"I have to say that I'm impressed with the Asus EAH3870 X2 graphics card -- it's quite a step away from the reference design and innovation like this should be encouraged. The inclusion of four DVI ports will be a welcome addition for anyone looking to run more than a couple of monitors on their workstation and what makes it even better is the fact that, unlike Nvidia's SLI, ATI CrossFireX technology scales across multiple displays.

There is no need to disable CrossFireX in order to enable multi-display mode -- and believe me when I say that is a big thing for anyone like me who is a gamer but also runs multiple displays. It's for that reason alone that I have never used a GeForce 9800 GX2 or GeForce 7950 GX2 in any system that isn't used for testing purposes -- it defeats the object of having a single graphics card for me because it has all the compromises of SLI.

It's not all rosy though because there are some things that aren't as likeable about the Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB. The biggest one is of course performance. In short, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is not as competitive as it needs to be and, if you took some games in isolation, you could make the card look like exceedingly poor value for money compared to the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 and GeForce 9800 GTX, which are both retailing for under £200. The 3870 X2, on the other hand, sits at about £240 (inc. VAT) at best, and heads up towards the £280 mark at worst.

Another peeve of mine is with the fansink. Now, I accept that it's a compromise that had to be made in order to accommodate the four dual-link DVI ports on the PCI bracket, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing. While the two fans don't really increase the amount of noise pollution by a significant amount, it does mean there are now two points of failure on the card -- you could say you're twice as likely to need to change the card's heatsink later down the line when one of the fans inevitably fails. There's also the fact that heat created by the GPUs is no longer exhausted out of the back of the card, which means that you end up heating up the inside of your chassis -- I doubt that's going to be a major concern for most though.

On the whole though, I think that the Asus EAH3870 X2 is a good choice compared to what's on offer from other partners on both red and green fronts. It will undoubtedly please the multi-monitor crowd and that's where I see this card making the most headway. A word of warning though: Asus has two EAH3870 X2 cards---one with four DVI ports (this one), and one that follows the reference design pretty closely---so if you're unsure, please do check with the retailer before purchasing."

"This Monday saw the launch of a new high-end CPU cooler for both AMD and Intel systems by Cooler Master, the quite frankly massive Hyper Z600. With a weight of over 1KG, and the ability to cool many current processors passively without the need for additional fans, it promises to be a cooling powerhouse. Today, we take a look at this cooler to see if it has a heavyweight status to match its specification."

"Companies like CoolIT Systems played a large role in turning water cooling into a mainstream practice by making it available on a large scale, even getting their products in the hands of big box builders like Alienware.

Today we are going to look at CoolIT’s latest water-cooled processor heatsink, the PURE. CoolIT calls their cooling systems “Fluid Heat Exchangers” and have been building their FHEs for a couple of years now."

"Today for review I've got the Thermaltake M9 ATX case, it's a mid-tower style case that is sort of a basic case but offers some nice features and looks good as well. Aesthetically the M9 is very pleasing with an almost solid black exterior, nice contour lines and an overall sense of style to it. When powered on the blue LEDs of the included fans make a nice contrast with the black and make for a very nice presentation, its also quiet and does a decent job of keeping your system cool."

"XTracPads have created some pretty beastly mouse pads in the past. Notably among them, their soft surface pads have got some pretty serious attension and have proved to perform very well in many reviews. Today we have the XTracPads Fat Mat for review, an incredibly thick mouse mat which apparently offers comfort and good gaming performance. Well...lets see if any of this is true in Tech-Reviews.co.uk XtracPads Fat Mat Review."

"There's been a lot of hype in the computer industry about 'silent fans' and fortunately, at last, some are actually starting to earn this title. Today I'll be taking a look at the Cooler Master LED Silent Fan - another fan bearing the title of "silent". Will it be good enough to earn the "Silent" mantra?"

"A few months ago, ASUS jumped into the audio card market with both feet with the introduction of their Xonar product line. One of the first models to market was the premium Xonar D2 Ultra Fidelity 7.1 sound card. The D2 boasted a superb retail package with all of the cabling, software and extras one would need thrown in, along with a slick, eye-catching design, for around $180. Not only did the Xonar D2 Ultra Fidelity 7.1 deliver on all fronts, but it also proved to be solid competition for Creative, who still has somewhat of a stranglehold on add-in audio card market.

To further infuse themselves into the audio card market though, ASUS didn't stop with the Xonar D2 Ultra Fidelity 7.1. They have since developed several other model to meet the needs of consumers of all budgets. Today, we take a look at ASUS' latest offering which targets the mainstream market, the more affordable Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1 Audio Card. Head on over to the site and check it out"

"Much like other 3650 cards, you get a pretty good performer packed with features for a low price. The inclusion of native HDMI-out is a big plus for anyone running a home theater PC setup, but others are not left out with VGA and DVI connections as well."

"Canon has finally offered compact digital camera with 8 megapixels. This point-and-shoot camera gives impression of reliability and well built product. Canon IXUS 80 IS has all standard and expected functions without unnecessary "fancy" stuff that some manufacturers implement with intention to attract customers. Canon intended this model for users who desire modern, reliable and quality photo camera without any unusual functions (with limited usability)."

"Enermax has recently released two high-efficiency power supply series, MODU82+ and PRO82+. The name implies that products from these two series have efficiency of at least 82%, but Enermax says they actually have efficiency of at least 84%. Both use the same internal project, with MODU82+ models using a modular cabling system. Today we are going to take an in-depth look on the 525 W model from the PRO82+ series (also known as EPR525AWT) and see if it can really deliver its labeled power and efficiency. Read on."

"The folks at Asus are never ones to shy away from a challenge -- this time around, they decided to take up the test of releasing something just a little bit different. A little something they like to call the EAH3850 X2."

"Fortunately, the heat sink blew away most of my doubts about the product. The Zipang is shockingly well built and extremely solid. It feels like serious quality, not at all flimsy like many others in this price range. Again, the shear size of the fan speaks for itself; attached resolutely with fan clips. I ran my hand across the the six heat pipes, which connect to the main cooling fins, in not only one section, but two sections, distributed on the bottom and throughout the center (UPHC as dubbed by Scythe). In addition, the Zipang includes a thick sub-heatsink, attached to the main cooling plate directly. This reminds me of the famed, but obsolete Thermal Right XP-120, except on
some serious steroids."

"Patriot has been one of the newer companies to come on board at TweakTown to supply us with their high performance memory for testing, and so far we have been pretty impressed with their line of high performance memory. Once again they have come on board to send us their new series of DDR3 modules. Today we have Patriot’s Viper Fin DDR3 2GB dual channel memory kit.

The sticker on one side of each memory module contains info on the modules. The kit we received was rated for speeds of 1866MHz or 933MHz core speed with timings of 8-8-8-24 at a maximum voltage of 1.9v. The modules are all RoHS which means they are manufactured with lead free solder."

"Sure the NVIDIA 9800 series of video cards are the current creme de la creme of gaming performance but what if you don’t have the scratch to afford such a beast? Well that’s where the NVIDIA 9600 series comes in. Foxconn sent us over their pre-overclocked 9600GT. As an overclocked card, it should give us a bit more kick than your standard garden variety card. Let’s check it out!"

"Today we are checking out a 2GB DDR3 RAM kit from Kingston's HyperX line. This RAM is a great lower cost kit that performs well and has overclocking headroom.

When all the testing was finished the Kingston HyperX KHX14400D3K2/2GN kit performed well. It has some headroom left for overclocking and performs well at the programmed SPD settings. The RAM is also a bit cheaper than some other brands of enthusiast DDR3 on the market."