Friday Reviews

Quote

Logitech is a company that should be well known to the readers of ASE Labs. The company specializes in computer peripherals which include their line of mice and keyboards all the way to webcams. The focus of the review is the newest webcam from Logitech, the Quickcam Vision Pro which is billed to be Mac ready with ease. In reality, it works on every operating system.

Quote

As readers of ASE Labs, you know that I have always said that it is very important to have proper backups and have redundant storage. While we have seen the MS2UTN+ from Sans Digital, this new model contains a LCD screen to easily setup and manage the unit. It is really amazing what a two line LCD can give you in terms of piece of mind.

Quote

DDR3 is finally coming to a price where many mainstream system builders will be willing to pay. Manufacturers must provide mainstream DDR3 solutions to fill in the gap between the high end (and inexpensive) DDR2 and the very expensive, high speed DDR3 modules. While the HyperX line from Kingston may not be the mainstream product, the KHX12800D3K2/2G kit is described as the mainstream overclocking kit. It is far cheaper than speedier kits but lacks the tight timings as well. This could be the kit that kicks off DDR3.

Quote

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 retail box is black with red accents. This is the case it should be since ATI graphics are known to be red. Also, red and black are my favorite colors. While the box says it supports some stuff, there is no mention of Linux support even though AMD has said it wants its partners to include a penguin or other open sourcey stuff on the box. The Catalyst 8.6 drivers for Linux support this GPU and were released last month.

Quote

Quote: The BIOS might not offer the most exhaustive set of tweaking options, but you do get more than you might expect. Couple the overclocking potential with onboard reset and power buttons, as well as other desirable features for desktop and HTPC usage, and the GF8200A definitely has an appeal that can cover a wide array of users.

Quote

Today on the review block I've got the Dopod / HTC FM Transmitter with handsfree functions from our friends over at USBFever and it not only enables me to play my mp3s that are stored on my phone through my car stereo, but it features a built in microphone that allows you to use it as a handsfree device...

Quote

Aten, have you ever heard of them? If you haven't, it's not because they are a newcomer to the market place, as they actually have been around for nearly 30 years, but they focus all of their efforts on manufacturing KVM switch solutions. These KVM switches just aren't limited to simple multi-port analog switching, but they have a variety of enterprise-grade switches, IP-based switching, embedded solutions, HDMI switches, and many other products. One of Aten's newest products is the CS1782 DVI KVM Switch, which is designed for homes and small offices and has support for not only handling two systems with keyboard, mouse, and DVI monitor switching, but it goes beyond that to offer surround-sound audio and USB switching as well. In this review we are looking at the Aten CS1782 KVM DVI Switch.

Quote

The rationale behind NVIDIA's decision is that while we need a super powerful graphics card in games, the computer system is actually not going to need all that graphical power while it is running desktop applications. In many cases, enthusiasts are using computers for web browsing, working, and running non-graphically intensive applications. It would be wasteful to have a powerful 3D graphics card sitting idle during these applications, wasting precious electrical power. Thus, by incorporating mGPU and combining it with NVIDIA's Hybrid power, the computer is able to reduce the power usage (and energy bill) by switching off the discrete graphics card and using only the integrated graphics for low-demand applications. When the demand for graphic power increases, the dedicated graphic card will then kick in.

Quote

I have been using Linux in one capacity or another since I first downloaded a Red Hat ISO a number of years ago. What finally allowed me to go full-time with my chosen distro was not so much the progression of hardware detection and self-mounting partitions but the applications. Today, I would like to share some of my personal favorites with you.

Quote

OCZ's EliteXStream 800W is an all-around solid unit. The unit handled our tests without a sweat and held stable even in the harshest environment. As we have seen today, its performance is on par with much more expensive units.

Quote

* *Summer is in full swing here in North America and the temperature outside isn't the only thing starting to really heat up. The battle for DDR3 market share is also becoming a more hotly debated contest with every passing day. The most sought after memory kits out there appear to be 2x2GB PC3-12800 DDR3 modules for their performance and reasonable price. So here at Hardware Canucks, we figured, why not fan those flames and bring in another hot ticket item from one of the favorites in the industry and a first timer here; Mushkin Inc..*

Quote

Over the weekend the Linux 2.6.26 kernel was released. This quarterly update to the Linux kernel introduced Kernel-based Virtual Machine improvements, new One Laptop Per Child support, a new video web camera driver, updates to the Direct Rendering Manager, and other improvements. In this article we have done some quick benchmarks of this new kernel from within the Phoronix Test Suite.

Quote

From the very beginning many of us could have figured the P45 chipset was going to be the chipset of chance as it is price considerably cheaper than the older X38 and the X48. And from the early reviews the P45 overclockers pretty well. We have seen able forum post and web reviews with front side buses reaching the 600MHz range on Core2Duo processors. But for the non-overclockers out there another advantage over the older P35 is the two 8x PCIe slots when attempting to using ATI video cards in Crossfire mode. Today, we will take the EP45-DQ6 through a ring of benchmarks and see what type of FSB numbers we can achieve.

Quote

Today I'm reviewing the Silverstone. I respect Silverstone. Their products are attractive and perform well, but I'm not going to take it easy on the DA850. For this PSU to garner a good review from me, it will have to stay stable while providing power to all my hardware.

Quote

Quote: Overall, the BlueAnt Z9i is a very good headset. We found the noise cancellation to just slightly better than its older sibling the Z9. In a crowded and noisy room, the Z9i will definitely perform better than that of a normal everyday headset. The dual microphones that BlueAnt equipped it with will isolate your voice and suppress background noise. The Jawbone and Plantronics headsets will perform this function much better, but with a much higher list price. When it comes to noise cancellation we have found that you certainly get what you pay for...

Quote

Well before NVIDIA had any plans for DDR3, EPP or Extreme Performance Profile DDR2 memory was making its way into the mainstream. These modules were really designed to work with 680i chipsets, since any AMD solutions have the memory controller moved to the CPU, this eliminated any offerings NVIDIA can give. EPP has made its way into DDR3 with EPP 2.0; this being the DDR3 variation. Today we have Corsair's monster 4GB DDR3 kit (2x2GB) supporting EPP 2.0. Let's see how it copes.

Quote

In short, this inexpensive motherboard is fast, stable, and features a ton of opportunities for expansion. While the lack of firewire is indeed a disappointment, I believe that this can be taken as a non-issue for gamers. Considering the features present, the speeds attained, and the stability of the system overall during the testing procedures, I feel that this motherboard is a good buy if a user is looking to assemble a low cost, reliable gaming machine. It's just a shame that this product doesn't have what it takes to break free of just what it was meant to do, but given the fact that it costs just shy of $110 - or rather, is shockingly cheap, I would say this is a good candidate for the great value award!

Quote

Digital video has become extremely popular with websites like YouTube. With YouTube anyone can upload a video and make it viewable to the world in minutes. YouTube makes it easy for you, but most digital cameras do not. For one some digital cameras only let you take 30-second clips and the usually they are in some weird format that only your camera software can read. So you have to have some knowledge and software to convert the video. Pure Digital, makers of the Flip Video decided to make things easier for you with a standalone digital camcorder that is extremely easy to use. Read on as we check out the Flip Video Ultra!

Quote

It's a tough place to be, having six hundred dollars to spend on a single video card. It's rough, and if you're there, may God have pity on your soul. You're about to buy a GTX 280. Some of the glimmer has blown away; this is the fastest single-GPU card of all time, but HD 4000 is a whirlwind. It's all value, though, and the best has and will always require a price premium. NVIDIA people won't be dissuaded, and the GTX 280, despite competitive pressure, is selling well. A lot of work went into making this a new card, not a streamlined or overclocked G80 part. It's beastly, costly, and if you've any doubts about buying this card, they're warranted. Fortunately, you can know this: it's powerful, and there probably won't be anything like it for some time to come.