AGEIA's PPU kimono removed

ANANDTECH has an objective, unbiased and open look at the first retail ULI 1695 chipset based motherboard. The Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 - already on sale in UK - supports both PCI Express and AGP 8x natively and provides with exceptional performance at a rock bottom price. With a CPU Future upgrade slot - read M2 socket, PCIe performance that rocks the boat and puts more expensive boards to shame and features including SATA2 and NCQ, this board is a real winner.

FiringSquad builds a $1000 Gaming PC excluding the OS and delivery. It is an upgrade rather than a full computer. But even with a budget limited to $1000, it offers some surprising oomph. The 3500+ coupled to the 7800GT proves to be a winning combination for those who enjoy gaming but want to do it on a budget.

GDhardware has an interview with Andy Keane which is the marketing Guru of Ageia, which is on the verge of releasing the first PPU, PhysX. That guy is an ex 3DFX FYI. Surprisingly, the first card will be a PCI card - rather than a PCIe one - and will retail for a hefty $249, in addition of course to your primary graphics card. Will game developers follow though? Stay tune for more.

Trustedreviews tests another motherboard from Foxconn, the 955X7AA-8EKRS2 which is a 955 based motherboard. No fancy lights and pretty much conservative design. Eight SATA connectors, two GbE Connectors, Firewire 400/800 support plus USB 2.0 and 7.1 HDA support. Reasonable price and a good perfomance makes it a good buy for those looking to build a Dual core or XE platform.

Driverheaven reviews the Alienware Aurora 7500 and finds it so huge that they were able to put an adult in the delivery box. Apart from the Alienware Goodies, you also get a T-Shirt. The Aurora 7500 is impressively build as one can guess from Alienware and with the help of an X2 4400+ and a dual 7800GTX, it leaves DH test system in the dust with a perfomance delta exceeding 40% in most cases.

Laptoplogic compares the /the Dothan to the Turion in a laptop setting. What's the difference? A substantial one as the Dothan is held back more when compared to the Turion. If battery life is what you're after, then choose the Dothan but if performance is more important, then the Turion is without challenge. Particularly interesting also is the user comments which are very enlighting. Well worth a look. µ