Extra expensive earphones, Spider case tested

DRIVER HEAVEN tests the Supertalent T800UX2GC4 DDR2 PC6400 2GB Kit which will be supported by AMD's AM2 socket. The modules have a lifetime warrranty and are covered by a silver heat spreader. Supertalent may not be a very well known brand, but it overclocks very well and gets a heavenly hardware award. The only thing hampering its success is availability - which is a shame, really.

Mikhailtech checks the Dynapower USA Blackwidow case whose front is definitely has a spider-inspired theme. Loads of LEDs, screwless features, meshed window, 120m exhaust fan with 120mm intake, cheap and the price does include the fan ad the power supply - which is definitely a good thing. Only thumb down is its looks which some might not like.

PCmoddingMY.com reviews the Epox EP-9GF6100MJ motherboard. A nice entry level Nforce 430/Geforce 6100 based combination. Not as good as the 6150 though, but still better than anything SIS or VIA has on the table. Its features ressemble an A-list kind of checklist: SATA2 and SATA RAID, SPDIF, hardware firewall, GbE LAN and 5.1 audio. Very cheap but let down by its poor overclocking and not so great bundle.

Trustedreviews lay their hands on the Shure e4c sound isolating earphones. They are small and lightweight but cost a hell lot - much more than a 2GB iPod for example. The reviewer did agree with that. £157 is almost extortionate, our own Spode says. The sound quality is not that great either, which is almost a crime at that price.

Another motherboard on the test bed, this time, Phoronix tests the Asrock 939SLI32-eSATA2 model. This model is based on the M1697 chipset, comes with the Hybrid booster model. four DDR slots, 5.1 audio - boooooo - GbE and the usual other set of features associated with entry level boards. This one however has two more that gets it noticed. Firstly it is SLI compatible - although not officially - and secondly it comes with eSATA2 which means that you can have external SATA2 devices. The full review to follow soon.

Our last review for today is that of the Compro Videomate H900 PCI TV FM Card. The card comes with a load of accessories including the remote and a series of cables - with the software consisting of the usual Ulead items. The card has onboard hardwrae encoding and a very good picture quality. It is also a low profile one which means that it will go quite easily in your HTPC casing. µ