Get a look inside the womb of Intel Tulsa

REAL WORLD TECH reports at ISSCC 2006 on the Intel Tulsa which is the next 65nm Xeon MP processor. It is still based on the Intel Pentium 4/Netburst architecture and is likely to be the last. It comes with 16MB of shared cache with two 1MB cores. The monster is supposed to run at 3.4Ghz and dissipate up to 150w and theoretically, a 215w 3.9GHz monster is possible. Now how will that compete with AMD's Opterons is anybody's guess.

Lostcircuits investigates the Sapphire Radeon X1900XTX graphic card. Quite literally a monster, both in terms of size and performance. Its bundle is quite impressive and include a lot of accessories and software - including some nice games. As far as performance is concerned though, there's no looking back. There are some driver issues but for now, the Sapphire can be crowned most powerful graphics cards of the month.

One more graphic card review, this time coming from British based DoomedPC. They review the entry level MSI RX1300Pro TD256E. With 256MB memory and a 600Mhz/800MHz core/mem speed, this card can surely produce good performances. It comes with a nice little HSF and no cooling for the memory chips. Ideal for HTPCs, it might even beat the 7300 hands down. Who knows. The reviewer did complain about the fact that the memory chips might get too hot.

Bjorn3D checks the Leadtek Winfast Walkie TV Tuner. This gizmo comes with true hardware MPEG encoding to free your CPU loading. It also has the capability to burn video directly to a DVD and the remote control and FM functions are welcomed additions. It's not that cheap though and its is not as widely available as other more popular TV tuner solutions. Plus you might grab yourself a better bargain if you can afford a combined TV tuner, Video card from ATI like the All in Wonders.

Malaysian website PC Modding reviews the Gigabyte GA-K8N51PVMT-9 motherboard. Based on the acclaimed couple, Geforce6150/Nforce430, it comes with all the features you'd expect from an entry level board - four DIMM slots, PCI Express, RAID, ALC 880 - not the 850 you would see elsewhere - as well as GbE. Although there's not that much features when it comes to overclocking, it is by far the best integrated solution out on the market and you don't have to pay dear for it.

MiniITX reviews the Via Epia N10000 Nano ITX motherboard combo. It is based on the 12x12 motherboard format with a huge heat sink fan. The Luke Processor is a 1GHz model and VIA is quickly losing its appeal especially as it is starting to become a crowded camp. Yes it has HDTV compliant and is absolutely whisper quiet plus it comes with loads of features but then it is relatively slow, has no DVI port and is jolly expensive for the set of features it presents. Maybe an underclocked Pentium M might be a better choice. µ