In This Issue...

MSI 915P Neo2 AOpen EX915 XCube Albatron PC6600 PQI DDR-2 667 RAM Mushkin PC2-4200 DIY Networking 17" LCD Monitor PCstats Weekly Tips

Hello,
I have a couple really exciting reviews ready for you this week, but before we get into that I'd like to direct your attention to the PCstats ShoppingList. This isn't a shopping portal, or partnership with a big e-comm. What the ShoppingList does is answer those "what PC should I get for my budget" questions that PCstats frequently receives. We've broken the answers to that question down into three price ranges, and listed the hardware that we would actually buy ourselves. The list is updated each month, so keep an eye on it if you are looking for recommendations on computer hardware.

Now, the one piece of kit which caught our attention this week was the Aopen EX915 XCube small form factor PC. Compared to some Shuttle SFF PCs I've used in the past, this mini-PC just blows them out of the water. After that you'll find PCstats review of the MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum motherboard, and Albatron PC6600 mainstream-class videocard. While interest in DDR-2 systems seems to be cooling in light of the recent Athlon64 announcement, this review on PQI's PC5400 DDR-2 memory is still a good read. Rounding out the list is PCstats look at the Samsung 173P LCD monitor, and a visual home networking DIY guide.

I'm putting the finishing touches on PCstats' review of the Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9 Athlon64 and PCI Express motherboard, which is based on the nVidia NF4 chipset.... so stay tuned as that review will be posted on PCstats tomorrow!

MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum Motherboard Review

PQI Turbo PQI25400-1GDB DDR-2 Memory Review

PCStats had the opportunity to play with some of PQI's latest and greatest, in the form of their Turbo PQI25400-1GDB dual channel memory kit. Officially rated to run at PC5400 speeds, or DDR2-667, the PQI Turbo memory uses conservative timings of 4-4-4-12 by default; it seems companies from Corsair to Crucial, Kingston and OCZ are being conservative with their ratings these days. Continue Here>>

	Mushkin 1GB PC2-4200 DDR-2 Memory Review In this review, PCStats will be testing a set of new 512MB Mushkin PC2-4200 DDR-2 RAM modules, for a total of 1GB. These green single-sided DIMMs are wrapped in black aluminum heatspreaders, and fall into the PC4200 class. They are rated to run at 266 MHz with 4-4-4-12 memory timings, at 1.8V. The memory runs a bit conservatively considering it's Mushkin, but then again it seems like most memory manufacturers are being cautious right now.Continue Here>>	Home Networking: A Visual Do-It-Yourself Guide Handy tips are interspersed throughout the book, and contain relevant information to each section. A 'what went wrong' trouble-shooting section ends most chapters, providing a list of the most common potential problems and a brief guide to resolving them. The step-by-step guides cover all Microsoft operating systems from Windows 98 up to XP, which is a nice touch for users of older systems. Continue Here>>

Samsung Syncmaster 173P LCD Display Review

The compact little 17" screen of the Samsung Syncmaster 173P boasts a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels, and an industry standard dot pitch of 0.264mm that makes for a crisper image than current 19" LCDs can muster. While the 173P does retail a bit higher than the average 17" LCD, it does offer up a contrast ratio of 700:1 and brightness value of 270 cd/m2. Its pixel refresh time is pretty standard at 25ms, but its viewing angles break the barrier at 178 degrees (horizontal/vertical). I'm not sure what person would expect to work on a screen from an angle of 2 degrees, but at least you have the option open to you. Continue Here>>

PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: Monitoring Users While I have administrative access on almost all the PC's I maintain, I'm not too keen on someone using WindowsXP built in user tracking feature to monitor my movements. Luckily, there's an easy registry fix to stop this! If you'd simply like to stop Windows from monitoring your activities load regedit (Start -> Run then type regedit and press the OK button) then scroll to this path HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows->CurrentVersion -> Policies -> Explorer. From there modify or create the NoInstrumetation DWORD value and give it a value of 1. If you'd like to disable this feature completely follow this path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows->CurrentVersion -> Policies -> Explorer and create or modify the NoInstrumentation DWORD value and give it a value of 1. Once that's done, reboot your computer and you're set! No more Windows tracking your movements. Have you checked out PCStats Forums Webdeals yet? If you're planning to upgrade your PC or buy electronics any time soon, makes sure you give that forum a spin first. Search Dealtime ABIT ASUS Gigabyte Intel Epox Aopen Shuttle More... AMD Intel More... SDRAM DDR-2 RAM DDR RAM More... Albatron ATI BFG Sapphire More... Join the PCstats Forums Today @ Forum.PCstats.com!

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