Apple TV compared to Xbox 360

PC PERSPECTIVE REVIEWED the Apple TV. This device fits under the media server category, but Ryan took it head on against a real competitor in media extender arena - Microsoft's Xbox 360. Without a small hard drive that the Xbox 360 now has, it seems that Microsoft's own white-box would have more success. However, an ideal device for this purpose still does not exist, unless you own a HTPC machine. Then again, it all depends how are you receiving a digital signal or HD content itself.

After selling chassis for gamers, Cooler Master now tries to enter the world of storage cases with the originally named iTower 930. This case is intended for desktop use as well, but it comes with four hot-swappable drive bays, so if you own a RAID controller, you can keep the computer running if one of the hard drive fails.

Beside Apple's media extender effort, PC Perspective also tested Alienware's Aurora mALX notebook. This beast features a 19-inch LCD screen that supports HD resolutions, two 7900GTX boards in SLI, RAID function and upgradeable to a ton of memory.

ComputerShopper has also been busy testing notebooks, this time Acer Aspire 5630 and Twinhead Durabook D14RY. Both notebooks target different market than Alienware's.

IT-Review.net reviews Asus EN8800GTX AquaTank and updated its CeBIT review of DFI's own too-late-to-be-LANparty, Infinity P965 board. Given the overclocking features and stable build quality, this board could be best buy of whole P965 world, only problem is availability of the product.

RBMods tested Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-6400 2x1GB memory kit. This memory is intended for users that want to have DDR2-800 memory with an acceptable price, not entering the enthusiast segment. However, the guys did test in enthusiast/overclocking environment, and results were above expectations.

HardwareLogic tested GigaByte Rocket 3D II CPU Cooler. We have some experience with water-cooling products from GigaByte in the past, but it is interesting to see that company is diversifying into more and more markets.

Continuing with reviews of cooling products, lads from ClubOverclocker.com tested CoolIT PCI Cooling Booster and Danger Den's Water Box Plus case. While CoolIT's product is a reminiscence of early 2000s with cooling down the PCI cards (TV tuner cards of today would be thankful for this one), Danger Den's WaterBox is something for the crowd that wants a complete solution at once.

Chris from AMDZone took high-end cards from Nvidia and tested them with a beta version of upcoming Unreal Engine 3-powered hit, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.

For the end of today's HW Roundup, we leave you to YouGamer's review of Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars. First we heard about this title was during the days of first C&C: Red Alert, but after several years, C&C: Generals showed up and C&C3 ended up on a backburner. YouGamers found out that the realistic minimum setting differs from the one on the box along with several other oddities. It seems that publisher as keen to sell as many games as possible, instead of informing possible owners that they should upgrade their PCs for maximum experience. Non-hardware savvy users will end up with sluggish experience and curse PC as a platform.

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