GeForce 7900 GT Head-to-Head

Bit-Tech has a bit of hot, steamy, factory overclocked GF 7900GT card on card action for your viewing pleasure. Here is a quote from the review to get you started:

Summer isn't far away now, and it makes for a good time to upgrade your graphics card in time for some of the headline games that will be announced at this year's E3 gaming festival. Or maybe you've got a GeForce 7800 GT or Radeon X1800XL and you're dying to get a higher frame rate with better detail settings in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion so you can enjoy the game even more?

If you doubt that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion can really tax your 7800GT or X1800XL, all you need to do is check out the Oblivion test results in our MSI High-End Video Card comparison and see for yourself.

MSI K8N Diamond Plus

If you need a socket 939 motherboard, this review of the the MSI K8N Diamond Plus nForce4 SLI x16 over at PCStats will definitely be of interest to you. For comparison purposes, have a look at our K8N Diamond Plus evaluation here.

The MSI K8N Diamond Plus is the first motherboard that can openly rival DFI's Athlon64 LANParty series motherboards to reach the PCSTATS test bench. With voltage options as high as 4.1V for the DDR memory and 2.3V for the processor, we can see the K8N Diamond Plus is no slouch when it comes to overclocking potential.

More AM2 Spy Pics

The gang at T-Break have a handful of juicy AMD AM2 spy pics posted that are certainly worth the click over to check out. AM2 anticipation is extremely high right now. It seems like you guys are itching to get any info you can, people went nuts over the pictures we posted the other day of the ABIT KN9 SLI.

The pins pictures is comparing the older Socket 939 with the newer AM2. We also have pics of the upcoming MSI motherboard with a close up of the CPU socket- one empty and the other with the CPU on it. Finally, the last pic is of a standard Socket 939 HST unit installed.

F.E.A.R. Update Released

My man Maarten over at ShackNews sends word that there is a new F.E.A.R. update out today bringing the game up to version 1.04. There is an updated SDK as well. The patch is just over 22MB and the SDK is almost 590MB.

Over at FileShack you can find a new patch for F.E.A.R., updating v1.03 of the game to v1.04. The patch allows for increased modding of the game, and thus a corresponding updated SDK is available as well. For Linux and Windows people running servers there are new dedicated server files.

Asus W5F 12” Core Duo

PCPerspective has the Asus W5F 12” Core Duo laptop on the review bench today. While most people are lusting after 17”+ widescreen notebooks, PCP proves today that having 12” is more than enough.

It doesn't take much research to come to the realization that the mobile PC market is hot. In the past few years we have seen a drastic trend where laptops transformed from a business or luxury item, to a commodity that nearly everyone can afford. Whatever your reasons are for buying a portable computer, the chances are there are dozens of units that fit your need.

X1800XT Versus 7900GT

Legion Hardware has pit ATi’s X1800XT against the GF 7900GT today in a little red versus green "card on card" action. For more information on these cards, I recommend our 7900 series evaluation and our MSI high-end video card comparison.

Despite the competitive pricing of the Radeon X1800XT the GeForce 7900GT looks to be just as impressive, on paper anyway. Both the X1800XT and 7900GT feature a total of 16 ROPs and 8 vertex shaders. However, where the X1800XT features 16 pixel shaders the newer 7900GT utilizes 24 pixel shaders. On the other hand the core is clocked significantly lower at 450MHz and the memory at 1.32GHz. Although I would back the 7900GT to deliver the higher frame rates, the numbers could go either way.

Corsair Nautilus 500

There is another review of the Corsair Nautilus 500 on the net today courtesy of the folks at ThinkComputers. The Nautilus 500 turned in temps on par with other cooling set ups and ease of installation seemed to be another big plus.

Liquid cooling has evolved into something that is longer out of reach of the average consumer. With so many choices for your cooling needs how are you going to decide which one is right for you? With all the choices I know I would look for a name I trust that has a proven track record for making dependable and great performing products, but would that company be a ram manufacturer?

Dell XPS Sans Bloatware

Last December, [H] Consumer evaluated a Dell XPS 400 and found that pre-installed software (i.e. “bloatware”) interfered with gaming and every day usage of the system. Response to our evaluation was huge as it ranked as the number one read story on HardOCP in 2005. While computer enthusiasts have been our mainstay for 8 years, the very mainstream Houston Chronicle wrote an article that featured Dell’s bloatware issues, based on our XPS 400 evaluation. That article was run on the front page of their Business section, in their January 17th, 2006 edition, and is still a good read if you missed it.

It seems that Dell has taken our criticism (and our readers as well) to heart and has made the much sought after move to offer select XPS systems with “limited” pre-installed software. We phoned a Dell sales representative late Monday, and he confirmed that the installation is completely clean, except for the included anti-virus program. As explained to us by Dell, There is no AOL installation, no “media jukebox”, and no ISP offers to weigh the supplied operating system down.

We at [H] are very impressed by this operating system option. It is truly a feature that many gamers and power users will welcome with open arms. If any [H]’ers purchase a Dell system with “limited pre-installed software”, please drop us an email and tell us your experience. Thanks!

Valve Developing For The Xbox 360

Valve has announced that the company is developing games for the Xbox 360. While no specific games were listed, the press release did say multiple titles will be coming to the 360. Frankly, most of us had doubts we’d ever see anything from Valve on the 360 after Gabe Newell bashed the 360 last year.

“The combination of Source and the 360 provides game designers the chance to create powerful entertainment experiences,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “Whether developing a traditional FPS, RTS, RPG or delving into new genres, the Xbox 360 is a great platform for expanding Source and our game experiences.”

CPU Cooling With Micro-Pumps

You do not have to be into water cooling to appreciate this story about two engineers that are developing a micro-pump to cool future processors. Imagine how cool, pun intended, it would be to have a water cooling system built right into the top of your processor instead of water blocks, a radiator, 300gph pump and ½” tubing everywhere.

The prototype chip contains numerous water-filled micro-channels, grooves about 100 microns wide, or about the width of a human hair. The channels are covered with a series of hundreds of electrodes, electronic devices that receive varying voltage pulses in such a way that a traveling electric field is created in each channel. The traveling field creates ions, or electrically charged atoms and molecules, which are dragged along by the moving field.

Arctic Cooler Accelero X1

The fellas at nV News have put the finishing touches on their review of the Arctic Cooler Accelero X1. Aside from a few minor gripes (irritating packaging), the Accelero X1 seems to have hit a home run with nV News.

So, you've purchased an expensive video card to bring up your frame rates in F.E.A.R. Or maybe it's just to get better 3dMark score to show off your system. But there's a problem. The cooling fan is loud and the high temperatures make overclocking next to impossible. By now, you have figured out that you need to get an aftermarket heat sink and fan.

Blu-ray, HD-DVD Will Never Merge

It looks like talks have once again failed between the HD-DVD and Blu-ray camps. I think that there is a massive rude awakening coming for both camps because right now, thanks to neither side giving an inch, the only loser is the consumer.

"We are not talking and we will not talk," Kazuhiro Tsuga, an executive officer at Matsushita, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, told Reuters in an interview. "The market will decide the winner." Matsushita, best known for its Panasonic brand, is a leading supporter of Blu-ray, one of two competing formats for the next-generation DVD.