Intel Woodcrest has a controversial launch

THIS REVIEW is going to make a certain amount of noise. GamePC reviews the Intel Woodcrest Xeon processor. It has already been pretty controversial at Sharikou's Journal of Pervasive 64 bit computing blog, which some have said is pro-AMD. Based on the Core architecture, it is not HT compatible but performancewise, it matches and even surpasses what AMD's current best processors. Bear in mind when watching the benchmarks, that the processors tested are mid range models, not top of the range.

The Intel Xeon Woodcrest is also under the limelight at Tomshardware. The 5100 being tested runs at 3GHz and comes with 4MB cache. Performance is very good. However, it is quite ironic that Intel is now faced with the same problem that AMD had a few years ago when it tried with great difficulties to impose the Opteron. Intel has a completely new architecture that even if it is superior will have to depend on a solid platform to succeed. For now, AMD has the upper hand, but never underestimate Intel.

3DXtreme.net tests the Coolermaster Mystique 631 ATX Mid Tower casing. It is an aluminium mid tower casing weighing not that much. It looks great with 10 hidden and exposed bays and a brushed finish. it has two 120mm fans to cool those hot processors. Interestingly, it comes with a screwless design, washable front air filters and many little details that makes it more than a nice casing. 3DX has no qualms about recommending it to others.

Overclockers online reviews a rather peculiar motherboard. The EpOx EP-9U1697 GLI model comes with a ULI M1697 chipset which supports SLI, although not officially. Anyway, ULI has been acquired recently by Nvidia. The board comes with the usual features of a midrange motherboard. You'll find 5.1 audio capabilities, 10/100Mb LAN and even an LED Debug display. Even if it is not aiming high, it does provide more than a match for the more expensive nForce 4 SLI chipset, which is probably one of the reasons why Nvidia bought it.

The Ultra MicroFly mATX case is examined at Virtual Hideout. It looks like one of those supersized SFF Antec cases but comes with a few differences. There's space for standard depth optical drives and ATX power supplies but only space for mATX cases. There's a temperature display and a hidden handle as well as two fans to cool everything. You've got five bays and four expansion slots. Great case.

Rahul Sood has an entry on its weblog called The rabbit and the hare. Knowing Rahul, you can guess that he's writing about Intel and AMD. The Rabbit being AMD. Rahul also hints that ATI is going to benefit enormously from Conroe's launch. Whether it is true is something that we will have to see. We already know that AMD and Nvidia are having a lot of fun together, so we might expect Intel and ATI to get serious and produce Quad Crossfire sometimes in the future... As if. µ