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Motherboards.org reviews the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 dual core CPU and writes in the final thoughts:

The E8500 is a worthy successor to the Core 2 Duo CPUs released earlier by Intel, with faster clock speeds, higher amount of L2 cache and all of the technologies that are supported by current Intel CPUs including SSE 4, XD, Virtualization Technology and more. At the high end of the Intel CPU spectrum is the QX9775 Quad Core on the Skulltrail platform, but not everyone wants to buy the most expensive solution on the market.

The E8500 is the fastest Core 2 Duo solution on the market with the clock speed set at 3.16GHz, fully 266MHz higher than the next fastest E series CPU. For a MSRP on the Intel CPU price list of $266 this makes an affordable solution for those not wanting to spend $999 on an Intel CPU like the QX9770 that’s upcoming. Dual Core CPUs like the E8500 are excellent choices for the everyday user. The E8500 also overclocks like a beast reaching 4.389 GHz, a nearly 40% overclock on normal air-cooling. Other people have reached over 4.5GHz on theirs. Dual Core processors still have a market as only the Q6600 Core 2 Quad CPU reaches this level of price but performance on the E8500 beats that CPU in many cases.

Read the full review of the Intel E8500 CPU at Motherboards.org

Tweaktown reviews the Zotac GeForece 9800 GX2 graphics card and gives it a final rating of 93%, writing in the conclusion:

ZOTAC have done some magic with the package as well by including not only a full version game but also a decent length HDMI cable for those of you who want to make use of the HDMI connectivity out of the box.

At the moment it looks like the main difference between the GX2 cards on the market include the bundle and the package that comes with them. They all seem to follow the reference clocks and cooler. The ZOTAC manages to stand out a bit more than normal in the package department thanks to the extras included, and it may be put at the top of the list for this reason.

Read the full review of the Zotac GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card at Tweaktown.

Hardwarezone reviews the MSI N9600GT-T2D512-OC graphics card which is powered by nVidia’s GeForce 9600GT GPU. This MSI card comes pre-overclocked and features an improved two-slot cooler. Hardwarezone gives a final rating of 4.5 out of 5 and writes in the conclusion:

To distinguish itself, MSI has gone through its book of tricks, from overclocking the N9600GT-T2D512-OC to having a custom cooler. The usual MSI proprietary software and applications are mostly missing however, so another ‘Diamond’ edition may be in the works, with features like CoreCell, D.O.T and likely even higher clock speeds. The present version we have now however works at giving users excellent value. No doubt, it is hardly the fastest card, or the quietest or even the coolest. Yet, from our results, it has scored well in all these aspects, making it a well rounded GeForce 9600 GT.

Finally, its value is best exemplified by the very competitive S$299 local price. At this price, one could probably get a basic standard clock GeForce 9600 GT with little frills, though ASUS’ Glaciator equipped GeForce 9600 GT at the same price, does pose an attractive counteroffer to the MSI. The clincher is as we mentioned, a combination of factors that make the MSI an above average choice for those doing comparison shopping. Coupled with the reliability and warranty support of an established vendor, the choice is none too difficult.

Read the full review of the MSI N9600GT-T2D512-OC at Hardwarezone.

Tweaktown reviews the Palit GeForce 9600GT Sonic Edition graphics card and gives it an impressive final rating of 96%. Here is an excerpt of the conclusion:

This card is just truly kick ass, and Palit have gone out of the way to offer something that stands out from the competition. There is no doubt that this card has the potential to sell well, and with the aggressive pricing we see from Palit the card would suit everyone from a person who enjoys gaming to someone who wants to be display-proof to someone who’s just looking for an awesome card to suit their HTPC which is also capable of doing a bit of gaming.

This card really sets the benchmark for the 9600GT and it’s going to be hard to beat. Palit have done an excellent job of the card and no doubt it’s going to be the card of choice for anyone who wants a card that offers an all round experience that covers everything from outputs to out of the box performance. The Palit 9600GT Sonic is probably going to be the card for you!

Read the full review of the Palit GeForce 9600GT Sonic at Tweaktown.

Bit-Tech reviews the XFX nForce 780i SLI motherboardand gives it a final rating of 7/10, writing in the conclusion:

The nForce 780i SLI suffers from stuff that just hasn’t been updated; no solid aluminium capacitors, no re-FABed chipsets on a cooler process, no updated BIOS flashing utilities, no overclocking safe guards and not even a CMOS button.

Even though the XFX nForce 780i SLI performs well, is stable and looks good, it just simply lacks in features I’d expect an enthusiast board to have. I can’t help but want to look elsewhere to the Tier One manufacturers for a quiet solution that is better kitted out.

Read the full review of the XFX nForce 780i SLI motherboard at Bit-Tech.