Van Smith releases open source benchmark

French site X86-secrets has images and some more details here. On the same website, they claimed to have discovered how Intel has changing the way processor speed in measured . Very technical. But to make things short, it involves the Time Stamp Counter and the way some benchmarks work. Very interesting reading.

Cuten ame with monstrous looks, this is how Cooltechzone describes the Logisys Janus which is in no way related to Logitech. It is a lightweight aluminium case with low noise fans and loads of bays and IOs as well as a 480W power supply and a cool price.

Mikhailtech tests a rather unconventional product, the Arcticlean thermal material remover. This product allows overclokers and enthusiasts looking to install a new heat sink combo or a processor to do it with minimal fuss.

Van Smith is currently working on an Open Source Computer Benchmark suite. The COSBI OpenSourceMark version 1.0 Beta 6 is already out there. The Zipped file is 20.2MB and the forum where you can post your score is http://www.flickerdown.com/osmark/viewforum.php?f=2>here. An Opensource benchmark is a welcomed addition to your geek toolbox as it should give you an unbiased true image of your system's performance.

Another review from Xbitlabs, this time they review the Creative Inspire Monitor M80 which is a very classy home studio mini monitor speakers. With an oak colour finish and attention to details, this product would be at home even in a millionaire's house. Also notice that Creative has decided to remove the transformer outside the speaker case.

Trusted Reviews tests the MSI K8N Neo3-FSR motherboard which is MSI's model at the lower end. This board succeeds in combining a socket 754 design with the nForce4, a microATX size, four SATA connectors, one PCI and one AGP slot and four other PCI slots. All this for around £60.

One more review for one motherboard which is starting to become a worthy successor to the K7S5A, the KN1Extreme. We wrote a lot about it recently. Matbe.com compares it to the Gigabyte K8NXP-9 and find that the price premium paid for the latter does not make it a good deal compared to the KN1 extreme.