INQ's friends give us more Yule shopping tips

IF YOU'RE CONFUSED by all the talk about dual and now quad core systems, and you'd like to learn a bit more about how it all works then check out RealWorldTech's An Introduction to Multiprocessor Systems which gives a pretty thorough and easily understandable breakdown about what goes on.

Madshrimps brings us the OCZ 2GB PC6400 Special Ops Edition Urban Elite Review, which receives glowing praise.

Virtual Hideout has put up the ASRock Conroe 945G-DVI Motherboard Review. The boards overall performance and features make it a good choice for anyone looking for an HTPC.

Tweaktown has set up the 2006 Holiday Shopping Guide: Building a high-end Gaming PC to help direct the enthusiasts to the best of the best out there.

XSreviews has reviewed the Crucial 1GB Gizmo! overdrive secure. Certainly not the biggest capacity ever seen on a thumb drive, but the speed is impressive.

Madshrimps also serves up some Mid-Range VGA Mayhem - ATI and NVIDIA compared, which compares three mid-range graphics cards from the X1950Pro and 7900GS chipset range.

BIOS magazine has scooped the Rock Pegasus 335 - UK EXCLUSIVE!, a good value light notebook that packs a punch, although the Intel GMA graphics card means gamers are out of luck.

A few weeks back Rbmods reviewed the Icemat Siberia in-ear earphones, and next up is the Icemat Siberia Headset Review for those that prefer headphones.

Phoronix has reviwed the Tyan Tempest i5000XT S2696, a motherboard brimming with features that would do well in both a server and workstation environments. µ

* SEND YOUR hardware news to Ian Williams.