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Radeon X700 Pro
Albatron PX915P-AGPe
Soltek K8TPro-939
ASRock 775V88
Gigabyte 8TRX330-L
Corsair PC3200XL
Asus EAX600XT
Dual Layer DVD-R
Asus Hotel Wifi
PCstats Weekly Tips
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Cool and Affordable Hardware Issue
Hello,
As I was creating this Newsletter Issue for
you, it struck me that PCstats
has been testing a lot of mainstream gear lately. While the economy is racing ahead like a thoroughbred, most of us
find it difficult to really justify the expense of high-end hardware, even though
it's fun to daydream. For when a videocard costs as much
as a whole computer, its time to think again...
The Gigabyte Radeon X700 Pro
videocard at the top of this issue is of special note because it's
entirely silent,
cooled with a heatpipe and heatsink instead of a fan. Next up is
Albatron's Mars PX915P-AGPe
motherboard, a socket 775 motherboard that has both PCI Express and
AGP slots, so upgrading is a little easier for those wanting a
new Prescott P4. On the other hand, if an Athlon 64 is in your
sights, be sure to read PCstats review of the Soltek
K8TPro-939. It's an affordable board, and performance figures are
quite good. Built especially for mainstream users on a budget, the ASRock
775V88 is another good motherboard that doesn't cost a fortune. For an
alternative Intel chipset, ATI and Gigabyte have produced the RX330 based
GA-8TRX330-L
motherboard. Currently, Gigabyte is the only company working with this ATI motherboard chipset, and again the board is
suitable for
mainstream applications.
Nothing says a fast PC like low latency DDR, and
our review of Corsair's PC3200XL
DDR is a must read! There are a couple other good reviews
waiting for you to read over, including a really
cool little wireless device for making hotel room internet
connections into
wireless. After a long day at a tech show like CES, the Asus
WL-330 really comes in handy for exactly that reason. Colin has put together a cool
Tech Tip this week, so check it out!
The
PCI Express Gigabyte GV-RX70P256V's X700 PRO GPU is clocked at 420MHz, and
its 256MB of RAM runs at 864MHz stock. Those of you who strive to maintain
a quiet PC will like the Gigabyte GV-RX70P256V
videocard since it uses entirely passive cooling, it is
completely silent. Sporting the ATi Radeon X700 PRO GPU, it might well
endear ATi to gamers who value a quiet PC
system.
Although the
Gigabyte GV-RX70P256V has moderately large heatsinks, it does not take up
that much space and will not eat up the expansion slot below your PCI
Express x16 port. Gigabyte ship the GV-RX70P256V with a pretty decent
software bundle, and component/TV/VIVO
break out box. Continue
Here>>
Albatron has made incredible progress
since the company was founded by former Gigabyte CEO, Jack Ko, a few
years ago. With 2004 a transition year for Intel, it has
been a very expensive proposition for users to fully modernize their
machines, but this is where the Albatron Mars PX915P-AGPe motherboard comes into play.
It fills in the gap set forth by the socket 775 Intel Pentium 4 and Intel
915 chipset which require users to adopt PCI Express graphics solutions.
Or course, this board will support a PCI Express x16 videocard (4GB/s
bandwidth), but it also has a AGPe slot that is compatible with 8X AGP videocards. Furthermore, since the PX915P-AGPe is built around the Intel
915P core logic and ICH6 southbridge, it makes use
of standard dual channel DDR memory. Continue
Here>>
 'Tis the season to be jolly, and if you're an enthusiast
things couldn't be sweeter! With that in mind, it's good new that PCStats is reviewing an affordably priced
AGP8X based motherboard called the Soltek SL-K8TPro-939. Like most Athlon64 motherboards these days, the SL-K8TPro-939 is very nicely equipped with IEEE 1394, 7.1-channel audio, Gigabit Ethernet, a Promise PDC20579 SATA/IDE RAID controller and the always useful Port 80 diagnostics
card. Continue
Here>>
 There's little doubt
that Asus is one of the technological leaders in the motherboard
industry. ASRock's boards are based on
the same Asus know-how, but are built with less frills, and less
expensive components. For the budget conscience user, they're exactly what
the doctor ordered.
PCStats will be looking at the VIA PT880-based ASRock
775V88 motherboard today. When PCstats first looked at the VIA PT880
reference board in January, we noted that performance of
the chipset was quite good, definitely comparable to Intel's i865PE. Built
for Intel's new Socket 775 Pentium 4 'Prescott' processor (533/800MHz FSB), the ASRock 775V88
is a no frills motherboard performs very nicely. Continue
Here>>
 The first ATI chipset, the Radeon IGP
300 was actually a pretty good "first try." The IGP300 was slower than
comparative chipsets, had some memory compatibility deficiencies, but with
a low price point offered users an interesting alternative for budget
systems. The new ATI RX330 chipset looks to be full of
potential, its memory compatibility is even being validated by ATI. Currently Gigabyte has
exclusive manufacturing rights to this chipset, so if you want an ATi
Radeon RX330 based motherboard, the only vendor that can currently supply
it is Gigabyte...Continue
Here>>
 Enthusiasts want fast memory with aggressive timings. Luckily for
you and I, Corsair have just released some new PC3200 DDR memory which is
rated to run at 200 MHz, with a CAS latency of 2-2-2-5! Of course, we
couldn't wait to get our hands on some of this memory for testing!
Over the next few pages PCstats will be testing
out a set of Corsair TwinX 1024-3200XL DDR 512MB memory
modules. Sweet memory, indeed.Continue
Here>>
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| Asus eXtreme EAX600XT Videocard Review |
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| Overclocking is nice, but with a
videocard forming the basis of a home theatre system,
overclocking isn't a very important consideration. With
that in mind, PCstats will be putting the Asus
eXtreme EAX600XT videocard through its paces today.
The card is based on the ATI Radeon X600XT graphics
processor, which allows it to bridge the gap
between PC and home entertainment with a little
thing we like to call HDTV. Of course, there's more to
this PCI
Express videocard than an HDTV cables; the Asus
eXtreme EAX600XT can also handle full VIVO. Continue
Here>> |
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 The ASUS WL-330
is a Pocket Wireless Access point. This nifty little gadget's main purpose is as
a massively portable 802.11b wireless access point; hook it into any wired
Internet source and you have an instant hotspot. This diminutive device
also doubles as a USB-powered 802.11b wireless adaptor.
The Asus WL-330 is a tiny
wireless access point so nondescript as to be practically invisible; it's also
about the size of a deck of cards. The unit supports
11Mbps 802.11b wireless, and is designed to act as a wireless access
point, or wireless adaptor in a pinch. The unit is
a true travelers friend, great for use turning hotel internet
jacks into wireless connections. Continue
Here>>
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PCstats
Weekly Tech Tips: Secure that USB Drive |
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USB drives are extremely handy tools, but in some instances it might not be a good idea to allow users to write onto these devices from their PCs. This is especially true when working with highly confidential data or intellectual property at work; what if the information gets into the wrong hands because of a disgruntled employee?
Microsoft
has acknowledged this potential security threat and users of Windows XP with service pack 2 installed can disable writing to USB devices. To do that we need to load up regedit (Start -> Run then type regedit and press the Ok button) and follow this path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> System -> CurrentControlSet -> Control. From there right click and create a new key and name it StorageDevicePolicies. In the window on the right then create a new DWORD value and label it WriteProtect, give it a value of 1 and users can no longer write to USB drives. To re-enable this option change the value to 0 and users are again allowed to write.
This is a useful
tip for those who need to protect the data on their PC's!
Be sure to stop by PCStats Forums and post your questions, or join a team! If you're planning to upgrade your PC or need recommendation, this is the right place to do it. |
| | Join the PCstats Forums Today @ Forum.PCstats.com! |
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PCstats Issue
No.161
Circulation: 221,886
| This Issue By |
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Editor-in-Chief
. M. Page
Weekly Tips
. C. Sun
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