GeForce 8800 GT Video Card

The year of 2007 is almost over, but what a year it has been! Although AMD/ATI did remain very quiet throughout the year, Intel and Nvidia kept us entertained for the most part, with new products. Although the GeForce 8 series was initially introduced late 2006 in the form of the GeForce 8800 GTX and 640MB GTS graphics cards, the series expanded into a complicated eleven card family during 2007.

Although the GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS (640MB) graphics cards were released in November of 2006 it took just 3 months for Nvidia to release another GeForce 8 series product. The second GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card was born in February of 2007 featuring just 320MB of onboard memory, half that of the original version. Despite featuring half as much memory, the 320MB GTS was identical to the 640MB GTS in every other way and the reduced memory capacity meant that this version also cost less, $100 US less in fact.

Shortly after the release of the GeForce 8800 GTS (320MB) graphics card Nvidia finally released their mid-range line-up, cranking out the GeForce 8500 GT, 8600 GT and 8600 GTS in April. The GeForce 8600 GTS initially retailed for $250 US, while the 8600 GT cost $180 US, and although the pricing did fall dramatically in the first 6 months, we still had very little love for these two products. The performance of the GeForce 8600 GTS was woeful, providing average performance in games such as Far Cry, which were released almost 3 years prior.

Therefore to summarise so far, the GeForce 8800 GTX was the performance king and Nvidia made sure gamers were going to pay for the performance, with a MSRP of $600. Today gamers can still expect to pay $500 US or more for the GTX, which is now just over a year old. Then the next best thing was the GeForce 8800 GTS (640MB) which carried a MSRP of $400 US, while most still sell for roughly that price today. The GeForce 8800 GTS (320MB) had a MSRP of $300 US, and at that price range offered gamers a reasonably good level of performance.

Then we had the GeForce 8600 GTS which was only slightly cheaper than the GeForce 8800 GTS (320MB), yet it was also significantly slower. However, because Nvidia was facing limited competition from ATI/AMD in the mainstream and high-end markets, we were not all that surprised to find such a poor mid-range line up from Nvidia. Since the release of the GeForce 8600 GTS/GT graphics cards we have reviewed only a very small amount of these graphics cards, as we tried to avoid them.

Shortly after the disappointing release of the GeForce 8600 series, Nvidia came up with another poor value graphics card which they dubbed the GeForce 8800 Ultra. This new release for May came with an amazing MSRP of $830 US, though today these cards can be had for $700 US, which is obviously still very expensive. For the extra $230 US when compared to the GeForce 8800 GTX, gamers were basically just getting an overclocked 8800 GTX, which is why the 8800 Ultra was not exactly the best solution in terms of price vs. performance. Nevertheless, the GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards were superior products and claimed the performance crown from the 8800 GTX.

source:http://www.legionhardware.com

HP w2408: A "New" Twist on 24" LCDs

Try as we might, it's often difficult to get all of the products that we would like to review sent our way. Case in point: LCDs. There are dozens of good quality LCDs available that we have not reviewed -- and plenty more low quality LCDs. It's not too surprising that some companies don't want to send us review samples. If you have a low quality product that can't compete anywhere but price, in-depth reviews might do more harm than good in terms of sales. This is not to say that the HP w2408 is a low quality product, but it does stand out from previously reviewed 24" LCDs in several areas.

Looking at the display market from the buyers perspective, there are several different types of users. On the one hand, you have people that simply want a display that will show them the usual computer stuff. It won't really matter whether a display is slightly brighter, offers better contrast, has extra inputs, or anything else; if it works with their computer and doesn't break, they will be content. For such people, looking at the least expensive LCDs in a particular size range makes a lot of sense. Somewhat similar to this group are those who don't care about the technical aspects of a display so much as the outward appearance. If a product fits in better with their office environment and decor, that may be reason enough to purchase it. Then there are the gaming enthusiasts that want better response times and higher refresh rates, home theater enthusiasts who want a better movie viewing experience, and imaging professionals that require the most accurate colors possible.

There's often overlap between the target markets, but it's rare to find a display that can meet the requirements for all areas. Displays with the best color accuracy are often much more expensive, as are those that target home theater enthusiasts. A display targeting gamers on the other hand may sacrifice color accuracy in order to improve response time -- many users will actually prefer displays that have less accurate colors.



So where does the HP w2408 fit in the above list? With a price of $570, it's less expensive than many competing models, but at the same time it's hardly inexpensive. One of the reasons we like many of the 24" LCDs on the market is that they offer a great selection of features, and many have higher quality LCD panel technology than what's available in 22" LCDs. The w2408 appears to be a step backward in this respect, as feature wise it's simply an inflated HP w2207. Where Dell, Gateway, Samsung, and others use (or at least used) S-PVA panels, the w2408 is one of a growing number of 24" LCDs that uses a TN (S-TN) panel - it might be the best-looking TN panel to enter our test lab to date, but it's still a TN panel.

24" LCDs with TN panels definitely have a place in the market, but many of these models cost $400 or less where higher-quality S-PVA panels start around $600. That puts the HP w2408 in a difficult position, and the primary selling point appears to be an industrial design that sets it apart from other offerings. Is that enough, or are there other selling points for the w2408? Let's take a closer look and see exactly what it things to the table.

source:www.anandtech.com

Digital SLR

Many predicted that 2007 would be the year of the digital SLR, and industry shipments confirm the huge growth in DSLR sales. In a time where home sales fell through the floor in the US and gas prices began to soar, digital SLR sales have grown dramatically. In the third quarter of this year digital camera sales increased 22% compared to the previous year, but industry breakdowns show DSLR sales almost doubled in the same period.

That means that this holiday season many of you will be looking for a new digital SLR camera to replace an aging point-and-shoot digital or an earlier DSLR. While there haven't been many new entry-level models in the last year, the $1000 "advanced amateur" models of last year are today's entry-level DSLR. Several manufacturers have also redefined "entry-level" SLR down to $400 and have very capable models selling for that price, including a lens.

Only a few new models have appeared in "Entry-level" this year. We will cover these in a look at entry-level choices. However, the last few months have seen a deluge of new "prosumer" digital SLRs aimed at the photo hobbyist, advanced amateur, and even some pro photographers on a budget. The important thing about the advanced amateur and prosumer DSLR markets is the influence those cameras will eventually have on entry-level models. For that reason, we will explore some of the most interesting features of the new prosumer models.

The digital SLR market has also seen the downward push of pro or near-pro models into the consumer space. A prime example of that is the Canon EOS 5D full-frame SLR. When it was introduced a couple of years ago it was hailed as a true bargain at around $3500. If you look around today, you will find this popular semi-pro model has dropped to a $2499 list price and you can actually find the 5D for around $2000 if you shop carefully. That is certainly close to the $1400 to $1800 prosumer price range, providing an additional option for photo hobbyists or pros looking for a good buy.

If you are shopping for a digital camera but you're not really a photo hobbyist, you might want to start with our overview of digital photography in Digital Photography from 20,000 Feet. In that introduction, we cover the terms and concepts used in this DSLR Buyers' Guide. If you're already a photo hobbyist then dive in.

To put the current DSLR market in perspective, the full-frame (24mmx36mm) sensor and the Olympus 4/3 sensor (13.5mmx18mm or half the diagonal of full-frame 35mm) represent the two ends of the current DSLR market. Full-frame DSLRs use traditional 35mm lenses, so you don't need to worry about multipliers. 4/3 is a digital-only standard supported by Olympus, Leica, Panasonic, Sigma, Fuji, and Sanyo. Lenses designed for 4/3 will work on any 4/3 camera and they are not designed to be used with larger or smaller sensors. Since the sensor diagonal is half the size of 35mm, the 4/3 lenses behave like 35mm lenses that are twice their focal length.

You can see these two ends in a Canon 5D with an optical image-stabilized 28-135mm lens sitting beside the diminutive Olympus E-510 with a 14-42mm lens and body-integral (mechanical) image-stabilization. The full-frame Canon 1Ds Mark III, 1D Mark III and upcoming Nikon D3 are even larger than the EOS 5D, but you get the idea. Similarly, the Olympus E-410 is even smaller than the E-510.

However, the majority of today's digital SLRs fall in between these two standards, using a very nonstandard sensor somewhere around APS-C size (22mmx15mm). This is why we have a range of lens multipliers on today's DSLR cameras, depending on brand. Nikon, Sony, Pentax, and Samsung are at 1.5x, Canon is at 1.6x, and the specialized Sigma Foveon sensor is at 1.74x. These multipliers represent how 35mm lenses will appear on these cameras - because they mainly use 35mm lenses. That means an 18-70mm lens on a 1.5x camera would appear like a 27mm-105mm lens on a 35mm film camera. There are also dedicated lenses for these in-between sensors with names like DX. They work fine on the digital SLR, but they are not usable on full-frame DSLR or 35mm film cameras.

It isn't as complicated as it sounds, since you mainly will pick your camera brand and stick with it, buying camera maker lenses or those compatible with the DSLR you choose. However, understanding the larger picture also helps in making informed long-term buying decisions.

Google Mini

Introduction

Google has issued several updates to this little blue box. We're taking a look at Google's present-day Mini to provide up-to-date insights on this search solution for small-to-medium-sized businesses. The Mini product line currently sports four different licenses, ranging from $1,995 for the ability to search through 50,000 documents, to $8,995 for a machine that will handle up to 300,000 documents. Buyers can opt for an extra year of customer support, which will raise the price by $995. The Google Mini's hardware is identical, regardless of which license one chooses, and all the license plans offer full functionality.

Google's updates to the Mini resulted in a physically smaller enclosure and quite a few new features, some of which we will discuss specifically later in this article. We also investigated the benefits of the Mini's integration with Google Analytics, and to top it off, we did some benchmarking to see exactly how the Mini performs.

Tech View: Storage Devices, Optical Drives, and More

We recently returned from a whirlwind trip that had us visiting the majority of motherboard manufacturers, memory and storage suppliers, and a few interesting OEM/ODM manufacturers of personal computer and consumer electronic devices. We will be receiving some really interesting products over the course of the next month but already have several in the labs that are in the final phases of testing. We will follow up with full reviews of these products in the very near future but for now we feel like the performance and features offered makes them worth considering for purchase. Here’s a quick look at our storage and media products today with a follow up shortly featuring memory, audio/video, and motherboard items.

External Storage Products:

Sans Digital

We stopped by Sans Digital to view their complete line of Mobile Silver products. While they have been marketing their AccuRAID (2U Rackmount), EliteStor (1U Rackmount), and EliteRAID (3U Rackmount) products into the business sector for some time, it is their MobileStor and MobileRAID products they are featuring for the home and small office user that we found to be very interesting.

Don’t Pay For Virus Protection, Get these Free Anti Virus Software

The computer security market is flooded with antivirus software that work but don’t come cheap.

While viruses remain a threat to our precious data, you need not necessarily invest in expensive antivirus scanners - there are plenty of free options available that may give even some commercial vendors a run for their money.

We look at some of the best software available today for keeping your computer free of viruses and other malware. Later we help you decide the one most suitable for you.

Free Online Virus Scanners [run inside the web browser to scan your hard drive]

Trend Micro HouseCall - An online virus scanner that’s absolutely free and scans your PC hard drive for any sort of viruses or even spyware. HouseCall allows you to remove detected infections. Works with Firefox and IE. Requires Java.

McAfee Freescan - This free virus scanner from McAfee is based on the McAfee VirusScan engine. Should viruses be found, FreeScan prepares a list of infected files and links to information about the viruses on your computer. It also gives you an option to clean your system. Requires IE with ActiveX.

Windows Live OneCare Scanner - A free antivirus online scanner from Microsoft that cleans your system from viruses and also recommends ways to improve the overall performance. Part of Windows Onecare.

Symantec Internet Security - An online virus scanner from the developers of Norton Antivirus 2007 can detect most virus threat but there is no option to delete the virus infected file or repair it. Does not examine compressed files. Requires IE with ActiveX.

BitDefender Online Scanner - Their Free Online Virus Scanner version 8 scans your system’s memory, all files, folders and drives’ boot sectors - the default options automatically cleans the infected files. Requires IE with ActiveX.

Free Anti Virus Software for Windows [Requires Installation]

Avast! Home Edition - One of the most popular antivirus software, can also be run from Explorer context menu. You can either scan the entire hard drive or selected folders. Ships with an Antivirus screen-saver.

AOL Active Virus - a free virus scanner from AOL based on Kaspersky Antivirus that doesn’t require an AOL account to download the software. The software can be configure to check only new and modified files thereby reducing the memory requirements. Also support scanning of incoming and outgoing email messages.

ClamWin Virus Scanner - An opensource antivirus software that is great for running routine antivirus checks on your PC. You need to manually scan a file in order to detect a virus or spyware.

AVG 7.5 Free Antivirus - One of most popular free virus scanning software is AVG 7.5 Free Edition (read comments). Initially, there was confusion whether AVG 7.5 would be free like AVG 7.1 but the good news is that AVG 7.5 Free edition is already available for non-commercial, single home computer use.

Conclusion: Which one should I choose ?

Unlike Desktop antivirus software, online virus scanners do not proactively protect your PC against new virus infections.

But if viruses have already entered your hard drive and taken control of your existing desktop scanner program, any of the above listed online virus-scanning services can save your day.

If you are a fairly experienced web user who doesn’t need an antivirus software to run in the background 24 hours, scan you drive at regular intervals using HouseCall. Others may install the AOL antivirus software which uses the Kaspersky virus definitions database.

Reg Organizer 4.0 Final

Reg Organizer 4.0 Final

Reg Organizer offers a variety of tools required for effective System Registry and configuration files management. This software lets you view, edit and clean the Registry and preview the registry files you want to import (including the ability to preview files directly from Windows Explorer).

The automatic Registry cleanup mode helps you optimize your system performance. You can thoroughly search the Registry to find all the keys related to a certain application - Reg Organizer does this job quicker and better than other similar programs.

What’s new in version 4.0

* A new Registry Optimization Mode was added, which is intended for physical optimization of System Registry files on your system. The optimization process includes compression and defragmentation of the System Registry, which can increase system
performance and free up extra space on your hard drive.
* Improvements in Invalid Registry References Repair :

* A smarter algorithm was developed, so the program achieves a more perfect repair of broken Registry references.

* Increased speed.

* Improved interface, so using this function is easier.

* Bugs fixed. Specifically, eliminated the bug in earlier versions where some computers froze while the program was fixing broken references in specific cases.

* Automatic Registry Cleanup Mode bugfixes and improvements:

* Added ability to find and remove obsolete software records.

* The sequence of the interface items in the Automatic Registry Cleanup Mode window would change when the window was resized.

* By default, the “Switch to the Results tab on completion” option did not work, even even when its check box was enabled.

* Invalid DLL references found using Automatic Registry Cleanup Mode were not removed from the Registry after pressing the “Remove Selected” button.

* Algorithm improvements.

* Applications Uninstall Mode changes:

* A new “Expand All” button was added to the “Logged Applications” tab allowing you to expand all the nodes of the changes tree with one click to make the entire tree visible.

* The “Open Log” button was removed from the “Logged Applications” tab. It became unnecessary in the current version as now the contents of a log file are displayed as soon as the log file is selected in the drop-down list.

* Disk Cleanup Mode changes:
o Searching for useless files now works faster.
o In some cases this mode did not work correctly with files having an extension of four or more characters in length
(excluding the “.” character).
* Changes to the interface:
o Specific options for working with some modes were moved to their corresponding mode pages in the main Settings window.
This simplified the access to these program settings, as they are now centralized in one window. Navigation in the Settings
window was also simplified.
o The Ignore Lists of Automatic Registry Cleanup and Disk Cleanup were moved to the main Settings window. Also the
interface of both Ignore Lists was synchronized. The useless files wildcards editing feature (”Masks” tab of the Disk
Cleanup window in the earlier versions) was also moved to the Settings window.
o The “Registry Search and Replace Mode” command was removed from the quick launch panel in the upper part of the main
window. In its place the “View Backups” command was added.
o Some elements in the “Conventions” tab of the Registry Editing Mode could be displayed in two rows and in wrong order
after changing their size and restarting the program.
* While creating a new parameter in Registry Editing Mode the system now always offers a unique name for the newly created
parameter.
* Bugs fixed:
o Some startup items of the default user’s profile (files of this profile are located in the folder C:\Documents and
Settings\All Users) may not have been displayed in the “Startup Applications” tab in Manual Registry Cleanup Mode.
o After adding or cloning a key in the Registry Editing Mode the newly created key remained unselected.
o After pressing the “Start” button in the Disk Cleanup Mode no scanning was conducted on some computers. The program
immediately displayed the results stating that no unnecessary files had been found while such files were in fact present on
the disks.
o The “View All Changes by Installation” command of the context menu in the “Uninstall” tab in Manual Registry Cleanup
Mode did not work. This command is supposed to show log files for a specified application (if any) by switching into
Applications Uninstall Mode. The log files were not shown; the program simply switched into Applications Uninstall Mode.
o The “Remove” button in the upper part of the Manual Registry Cleanup Mode window did not work.
o The program incorrectly determined the path to the startup application folder in Start Menu. This sometimes would result
in not displaying some items that ran on Windows Startup in the “Startup Applications” tab in Manual Registry Cleanup Mode.
o When using the “Details for the … key” command of the context menu in Registry Editing Mode for the first time, the
program would display nothing in the “Last write to the key” field of the key information window. When calling this command
a second time, the correct value of the last write date was displayed.
o Reg Organizer could crash in some systems when trying to open by either “Open With… Menu” or “Applications Paths” tab
of Manual Registry Cleanup Mode.
o When trying to remove several items at once from the “Open With… Menu” tab of the Manual Registry Cleanup Mode only
the last selected item was removed.