Thursday Hardware Reviews

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In this review, we have some new and exciting technology to cover as PCstats.com reviews the PCI-Express x16 Gigabyte GV-RX60X128V videocard. Built around the solid Radeon X600XT core, the Gigabyte GV-RX60X128V offers quick performance figures for a mainstream card, and takes over right where the Radeon 9600XT left off. The Gigabyte GV-RX60X128V is equipped with 128MB of Hynix 2.5ns DDR DRAM, a nice little heatsink, and Video in / Video out. Gigabyte has bundled in a few extra's, such as a DVI-to-analog converter (for dual monitors), a full version of PowerDVD 5 and Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. The VIVO cable is about 120cm in length, so its easy to hook up the PC to a TV. It's a much better option than having those small VIVO boxes that stick out only a few cm from the computer.

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OCZ didn't give up though. They spent some time researching various timings which would give the best results. The resulting product is their new "Enhanced Bandwidth" line, to replace the "Enhanced Latency" line. We take the newest PC3500 EB DDR kit, and put it up against the PC3500 EL kit. You might be amazed at the results of some of the timings used!

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The maximum core speed we were able to achieve was 536MHz and the maximum memory speed was 1.202GHz. This was an increase in core clock speed of 66MHz and an increase in memory speed of 302MHz. These are by far the highest clock speeds we've achieved with a Radeon X800 Pro card, and we'll be using these overclocked speeds in our performance tests.

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What you will be seeing today is the next edition of HIS's IceQ line called the IceQII. Utilizing ATI's next generation X800 video processors, HIS intends to pick where the initial 9x00pro based videocards left off and continue dominating the market with a videocard which is matched by none and envied by many.

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Corsair is a well trusted name in the enthusiast community. Corsair's products are almost always one step ahead of its competitors. From the enthusiast tested memory to technical support, Corsair almost always leads the way. A recent discovery of Samsung's low latency chips has caused excitement in the PC3200 memory arena. The PC3200 market was once thought to be dull when considering the same latencies and speeds that were being achieved by enthusiast rated memory modules.

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AMD recently launched its socket 939 processor, which incorporates a dual channel memory controller and a host of other features. The 939 is targeted at high-end gaming and intensive workstation applications. TechwareLabs tests the 3800+ and answers the question everyone will ask: does the Socket 939 deliver the high end performance it promises?

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While we have looked at many of Corsair's XMS modules over the past couple years we have yet to review any of their value memory. Seeing how many consumers cannot afford or are not in need of the Corsair XMS line they often opt for Corsair's Value Select memory due to brand loyalty and price point. To help give our budget & mainstream builders some prime time press coverage we recently ordered...

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Earlier in the spring, Nvidia and ATI updated their product line with their X800 and 6800 product lines showing a massive leap in performance from the pervious generation of cards. With some time since then, most vendors have had their cards based off those reference designs out, but that for the most part it is simply a bunch of look alike video cards that all perform the same. However, as time has moved on since the initial launch, it has given the vendors the opportunity to adjust ATI’s reference designs and tweak the cards out to the maximum to get every bit of performance and distance themselves from their competitors. Today we look at a card that attempts just that, Sapphire’s Toxic X800 Pro, with an amazing game bundle with full versions of Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow on DVD, VIVO, silent cooling, temperature monitoring, and performance enhancement software all for an MSRP of $469 to see if they can pull off making one of the best X800 Pro cards on the market.

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As the Intel computing world becomes more familiar with PCI-Express, expect more high end, and native PCI-E solutions to crop up. Before we get to far ahead ourselves, let's focus in on the card PCstats.com is testing in this review; the MSI PCX5750-TD128 videocard. The MSI PCX5750-TD128 is a PCI-Express x16 solution based on the venerable nVidia GeForcePCX 5750 core, and comes with 128MB of standard DDR memory running at 500MHz. The bright red card supports S-Video output, and of course comes with all the necessary cables in the box. An additional DVI-to-analog converter is included so users can configure dual monitors if they prefer as well.

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AMD has just released its latest processor line, the AMD Sempron. The Sempron is designed to replace the Duron line of lower-performance, inexpensive processors aimed at home and business desktop users. Available in both Socket A and Socket 754, the Sempron offers good performance for its price, and has good potential for overclocking.

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Overall this motherboard is fantastic, it's much better than my IC7 and im looking forward to see motherboards exceeding the qualities this motherboard had, and im sure those are there already but if you want to check out some of those reviews on the latest motherboards, check out toms hardware or hexus, or any other site out there on the planet. This is a motherboard packed with stability, it's highly overclockable with the right cooling and it's still good enough to play around with the new sockets. Overall a very nice product for a nice price.