[H]ard|OCP

[H]ardNews 10th Edition

Swiftech H20-120 Rev. 3 Kit:

OCIA is all over the Swiftech H20-120 Rev. 3 liquid cooling kit today. Not only does water cooling make your processor temperatures lower, it also enhances your social stature:

When you think of a bad ass rig, the first thing that comes to mind is water cooling, for me anyway. If a buddy of mine has water cooling he just moves up a few notches in my book.

You can see our review of the Swiftech H20-120 water cooling kit here for comparison purposes.

Crucial Ballistix PC4000:

On the memory side of things, Steamed Turtle has some Crucial Ballistix PC4000 DDR Memory in house for a little review action. What do the fellas at Steamed Turtle think of Crucial’s finest? Here is a clip:

Anybody can make fast RAM with relaxed timings, the competition today really seems to be focusing on better timings at speeds of 200 and 250Mhz with good overclocking potential.

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

Centrino Overclocking Guide:

This Centrino Overclocking Guide is proof positive that some people will overclock just about anything. Feel like your Centrino needs a kick in the pants? Check out ARP’s Centrino Overclocking Guide.

Due to their proprietary nature, notebooks have so far eluded attempts at overclocking. Except for isolated cases of hardcore overclockers cracking open notebooks and physically modding the motherboards, notebooks have so far been safe from the overclocking craze.

HIS X700Pro IceQ Turbo PCI-E:

Overclockers Online have the HIS X700Pro IceQ Turbo VIVO 256MB PCI-E strapped to the review bench for a little “special” review action. You can see our review of the Sapphire X700Pro here fro a little card comparison action.

The card is enhanced with a great cooling solution, software, performance, and features. Not only will this X700 Pro serve a gamer, but those seeking extended video features such as video capture will find a solid choice here that gives them both in an affordable package.

Tax Return = Sex Chat?

Who wouldn’t want to get sex chat instead of the IRS? Hell, I’d intentionally dial that number to..ummm…file my return.

"Hi, sexy. Welcome to Intimate Encounters." Not exactly the kind of message you expect to hear in the middle of doing your taxes, but that's just what some TurboTax customers are getting as they try to set up their state returns.

On a serious note, I have had horrendous luck with TurboTax in the past. I suggest doing your own or spending the extra few $$$ to get them prepared. That is your free public service announcement from me, we will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

Laptop On EBay:

Here is a link to a slightly used laptop that you guys might find amusing. Anyone who has ever owned a laptop has dreamt of doing this at some point. Blame Rob Simmons.

New Apple PowerBook G4:

Apple has released three new flavors of the PowerBook. Both the 15” and 17” PowerBook come with a DVI output on the side so you can get a little dual action monitor goodness as well. Hit the link and see what all the Mac-o-philes are getting excited about. Thank Chris Cosby for the linkage.

Whether you prefer the ultra-compact 12-inch model, the coveted 15-inch powerhouse or the high-resolution 17-inch stunner, every new PowerBook G4 features faster PowerPC G4 processors with speeds topping the charts at 1.67GHz. Want power to burn? The new PowerBook models offer 8x SuperDrives. And each PowerBook comes standard with 512MB of memory and a 5400-rpm hard disk drive.

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

ABIT Fatality AA8XE:

Want to be a DOOM3 fraggin’ superstar? Well, even if you aren’t, you can have a motherboard that bears the name of one, the ABIT Fatality AA8XE. This is a nice board and all, but make sure you take a look at our review here and see what we thought of the marketing hype versus real world testing.

Intel fans rejoice! This is the most overclockable Intel P4 board that money can buy to date. Finally, here's an extreme board that can go the distance as long as you have the right components to go with it.

Athlon Versus Sempron:

Legion Hardware has the Athlon64 slugging it out with a Sempron of similar clock speed / rating. No real surprises here, the crew recommends the Sempron for every day stuff but advises gamers to look towards the Athlon64.

Bottom-line is the Sempron is an excellent budget processor that is certainly capable of getting the job done. The processor is ideal for office based computers, or for those that only wish to play the odd game now and then.

ATi Radeon X800Pro:

OcMosShop has the ATi Radeon X800Pro in house for a round or two of benchmarks. If you are still procrastinating that video card upgrade, this review might help you get off the pot and buy something.

Although this ATi Radeon X800 Pro has been on the market for a while now it is still is one of the best. This video card was easily able to chew up and spit out everything I threw at it without a stutter.

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

[H]ardForum [H]appenings:

Monday’s edition of [H]ardForum [H]appenings is here. The world’s coolest DOOM 3 case mod has been updated again with an amazing “vented steam pipe” that has to be seen to be believed. The big subject of the day will no doubt be this thread discussing our VIA PT Series Chipset Preview. Want to see an awesome table made from bowling alley scraps? Check out this thread, it is pretty damn sweet, even if you aren’t a bowler. Deal of the Day belongs to this deal for 1GB Corsair PC3200 low latency memory for cheap. Runner up is this 19” LCD for under $280. Thos of you looking to make a good deal of your own, head on over to the For Sale & Trade forum and see what thousands of other forum members are buying and selling. You never know, it might be your stuff, so get in there.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

VIA PT Series Chipset:

VIA has launched the VIA PT880Pro, PT894 and PT894Pro chipset for the Intel Pentium4 platform. The PT Chipset brings a host of new features along with the ability to upgrade to a PCI-E and DDR2 motherboard without breaking the bank buying a new video card and memory. “How?” you might ask, read the previews below to find out:

[H]ardOCP

The Tech Report

PCPerspective

Hexus

BigBruin

HotHardware

Legion Hardware

ViperLair

VR-Zone

HardCoreWare

Sudhian

The Tech Zone

Official Press Release:

VIA today announced the VIA PT Series of chipsets for the Intel® Pentium® 4 platform, providing a smooth transition for motherboard manufacturers and their customers to new technologies such as PCI Express and DDR2 memory. The new chipsets, which include the VIA PT880 Pro and PT894 chipsets, targeted at the performance mainstream market, and the PT894 Pro, a solution optimized for the workstation and power user segments, all support the latest Intel® Pentium® 4 and Celeron™ processors up to 1066MHz FSB.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Real World Half-Life2?

The Martians are coming! The Martians are coming…and they look like they came straight out of Half-Life2! Pretty cool stuff. You can thank Mark Wolf for spotting this one.

The Martian Fighting Machine sculpture represents one of the vast metal tripods from which the invading Martians wreaked havoc with their deadly Heat Ray. The chrome-plated stainless-steel sculpture is 7 metres (23 feet) tall with legs 17 centimetres (7 inches) in diameter.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition - Mods & Ends

Cooling:

Titan Vanessa CPU Cooler @ BigBruin - Danger Den MAZE4 GPU Water Block @ techniz.co.uk - Arctic-Cooling Freezer 4 Heat Pipe Cooler @ ExtremeMHz

Etc.:

X-Micro USB 2.0 Flash Drive @ CoolTechZone - Samsung SyncMaster 243T 24" LCD Monitor @ Bytesector - Logisys Multimedia Acoustics System @ Hardware-Pacers - I-Rocks X-Slim EL Keyboard @ XYZ Computing - XG Vortec 600w Power Supply @ Controlled-Insanity - Altec Lansing inMotion3 Portable Audio System @ Bona Fide Reviews - Ultra Products X-Connect 500Watt Modular Connect PSU @ Tweakers Australia

Cases & Modding:

ThermalRock Dragon Case @ Overclocker Café - SuperPower XP03P Mid-Tower ATX PC Case @ LAN Addict

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Major Windows Security Update Foiled:

Apparently we missed this story this weekend that says a Russian security company has found a way to beat a security measure in Windows XP SP2. The company did notify Microsoft of the problem in late December but decided not to wait for Microsoft to patch the vulnerability before releasing this information. Gee, thanks guys.

The SP2 measure, known as Data Execution Protection, is intended to prevent would-be attackers from inserting rogue code into a PC's memory and tricking Windows into running the program. However, in a paper published Friday, Moscow-based Positive Technologies said two minor mistakes in the implementation of the technology allow a knowledgeable programmer to sidestep the protection.

DOOM 3: The Board Game:

For those of you who just can’t get enough DOOM 3, check out DOOM 3: The Board Game. This is also a good way for those of you running a Matrox Parhelia to actually GET to play DOOM 3.

Doom: The Boardgame is a game for 2 to 4 players, playable in 1 to 2 hours, based on the groundbreaking DOOM computer game by id Software.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition - Press Releases

VIA EPIA SP13000 Powers Tranquil PC:

VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions and Tranquil PC Ltd., a boutique company specializing in the research and development of compact, stylish PC systems, today announced the availability of the compact Tranquil PC Media Center 2005, powered by the latest VIA EPIA SP13000 mainboard and Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Spansion Going Cellular:

Spansion LLC, the Flash memory subsidiary of AMD and Fujitsu Limited, today announced it has verified the compatibility of its Flash memory solutions with the Philips Nexperia Cellular System Solution 5100, a popular multimedia-enabled GSM/GPRS cellular phone reference design. By verifying that their products work together “off-the-shelf,” Spansion and Philips now offer a development platform that can drive down the cost and complexity of cellular handset design, while helping to enable increasingly feature-rich products at more accessible price points.

Verizon Selects Microsoft TV:

Verizon announced today that Verizon will use the Microsoft® TV platform for the commercial rollout of Verizon's FiOS TV service, planned for later this year. The Microsoft TV platform will support high-definition television, digital video recording and on-demand programming offered by Verizon on the FiOS platform. In addition, it will provide FiOS TV customers with an interactive programming guide that is attractive, intuitive and easy to use. Verizon and its third-party partners will use the Microsoft software to add advanced applications for future FiOS TV services, differentiating Verizon in the marketplace and bringing consumers the benefits of voice, video and data convergence.

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

XFX PCI-E 6600GT

With many of the NVIDIA graphic cards manufacturers pushing out basically identical cards, bundles and being slightly cheaper is becoming more of selling point than in previous generations of graphic cards. HEXUS believes XFX is trying to change this a little by giving the customer a little more bang for their buck on the hardware end.

Having a faster card usually entails more expense. This is where XFX scores another point, because a brief look through reputable online vendors' catalogues shows a competitive £150 selling price. I also appreciate that XFX hasn't skimped on the card's bundle.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe

Driverheaven has just reviewed an A8N SLI Deluxe motherboard from ASUS. This is the board with all the nice bells and whistles, from dual raid (including raid 5 and 10) to 8 channel audio. You also may want to check out our review on the A8N SLI Deluxe that was done earlier in the month.

It’s no secret that we love Asus products here at Driverheaven, over the last 2 years every product we have received from them has been first class in terms of performance and build quality, so going into the review we hoped for the same from the A8N-SLI.

IDE to USB Device

These are the type of things that I like, but always seem to break when you really need them. Dan's Data has reviewed a seemingly simple to use IDE to USB device from R-Driver. This is something that a PC repair person would love to have laying around to troubleshoot a possible HD issue. Although Mr. Data didn't have any problems with his he did have a slight uneasy feeling about the unit.

It's nice to see one of these things that performs as advertised, with no nasty surprises. Well, the adapter I got had no problems, anyway; with cheap gear like this, I'm loath to make promises.