Griffin Evolve Wireless iPod Speaker Dock

Only the best-sounding speakers ever earn our highest praise. Griffin’s Evolve wireless iPod quite speakers don’t reach that height, but their wireless capabilities are almost remarkable enough to overcome their middle-of-the-road sound.

In fact, we hesitated to call the Evolve “iPod speakers” because any analog stereo source can drive them; but Griffin clearly envisions its customers docking their iPods to the device so they can stream their music nearly anywhere in the house—and we do mean anywhere.

We were skeptical of Griffin’s range claim—150 feet? Riiight. So the first thing we did after charging the speakers’ batteries (more on that shortly) was take them into the double-walled media room at Maximum PC Lab North. The room has caused problems for many a 802.11n router, but it didn’t phase the Evolve in the least. In fact, the speakers didn’t as much as hiccup in any room we took them.

When we took them outside the house, we stared slack-jawed as they continued to play until we were 145 feet from the source. The stereo signal passed through an interior firewall and a fiber-cement exterior wall as if they weren’t event there. We didn’t get as much range on the other side of the house, because the signal had to penetrate multiple interior and one exterior wall, but our experience was only slightly less impressive.

The system sends and receives on the 900MHz band, which could cause problems with cordless phones that operate at that same frequency. We didn’t test this configuration because the cordless phones in use at our test location are based on the DECT standard and operate on the 1900MHz band. (But if you’re still relying on an old 900MHz cordless phone, it’s time to upgrade anyway.)

The two speaker cabinets are 5.5-inch sealed plastic cubes with magnetic shielding, a glossy black finish, and protective rubber trim. Wire grills protect the 3.5-inch drivers. A deeply recessed handle in the back of each makes them easy to pick up and tote around, one in each hand. There are power buttons on each, so you can shut them down to conserve the lithium-ion batteries when you’re finished listening. To recharge the batteries, you simply set them on their base—there’s no need for cables unless you want to use a source other than your iPod.

David Murphy Cooler Master 690

In yet another example of a design that likely looked way better on paper than in practice, we find ourselves struggling to come to terms with the Cooler Master 690’s more unique features. We can’t fault the company for trying; in some ways, we applaud Cooler Master’s attempts at distinguishing the 690 from the rest of its cadre in the crowded case market.

For all the 690 chassis does to improve your rig's wiring, the end result is hardly helpful.

The exterior of the 690 not only looks cool, the mesh accents throughout the shell also serve as a handy means of moving air into and out of the case. Arguably, this semi-open design might diffuse air you want directed at certain key components, but the quasi see-through paneling—especially when illuminated by a few LED fans—looks slick enough to silence such concerns. Anyway, with room for up to seven 12cm fans, the 690 is hardly lacking when it comes to air-powered cooling potential.

Correction: six fans. When you mount a standard-size power supply to the bottom of the case, you lose one of the fan slots outright. We’re baffled as to how Cooler Master thought that power supply cables and a 12cm fan could somehow coexist in the same physical location, but there you have it.

One hole is for the power supply fan; the other (in theory) fits a standard 12cm fan.

Speaking of cables, the 690 uses an interesting scheme for managing them. A series of plastic clips attached to the motherboard tray encourages you to route all your cables along a single, uniform path. This is supposed to minimize cable clutter. And it does. But it also hampers your ability to connect devices to your motherboard; the clips and cables along the route blocked access to our floppy connector.

Whoops.

Storing screws in this manner is unique. Too bad it doubles our work.

Yes, right now it’s only a floppy connector, but the minute we encounter a motherboard whose side-mounted SATA ports are rendered useless by the 690’s design, well, that’s the minute we’re tossing this case into the garbage. And it’s not just the motherboard that presents an issue. We had a little trouble getting our optical drive to fit amidst the cords of the top-mounted USB, FireWire, and eSATA connectors.

While the case itself is screwless, you pay for this luxury with the hard drive holders. Rails on either side of hard drive holder let you scoot your drive right in—that is, after you’ve spent time wrestling your drive into the flimsy, plastic sheath.
Sweet ideas combined with subpar execution: Welcome to the Cooler Master 690.

Next: Thermaltake Xaser VI (VG4000)

The beautiful grilled exterior of the 690 is but a pretty cover-up for the interior's flaws.

David Murphy Thermaltake Xaser VI (VG4000)

For a change of pace, we’ll start with our biggest critique first—literally, the biggest. Thermaltake’s Xaser VI chassis (the air-cooling-specific VG4000 model) is the Godzilla of cases. It’s heavy enough to make carrying it an awkward, hernia-inducing experience, and that’s before you slap a system inside. Heaven forbid you make full use of the case’s eight (?!) hard drive bays and seven (?!?!) 5.25-inch expansion slots. Add water cooling and you might want to invest in some wheels and a dolly for transporting the beast.

The Xaser VI is huge. Absolutely huge. Remember: Lift from the knees.

The Xaser VI is a screwdriver’s worst enemy. Save for the motherboard standoffs and typical fastening screws, you shouldn’t have to touch any kind of tool to assemble a basic rig in this chassis. In this respect, some parts of the case function far better than others. For instance, we love the mounting setup for the Xaser VI’s 5.25-inch bays. Removing the front-panel coverings is a one-second process, and you simply shove your device in from there. It automatically locks into place, and that’s it. No screws to tighten, no fasteners to fuss with.

You can remove the drive bays on the bottom of the case and replace them with an included fan!

The PCI holders attempt to follow suit, but they’re a bit more delicate and frustrating than their peers. We broke the very first fastener when we gently tried to remove it from the side of the case. When you do this—and trust us, you will—you’ll be forced to default to the old screw for locking your PCI card into place. It’s an ugly solution that makes us wonder why Thermaltake didn’t include some extra connectors in the accessory bag that comes with the Xaser VI.

The goody bag also lacks any extra thumbscrews for the exterior of the case. But in many ways, we wish Thermaltake would have eschewed these tiny screws altogether. The design of the case is such that the narrow thumbscrews you use for the panels are absurdly close to the case’s decorative exterior elements. So something that should be removable with your fingers requires the use of a tool, thus defeating the entire point of their existence. It’s a minor detail, but when 95 percent of a case is perfectly screwless, there’s no reason you should have to find a tool kit to start (or finish) your work.

An obscene number of front-panel connectors are hidden beneath a stylish push-top covering.

A top-loading storage bin and ample air-cooler support help fill out the list of excellent eccentricities on this fairly innovative chassis. The senselessness of the minor flaws make us hesitant to recommend the Xaser VI for general use, but there’s no denying that this is one of the slickest full-tower cases we’ve tested. A few touch-ups on the drawing board would make this one rockin’ enclosure.

Next: Gigabyte Mercury Pro!

Gaudy or otherwise, Thermaltake knows how to run with a design theme.

Michael Brown Asus EAH 3870

AMD has pulled a rabbit out of its hat by transforming the near-debacle that was the R600 architecture into a serious mainstream contender: The Radeon HD 3870.

The new GPU delivers several important features left out of AMD’s previous best effort: the Radeon HD 2900 XT. The most important of these is the inclusion of AMD’s Unified Video Decoder, which offloads all high-definition video decoding chores from the host CPU. The new part supports HDCP on both DVI links, too, so Blu-ray and HD DVD movies can be displayed at the native resolution of a 30-inch panel. There’s also support for new technologies such as PCI Express 2.0, DirectX 10.1, and Shader Model 4.1, although it remains to be seen how important these features will be in the near future. (Nvidia’s new 8800 GT is also PCI Express 2.0 compliant, but it doesn’t support DirectX 10.1.)

Asus’s EAH3870 is the first retail board we’ve examined that uses the 3870 part, and we’re impressed: It’s been a while since we’ve been able to laud anything other than an Nvidia-based videocard with a Kick Ass award. This card is not only powerful, it’s also affordably priced at $260 (and includes the first-rate game Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts).

AMD promises we’ll see other cards based on this GPU selling for $220, but those will likely come with reference-design clocks. In this case, Asus bumped the 3870’s core clock speed to 851MHz and the card’s 512MB of GDDR4 memory to 1.143GHz (from AMD’s reference-design speeds of 775MHz and 1.125GHz, respectively). Asus had just begun shipping these cards and was able to provide us with only one, so check MaximumPC.com for an updated review with CrossFire numbers.

Great job, AMD! Now get back into the lab and build a new GPU that can compete at the high end of the market.

Consumers finally have a real choice in GPUs. The Radeon HD 3870 at the heart of Asus’s EAH3870 is a genuine contender.

Asus EAH 3870
www.asus.com

Aces

Unified Video Decoder; PCI Express 2.0, DirectX 10.1, and Shader Model 4.1support; affordable. AMD's first card in a while that can compete with Nvidia.

Deuces

Not as fast as the 8800 GT in DirectX 9.

Windows XP (DirectX 9)
	EVGA E-GeForce 8800 GT SSC	ASUS EAH3870 (Radeon HD 3870)
3DMark06 Game 1 (FPS)	30.0	24.6
3DMark06 Game 2 (FPS)	22.9	21.3
World in Conflict (FPS)	32.0	22.0
Lost Planet (FPS)	34.3	23.4

Windows Vista (DirectX 10)
	EVGA E-GeForce 8800 GT SSC	ASUS EAH3870 (Radeon HD 3870)
3DMark06 Game 1 (FPS)	28.0	24.0
3DMark06 Game 2 (FPS)	22.3	21.3
World in Conflict (FPS)	20.0	23.0
Lost Planet (FPS)	22.0	24.2
Best single-GPU score bolded. AMD-based cards tested with an Intel D975BX2 motherboard; Nvidia-based cards tested with an EVGA 680i SLI motherboard. Intel 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPUs and 2GB of Corsair DDR RAM used in both scenarios. Benchmarks performed at 1920x1200 resolution on ViewSonic VP2330wb monitors.

Katherine Stevenson Asus BC 1205PT

So your DVD burner is getting a little long in the tooth and you’re ready for an upgrade, but you’re not all that keen on adopting next-gen tech. And who can blame you? Even the falling price of hardware doesn’t make up for the relatively slow burn times, costly media, and compatibility issues that plague Blu-ray burners (and the same would be true of HD DVD burners if you could even find them!). Trouble is, you’ve got a brand-new 27-inch LCD that’s just begging to display high-def movies. What’s a consumer to do? Well, you could buy a combo drive—one that lets you read next-gen discs and write data to fast, friendly CD and DVD, like the two models we review this month.

With Asus’s BC-1205PT you get to read high-def discs, but only if they’re of the Blu-ray variety, so you’ll want to have a strong affinity for that format (and its affiliated movie studios) to take the plunge. Because while you do save money by forgoing the ability to write to Blu-ray, the BC-1205PT still isn’t cheap. It’s a couple hundred dollars more than a high-performance standard DVD drive, and its DVD burn performance is far from top-notch.

The BC-1205PT is rated at 12x for DVD+/-R write speeds—a good deal slower than today’s top DVD burners, now at 20x, and not surprisingly, burn times take a hit. It took us 7:12 (min:sec) to fill a single-layer DVD+R with the BC-1205PT, compared to the 5 minutes flat it took our favorite drive, Samsung’s SH-S203B (reviewed October 2007). Burning to a double-layer DVD, the Asus drive maintained a 3.96x average speed and filled the disc in 27:09, more than twice the time it took our Samsung. Only when burning to DVD-RW media did the Asus and Samsung perform on par, writing 4.38GB to a single-layer disc at 15:07 and 14:31, respectively. When reading data from all of our test discs, Asus’s drive had notably slower seek times than both the Samsung and the LG GCC-H20L reviewed here.

Middling performance aside, the BC-1205PT offers a SATA interface, the CyberLink BD Solution suite for playback and burning chores, and a simple, black face plate.

You’ll get to watch high-def movies with Asus’s BC-1205PT, but only if they come on a Blu-ray disc.

Michael Brown EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT SSC

Previous generations of Nvidia GPUs (AMD’s, too) presented buyers with a difficult choice: You could get great 3D performance for gaming or you could offload high-definition video decoding from the host CPU, but you couldn’t have both. Nvidia’s 8800 GT not only changes that situation, it does so at a competitive price.

The 8800 GT delivers stronger 3D performance than the industry’s previous sweet spot (the 8800 GTS with a 320MB frame buffer), it delivers more memory than that board, and it clubs AMD’s far-more expensive Radeon HD 2900 XT over the head for good measure (although AMD has responded with the Radeon HD 3870, see page 80). Nvidia managed to cram 754 million transistors into this beast thanks to a die shrink and a 65nm fabrication process (previous 8800-series GPUs were manufactured using a 90nm process).

The new part packs 112 stream processors, 512MB of GDDR3 memory, and a 256-bit memory interface into a GPU that requires a single-slot cooler (the fan howls like a banshee on startup but goes whisper-quiet as soon as Windows launches). Reference-design boards will run their cores at 600MHz and their memory at 900MHz; EVGA pumps these numbers to 700MHz and a cool 1GHz, respectively. The company also commands a premium price for the speed boost: While the average price for more typical boards was running around $270, this SSC Edition was fetching $330 at press time.

As mentioned above, the new GPU is capable of offloading the entire HD decode process from the host CPU, and it also provides HDCP decryption on both DVI links. This latter feature renders the chip capable of displaying Blu-ray and HD DVD movies at the native resolution of a 30-inch LCD. It’s also compliant with PCI Express 2.0 (see the White Paper on page 72 for more details). We didn’t test this card in that type of motherboard—no one’s shipping one in an SLI configuration just yet—but the new architecture offers double the bandwidth of PCI Express 1.1 (8GB/s in each direction).

AMD moved to GDDR4 memory several iterations back, but Nvidia continues to stick with GDDR3—and the decision doesn’t seem to be costing its cards anything in terms of performance. Interestingly, AMD has retreated from its 512-bit memory interface, building a 256-bit interface into the 3870 (same as the 8800 GT). But there are still two other features that could hold the 8800 GT back when it comes to competing with AMD’s Radeon 3870: First, these cards have only one SLI connector. Nvidia’s other cards, from the 8800 GTS on up, have two SLI connectors, even though only one of them is used in dual-card mode. Why worry about it? Nvidia will inevitably debut an SLI version that enables you to run more than two GPUs on one motherboard (remember quad SLI?), and that’s why the other cards have two SLI connectors. You’ll never be able to run more than two 8800 GTs in one box.

The other advantage AMD will soon offer is the ability to run more than one monitor in CrossFire mode, although that will likely require AMD’s new RD790 chipset (which hasn’t been released). Nvidia’s SLI system shuts off the second monitor when running in SLI mode (as does the current version of CrossFire).

While we’re looking at the future, we should also consider the fact that, unlike the Radeon HD 3870, the 8800 GT does not support Microsoft’s Direct3D 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1. Given the tepid response that most developers have given Windows Vista, and Microsoft’s continued insistence on tying DX10’s fortunes to its new OS, we don’t think this shortcoming matters much at all.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to unabashedly recommend a videocard priced this low. We just couldn’t get excited about the anemic 8800 GTS; and until now, AMD has had nothing meaty to offer. But the 8800 GT is an absolutely fantastic value, delivering great gaming performance and features that can’t be found in Nvidia’s higher-end boards. If you can swing the price, you’ll get a better gaming experience from a GeForce 8800 GTX or an Ultra (although we don’t think the latter is worth its premium); but if you’re rolling with a lower budget, the 8800 GT is a slam-dunk winner.

EVGA pumped up the 8800 GT’s core and memory clocks, but it’s sticking with a reference-design cooler.

EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT SSC
www.evga.com

Old Potrero

Scorching gaming performance; complete solution for HD-video decoding; fabulous price.

Old Granddad

Only one SLI connector; no support for DX10.1.

Toshiba Gigabeat T400 Media Player

It’s taken many a year, but Microsoft is finally figuring out how to build operating systems for handheld devices. Windows Mobile Portable Media Center 2.0, embedded in Toshiba’s Gigabeat T400 4GB digital media player, is better than anything Apple has to offer.

We’ve grown so accustomed to the iPod’s touch wheel that we didn’t think any other type of design could be as effective for browsing. But the Gigabeat’s crossbar (Toshiba calls it a PlusPad) and four-square button configuration are remarkably effective for navigating menus on the T400’s large 2.4-inch LCD. The device is also extremely easy to use with either hand.

Media Center Mobile looks and feels just like the big-screen version of the OS. Pressing the button with the familiar Windows icon brings up the main menu from which you can choose listings for TV, music, pictures, or video. Use the crossbar to move the selector to My Music, press OK, and you get a listing of your music sorted by artist, genre, album, song, or playlist. Toshiba recommends using Windows Media Player 10 or 11 to copy music to the player and create playlists, but you can also create a “quicklist” using nothing more than the player.

Although Microsoft’s PlaysForSure program has pulled a disappearing act, we had no problem syncing the player to our Rhapsody account and copying protected subscription tracks to the player. But what’s really exciting is that the device supports Microsoft’s WMA Lossless format—a rarity among portable media players of all stripes. The T400 sounds great with tracks encoded with both lossy algorithms, but it’s utterly fantastic with losslessly encoded music.

As much as we hate accepting trade-offs, we’re going to let the T400 bump SanDisk’s Sansa Connect from our Best of the Best list. The T400 doesn’t offer Wi-Fi support, but it does provide a bigger screen, a better user interface, and support for WMA Lossless. Here’s hoping Toshiba decides to build a version with a hard disk (and adds support for FLAC while they’re at it!).

Toshiba's Gigabeat T400 is our new favorite flash-based media player.

Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming Mouse

We like fancy gaming mice. We like them for their super-accurate sensors, their adjustable resolutions, and the veritable cornucopia of buttons that grace their frames. But above all, a gaming mouse has to remain comfortable during marathon wrist-crippling gaming sessions, which is where the new Sidewinder really falls apart.

You see, this mouse is just too big. It’s not as though we have tiny, inadequate hands. Really, we don’t. We all have large, extremely manly hands. However, even with our giant meathooks, this mouse is too wide.

What makes it difficult to give this mouse a poor verdict is that we quite like its shape and many of its features. Its sensor is remarkably accurate—and includes the now-standard shift-on-the-fly sensitivity that we’ve come to love. Its button placement is quite good, too, and we really dig the vertically arrayed thumb buttons. Unlike mice that have horizontally mounted thumb buttons, the Sidewinder’s buttons are easy to distinguish from each other and painless to press. And we love the built-in screen, which shows you exactly what mouse sensitivity you’ve set. We even appreciate the macro software, which lets you perform instant 180-degree turns and other custom maneuvers with a single button-press.

The mouse also comes with a weighted box, which keeps the mouse cord from flopping all over your desk. It’s a little gimmicky, but a nice gimmick nonetheless. Without a doubt, the Sidewinder’s interchangeable mouse feet are our favorite feature. The mouse ships with three sets of feet, each with a different level of smoothness. We love this and hope to see it on more mice. There’s nothing worse than wearing out the Teflon pads on an $80 mouse.

While the buttons feel just right, the wheel leaves something to be desired. Its action is too stiff, and it’s difficult to click the mouse wheel without accidentally scrolling the mouse.

Unfortunately, the wonky scroll wheel combined with the monstrously oversized frame means this mouse won’t be living in our house.

It looks good, but the Sidewinder's oversized design isn't good for people who have normal-sized hands.

Who’s Killing Your RAM?

Getting ready to build that kickass Core 2 rig you’ve been lusting over? If so, chances are you’ve been eyeballing nVidia’s 680i chipset as a foundation, and with good reason. NVidia knows a thing or two about chipsets, just ask last generation’s legion of socket 939 adopters how they felt about their nForce4 X16 SLI based setups. Even I’m admittedly reluctant to fully retire my now aged MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum / 4400+ X2 rig. But alas, it’s a dead socket, and I too have considered pairing my sexy Core 2 processor with a 680i based motherboard capable of scorching through the benchmarks. But is that all it’s scorching through?

You won’t find this unappetizing entrée at your local bistro, nor would you want to, as it's been known to cause serious heartburn.

Users across the web are logging complaints of their RAM dying prematurely when paired with 680i based motherboards, particularly EVGA’s iteration. And this isn’t the cheap (read: generic) stuff either, but enthusiast level kits capable of high frequencies and rated up to 2.4V. The problem garnered so much attention that nVidia recently released a press report (posted on EVGA’s website that reads:

NVIDIA has investigated end user reports of high performance DIMM failures on the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI-based platforms. During this process we have been in close contact with DIMM manufacturers and the DRAM manufacturers they rely on to understand the failure scenario. By working with our community, we believe that the observed failure is a breakdown of the silicon in the DRAM caused by the prolonged application of 2.4V on the voltage rails of the DIMMs.

NVIDIA’s own internal testing has observed this failure on multiple motherboards using different chipsets (both NVIDIA and non-NVIDIA chipsets). This issue is not directly related to motherboards using the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP or other chipsets.

If you are using this type of memory and are experiencing this issue, NVIDIA recommends contacting your memory manufacturer or system manufacturer for additional information and warranty information.

Sounds like a typical PR response attempting to pass the responsibility buck, but are they on to something? JEDEC, the body that issues standards for RAM technology (among other things) still specs DDR2 for 1.8V, and while they’ve never been quick to approve advances in enthusiast oriented RAM, pumping 2.4V tends to makes chips awfully warm at high frequencies, regardless of the rating on the package. I’m reminded of the short lived OCZ VX and Mushkin Redline DDR kits that required high voltages (and active cooling) to reach their full potential, but ultimately ended up discontinued after repeated failures. If we’re to believe nVidia’s in-house testing, then welcome to DDR2 déjà vu. But Mike Clements (RAM Guy) from Corsair, one of the companies offering 2.4V kits, contends that they have not seen the same problem in their lab. So who’s right?

I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. Rare exceptions aside, active cooling has never been a necessity for RAM. That could be changing, as high frequency, high voltage kits outgrow the cooling prowess of a typically air cooled chassis, particularly for those running two toasty videocards. At the same time, the 680i is still an immature chipset and could very well be choking on enthusiast kits. And if it’s providing more juice than what’s selected in the BIOS (not uncommon for motherboards of any chipset), that only compounds the problem.

What this all means is buyer beware. If you insist on pairing high frequency 2.4V DIMMs with a 680i based motherboard (or any motherboard, really), be sure your cooling is up to the task.

Who’s Killing Your RAM?

Getting ready to build that kickass Core 2 rig you’ve been lusting over? If so, chances are you’ve been eyeballing nVidia’s 680i chipset as a foundation, and with good reason. NVidia knows a thing or two about chipsets, just ask last generation’s legion of socket 939 adopters how they felt about their nForce4 X16 SLI based setups. Even I’m admittedly reluctant to fully retire my now aged MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum / 4400+ X2 rig. But alas, it’s a dead socket, and I too have considered pairing my sexy Core 2 processor with a 680i based motherboard capable of scorching through the benchmarks. But is that all it’s scorching through?

You won’t find this unappetizing entrée at your local bistro, nor would you want to, as it's been known to cause serious heartburn.

Users across the web are logging complaints of their RAM dying prematurely when paired with 680i based motherboards, particularly EVGA’s iteration. And this isn’t the cheap (read: generic) stuff either, but enthusiast level kits capable of high frequencies and rated up to 2.4V. The problem garnered so much attention that nVidia recently released a press report (posted on EVGA’s website that reads:

NVIDIA has investigated end user reports of high performance DIMM failures on the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI-based platforms. During this process we have been in close contact with DIMM manufacturers and the DRAM manufacturers they rely on to understand the failure scenario. By working with our community, we believe that the observed failure is a breakdown of the silicon in the DRAM caused by the prolonged application of 2.4V on the voltage rails of the DIMMs.

NVIDIA’s own internal testing has observed this failure on multiple motherboards using different chipsets (both NVIDIA and non-NVIDIA chipsets). This issue is not directly related to motherboards using the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP or other chipsets.

If you are using this type of memory and are experiencing this issue, NVIDIA recommends contacting your memory manufacturer or system manufacturer for additional information and warranty information.

Sounds like a typical PR response attempting to pass the responsibility buck, but are they on to something? JEDEC, the body that issues standards for RAM technology (among other things) still specs DDR2 for 1.8V, and while they’ve never been quick to approve advances in enthusiast oriented RAM, pumping 2.4V tends to makes chips awfully warm at high frequencies, regardless of the rating on the package. I’m reminded of the short lived OCZ VX and Mushkin Redline DDR kits that required high voltages (and active cooling) to reach their full potential, but ultimately ended up discontinued after repeated failures. If we’re to believe nVidia’s in-house testing, then welcome to DDR2 déjà vu. But Mike Clements (RAM Guy) from Corsair, one of the companies offering 2.4V kits, contends that they have not seen the same problem in their lab. So who’s right?

I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. Rare exceptions aside, active cooling has never been a necessity for RAM. That could be changing, as high frequency, high voltage kits outgrow the cooling prowess of a typically air cooled chassis, particularly for those running two toasty videocards. At the same time, the 680i is still an immature chipset and could very well be choking on enthusiast kits. And if it’s providing more juice than what’s selected in the BIOS (not uncommon for motherboards of any chipset), that only compounds the problem.

What this all means is buyer beware. If you insist on pairing high frequency 2.4V DIMMs with a 680i based motherboard (or any motherboard, really), be sure your cooling is up to the task.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/amazons_kindle_flunks_out_college

Amazon last year launched its Kindle Pilot Program, in which it sold a number of Kindle DX readers to several universities at a 50 percent discount. Students were allowed to use them free of charge, but as it turns out, most college students aren't yet ready to trade in their textbooks for Kindles.

At the University of Virginia, for example, about 80 percent of MBA students who participated in the program said they wouldn't recommend the Kindle DX for classroom use, even though they enjoyed it for recreational reading. And at Princeton University and Reed College, students said they missed the ability to write in the margins, easily highlight passages, or view color charts and graphics, the Seattle Times reports.

"You don't read textbooks in the same linear way as a novel," said Roesner, a 23-year-old graduate student. "You have to flip back and forth between pages, an the Kindle is too slow for that. Also, the bookmarking function is buggy."

The complaints haven't fallen on deaf ears. Amazon last month announced software upgrades that enable Kindle users to sort books into collections and zoom PDF documents.

"The pilot programs are doing their job -- getting us valuable feedback," said spokesman Drew Herdener.

Cooler Master's HAF X Chassis Looks Rad

Cooler Master appears to have kicked things up a notch with its new HAF X, the latest iteration of the original HAF chassis we back in late 2008.

Targeted at the performance oriented crowd, the HAF X receives a slightly modern makeover with a pair of USB 3.0 ports on the front I/O panel, an air duct to cool your graphics cards, and nine slots to support up to three videocards. Cooler Master also upped the cooling ante with room for up to 2 top-mounted 200mm fans (one comes standard) instead of just one.

Other features include a SATA Dock for easy installation without removing the side panel, a front mounted 230mm red LED fan, side mounted 200mm fan, rear mounted 140mm fan, removable wheels, a power supply partition, support for long graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 5970, a GPU holder to reinforce heavy GPUs, all black interior, and cable grommets to help keep everything tidy.

The case will be available soon for $200.

OLPC and Marvell Tag Team Tablet Market

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) organization announced that it is working with Marvell to develop a series of low-cost handheld tablets based on the Marvell Moby reference design.

"While devices like eReaders and current tablets are terrific literary, media and entertainment platforms, they don't meet the needs of an educational model based on making things, versus just consuming them. Today's learning environments require robust platforms for computation, content creation and experimentation – and all that at a very low cost," said Dr. Nicholas Negroponte, Founder and Chairman of One Laptop per Child. "Through our partnership with Marvell, OLPC will continue our focus on designing computers that enable children in the developing world to learn through collaboration, as well as providing connectivity to the world's body of knowledge.

OLCP's upcoming slate will consume just 1W of power (compared to 5W on the XO Laptop) and feature a multi-lingual soft keyboard with touch feedback. It will be powered by Marvell's ARMADA 610 application processor and able to crank out 1080p full-HD encode and decode. Other specs include 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM, GPS, 3D graphics, and full Adobe Flash support. No big surprise here, the upcoming tablet will be built around Google's Android platform.

No word on when it will launch, only that OLPC and Marvell are shooting for a sub-$100 price tag.

iSupply Predicts Sharp Rise in 3D TV Shipments

It would have been hard to imagine just a few short years ago that 3D in the home would suddenly take off overnight, but that's exactly what appears to be happening. According to market research firm iSuppli, global 3D TV shipments will reach 4.2 million units in 2010, and that's just the beginning.

Early adopters and increased traction are cited as reasons for the sector's explosive growth, and as iSuppli tells it, 3D TV shipments will more than triple to 12.9 million units in 2011. After that, you can expect the 3D TV market to double to 27.4 million units in 2012, and by 2015, shipments will reach 78.1 million units, rising at a CAGR of 80.2 percent from 2010.

Those are impressive numbers, though just a fraction of the overall TV market. Shipments of all types of LCD TVs are on pace to hit 170 million units this year, while LED backlit sets will see shipments of 26 million units.

Of course, hardware is only part of the equation. Content providers are preparing for the explosive growth, and already ESPN has talked up plans to launch the world's first 3D network. Disney and Sony, meanwhile, both have announced 3D Blu-ray releases for 2010.

VIA Predicts Stiff Competition for iPad with $100 Android Tablets

If you're in the market for a low-cost tablet, hang tight, because several affordable models are on the way, says VIA's Richard Brown, vice president of marketing at VIA. In an interview with Bloomberg, Brown said he expects about five different models ranging in price from $100 to $150 to be available in the second half of 2010, all of which will sport a VIA processor inside.

All five models will be built around Google's open-source Android platform, which will play a big role in keeping the overall cost to a minimum.

"The tablet market has been legitimized by Apple," Brown said. "Android is bringing a lot of diversity to the market. There are different sizes and different looks and feels."

Taking down Apple will be no easy task, however, as the Cupertino company has already sold over a million iPads during their first month on sale and just recently launched to an international market. How the upcoming VIA-powered tablets compare remains to be seen, though Brown did say VIA is offering an ARM-based processor the for the new tablets.

Seagate Officially Launches Hybrid Hard Drive

We knew Seagate was cooking up a hybrid hard drive that would combine an SSD and HDD under the same hood, but most of the information we had was based on speculation and leaked specs. Things are a bit more concrete now, as Seagate today officially unveiled what it claims is the "world's fastest hard drive for laptop computers."

It's called the Momentus XT and it comes in three capacities, including 250GB, 320GB, and 500GB. These hybrid drives will sport 4GB of fast SLC NAND solid state memory, a 7200RPM spindle speed, 32MB of drive-level cache, and SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ.

"We see the Momentus ® XT drive as a game changer, a product heralding a new generation of hard drives that combine SSD and HDD capabilities so that laptop users don’t have to make trade-offs on speed, cost or capacity," said Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management.

To squeeze the most performance out of its hybrid drive, Seagate has implemented what it calls Adaptive Memory technology. What this does is analyze patterns in how often certain digital data is used and then moves the most frequently used bits to the embedded solid state memory for faster access.

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IDC Predicts 46 Million Tablet Shipments by 2014

Tablet shipments will reach 7 million units by the end of the year and exceed 46 million in 2014, representing a sixfold increase, market research firm IDC reported on Thursday.

Apple's iPad will be the driving force in pushing tablets to the masses, but so too will tablets becoming differentiated from PCs and smartphones, said Suasan Kevorkian, program director at IDC. According to Kevorkian, apps, content, and services designed for tablets will increase the divide between these devices.

IDC's numbers might even be a bit conservative. Apple has already sold over a million iPads, and that was just in the first 28 days, and also before the international launch. In addition, several other players are taking aim at the tablet market, including Hewlett-Packard, Asus, Lenovo, and others, all with different screen sizes and OSes (Android, webOS, and Windows).

ARM Expects to Power Half of all Tablet PCs in 2011

Intel's Atom architecture has pretty much become ubiquitous with netbooks, and with tablets shaping up to be the next biggest fad in mobile computing, you can bet the Santa Clara chip maker will look to duplicate its success. Standing in Intel's way, however, is ARM.

ARM has no intention of letting Intel dominate the tablet PC sector the way it has netbooks, and according to Bob Morris, ARM's director of Mobile Computing, ARM processors will wiggle their way into 50 percent of global tablet PCs by 2011.

That works out to a lot of tablets. By Morris' estimation, global tablet PC shipments will total 4 million units by the end of 2010, and then balloon to 21 million units in 2011. Morris also said that Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Sharp have already adopted ARM-based processors for their smartbooks and tablets.

Breakthrough in NAND Flash Memory Could Lead to 10GB/s SSD Writes

Today's blistering fast SSDs with read and write speeds approaching 300MB/s have nothing on what's in store for tomorrow. Thanks to a breakthrough in NAND flash memory technology, a Japanese research group says 9.5GB/s SSD writes are entirely possible.

The Cliff Notes version is that the research team found a way to reduce the operating voltage to 1V, resulting in power consumption that's 86 percent lower than existing NAND flash chips, while also overcoming what are called "write disturb" problems. The lower voltage makes it possible for parallel writing to occur on up to 110 NAND chips, or nearly 7 times more than existing NAND flash memory.

The research team calls the procedure the "single-cell self-boost" method, which "turns off two cells adjacent to the unchosen cells by applying a voltage of 1V from both ends of the bit line connected to the unchosen cells so that the channel of the unchosen cells is in the state of floating," as TechON! explains it.

Wrap your head around all the technical jargon here, and then sit back and hope we see this technology manifest itself before SSDs become obsolete.

Nvidia GTX 465 Details Leaked to the Web

Computex is less than two weeks away, and it's during that time many are expecting Nvidia to announce a new graphics card, the GTX 465. Well, thanks to Turkish site Donanimhaber, the same site that accurately revealed GTX 470 and 480 specs ahead of launch, we have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Nvidia's upcoming GPU.

According to Donanimhaber, the GTX 465 is being built around the same GF100 core as the 470 and 480, but with five out of the 11 stream clusters turned off. That brings the stream processor count down to 352.

The core clockspeed will race along at 607MHz, the same as the GTX 470, while the stream processors will come clocked at 1,215MHz. You can expect 1GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit memory bus, along with two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors.

Pricing is estimated to be around $300.