TomH returns with CPU mega roundup

TOM'S HARDWARE has a summer CPU charts assault roundup of several dozens of AMD and Intel processors which were tested over 37 benchmarks. I particularly appreciated the mindmap as well as the large list of processors that TH painstakingly assembled. Unfortunately, the benchmark charts have not been updated to take account for the new FX62/64 as well as for the Core and the AM2 processors. It seems that it has everything to do with THG's redirection that has not been properly set.

WindowsAtoZ has had a refresh from what I'm seeing. They have tested the Seagate Pushbutton Backup Drive, a 200GB model which is the living proof of HDD manufacturers having a difficult time selling drives and trying to expand in other adjacent segments. Feel the pinch, hey. The drive has both Firewire and USB 2.0 connections. The review is actually tiny but does that the solution is slow when it comes to transferring files from your PC to the drive. Four hours for 30GB, isn't that kinda slow. DVD writers burn blanks faster than that.

Madshrimps tests the Scythe Ninja Plus CPU Cooler, an update of an award winning model with a 1200rpm 120mm fan. The Ninja owes it success to the fact that it dissipate heat through a number of aluminium fins. Madshrimps tested the Cooler with and without fan and it seems that Scythe's cooler is up to the job. They did have to use two cardboard pieces though. For what? See for yourself.

Tweaktown lets us know what they think about the Apex SL-8600EPS 600 watt SLI Ready PSU. Never heard of that brand actually. Don't know if they are related to hardware website GotApex. The PSU shows no sign of instability in the various scenarios that were thrown to it. It is cheap and has a huge 120mm fan to cool it as well as meshed wiring and molex tabs.

Can a keyboard be worth £60? Surely if it is a Lebed one. No this one is the Enermax Aurora and it is on test at Trustedreviews. Enermax is one of the many PSU/casing manufacturers which have decided to explore other segments to increase revenues. The Aurora is made of brushed aluminium finish and is black in colour. The keys appear to be snatched from a laptop keyboard. Oh, it has some USB ports also. In this case, a hit and a real miss.

Chilean site Chilehardware tests the new entry level motherboard Gigabyte M51GM-S2G. The ATI+AMD merger hid the one, potentially more harmful partnership between Asus and Gigabyte. I am digressing here but back to business. The S2G is built around the Geforce 6100 and is AM2 compatible. Not only is it RoHS compatible, it also has a GbE LAN, a Firewire port and some SATA2 ports. The board is passively cooled but strangely for a mATX board, it has four DIMM ports.

If you want to send in reviews, hardware or software, don't hesitate, just bring them in. I am particularly fond of exotic hardware that you won't find elsewhere. Even if the review is not in English, as long as it is interesting and entertaining. Send it in. Also I would be glad if someone could point me to a recent directory of hardware websites. µ