T7600 Merom to come to desktop

OC WORKBENCH has some exclusive benchmarks of the T7600 processor which is running on an Abit iL90MV motherboard. A mobile processor coupled with a mATX motherboard which is built around the 945GT chipset with HDMI and RoHS compliance, SATA RAID, GbE, Firewire, HDA, ViiV certification but no graphics expansion. The 2.33GHz processor works wonders. 1MB Superpi in 21.93s, 2003 3Dmarks 2003 - remember integrated GPU used. You can't buy it now and the CPU has not been overclocked neither. Shame as one can expect it to be a nifty little overclocker.

Newcomer Gameslave reports on the XtracPads Ripper XXL which is, according to the article, the largest mouse surface in the world, at more than 90cm x 45cm. It is actually meant to be put under your keyboard as well. I doubt that they expect it to slide as well though. It is easier to rip through it though and it might turn off those who want a more portable mouse mat. Oh, and there's the Mad Tape which should work very well as well.

An old friend comes back at HardOCP. The Diamond Viper X1600 Pro 512MB marks the comeback of Diamond Multimedia. The card is compared to the Geforce 7600GS. Interestingly, the Viper X1600 Pro can be purchased for nearly half the MSRP, which is very good. Card comes with a blue PCB and a one year warranty, is a good lower-mid range performer and is a reasonable model overall.

Anandtech updates us on the PhysX PPU Performance, specifically on the City of Villains games which showed how ill-prepared AGEIA was when it came to mainstream games. The new upgrade changes things a bit but as Anandtech tells us, it doesn't change the fact that PhysX is still very much an expensive item that has limited appeal overall. By the time, prices will have decreased, AMD and possibly Intel or Nvidia might have come forth with something better.

Another Biostar Motherboard on the benches. The TForce P965 Deluxe shows clearly that Biostar looks sets to bring the DFI aura down to ECS prices. BTW, anyone saw a good Chaintech review lately? The board not only comes with the usual accessories, but it also has a USB travel charger and a stereo earphone/microphone set. On top of that there's a huge accessories bag which sets Biostar above the likes of Asus or Gigabyte. Brownie points for BS. Board supports seven xATA devices, has HD Audio compatibility and GbE and much more. Board is not an exceptional overclocker but does provide with excellent performance.

I've been looking for more tests like those. A real-world, round-up of five routers, no more marchitecture, no more false promises, only the hard truth coming from Extremetech.802.11 models are tested names like Belkin, D-Link, Buffalo and Netgear. Not surprisingly, different brands did not seem to like each others product and this is made worse by the fact that there are legacy networks to be supported. Extremetech conclusion. Wait and see.

If you want to send in reviews, hardware or software, don't hesitate, just bring them in. I am particularly fond of exotic hardware that you won't find elsewhere. Even if the review is not in English, as long as it is interesting and entertaining. Send it in. Also I would be glad if someone could point me to a recent directory of hardware websites. µ