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enter sis xabre graphics; exit geforce mx?
hi there, the graphics continues to steal the
headlines this week, and our roving c. angelini has more
insight to dish out so this weeks htld is a must read as always!
the sis xabre 400 has been quietly making a name for itself in the
value markets, and with that in mind we took a look at the ecs ag400. not
to be outdone, colin had a run with the 1.6a p4 a while back, and with
it's low price and high overclockability is a really good option for
upgrading on a budget. Heck, we'll probably be getting a few
around here too.
Networking fanatics looking for a little dose of 'Ethernet' will want
to see what we have to say about two bits of kit this week. The first is a
16-port switch by Compex, and the other is the Nexland ISBPro800 Router.
And if that doesn't do it for you, then have a look at the incredibly
slim Samsung 152T LCD display - it folds up like a jigsaw puzzle!
Don't forget to read Colin's Tips for
this week and remember there
are still a few more MSI Bluetooth Motherboard Prize Packs to be
given away, to two lucky newsletter subscribers!
 Overclockers and enthusiasts have really taken a
liking to Intel's Pentium 4 1.6A. The gem of a processor operates at
1.6GHz and is based on the newer "Northwood" core which takes advantage of
the 0.13 micron manufacturing process. The small die size enables Intel to
build much faster P4's running at 2.4GHz and even 2.53GHz. With that in
mind, you have to wonder just how high the lower ranks of Northwood P4's
can be pushed... the potential is definitely there!
Full Review
SiS
is very hot at the moment and seems to be very much on the ball in terms
of producing chipsets. It all started about a year ago with the release of
the SiS 735 chipset for the Athlon and has simple grown from there. That
chipset was the fastest thing when it came out, totally dominating the
competition however SiS's success was not limited to AMD platforms alone,
their 645/645DX also was very powerful and popular.
The full article continues...
COMPEX is one of the larger networking
manufacturers on the market and the maker of the DSR2216 16-Port 10/100
Rack Mountable Switch we are looking at today. After all a good switch is
an often overlooked piece of equipment, and heck it might just be able to
smooth some packet collisions out in our weekly CS/RTCW matches! This is a pretty competitive price
for 16 ports, and the rack mountable case is great to see
(the tabs come off if you simply need a desktop switch). The DSR2216 has
a host of features such as Port Priority, Full Bandwidth switch architecture, Duplex
mode and several Port Trunking options.
Read the full story here.
| Samsung Syncmaster
152T 15inch TFT LCD Display |
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Nexland ISB Pro800 Turbo Router Review |
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The display is so thin that it at first
appears as though a notebook has mistakenly been left in the carton.
The 152T folds up in "Z" fashion into just under 2" of thickness,
and with an included adaptor plate, can be mounted to 75mm VESA
compatible wall mounts or radial
armatures. The LCD panel itself is just 24mm thick, and all
wires and power cables are routed through the collapsible stand to
waiting rear-mounted jacks. With support for both DVI and Analog
video, a very minimalist design and a bright 350 cd/m² display,
Samsung make the small 15" screen size seem just fine in the face of
larger LCD's. Read the full story.
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The Nexland ISB (Internet
Sharing Box) Pro800 Turbo Router
is much more then the regular router you're going to find in your
local mom and pop shop, or even the larger computer chain stores
like Fry's.
The unit features dual load balanced RJ45 modem ports (T1, Cable,
DSL, SDSL, LAN), autofailover, a 10/100 8-port switch supporting up
to 253 computers, IPsec tunneling over NAT, NAPT firewall, ISDN 230K
serial port analog backup, Symantec RaptorMobile VPN
client, and a 5 year warranty. Read the full story.
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Colin's Weekly Tech Tips
By: C. Sun |
 Expelling the Dust
Bunnies in
your Computer
It's quite amusing, most people take care of their computers via software but more often then not, they neglect the actual hardware. Computers are dust and dirt magnets, and cleaning them out can often increase their life span quite a bit in the later years.Simply remove the cover and remove all
the dust bunnies, you can even use
your vacuum cleaner to help out (be sure to unplug the power
first). You want to regularly clean out your computer because all the
dirt and dust that collects in a computer is electronically
conductive. If the dust shorts out your computer (which was the
case for my friend) it can cost you more money in the long run to
pay the computer technician to clean it out for you!
For more insight into the world of tweaks, Colin's Tech Tips are archived for your reading enjoyment!
Your Comments...
"I would like to commend C. Sun for his
tip on monitor refresh rates! I can honestly say that it's true
and it worked! I wondered why by 3:30pm I would have headaches...
after I changed the refresh rate, I didn't have any more
headaches! Colin's helpful advice saved me an unnecessary trip to
the eye doctor, since I thought might need a stronger
prescription. Thanks Colin!"
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Have you stopped by the PCStats Forums yet? It's one of the
fastest growing hardware communities and we want to hear from you!
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PCstats
Issue No.49
Circulation 131,000
The High Tech Low Down
With C. Angelini |
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In light of ATI recently unveiling the RADEON 9700, NVIDIA has slowly begun to release architectural details of the upcoming (and much anticipated) NV30 graphics processor. An early Power Point presentation that I received confirms that the chip will be manufactured on a 0.13-micron process and support AGP 8x. Additionally, the processor will support an early form of DDR-II memory, which will be manufactured for NVIDIA, at least until the official DDR-II specification is added to the chip's memory controller. Beyond hardware details, NVIDIA revealed that NV30 will not only comply with DirectX 9, but it will also feature a programmable pixel shader that supports extremely long shader programs (1,024 instructions versus DX9's 160).
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to run the RADEON 9000 Pro through its paces. Not only does the card introduce DirectX 8.1 capabilities to the mainstream market, but it is also faster than NVIDIA's entire GeForce4 MX family. This is great news as even casual gamers will have access to the necessary hardware to run newer games smoothly. Did I mention the card can be found for around $100?
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