Quad-core compatible mobo previewed

THERE'S A PREVIEW on VR-Zone of the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard, which supports the Intel Core2 Duo processor and comes with the ICH8R. Looking inside the box, you see that it is Quad Core ready, it has Quad Bios, Quad Cooling, Quad DDR2, Quad eSATA2 and Quad triple phase. Loads of photos in there and you will see that the motherboard is quite crowded. No benchmarks but a likely winner on the horizon.

Trustedreviews tests the Asus W3J 14-inch Dual Core notebook. The screen is not widescreen but is still sufficiently large to make you forget that it is a 2KG laptop. On the plus side, it has a X1600 video module and a decent keyboard, not to mention that it is good looking and comes with a 1.83GHz Intel Centrino DC processor, 1GB memory, a DVD writer and a few more nice features.

Sysopt tests the Thermaltake Matrix VX PC case, a simple, yet effective mid tower casing that can take flexATX boards and is made up of Aluminium together with some plastics. It has six external bays, a side window and two 120mm fans. Ultimately, what makes it attractive is its low price and its no thrill approach and the Thermaltake brand. A must buy if you look for one of the cheapest alu casing on the market.

BIOSmagazine checks the Dell XPS M1710 laptop. It is one of the fastest gaming laptops on the market. With a single 7900GTX and a dual core CPU, it is probably best suited for one who looks primarily for gaming-on-the-go, rather than a DTR model. Although it is expensive, it does not come with a TV tuner or a camera. But you still get that 512MB video card as well as a 17-inch 1920x1200 pixels widescreen, not to mention, 2GB memory and 120GB HDD.

Bit Tech reports on the nForce 590 SLI motherboard that is the Foxconn C51XEM2AA. It supports four DDR2 memory slots with two GbE ports with a few slots, HD Audio, six SATA ports, plus a few more ports. Foxconn is obviously looking to compete with its own customers and possibly antagonise more than a few of them. Still, the package is great and so is its performance.

Techreport reviews the Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD hard disk drive. Lacks a window but is identical to the Raptor X except it is cheaper by a mile. 150GB HDD, Support for NCQ, 16MB cache and a good five years warranty. Performance is the fastest SATA drive tested there, and the price is not that bad. It can match quite a few SCSI out there without the need for a controller. µ