust card in the acclaimed X850 series by Radeon. Manufactured by Connect 3D, an ATI ‘add-in-card’ partner, X850 Platinum XT specs are off the chart; memory clock speed is 590 MHz, and engine clock speed is 540 MHz. This card will let you play state of the art games like FarCry, Battlefield 2, and FEAR at max graphics settings. ATI’s technology is built into the card to provide power and flexibility.

SMARTSHADER HD
CPUs historically have played a leading role regarding graphical output due to their flexibility and programmable nature. The ever improving speed and versatility of graphics cards has lessened this burden, but an optimal graphical effect has still been challenging to develop. SMARTSHADER HD is ATI’s fourth generation shader technology that allows developers to program an unlimited range of visual effects that execute on the graphics processor. This leads to more sophisticated effects and great performance.

SMOOTHVISION HD
SMOOTHVISION HD is also a fourth generation technology developed by ATI. The result of SMOOTHVISION HD integration is a high performance smoothing technology that cleans up rough edges and results in a cleaner, crisper graphic.

3Dc
3Dc is comparatively new ATI technology. 3Dc is a compression technology that highlights details while minimizing memory requirements to view them. 4:1 compression is possible, meaning that game designers can add up to four times the details, without adding memory requirements.

CATALYST
CATALYST CONTROL CENTER is a driver configuration tool that really puts the ability to tweak in the gamers’ hands. The configuration tool allows you accelerate or decelerate you graphical environment, which allows you to determine your preferred graphics solution.

Specifications:

• GPU - RADEON X850 XT
• Maximum Resolution - 2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz
• Video Memory - 256MB
• Memory Type - 256-bit GDDR3
• Memory Bandwidth - 35.8 GB/sec.
• Interface Type - PCI Express
• Interface Speed - 4X8X
• Connector(s) - Dual DVI, VIVO

In the Box

• Connect 3D Radeon X850 XT Platinum Video Card
• User’s Manual
• Getting Started Guide
• ATI Radeon Driver CD
• Quick Installation Guide
• Registration Guide
• Component to VIVO Adapter Cable
• Power Cable Dual Composite/S-Video to VIVO Adapter Cable
• Composite Cable
• S-Video Cable
• 2 DVI to VGA Adapters

In Sum
The Connect 3D Radeon X850 XT Platinum is a premium video card, not an ultra-premium video card, and there is a difference. Ultra premium cards will cost two or three hundred dollars more than the X850 XT Platinum, and will provide slightly better performance that an expert will be able to perceive. For most serious gamers, the combination of quality, power, speed, rendering capability, and price will make the Connect 3D X850 XT Platinum a terrific buy.