Monster-Hardware

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Bit-tech Two For One

Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 Motherboard

"On price, we feel the Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 holds its own and but at the same time it�s not exceptional � that said, it is worth the asking price for a premium board that's fully featured and works really very well. The performance is very good, it's easy to work with and while we still don't get on too well with the DES software, the hardware looks good and it works efficiently with finesse in the background."

Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB Videocard

"I have to say that I�m impressed with the Asus EAH3870 X2 graphics card � it�s quite a step away from the reference design and innovation like this should be encouraged. The inclusion of four DVI ports will be a welcome addition for anyone looking to run more than a couple of monitors on their workstation and what makes it even better is the fact that, unlike Nvidia�s SLI, ATI CrossFireX technology scales across multiple displays."

OCMod Shop Two For One

Novus Scratch Remover

"There are a few plastic polish products out there (usually marketed as a CD restorer), but from my experience they just don't work. If you want to completely eliminate any trace of a scratch, then you need a professional product. Novus makes a 3-step plastic polish, which is sold direclty to plastic fabrication shops, and claims to restore plastic, lucite, plexiglass, acrylic, and just about any other plastic polymer to its original finish."

Condemned 2 BloodShot

"Condemned 2: Bloodshot is the sequel to a game commonly found for ten bucks in the game store sale bin. Many reviewers love Condemned 2, but to me, it is just another title that will eventually end up like its predecessor. Maybe Im not interested in the story, or maybe the genre throws me off, but to me, Condemned 2 is a forgettable title."

Driver Heaven Two For One

Phenom 9850 & 8750 Athlon 4850e & AMD 780G

"It has been some time since we reviewed an AMD processor on Driver Heaven, but quite a lot has happened since then with the release of various CPU revisions, as well as triple core, the 780G chipset and further energy efficient Athlon models. So today it is time to catch up with the current range of AMD products starting with the Phenom 9850."

Asus P5Q3 Deluxe Motherboard Preview

"In the near future Asus will be launching their P5Q3 Deluxe motherboard which is based on the Intel P45 chipset. We have had an early sample of the board running in our offices for a little while now and today we have a preview for you..."

Tweaktown Two For One

ThermoLab Micro Silencer CPU Cooler

"Today�s product comes to us form a South Korean company called ThermoLab. Even though the company has been doing business since 2003, the chances of many readers already knowing the company are slim. This is mainly due to the types of products the company has been producing until now."

Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card

"From a technical point of view we understand that Auzentech has fully licensed Creative Labs� X-Fi chip onto their own proprietary circuit board design. So what does that mean? Well it means arguably the world�s fastest and most advanced audio processing at the average consumers reach right now, with upcoming driver support for Dolby Live, DTS interactive and since we have a Creative chip, the very latest in EAX surround technology."

CNET Ratings Analyzed

eCoustics decides to do a big write up about CNET and their product ratings, lots of graphs and statistics to support their findings.

"Our study analyzed 1,325 product reviews by CNET Editors across all categories during the 2007 calendar year. We reveal statistics such as CNET's average editorial rating, average ratings by brand, average ratings by category, and the distribution of reviews rated at each point on CNET's 10-point scale."

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NZXT Alpha Classical Case @ BenchmarkReviews

Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler @ BCCHardware

Lian Li PC-V1110 Aluminum Case @ OCIA

Corsair Voyager 32GB Flash Drive @ Pro-Clockers

Geeks HP Jornada 728 PPC @ RBmods

Cooler Master Centurion 590 Case @ TPU

Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler @ Modders-Inc

Frosty Tech Two For One

Akasa AK-TT12-80 Thermal Adhesive Tape

"Akasa's AK-TT12-80 double sided Thermal Adhesive Tape comes in a small 80mm x 80mm square, about 0.3mm thick, from which you cut out a small square the appropriate size for your application. The thermal interface material has a thermal conductivity of 0.9 W/mK, and is double-sided to ensure bonding with the IC and heatsink. Peel adhesion is rated at 1200g/inch2 - or 1.2kg per square inch."

Thermolab Micro Silencer TLI-S CPU Cooler

"In this review Frostytech will be testing a low profile Intel socket 775 heatsink which could be ideal for 2U sized server chassis, small formfactor PCs and other media center microATX-style cases which are seriously height limited. The Thermolab Micro Silencer TLI-S heatsink uses a simple swagged aluminum fin and heatpipe construction, weighs a feathery 276 grams and comes with a pre-applied patch of 8 W/mK rated gray thermal interface material."

I/O #81

Dan is back today with his other letters column this one reprinted from Atomic: Maximum Power Computing magazine.

"In this edition: HDR eyestrain, PCIe 1 vs 2, dual-DVI plus TV-out, i-RAM filesystems, Flash-card SSDs, and the Secret Of Ofallevil.com."

X-bit labs Two For One

ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+

"We are going to talk about a new ASRock mainboard that supports DDR2 and DDR3 memory, new 45nm processors including quad-core ones, 1600MHz FSB, WiFi, FireWire, eSATA. All these are indisputable advantages, but there are also a few serious drawbacks�"

MSI R3870X2-T2D1G OC

"There are a lot of ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2-based graphics cards on the market, but there are just a few of them that come pre-overclocked. Today we are taking a look at MSI's Radeon HD 3870 X2 OC Edition graphics card that can offer higher performance thanks to higher clock-speeds."