No more mousepads, now we have mousing surfaces

AS SOMEONE WHO has actually written his own ray tracer from scratch as a university project, I was particularly interested to read this new article from Hardware.info on Ray Tracing and Gaming - Quake 4: Ray Traced Project. So if the thoughts behind how pictures are rendered intrigues you at all, then check it out.

Hardware.info has also had a peek at the VLSystems M.Play Blast which can help jazz up your PC with some useful information and allows you control your PC with a remote control. It's a little buggy, but we reckon it'll work nicely in an HTPC.

Tweaktown has reviewed the GeCube X1950PRO Champion Edition with "TEC" Cooling. Yet another X1950Pro card to choose from, but this is the Champion edition, this means it comes overclocked to the max, and it uses TEC (Thermal Electronic Cooling). Unfortunately it fails to impress, being loud, big and too expensive.

Bjorn3d takes us on a spin around the solar system with the review of the VIZO Uranus & Saturno eSATA HDD Enclosures. They both perform very well and the large slabs of black certainly do add a certain 'Space Odyssey' feeling.

BIOS magazine has continued the galactic theme with a review of the Alienware Area-51 7500. As with most of Aleinware's products, it costs a mint, but if money isn't an object then this sexy beast will knock your socks off.

IT-review has put up AM2 MBO Round-up: Part VII. By this point you have to start wondering how many more socket AM2 motherboards are there out there.

3D Professor has had an exclusive peek at the MSI K9SD Master, the new server board based on Serverwork's HT2000 and HT1000 chipset.

Apparently they are no longer just 'mousepads', Virtual-Hideout brings us the Ratpadz XT Premium Mousing Surface Review. Despite the poncy name it looks like it's actually pretty good.

HardwareLogic has been fiddling around with the eVGA NVidia 680i SLI Motherboard. Overall the board performs very well, scoring a respectable 88/100, and now that BIOS is being fixed it should be worth a few more points.

Hardware.info has also graciously given us the Workshop: Cablesleeving to help keep your PC's innards neat and tidy, maximising air flow and making sure all your friends can ohh and ahh appreciatively. µ

* SEND YOUR hardware news to Ian Williams.