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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...
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With the Ram out of the static bags, you can see the cool Ballistix print that Crucial added to the heat spreaders. The black PCB looks cool from this view and is a nice added touch. Although most of these features are hidden when the RAM is tucked in the slots, at least you know Crucial went to all extremes to make this RAM appealing to the performance user.
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Overclocking the MSI GeForce 6800 yielded some very interesting results. From a stock clock speed of 325MHz and stock memory speed of 700MHz, we were able to overclock the card to a clock speed of 376MHz and memory speed of 798MHz. This is a 51MHz increase in core speed and 98MHz in memory speed. By all accounts this is a very good overclock considering the card's single-slot design and relatively quiet operation.
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The package is as flashy and eye-catching as they come. I really liked the inclusion of the window on the back so you can take a peek at the card itself. If the extra 128MB over their competitors don't work then maybe the sexy, black PCB will.
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Today we will be looking at two examples from their dual channel DDR line: the Patriot Memory Dual Channel 1GB PC4000 eased latency and Patriot Memory Dual Channel 1GB PC3200 low latency memory kits. Our goal in this article is to not only see if they perform up to their advertised specification, but to also see how much extra headroom each kit can afford. With that in mind, lets get started.
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Today I have the pleasure of taking a step into Intel's new LGA775 backyard and review their top of the line Alderwood motherboard based on the new Intel 925X Express chipset formally released in June. What the Alderwood brings to the table is the new LGA775 pin configuration Intel P4, the new faster DDR2 memory and lets not forget the PCI Express videocard specification everyone has been talking about.
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Chaintech's Summit SK8T800 is an interesting board in many ways. It's clear from the outset that features have to play second fiddle to cost. In that case, and at the time of production, Chaintech chose, correctly we might add, VIA's K8T800 chipset as a base. Every feature emanates from the feature-filled southbridge. That means RAIDable on-chip SATA, 10/100 LAN, USB2.0, and decent AC'97-supplied sound. It just feels like a board that's destined for the OEM market. Not bad for a package that currently costs $80 in the States.
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More often than not, cheaper priced memory has a hard knock life getting respected in the enthusiast community seeing the market is dominated by a select few that make amazing memory, but it always comes at an amazingly high price. What I wanted to prove today is that you can save a boatload of money and still get absolutely exceptional memory capable of lower latency timings at stock speeds and still pull through with a jaw dropping overclock to boot.
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Memory manufacturer Crucial have been making ATi based graphics cards for some time now, and their 9800 Pro card we looked at last year was the winner of two awards. Competition has become stiffer since then though, and suddenly it feels like everyone is selling Radeons. Last time we looked at a Crucial card, it came in a brown OEM cardboard box and a minimal package. This has all changed!
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With high end PCI Express videocards in short supply, those of you looking for the best performance may want to cast an eye towards nVIDIA's GeForcePCX 5900 series. The videocard in question is the Albatron Trinity PC5900, which is obviously based on the GeForcePCX 5900 GPU. The Trinity PC5900 videocard is powered with 128MB of DDR RAM, and supports both analog and DVI monitors.
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The first things that caught my attention on the board were the sexy, black PCB and the OTES cooling shroud. The board is layed out well and I am a big fan of the method they chose when mounting the IDE sockets. They have them setup so the cables attach in manner that is parallel with the motherboard instead of the traditional perpendicular setup.
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With the ability to output to two monitors, as well as TVs via S-Video, this wouldn't be a bad choice for media professionals who normally rely on these features. Otherwise, those of you serious about gaming, you're better off looking towards a VPU/GPU more suited for the task of playing over 1024x768.
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The two 512MB sticks of Crucial Ballistix DDR-400 offer some serious performance, and do it in the face of some worthy competition from Corsair. The low latencies no doubt contribute to the dominance experienced during testing, and overall provided some impressive scores... Crucial has developed a solid reputation for quality memory products, and it is about time they extended their reach into the field of performance DDR. They obviously did their homework, as their first offering is right up to speed with the proven competition!
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Abit is one of the handful of board makers to so far offer a Socket 939 motherboard based on the VIA K8T800 Pro chipset. The AV8 is a feature rich board aimed squarely at enthusiasts. Will it stand up to previous Abit boards? We will find out, but first here is a look at the specifications of the AV8.
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For those wanting the latest DDR2 technology out of their systems, then Corsair's Twin2X1024-5400C4 PRO is the DDR2 to get. Its stability is nothing short of spectacular. It worked like a dream throughout the entire duration of our testing. If you want to be sure that your DDR2 memory won't be the limiting factor in your overclocking, then we strongly suggest you order yourself a few sticks of Corsair's DDR2 Twin2X XMS2 Pro Series. Not only will you have one of the fastest DDR2 out there but also the coolest. A must have for the real enthusiast.
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A couple of weeks ago I reviewed the HIS Excalibur AIW 9600XT TURBO, a All In Wonder card based on the Radeon 9600XT with both FM and TV and good performance. But what if you dont need the speed and want an AIW-card that not only is cheaper but also quieter and which would fit perfectly into a SFF system? HIS has the answer for you with their HIS Excalibur AIW 9600, the card I am reviewing today.
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Microsoft has also managed to upset women and entire countries. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between "not specified," "male" or "bitch," because of an unfortunate error in translation.
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The MSI PCX 5750 does have two things going for it: a great bundle and good overclockability. However, those two features are nice, but not nice enough to warrant you to buy this graphics card. Bottom line is that if you are going to be gaming on your new PCI Express system, any card based on the PCX 5750 is not what you should buy.
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The SimpleTech package is similar to most matched pair product packaging. It encases two golden modules and has all the features of the modules listed minus one; the timings. Other than the rated speed of the modules, this is by far the most important bit of information users will be looking for.. Nowhere can you find the timings of the modules; not on the package and not even on the site. This missing piece had the three of us searching high and low to find them but it was nowhere to be seen. I fired off an email to the SimpleTech folks and they provided us with the timings but I feel, as Im sure most of you do, that this information should be included on both the packaging and website.
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And so, without further delay, PCstats is testing out a pair of Crucial's brand spanking new Ballistix PC5300 DDR2 memory. Each heatspreader encapsulated DDR2 module is 512MB each in size, and features sleek black PCB shielded by orange aluminum heatspreaders! By default the DDR-2 Ballistix memory is capable of running up to 333 MHz (or PC5300 speeds) while maintaining 4-4-4 memory timings at a voltage of 1.9V. It appears as though Crucial is not to wary of consumers raising the voltage a bit to reach those higher speeds either. The memory timings are on the conservative side but then again so are most PC5300 DIMM's on the market.
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If you can honestly find a meaningful use for 2GB of unbuffered memory, OCZ's £400 dual-channel pack is as good as any. We'd pair it with AMD's new S939 Athlon 64 FX-53 and ATI's Radeon X800 XT PE. That would lead to a multi-purpose system that's equally at home with the most demanding of games and adept at handling professional image and rendering applications. For most users, though, it's one of those options you select when deciding on your dream system. 2GB of system RAM has its uses, sure, but they are few and far between for most of us.
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This card is fast, very fast. With only four high end cards to choose from (X800 Pro, XT, 6800GT, Ultra) this card should be on your very short list. With stock overclocking that for sure can't be beat, this is surely a winner.
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In our last article we looked at the new Intel platforms with respect to their overall configuration as well as with regard to their memory performance. Briefly, some of the results came unexpectedly but most of what we did was concerned with theoretical memory benchmarks. Overall, the streaming performance was comparable with the older DDR(1) platform, whereas the latencies were higher, as expected. The write performance of the new platform was unexpectedly high, however, keep in mind that chipset buffering as well as the streaming algorithms used by AIDA32 may not paint an overall relevant picture.
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Hardware Avenue has today reviewed the Gigabyte Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition videocard. With the X800XT at the wheel, and with an awesome retail package, the Gigabyte X800XT Platinum has a hard time not impressing, but is it the right solution for you?
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Crucial Technology has always been known for their quality memory, great prices, and fast shipping. Recently Crucial has added a new "high performance" memory product line, called Ballistix. The Ballistix line of memory encompasses both DDR & DDR2 products, and emphasizes performance while still maintaining Crucial's high standards of quality.
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What us worry? That seemed to be Crucial's attitude not too long ago. For ClubOC to be located in the same vicinity as Crucial, it was somewhat disheartening to see them not partake in the high speed DDR wars of the last few years, and concentrating mostly on OEM and JEDEC minimum spec modules without a "CL 2" rating. It seemed to us like no fun, but that just is not the case anymore. The Ballistix memory lineup is very impressive, and given Crucial's excellent customer service, not to mention how easy it is to grab some of these fabulous sticks of memory, I cannot really see a downfall. At least it sounds good on paper, but is Crucial really taking a stand this time? Or are they merely trying to again give us just the bare minimum of overclocking overhead so we can have default speeds at high latencies? Well unlike some other sites that have reviewed the Ballistix lineup, ClubOC decided to take the long road and give you an impressive array of benchmarks to give you an example of what a couple sticks of Ballistix can give you...
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Look around the web for pre-Nocona Xeon vs Opteron articles and you'll generally find just one style of conclusion; the Opteron is great, the Xeon less so. Therefore testing the Nocona Xeon, based as it is on the desktop Prescott core which affords it a faster system bus, new cache layout, SSE3, tweaked HyperThreading and access to DDR400 memory officially for the first time, was a means to see if the update was worth Intel's time and effort.
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The MSI RX600XT-TD128 flew through all the benchmarks we ran, and performed quite well at 1024x768. Higher resolutions might be out of the question depending on the application, but if you find the card a bit slow, simply overclock it. Our particular card was able to hit a very respectable 610 MHz core, and 438 MHz memory. Despite the added stress, the MSI RX600XT-TD128 is completely silent during operation, and you will not hear it when it's installed into a case
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The enthusiast memory market is a tough spot in the industry at this point. It is difficult to stay competitive when every manufacturer is introducing its enthusiast and gamer line of memory products with a few twists and turns. Of course, more competition means better products for end consumers at hopefully affordable prices. We have one such market segment that is starting to reignite with the introduction of Samsung's low latency ICs
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The 9550 is not the purchase that hardcore gamers will consider. Casual gamers will enjoy the fact that at the low stock speeds, games such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Unreal Tournament should play very well in moderate resolutions. Where this card excels is in the Home Theatre PC niche. The output to TV, especially HDTV, provides a crystal-clear picture that must be seen to be believed. Tack on the video-in capabilities and a software bundle that makes the whole video experience a much easier affair, and you've got a great value for not much money.
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Wow!! Do you know how many times I've started a review with the word "WOW"? This is my first time. It's not too often that a product like this will get me excited enough to say "wow". But I have to admit that when I was testing this stuff, I was laughing out loud in excitement. OCZ really did a great job with this memory. They have been stepping up to the plate for a while now. Usually they are the first to come out with the ultra high performing memory. But if someone beats them to the market with something, it's usually only a short time before OCZ comes out with something better. I, like most of the staff, was very impressed with the Corsair memory that Matt reviewed a few weeks ago. We just thought that was the pinnacle for 3200 performance. Man were we wrong.