Alienware Area-51 powers on

FULL SYSTEM reviews are few and far between on enthusiast review sites, something sites usually avoid doing. PC Perps has made and exception on the Alienware Area-51 QX9770 CrossfireX system. It isn’t quite what you’d expect, as it jams two HD 3870X2 instead of more modern 4870s, but it’s still a powerful config. You’ll question the choice of OS, though – 32-bit with 4GB of RAM. $6500 for the whole shebang as you’d expect from Alienware. Read it here.

It looks like the 9300 is still making the roundup. TweakTown has tested an Asus micro-ATX mobo based on this chipset and ran it against Intel’s G45 chip. The competition’s neck-and-neck until the IGPs reach real games where the 9300 trounces the G45 at barely playable framerates. As micro-ATX mobos go, this one has everything you need, as IGPs go, you’ve got a pretty good HTPC rig capable of Hybrid SLI and with one PCIe x16 slot to spare. Read it here.

Currently the GTX 280 is the fastest thing on a single core. However, driving that power requires a certain level of CPU firepower, so VR-Zone has done a scaling review of the GTX 280, right here.

Inside HW has a quickie on the HD 4830. According to Nebojsa (another one) the card is neck and neck with the 9800GT, but as he says, the pricing at launch is always much higher than the price in exercise a month later, meaning DAAMIT has an advantage when it comes to price/performance. Read it here.

SilentPCReview also has an HD 4830 on the bench. Considering SPCR’s target to be the HTPC crowd, it’s the place to go to find out how noisy these cards are(n’t). Lawrence finds the card to be reasonably power efficient, but noisy when under load. Not something you’d want in the living room, we guess. Read about it, here.

OCIA is replacing one of its LCDs with a debranded HP LCD. Debranded are basically clearance items that sport different brand logos so as not to give the impression the real brand sells at utterly low prices... ie: protecting the price margin on the newer stock. OCIA is buying a 22-incher for just $190, which isn’t at all bad, and Shawn is pretty impressed with the colour fidelity. Read about the debranded one, here. µ