8800GT and HD3870 go head to head

EXPREVIEW HAS set up something that you’ve all probably been waiting for: an SLI vs. Crossfire comparison of the 8800GT against the HD3870. You know that if you’re going do a dual graphics card combo, you need these benchies. A Crossfire setup will run cheaper and draw less power than the SLI, and it’ll give you better performance in non-AA and non-AF gaming . All sorts of interesting conclusions drawn there.

These days “green” sells. Plug the word “green” into anything and the consumers will come a-calling. Well, Anandtech picked up two teraboink drives from Seagate and Western Digital (the green plug) and crunched some data on them. Instead of a head-to-head, it’s more of a generation gap feature than a comparison. Seagate’s 7200.11 doesn’t stand up to the competition in the tests (and barely tops its predecessor), but Western Digital does deliver on the green promise.

When in doubt, check your facts. Bit-tech.net gives a full performance/feature/value preview on the Intel X38 and X48 chipsets. In the end it kinda makes us wonder, what’s the shelf life for these chipsets?

Here’s one review that caught our eye. If you’re using the same case for years now, then it’s likely you don’t have much in the way of faceplate connectivity. Vizo came up with a jack of all trades solution for this, the Vizo Master Panel II… a 5,25” unit that provides you with every connection/control imaginable (almost). It’ll restore some life to your featureless faceplate. We just wonder if they make these in beige?

If you’ve got the hots for Enemy Territory Quake Wars, and are looking for an 8800GT card for your gaming rig, the EVGA e-Geforce 8800GT KO, a factory oc’d card could do the trick – high-end performance with a default OC, plus a copy of ETQW to boot. Check out this plaice here for the review.

Xbit Labs attempts to bridge the gap between the mainstream and high-end graphics cards on the market, resorting to an HD2900 Pro card. If you can get hold of one for around $250, then it’s a definite buy – it’ll provide you near HD2900 XT-class performance and spank a little bit of 8800GTS in non-AA/AF settings (déjà vu?).

Binning isn’t what it used to be. AMD made sure of that with the release of its “Black Box Edition” CPU’s. Enthusiasts can pick up these branded CPU’s at a small premium over the non-BBE parts, and have their way with them. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re guaranteed to do a lot with the CPU, mind you, as Josh from Penstarsys discovered with an Athlon X2 5000+ Black Box Edition.

Techgage has posted their own Yuletide buyer’s-guide-a-thon. It’s a strictly mobo+cpu affair so don’t expect to find something to gift your loved ones – unless they’re geeks.

Silverstone is a well-known case manufacturer, in particular in the HTPC arena. Thinkcomputers.org got their hands on the Temjin TJ09, a standard sized ATX mid-tower case, that proves to be an OC’ers delight. Like the man says, for $125 it’s the cheapest case he’s seen from Silverstone and one of the best, meriting the 10/10 score. µ