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- Gigabyte 7800GTX
- DIY HTPC Guide
- HEC 550W PSU
- Theatre 550 Pro
- 19" LCD Monitors
- 64-bit Overclocking
- PCstats Weekly Tips |
Do-It-Yourself Home Theatre PC Guide
Hello,
Media centers, home theatre systems, the personal
computer; all of this seems to be converging into one giant
little box that will do everything. Personal Media Players were the first step, and
home theatre PCs perhaps the next. With this in mind, PCSTATS got down to
work and created a DIY Guide to
Building a HTPC. Be sure to
give a once over and let me know your thoughts.
Also on the agenda for this Newsletter issue is this nVidia Geforce
7800GTX Gigabyte GV-NX78X256V-B videocard, the HEC 550UB
power supply, MSI Theatre 550
Pro TV-tuner, and the Samsung 930MP
LCD display which has several very
clever multimedia features built right in. There's a fresh Weekly Tech
Tip a little further down, and a review of the very innovative ECS PF88
Extreme hybrid Intel/AMD motherboard. This is the first of its kind
that we're aware of, and in our test configuration supports either the
newest Intel Pentium4 or Athlon64 processors! Neat.
The Gigabyte GV-NX78X256V-B PCI Express 7800GTX videocard
is backed up by 256MB of GDDR3 memory and supports VIVO (Video In/Video
Out) as well as component output, and is fully SLI compatible. Included in
the package is also a pretty good software suite which includes two full
version games and some multimedia software. Built on the smaller 0.11 micron manufacturing, the nvidia Geforce 'G70' core can get away with a single
slot cooler, unlike previous generations that sounded like high end vacuum cleaners. Continue Here>>
Computers are a perfect fit for the entertainment
room, and building your own home theatre
PC is not more difficult than assembling a standard system - as long
as you have the right components for the task. In this Do-It-Yourself Guide, PCSTATS are
going to walk you step-by-step through the process of assembling your own
home theatre PC out of contemporary components. We'll also explore the
various things you can do with an HTPC after it's built. For the purposes of this article, we're going
to be using the Aopen E915 XCube SFF PC case. While it doesn't exactly
resemble a piece of stereo equipment, it fits the bill as small, classy
looking and unobtrusive. This was the PC we used to test the 61" Samsung DLP TV since its bezel matched that
of the HDTV....Continue Here>>
For this review of the HEC WinPower 550UB (HEC-550TW-TF) 550W powersupply, we'll be applying a couple of
tests with an eye towards seeing how this unit generally performs. The HEC Win550UB powersupply is rated to a peak of 550W power and features dual 12V
lines with a combined output capabilities of 35A. According to HEC, the +3.3V line can deliver up to 32A and the +5V up to 38A, for a combined max output of 240W of
power. The WIN 550UB has two +12V rails, the first which can deliver 18A and the second which can pump out 17A.Continue Here>>
What would you say if PCSTATS told you that
we have a motherboard here which combines the best of both Intel
and AMD CPUs through an innovative daughtercard system, all one
board? The ECS PF88 Extreme Hybrid motherboard is on our test bench for a thorough
examination, and in the configuration pictured it works with either a
socket 775 Intel Pentium 4 or socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 processor.
Intrigued yet?Continue Here>>
ATI
recently released the Theatre 550 Pro digital audio/video processing
chipset which adds several image quality-related features, possibly making
computer-based media centres a little more viable. We've already reviewed
one Theatre 550-based product and found it to be the best TV-tuner we had
yet looked at. Today we're looking at another, the MSI Theatre 550 Pro.Continue Here>>
The Samsung SyncMaster 930MP is the latest hybrid LCD/TV
display from the company, and the focus of this review. This
Syncmaster 930MP features a 0.294mm dot pitch, 19" screen, 1000:1 contrast
ratio, luminance of 250cd/m2 and a native resolution of 1280x1024
pixels. More to the point, the 930MP integrates a
TV and FM tuner into its chassis, allowing it to function as a
standalone television set and FM radio (AM is not supported) as well as a
DVI/analog compatible computer monitor. Continue Here>>
When one overclocks in the
32-bit world, we expect higher results. After all, a faster computer
should lead to faster processing no matter the application, right? The
next logical question is whether benchmarks would see similar results in a
64-bit
computing environment? PCStats
thought it would be interesting to see how overclocking is
affected on the WindowsXP x64 Edition platform, so we tested it
out!Continue Here>>
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PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: Instant Messaging Mess |
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While I prefer
ICQ for instant messaging (I’m old school), many of my friends use MSN Messenger as their IM of choice. By default MSN Messenger saves conversation logs in the My Received files folder under My Documents, however I find it very annoying how it must address the log file into memory before it allows you to chat with a person that individual on your contact list.
This is generally not a problem for fast computers, but can be very painful on slower ones. A friend recently requested my help because it took her PC system nearly 30 seconds to open up a conversation window with certain people! Remembering the above, I removed the log files for that particular user and viola, MSN popped to life in a split second.
So there you have it, if you are an avid MSN user who logs IM conversations and notice the chat client starting to slow down, try deleting the weighty log file!
All of the PCstats Weekly Tech Tips have been archived in the Forums for your reference.
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PCstats Issue
No.185
Circulation: 195,205
| This Issue By |
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Editor-in-Chief
. M. Page
Weekly Tips
. C. Sun
. M. Dowler
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PCSTATS Q & A:
Send in your tough tech
questions today! |
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