Friday Night Reviews

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The Corsair XMS 3200 XL Pro Low Latency Memory Kit is readily available from the Corsair website in a variety of packages ranging from 256MB to 1GB kits in both the standard black heat spreader and the Pro LED series.
The Ultra Low Latency speeds are currently restricted to the PC3200 frequency only and are denoted with the XL name. The Corsair XMS 3200 XL Pro Low Latency Memory Kit consists of two 512MB modules for a combined capacity of 1GB designed for use on dual channel architecture such as the NVIDIA nForce 2/3 and Intel i865/i875P platforms.

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The motherboard PCstats is testing today is made by MSI Computer, and based on the second generation VIA K8T800 Pro chipset. MSI's K8T Neo2-FIR motherboard follows through where its successful K8T Neo board left off, and proves to be a compelling option for a little over $140 USD. The motherboard supports Socket 939 AMD Athlon64/FX processors, comes equipped with four DDR RAM DIMM slots that accommodate up to 4GB of dual channel PC3200 memory, and packs in a long list of features.

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While the KV2 isn't quite the feature-fest that defined the PF4 Deluxe, it's close. The only things (besides the obvious difference in processor and memory types) that differ are SATA port count, where the PF4 supplies two more ports than the KV2 (ECS opted not to hookup a SATA PHY to the VT8237 for four ports), and that the KV2 doesn't ship with the USB WiFi networking device.

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Since we don't have other DDR2 memory modules yet to test we have been forced to test against DDR1 only. We can say for certain that Crucial has had fine DIMMs for as long as we have tested them. Years ago we had the first tests of DDR200 from Crucial, and we found that we were able to almost reach DDR333 speeds. We expect Crucial's Ballistix line to be a serious player in the enthusiasts market.

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ASUS put together a comprehensive packaging that covers a wide audience, depending on what you need. For gamers, the ASUS Extreme AX600XT/HTVD provides very good performance with many of today's popular titles, without sacrificing image quality in doing so. Many games are playable at 1280 resolution, with image quality cranked up high, though 1600 is something I would reserve for the higher-end cards.

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Socket 775 or "LGA 775" motherboards are just getting a good start, but it's going to be an up hill battle for Intel. Intel really has their work cut out for them. They have to convince people that their new Socket 775 is the way to go, and at the same time convince everyone to throw away their AGP video cards and buy a PCIX card. To top it all off, you may or may not have to upgrade to DDR2 all at the same time. I've seen a lot of changes over the years, but never three major components at the same time. Today we have a new motherboard to show off from Albatron called the Mars PX915P/G Pro. This Socket 775 motherboard does away with the AGP slot we've all come to know, and replace it with a PCIX slot. Although we had to pick up a new CPU for this review, we do get to keep using regular DDR and not DDR2. Is Intel's new 915 chipset something revolutionary, or just an excuse to get you to purchase more hardware that you really don't need? Let's take a look at this new motherboard, and at the same time check out Albatron's PCIX video card solution, the Trinity PCX5750.

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Remember that age old saying your parents used to drop on you when you might be making trouble. Yes, you know what I'm talking about....'If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you???!!!' Yeah mom, I have a date with the Golden Gate. Well as far as memory companies are concerned, if they do it you bet we are going to do it. Kingston is pulling this off nicely with their offering in the PC3200 low latency market. Yes, we are dropping the clocks down to 2-2-2-5 with a no holds barred speed war in full effect.

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The ABIT AA8-DuraMAXX is currently one of ABIT's leading Intel 925X chipset based motherboards for Intel's latest LGA 775 processors (Socket T). The board comes jam packed with the newest technology a PC Enthusiast could dream of owning -- Intel's Socket T, 4 banks for DDR2 memory, and PCI Express...