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Samsung Writemaster DVD Burner SH-S162L

Thursday, May 11th, 2006 | DVD and CD Drives, News | No Comments

DVD writers can be fairly boring things to look at, unlike other parts of the computer like video cards and motherboards things don’t jump ahead and offer flashy upgrades.

DVD burners are however a very necessary part of many desktop computers, and though they are sometimes only used occassionally, they are a pain when they don’t work.

If you use them all the time, the concern falls to whether they will operate at the speeds that they claim they will, and for everyone it is a matter of reliability. With many discs being wasted through bad burns, and much frustration being created at the same time, it is still of vital importance that the drive actually works, all the time.

The Samsung DVD writer does that with ease. It does not stand out as anything spectacular, but in tests at Techgage it managed to not produce any coasters and managed all of the discs even while multi-tasking.

In the tests a CD took just under 3 minutes, a single layer DVD took around 6 and a dual-layer took 43 minutes. The slow speed of the dual-layer is just due to the technology and is still much slower than single layer.

With no gripes and complete success with the main tasks this writer will be suitable for all your applications. If you are looking for something reliable then this will do the trick, and for my liking that does it for a DVD burner.

LINK

Antec Performance CPU cooler

Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 | Cooling, News | No Comments

Computer stuff just keeps needing more and more power, and with each new advance in technology, the requirements increase. Antec are well known for their other products like computer cases, so the Antec performance CPU cooler is an adventure into new territory.

In the review at bjorn3d it turns out that this cooler is not really much to write home about. Offering fairly good performance it simply doesn’t cut the grade for a so-called “performance” CPU cooler.

Although it might make some sense as a cool upgrade some someone with a stock cooler, it doesn’t offere much of an advantage to those who want to push their system very far and really tax their computer.

With installation being a little more difficult than necessary and with performance being enhanced only a little, it falls into the right price range at around $20.

Those who want a truly high performance cooler should look to the like of Zalman coolers, which offer some of the best cooling around

LINK

Western Digital Raptor X 150GB hard drive with clear top

Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 | Hard Drives, News | No Comments

The Western Digital Raptor hard drives have made quite a stir in the world of hard drives. A few years back they managed to come in as the leading contendor for the desktop market, being placed into high end machines. The original intention was for them to make grounds in the server market. The Raptor X aims squarely at the enthusiast performance market for top of the line desktop computers. The most obvious of the enthusiast features is the clear window, displaying the guts of the hard drive.

It doubles the size of its predecessor, and ups the performance. At tomshardware they take a look at just how fast this drive is and compare it to the other options available to achieve this level of performance, RAID 0. For a similar price you can get 2 ordinary drives and put them together in a RAID 0 array (where the data is striped over both drives) which also offers very solid performance.

However, this drive still manages to top those in tests. It is also a single drive, making installation easy, and because of a long 5 year warranty, you don’t have to double your worry with 2 drives that could fail.

All in all this is a wicked fast drive. If you need the best, then this is it, there is no competition. With a price tag of around $300 for the non-window version and $350 for the windowed version, it is not cheap, but certainly a worthwhile investment.

LINK

Corsair Nautilus 500 Watercooling Kit

Monday, May 8th, 2006 | Cooling, News | No Comments

With the ever increasing temperatures in computers, and many users also wanting quieter computers, water cooling has become more and more popular to meet the cooling needs of the computer. Greater cooling can be provided to those that need things cooler and it keeps normal systems cool enough to eliminate nearly all of the noisy fans.

Bit-tech reports on the Nautilus 500 watercooling kit from Corsair. As water cooling has hit the mainstream, you no longer have to seek out the different parts to build a water cooling system by yourself. The big companies have seen the need and are starting to offer kits to allow easy installation of a complete water cooling system with the minimum of fuss.

The Corsair nautilus turns out to be exceptionally good at what it does. It provides plenty of tubing to get the fluid to where it needs to go. It also has decent looks for an external unit. Each of the connectors is a tool free connector and can be clipped on and off, they are also self-sealing, so that you don’t lose much fluid when taking them out.

It is easy to setup and easy to get going. I makes good sense for a beginner, who will have very few troubles putting this kit in their computer.

The results of testing are good too. Compared to other cooling solutions it does very well at keeping things very cool. When it maintained a temperature of 29 degrees celcius at idle and kept things under 40, even at high load. This is great performance, seeing as it does not cost that much.

A highly recommended product for both those who have done watercooling for a while and even for those that are just wanting to dip their feet.

LINK

Systemax Dual-Core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Desktop Computer

Friday, May 5th, 2006 | Desktop Computers, Reviews | No Comments

This is a standard systemax computer. Unlike many of the other models in the Systemax range, this one cannot be customized as comes as-is.

With a good looking case, it gives a good first impression. That’s good, because at around $1400 it’s got to have something to set it apart from other very cool looking cases for this level of computers.

There is a full compliment of expansion ports at both the front and back of the computer. Up front, there is a flash card reader to make easy work of getting your digital pictures and othe data onto and off the desktop computer. There are also firewire, 2 USB, microphone and a audio out spot . Both a DVD burner and DVD/CDRW are situated at the top. At the back are 4 USB, 3 firewire, modem, audio, 2 USB and digital out, as well as the obligatory for mouse, keyboard and monitor. The ATI Radeon X1600 video card gives old-style and DVI outputs.

The AMD Athlon X2 4400+ is not a low-priced model. You always pay a premium for the faster or fastest in the range and this is no exception. It is really fast and will meet the needs of everyone including those that are into gaming.

There is a gigabyte of memory, which is great, allowing enough to run any application. Two 300GB hard drives supply the storage needs of this computer. The best thing about this is that you would be able to set them up how you like. The K8N Neo4-F motherboard wil allow you to setup RAID 0, 1, 0+1 or JBOD for your preference.

Sytemax computers are well put together and have a bit of thought put into the different parts that are in there. Of course, there is still the need to get the best price possible, like the motherboard, which although quite good, is one of the cheapest with the Nforce 4 chipset.

If I had this much money to dish out, I would get a less powerful processor and save heaps of money for the other peripherals like the monitor.

Cooling AMD Athlon Dual Core Processors

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 | Cooling, News | No Comments

With the advancement in processors, there has been a decrease in the power requirements for computer processors. Processors had started to get a little out of hand, with some of the Intel processors hitting majorly high heat levels due to high power consumption.

New dual-core processors have again pushed up the power requirements for processors as there are now two cores put inside a single chip.

Tomshardware have taken to task and explore some processors that are suitable for the new breed of AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core processors, in this case, the 4800+ version.

The standard cooler that comes with the retail box that AMD chips comes in is really the reference point to start from as there are many people who really don’t want to go to the trouble of changing or upgrading their cooler, at least for a while.

The alternatives presented are pretty tame in comparisson to many of the more intense coolers on the market that can weight a ton and keep things so cold that they can cool nearly anything they throw your way. The downside of these coolers is their large size and weight, as well as noise which play against them in a working environment where lower noise volumes are condusive to higher levels of concentration.

Of the six coolers that are pitted against the boxed cooler, most of them only offere the same or similar performance to it. At the end of the test, the Zalman Quiet Cooler comes out as the best of the test. Managing the coolest temperatures in the test, as well as the second quietest performance in the test, there is very little else to be said about it.

It is more expensive than the other models in the test, but if you are looking for the best, this is it. And besides, it should last a really long time, which helps to even out the initial outlay.

LINK

Systemax Warhawk AMD Athlon 64 Based Nvidia SLI ready Gaming Computer

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 | Desktop Computers, Reviews | No Comments

Systemax computers are known more for their value for money than extreme computing power and gaming performance. Well, it only takes time before the two come together. The Warhawk is a Systemax computer based on the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor that’s designed for gaming. It comes up well against most games and is good value for money for those looking for a little kick from a pretty standard computer.

The Warhawk itself is just one of the standard setups of the Systemax computer gaming range. Everything is customizable and you can chop and choose the parts as you wish. This gives you the ability to up those parts that are more important to you and to downgrade those ones that you would rather upgrade later.

The 3500+ processor will do for most people’s systems, and for my liking I would go for this one. You need to add about $150 dollars to get the slowest dual core AMD X2 or a 3800+ version. The FX-60 chip will add $1000 dollars to the price.

The video card will do the trick, but if you do intend to do some serious gaming I would suggest upgrading to the 7900GT graphics card. Not only will it increase the performance quite a lot, but you can also upgrade that to an SLI setup in the future if needed. Doubling up of the standard card will limit future upgrades as you would have to replace both cards.

Select any of the Corsair memory options to get the most from your system. The most simple is very standard Corsair memory, but for only $5 more it provides some peace of mind that your system is good to go. 1GB or memory should be enough for anyone’s needs.

For data storage, single, RAID0 and RAID3 options are available. I tend to stay away from RAID0, which stripes information over 2 disks. When one disk fails, data is lost. The bonus is that it is very quick as it can write or read from either disk, whichever is closer to the information at the time. RAID3 provides parity and so the failure of anyone of the 3 drives can be tolerated, but there is the overhead of the parity writes. RAID0 is the faster choice, but less fault tolerant.

The rest of the system offers all sorts of extras that you can opt to upgrade, or in many instances, choose to leave out. Overall, it’s a nice looking sytem and is an easy way for you to get a fast gaming system without having to search around for all the different parts yourself.

Sony VAIO VGC-RB53 Intel Pentium 4 630 3GHz Desktop Computer

Monday, May 1st, 2006 | Desktop Computers, Reviews | No Comments

Sony VAIO computers offer a fully integrated desktop for those who want everything pre-packaged and ready to go. Although better known for the VAIO range of laptop computers, these desktop models will give you most of what you need for day-to-day operations, with the security of a big brand company behind you.

Although cheap sony computers are not that easy to come by, this one does come in as one of the cheaper sony computers I have found. Even though its range of parts are not the most cutting edge, the advantage is the savings in the initial purchase.

The Intel Pentium 4 630 3GHz processor gives enough processing power for modern applications. Although dual-core technology is taking strides into the desktop market, there are still many applications that do not need all that extra.

Designed with entertainment in mind, the Sony VAIO desktop computer comes ready for storage of DVD media, and a DVD burner for making your own. The 200GB hard drive provides enough storage space for many hours of video, and the SATA interface ensures that upgrading to bigger faster hard drives will be very easy.

The 512MB or memory should do for most applications, including Microsoft Office and various other office related software, however 1GB might be more in order if you intend running video software.

Amongst the extras, there are 4 USB ports, which gives a little more flexibility if you have lots of peripheral components on your computer. There are the standard mouse and keyboard slots as well as networking (LAN), audio, VGA and parallel ports. One extra, obviously aimed at those interested in video editing, is the firewire port. This extra is not very common on mid-range computers, so this is a a very pleasing extra. There is one at the back of the case and another at the front.

There is a DVD burner and Flash card reader accessible behind panels at the front of the case. The flash card reader also has 2 USB ports and a firewire port at the right side.

For the price, this computer is a good buy. It offers pretty much all you need for a first video editing computer for making home videos and such projects. There is room for expansion and sits in nicely under $1000 with a monitor.