Quad-core Kentsfield overclocks to 4.75GHz

LORDY, SO MANY things can happen in a few hours. First, Stoolman at Xtremesystems, the place to be seen for any famous overclocker, got a sample of the Kentsfield E6700, which is basically a quad-core version of the E6700, clocked at 2.67GHz. Well, that could be it, but wait. He took the chip and overclocked it to 4.75GHz. Obviously, he used some hardcore solutions like liquid nitrogen, but he proved that teh chippery can reach over 4GHz. His benchmarks did not show a huge difference when compared to a dual dual-core 3GHz Woodcrest, however.

PCStats tested the Asrock AM2V890-VSTA VIA K8T890 chipset. This AM2 motherboard is bound to be cheap, yet PCStats chose to pair it with an Athlon FX62 for some reasons. Anyway, the board has HD Audio, integrated 10/100 Network card and a few more features. That does not prevent it from performing very well when compared to a 590SLI for example. The board is cheap and is ideal should you want to get more money on your video card instead of the board.

Then Dan from Laptoplogic sent me some troubling and interesting news on DAAMIT. LL shows us some pics of AMD reference platforms, some information about the socket 638 also known as S1 which has a lower number of pins in the family but yet supports Dual Channel and Dual Core. There's also a few tidbits about how AMD plans to counteract the effect of Intel's Robson plus news about AMD's planned speed bump for Turion X2.

Bittech introduces us to the brand new MSI Megabook S271 which uses a Turion X2 processor. Inside, you get a TL50, 1GB memory, a 12.1-inch TFT screen, a slot loading DVD writer, HD Audio, XP Professional and an 80GB HDD. The smarties on the cream is a two year collect and return warranty. Mind you though, there's no PC Card slot in there. A good sturdy laptop except that Intel's Core Duo seems to do everything better for now.

Never heard of that brand. Phylon. Anyway, they produce motherboards apparently. The Phylon 7F2WE-1G5 is a Mini-ITX mainboard with a VIA 1.5GHz CPU stuck on it with a fan. No real innovation here, so to say, there is a TV encoder, Firewire port and RCA Video IO and you really get an all in one caseless barebone. Runs amazingly cool and has overclocking potential. But hey, that's a platform that has the same firepower than a P3-800MHz so don't expect any miracles.

French website PC Inpact.com reviews the Asrock 775Dual-VSTA motherboard which is based on VIA PT880-Pro chipset. VIA chipset are making a welcomed comeback in their bid to recapture the lower end of the market. The mobo is tested with a Core2 Duo processor and is tested using DDR memory and AGP. A good product which can be used to keep some of your parts. But it would be risky to invest in new DDR memory and a brand new AGP card to go with this motherboard though.

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