In a unique mixture of “enclosure” and “test-bed”, the Antec Skeleton casing confounded the reviewers here at HWM with its zany design and unique take on the vagaries of computer component – housing. The “Skeleton” name is a perfect fit for this “enclosure” as it seems as if it lost its skin somewhere along the production process – not having any side, top, front or even rear panels in the traditional sense. Instead, Antec has put in its own spin on the open “test bed” structure and come up with this very individual casing.

                                             An open-air extravaganza!

It’s the mark of a maturing PC components market that there are now more videocard brands in than there are honest MMDA personnel. Competition is always a good thing, and the companies that jump into our local market already know that there is always a chance to make it big and sell thousands of units a month, that is, if they can find that special mix of price and performance that is so important to our penny-pinching enthusiasts. Manli , with their 9600GT videocard duo, may be hitting a sweet spot here.

                                              The two 9600GTs from Manli, one overclocked, the other stock.

In the well-beaten path of conventional tech writing, we inevitably see descriptions of devices with adjectives like “innovative”, forward-looking”, and “nifty”, but that was before this editor saw this device. Fashioned by Jamie O’Shea of the “Office for the Development of Substitute Materials”, this prosthetic/accessory set for the pedestrian who’s always in danger of falling asleep on his/her feet allows for a vertical sleeping arrangement, and is naturally called “The Vertical Bed”.

Nvidia’s  forte has always been on the graphics side of the business, and truth be told, while it has had a lot of hits with its chipset releases, such as the 680i and the more recent 780i, Nvidia cannot achieve the same market coverage as other competitors with their larger pool of resources.

As always with Zotac, they were one of the first to come up with a sample of the hotly anticipated Nvidia 9500 GT based videocard, and not just a run-of-the-mill model; they had an AMP! edition ready for us to torture and feed into our test bench. We take a look at the budget card based on the latest Nvidia 9000 series architecture.

The Asus Extreme Rampage first tickled my fancy with its cheesy, toys-for-boys name, but that impression soon dissolved when I laid eyes on the slick heatpipe system and menacing black visage of the demo unit sent to us for review and testing. And I don’t mind saying, this is the first in a long while that we tested the overclocking capabilities of a motherboard to any great length – the features, technologies, the sheer number of marketing catch-phrases and even the “Designed for Overclocking” imprinted all around its box will make it a crime to not spend some quality time trying to burn down our test bench’s components.

Variety is the spice of life, or so they say, but only if that spicy something tastes right on the tongue. Then again, perhaps being different is seemingly enough of a draw that local desktop and notebook manufacturer Red Fox has created the WizBook, specifically the 10-inch model.

                                              The RedFox WizBook. Yes, the battery protrudes from the main body.
 

It’s not often that modders are content with the out-of-the-box experience - in most cases changes and add-ons are implemented to either improve the looks, performance, efficiency or usability of a product. In the case of the Thermaltake DuOrb, only a single point was improved from stock, and even that point depends on the modder’s taste.

Leave it to Asus to find the sweet spot where consumer desires and hardware capabilities converge. The Asus Essentio CS5110 is a small form-factor PC with big multi-media tendencies. Thanks to Asus, these tendencies are fully realized with their inclusion of a full-fledged, discrete graphics solution in the maximally-small volume of the Essentio CS5110.

AMD’s smashing release of the 4800 series was represented from the get-go not by an over-the-top, uber-expensive, for-enthusiasts-only videocard, but rather by an almost unassuming, mid-range offering in the form of the Radeon HD4850. We take our recently arrived GeCube brand 4850 for a quick spin and find ourselves salivating at the possibilities.

How often can we say that we do not compromise on a particular product? The PC industry is awash with products that are studies in compromise, whether it be price versus performance, power versus efficiency, or innovativeness versus compatibility. When it comes to laptops and other portable devices, the compromises become more distinct – especially when it comes to power versus portability. Asus aims to alleviate this little problem with the Republic of Gamer’s XG Station.

                                             Looks like the "Engine Start" button on the dashboard of a sports car.
 

In my hands at the moment is a regular old micro-ATX size motherboard box in black and yellow. I immediately notice two things that seem strange with this product – one, it’s a Zotac, and two, the board seems to have been laundered and have shrunk when it dried – I couldn’t find the motherboard in its box at first.  Zotac is better known for its videocards, especially the AMP! series which gives very respectable overclocks for not a large premium. This time, they’re out to make a name for themselves in the motherboard space, and they have chosen to make a tiny statement in the form of the ITX form factor nForce 610i-ITX.

Nvidia’s newest GPU, the GTX 280, is starting to show up under popular brands like Leadtek, XFX, and Zotac, represented by the Zotac GTX 280 AMP! Edition as tested in the July issue of our print edition. As well as being the newest and best hyper-enthusiast videocard available from the Green team, this release is also significant for the future direction of “general” computing for the PC buyer.

Intel’s P45 chipset is a progression from the popular P35, and MSI’s P45 Platinum is one of the first boards to come out with this particular chipset. We take a quick look into the changes, improvements and totally new features with both the chipset and the motherboard in this entry.