3.38GHz AMD X2 faces an Intel 2.93GHz Core Duo

FOR THOSE who are not aware of this thread, Xtremesystems.org has a five-page one on the T2600 Core Duo and the FX60. I will just tell you that the AMD X2 was overclocked to 3379MHz and the Intel Core was going at 2928MHz. The only benchmarks available were from Futuremark but that's more than enough. There's even some snapshots from Tecchannel posted over there. Very impressive.

Austrian website Hardwareoverclock Austria tests all the Athlon X2 available, from 3800+ to the 4800+ processors. A little bit long in the tooth but still well worth a read, especially just when the AM2 socket is coming in a matter of weeks. The review is in German but still, you can guess that the winner of the contest - if there was to be any winner, is the 3800+. Now will AMD release an even cheaper X2 3600+ model to counteract the D805? Stay tuned.

PCPerspective reviews the Coolermaster Praetorian 730 Mid Tower case, a black monster with a side window and built like an aluminium tank, there's three cooling fan, a 120mm and two 80mm on the rear. There's a huge attention to details even inside the casing with eveything being in place. Although it is a little bit noisy, it should be more than enough to cater for the needs of most enthusiasts. The price is fortunately not that much steep.

Legitreviews has a go at the Altec Lansing AHS302USB headset - yep, a USB headset. That's a very nice change from the usual green/pink sockets - which still exists. It is not that much expensive, being an entry level headset. The AHS coes with a volume controller as well as a mic. The headsets produced some of the best sounds for that price range according to the reviewer - we would believe him.

Tweaktown checks the return of the king - the Western Digital Raptor X - a 10krpm monster which makes even 15krpm SCSI mammoth look pedestrian sometimes. The previous generation was being gradually superseded by the newer competing drives, even from Western Digital. You get excellent value for money. It is quite expensive but then the performance it gives you is absolutely exceptional. Fastest Magnetic HDD out there

GamePC reviews the Asus A8R32-MVP deluxe motherboard which is based on the XPress 3200 CF chipset. Northbridge still made up of the ULI1575 or the ATISB450. DDR400 memory slots, 40 PCI express lanes, SATA2, Dual GbE, eSATSA, RAID-5, HD Azalia audio. The board is twice as expensive as the Dr Jekyll A8R-MVP motherboard. µ

* Yesterday's PSU from Silverstone was 80% efficient rather than 8%. An 8% PSU would be a good heater anyhow.