NL: Intel 980x Gulftown Roundup

Intel has just unleashed the next beast of their processor lineup.

- Intel 980x Gulftown @ OC3D
- Intel i7 980x (Extreme) @ Bjorn3D
- Intel I7-980X Gulftown Six Core Processor Review @ Tweaknews
- Core i7-980X CPU Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Intel's new Gulftown Six Core CPU meets LN2 Extreme Cooling @ Tweaktown
- Intel Core i7 980X 6 Core Gulftown CPU Review @ Motherboard
- Intel's Core i7-980X Extreme Edition - Ready for Sick Scores? @ Techgage
- Intel's Core i7-980X Extreme processor reviewed at TR
- Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Six-Core 32nm Processor Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Intel Core i7 980X Performance Comparision @ ocaholic

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G.Skill PC3-18400 (2300MHz) PI Series 4GB Kit

Looks like G.Skill is going to level 11 with their new PI Series ram with 2300MHz. Gotta love the spirit of the enthusiast pushing it faster. The large fins on this ram looks pretty cool as well.

"When I think of memory companies that want nothing but speed, only a few really come to mind and one of them would have to be G.Skill. While so many companies these days produce high end memory, we only really see a few leading the pack and when I say that I mean we see the same few companies ahead of everyone with most other companies playing catch up when it comes to speed.

While most companies are sitting around the PC3-17600 mark these days, G.Skill as always has kicked it up a notch with a PC3-19200 kit and a PC3-18400 one which we have on hand today. Like most high performance memory kits at the moment, the modules are aimed at P55 platforms due to them coming in dual-channel packets."

I think you'll need a serious chip and board to handle this speed.

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Another World-Exclusive: Lian Li PC-T1R Spider @ techPowerUp

I have always liked the sleek aluminum style of the Lian-Li cases, but this one is way out there. So how long till we see people painting this orange and calling is a Headcrab from Half-Life?

Here's Lian Li being Lian Li. The PC-T1 is an open mini-ITX chassis, which is one of the most wacky cases on the planet: it looks like a spider when assembled. Being the case that it is, we wanted to look into the belly of the beast and see if the menacing looks are coupled with the kind of engineering required to pull such a design off.

Remember, that if you make the Headcrab out of this and do not post it at Ninjalane. We will hunt you down, and do horrible things to you much like the headcrabs.

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ASUS HD 5870 Matrix 2GB & ASUS HD 5870 "V2" Sneak Peek @ Hardware Canucks

I am really diggin the new heatsink looks form Asus here on the Radeon HD5870. Check out 2gigs of ram and direct contact heatpipes on the heatsink. They are even going to replace the reference design with a sweet looking new board. 

"Lately, there has been a lot of talk about upcoming overclocked and 2GB HD 5800 series cards which will see the light of day in the next few months. In this sneak peak, we take a look at the ASUS HD 5870 Matrix that has high clock speeds as well as a massive amount of memory and a new custom design which ASUS will use to replace their reference HD 5870 cards with."

Alright let me get you a pic to tease you with.

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DimasTech Bench Table V2.5 @ techPowerUp

For years I have been using a hacked up Antec case as my primary test bench, and so far it has worked great.  So great in fact, I can say that only a single motherboard has been lost on the bench after I burned up a chipset trying to reach 250Mhz FSB.  (Which I did attain by the way)

I have recently decided that the ole test bench needed and upgrade so I pay careful attention to reviews like this, only to become disappointed in what test bench options there are.  Heck, they even broke this one during testing.

Dimastech is continuously updating their Benchtable and listening to the feedback of both users and reviewers. The V2.5 simplifies many aspects of assembly, while adding new and useful features to the Benchtable. We take a close look at what it has to offer and at the improvements, to see if it is a worthy successor.

Not saying I can build one better, but by golly I'm a gonna do it.  Stay tuned for details and build log.  (btw I'm serious about doing a mod this time, )

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Gigabyte GV-567OC-1GI Radeon HD 5670 Videocard Review @ PCStats

Factory overclocking is a great way to feel like you are getting a little something for nothing.  Sometimes you have to wonder if the additional boost is really worth all of that trouble.    As we noted in our review of the Gigabyte 5670 and proven with our HWBot scores, any overclock is better than no overclock.

Gigabyte has designed a slightly overclocked (+10MHz) version of the Radeon HD 5670 videocard called the GV-567OC-1GI. ATI has produced several 'sweet spot' videocards over the past year like the Radeon HD 4870, 4850 and 4770, and through aggressive pricing and new manufacturing techniques ATI has managed to get all of these videocards into that $100-$150 'sweet spot' that net excellent gaming performance at a cut-rate price. Will the GV-567OC-1GI be worthy to join such hallowed company?

Gigabyte calls this card the Transformer, yet features a sexy cartoon female on their packaging, go figure.

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Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red PC3-12800 Memory Kit Review @ OCIA

There are several unfortunate things about this review.  First and foremost it is almost impossible to find the next and back buttons in this review, so don't feel bad if you only can only read the first page.  Next it is sad that even though these modules feature super sweet and sexy slick red heat spreaders and fancy dancing red LEDs, the modules are only rated at 12800. 

Crucial under its parent company Micron has been producing high quality, standard spec computer memory for more than 30 years. Although a latecomer to the performance marketplace, Crucial has not disappointed their fans and has built quite a name for its Ballistix line of memory over the last six years, beginning with their high speed DDR up through DDR2 and now DDR3. The Tracer series adds an interesting twist, that of LED activity lighting on the memory sticks themselves, useful for indicating memory utilization and also just for the bling factor. The memory I have for review today is the red version of Crucial's latest Ballistix Tracer series, in a 2x2Gb kit of PC3-12800 8-8-8-24.

Even though I was never offered a kit by the company that shares the same hometown as me, I "might" still buy a set.  

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NL: Review Block - Cases and Coolers

Here are a few Cases and Coolers that happened to land in the news box.

Cases
- Xclio Nighthawk @ PureOverclock

Coolers
- Gelid Solutions Tranquillo @ LanOC Reviews
- Thermaltake Contac 29 Direct Touch CPU Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews
- XtremeGear HP-1216B HSF Review at Overclockers Online
- Thermaltake ISGC-300 CPU Cooler Review @ Tweaknews
- Danamics LMX Liquid Metal CPU Cooler Review @ Real World Labs
- Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler Review @ BayReviews

Be sure to check out our latest review the Thermaltake SpinQ VT, quite the silent heat killa.

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Gigabyte H55M Reviews

There are some interesting things to note about the new Core processors from Intel (Core i7 and Core i5).  Core i7 comes in 2 different socket configurations that also require completely different chipsets.  Core i5 comes in 2 "core" configurations but share the same socket requirements but require different chipsets depending on what features you are intending to use.

P55 and H55 are the current 1156 enabled chipsets (Core i5).  P55 is the mainstream option for desktop systems without onboard graphics.  H55 is basically the same thing but enables you to use the on-die GPU found in some Core i5 processors.(the dual core ones)

Gigabyte currently has one of the most popular H55 motherboards on the market, and here we have a couple of reviews for you to look over.

- Gigabyte H55M-S2H Budget 1156 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
- Gigabyte H55M-USB3 - The Ultimate $100 H55 Board? @ Techgage

We're still waiting for our H55 sample, but we hope to see it real soon.

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ASUS RoG Maximus III Extreme LGA 1156 Motherboard Preview @ Hardware Canucks

ASUS is such a big company its sometimes hard to remember that they actually still do some enthusiast and workstation class computer hardware.

ASUS has long been known for their Republic of Gamers series of motherboards and while they have products already in place for both of Intel’s P55 and X58 platforms, they felt it was time to take things to the next level.  The Maximus III Extreme follows closely in the footsteps of the original Maximus III Formula but adds a bevy of new features that are sure to make enthusiasts go weak in the knees.

Gotta love their color scheme, it's almost like everyone else had the same idea.

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STOP! Using the latest 196.75 NVidia Drivers

Looks like some people video cards are getting fried from the fan running to slow with this new driver. So NVidia has put on there Facebook page to stop using the new driver and rollback to the 196.21 versions.

"NVIDIA We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our website. Thanks, and stay tuned for updates."

You have now been warned!

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Fake Intel Core i7 920s at the Egg

Well this is a warning to everyone. If you bought a Intel Core i7 920 recently from Newegg open the box right away if you haven't. Looks like somefake CPU have been sent out. Looks like Newegg is taking care of the situation very well. Here is an article over at HardOCP that seems to sum up the problem very well.

Newegg Selling Fake Intel CPUs

"Did you just order an Intel Core i7-920 CPU from Newegg? Have you opened the box yet to check and see what is inside of it? We highly suggest you do." 

Here is an image of the fake heatsink used. We borrowed from HardOCP.

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NL: PC Game Reviews Roundup

Here is one of those new PC games getting reviews done now for everyone to read.

Aliens vs Predator (PC) @ GamingHeaven

"People who grew up in the eighties know two things - the first being that Aliens was amazing and the second being that Predator was also amazing. This would lead anyone from that time to arrive at the conclusion that combining the two would be very much a wining idea. So it proved across various systems, the nostalgia mash-up delivering what many of us had hoped for down the years."

Aliens vs. Predator (PC) @ TweakPC

We took a look at Rebellions Aliens vs. Predator. Classical gameplay, nice graphics, so all good? Let's see!  

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ASUS TUF SaberTooth 55i @ Bjorn3D

This board has everything to make it look cool and even has the cool name of SaberTooth. Still does the features and the overclocking potential make this an awesome board? Let's read on to find out.

We over at Bjorn3D.com are going to be looking at one of ASUS's newest additions to their motherboard line up. This motherboard is built upon ASUS's outstanding continuation of high quality and their attention to detail. This motherboard uses Intel's P55 chipset, like other motherboards based on the this chipset, the ASUS Sabertooth 55i motherboard can support any 1156 socket CPU. It can be configured to run either Nvidia's multi GPU configuration SLI, or ATI's multi GPU configuration Crossfire X. But like all other P55 based motherboards, this motherboard only supports Dual Channel memory.

The ceramic heatsinks is just to cool.

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WD SiliconEdge Blue 256GB SSD Review @ HotHardware

Well the time has come for the big boys of Hard Drive land to step in the SSD market. Looks like Western Digital has the first foot in. Let's see what WD has to offer us end users.

"Storage is going solid state and the move to acquire Silicon Systems back in March of 2009, was a very deliberate course of action for WD that spoke clearly about their intentions. We've heard rumblings of offerings forthcoming from WD's primary competitor, Seagate, as well but today WD makes it real with their new SiliconEdge line of SSD products. We've taken a 256GB SiliconEdge Blue drive out for a spin, or perhaps lack thereof, and have our impressions posted on the pages ahead of WD's first foray into solid state drive technology..."

Wonder where the other guys are at?

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Indilinx Barefoot Firmware Testing with the RunCore Pro IV SSD @ Tweaktown

With all of the problems with some of the Seagate hard drives I don't think it is to uncommon anymore to update your Hard Drives Firmware. Still it is rare to see many of the manufactures showing the newest firmware for there drives. So this is a good educational article for people.

"When we first tested the RunCore Pro IV solid state drives we had no idea that the Indilinx Barefoot firmware would be updated more often than your typical motherboards BIOS. Some people may be a little disheartened by this since it can be a pain to update firmware every couple of months, but for the most part enthusiasts welcome the additional features and with them performance advantages that come from the latest in technological achievements.

When it comes to firmware updates for solid state drives, the company that manufactured your drive DOES MATTER! While going back through my collection of drives to update them to the latest firmware, I found several manufacturers that either do not list publically new firmware updates or are so outdated that it isn't even worth the hassle. TweakTown has looked at more SSDs over the past year than any other hardware review site, so we have quite a few to play around with on any given day."

Free performance sweet.

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EVGA W555 Information Round Up

This isn't really a review style round up but more of an informational post about the forthcoming dual board from EVGA.

We of course got to see the board first hand at CES and even talked with Shamino about the various aspects, limitations, and available options.  As many have guessed this is a dual Xeon board so you'll need dual Xeon processors 

Techgage posted a mini-rant related to the EVGA W555 in response to a posting over at Bright Side of News, (which is nothing more than a FAQ / Q&A).

There is one lucky guy to have already gotten one of these super sweet boards, Movieman over at XtremeSystems scored the sweet deal of a lifetime, and has pics to prove it.  The story broke in several places at once.  Wrigleyvillain was nice enough to post the good news in the Ninjalane Message Forum, while the HWBot guys micro-blogged on twitter about the good news.

Sadly, no W555 for us just quite yet, but we have our fingers crossed, 4 leave clovers nearby, and credit card on standby (for procs. mems, and cards) just waiting for the much anticipated release.

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Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX Motherboard @ TechwareLabs

AMD has just released that new 890GX/SB850 chipset that brings with it the ability to use the new 6-core Phenom. II. That is not all they also are first to the gate with USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0Gb/s native on the chipset. So check out this awesome Gigabyte board sporting all the new technology.

"Check out the new Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H Motherboard. This is Gigabytes first board to include AMDs new 8-series chipset, the 890GX. Check out what's the future holds inside! The new Phenom II X6, Thuban will also be supported by the 890GPA-UD3H."

Nice jump in front for a little bit for AMD.

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Asus P7P55D-E Premium motherboard review @ APH Networks

Talk about breaking one of the 7 deadly sins.

Taking a look around the CPU socket area reveals an impressive array of chokes. You don't even need to count them to see that there's a serious quantity of them on the CPU voltage regulator circuit! Asus specifies a 48 Hybrid Phase power design on the P7P55D-E Premium, which is calculated by a 32-phase power design for the processor, three for the memory controller on the processor, and additional phases over the T.Probe to balance current over these phases.

The only question now is, how much of that hybrid PMW is always in use, and is the extra cost worth the effort?  I mean it doesn't even support triple GPUs. 

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ASUS X58 Rampage III Extreme Motherboard Preview @ Legit Reviews

Looks like someone got ahold of a new board without any stock heatsinks. I love the passive Zalman heatsink strapped on to this board. From the read it looks like this board is a overclocking beast. 

"I'm rather glad ASUS stuck with the Rampage Extreme branding as it lets me say stuff like EEEEXXXXTRRREEEEMMMMMEEE in daily conversation. I know in just writing this article I've mumbled that to myself a half-dozen times with a grin on my face. I have a feeling the Rampage III Extreme will be another board that goes down in the history books for high performance. The ASUS R3E motherboard though won't be limited in appreciation to just those people who benchmark with liquid nitrogen and dry ice. A lot of thought was put into the layout and the fact that it has an ATX form factor height means it'll enable 4-way CrossFire in a normal ATX case unlike the EVGA X58 Classified 4-Way SLI which fits in only a handful of cases..."

I just not feeling it when I say Extreme.

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