Computer magazines die in UK

DIAMOND rough is the subtitle of Tech Report's latest article. It refers to the MSI P4N Diamond motherboard which is a SLI Intel based mobo with onboard SB Live Audio and specs that put it right in the pack of high end motherboards. Whether or not you want to use the onboard goodies of the P4N will determine whether it is a good buy for you.

PCmodding.my, a Malaysian website, reviews the Evercool WC-202 water cooling kit. It eliminates the need for a CPU and VGA fan. With a super silent model with a special design to prevent leakage and a titanium alloy coated pump, it is not only economical but also very efficient provided you do not look for a replacement for your $600 water cooler unit.

The Sapphire X800XL Ultimate video card is identical to the Sapphire X800 XL but which comes with the a Zalman VF700 GPU cooler on top of that. Overclocking was in line with industry standards with gains hovering at around 12%. Your purchase decision will depend whether you want a noisy card to play DOOM3, as in most contests, the X800XL beats the 6800GT easily.

Pureoverclock plays cards with two Gainward Ultra 3500 PCX 7800GTX Golden Sample both in SLI and in Single mode. With one of the highest speeds around out of the box - 470/1300, it is easily one of the fastest cards around as well as one of the cheaper ones. Transparent AA and HDR makes it a boon while Nvidia will probably improve SLI in the near future with a new Detonator driver release.

VR-zone has a preview at two new products from Creative Labs which is slowly transforming itself in a new multimedia company, just like ECS re-inventing itself. The Zen Vision and Muvo Vidz underline the new trend that is video in motion. The first one offers a 3.7-inch screen with a VGA resolution, 30GB HDD, FM radio and voice recording as well as a plethora of functions. The other one is a 1GB OLED mini video player.

HKEPC has a review of the Leadtek Quadro FX 4500 which is based on the 7800 GPU. This professional video card features an impressive heat sink fan and is compatible with Apple Cinema LCD screens. The Chinese website compares it to the 7800GTX, to the FireGL 7100 and the FX3450. Interesting results as the 7800GTX lags the FX4500 by more than 60%. µ