Tuesday Reviews

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This is an editorial about my experiences with the Intel DX38BT motherboard. It is not a review, so please do not take it as such. There are no benchmarks and no testing. There was just annoyance. If you are looking for a review of the DX38BT, search on the web. ASE Labs will not be reviewing this board.

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Flash drives are really ubiquitous. If you look around your computer desk, you will probably find a few USB mass storage devices near your work area. They are a boon for taking documents from one computer to the next and are fast and simple to use. They replaced the floppy that the ZIP disk could not supplant. The one area that USB flash drives are lacking is the ability to boot. Even though many computer motherboards support USB booting, it is difficult to get the right combination. Using this guide, you will be able to make a bootable USB "hard drive."

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Since 1986, Antec has been providing the computer hardware community with grade A cases and power supplies. Their tradition continues on to this day with their power supplies being the best in the business. Antec's cases are equally well known for quality. Today, ASE Labs looks at the Antec 900 which is one of Antec's premier cases.

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The EPIA series from VIA has really come a long way since its initial inception years ago. When the series was first released, it was a unique formfactor. The problem is that it was slow and the expandability was not there. Fast forward a few years and the later designs are nothing like what it was. You get speed and expandability in a great size. If Windows is your thing, this board is Vista certified.

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Targus' line of backpacks is among the best. ThinkComputers' admires the line's durability, solid construction, versatility, and protection of the contents of the bag. We got our hands on the Targus Grove Convertible Messenger/Backpack. It looks and feels like a World War II rucksack re-imagined in the twenty-first century. The olive color certainly contributes to it. As part of the Targus EcoSmart green initiative, this case is PVC-free and features recyclable plastic accents and nickel-free metal to reduce the amount of toxins released into the environment. Read on for the review...

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DDR2 is still kicking, and today we have a new kit from Patriot memory who have come through with a bang in the last six months with new modules hitting the shelves. We have been given their latest PC2-6400 4GB kit with low latency timings on offer. Each module has a sticker on one side that includes the model number, speed rating and timings. These modules are designed for a 4-4-4-12 rating and support up to a maximum of 2.2 volts under the manufacturer's warranty.

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Overall, I have to say that the Razer based Microsoft Reclusa is a solid constructed piece of computer hardware that should be permanently placed on your desktop for many years with little to no problems.

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Workstation GPUs are not our main focus at Phoronix, but with the increasing use of Linux on workstation systems, we will be starting to look at professional graphics products this month and likely more of them in the future. We are beginning this expedition by looking at the Quadro FX1700, which is one of NVIDIA's mid-range workstation graphics cards. This Quadro graphics card boasts 512MB of video memory, support for CUDA, and OpenGL 2.1 support. According to NVIDIA's product literature, the Quadro FX1700 is engineered to deliver exceptional performance, quality, and price for professionals.

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Quote: AMD has just released the new 780G chipset and the 4850e low power processor. We have each of these in house and ran them through a few rounds of testing for you. The 780G provides users with an all new level of performance and gaming at an unbelievable low cost all while introducing the world to something called hybrid graphics. Get ready for a wild ride.

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VVIKOO's GeForce 9600 GT Turbo brings many changes over the NVIDIA reference design. You can see one of the first DisplayPort implementations, an HDMI output, two DVIs and optical SPDIF-in. The card also features the Zalman VF-1000 cooler which makes sure the card stays cool at all times. Since the card runs cooler, the card comes overclocked straight from the factory.

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It did not take Coolermaster long to update their high end chassis, the Cosmos S is based on the Cosmos, but made from aluminum, more cooling options, comes with a massive 200mm fan and has a very unique I/O panel. We compare this S(port) version to the original to see how it stacks up.

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Back in December we looked at the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 motherboard and compared it against the ASUS P5K-E WiFi, which was also backed by Intel's P35 Express Chipset. In that review, the Gigabyte motherboard had presented a slight lead when it came to the Linux desktop performance, but both motherboards received our recommendations. Since then, Gigabyte has made a few changes to their latest motherboards in order to provide heightened power efficiency. The newest Gigabyte motherboards support DES, or Dynamic Energy Saver, technology. In this review we are taking a brief look at Gigabyte's efforts into green computing with their Dynamic Energy Saver technology on the GA-EP35-DS4 motherboard.

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I have wanted to build a fully passively cooled computer case since I had my first Athlon Thunderbird 800 MHz. That time the fan noise was amazingly high, and manufacturers didn't much care about the noise levels, and didn't offer products for building a quiet PC. Nowadays a quiet PC is not much of a challenge to build, but totally silent?

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Quote: The cooling performance of the Noctua NH-U12P Heatpipe CPU Cooler is exceptional. With the fan at full speed it produces minimal noise and provides excellent thermal results, and cutting the fan speed down to near silence doesn't impact the cooling at all. Even though the performance was exceptional, achieving it took more effort than I am used to needing in order to install a CPU cooler.