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.

With Intel’s recent release of the new “Eaglelake” P45 chipset, Asus has also released a new family of motherboards intended for the mainstream to high-end market. Ranging from the P5Q3-Deluxe/WiFi-AP at the top, to the P5Q-E mainstream motherboard, the P5Q series brings on technologies, catch-phrases, and features galore that mocks the term “mainstream” and catapults this series into the enthusiast’s limelight.

Asus’ videocard lineup has always included an overclocked version of their vanilla offerings, and even with the 9800GX2’s relative complexity and newness to the market, it proved no deterrent to Asus. The EN9800GX2 TOP is currently on top of the heap of high-end videocards being offered by Asus, at least in their marketing spiel. Just how much does this product deserve the title “fastest”?

                                             Most monoliths deserve a commemorative plaque of some kind.
 

The allure of the high-end has always been the bane of the enthusiast on a tight budget. While we all lust after the full-featured videocards and motherboards, we balk at the price point necessitating a wallet flatter than EDSA billboards. So, what most enthusiasts do is lower their own over-hyped high-end requirement and settle for a part that’s a little less meaty on the reputation – who needs reputation if it means a stable, fast-running computer?

                                             Black series with the black PCB for easy identification.

Asus’ premium motherboard is named in such a way as to make it convenient to call it by its name and  mean several different things, all of them positive in nature. The Asus  P5E3 Premium motherboard is a member of the AI Lifestyle product grouping devised by Asus to differentiate it from, say, the Republic of Gamer’s motherboards. As such, this motherboard competes with its peers in a different way when compared to the RoG series. We explore just how “premium” this motherboard is and how it achieves this naming distinction.

                                             CPU area is as usual surrounded by the Asus heatpipe system.

What’s all the fuss about? This thought kept running around in my head as I examined the MSI PR200 Notebook twelve-incher. Conceived as a business ultra-portable, this 1.8 kg black-and-silver creation looks handsome and functional, and the specifications are quite satisfying.

The cassette tape has had a long and storied life, with notable events such as the Beta and VHS wars, the miniaturization of the physical cassette and the advances in magnetic reading technology. Although tape media undoubtedly still have life in it as a recording format, the signs have been starting to appear in recent years, the biggest of which is the advent of alternative recording medias such as DVDs, Hard Drives, and the subject of today’s Preview, Flash memory recording.

                                              The CX7 doesn't seem so small in this shot.
 

Being buried under cool stuff has its own disadvantages, like getting all of them to play nice on the test bench before the tester goes crazy keeping all of the benchmarks, settings, numbers and hardware straight, plus running the same benchmarks over and over, and over again.

                                              A pair of Palit 9600GTs due for SLI running waiting for their turn on the bench.

There’s no other word for it – we’ve been *inundated* with videocard test samples the past week-and-a-half, the majority of which consists of the brand new 9600 GTs, a couple of 3000 series Radeons, and some of the first top-of-the-line cards that are just becoming available this very week. Before we give you the lowdown and a benchmark foundation for all the important videocard generations covered recently, we’ll lay it out here in the blog clearly so that you guys will know what to expect.

                                              If only Santa was this prolific in his gift-giving...
 

Local PC sales have always been traditionally reliant on component sales as its bread and butter. The number of “clone”, or self – built PCs (including those assembled by hand by numerous PC retail shops) outnumber “branded” PCs (like Dell, HP, and IBM) five to one – not including the corporate market. This is particularly true due to the increasing number of quality components that enable the common consumer to build exactly what they need within a reasonable budget. The Palit N8S caters especially to the consumer who’s aiming to get as much performance and utility from their computer without spending money on extraneous items such as discrete graphics – especially if they have no intention to game on their machine.

                                             Considering it has four DIMM slots and on a microATX form factor, the Palit N78S is well laid-out.

What’s a race without at least two competitors? We’ve all heard of the current state of videocard affairs being called a one-horse race, and for good reason. Because even if a race has two competitors, if one lags too far behind, it turns into exactly that – and makes things incomparably dull. Thankfully, both of the competitors – namely Nvidia and ATI – are making a good showing. ATI is showing true pride as the underdog, giving as much as it takes in the sales war. The latest salvo coming from the red corner is the  3870 X2.

                                             Sure reminds me of Daimos' Twin Bazooka errr... chest.

Not all G92s are created equal. With the release of the 8800 GTS 512MB (G92 core), this has become more evident – since the GTS is fast becoming a popular target for many companies’ overclocking efforts. Aside from well-known “extreme” brands such as XFX and EVGA, one of the more mainstream companies cranking out overclocked versions of the GTS is Asus, with their TOP card. Asus with their genius has come up with a GTS that’s yawningly plain – which is both good and bad. Read on to find out why.

                                             This GTS sports the ever-present Asus model for its current crop of cards.

Nearly everything about this videocard from Asus is obviously supersized, starting from the box that it comes in. And as we know from Morgan Spurlock in his hit documentary “Supersize Me”, big is not always better.

                                             An extra-large helping of heatsink.

HP has come out with an All-In-One in the tradition of the old 1210, called simply the 915. While the old versions of HP’s all in ones were priced nearly in the tens of thousands, the 915 performs all of the same tasks as the 1210 did better, for thousands of pesos less.

                                             Note the big, bold buttons on top.