External storage in your bookcase?

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: May 13, 2008 10:21PM
Author: Andrew Robinson

Looking for that extra something to add to your wonderful collection of books in your home library? Is that extra something an entire collection of family photos, your entire music collection and all of your home movies? I didn't think so, but just in case it is Sarotech has designed an external hard drive enclosure that looks just like a large hard cover book called the Wizplatz W-31. Western Digital has their "My Book" out which is essentially the same thing but it is easily pointed out in a group of similarly sized books. The Wizplatz W-31 measures in at approximately 200x160x40mm (8x7x2 inches), accepts I/II SATA drives in the 3.5" size and has an internal power supply. Assuming you can get your hands on one the unit retails for about $300 USD sans harddrive.

Google to Make the Move to Solid State Drives

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: May 13, 2008 07:01AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Reports surfaced yesterday indicating Google will begin incorporating solid-state drives (SSDs) in its servers. The SSDs will allegedly make use of Intel flash memory chips coupled with Marvell controllers. With Google's size and appetite for hardware, the sources speculated that this could lead to a shortage of 16- and 32GB flash memory. Google wouldn't comment on the report, but the move may be geared more toward saving energy rather than as a way to speed up searches. Two side effects of this move, if they prove to be true, would be to rejuvenate the flash memory market by helping reduce the current oversupply as well as kick start the move by other enterprise customers toward using SSDs in production servers.

New Solid States Drives from Super Talent

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: May 5, 2008 07:10PM
Author: Dale Shuck

Super Talent announced the launch of a new line of solid state disk (SSD) drives as part of their new MasterDrive series. Designed to be fully interchangeable with standard 2.5" drives, the new SSDs are built using a SATA-II 3GB/s interface to provide greater through put and maximum compatibility with current equipment. The MasterDrive series is composed of MX and DX drives. The MasterDrive MX drives make use multi-level cell NAND flash memory for higher densities and lower cost while achieving maximum sustained read/write speeds of 120 and 40 MB/sec and can be had in capacities of 20GB to 120 GB. The DX drives make use of single-level cell NAND  memory  that boast higher read/write speeds of 120 and 70 GB/s and are available in 30 and 60 GB sizes. Prices range from $299 to $1,299 US and are currently available from major e-tailers.

STEC creates tiny energy efficient SSD

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 24, 2008 12:45PM
Author: Andrew Robinson

STEC has created a small 1 inch SSD (Solid State Drive) for the embedded market. The very compact drive uses a mere 1 watt of energy, that is 1/12 the power of a standard disc based hard drive. STEC's MACH4 SSDs tout a 90MB/s read time and 55MB/s write time, that is pretty darn good for something that is only a single inch big. The MACH4 can be produced with up to 32GB of storage for their MLC (Multi-Level Cell) based SSDs and up to 16GB for their faster SLC (Single-Level Cell) based units. No price has been confirmed but don't expect the price to come anywhere close to the largest capacity disc based hard drive storage.

Fujitsu Announces World's Most Robust Hard Drive Security

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 22, 2008 01:17PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

We live in a world where a lost or stolen laptop can effectively destroy the trust between a consumer and a retailer, or compromise "Classified" government documents - and there's a never-ending search for the most secure way to transport highly sensitive data.  Leading hard drive manufacturer Fujitsu seems to have risen to the challenge, infusing 256-bit AES hardware encryption into the world's first 7200 RPM, 2.5" 320 GB hard drives.  Better performance and better security are the result of Fujitsu's decision to merge the AES encryption chip with the hard drive's processor chip, and the safety of important data is further increased by keeping the encryption key out of system memory, where it typically resides when software encryption is used.  The drive will sport SATA II 3.0 GB/s transfer speeds, and should be available at the end of May.

Western Digital Launch The Velociraptor

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 21, 2008 07:38AM
Author: Ben Grantham

Western Digital added a fresh drive to its performance desktop line up today, in the guise of the Velociraptor. It represents a significant update to the original WD Raptor drives and finally adds a SATA 3Gb/s interface to go with the familiar 10K RPM spindle speed and 16MB cache. In appearance it is actually quite different to previous Raptor branded drives and is in fact a 2.5" drive with a large heatsink monikered the 'IcePack', which takes it up to 3.5" dimensions. The good part about these changes is that seek times are down (and they were already quite snappy) to 4.2ms (read) and 4.7ms (write). Sustained data rates should also see a healthy improvement as well as drive reliability, which is now quoted at 1.4 million hours MTBF (mean time between failures). The drives are going into Alienware ALX systems to start with, but should be available in retail channels by mid May. Expect to pay $299.99 when they do become available. As you can see from today's hardware roundup, HotHardware have a review of the drive should you want to check out how things stack up.

Additional Reviews:
PC Perspective
Tech Report
Legit Reviews

Seagate - Maxtor Delivers BlackArmor Total Data Security

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 10, 2008 09:42PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

Leading hard drive manufacturer - and my personal storage favorite - Seagate has finished up work on a must-have portable storage solution for people who must securely transport sensitive data.  Developed as a Maxtor product, the USB 2.0-compatible BlackArmor encrypted external hard drive delivers 160 GB of portable storage locked down behind true 128-bit AES hardware-based encryption.  The BlackArmor's strong suit is security; the password-backed protection scheme recognizes one computer as the hard drives home base, enabling "Host Mode" - where data can be written and erased once the correct password is presented.  When docked at any computer other that home base, the BlackArmor enters "Traveler Mode", which after password clearance allows data to be written but not erased.  The true beauty of this device is this simple directive - access to the drive is only granted when the correct password is given.  There are no back door entry points, and if the password is lost or forgotten - or if the drive is stolen - all data is essentially lost.  The only way to successfully use the drive without the password is to format it completely - and that can only take place when the drive is in Host Mode.  The Maxtor BlackArmor will be available in May, and is exclusive to Staples retail stores and CDW's online e-shelves.  Expect the 160 GB BlackArmor to sell for around $150, and look for increased storage space - up to 320 GB - soon.

Storage Vendor EMC Buys Iomega

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 9, 2008 07:22AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Rumors had been circulating recently on whether this deal was in the works and today EMC announced the deal valued at $213 million in cash. EMC, a well-known storage vendor in the enterprise market, now has a vehicle to expand into the consumer and small business arena. EMC plans to make Iomega the core of a new business unit focusing on the consumer and SMB markets. Iomega is best known for its popular line of Zip and Rev storage devices and was an early pioneer of removable storage drives.

Super Talent Announces Tiny 8GB USB Drives

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 7, 2008 10:31AM
Author: Chris Benjamin

Leading DRAM and Flash storage manufacturer Super Talent has launched three additions to its Pico-class USB thumb drive family.  All three drives feature an 8GB storage solution, maximum read speed upwards of 30MB/sec., and are shock resistant - allowing you peace of mind knowing that your data is safe.  Also, all three Pico 8GB drives come in an attractive chrome case and are built using Super Talent's Chip-on-Board technology, which allows the large 8GB storage solution to fit in such a small case - as small as 4.7 grams with measurements of 31mm x 12.4mm x 3.4mm.  Pico-A features a chrome swivel lid and a water resistant design, while Pico-B sports a retractable USB connector.  Pico-C has it all - a chrome-lidded, ultra small design that is water resistant and rugged.  All of Super Talent's USB thumb drives come with a lifetime warranty.

LaCie Unveils New External Hard Drives

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 4, 2008 04:51PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

Fashionable external hard drive manufacturer LaCie has announced the addition of three new storage solutions to its lineup.  The new drives are the first LaCie externals to feature an eSATA interface, along with the more traditional USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 ports, and are available in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB sizes.  These very attractive storage solutions are compatible with Windows - 2000, XP, and Vista - and Mac OSX 10.3 or higher.  Expect these externals to retail for around $150, and come with a two year warranty.

Intel Branded SSD Thoughts

Category: Manufacturers, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: April 3, 2008 06:06AM
Author: Ben Grantham

We know that Intal are planning on getting some high capacity SSDs out into the market sometime later this year, but now we have some comments from someone who has actually used one of Intel's upcoming drives. The fact that the feedback comes from an Intel company blog may mean a slightly cynical view could be taken, but if it is to be believed we should certainly be looking forward to the introduction of these could be hard drive killers. Knut Grimsrud, the guy leading the development team for the company's new high-performance solid-state drive was recently given the opportunity to put the technology through its paces on his own laptop. According to Grimsrud, he found himself surprised to be performing tasks which would usually bog his machine down with relative ease, and was disappointed when the time came to re-install his old hard drive. Genuine praise or clever marketing? I'll let you make your mind up on that one.

Corsair Announces 16GB Flash Voyager GT

Category: Manufacturers, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 28, 2008 12:59PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

High performance RAM and Flash Drive maker Corsair has launched a new version of its 16GB Flash Voyager GT USB thumb drive.  Utilizing advanced flash controller technology and hand selected NAND flash chips, the GT allows users to "store-n-go" at transfer speeds that are up to 4x faster than your average USB flash drive.  Corsair has made sure to continue it's excellent tradition of providing super-fast file transfers, without sacrificing any of the ruggedness and security that you've come to expect from the Flash Voyager line.  The 16GB Flash Voyager GT has an all rubber housing, which protects the drive from shock and water.  Plus, the GT gives you peace of mind with their 256-bit AES TrueCrypt data encryption.  Wrap that all up with a 10 year warranty with on-demand customer support, and you've got a high performance flash drive with no compromises. 

Super Talent Announces Thinnest 256GB Solid State Drive

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 25, 2008 08:46PM
Author: Dale Shuck

Thin is in and size matters. You've heard both expressions before and now you can have both with the latest solid state drive (SSD) from Super Talent. Boasting a 256GB capacity, the new SSD comes in a 2.5" SATA format that's only 12.5mm thick. With a 0.1ms access time and 65MB/s - 50MB/s read/write times the unit can also withstand 1600G of shock. It comes in a signature black aluminum alloy case that looks too good to hide inside a laptop IMO.

Fujitsu Announce First 7200rpm 320GB Laptop Drive

Category: Manufacturers, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 24, 2008 08:41AM
Author: Ben Grantham

It's true that 320GB isn't really the peak of laptop drive capacity these days, with 500GB drives becoming available at the beginning of the year. Fujitsu's latest drive does boast being the only 320GB drive to spin at 7200rpm (for the time being at least). Hard drives found in laptops are often one of the major culprits when it comes to lower performance compared with desktop alternatives, so the extra speed while retaining capacity will be welcomed. The 'MHZ2 BJ' series also features all of your standard HDD fair, with an SATA2 interface, 16MB cache and claimed power usage at a maximum of 2.3W. Fujitsu aims to start shipping the drives at the end of June.

Dell Says Nothing Wrong With SSD Notebooks

Category: Manufacturers, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 19, 2008 11:04AM
Author: Ben Grantham

It has been reported recently that notebooks featuring Solid State Drives have been seeing return rates of 20 or 30 percent. It was Avian Securities who came out with those figures, and now Dell has responded, saying that actual return rates are closer to 3%. This is much more in line with what you would expect. Avain aren't challenging Dell's data, so it looks like they got their numbers mixed up somewhere, though they still continued by making a point about customer satisfaction when it comes to SSD drives. It is no secret that these early SSD drives aren't as fast as we would like them to be and no doubt they will continue to get faster as time goes on (just as everything else in this industry does).

Looking for a USB drive and an engagement ring?

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 17, 2008 09:23AM
Author: Andrew Robinson

Are you looking for an engagement ring for your geeky sidekick or are you a nerd who like the bling? Well look no further because Swarovski is releasing a engagement ring USB drive of an unknown capacity. The devices supposedly can sync together sharing data between each ring as if it were joined in a union. (kind of like a marriage, I wonder if if one is preprogrammed to steal data from the other and lock it out?)

New 2.5" SATII Solid State Drives from OCZ

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 12, 2008 08:11PM
Author: Dale Shuck

OCZ Technology -

We're all familiar with the benefits of solid state disk drives in certain applications with lower power requirements, faster speeds and greater shock resistance than regular hard drives being some of those. Up until just recently, capacity has been a real limiting factor in certain applications such as laptops. Today OCZ Technology announced additions to its lineup with two fast SATA II drives in a 2.5" format.  Available in either 32GB or 64GB capacities, these drives offer read/write speeds of 120MB/100MB per second. The svelte size offered by the 2.5" format makes them ideal for some of today's ultra-slim notebooks as well as other high-end mobile devices needing rugged storage. Other salient features are RAID support, 1500G shock resistance and 2,000,000 hour MTBF. And dang if that brushed alloy housing doesn't look pretty cool as well.

New series of SSDs with up to 256GB from Patriot on the way

Category: Manufacturers, Storage / Hard Drives, General News
Posted: March 5, 2008 03:04AM
Author: kingdingeling

Patriot -

Flash memory is getting bigger and bigger these days. Patriot annouced a series of Solid State Drives (SSD) yesterday, with capacities ranging all the way up to 256GBs. SSDs offer extremely fast access times and higher reliability when compared to a normal hard drive, as there are no moving parts included in them. The drives are also silent. Patriot already showed a 128GB version on the CeBit (See OCCs coverage). The drives will be available in 2.5" notebook format, as well as the standard 3.5" desktop hard drive size.

DIY Disk Drive Recovery Machine

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 3, 2008 07:15PM
Author: Dale Shuck

ComputerWorld -

UK data recovery firm Retrodata is set to begin marketing a machine for performing hard drive recovery in house.  No photos are available, at least until the  device has received its patents, but the company claims it can be operated by a relative novice.  The machine is designed to extract the innards from any 3.5 inch hard drive with up to five platters using laser-guided positioning.  Details are a little sketchy, but the 165-pound device is expected to cost around $6,950 US and go on sale next month. With  data recovery services costing $3,000 and up in many cases, this device could quickly pay for itself after just a few successful recoveries.

The benefits of Bluray on PS3

Category: Gaming, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: March 1, 2008 11:04AM
Author: Andrew Robinson

Bluray guide - A lot of people might ask what Bluray is doing for their PS3 game content wise. The current PS2/PS3 DVD based games already look incredible and have some pretty big playable game areas. A single layer DVD can hold ~4.7GB and a dual-layer DVD can hold 9GB. Now taking into account what the current games look like imagine how much detail the developers could fit on 25GB, that's how much a SINGLE LAYER of a Bluray disc holds. The Bluray technology has been deemed "future proof" because it supports multiple layers for up to 200GB of storage. That is incredible, not only for the playable area size you could fit on that disc but the amount of detail and resolution of a game that could fit on it. Even maxing out a single layer of a BR disc would be an increase in every aspect of a game of more than 2.5 times the current levels that DVD allows.

New 16GB GT High Speed USB 2.0 Flash Dive from Corsair

Category: Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: February 28, 2008 11:46AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Corsair -

Having to wait while your system slowly copies files to your flash drive can be a frustrating experience.  Especially when you're ready to head out the door and you need those files with you.  Corsair has an answer to that problem with its new 16GB GT Flash Voayger USB drive.  Scheduled to be unveiled next week at CeBIT 2008, the GT Flash drive provides data transfer rates that are up to four times faster than standard USB 2.0 flash units. GT series drives make use of binned NAND flash chips and enhanced controller technology enabling them to store a 1.63GB movie file in as little as 98 seconds or 60 pictures in 24 seconds.  Each drive comes housed in an all-rubber casing designed to provide maximum water resistance and shock protection.  Corsair doesn't protect just the drive though.  Each drive also features TrueCrypt 256-AES data encryption software to keep your data safe as well.  These drives have a suggested price of $169.99 USD with immediate availability.

Researchers Steal Hard Drive Encryption Keys from Memory Modules

Category: Memory, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: February 25, 2008 09:39PM
Author: Dale Shuck

Princeton University - It seems like a day doesn't go by without some report of critical data being lost or stolen.  This is especially true for laptop computers and security experts have been encouraging the use of hard drive encryption for some time.  Well, just when you thought your data were safe (cue scary music) researchers at Princeton University are reporting its possible to steal hard drive encryption keys from a computer's DRAM.  Although this type of attack requires physical access to the machine which has to be running or in standby mode, it is possible to retrieve the data even after the computer has been shut down for a few seconds.  This works because the data in the memory hangs around long enough for someone to boot the machine off a portable drive and read the memory.  Apparently cooling the chips down to around -50 degrees Celsius can preserve the contents for longer periods, long enough to remove the memory and install it in another machine.  Alex Haldeman, a graduate student who worked on the project, says the team was able to use this technique to successfully read data as long as ten minutes after power had been removed.  For more information and access to videos and the original research paper be sure to click on the read link above.

Hardware Roundup: Monday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, CPU's, Cases, Memory, Power Supplies, Mobile, Monitors, Prebuilts, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: February 18, 2008 06:29AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Monday rolls around again and we have quite a few reviews in tour roundup this morning.  For the video card section Fudzilla dissects the PowerColor HD 3850 1GB complete with a factory overclock and a ZEROTherm after market cooler.  Also from the ATI camp Techgage reviews the ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB.   Moving over to the NVIDIA side, there is the Leadtek WinFast PX8800 GT ZL 512Mb Video Card from Madshrimps.  This card also features a factory overclock and an after market cooler, but this one is from Zalman.  If you're curious to find out how the upcoming 9600 series of cards from NVIDIA will perform you need to check out the NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 512MB G94 review from TweakTown.  We'll have to wait to see about NVIDIA's pricing and ability to deliver sufficient stock levels on this new card.  PC Perspective returns with its latest news with the release of Podcast #22 - Skulltrail, NVIDIA buying AGEIA, AMD merger talk and more!.  You've been treated to several articles in our roundup regarding Intel's new Skulltrail platform.  Some of Intel's partners are also scheduled to release boards based on the the dual socket LGA771 configuration and HotHardware has the Asus Z7S WS Skulltrail Motherboard Exclusive Sneak Peek for your perusal.  So where does that leave you if you want a single processor setup based on the LGA775 socket?  Check out the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Quad Core Processor at Tech ARP.  They also updated their Intel Core 2 Performance Comparison Guide to include the QX9650 numbers.  For the latest in DDR3 memory, Overclockers Online evaluates the Patriot Viper Extreme 2x1024MB PC3-15000.  Acrylic and home theater PCs are both segments of the specialty  case market.  Combine the two and you get the Sunbeam Acrylic HTPC Case and Overclocker Cafe checks it out.  RBMods has a look at the Ultra X2 Extreme Edition 750W Power Supply.  HotHardware also treats us to a look at a prebuilt performance system in their Maingear Ephex 3-Way SLI Gaming System review.  ThinkComputers offers up a look at a pair of notebooks today with its Lenovo ThinkPad T61p 14.1-inch & 15.4-inch Laptops.  With terabyte hard drives seeming to rule the roost in terms of size the sweet spot in terms of cost per gigabyte is in the 500GB-750GB models and ExtremeMHz has the Seagate 750GB SATA II Hard Drive up for review.  With drive prices falling and storage requirements increasing perhaps its time to invest in a nice RAID array.  The HighPoint RocketRAID 3120 at Bjorn3D is one way to achieve that goal without breaking the bank.  PCSTATS has a look at the Samsung Syncmaster 275T 27-inch LCD Display, a sweet-looking display offering good ergonomic features and HDCP support.

Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, Cases, Memory, Operating Systems, Digital Photography/Video, Storage / Hard Drives, Mouse Pad
Posted: February 15, 2008 06:10AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Looking around the web today revealed several video card card articles.  We begin with a look at the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 from motherboards.org (also reviewed by OCC HERE).  ATI is certainly back in the game with their new 3800 series of cards, but how does it stack up against the green team?  Bjorn3D  has a look at the factory-overclocked Gigabyte 8800GT TurboForce which features a Zalman after-market cooler.  If you're in the hunt for a new video card, how do you decide which one to get amongst all the ones out there.  Take a moment to read the Sweet 16 Mid-range Graphics Cards Compared article at The Tech Report for more insight.  The 790FX is AMD's latest chipset designed to support their Phenom line of processors.  By now you're most likely aware of the issues the current processors are having with the TLB and the microcode fix available.  Viper Lair evaluates the MSI K9A2 Platinum AMD 790FX Motherboard and has a look at performance and the impact the fix has by toggling the fix on and off.  While AMD is still using DDR2 memory, Intel-based boards are moving towards the faster, yet still pricier, DDR3 format.  The Aeneon Xtune DDR3-1333 2GB Memory Kit from ThinkComputers is one such offering (see the OCC review HERE).  PC Perspective takes the Ultra m998 Mid-Tower ATX Case out for a spin and comes away liking what they saw (OCC review).  For something on the fun side, you can read about the Cyberlink YouCam at OCModShop.  Vitual-Hideout likes the Razer Destructor Gaming Surface (also reviewed by OCC HERE).  Tech ARP has just published its Hard Drive Performance Comparison Guide.  Finally, OCModShop shows us how to Solve File Copy Problems: Tweak Vista's Auto-tuning Network.

Hardware Roundup: Thursday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, Cases, Power Supplies, Gaming, Storage / Hard Drives, CPU Cooling
Posted: February 14, 2008 06:53AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Our Valentine's Day roundup kicks off with a look at the Thermaltake Armor + Case from RBMods.  The Foxconn G33M-S Micro-ATX Motherboard  would easily get swallowed up by a case that huge, but Virtual-Hideout finds it a great mATX board in the $100 price range.  FrostyTech evaluates Scythe Zipang SCZP-1000 Ultra Low Noise Heatsink which is as near as you can get to a true silent active cooling option thanks to its 138mm fan.  Next up are a pair of articles on AMD/ATI video cards.  3dGameMan has a review of the HIS HD 3450 & 3650 Video Cards.  Combining different cards in SLI/Crossfire can be a dicey proposition.  Today Legit Reviews tries just that in their article on ATI Radeon HD 3870 + 3850 CrossFire - Mixing Video Cards.  For power supplies, we have two top end units both offering single +12V rails.  Leading off is the SilverStone Decathlon DA800 800W Modular Power Supply at ThinkComputers.  Next, TweakTown looks at the Corsair TX750W 750watt Power Supply.  For truly portable storage, legit Reviews has a look at the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 8GB USB Flash Drive.  ASUS is truly a recognized name in the computer world, but it might not be the first name you associate with notebook computers.  That may well change after you check out the ASUS U6S Ultraportable Notebook at HotHardware.  Techgage has the TRENDnet TEW-631BRP Wireless N Router up for review and tells us what you can get in this reasonably priced Draft N router.  We close out today with the Bjorn3D review of the PS3 game title Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Memory, Power Supplies, Operating Systems, Mobile, Storage / Hard Drives, CPU Cooling
Posted: February 8, 2008 06:18AM
Author: Dale Shuck

The work week draws to a close and our meanderings managed to turn up several power supply reviews in today's edition.  PC Perspective kicks things off with the ABS/Tagan BZ800 800W Power Supply which is a modular unit sporting six +12V rails.   Next up is the Antec NeoPower Blue 650W, another modular unit at Overclockers Online.  Rounding out the power supply reviews today are two looks at a 750W unit from Ultra.  Having two reviews of the same unit is always interesting and these two provide some worthwhile reading.  The first look is the Ultra X2 750W Extreme Edition ATX Power Supply  courtesy of the folks at Virtual-Hideout.  They were careful to point out that their testing found good performance up to the roughly 350W load they were able to put on the unit.  However, their review also links to the Ultra X2 Extreme Edition 750w Power Supply at [H]ardocp.  I won't spoil your fun but [H] ramped up the load on the PSU and warns us to stay away from this unit and minces no words in saying so.  To top it off, the unit claims SLI certification when, in fact, that is not the case.  OK, moving on to video cards.  Representing the red team we have the Overclocked MSI R3870 X2 at Fudzilla.  Weighing in for the green team is the Leadtek 8800 GT 256MB aka G92 at Bjorn3D.  Cooling things off in the CPU department we find the Tuniq Tower 120 Ultra Silent CPU Cooler at RBMods and the Asus Triton 75 Heatsink from FrostyTech.  Both employ heatpipe technology and are designed for use with 120mm fans.  Which one comes out on top?  DDR3 memory prices continue to drop, even as speeds increase and  Techgage has a look at one of the latest offering with their review of the OCZ 2GB DDR3-1600 Titanium - Intel XMP Edition.  ThinkComputers checks out a different approach to equipping your computer with an external drive in their look at the Thermaltake BlacX USB Hard Drive Docking Station. PCSTATS returns with their Beginners Guides: Safe Mode in Windows Vista For Crash Recovery.  Finally, Tech ARP has an overview of the Samsung SGH-i450 Music Edition Mobile Phone.

Intel's new ultramobile processor: Silverthorne

Category: CPU's, Mobile, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: February 5, 2008 11:26PM
Author: Andrew Robinson

ars technica -

Intel's new ultramobile processor code named Silverthorne is quite powerful for its size; the approximately half inch by half inch processor is clocked at 2GHz. The processor has a TDP of 2W whilst running at 2GHz with an input of 1 volt, although the processor is confirmed to work at .5 volts albeit at a lower clock speed. The Silverthorne has 512K L2 cache a measly 47 million transistors compared to Intel's newest CPU the Core 2 Duo which has 290 Million transistors on the 2MB L2 cache versions. Intel also has some neat power saving features that they designed to differentiate their chips from the lower power consumption chips made by ARM. Calling the feature "C6" Intel has said that when in that mode of reduced power usage that the SRAM and a special circuit that can save the data to be awoken as the user sees fit will be the only components left on. Able to spend up to 90% of its time in this state Intel has stated that the chips power consumption in this mode is drastically decreased thus lowering its average TDP.

iPhone and iPod Touch Get Increased Storage

Category: Memory, Mobile, Music / Video Players, Storage / Hard Drives
Posted: February 5, 2008 05:52PM
Author: Ben Grantham

DailyTech -

Apple introduced new iPhone and iPod Touch models today with increased storage over those previously available. The iPhone is now available in a new 16GB flavour and the iPod Touch is available with 32GB of storage. Both if these increased capacity verions of the devices will set you back $499, and will also come loaded with the latest 1.1.3 firmware, which gives some extra applications to the iPod Touch (Weather, Mail, Stocks and Notes). The iPhone gets an updated Maps app with the new firmware (with position triangulation), plus improvements to text messaging and web clip support.

Both new versions of the devices are available as of now online at the Apple store, or at any of its retail sites.

Hardware Roundup: Monday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, CPU's, Cases, Power Supplies, Digital Photography/Video, Storage / Hard Drives, CPU Cooling, Trade Shows/Conventions
Posted: February 4, 2008 06:16AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Our Monday roundup kicks off with a chance to ponder the question How much is enough?  Or conversely, How much is too much?  When you're dealing  with computer enthusiasts, trying to get too philosophical this early in the week may be a futile exercise.  However, we're going to give you that opportunity as we bring you several reviews and articles about Intel's new Skulltrail platform.  Skulltrail is Intel's new enthusiast platform destined to redefine 'high-end'.  First off is the Intel D5400XS motherboard supporting two quad-core processors by way of dual LGA771 sockets.  Designed initially for the QX9775 processors it will also be the first Intel-based board to also support Nvidia SLI.  The platform will also support AMD Crossfire.  All of this via four PCI-e graphics slots.  But there are some caveats involved.  For the rest of the story you can check out one of the following: Intel Skulltrail Unleashed: Core 2 Extreme QX9775 x 2 at HotHardware and Intel Skulltrail Enthusiast Platform at Techgage.  PC Perspective also offers up two articles with Intel Skulltrail and Multi-GPU Graphics: Mixed Results and Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire.  If that wasn't enough to get your blood pumping then Madshrimps has a compendium of water cooling products in their 6 High End CPU Water Blocks Tested and Compared.  For more AMD/ATI graphics card news HotHardware has the Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP Sneak Peek while TweakTown reviews the factory-overclocked HIS Radeon HD 3850 IceQ 3 TurboX.  In the case department 3dGameMan has a video review of the Silverstone CW03 HTPC Case.  This sweet looking case sports a 7-inch LCD touch screen monitor as well an an all-aluminum body.  For a look at a mid-tower case, check out the Cooler Master 690 at Overclockers Online.  Another Intel X38 motherboard makes the rounds today with a preview of the Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 at motheboards.org.  Madshrimps makes a second appearance in today's roundup with a look at 3 MSI Webcam Models Compared.  When you hear the name Zalman the first thing you think of is cooling.  PC Apex reviews the Zalman ZM850-HP Power Supply and shows us just how they incorporated that cooling experience into a PSU (think dual heatpipes).  If you need more storage but don't have enough available SATA ports, you owe it to yourself to check out TweakTown and their review of the HighPoint RocketRAID 2300 PCI-E SATA (you can also read OCC's review HERE).  Next we have another look at the AutumnWave OnAir GT (USB HDTV Tuner) from Bjorn3D (also reviewed by OCC HERE).  RBMods has the Corsair Flash Voyager 32GB USB Flash Drive recently announced at CES.  That gives us a perfect segue for Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2008 - Part 2 from Virtual-Hideout.  Finally, Tech ARP has a couple of updates with Intel Core 2 Processor Performance Comparison Guide and Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide.

Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition

Category: Motherboards, CPU's, Cases, Operating Systems, Mobile, Input Devices, Storage / Hard Drives, General News, CPU Cooling, VGA Cooling
Posted: February 1, 2008 07:20AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Our Friday roundup seems to have picked up a bit after yesterday's lull with a good mix of items.  Tech ARP starts off with a bit of news telling us Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Out Next Week, at least for OEMs.  PC Perspective has some additional news in their podcast as they look at AMD Q4 results, NVIDIA ESA, VIA Isaiah x86 CPU, AMD 3870 X2 and more.  The AMD Spider platform is designed for its line of Phenom processors.  Today we get a chance to examine the MSI K9A2 Platinum AMD 790FX Motherboard from HotHardware.  For Intel fans we have two more boards from MSI based on the P35 chipset.  First in the queue is a TweakTown review of the MSI P35 Diamond Motherboard.  This board supports DDR3 memory and offers onboard X-Fi sound.  Buying a new board based on the P35 chipset means choosing between DDR2 and DDR3 memory formats.  The are trade offs involved with going with either format.  Viper Lair reviews the MSI P35 Platinum Combo board that offers you the option of using either memory type.  What could be easier?  Then there's the choice of which processor to buy.  TechSpot has a look at Intel Core 2 Duo 45nm Wolfdale vs. 65nm Conroe to see what the new 45nm technology has to offer.  Back over at TweakTown we get a look at the ASUS Triton 75 CPU Cooler that uses a passive design but also allows you to attach a 120mm fan.  Also in the cooling arena, Techgage pits two aftermarket VGA coolers against each other in their GeForce 8800 GTS/GTX Cooler Comparison.  Next off you get to compare two other products with the Razer Pro|Click Mac Gaming Mouse at Virtual-Hideout and the Steelseries Ikari Optical Gaming Mouse at Tweaknews.  Computer builders are always looking for the perfect place to house their rigs.  With so many choices it's always a tough decision and motherboards.org has a look at the Ultra Products M998 Case.  Your iPhone deserves a case of its own as well. The Otterbox for iPhone Defender Series at ThinkComputers is a good way to protect your investment.  Bjorn3D has a review of the Thermaltake Muse X-Duo Raid external storage unit.  Finally PCSTATS has another installment in their ongoing series with the Beginners Guides: Setting up an FTP Server in WindowsXP.