Daily Reviews Summary 05/30/08

Even though X-Spice is not a very well known brand name, they achieved what nobody else could do: building an extremely quiet power supply that is stable and affordable. We are testing the 530W model today and found that it could easily handle a Quad CrossFireX rig, and produced less fan noise under load than most other power supplies in idle.

The PIXMA MP970 does everything well. The print head can be removed and cleaned or replaced without having to take it to someone else to be serviced, it is reasonably quiet when printing, energy efficient and produces excellent results. The owner's manual is well written, but the printer is so easy to use that the manual will not be needed much. The paper output tray can remain closed and will open automatically once a print job has started, and the hidden bottom paper cartridge is nicely tucked away and goes unnoticed. The slide/negative holder is also conveniently hidden away under the top of the scanner lid. Overall this all-in-one can outperform any HP or Epson product in the same class. Colour photo printing is accurate and monochrome printing offers laser-like quality. The only major downside is that it's very bulky - make sure you have enough room for this monster.

Artiom checks out the latest gear from Cyber Snipa to enhance your game. Want to mark your opponent for death and paint the map with their gibbs? Check out the Stinger mouse which comes complete with weights and enough bling to pimp your game in any setting. We personally love the target emblem blazing in the back. Come get some!

The Centurion line of Cooler Master cases has always been a solid entry-level series, targeted at gamers who don't want bling. Even modders like the steel. For enthusiasts, there's the Stacker series, with 5.25" bays running top to bottom, ready for any possible kind of expansion. And now they've created a middle ground.

Being green has been the latest fad for all, so why not join the fad with Hiper's Type M line of power supplies? Hiper's marketing shows peak efficiency of 85% at 230 volts. Hiper also packages the Type M power supplies in environmentally friendly packaging. While being green is important, it is completely useless if the product does not live up to consumer's standards.

As most of you know, due to the success of the original Eee PCs, Asus followed up with numerous accessories and multi-colored models in the months after their initial release. The follow-up units were essentially identical to the originals though, save for the different colored enclosures. The first really major change to the Eee PC line-up would be the Eee PC 900, which was just introduced about two weeks ago.

Although the new Eee PC 900 and Eee PC 700 series machines have similar hardware foundations, Asus has tweaked the 900 in a number of meaningful ways including a bigger screen, a multi-touch touchpad and more storage. Head on over to the site and check it out...

Finally, we had tested Acer Aspire 6920G after Acer's announcement for new Aspire Gemstone notebooks in March this year. Black cover in "piano" finish looks very elegant despite our first thought of greasy fingerprints all over it. At some point, I even thought that I am too subjective, so I asked my colleagues what they think and we finally agree that fingertips are less noticeable than on other notebooks with similar finishing process. In the middle of notebook cover is logo which lights up when notebook is on.

For testing, I used two programs, HD Tach and HD Tune, to test the write and read speeds of the drive in the dock. For reference purposes, the drive used was a 3.5" Maxtor 320GB, 7200 RPM SATA Drive. During testing, I was curious to see how having USB devices plugged into the hub would affect drive performance as they share the same USB bus to the computer.

The Scythe Shuriken Low Profile CPU Cooler is one that is able to be used in many different setups that you may have. It could be used in a large case, or a smaller case that does not have much overhead clearance, such as an HTPC. For the size of this cooler, I was surprised at the cooling capability that it yielded. It was able to beat out the other low profile coolers that I have used in the past, as well as the stock Intel heatsink/fan setup that comes with retail processors. It did fall short when it comes to the larger heatsinks, which is to be expected, seeing as those coolers do have a larger surface area and are able to draw heat from the processor and cool it with a larger fan. The fact that this cooler comes in at a price of around $30, makes it a good bargain for someone looking to upgrade from the stock cooler or building an HTPC.

Recently, ASUS was among the first companies to put a pair of ATI HD 3850s on a single graphics card, for a more affordable dual-GPU experience. I reviewed a Radeon HD 3850 (single GPU) earlier this year, and was very impressed with it.performance just shy of an 8800GT at $100 less. A pair on one card should be an awesome experience. Today I will be looking at the ASUS EAH3850 X2 1GB, twin 3850s with 512MB each, one of the few on the market. Will it meet my dual-3850 expectations? How will it compare to the 9800GTX, nVidia's top of the line single-GPU card? Read on and see!

The Raidmax Iceberg is a sturdy case designed to suit the gamer who is also conscious of style. Coming stock with three 120 mm blue LED fans and a side panel window in addition to being quite sturdily constructed of aluminum, this case is made to please gamers.

It has been a while since we’ve seen anything from XFX, but they’re back today with a 9600GT. This particular model we’re looking at isn’t any ordinary 9600GT, it’s the XXX Alpha Dog Edition which sits at the absolute top of the food chain in the world of 9600GTs.

We’ve looked at so many 9600GT cards over the months that getting one which stands out from the pack isn’t an easy task these days. We’ll have to see if XFX is just offering a big overclock and nothing more, or if they can actually do something that makes them stand out from the pack that bit more.