Cheapo quad-cores reviewed

IN A TEST dedicated to “inexpensive quad-core CPUs” you’d expect to see a one-sided review of all Phenom CPUs. However, Xbit considers Intel’s Q8200 and Q9400 to be inexpensive enough to compete with the X4 9950 (or is that the other way round?), but doesn’t mention the Q6600 until the middle of the article. There’s no easy way to say this... all you AMD fanbois will hate the article. Using a quote from Ilya, “Phenom X4 family may be of interest only to those users who want to get a quad-core processor real cheap, but are ready to put up with low overclocking potential, low performance and high power consumption.” Find out why he said it...

The Pabstians at THG are working to find out whether you can use an Athlon 64 in this day and age. Paul (another one) picked up an Athlon 64 4000+, an X2 4200+ and an X2 5600+ and hooked them up with a modern graphics card to see just how extra mileage you can get out of these. The results may surprise you and throw another rock in the CPU vs. GPU pond. Let’s just say that Nvidia would be pleased... read it here.

The ThermalTake V9 is the latest’n’greatest PC Gaming case in the company’s catalogue. If you’re wondering what it’s like, Overclocker’s Club has a full review on the beast. The case reminds OCC of the Antec 900 or the NZXT Tempest, which is a good thing as these were very successful products. The airflow in the case is pretty good with the pre-installed fans – especially the 23cm fan on top that pulls out all the warm air from the case. Bit plasticky says OCC, but a great price. Read on.

ECS, better known for its budget motherboards launched some weeks ago the 9800GTX+ SLI Hydra kit – something we’ve featured a couple of times in the roundup. Now it’s Hottie Hardware’s turn to have a poke at it. We just hope that ECS has brought down the price... If you have an SLI-enabled mobo, this is a good kit, capable of derailing an GTX 260 and maybe squeeze some extra MHz from the card. Unfortunately it’s still expensive as hell and your money is likely best invested elsewhere... for shame...

Tech Power Up is testing some last-last-very last generation DDR2 kit, this one from Corsair. Hailing from the Dominator class of products, this 2x2GB 1066MHz DDR2 promises a whole lot of enthusiast headroom (ie: overclocking) and the look of surprise on your friends’ faces when they see triple 40mm fans hanging over each pair. That said, you’re in for a speedy ride with these tall fellas. Not bad pricing either... Check them out, here.

We missed out on AMDZone’s review of the HD 4830 yesterday, so we’re giving it the official “much love” compensation today. Apart from the raging Shader debate, AMDZone hits pretty much the same notes as the rest, except the comparison is made against more Nvidia products. We wouldn’t test it on a 30-incher, though, as that’s hardly the case of the person who buys an HD 4830 now, innit? Go here.

Digit-Life has a review of the upgraded ECS A790GXM-A motherboard. We say upgraded, ‘cause the 790GX is an enhanced 780G. You can do Crossfire (not just Hybrid) on this motherboard and it includes 128MB of Sideport memory for your IGP. Although this isn’t a micro-ATX mobo, it would make a fine foundation for a business PC. Poor overclocking results spoil the treat, though. Check it out. µ