8800Ultra takes on HD2900XT

PERPENDICULAR RECORDING technology has benefitted laptops the most, with speeds and capacities almost doubling within a year. XBit Labs takes six 160GB 2,5-inch HDD and subjects them to all manner of cruelties. Hitachi, oddly enough, comes last in the race, but Aleksey attributes it to the first-generation firmware.

Anandtech’s boys get their hands on some new MTRON SSD’s and faces them off with a WD Raptor (150GB). Results are unsurprising, as is the price: great random access and read speeds, lower burst results... $1199 smackeroos for the 32GB drive. Maybe the future will bring along some decent pricing.

Apple Macbooks are growing in performance and features by the day, at least that’s what Arstechnica thinks of the new Santa Rosa-based fruitybooks. Get the 2GB o’RAM version, though, as Leopard is quite taxing for the teeny laptops.

Ultra has been producing power supplies for some years now, and have even come up modular PSU’s. Modders-Inc received an Ultra X3 600W power supply to dissect. Overall a good looking, tightly build unit, with peak efficiency attained at 300W draw (+/-85%) holding its own with higher loads. Modders-Inc seems to be satisfied, so we are too.

Next on the list is a Scythe Ninja Mini CPU Cooler at Overclock3D.net. It’ll cool everything from a Socket 478 through to Socket AM2, including Quad Core CPU’s. It’s small, lightweight (by comparison), cheap (£27.01), generates less noise than a stock cooler and the only bone to pick is the installation itself which is fickly – but once it’s over, it’s er... over. Overclock3D thinks it’s a great way to cool your HTPC.

Hilbert @ Guru3D had his trip down memory lane when a box of OCZ’s high-end PC2-6400 DDR2 2x2GB kit landed on his lap. Yes, DDR-2 takes us straight back to Manic Miner times, or maybe not, it DOES jolt us with doses of extreme geek-ism, like having more memory than you’d know what to do with. Pricing is hard to come by, but they definitely recommend it.

Chile Hardware picks up the two most expensive graphics cards on the market and runs them through their paces. It had to be done, sooner or later. A Radeon HD 2900XT vs. a Geforce 8800 Ultra are the choice products here, and if you’re not on a budget, these are the way to go. Pragmatically they give the 8800Ultra the gold award, overall, but expect their inbox to fill up quite quickly in reaction. (Gurgled here). µ