A Pair of Overclocked Radeon HD 4890 Cards

notlong ago, ET editor Jason Cross took a close look at AMD's new Radeon HD 4890 graphics card. AMD's latest graphics offspring is pitted against several cards in Nvidia's lineup, including overclocked GeForce GTX Core 216 cards and the more recently released GeForce GTX 275.
When the original 4890 shipped, ATI suggested that substantial headroom for both core and memory overclocking existed. They noted that, while the architecture was the same as the older Radeon HD 4870, a lot of tweaks were made at the engineering level to more easily dissipate heat, minimize voltage leakage, and other pesky issues. In other words, they were encouraging factory overclocked cards.
Today, we look at a pair of these cards: the XFX Radeon HD 4890 XT and the Diamond Multimedia Radeon HD 4890 XOC. Both cards use the AMD-designed, stock cooler. The XFX card clocks the core frequency up to 875MHz, a paltry 25MHz, and pushes the memory clock 100MHz, to 3.9GHz QDR (as compared to the default 3.8GHz). Diamond is a little more aggressive with the core clock, pumping it to 925MHz, as well as driving the memory to 4.2GHz QDR. Which of these cards are better? That's not a simple question. Setting clock speeds is often a delicate dance between core and memory clocks. If a mismatch exists between memory and core multipliers, you could see stalls in the pipeline as the GPU waits for memory to feed it data. Then there's the issue of cost: usually, highly overclocked cards cost more

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

HP Pavilion Elite e9120f

HP takes the word "elite" seriously with even the lower range of its Pavilion Elite desktop line. Though priced well under $1,000, the HP Pavilion Elite e9120f ($819.99 list) is a well-equipped multimedia machine, albeit not a gamer's delight. As with its Elite sibling, the HP Pavilion Elite e9160f ($999.99 at Staples), you'll have to budget separately for a monitor and speakers.

SPEC DATA:

Price as Tested: $819.99 List

Processor Family: AMD Phenom II

RAM: 8 GB
Storage Capacity: 1000 GB
RAID: No

Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4350
Primary Optical Drive: Blu-Ray Disc
Secondary Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

Dell Studio One 19 (EO19-USE012CS)

The Dell Studio One 19 (EO19-USE012CS) ($999.99 list), which is available at Costco, is very similar to the Studio One 19 I looked at earlier this year. Like the previous iteration, this Studio One 19 is a smallish all in one PC with a 18.5-inch touch screen panel. It's more powerful than the sub $600 all in one nettops we're seeing on the market these days, and it's also priced accordingly. It has all the PC hardware squeezed in behind the screen, so it's sleek like the Apple iMac. It's a good way to try out the "touch" that will be part of Windows 7, especially if you need a system for back to school now.

SPEC DATA:

Price as Tested: $999.99 List
Type: General Purpose, Media, Business, All-in-one
Processor Family: Intel Pentium Dual-Core
RAM: 4 GB
Storage Capacity: 320 GB
RAID: No
Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 9200
Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
Monitor Type: LCD Widescreen
Screen Size: 18.5

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

Dell Studio 14z

The Dell Studio 14z ($1004 direct, as tested) is essentially a sneak peak at what the future holds for mainstream laptops. Its looks aren't futuristic by any stretch of the imagination, but parting ways with an internal optical drive (thanks to the advent of downloadable content) is picking up momentum, and excluding a legacy feature like VGA-Out is forgivable in the long term. In their place, the Studio14z is jam-packed with forward-thinking features, including a fantastic resolution, both DisplayPort and HDMI technologies, and Nvidia's integrated graphics platform. It's the kind of laptop you'll want to take on the road or back to school—that is, if you're ready to leave the past behind.

SPEC DATA:

Price as Tested: $1,004.00 Direct
Type: General Purpose, Media, Value
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
RAM: 3 GB
Weight: 4.5 lb
Screen Size: 14 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 9400M
Storage Capacity: 320 GB
Networking Options: 802.11a/g
Primary Optical Drive: External

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000

Computer mice are easy to take for granted. Very rarely do people gloat about the power of their mouse like they would about a processor or graphics card, even if they have a nifty device like the Hillcrest Labs Loop Pointer or SideWinder X3 from Microsoft. There's nothing especially remarkable about Microsoft's newest mouse, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 ($39.95 list), but there's also nothing wrong with it. This diminutive pointing device is a very competent mouse for people on the go. Just don't expect to get excited about what it can do.

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

iZ3D H220Z1 3D Monitor

As we mentioned in our review of Nvidia's GeForce 3D Vision kit, 3D display technology is nothing new. Consumer active 3D technology for games dates back to the SegaScope 3D for the Sega Master System, two decades ago. Since then, the methods to make graphics appear to "pop out from the screen" have been steadily evolving and improving, but always come with some compromises. In the case of GeForce 3D Vision, the best implementation we've seen so far, the drawbacks are several—you need an expensive 120Hz monitor, a pricey active LCD shutter glasses kit, and you're tied down to a GeForce graphics card.
If you're thinking "there has to be a better way," you'll be happy to hear that iZ3D is right there with you. Yes, you still need a special (and more expensive) monitor, but you only need some really cheap passive polarized glasses, and the technology works with both Nvidia and ATI graphics cards.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com

Intel P55 Details Emerge: Nvidia Nside

We've been awaiting the arrival of Intel's forthcoming Lynnfield chips as hungrily as you have, so every little detail that sneaks out gives us something to gnaw upon. Today, Nvidia announced that Intel—as well as a slew of major hardware partners such as ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, and MSI—have licensed the company's SLI technology for inclusion in upcoming products. This means the chipsets that power those new socket LGA 1156 motherboards, which are based around the next-gen Nehalem architecture, will let you build systems using two or four Nvidia-powered GPUs.
Details on this next generation of boards has been slowly leaking out, as companies like MSI, Gigabyte, and Asus ready their product lineups. I've included a photo of the forthcoming ASUS P7P55D Deluxe motherboard, which will be among the first P55 based This announcement is the latest in a series of power plays between the two companies, which reached a head back in February. At the time, the two sparred over whether Nvidia could make chipsets that work with Intel's next-generation microprocessors. Nvidia claimed that a 2004 agreement with Intel allowed it to do so; Intel alleged that the four-year-old chipset license agreement between the two companies did not extend to its Nehalem products. Intel sued Nvidia, Nvidia promptly countersued, and a battle was born….which quickly ended.
This announcement seems to indicate a fresh agreement (though no word on new Nvidia chipsets), but it's not all wine and roses. Several web sites are reporting that in the upcoming Intel chipsets, GPUs will be limited to 8 lanes of data, rather than the 16 lanes supported through a specific Nvidia chip.
Nevertheless, hardware manufacturers certainly seems excited by the news. "Since NVIDIA introduced it back in 2004, SLI has become required equipment for any serious gaming platform" said Kelt Reeves, President of Falcon Northwest. "Clearly the combination of the Intel P55 chipset, Core i5 or i7 processor, and SLI will be the dominant recipe for any high-performance PC from this point forward."
Sure, that's good news for those who tend towards the Nvidia side of the gaming world, but what about ATI/AMD fans—and yes, there are still a few people out there who believe in the power of AMD chips. No word from AMD about where you can use your Crossfire cards, but you can certainly use Nvidia cards on systems built for AMD processors.
boards to hit the market.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com

ASUS P7P55D DELUXE LYNNFIELD MOTHERBOARD

ASUS P7P55D Deluxe Lynnfield Motherboard previewOver the past weeks we already brought you several previews on P55 (Core i5) motherboards from partners like MSI and Gigabyte. Today we'll take a peek at ASUS's finest offering -- a P55 motherboard tagged P7P55D Deluxe. And one thing is going to be a fact, thisSo as you guys know Intel is slowly but steadily preparing to release the new mainstream Core i5/i7 series processors. The new processors are quite different from the original Core i7 Nehalem socket LGA 1366 processor, it's based on what Intel calls their Lynnfield architecture and as such the new processors will (unfortunately) come with a new socket design; Socket LGA 1156. will be such a nice motherboards series.The new upcoming processors will of course over time slowly replace the Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo series (actually these will be renamed to Core i3) of processors in the long run.. From what we can tell there should be three models Lynnfield processor on socket LGA 1156 released at launch, all are quad-core processors and based on the Lynnfield architecture, fabricated on a 45nm node. So with a new processor series based on a new package, you need a new chipset for the motherboard. That is P55 -- it supports both Lynnfield 45nm Nehalem family based quad-cores and IGP dual-core Nehalem codenamed based Clarkdale (32nm with native GPU) processors. Due to the fact that Lynnfield processors feature an integrated memory controller, like current Core i7 processors, and that they're outfitted with 16 lanes of embedded PCI Express connectivity, there's no need to pair the processors with a second chip (Southbridge). Instead, the processor will connect only to the P55 chip.To facilitate the new Lynnfield architecture processors Intel has been working on the P55 chipset, this chipset will replace P45.

SOURCE:www.guru3d.com

OCZ Behemoth game mouse

Hey all. Today we bring you a review on OCZ's latest gaming mouse, a mouse named Behemoth. When you look back at the history of hardware products, one thin red line that always returns is the usage of somehow ancient, religious, Greek dark or evil names for products.
OCZ also has this tendency here and there to do that and therefore I was keen to find out what the product name Behemoth really means. I mean Behemoth .. that's a whole lotta name for a mouse alright.
So I dug up some stuff here, Behemoth is a biblical creature mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24. The word is most likely a plural form of behemah, meaning beast or large animal. It may be an example of pluralis excellentiae, a Hebrew method of expressing greatness by pluralizing a noun. It thus indicates that Behemoth is the largest and most powerful animal ever to exist.
Ooohwkaaay kids bed-time ! ... right then, welcome to a new gaming peripheral review here at Guru3D.com. It should be no surprise that today we'll be testing the all new OCZ Behemoth gaming mouse. This gaming mouse is packed with good features and has a great design. Very ergonomic, very well though through and very affordable as well.
The Behemoth has five key features. DPI switching, double lasers for double precision (well that's the theory at least), it is weight adjustable and it has a braided cloth USB cord, no sticky rubber thing. Next to that the mouse has a little memory which means you can save game profiles in there.
Next to being a well designed mouse with a lot of features, it stands above the rest of the gaming mice out there. Let's inspect and test this largest and most powerful animal of a mouse (heck it is called behemoth) ever to exist.

SOURCE:www.guru3d.com

smooth creation lanshark chassing

It may come as no surprise to our regular readers, but we editors at guru3d.com have attachments, attachments to hardware. But just as soon as we think we have recovered from our previous review, another box shows up in the mail. Ah, another from SmoothCreations to help guide us further along the path of hardware nirvana. Yes, Pandora in a box. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve taken a good, long, look at SmoothCreation’s LANShark. As its name would suggest, it’s a little box of power that you’d lug to a LAN party and proceed to gobble up the frags. Of course, the mind fills with catch-phrases, tag lines, cliches, and one-liners. The oppression of a fertile mind! I just got a text message from Cptn. Obvious, “It’s Shark Week at Guru3d.com…” That's a bit obvious, though.Or something obscure and old school like, “Knock, knock… it’s LANShark!”When I think of a good lead catch-phrase, I’ll update the article. Wait, how about: It’s Skull Week at guru3d.com! Bit obvious, innit?
In the meantime, let me take you on a little photo tour, a meet ‘n greet. Here we have the next installment of a SmoothCreations system, ladies and gents, meet the LANShark.
Read on to find out what's

SOURCE:www.guru3d.com

Toshiba mini NB205-N210

They say the best things come in pairs. When the colorful Toshiba mini NB205 launched (and subsequently nabbed our Editors' Choice in the netbook category), another more traditional-looking netbook launched along with it (though flying under the radar), one that deserves almost as much praise. The Toshiba mini NB205-N210 doesn't have the NB205's fancy colors and textures or its full size keyboard, but every other part and feature is as lovable. And at $70 less ($330) than the NB205, it should give bargain netbooks like the Acer Aspire One (D250-1165) and HP Mini 110 (1030us) some stiff competition.

SPEC DATA:

Price as Tested: $330.00 Direct
Type: General Purpose, Ultraportable, Value, Netbook
Operating System: MS Windows XP Home
Processor Name: Intel Atom N280
Processor Speed: 1.67 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Weight: 2.9 lb
Screen Size: 10.1 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Storage Capacity: 160 GB
Networking Options: 802.11a/g
Primary Optical Drive: External

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

Gateway NV5807u

Since being acquired by Acer, Gateway's main objective has been to undersell every other big name that distributes cheap laptops. And to its credit, the company has succeeded in putting out some of the most affordable laptops, even if most of the designs look eerily similar. The Gateway NV5807u ($600 street) is cheaper than comparable offerings from Dell, HP, and Toshiba. Unlike its competitors, though, there is no room for customization: The 15.6-inch widescreen, Intel processor, and 4GB of memory (among other common parts in budget laptops) are set in stone for this model. Still, these are the parts I'd recommend for any other brand's budget models, especially when money is tight around the house.

SPEC DATA:

Price as Tested: $600.00 Street
Type: General Purpose, Media, Value
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
Processor Speed: 2.1 GHz
RAM: 4 GB
Weight: 5.8 lb
Screen Size: 15.6 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Storage Capacity: 320 GB
Networking Options: 802.11n
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+R DL

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

Lenovo ThinkStation S20

Power users need power. That's as simple as it gets. The Lenovo ThinkStation S20 ($3,665 direct) has the power to motor through your Digital Content Creation (DCC) tasks like manipulating digital photos and video, plus it also has stability and IT-friendly features that make it a better choice than simply repurposing a consumer box to run your business. It's not for everybody, and neither is the price, but it will be a boon for the professional, particularly the graphics professional that just can't go Mac, no matter what.

SPEC DATA:

Price as Tested: $3,665.00 Direct
Type: Workstation, Business
Processor Family: Intel Xeon
RAM: 4 GB
Storage Capacity: 500 GB
RAID: No
Graphics Card: nVidia Quadro FX 4800
Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW

SOURCE:www.pcmag.com

Antec Skeleton Open-Air PC Case

We see lots of PC enclosures aimed at a particular niche: thin and quiet home theater PC cases made to fit into A/V racks, little cube PCs with handles to take to the LAN party, towering wind tunnels with lots of room for extreme overclockers with their high-end gear—you name it. Seldom have we seen a case so obviously and aggressively designed explicitly for a very narrow market segment as with the new Skeleton from Antec.
If you look at your PC enclosure and think, "you know, there's just too much enclosure there," Antec has a case for you. If you read that and laughed, you're not the target market. If you read that and said, "finally!" you'll be happy with what these venerable case designers have come up with.
The Skeleton is less a case or enclosure for your PC and more of a rack. An open rack. A rack meant to mimic open test beds, only with a little more structural integrity. It's a framework built to securely hold all your PC components out in the open.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com

NZXT Rogue Micro ATX Case

Building a Micro ATX system is an exercise in space. If you want it taller, as in some mini-tower designs, then it takes up less floor space. But if it's not tall enough, you end up with something fairly cramped, like the Silverstone SG03. The SG03 is a great little case—once the system is built. But working inside it requires a lot of patience and the willingness to start over. Cooling options are limited, due to the location of the power supply—directly over the CPU socket.
If you build something more like a cube, then it becomes something like the Silverstone SG01. These cases are easy to slide under a table or desk, but do take up a bigger footprint. With both the SG01 and SG03, Silverstone tried to create the shell for a very compact system. The upside: it takes up less space. The downside: a cramped interior that's difficult to work inside, with the side effect that you need to take a little extra effort to ensure adequate cooling.
But what if you don't care about building the tiniest possible case? What if, instead, you want a case that looks fairly cool, is smaller than a ridiculously large tower, but still allows you to easily upgrade the components? That appears to be the thinking behind the NZXT Rogue. It's a micro ATX case with a larger internal volume than many cube-shaped cases. That results in a larger footprint—but better cooling and it's much easier to work inside.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com

Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard

This is not your ordinary keyboard. Nope. No way.
In fact, if what you're looking for in your next keyboard is something just to type on, then follow our advice: turn away, go, run as far away as possible and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Logitech's G19 keyboard is, well, a bit over the top. That's safe to say because it really is. And if you, Mr. ExtremeTech reader are just so extreme enough, then this keyboard's for you. Here's our spoiler to how this story ends: It kicks butt. But here's another spoiler: It costs two hundred dollars. At center stage for the Logitech's G19 keyboard is the main attraction: a 320x240 pixel color screen. With this you can cycle through a variety of apps, from a performance monitor on CPU and memory usage, to gaming stats and data of more than 60+ games. It can be your own personal digital photo frame, or video player—it can even stream YouTube videos. Yes, we're still talking about a keyboard. In the same vicinity, just behind the keyboard are two high-speed USB 2.0 ports for conveniently plugging in input devices like a camera or USB thumb drive. There is no dedicated headphone or microphone jack.

www.extremetech.com

Microsoft SideWinder X8 Gaming Mouse

From the makers of Natural Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard and the Explorer Mouse comes the latest gaming phenomenon: the Microsoft SideWinder X8. The X8 delivers 4000 bone crushing dots-per-inch (dpi) designed for one thing only—to tally up a high body count. Rambo's trusty sidekick was his machine gun; a gamer's would be the SideWinder X8.
The SideWinder X8 sports the same "Batmobile-esque" shape and size as the previous two SideWinder mice, though with two notable refinements: Microsoft's improved BlueTrack mouse tracking engine and wireless (and wired) capabilities. The X8 includes a charging plug that easily snaps onto the mouse so that you can continThe metallic scroll wheel registers very distinct tactile and audible clicks, perfect for weapon selection and accurate line-by-line vertical scrolling. As a bonus to those more evolved, the wheel can be tilted to the left or right for horizontal scrolling. ue using it without putting it out of commission.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com

Razer Mamba Gaming Mouse

Just last month we reviewed the SideWinder X8 gaming mouse that clocks at a gut-wrenching 4000dpi. Fast? Of course. Too fast? Well, probably. And then came the Mamba, Razer's first wireless gaming mouse that sees the SideWinder's high dpi, raises it another 1600dpi, for a whopping 5600 dots per freaking inch. This is the fastest gaming mouse on the planet, but "faster" doesn't always mean "better."
Sporting an ambidextrous design, a common characteristic from Razer's labs, the Mamba's shape is equally suitable for lefties and righties. However, its inclusion of side button (two on-the-fly dpi buttons and two thumb buttons) on the left side of the mouse caters the mouse more for righties. The Mamba has an all-black exterior with a top surface coated with that rubber-like substance to enhance grip. Once the mouse moves around and does its thing, a DPI indicator on the left of the mouse displays the current DPI setting. Also, the mouse wheel is outlined by two blue strips to add to the mouse's mystique.
Like the recently reviewed SideWinder X8, the Mamba works both wired and wirelessly. With the cord plugged in, the Mamba can be used just as any regular wired mouse while also charging its battery. When charged, you can untether the rodent and frag wirelessly. When in use wirelessly, gamers are required to attach the cord to the charging base which also acts as the receiver. If a gamer wants to get up and make a sandwich or something, he can dock the mouse on the base for a quick charge without the hassle of plugging the charging cord directly into the Mamba.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com

Falcon Northwest FragBook DRX

If you're shopping for a Falcon Northwest gaming laptop, there's no middle ground: Either go for broke or leave the website. Consider the FragBook DRX ($6,449 direct, starting prices around $4,000); the money you'll have spent by the time you trick it out could avert several foreclosures. This 12-pound tank is one of only a handful of boutique laptops that have enough cooling fans to run a 3.33-GHz, Intel Core i7 975 processor—the top-of-the-line desktop processor, no less. Surround the CPU with an excellent supporting cast—an nVidia GeForce 280M GTX graphics card, 6GB of memory, and three internal hard drives (one of which is an 80GB SSD), and its competitors can only watch helplessly while they get pulverized in performance tests.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com

AZZA Solano 1000 Computer Case

When your computer case sounds like a jet taking off and it's still not as cool as you'd like it to be, it's time for a new case.
We didn't mind the noise so much; working in a basement alongside the furnace/central air unit, a dehumidifier, and such will quickly teach you to tune out extraneous noise, no matter how loud it might be. Nevertheless, when you've installed four 120mm fans in your computer's case and it's still running north of 40 degrees Celsius, it might be time to investigate your options in computer enclosures.
The AZZA Solano 1000 (Buy Now) boasts a ridiculous number of fans, some the size of small desk fans. If this thing can't keep the ambient temperature down, nothing can. It's a roomy, full-tower case with lots of hard drive mounts and plenty of room for even the most massive power supply.

SOURCE:www.extremetech.com