DFI mobo sets standard for entry level

ANANDTECH broke the ice with this non-NDA-bounded exclusive review of the GA-K8AMVP Pro motherboard coupled with a Duo of X850XT graphic cards. Some nice benchmarks pitting the creme de la creme against one another. The X850XT PE goes against the 6800 Ultra and the 7800GTX both in SLI and in normal mode. In a nutshell, Crossfire is just about as competitive as the SLI. But at a price we reckon.

Hardwareasylum sends a review of the DFI NF4 DAGF motherboard. Only 178 persons have read what they have written on the budget litle brother of the nForce 4 Ultra or the SLI. Question is whether the board can live up to the reputation of its larger brothers. Now it might only be an entry level mobo but it seems to have gone well beyong the reviewer's expectations.1T Timing up to 270MHz, HTT going above 300MHz and a price to die for at $85 inc free delivery.

SilentPCreview, another first timer, tests the Coolermaster Real Power 550 for its readers and us. It's not a cheap PSU but it does support workstation products and desktop ones and also offers a PCI-e plug. It is noisy though but does have some pretty much impressive stability figures to kick on. Also under review is the Scythe Kamaboko CPU HSF, a cheap Japanese traditional Alu heatsink coupled with a fan. But as the review show, you get what you paid for. Don't use this one if you're prescott equipped. It is quiet but not heat effective.

Xbitlabs reviews the Creative Itrigue 3600 set of speakers. This 2.1 set comes with a very stylish design and a wired remote control. The satellites are absolutely lovely if you love eclectic, slightly modern stuff. Definitely not you usual speakers. Soundwise? Well xbitlabs believes that other speakers do offer a better value for money as compared to this one. They have also reviewed the Gigabyte 3D Galaxy waster cooling system. Loads of photos on this ordinary man water cooling kit. It's priced right, offers great performance and apart from some small nagging problems, it should introduce a lot of people to water cooling.

Extremetech shows us how they used the game Splinter Cell : Chaos Theory as a benchmark. With its new game engine, its HDR rendering mode and Shadow Model 3.0 support. Shame though SM 2.0 is not supported. The game provide with a useful and handy benchmark tool that should become more popular soon. They also publish a list of tips on how to hack Windows Explorer. It is actually an exerpt from one of the books they publish. If you want to know how to work with hidden files or hacking file association, then have a look at the article. µ