- Gainward's 1100XT Golden Sample

Now that both ATI and nVidia's next-gen cards have hit the scene, prices on already existing mainstream cards are bound to fall over the next few months, making way for the perfect opportunity to pick up a nice fast card at a great price. One such card from nVidia that had an attractive price tag right off the line given what it offers in terms of specs/features, is the 5900XT. Gainward's 1100XT variant has been checked out by PCUnleash and they also go over the possibilities of flashing the card for a free upgrade to 5950 Ultra.

I contacted Gainward a month ago, requesting to lend us the video card. The reason that I was so eager to review the card was, I've heard an interesting information from our international affiliate site. That Gainward's 5900XT can easily flash the card into a full fledged 5950Ultra.

I'll explain more details in the next couple paragraphs. It is based on 5900XT core but where as other 5900XT have a default clock of 390, this baby starts at 450 MHz. It is already a head start for an overclocking enthusiast. I have gone through couple reviews of other hardware review sites. Yet I haven't cross in to single complaints.

- VIA's K8T800 Pro chipset

The folks at Tech Report have had some time to take a look at a reference board utilizing VIA's new K8T800 Pro chipset for Athlon64. An independent PCI/AGP clock makes it's way onto this chipset which will be sure to make a lot of overclockers very happy, as well as a bunch of other additional features. Well worth the read for future a64 buyers.

VIA'S ATHLON 64 CHIPSET, the K8T800, has dominated the Athlon 64 scene since the processor's launch last fall. Right from the beginning, we found the K8T800 to be a fast, stable solution that outperformed its only real competition, the NVIDIA nForce3 150. Not only that, but the K8T800-based MSI K8T Master2 put in a stellar showing in our dual Opteron workstation motherboard round up not long ago.

Mated with VIA's VT8237 south bridge chip, the K8T800 offers support for AGP 8X, Serial ATA RAID, USB 2.0, six-channel audio, and the usual litany of checklist features common to today's core-logic chipsets. Short of an all-out conversion to PCI Express, what more could anyone want out of an Athlon 64 chipset?

- Articles and Reviews from around the Web

- Gyration Media Center Remote and Keyboard @ DesignTechnica
- Integrity PC Fluid XP Plus @ ExtremeReviews
- EPoX 8KDA3+ nForce3 250Gb @ Hexus
- OS Comparison @ Overclocking HQ
- VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset @ PCPerspective
- Gamer Mousing Surfaces: Black Icemat 2 vs Corepad @ TweakNews