Sapphire HD 4850 X2 reviewed

THAT FUNDAMENTAL LAW every action having an equal and opposite reaction is true, even in GPU terms. With NV tootin’ the GTX 260 Core 216, AMD is taking the wraps off the HD 4850 X2 (at PC Perps). Now, according to Ryan, only Sapphire carries this part and the reason why is the motive of much speculation. Getting down to business, Ryan writes that the card beats the GTX 280 in all tests, and undercuts the price by about $10 at launch. The card also supports four monitors which might give multi-monitor freaks a bit of a thrill. Read it here.

Xbit and Driver Heaven have both produced some new articles on the much-discussed GTX 260 Core 216. However, things go in opposite directions. While Xbit shows something much more akin to a draw between both competitors – not resorting to the “top five NV games list”, Driver Heaven pretty much labels Nvidia the winner in the face-off.

Some basic differences in the test setups too, but it all boils down to driver tweaking for certain titles and to certain effect, like AA performance and 2560x1600 where ATI was dominating. You can find the Xbit Labs article, here, and the Driver Heaven one, here.

Tweak Town is giving further attention to Intel’s Core i7 memory controller. The third memory channel has been put into question more than once, as it is currently offering very little performance gains over a dual channel setup. However, Cameron thinks that Core i7 could’ve gone without the third channel right now (we guess they’re saving it for Larrabee, or sumfink). Find out what’s going on, here.

Georgie boy at Hillbilly Hardware is testing the Gigabyte EP45C-DS3R. This board offers good performance and great features, including DDR2 and DDR3 support, meaning you can buy it and pack it with cheap DDR2 right now, and later move onto DDR3 as prices come down. It’s pretty cheap for something that’ll take an EE processor but, then again, prices are tumbling on the “old” Intel chipsets... Read it here.

Digital Versus (the English counterpart to the French Les Numériques) has some top notch CPU coolers on review. In typical DV way their article branches out to little individual reviews in the main window, so just click on the product photos to access a blurb, video review and audio on the fans. Pricing is also spot on. Check the CPU coolers on display, here.

Considering the 790GX chipset is the foundation for AMD’s next CPU shrink, you’ll be interested in reading what it has to offer. Motherboards.org has a review of the ECS A790GXM-A Black which, although still AM2+, has a ton of features for as little as $120. Graphics, HDMI port, Sideport memory, full Phenom support... not half-bad. Check it out.

Notebook Review is looking at that kinky kit from Toshiba, the Qosmio X305-Q708, a big old 17-incher with an Intel quad-core processor inside. Now the aesthetics are bound to get a reaction, you’ll either love it or hate it. The display is its major Achilles’ heel, as the 17-inch screen only has 1680x1050... you’d expect full HD 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 at this size, by now. Still, bulky, chunky, call it what you may... If you enjoy carrying around a laptop the size and shape of an 80s boombox this one’s for you. µ