Bigfoot killer seen in the wild

TODAY'S roundup seems to have a distinctly gamer feel to it, with the first half of the links directly related to gaming.

We'll start off with what I reckon is one of the most bizarre bits of 'gaming' hardware I've ever seen, a network card. PC Perspective brings us the Bigfoot Networks Killer NIC Review. Surprisingly it actually seems to work, at least for certain games like World of Warcraft, but the $250 price tag is likely to scare away most people.

There are some games that just work better with a gamepad, even if you're playing them on a PC, and there are very few of these controllers that are any good, but according to Virtual-Hideout in the Logitech ChillStream PC Game Controller Review, it looks like Logitech have come up with a winner. It even has a fan and air channels to keep your hands cool, a design feature that Nintendo may want to consider given the propensity for the Wiimote to go flying from the users sweaty palms.

XSreviews has reviewed the Razer Mantis mousepad and apparently this mousepad stinks, literally, but once the smell fades over time it's actually a pretty decent gaming accessory.

MVKTech has been marching to the beat of whichever drummer was playing through the Everglide s-500 Professional Gaming Headset. Designed with gaming in mind these headphones have a longer than average cable and are designed for comfort over extended periods of usage. The sound quality is superb and, interestingly the microphone is not integrated, but rather comes as a separate clip on mike.

Virtual-Hideout has also put up the OCZ GameXStream 850W SLI-Ready PSU Review. The 850W of power is aimed squarely at those people thinking of multi-core and multi-GPU systems, either up front or on the upgrade path.

Tweaktown asks the question, Gigabyte H663 Home Entertainment System - Your next HTPC?. This purpose built entertainment PC looks worthy of consideration if you're looking for an HTPC but have desire to build one yourself, however the Intel Viiv compliance and lack of high-def support is a distinct shortfall.

LostCircuits has proved that AGP is still a viable technology for now with the Sapphire RADEON X1950 Pro 512 MB AGP. So if your hoping to get a bit more life out of your AGP motherboard then this card is certainly worth a gander. Incidentally the entire system was run on a 300W PSU, but it was pushing it a little.

Phoronix has reviewed the new and improved SilverStone Temjin TJ09, the innovative mid-section air duct can cause some cable management nightmares but is a great idea for those wanting to run multi-GPU PCs.

For those people who read about the wide variety of individual components available but are nervous about building their own PC, HardwareLogic has provided a thorough Guide to Building a Computer, Part 1: Choosing the Right Parts.

Meanwhile Legion Hardware has given us the guide to E6300 Overclocking for Beginners to help those people who want to push their Core 2 Duo processor a little harder. µ

* SEND YOUR hardware news to Ian Williams.