Today I'm taking a swing at one of Albatron's cheaper motherboards, the K400-8X. This is very much their entry level KT400 board and although it isn't bristling in high end features such as SerialATA and RAID it does have a few worthwhile tricks up its sleeve to make it stand out from similar bargain basement boards.

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• Sony to Close Indonesian Audio Plant
• Asustek announces Granite Bay-based motherboard
• Samsung says EU finds it received no illegal subsidies
• SIS announces Xabre 600 graphics chipset
• Microsoft targets defectors with discounts
• ISP download caps to slow swapping?

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Whether you are like me and using an older motherboard that doesn't have USB 2.0 or Firewire/1394 support, or if you are just looking to add a few extra ports to your PC, the Koutech 7002 6-Port controller is a nice solution. For $65.00 (newegg.com) you get three USB 2.0 and three Firewire/1394 ports.

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It seems that the desire to make mainboards a bit less complex and expensive, while adding some additional functions to the CPU played a bad joke with AMD and its partners: the latter can provide their devices even now, while the former still have to revise its chips. While AMD prepares to launch their most advanced processors ever early next year, let us take a look at what mainboard makers prepare for us.

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This new case is based on the same design with the exception of the case being made of Aluminum instead of steel. The Chieftech Dragon was a very cool case even before the mods. Add to a great case two windows and three fans and you begin to understand my overwhelming excitement...

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It is always good to have choice. Up until ATI released its Radeon 8500, many users wanting powerful computer systems were forced to look for nVidia based graphics solutions. Fortunately for us, ATI hit back hard with their Radeon 9xxx series of graphics cards which presented us with new choices and happily opened the market right up. Gigabyte were one company which went along with ATI and TweakTown takes us on a discovery of both of the latest Maya series graphics cards based on ATI's Radeon 9700 Pro and 9000 cores!

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ATI gave me the chance to run some benchmarks on their now shipping IGP 340 integrated chipset while I was at Comdex. The IGP 340 is ATI's entry into the P4 integrated graphics arena. Their current competitors are Intel and SiS. Let's take a look at the IGP 340's features.

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Meanwhile, the modern system can't run without effective cooling. The CPU clock speeds have overstepped the threshold of three thousand megahertz, the graphics chips clock speeds have turned 300 MHz, disks in HDDs rotate at speeds over 7000 RPM. All this hardware emits kilowatts of heat which needs to be dissipated. Unlike the hype and scoop accompanying the evolution of processors and accelerators, cooling systems evolve almost inconspicuously.

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Not long ago we saw the release of the previous speed king, the Pentium 4 2.8GHz, until earlier this week when Intel officially made history as they surpassed the 3GHz mark with the debut of their 3.06GHz Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading technology. While the battle was on between AMD and Intel for the fastest processors, but it didn't take long for the average consumer to realize that MHz isn't everything. Intel certainly thinks so, but AMD has proven that they can still put up a good fight with their slower-clocked XP2700+ and XP2800+ processors - up until now.

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Now move forward 5 months and SiS has released the newest version of the Xabre the 600. It is still aimed at the same competition as when initially released although we have to remember the competition has moved on. The Nvidia GF4 MX440 is still there although ATI have moved on and their budget card is the Radeon 9000, both are established names and very tough competitors

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And if you find you need more, check these out :

SiS' Xabre600 GPU A 0.13-micron GPU, today @ The Tech Report

SIS Xabre600 Vertexilisers and Ximiators @ LostCircuits

SiS Xabre 600: Impressions @ HotHardware

SiS Xabre600 Reference Videocard Review @ PCStats

The race for the best performing KT400 motherboard is a close and contested one. While the Abit AT7-MAX2 stands out amongst the crowd, the distance of its leads in the benchmarks is not considerable enough to label it as the end-all king of the KT400 world. The Soyo Dragon KT400 did very well in a lot of the benchmarks and had an equally appealing feature set to couple with it. In order to pick the motherboard that is going to be right for you, you really need to look at the features and board layouts to see what fits your style. If you are an overclocker, then getting a board with the ability to adjust the multiplier without modifying the processor is going to be a good choice.

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I disassembled Johnny 5. The plastic battery housing just pulls apart. You can then tell which wire goes where. Be sure to leave some slack in your wire so you can easily reuse it on some other project. I marked which wire went to the positive with a piece of scotch tape. My original plan was to run them from the power supply, but then I thought that wouldn’t be practical at all. Why not USB?

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Today, I’m going to look at one such product. In my initial research, the ABIT SR7-8X, based on the SiS-648 chipset, got me more excited than I’ve been about a product in a long time. Offering such features as full support for a 133MHz Front Side Bus, PC2700 memory (not to mention unofficial support for PC3200 memory), ATA-133, USB 2.0, and AGP-8X, this board’s résumé started off impressive enough, but when I heard of the overclocking features that are also thrown into the mix… well… let’s just say, it’s a good thing that the UPS man is quick on his feet, or he’d have found himself on the wrong end of a flying tackle. So, what do you think? Is this a product that disappoints? Or, is my main box getting ready to have its guts yanked out?

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I disassembled Johnny 5. The plastic battery housing just pulls apart. You can then tell which wire goes where. Be sure to leave some slack in your wire so you can easily reuse it on some other project. I marked which wire went to the positive with a piece of scotch tape. My original plan was to run them from the power supply, but then I thought that wouldn’t be practical at all. Why not USB?

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In their ever-expanding line-up of thermal solution products is the Thermaltake Fan Speed H.M.L RPM Setting Cable, P/N: A1268. Although not Thermaltake's most advanced offering, its simplicity may be its strongest selling point, and could provide a quick fix for people looking to control a fan's speed without buying/building a full-blown fan bus.

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Seeing as my system RAM is already decked out with heatspreaders and my video card has RAMsinks already in place, I was forced to test these RAMsinks on the various chips on my motherboard. Just for the record, my board is an MSI KT3 Ultra 2, running a 1600xp overclocked to 1754 MHz. I used the copper sinks placed in the location you see above. I also slapped down two aluminum sinks on the power resistor chips.

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Recently we reviewed the Asus P4B533-E motherboard of the Intel 845E chipset and this time I am impatient to find out whether the novice can beat that seasoned vet. But if it can, is it because of the new chipset or due to Asustek engineers' efforts?

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“The GearGrip LCD Shield Harness is a fantastic product which makes carrying almost any size LCD quick, easy and secure. With lots of padding, a mesh pocket, a think rubber handle, a carry strap and overall tough construction it's a must for transporting an LCD. Also, this product is an inexpensive way to ensure that your expensive LCD will be protected. Watch the Video to find out more..." ~3dGameMan.com.

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