July 11th, 2008
Neoseeker reviews the VisionTek HD 4850 graphics card and gives it the “Editor’s Choice” award, writing in the final thoughts:
Overall, there isn’t all that much negative to say about the HD4850 — the engineers at ATI really crafted a fine piece of work here, and they should be proud of themselves. This product must have succeeded in reaching all of their internal goals — or possibly well surpassed them.
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With this particular HD4850 from VisionTek, you also get the added benefit of an extended warranty, and a toll free tech support line in case you run into any trouble. If I really had to pick flaws with this card I’d say its just a bit too hot, and consequently, not much of an overclocker; but in the face of all the good things about the VisionTek Radeon HD4850, it easily deserves the highest of accolades.
Read the full review of the VisionTek HD4850 graphics card at Neoseeker
Posted in Graphics
June 22nd, 2008
Overclockersclub reviews the ASUS P5Q Deluxe motherboard based on the new Intel P45 chipset. This board supports DDR2 memory only but comes packed with tons of features like ASUS EPU Energy Saving and ASUS Express Gate. Overclockersclub gives the ASUS P5Q Deluxe the “OCC Gold” award and writes in the final thoughts:
The overclocked performance scaled nicely as the clock speeds were increased, making one fast combo. Overclocking really could not be easier with the P5Q Deluxe. Basically set the timings, adjust the Vcore and memory voltage to what they need, and overclock away. The potential is there if you spend the time to go after it. The BIOS and performance can only get better from here, and as this platform matures, I expect to see big things from it.
The Green features of the P5Q Deluxe make energy savings a reality. The system used less energy when the EPU-6 Engine’s settings were set to provide maximum savings. While under load, running the F@H SMP client and playing Bioshock, I had no performance issues or lockups caused by a lack of power. The savings generated by the EPU and the EPU-6 Engine are determined by the way you allow the system to work. In the energy conscious world we live in, each little bit of energy savings puts those dollars back into our pockets. We buy new energy efficient appliances for our homes, why not do the same for the toys as well? The Asus P5Q Deluxe has plenty of features, and has performance that will only get better. With an attractive price tag of around $200, the price to performance ratio is much better than some of the $400+ boards on the market right now. With this board you can’t go wrong.
Read the full review of the ASUS P5Q Deluxe motherboard at Overclockersclub
Posted in Motherboard
June 12th, 2008
HardOCP Enthusiast reviews the ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe motherboard based on Intel’s new P45 chipset. Here is an excerpt of the final thoughts:
ASUS looks to have again built a monster of a motherboard that is not based on a “flagship” chipset. The P5Q3 showed to have a great layout, extremely good overclocking prowess, and was stable as well. While the P5Q3 showed some of the best performance we have seen in a motherboard to date, there is no doubt that improvements can be made in the areas of ease-of-overclocking, stability, and certainly hard drive compatibility. We will likely take another look at this board when ASUS can report to us that these nagging issue have been attended to. For a non-flagship motherboard that is priced around the $235 to $260 mark currently, I simply expect more.
Read the full review of the ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe motherboard at HardOCP
Posted in Motherboard
May 29th, 2008
Tweaktown reviews the Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler and gives it a final rating of 95%. Here’s an excerpt of the conclusion:
The NH-C12P is currently leading out performance boards and the factory fan is very quiet. Now that Noctua has a cooler that is not as tall as the Statue of Liberty, I can recommend one of their coolers for use in a home theater PC. Since many HTPCs are only around six to eight inches tall, most of the Noctua coolers will not work in a small enclosure.
The 55 US Dollar price is very attractive for this class of cooler. Many enthusiast coolers cost more, in some cases considerably more and yet they deliver less performance than the NH-C12P.
Read the full review of the Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler at Tweaktown.
Posted in Cooling
May 26th, 2008
Techgage reviews the Palit GeForce 9600GSO Sonic graphics card which features 768MB of DDR3 memory but only a 192-bit memory bus. Techgage writes in the conclusion:
If money is no real issue and you happen to have $150 to spend, the GSO can still be considered, and that’s why things are confusing. If you happen to play games that thrive on more stream processors (Crysis, STALKER), then it might be a good buy, but you have to choose carefully. Overall, the GT will perform better in the majority of games, while the GSO will excel in very few. So when in doubt, the GT will be a better deal.
If you are on a tight budget and happen to need a new card, then the GSO would make a good choice… as long as it’s priced right at launch. This particular Palit card should only carry a $10 premium, I’ve been told, so it looks to be the best GSO offering out there at launch, making it even more worthwhile. Throw in some overclocking, and it’s just as impressive as a 9600 GT, and more so in some cases.
Read the full review of the Palit GeForce 9600GSO Sonic 768MB graphics card at Techgage
Posted in Graphics