User Reviews

Koolance HX-720 Dual 120mm Radiator

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:19:33 -0400

I will be reviewing the Koolance HX-720 Radiator available from http://www.koolance.com and any E-tailer/retailer selling their products. Pictures will be uploaded and posted tomorrow as soon as assembly is done, I will be doing a simple bench style run of the system and do a FULL temperature setup as soon as I get my BTX parts for my case. Tonight I assembled the Radiator with the barbs and will flush it before installation, The radiator will eventually be mounted on the back of a Coolermaster Stacker TC01 case as a rear mount system. I will also Review the 13mm VL3 Quick disconnect bracket By Koolance as well. Fluid loss is supposed to be kept at a minimum with this when changing over your systems, Ease of use, Installation, and how well it works to detach the radiator and main setup from inside the case will be the focus of the VL3 QDC bracket. these are also available from koolance price at purchase was $39.99 USD.

Note: Delays Due to Mistakes at certain companies getting parts to me have caused this review to be pushed back at least 3 more days. I noticed this is going to be a hot topic so please keep your eyes on this post. I also will provide a picture of my ORIGINAL pump/res combo that WAS going to spearhead this review but did not make it due to the barb on the res breaking. the Pump/res that WILL be used will be the Koolance PMP-450 which is the same as the MCP 655 swiftech pump along with their 120mm Res. The result of these changes will mean that the radiator is going to be mounted on a Coolermaster COSMOS case which I purchased locally. I am very sorry to folks who have looked at this expecting a review and only seen the initial posting.

ASUS CROSSHAIR

Fri, 25 May 2007 20:55:46 -0400

ASUS CROSSHAIR Review

I only had this mobo for little over a year and am now just starting to get used to it in the area of overclocking.

One of the earliest additions to the new "Republic Of Gamers" Series, the ASUS CROSSHAIR brings to the table lots of cool new features to make overclocking and just stock use much more enjoyable. For now as stable daily user it is set as follows in this review;

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200 (65w, 90nm, 2x512M L2) to 365x7 = 2.55GHz @ 1.345v, 1460MHz HTT, Corsair TWIN2X1024-4200C3Pro OC'd to DDR730 @ 1:1 , 5-4-4-12 @ 2.20v, Single nVidia 7900 GT

A look inside the BIOS options:

OVERCLOCKING:

CPU Frequency: 265
CPU Multiplier: 7x
Memory Clock Frequency: DDR400 [1:1]
PCIEX16_1 Clock: 100MHz
PCIEX16_2 Clock: 100MHz
CPU<->NB HT Speed: 4xCPUFrequency
NB To SB HT Frequency: AUTO
NB-->SB HT Speed: 4xNB to SB HT Frequency
SB-->NB HT Speed: 4xSB to NB HT Frequency
CPU<->NB HT Width: D16 U16
NB<->SB HT Width: D16 U16
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERVOLTAGE:

CPU Voltage Range: 1.25v - 1.35v
x CPU Voltage: 1.3475v
DDR Volt: 2.20v
HT Link Volt: 1.325v
NB Core Volt: 1.300v
SB Core Volt: 1.575v
SB PLL Volt: 1.55v
DDR2 Termination Volt: AUTO
DDR Controller Ref Volt: AUTO
DDR Channel A Ref Volt: AUTO
DDR Channel B Ref Volt: AUTO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DRAM Configuration: [MANUAL]

TcI: 5
Trcd: 4
Trp: 4
Tras: 12
Width of DRAM Interface: AUTO
1T/2T memory Timing: 2T
AI Clock Skew:AUTO
x Channel A Clock Skew: NORMAL
x Channel B Clock Skew: NORMAL
>Advanced Memory Settings> all AUTO + DRAM Bank Interleaving : Enabled
>DRAM Timing Control: All AUTO
>Output Driver Control: All ATUO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMD Live!, AMD Cool And Quiet, & nVidia GPU Ex: All Disabled
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced:

>Ai Net2: POST Check LAN 1 & 2 Disabled
>PEG Link: AUTO
>PCI/PnP: Plug N Play: YES, Resorce Controled by: AUTO
x IRQ Resorces
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEATURES:

I like the lighted I/O rear panel for the bling bking effect. This looks cool but is helpfull if plugging something in in the dark. (can be all turned off if the lights get to you in your bedroom when trying to sleep. There, you can also view date/time or temp/volts as set to your likeing. Or the blue LEDs on the mobo itself to aid in locating certain plugs and jumpers on the mobo when in the S1/3 or S4 or off mode. They can be made to be left on for animated effect. Another fave of mine is the 2 user overclock profile saves in BIOS and the ability to load and save more to floppy, CD, USB flash or HDD and call fror them whenever you just wanna change or crash 1 and need to get back to reliable 1 quick. The ACPI is more interactive then on previous nVidia chipsets and now PC Probe shows more info related to volts and such. Not as elaborate as the nVidia for Intel editions or !975X versions but not bad still. The heatpipe units do there best to keep system cool, but like all the other comparable mobos today, still not as cool as we were on large passive or air cooled chipsets. For you water coolers out there I did find a fair selection of custom made water blocks to replace PWR mosfets and chipset.

I won't go too into detail as I am not really a die hard AMD / nVidia user and wouldn't wanna give misunderstood comments base off user side error. This just after my excelent experience with my previous A8N-SLI is opening my eyes to new ideas. Only issues I can speak for as of today is that it does do wel in full ACPI modes for S3 (sleep) & S4 (hibernate to a certain FSB HTT ratio of about 370MHz before is starts to misread disc while resuming from previous state of suspend modes. Again, maybe tweekable later to smooth out. Stuff most people dont even care about, but I like my OC to be usefull in everyday performance and that means Sleep/Hibernate and full power management. SATA/E-SATA hot swap boot from LAN and WOL and so on.

So in final words, I can say good job ASUS in fixing the bugs over the year and nice to finally have a reliable overclocked daily AMD machine. Notice I didn't go too much into the bugs as this was mainly to new CPU technology and mobo just being too new at the time. I won't lie, this mobo had its share of quirks just like any other new design when I 1st got it in Feb of last yr. I also don't have the best CPU to really make it shine so expect to get further then my results if you use tighter timed RAM and OC'r CPU. In the end, I can just say I am happy with mine. It's like the Cadillac of mobos for your AM2 socket. If you like the bells and whistles and lots of power/potential under the hood, then look into the ASUS CROSHAIR it really is at the top of its class for right now.

Feel free to PM me w/ futrher questions in direct relation to user side questions and features. For anything else, PM me w/ a link to your post and I'll do my best to answer as available.

Happy Clockin'

Steelpad steelseries QcK mousemat review

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:21:37 -0400

A mousemat is just a mousemat?isn?t it ?

Not really ? a good mat can make a huge difference irrespective if you are trying to design a house using CAD or fragging your friends. I?ve been a ?proper? mousemat user for several years but the time has come to retire my RatzPad GS. This has served me well but as you can see from the picture below, the surface has now worn away and as a result, doesn?t work as well as it should. It?s also wearing out my Teflon mouse feet much quicker than expected as well.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=6240

Decisions, decisions

So, what to go for?.. After a bit (i.e. a lot) of reading, I quite fancied the SteelSeries Steelpad range. I wanted a mat that was thin & comfortable. As I use this at my (flat) desk, I don?t need a thick mat that compensates for the uneven surface and thinner means less wrist strain. So with that in mind, I bought a steelpad QcK (medium size). I bought from a UK retailer (CCLOnline) and the cost was a mere �6.52 (inc VAT). The mat specs are (in mm) 320x285x2 and the bottom has a non slip surface that is rock steady even on my smooth desk. The surface cloth doesn?t feel as slippy as plastic but doesn?t offer much resistance either. However, with a new set of teflon skates on, it?s now offers practically no resistance and feels very comfortable.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=6241

QUOTE

?The QcK is what many gamers have been missing. A smooth, high quality cloth pad which offers soft feeling and control at the same time.

Usage

I work from home and rather than using my laptop keyboard / trackpad, I RDP onto it from my desktop. So I use my rig for 6hrs+ per day for work and then gaming as well. I found that during a gaming session with the RatzPad, my wrist would get sore but so far, I haven?t experienced the same with the QcK. The non-slip bottom is just excellent ? no slippage whatsoever. There are no garish colours / designs to distract you ? just a simple steelseries logo.

Comments

I?ve been an advocate of using a properly designed mousemat for some years. Changing from the stiff plastic RatzPad to the thin & flexible steelpad took no effort whatsoever.
Pros

Thin; light; can be rolled up for transport (LAN parties); cheap; comfortableCons

Cloth surface catches anything that is not smooth (mouse feet, skin, etc); may be difficult to cleanOverall, I?m very happy with this product. It does exactly as it says and feels comfortable to use. Long term, I?ll have to see if this is as practical as the RatzPad as when that got dirty, I washed it with soap & hot water ? the same may be possible with the steelseries but only time will tell.

Regards

NC

PS ? for UK readers, I bought my Teflon tape on eBay from a US seller ( douglasgenejohnson). Cost is �0.69 with approx �0.50 postage and if you buy more than one, you get 1 free. So for �3.20, I got 6 8.5? lengths of tape ? enough for at least 12 sets of feet !

ZEROTherm GX810 Video Card Cooler

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:32:57 -0400

I have just picked up a ZEROTherm GX810 video card cooler to replace the stock cooler installed on an EVGA 7800GT PCI-E card in my HTPC. I have also decided to document my process here in the hopes that it will help someone out, somewhere....

The GX810 was very well packaged. All of the parts were neatly seperated and encased in their own individual compartments.
Even the instructions had their space, neatly sealed.

One feature i found very helpful in making sure nothing gets knocked around in transport from the factory to my doorstep was the staples that were in the plastic, preventing the plastic around the fan from popping open.
Its definitely the little things that count.
Here is the cooler. Very nice design.

In my encounters with various add on heatsinks in the past, there were a few imperfections that i noticed on this cooler as well.
There were a few fins that were bent out of shape. It appears to have been done before the cooler was placed in the packaging at the factory. But no worries. About 8 seconds with a needle nose plers fixed that all right up.

The package comes with little green colored aluminum heatsinks.

They look pretty nice. Here is a pic of the zerotherm heatsink next to a zalman heatsink. The zalman has a tad bit more height than the zerotherm ones, but the zerotherm heatsinks appear to have more surface area than the zalman's. If you look closely at the following pics, you should be able to see the differences.

There are two different sets of mounting hardware that was included with the GX810. One set for non-SLI systems and one set for SLI systems. The main differences in the two are the size of the mounting hardware. The non-SLI solution has large thumb screws making the installation process a breeze. The SLI hardware was not too tiny to handle, but very much smaller in size.
NON-SLI hardware

SLI hardware

The user manual is written in several languages. The writing is small, but legible and clear. Still, it would have been nice to see the heatsinks in the package the same as what was pictured in the diagram.... Nice small copper heatsinks!

The installation card of choice is an EVGA 7800GT. That is currently the backbone of my HTPC, pushing 1080i over component video and 1366 x 768 on the dvi end. The stock cooler on this card does an adequate job of cooling the system. Actually, it does a very good job keeping the card cool. Here is an idle screenshot.

and here is a screenshot running COD2 at 1366 x 768 with all settings on high, including anti aliasing at max run for 45 minutes.
Like i said, the stock cooler does a hell of a job keeping the video card cool. Although at times i have seen the temp spike up past the 65 degree mark.

Here is a look at the 7800GT.
Its your basic 7800 design.
Under the fan, there were 2 rather large heatsinks. One copper and one aluminum. I found it interesting that there were 2 seperate heatsinks made out of 2 different materials. I wonder if it was simply a "cost effective" solution or if there is some other reason.
Here is a shot of the card without the heatsinks installed. All of a sudden the card looks a bit whimpy!
One of the biggest mistakes i have seen people do time and time again is not cleaning the GPU properly. I use the highest concentration of alcohol i can find. The higher the better. It is important that you completely remove all of the left over thermal paste before you reapply the thermal paste to the new heatsink. This is what a cleaned surface should look like.

or

Note that the black color of the chipset is actually the reflection of the camera that was used.

I decided, ultimately, that i wanted to use copper heatsinks on the video cards memory chips. So i installed Thermaltake copper heatsinks to the chips. Copper provides a more efficient cooling transfer of heat then aluminum does.
But i do have confidence that the Zerotherm heatsinks would have been more than adequate to do the job.
I am also not a fan of thermal tapes that come installed on any heatsink. I feel much better when an epoxy, such as Artic Silver thermal adhesive is used. Thermal adhesive is basically a really strong epoxy that does a very good job of transferring heat. Just about as good as regular Artic Silver. But the peace of mind comes in knowing that the heatsinks will never fall off, creating a potentially huge disaster! The only thing you need to be 100% sure of when using a thermal adhesive is that you will never need to remove the heatsinks! It will be virtually impossible to remove them without damaging the chip that it is bonded to.
Here is a pic showing the progress.
Remember, the same care in cleaning the GPU should be taken in cleaning the memory chips. There should be absolutely no residue on the memory chips when you apply the thermal adhesive. And also remember, the same rule applies to thermal adhesive as it does to any heatsink compound, less is more. There should be only the slightest bit applied evenly and thinly along the surface. I took a snapshot of this because pictures are worth a thousand words.
This image shows how easy it is to apply too much on a chip. It doesn't look like alot, but there is alot of excess there. I have found that the best way to apply the thinnest amount is to use part of the plastic package cut into a small 1" x 4" piece and drag it along the top of the chip after applying the thermal adhesive. The flexibility of the plastic packaging material is perfect for keeping even pressure along the top of the chip without the fear of damaging anything. Of corse you need to be careful in doing so as you do not want to accidentally drag any of the adhesive onto any of the circuit board. With a pot life of about 6 minutes, you will still have the time to clean off the sides of the chips and the PCB area of the video card before applying the heatsinks.
Here is the card wih all of the heatsinks applied.

Note that i have decided to cool down the power mofsets on the video card with the stock zerotherm coolers. I figured that if i did decide to overclock the card in the future that i wanted the hottest areas of the card to be adequately cooled. And what better way than to add passive cooling?

A short trip to the toolbox and a shot with the dremel notched the heatsink just enough to fit on without hitting the capacitor.
I used thermal adhesive on those also.

Initially, i had intended to install the SLI hardware on my card. But i noticed something interesting. The SLI hardware is designed to be installed into the screw opening of the video card. But suprisingly, it does not fit. This pic shows how being less than a mm off could be a huge pain!
I decided to test fit the rest of the hardware at that point. Although the SLI mounting hardware will install and will allow compatibility for SLI setups, i was just a little uncomfortable keeping the screws tight on the PCB. I just think there is to much of a possibility that the board will crack if the mounting screws were overtightened, even just a little bit.
At that point i decided to install the standard NON-SLI hardware. There were absolutely no issues with that hardware.

The contact area of the cooler has a plastic protective sticker on the bottom to prevent scratches. After peeling off that sticker, i once again used alcohol to clean the surface making sure there was absolutely nothing that would interfere with the transfer of heat. I have to admit that the contact area was the most reflective surface that i have ever seen on any type of heatsink. And i have seen quite a few. Many have come close, but this was definiely the most perfect i have seen to date.

Yes. That is the camera in the reflection.

Sure that the heatsink was at its best, i applied some artic silver to the GPU. But like i said earlier... only the smallest amount..

The left side of this image shows what was about to be removed to make sure i had no excess falling over the sides of the GPU itself.

Finally, the cooler is installed.

Now... Time to install it into the HTPC..... or not.

Before i had the 7800 installed in the system, i was using the onboard 6100 video chipset. I had previously removed the stock cooler from that and replaced that with a zalman passive cooler. Little did i know that the installation would interfere with the huge thumbscrews that the NON-SLI hardware used. The stock cooler had no clearance issues. And after measuring and eyeballing the SLI mounting hardware, it appeared that the SLI hardware would not have interfered with the heatsink either.
But in order to complete my install, i decided to use the trusty Dremel to zip off the few fins that were interfering with the thumbscrews. Before anyone freaks... I absolutely removed the whole cooler and cut the fins off away from the PC. I hate to have to mention it, but i have seen some ultimate lazy moves before.. Never use the dremel tool in or near the motherboard of a PC. That includes modding a the case or modding a heatsink. The small, micro metal shavings that are left to fling all over the place while cutting will definitely ruin your hardware..
Afterward, i reinstalled the cooler using the same artic silver procedure i used before.. Cleaning the surface, evenly applying, then installing. And Viola!! The card now installs with ease!

The install is now complete!

A nice red light glows through the fan blades. And the best part is that even at full speed, the fan is virtually inaudible.
Time for the results. I Tested the same exact way as i did before.
Idle temps were taken after the PC was on doing absolutely nothing in addition to running Windows for 20 minutes.
The load temps were taken after running COD2 at 1366 x 768 with all settings on high, including anti aliasing for 45 minutes.
Idle Temps

Load temps

Keep in mind, it takes several weeks of running before thermal compounds reach their maximum cooling potential. But as you can see, there is a world of difference already!
Overall, I have to admit that the cooler does a fantastic job. The temps are much lower then stock and overal the install was a breeze. With the exception of the SLI hardware possibly being an issue, the cooler is nearly perfect. But the fact that the SLI hardware just doesn't fit as it should is a little disturbing. It was okay in my HTPC, but if you are running an SLI setup, you just might want to think twice. Although the hardware will install and keep the cooler secured to the card, it just doesn't fit like it was designed to.

..
Overall, i give it 4 1/4 out of 5 on the Bob-omb scale

**Quick update on the SLI mounting hardware. I contacted ZEROTherm and they did offer to send me a new set. I don't think that there would be any difference in the install, but it is nice to know that they do have decent customer service.

AeroCool Spiral Galaxies

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:09:37 -0500

Introduction:

While looking for a new case that would hold my 4 hard drives and newly acquired SLI setup, I found one that was 180� different. The AeroCool SPIRAL GALAXIES.

This is an ATX tower with the benefits of BTX positioning. The motherboard is turned 180� opposite of a standard ATX mount. This interested me. Being somewhat tired of the same ole same ole so I did some research on this case and found some interesting features that looked and sounded like this is the case I wanted to try.

Product: AeroCool Spiral Galaxies
Author: Mark Goddard
Category: Tower Case
Reviewed on: February 6, 2007
Product cost: $88.99
Manufacture: AeroCool

Features:
Full Tower
Push-and-Click 80mm Fan Socket (80mm fan is not included)
Push-and-Click 120mm Fan Socket
6 HDD vertically mount located at rear of case
Power Supply Shock Absorber
Push-and-Click PCI slot (screw less)
Air Tunnel W/ 2 x 120mm Fan
Bee-Hive" side panel for improved EMI protection
Key Lock

Specifications:

Type: ATX Full Tower
Color: Black/Silver
Case Material: SECC 0.8mm / Front Panel ABS, Aluminum
With Power Supply: No
Power Supply: No
Motherboard Compatibility: 12" x 13" (Extend ATX), 12" x 9.6" (ATX), 9.6" x 9.6" (Micro ATX)
With Side Panel Window: Yes
External 5.25" Drive Bays: 5
External 3.5" Drive Bays: 2
Internal 3.5" Drive Bays: 6
Expansion Slots: 7
Front Ports: 2 x USB2.0 ; 2 x Audio ; 1 x IEEE1394
120mm Fans: 2 x 120mm Rear Fan
80mm Fans: No
Dimensions: 19.3" x 8.1" x 21.3" (D x W x H)

First thing I noticed about this case as UPS delivered it, it is big! Almost too big.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5952
Once out of the box the first thing I wanted to see is the air tunnel.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5953 Looks Great!
I then looked the case over one or twice to get a feel for this massive, air tunnel, upside down mount monster.
Most everything appears to be planned and made well.
The front door is mostly plastic with plastic hinges and very slightly rubs at the bottom when closing.
Overall construction is good.
The screwless side panels are easy to remove, just push the top catches down and the bottom catches up and the panel is ready for removal.
I give product construction 4.7 out of 5

Now the fun part, the build.

The air tunnel comes attached as it would be after everything is finished and ready to close up.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5954
Removing it is simple; there are 4 latches that you have to bend slightly to release the catch points.
The air tunnel also has a cut out on top and a larger attachment you can change to fit larger heatsinks.
Some mounting studs were pre installed so I just had to figure which others need to be installed, no big deal since most cases has none installed.
I did run into a small problem with my MB (ECS KN1 SLI Extreme) due to the cooling channel with a fan sink and shroud placed on top of the PWM controller. The air tunnel / 120 fan housing was in the way.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5955 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5956
The cooling channel had to be removed from the MB but I figured with the cooling tunnel blowing air across it, I really wasn't worried. Two screws holding the fan assembly and I?m done.
The mounting studs are longer than most studs but don?t worry, they supply plenty.
I had no problem placing the MB in the case with all the space you have to work with.

The hard drives mount with slide bars and no screws to mess with, just had to read the instructions to see which slide bar went on which side of the HHD. http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5957 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5958
I did a little pre-planning and ordered 4 new SATA data cables with 90� plugs on one end and glad I did. The room on the side of the case (back of HHD) is a little slim after the cover is replaced and I didn't want to bend a standard cable that tight. Get some 90� SATA cables and you will be fine.

Mounting my XFX 7800GT in PCI-e slot one posed another minor situation. The video card has a decorative bar that runs across the front and would not allow the screw less clip to close.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5959 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5960
Again, only two screws holding the bar to the video card and I?m off and running again.
The screwless clips are sturdy and feels like they will break while clamping them in place, don't worry they are made to be like this.

Mounting the power supply was a little different than I?m used to. Usually I just slide it in from the side and screw it to the back of the case. This will not work. http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5961
But the smarter than me folks over at AreoCool has this one figured out. There is a removable back plate. Just take it off, attach the plate to the PSU and slide the PSU in place then screw it to the case. It sits on 2 isolating legs
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5962
with a rubber isolator on top.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5963 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5964

Time to wire this baby up.
As many others have mentioned on a few reviews, with the MB turned upside down, some power cables may not reach. In anticipation of this, I ordered a 4 pin processor power cable extension.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5965
You can see the MB processor power socket is in the bottom right corner, a long way from the PSU. If you?re going to buy this case, buy the extension or extensions depending on your MB
Sometimes it pays to read these reviews because if I didn?t, I would not have got this box assembled and running the first night.
As for the other cabling, try to get a PSU with long cable, this case is tall and the MB is upside down.
The front panel wires are long enough but the case power led comes with a 3 pin socket. My MB has a 2 pin header. More cable moding for me.
I routed my SATA cables and some power cables behind the MB back plate. There is room to do this if you want to hide some wiring.

Final Assembly:

Installing the air tunnel is easier than removal. Just line it up, slide it in, listen and feel it click into place
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5967
Placing the side panels are also as easy as taking them off. If you tinker as much as I do, you will save a lot of time and effort looking for those screws you just dropped down the HVAC air vent in the floor.

Assembly rating 4.7 of 5
The only reason I didn?t give it more is because of the 4P processor extension cable I had to buy.
Most MB?s are located in the same place or close to it. It would be nice if they shipped this case with a few different combinations of cables.

Performance:
My old case was a typical mid tower ATX and room for 4 HDD only, with them stacked so close together my HDD temps were running between 49c and 55c before I added a 120 fan in front of them.
I had concerns with this case and the HDD?s sitting above the 2 ? 7800GT?s. This is not an issue so far. Using HD Tune to monitor the HDD temps, they stay between 36c and 40c.
The air tunnel design keeps a steady flow of cool air, from the front of the case, across the processor heat sink. Idle temps in the old case were 37c to 39c. This new case keeps this air cooled processor idling at 33c to 34c (same ambient room temperatures at 22c).
Performance rating 4.8 of 5

Price:
At under $90.00 USD, it?s hard to go wrong
Price rating 4.9 of 5

Pros
For the money, it hard to beat this case.
Size is more than adequate to fit almost anything.
Air tunnel
Screw less design

Cons:
Heavy
Not a typical build for the novice.

Conclusion:

I would recommend this case to anyone looking for something a little different than the typical build.
It was fun to put together simply because of the upside down mounting of the MB and the different layout.
It is well built but would recommend the manufacture replace the plastic door hinges with metal.
Being built with the same layout of a BTX case the window is on the right side so if you?re used to looking at the interior while the case is to your right, you will only see a solid side panel.
Do some research on your MB before starting with this case and you will not have any issues.

Overall Rating: 4.77

A very special credit for the photography by basiclee. One of our newest members.

More Pics
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5971 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5968 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5972 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5969 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5970

Presario v2000 review

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:07:23 -0400

I've been an stubborn supporter of desktops forever, but eventually my new job and new small apartment demanded I give laptops another chance.

Well being a broke college student living on his own, I went with the cheapest model I could find that still had decent specs, and lightweight since I will be lugging it around for work (I'm a telephone pbx programmer, and dvr catv programmer, and i also maintain networks for small businesses).

Well I started searching on walmart.com and I found the compaq presario v2000, the specs are as follows.

1.8ghz AMD Turion64
1gb ram
80gb hd (4200 rpm)
dvd rw+ -
ATI radeon igp
wifi
5.34 lbs
All for the grand total of $815 to my door
and yes its faster than my desktop which I built 3 years ago

1st impressions, too much un-needed crap came preloaded, bogging down boot time, and performance. But that would've been the 1st thing to be taken care of anyway. But I tried using the preloaded install just to get a feel for it. The touch pad scroll did not work in firefox, that didn't make me happy. But other than that, wifi connects without drama, and switches to cat5 seamlessly. The sound was very crappy, but all i have to compare it to is my surround sound system, and klipsch 4.1, and the bose in my car, so thats not a fair comparison at all.

Some have said this system is cheaply built, and i can see where they're coming from. Start twisting it gently and squeaks galore. But the system itself feels securely held together, it does feel solid, and looks like it could take any normal wear and tear just fine.

Gripes?
no ps2 ports
vga port has no screw holes
only 1 pcmia slot (ok so there's an external one to make 2)
cpu cooling exhaust vents through the bottom, so your lap gets really hot, and may have trouble expelling heat
touchpad scroll gets in the way of regular use at first

Windows xp 64 retail install

The install finished without a problem, and luckily thanks to this site, all drivers were in one place and installed in a straight foward fashion. Except for the modem drivers, which had to be manually pointed to just as this site said. Much better than my last 64 bit experience on pre release software.

The most noticeable difference at first was the boot up speed, its probably half what it used to be at most. Next would be multi-tasking, the performance hit from multi=tasking is almost non-existant now, at least at my usage levels. A few 32 bit apps had error messages during install, but installed fine and worked fine anyway. I'm really blown away as to how much more seamless 64 bit has become in the past year, and the performance is really something, especially considering it was just a software upgrade, and using non-certified drivers on top. 64 bit is definitely here to stay.

Antec P180B review

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:44:08 -0400

Last week I ordered an Antec P180 Black case as part of my upgrade, and it arrived on Monday morning.

First up, the packaging.
The packaging is huge! Much larger than I expected. It really did a good job of protecting the contents, and everything arrived in perfect condition.

The Case.

After struggling to remove the case from the packaging (oh the joys of doing this by myself, but I'll never learn) and standing it upright, I sat for a moment or two just admiring the case. It is simplicity and elegance defined. This really is an upmarket case which is just at home with a Gamers room or in the modern entertainment room of an HTPC aficionado.

There are two versions of the case, both equally stunning and I spent a good while deciding which to fill with my PC goodies.

As you can see from the shots, both the silver and black versions are stunning, and both feature aluminium front and side panels.

Opening up the front door (which is double hinged so capable of a full 270 degrees of movement) you are greeted by four 5.25" bays and one 3.5" bay, as well as two grilles for 120mm fans.

Opening up the side panel which is held in place by thumb-screws (Nice!!!) you see what at first glance appears to be the interior of a large tower case, but on closer inspection you'll realise that the power supply enclosure is at the bottom of the case. next thing you'll notice are pull-tabs on the 3.5" drive cages. Thats correct, they're both removable, and both feature soft rubber grommets at the drive mount points which reduces vibration making for a quiet operating environment.

The enclosure also features 3 120mm Antec Tricool fans, one mounted on the top of the case where the PSU would traditionally sit, one on the back and one between the bottom drive bay and PSU compartment. There is also space for two front mounted 120mm fans.

The case's internal drive bays can hold 6 hard drives which is in addition to the previously mentioned drive bays. The middle and top drive bays all support quick release tabs. One of the biggest selling points of the case is that it is split into two compartments, the upper which houses the motherboard, 5.25" bays and middle 3.5" bays. The bottom compartment houses the bottom 3.5" bays and the PSU. There is also a small size adjustable port to feed cabling through from the PSU.

Installation and use.

Some of the reviews I've read on the P180 have been a little negative about the install process with this case, but I found it to be a pleasure, barring one thing, which was anticipated.

First I installed the PSU into the housing. This process is a little more involved that just screwing the PSU to the back of the case. You first have to unscrew four small screws to remove the PSU cage, then put the PSU into the cage, and put it back into the case. Adjust the positioning, screw up the four previously mentioned screws, and then screw the PSU to the back on the case, which all in all is a pretty easy process.

Next I installed the ATX motherboard into the especially spacious upper compartment, and this process is actually easier than a std tower case because there is no PSU to get in the way, and the size of the P180 makes this job a little less cramped than usual.

Next the bottom 3.5" drive bay was removed and my 3 hard drives were installed

After this I tried to figure out how to get the DVD-RW into the case, and it was about this time that a little light came on and I clicked with regard to the quick removal tabs.

One of the most difficult processes in the installation was feeding the power cables to their respective points while still keeping things tidy. It didn't take long for me to do this but this weekend I'll be getting rounded cables and cable sleaving to do a proper job.

It was while I was feeding the cables that I realised that the 24pin ATX from my generic 350W PSU was just two inches two short, so I had to sit the rest of the evening grumbling about this fact which I suspected would occur but not being too serious about it. The next day I went out and bought an Antec TruePower 2.0 480W PSU which I figured was a good investment considering the case it was being installed into.

The PSU, also being and Antec product and recommended as one of the PSU's of choice for the P180 worked like a charm.

It wasn't too long after that, that I had booted up and was happily gaming away.

Temperature report

Temps for the case are also good, and the two compartments really do their job well.

With only the Stock AMD HS/fan going the temps were as follows

Case - 38C
CPU Idle - 44C
PSU - 41C (yes the TP2 has a 3pin fan plug for the motherboard)
HDD - 40C

Once I'd plugged in the upper and rear fans, and installed the third fan (which didn't really fit with all the cables in the lower chamber) into the front middle housing the temps had changed a little. Please do note that the fans were running at full speed and noise levels were quite loud, but still nowhere as loud as the Volcano 11+ I had once. Using slower settings might raise the temps a little but noise levels are drastically reduced. Proper cable management will also help in this area

CASE - 25C
CPU Idle - 41C
PSU - 41C
HDD - 40C

As you can clearly see, the lower chamber is really seperated from the upper chamber as the temps were not affected at all by turning the 120mm fans on.

The upper chamber on the other hand cooled by a massive 13C and the CPU temp dropped by 3C.

Conclusion

This case is well worth the money, and has lots of potential which I have only just started looking at.
9/10 for a GREAT product.

ps. I'll post pics ASAP

Forceware 91.28 released

Tue, 23 May 2006 18:05:41 -0400

Today i have a personall bench of the newest Forceware Drivers in comparison to the old ones.
Im sorry i couldnt bench the 7800GT with the same drivers but i dont have it anymore.

Weird thing is that we do see a difference in games but in 3dmark06 we see quite a drop. Dont know why and i dont care since i mostly play games :)
Also the Control Panel has a few new tricks while the IQ has been improved over the 8x.xx in almost every game i could play.
Cant wait to see the next 9x.xx driver since this one is rather new and in an early state.

Rosewill R7229K Mid Tower case

Thu, 11 May 2006 20:43:16 -0400

Yeah it's a Rosewill, not an Antec. It's still worth a read.

A few months back, I was in the process of ordering my current rig and I decided to replace my wife's case while I was at it. All she wanted was a basic black model and she wanted it cheap. I shopped around and decided on the Rosewill R7229K because it matched those requirements. To make a long story short, the case is so nice that it has now replaced my sexy plexi sided black and silver one. Here's why:

Specs - 7.9" x 16.9" x 18.9" (W x H x D)
Front USB and Audio ports (on side of face instead of front)
Many, many options for fan mounting
PSU (included) is removable from outside
great airflow
Price - $34.99 at Newegg ($14.99 after mail-in rebate if you feel lucky)

I finally got around to taking some pics of this case. Keep in mind that I am due for a case cleaning

First let's talk about size and design. I think the designers at Rosewill have defied the laws of physics because this case seems much larger on the inside than the outside. Installation of all my components was a breeze, and the edges are rounded so you won't be cut to ribbons. The only drawback from a design perspective is that the mobo tray is not removable. The case is very sturdy overall and comes with 4 thumb screws for easy side panel removal. It is not flashy, it was designed more for performance than looks.

Next up are the front panel connectors. As I mentioned, these are on the side of the faceplate instead of the front. This might be a problem for some but I actually prefer it this way. My rig sits in the floor and I don't want to have to lay down with it every time I need to plug in my jumpdrive or camera. I did notice a possibly bad thing though...no front panel Firewire. I don't have a firewire product myself but some of you have cameras or external drives that will require it. Other than that, the connectors work like they should and consist of 2 USB, a mic, and a headphone/speaker jack.

Moving on...I am going to combine the fans and airflow sections into one. This right here is what convinced me that looks aren't everything. This case comes with room to mount either 4(!) 80mm or 1 120mm fans in front of the HD bays. Unlike most cases I've seen, these front fans actually have the ability to pull air in efficiently thanks to the grill front. You also have room for another 120mm on the back for exhaust. The best part of this case though is the side panel. Instead of the typical grill cutout, this one has an array of small holes drilled in an even pattern that takes up a good portion of the side. These holes are spaced out perfectly to mount 80mm or 120mm fans where they are needed most. Also included is an 80mm adjustable duct that you can run directly on top of your CPU cooler so that it can pull cool air from outside.

Now let's talk about the PSU. Seeing as how this site is named AMD64, most of you will either already have a good PSU or buy one when you build your rig. This particular PSU won't change that. It's only a 350 watt which might be adequate for a basic build but not when you fill it up with fans like I did. Another problem is that it has a 20 pin main connector...most newer rigs will need a 24. Besides that, I'm not sure who to blame but the PSU sent with my case had not been QC checked. I know this because one of the mini connector (floppy drive) wires was ran through the bundle of wires going to the mobo, basically making it useless because it was too short. It may be a good PSU overall but I didn't trust it enough to try it out.

Ok enough already...you want the details.

My original build had 1 120mm fan in the front (intake), 2 80mm's on the side panel (intake), and a 60mm on the rear (exhaust). My CPU and video are both overclocked to 2750 and 530/530 respectively. Idle CPU temp was ~40c, and load was 51c. Idle video temp was 45c, load was 62.

The new case is set up with 1 120mm fan in the front (intake), 1 120mm and a duct on the side panel (intake), and 1 120mm on the rear (exhaust). With the same overclock, my CPU idles at 27c, load at 45. My video idle temp was so low after mounting it in this case that I raised my OC to 550/550 without a problem. Now it is idle at 32c and load only takes it up to around 58c! The main reason I was able to reach this much higher overclock is because I could mount the side panel fan where it would blow across my video card. This really helped the ram chips mounted on the back of the card because they only have a basic heat spreader and no active cooling of their own.
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3862
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3863

Let's wrap it up. If you don't want to go through the hassle and expense of setting up a water cooled system, this is probably about as good as it gets. It may not have the eye candy of some cases but it gets the job done. At the price they're asking, it is worth buying one just to try it out.

Update: After RMAing a bad set of RAM, I've been able to push the OC on this system even higher. I'm up to 2.8G now and there was no increase in temps at all

BFG GeForce 7900GT OC Review

Tue, 02 May 2006 14:07:39 -0400

Ok gents...

this is my first hardware review, so bear with me and i'll try to be informative and not ramble too much

BFG Tech nVIDIA GEForce 7900GT OC 256Mb

PCI Express�
Memory 256MB GDDR3
Core Clock 475MHz (vs. 450MHz standard)
Memory Clock 1360MHz (vs. 1320MHz standard)
RAMDAC Dual 400MHz
Microsoft� DirectX� 9.0 and lower, OpenGL� 2.0 and lower for Microsoft Windows�
Connectors 2 Dual-Link DVI-I, HDTV
990 million vertices/sec.
43.GB/second memory bandwidth
8 Vertex Pipelines
Vertex Shader Version 3
24 Pixel Pipelines
48 Pixel Shader Engines

Part 1

The box and contents

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3757

The box itself is pretty standard, plain and uninspired (i like the XFX packaging, its stands out). There are surely better ways of packing up this card, but thats seems to be the way of thinking from BFG Tech (as covered later). Strip away the dull casing and inside we find... wait for it... more dull and uninspired contents.

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3758

We get the card itself, the driver disc, 2x DVI adapters, an s-video to HDTV adapter and the dual 4 pin molex to 6 pin adapter (which is about the most useful bit as most psu's dont have this connecter as standard) My Hiper 580w Modular PSU has one connection for the 6 pin power cable but when you SLI these cards it becomes a problem as you need 2x 4 pin molex connectors for each 6 pin adapter if you dont have the cable from the PSU. oh and i nearly forgot, the 2 case stickers (why 2? i didnt want the first one). All of this comes taped to the underside of the clear plastic cheapy packaging.

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3760

Part 2

The Card

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3759

Well again, BFG Tech seem to take something that could be special and then have some sort of mental spasm and make it uninteresting. It has a green PCB... why? I really dont know, surely it cant cost much more to have a black or red board, maybe its cos the box is green.

Anyway, it has a small copper heatsink compared to most cards these days which have huge elaborate heatsinks. To my way of thinking, this is either due to the exellent thermal conductivity of their heatsinks (unlikely) or to save a few pennies in build costs (more likely). We will soon see if it fries up when i run a looped benchmark for an hour or two.... Nope, it seems fine. Keeps itself reasonably cool: 42c at idle, 51c after gaming

Connectors on the card consist of 2 x DVI outputs and an HDTV output

Part 3

Installation, Supplied CD & Drivers

Pretty straightforward installation of the card other than the stupid clip on my ASUS board was a pain in the arse to unlock to get the old card out. As mentioned earlier, the power supply for this card could cause a problem if you are short on 4 pin molex connectors

On the disc was drivers (9x/ME, NT4 adn 2000/XP - obviously not a 64 driver in sight, good job i downloaded them beforehand from NVidia) , Acrobat, Dx9, nvDVD, some 3d demos, vivo drivers (again no 64 support) and some pretty wallpapers.

Part 4

Performance

Test Rig (not overclocked in any way, other than the mild oc'ing that BFG do as standard to the card)

Nvidia 7900GT OC
Driver version 84.25
AMD 3700 San Diego Zalman Cooled
2Gb Samsung DDR400 Ram
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe

The benchmarks i have used are 3d Mark 2005 and 2006 and Fraps within Battlefield 2. I would have used another game but i've just done a fresh install and cant be arsed to install any more I will update with F.E.A.R and Quake 4 when i install them

3dMark05

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 7989
1024x768 4x AA, Anastropic Filtering - 6941
1280x1024 4x AA, Anastropic Filtering - 5842

3dMark06

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 4771
1024x768 No AA, Anistropic Filtering - 4576
1280x1024 No AA, Anistropic Filtering - 3952

As a note... i cant seem to run the HDR/SM3.0 Canyon Flight & Deep Freeze tests with any AA on.... I seem to remember something about the cards not supporting Floating Point HDR and anti-aliasing similtanously but maybe my rig is not happy with something. I will post an update if this is the case. As a result i have to remove the AA so i can complete all tests and receive a result.

Fraps with Battlefield 2

800x600 All Options on low/off No AA (its worth a laugh)

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
5159 60000 77 99 85.983

1024x768 All Options on high 4xAA

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
3665 60000 37 98 61.083

1280x1024 All Options on high 4xAA

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
3232 60000 33 97 53.867

Oh... did i forget to mention to mention there are two of these cards? lmoa... so following are the SLI results
I have only done the highest and lowest of each as i am now bored with looking at the benchmarks

3dMArk05

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 10053

3dMark06

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 5748
1280x1024 No AA, Anistropic Filtering - 5477

Fraps with Battlefield 2

1280x1024 All Options on high 4xAA

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
2461 60000 21 61 41.017

Clearly this is a drop in framerate... why, i dont know. I do know that some games will run slower with SLi enabled, maybe this is the answer. If anyone has a clear answer, please post below.

Looking at the results, we can see a 20-30% improvement with the 2nd SLI card fitted (with some games), so IMHO, it is not worth the investment as you are nowhere near a double improvement as your investment would show. I would like to know what the 7900GTX 512 card would score on my rig (anyone wanna lend me one?) as a comparison.

Part 5

Conclusion, Thoughts and Rating

Well on BFG's part the card is a solid performer but oh how boring. There are absolutely no redeeming features astheticaly to this card at all. If i had a windowed case this may be a consideration but as i dont it really makes no odds to me. The contents of the box are lighter than an anorexic on hunger strike, its been a long time since i got such a basic package. No Games, No excess of cables, no fancy trimmings. This is a blessing or a curse depending on which way you look at it, its a shame not to get some toys to look and play with but why pay extra for some cables you will never need and a game you would buy anyway if you wanted it that much.

The card seems to be a solid performer within the games i have tested and looks so smooth compared to my old x800GTO. With the cost coming in at �225 its not the cheapest in the bunch but its nice to get on overclocked card straight from the factory. During the SLi tests, i have found a problem with the SLi setup where the picture fragments all over the place but the application will continue to run fine (see post here http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=21767) To top all of this off, there is always the 27/7 free support that BFG offer. You can contact them by freefone or email and although they havent replied to my email yet (4 days) I am hopeful that by christmas we will be good to go again.

Is SLi worth it..... When SLi becomes more supported throughout games this may be of real benefit but as it sits at the moment, dont spend the cash.

Overall, i shouldnt be making too much of the issues i have found as most of them are minor and shouldnt be to much of a problem the day after you have installed the card when you dont need the contents anymore. I do get a bit annoyed not to find X64 drivers on a driver CD months after the release of an OS and for a gamers graphics card. Yes i play games on windows 95 still... morons. I do admit that after a week of having the card, i like it and am very happy with the way things are going. I havent had the graphics problem in 3 days and in the meantime i have had an 8 hour Battlefield marathon. I will install Quake 4 and F.E.A.R tonight and will have a play there. BF2 is a nice game to play but even with the options on high it doesnt look that pretty... hmmm Far Cry may need to be dug out again.

Pros...

Quiet fan and copper heatsink
Good performer
SLI Option

Cons...

Boring, boring, boring package and contents
6 Pin power adapter (why not a standard 4 pin molex?)
No massive improvement with the SLi (sort of cancels out the pro of having it really)

Overall 8/10

Brother 2070N

Tue, 02 May 2006 00:11:31 -0400

This is an excellent laser printer. I got it for 260CAD, at a local staples. Its the absolute cheapest network printer, and cheaper a model that doesnt have the networking feature is also available. The cd doesnt come with the 64 bit drivers, but they can be found on the Brother website. This is my first problem-free printer so far, and its a lot faster than inkjets, with nice crisp text documents, but dont try to print pictures with this, althou propably most of us already know that laser printers are not meant for printing photographs. Supports a bunch of different standards, one of them being PCL, the mac standard which i forgot the name for and a few others, so printing from unix or linux shouldnt be a problem, althou I have yet to try it. When I do Ill post the results. Overall brother printers are propably one of the best ones. Stay away from lexmark as they always have issues with their sheetfeeders, meaning they tend to pull in dozens of pages at the same time, even their faxes.

Specs:
20 pages/min
16MB ram
1200x600dpi
250pg sheet drawer
usb2.0 / 10/100 interface
sturdy brother build

AO700-ALN 700 Watt Wortwhile

Mon, 01 May 2006 18:37:00 -0400

The AOpen AO700-ALN is a killer supply! With 4 12 volt rails at 15 amps max per rail you should have no problems modding cases with lights and fans. The power supply checked out well in excess of it's rated specs except with ripple marginal in the 3.3 volt line. My scope says it was a tad bit more than the 100mv spec'd out, but at 100 mv crosstalk could have been an issue.

One issue that I had was when turning on a cold cathode tube it would cause reboots. I changed the 12 supplys with the same results. Not having the time to
investagate further no conclusion could be made other than the transient spike coming from the CC converter triggered the Over voltage on the supply.

This is a great supply with 2 PCIX connectors and plenty of SATA connectors this supply has the future in mind.

AOpen has been a manufacturer for OEM for years with a repuation for quality.

This is a keeper for me.

For further info :
http://usa.aopen.com/products/power/AO700-12ALN.htm

Cheers!

BFG GeForce 7900GT OC

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 12:20:00 -0400

Ok gents...

this is my first hardware review, so bear with me and i'll try to be informative and not ramble too much

BFG Tech nVIDIA GEForce 7900GT OC 256Mb

PCI Express�
Memory 256MB GDDR3
Core Clock 475MHz (vs. 450MHz standard)
Memory Clock 1360MHz (vs. 1320MHz standard)
RAMDAC Dual 400MHz
Microsoft� DirectX� 9.0 and lower, OpenGL� 2.0 and lower for Microsoft Windows�
Connectors 2 Dual-Link DVI-I, HDTV
990 million vertices/sec.
43.GB/second memory bandwidth
8 Vertex Pipelines
Vertex Shader Version 3
24 Pixel Pipelines
48 Pixel Shader Engines

Part 1

The box and contents

The box itself is pretty standard, plain and uninspired (i like the XFX packaging, its stands out). There are surely better ways of packing up this card, but thats seems to be the way of thinking from BFG Tech (as covered later). Strip away the dull casing and inside we find... wait for it... more dull and uninspired contents.

We get the card itself, the driver disc, 2x DVI adapters, an s-video to HDTV adapter and the dual 4 pin molex to 6 pin adapter (which is about the most useful bit as most psu's dont have this connecter as standard) My Hiper 580w Modular PSU has one connection for the 6 pin power cable but when you SLI these cards it becomes a problem as you need 2x 4 pin molex connectors for each 6 pin adapter if you dont have the cable from the PSU. oh and i nearly forgot, the 2 case stickers (why 2? i didnt want the first one)

Part 2

The Card

Well again, BFG Tech seem to take something that could be special and then have some sort of mental spasm and make it uninteresting. It has a green PCB... why? I really dont know, surely it cant cost much more to have a black or red board, maybe its cos the box is green.

Anyway, it has a small copper heatsink compared to most cards these days which have huge elaborate heatsinks. To my way of thinking, this is either due to the exellent thermal conductivity of their heatsinks (unlikely) or to save a few pennies in build costs (more likely). We will soon see if it fries up when i run a looped benchmark for an hour or two.

Connectors on the card consist of 2 x DVI outputs and an HDTV output

Part 3

Installation, Supplied CD & Drivers

Pretty straightforward installation of the card other than the stupid clip on my ASUS board was a pain in the arse to unlock to get the old card out. As mentioned earlier, the power supply for this card could cause a problem if you are short on 4 pin molex connectors

On the disc was drivers (outdated but not as old as i thought they would be), Acrobat, Dx9, nvDVD, some 3d demos, vivo drivers and some wallpapers.

Part 4

Performance

Test Rig (not overclocked in any way, other than the mild oc'ing that BFG do as standard to the card)

Nvidia 7900GT OC
Driver version 84.25
AMD 3700 San Diego Zalman Cooled
2Gb Samsung DDR400 Ram
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe

The benchmarks i have used are 3d Mark 2005 and 2006 and Fraps within Battlefield 2. I would have used another game but i've just done a fresh install and cant be arsed to install any more

3dMark05

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 7989
1024x768 4x AA, Anastropic Filtering - 6941
1280x1024 4x AA, Anastropic Filtering - 5842

3dMark06

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 4771
1024x768 No AA, Anistropic Filtering - 4576
1280x1024 No AA, Anistropic Filtering - 3952

As a note... i cant seem to run the HDR/SM3.0 Canyon Flight & Deep Freeze tests with any AA on.... I seem to remember something about the cards not supporting Floating Point HDR and anti-aliasing similtanously but maybe my rig is not happy with something. I will post an update if this is the case. As a result i have to remove the AA so i can complete all tests and receive a result.

Fraps with Battlefield 2

800x600 All Options on low/off No AA (its worth a laugh)

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
5159 60000 77 99 85.983

1024x768 All Options on high 4xAA

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
3665 60000 37 98 61.083

1280x1024 All Options on high 4xAA

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
3232 60000 33 97 53.867

Oh... did i forget to mention to mention there are two of these cards? lmoa... so following are the SLI results
I have only done the highest and lowest of each as i am now bored with looking at the benchmarks

3dMark05

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 10053

3dMark06

1024x768 No AA, Optimal Filtering - 5748
1280x1024 No AA, Anistropic Filtering - 5477

Fraps with Battlefield 2

1280x1024 All Options on high 4xAA

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
2461 60000 21 61 41.017

Clearly this is a drop in framerate... why, i dont know. I do know that some games will run slower with SLi enabled, maybe this is the answer. If anyone has a clear answer, please post below.

Looking at the results, we can see a 20-30% improvement with the 2nd SLI card fitted (with some games), so IMHO, it is not worth the investment as you are nowhere near a double improvement as your investment would show. I would like to know what the 7900GTX 512 card would score on my rig (anyone wanna lend me one?) as a comparison.

Part 5

Conclusion, Thoughts and Rating

Well on BFG's part the card is a solid performer but oh how boring to look at. If i had a windowed case this may be a consideration but as i dont it really makes no odds to me. The contents of the box are lighter than an anorexic on hunger strike, its been a long time since i got such a basic package. No Games, No excess of cables, no fancy trimmings. This is a blessing or a curse depending on which way you look at it, its a shame not to get some toys to look and play with but why pay extra for some cables you will never need and a game you would buy anyway if you wanted it that much. When SLi becomes more supported throughout games this may be of real benefit but as it sits at the moment, dont spend the cash

During the SLi tests, i have found a problem with the SLi setup where the picture fragments all over the place but the application will continue to run fine (see post here http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=21767)

Pros...

Quiet fan and copper heatsink
Good performer
SLI Option

Cons...

Boring, boring, boring package and contents
6 Pin power adapter (why not a standard 4 pin molex?)
No marked improvement with the SLi (sort of cancels out the pro of having it really)

Overall 8/10

ATi Radeon X800 GT

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:34:23 -0500

Recently I got a X800 GT (As many of you know)
I would like to give it a review.
This is the final version

Look of card 4/5

The overall look of this STOCK card is great, it is definatly not a 7800 but it still looks good in your rig
(With the cooler, 4.5/5)

Here are some Pics
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3378
This is a pic with the Artic Cooler on
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3379
This is the naked card, sorry about the white out!!
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3380
Here is the X800 GPU!
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3381
This is the lame stock cooler

Accessories 5/5

This card comes with the viedo works, it comes with a card to HD TV connector, S-Video cable, Card to Video RCA jack (the yellow jack that goes to your TV) and the cable and a DVI to VGA connector

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3377

Included Software 2/5

The reason for this lame score is that all the software is LAME
The drivers are at 5.8 and are out of date
The TRIXX included overclocking utility is CRAP and never remembers what you set the clocks at after you reboot
If you want to overclock ANY ATi card, use this program called ATi Tool

Performance 4.75/5

This is a great performing card for your dollar.
It is around $125 and it performs very well.
In 3Dmark 03, it gets around a 9500 mark with standard clocks
In 3Dmark 06 it gets around 3000 standard clocks
When overclocked it gets around 11000 in 3Dmark03 (havn't ran it with 06 yet)
It really performs well in many of the latest games getting around 60+ frames in FEAR and Half Life 2 with most things either at high or max at 1280x1024 (AA is at 2X)

Overclocking 5/5

Using the free ATi tool on the internet, i got mine a 100+ clock making its clocks at 590 MHz core and 595 MHz memory (Both standard clocks on this is 475 MHz)
NOTE!!! This is with the suped up Artic cooler!!!!

Temps. 3.5/5 and 4.75/5

The reason for this dual score is because i have tested 2 different coolers, stock and the Artic Cooler one
The stock cooler is "OK" and averages around 50 C without any overclocking
The Artic Cooler on this is great with the overclocks, i get around 41 C!!

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=3385
Here are my average temps

Overall 5/5
The reason i give it a 5/5 is because of the price
For a GREAT performing card, around $100-$150 is a great price.
I would reccommend this card for anyone who is on a budget but wants a good gaming system, I have had no problems with it and I love it. Do not use the stock cooler if you are going to overclock, it is NOT designed for it and dosent cover ANY RAM chips

Here are some links:

Sapphire X800 GT

Artic Cooler 5

I hope this helps give some info!!

TAKE NOTE: This is a slightly different card because the newer cards have a memory clock of 980 MHz unlike mine and the new coolers on this is smaller and I also own the AGP 8X version of this card not the PCIe one!
NOTE!!! I WOULD LIKE SOME FEEDBACK!!!

Biostar tforce 6100-754

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:09:38 -0500

BIOSTAR TForce 6100 Socket 754 Review

I recently ordered parts for a low end Sempron 64 system for one of my customers. There was a combo deal from Newegg with a BIOSTAR TForce 6100 chipset mainboard. I was more than pleasantly surpised with the boards features and quailty.

Specs (ripped from biosstar's website)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Socket 754
# CHIPSET NVIDIA� GeForce6100 + nForce 410
# MEMORY Supports DDR.333/400 MHz
# 2x DDR DIMM memory slots ( up to 2GB memory)
# EXPANSION SLOT
# 2x PCI slots
# 1x PCI-Express x 16
# 1x PCI-Express x 1
# I/O 1x FDD connector
# 2x IDE Connector Support to ATA 100/133
# 1x CD-In Connector
# 2x Serial ATA 3Gb/s Connectors
# 1x S/PDIF-Out connector
# 1x Front Audio Header
# 1x Parallel, 1x Serial Port Connector
# 1x VGA Port
# 1x RJ-45 LAN Jack
# 8x USB 2.0 Ports (4 x Rear USB 2.0 , 4 x Front USB 2.0 )
# 1x Lin-out/Lin-in/Mic
# 1x PS/2 mouse, 1 x PS/2 keyboard
# INTEGRATED AUDIO
Realtek� ALC655 6 Channel Audio Codec
# LAN Realtek� RTL8210B/RTL8201BL
---Integrated 10/100 transceiver
# DIMENSIONS: Micro ATX Form Factor: 21.86cm (L) x 24.4cm (W)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out of the box experence.
When I opened the mainboard box, I initially got what I expected. A skimpy manual, a driver cd, a few cables and a board in a static bag. However that is where things took a turn for the pleasantly unexpected. The board was loaded with features.

Pros.
The boards list of features is a mile long with custom BIOS presets you can save, onboard secondary power and reset switches, plenty of extra usb headers, diagonstic lights, BIOS update from the BIOS GUI, tons of memory timing options and some fairly serious overclocking settings as well.
The most intresting feature however is a BIOS setting, allowing you to turn on memory diagonstics on boot. After doing so, the machine will boot up straight into memtest86 from the rom. This blew me away, no fumbling for a CD, no hooking up drives, no making a floppy.
The onboard video, although not the best performance, will do DX9c features. A handy thing to have with Vista on the horizon.
It also plays nice with low end PSU's along with having passive cooling on the chipset(no need to worry about a fan failing).

Cons.
Onboard video performance is lackluster, however it does support DirectX 9c and can be disabled if a PCI-E gfx card is present.

The manual is rather slim and could do with some more information.

conclusion
For the price you pay (approx 70 dollars US) you get alot of bang for your buck. I'll be using these boards in all my low end machines (and might use the 939 variants for my midrange builds as well) in the future.

You can get the board and view pictures here :)
here

Overall rating: 18/20

Cooler Master Ammo 533

Sat, 11 Feb 2006 01:18:59 -0500

I'm going to re do this article since I think I'm biased.

How to post a User Review

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 11:03:05 -0500

OK, ladies and gents. You have taken up my offer to allow you to post your own reviews on products you own and love/hate. For this, I salute you.

Here are some posting guidelines:

Stick to the topic. Don't ramble off on tangents.
Keep it clean. Profanity = loss of credibility
Keep it professional. Childishness = loss of credibility
Include photos/screenshots. A picture is worth a thousand words. You don't have to be Ansel Adams, just shoot so that we can see what you're talking about. Please resize to 800x600 max and post thumbnails in the article. Use the "Insert in article" button for that.
State the facts. If you have a beef with a product, give your reasons why. "It sux!" is not a reason.
After you post, let a mod or admin know. These articles have to be mod approved before becoming visible.

That's it for now. Keep checking this pinned document as it will be revised periodically.

CoolMax CV 570 review

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 01:03:08 -0500

The CV 570 is a Entry level case designed by a company called CoolMax. They Make a full range of hardware ranging from Cables to Cases and everything in between (yes that was a pun)

So lets get started:

The exterinal packaging for the case is the standered:

There are no bells and wistels, just the standered Cardboard Box.

Once you have the externial Packaging off there is the standered Case Protection, there should not be any problems with damage because of the case not being correctly sucured in the box.
The first thing I noticed when I got my case was how lite the box was, it was light enough to lift with one hand! (mind you there was no PSU but it was quite lite anyway.

I think i can let the case speak for itself,

One Issue I have with this case is the 80mm fan slot that will not fit 120mm fans.

On to what is included...ok thats all thats included...

I was Slightly disappointed in what came with this case, It included A bag of Screws and a Power cable,
there was not a single sheet of paper in the Box, trying to save trees i guess...

Inside the (Budget) Beast...

As you can see from these Pictures the case has:

-eight (8) 3.5in Bays, Two (2) Externial and Six (6) internial

-four (4) 5.25in Bays, Four (4) Externial

As you can see, the case has no layer in between the case itself (drive bays etc) and the raw wiring of the Power/Reset/USB/Record/Headphone This is not a problem though, I found all wireing to be a simple 10Min task

Somthing you can see from the pics above that is really nice is that the Panels come off from both sides, that is nothing strange but, the "Tray" the motherboard is on is a hallow square, therfore you can easely wire along the edge and have the wires pop out right next to where you need them on your motherboard.

Also if you were to purchase a Window mod you can install one on each panel and See right threw your case, a Micro ATX motherboard with Dual Windows would look very nice.

Now back to what i was saying about how light the case is, it is in fact so light i can lift it with two fingers. This is not an overly heavy duty case, if you plan on then don't get this case, it is build solidly but, the panels are not the strongest meterial in the whole world...

This case uses a strange retention system for your APG/PCI-E/PCI cards. If you look at the pic you see a Silver piece of plastic sticking out the back, you remove that to have acess to the slots...quite strange...

The front of the case has 2 USB ports, and 2 Headphone/Record Jacks on the front, but if you look above you see that they must be run to an External Jack on the motherboard or Sound Card. (the cables can be seen above)

Final Verdict:

This Case Costs about $18.00 and is well worth that price, They can be found at newegg for 17.50 + 12 shipping
It does not come with a Removable Mobo Tray or anything like that.
But, this case includes the same cases in the $30-$60 price range, But it costs $18.00

Pros:

-Easy Cable Managment

-Comes with fan/duct to CPU

-Aesthetically pleasing

-Easyly Modifyable (Dual Windows etc)

Cons

-Only 1 80mm fan duct on back (Vs a 120), No Secound Fan at teh bottom

-Sharp edges (I did not cut myself once its not that bad)

-Side Panels do not use a standered method, they just screw on, no notches.

I think this case is Excelent for its Price and most cases in this price range don't even work so I have to give it a thumbs up

Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 20:33:24 -0500

Installation
Installing was easy all I had to locate the USB port on the back of my computer then I had to place the USB cord from the mouse into the slot.

How It Works
Doesnt need any software just push the + button to increase the dpi (make it faster) and - to decrease the dpi (make it slower). Theres even LEDs on the mouse to show you what settings its at (if u have horrible memory). It also comes with lots of weights (8 each) from two types of weights (16 total) ones 1.7gs the others 4.5gs this allows u to weigh the mouse down for better control and gameplay.

Conclusion 4/5
Only $40 and works like a charm definitely worth buying. The G7 is $100. I gave it a 4 because its not perfect.

Logitech z-5450 Review

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 13:07:58 -0500

I recently purchased the new z-5450 surround sound system from Logitech. I have now had it for two weeks and am quite impressed with it's performace.

The system came in a very large box, I kinda felt sorry for the ups guy that had to lug it to my front door. Anyways, inside I found all the speakers wrapped in bags to prevent moisture damage. All the speakers were kept from moving during shipping by being packaged in their own seperate styrofoam compartment. After taking off the top layer of styrofoam the sub was revealed. Then under the sub was another set of styrofoam to keep the sub protected. During shipping the box was beat up a few times, but due to the excellent packing no damage occured.

Packaging 5 out of 5

Setup was fairly straight forward. The front two speakers and the receiver hook into the back of the sub. While the back two speakers being wireless just need to be hooked to a power outlet. The receiver hooks to the back of the sub using a serial type connector which provides for a very secure connection. After I had all the speakers in place I decided to hook up all my equipment first since everything was still fairly cold from shipping, and I didn't want to damage it by turning it on to soon. I used one of the two optical inputs to hook up my xbox360, and used the mini stereo input along with a mini stereo to rca converter inorder to hook it up to my tv. Since my computer is in another room I am not using it with my computer yet. I will be next year when I move into a appartment for college. After it was all said and done the entire setup took me about 15 to 20 minutes to setup.

Setup 5 out of 5

I put this image in to show you the size of the remote compared to a familiar image.

I put this image in to show you the nice compact size of the receiver, and the inputs.

I added this image to show off my cool entertainment setup!!

For my testing I played Call of Duty 2 on my xbox360, and watched the opening scene of Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith. The system performed very well when playing Call of Duty 2. I could defintely tell when gun shots were coming from behind me, or to the sides. I had never played video games with a surround sound system before, so this was a real awesome experience for me! When storming the cliffs of Normandy the bass pounded away with the exploding artillery shells all around me. I was somewhat neverous with this system because I had heard people not being able to use their 2.4 ghz phones with the speaker set because of the back two wireless speakers. Since we have the new 5.8 ghz phones I knew that wouldn't be a problem; however, I was concerned about the xbox360 wireless controllers not working. However, my fears were put aside when everything worked just fine!! Watching Star Wars was also a plesent experience. I was afraid it wouldn't be able to touch the sound quality that our theater system in the basement puts out (Cambridge Sound Works with a Marantz receiver). However, once the missles started chasing Obe Wan I was proven wrong. The set, although in a much smaller room still puts out very good sound. I couldn't really pick out any sound distortion at all in the back two speakers, even though they are wireless. The bass although smaller than the z-5500 still put out plenty of bass to please my senses. All in all I was very happy with the performance of this set of speakers; however, they would have trouble filling a larger room.

Performance 4.5 out of 5

The design of this system is very nice. The sleak black speakers look very nice sitting throughout my room. The receivers compact size is also a plus. The receiver itself was thought-out very well. The controls are very easy to figure out, and you can do all of the controls from the remote if needed. The speaker mounts are very nice because you can rotate them and easily mount them on a wall with a screw.

Design 5 out of 5

Configuration 5.1
Total Power 315 Watts
Satellite RMS Power /ea 2 x 38W front, 2 x 40.5W rear, 42W center
Subwoofer RMS Power 116 watts
Frequency Response 35 Hz - 20 kHz
Remote Wireless

Features
THX� certified, Dolby� Digital and DTS hardware decoding for pure 5.1 digital sound with dual wireless rear speakers
- Dual wireless rear speakers for simple clutter-free installation.
- Built-in hardware decoding for Dolby� Digital & DTS� - the only way to get true 5.1 digital sound from PlayStation�2, Xbox™ and most DVD players.
- Rear speaker adaptive channel hopping with redundant transmissions provides crystal clear, high-quality wireless audio.
- Patented dual chamber subwoofer plays louder and goes lower for unbelievable bass.
- Support for 96 kHz/24 bit digital audio streams for studio quality sound.
- Dolby� Pro Logic� II creates realistic 5.1 surround sound from stereo music, movies & games.
- 6-channel direct input can be used as 3 separate stereo inputs.
- Digital equalization actively adjusts frequency response in real time for the cleanest, most accurate sound reproduction.
- Polished aluminum phase plug satellites combine two drivers into one: the clarity of a tweeter with the richness

This system retails on Logitech.com for 499.99. However, I found mine at newegg.com for 339.98.

Pros:
Plenty of inputs to hook up lots of equipment
Great Sound
Good Price compard to a theater system

Cons:
2 year limited warranty
sub should be the same as the z-5500

All in all this is a great system for the price. The fact that I can hook it up to my tv, xbox360, computer, and more makes it a perfect system for a college student on a budget. I would of liked to have gotten a Cambridge system like my father, but just couldn't afford it; however, Logitech has made me a happy person. If I was a admin writing this review I would say it deserves the Best on the Planet Award (this is not official, just my opinion)!