EPU vs. DES: Requiem

EVEN THOUGH Asus and Gigabyte came to hugging and kissing, Legit Reviews is picking the scab a bit and is trying to figure out which of the power saving feature sets is more efficient. You get to look at some of the gory slides freom the Gigabyte presentation – sex, lies and powerpoint. Jason thinks Asus’ offering is better, but they are both improvements over previous generation mobos, meaning the consumer wins either way. A power-full article. Catch it here.

With consumers going berserk with the number of new graphics cards on the shelves, Adrian at TechARP has deemed it time to update his Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide. Currently in its v14.3 incarnation, you can find all the secret-ish details on the cards – and that would include the HD 4670, HD 4650 (RV730), HD 4470 and HD 4450 (RV710), as well as the “plus” version of the 9800GTX+. Look at the new specs, here.

Overclockers Online have a review of Samsung’s Syncmaster 2263UW panel. It’s a feature-packed screen that includes webcam (3.0 megapixel!), speakers and a USB hub, to provide some added functionality. Anthony, however, thought the image and colour quality were well beyond good. The 2263UW uses a D-Sub, HDMI and a DVI-D connector (cable included) – HDCP infected, of course. Sit back and read the article.

TweakTown is testing an XFX 790i Ultra SLI mobo. This is pretty much the Rolls-Royce of Nvidia chipets allowing you to stick in absolutely everything that comes to mind, from tri-SLI setups to 7-drive HD arrays. The reference chipset cooling used by XFX isn’t as efficient as MSI’s but it’s stil a cool customer. There isn’t much more for partners to do other than implement reference designs as they are, thinks Cameron, as they’re good as is. Read on.

German site, Planet 3DNow, has done a lengthy article on the Atom-powered Medion Akoya E1210 UMPC. Medion is a big name in PC retail in German-speaking countries andis well known across Europe. The Akoya is in fact a rebranded MSI Wind U100 lappie. Planet3DNow says the secret to the Atom is to be “not fast, but fast enough”. You can find the original in German here, or English here.

Hot Hardware has a small-ish preview of Nehalem garnered from a presentation in New York. The Nehalem demo system is quite interesting as it’s built into an Origen HTPC case, with 12.1” touchscreen and what looks like wood paneling. The insides are even more interesting, even though HH is barred from publishing numbers, you’ve got a massive triple-DIMM system running two 80GB (Intel) SSDs in RAID 0 on an X58 mobo. Wicked fast says Marco. Take a look at the goodies, here.