Archive
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AMD's Radeon HD 5970 graphics card
It doesn't get any more extreme than this
CrossFire on a stick goes to the next level in the Radeon HD 5970, the new fastest graphics card on the planet. This one is extreme in more ways than one, though. Read on to see what we mean.
156 comments —
Last by sammorris at 9:56 AM on 11/21/09 -
Corsair's Obsidian Series 800D enclosure
The black behemoth
A number of premium cases are vying for the honor of housing your next high-powered machine, including Corsair's enclosure debut, the 800D. We've taken a close look at this monstrous tower's performance and its unique, innovative features to see whether the Obsidian measures up.
89 comments —
Last by Valhalla926 at 8:07 AM on 11/20/09 -
Hands on with Lucid's Hydra GPU load balancer
The first performance results revealed
We recently got the chance to test Lucid's Hydra GPU load balancer first hand. We came away with some of the first public performance numbers, along with our impressions of this magical toy that allows Radeons and GeForces to work together.
84 comments —
Last by mattthemuppet at 2:16 PM on 11/16/09 -
The TR Podcast: 10th Anniversary Edition
A decade of PC hardware exploration
Join us for our special 10th-anniversary episode as we look at the history of The Tech Report. Panelists include Scott, Cyril, Geoff, Adam, and in his first-ever podcast appearance, Andy Brown!
28 comments —
Last by REv9k at 5:19 PM on 11/16/09 -
Phenom II X4 965 slips into more modest thermal envelope
AMD hits 3.4GHz with a little more ease
Some folks scoffed when AMD introduce the Phenom II X4 965 processor back in August with a 140W thermal design power. Now, some months later, AMD has introduced a revised version with a 125W TDP.
70 comments —
Last by Kaleid at 1:36 PM on 11/15/09 -
A quick look at Kanguru's e-Flash eSATA/USB thumb drive
Who needs USB 3.0?
A new hybrid eSATA/USB connector nicely marries the two standards to provide external storage devices with plenty of bandwidth and adequate power. We take a look at Kanguru's hybrid e-Flash drive to see if it's a worthwhile upgrade over standard USB thumb drives.
38 comments —
Last by d0g_p00p at 12:04 PM on 11/05/09 -
Western Digital's Caviar Black 2TB hard drive
Introducing the dual-stage actuator
Western Digital's Caviar Black 2TB finally spins the company's 500GB platters up to 7,200 RPM. The drive has a fancy dual-stage actuator and a beefy 64MB cache, too. Let's see what she can do.
70 comments —
Last by flip-mode at 8:11 AM on 11/07/09 -
The TR Podcast 53: Windows 7 arrives, tiny P55 boards, and Borderlands
Plus Cyril's new keyboard, new Radeons, and more
In this technical potpourri of an episode, we cover the Windows 7 launch, the latest PC gaming tidbits, MicroATX Lynnfield motherboards, new DirectX 11 Radeons, and more.
26 comments —
Last by Freon at 11:52 AM on 11/01/09 -
Gigabyte's GA-P55M-UD4 and MSI's P55M-GD45 motherboards compared
Lynnfield goes MicroATX
The first wave of P55-based Lynnfield motherboards has included not just the usual ATX fare, but also number of interesting MicroATX models. We've rounded up a pair of micro boards from Gigabyte and MSI to see how they stack up against full-size competition.
30 comments —
Last by MadManOriginal at 1:20 PM on 10/26/09 -
TR's Windows 7 system guide
Recommendations for building the right enthusiast's PCs
Windows 7 is upon us, as is a whole line of DirectX 11 graphics processors from AMD. Come see how we've updated our system guide to account for these new products and other changes in the hardware landscape.
177 comments —
Last by Inkedsphynx at 4:59 PM on 11/13/09 -
AMD's Radeon HD 5770 and 5750 graphics cards
Juniper jumps
In just a few short weeks, AMD's DirectX 11-class Radeon technology has migrated from the high-end 5800 series to the mid-range 5700 series. Now you can pick up a DX11 graphics card for $159 or less. Is this the right upgrade for you? We're on it.
111 comments —
Last by JoJoBoy at 12:24 AM on 10/30/09 -
Apple's aluminum keyboard
Metal, white plastic, and scissor switches
Can low-profile chiclet keys, sleek industrial design, and an Apple logo make a good desktop keyboard? And can such a device pry a fan of clicky keyboards away from the IBM Model M and its ilk?
69 comments —
Last by waffle911 at 7:12 PM on 10/26/09 -
Seagate's Barracuda LP 2TB hard drive
A more transparent take on energy-efficient storage
Western Digital's Caviar Green line popularized power-efficient hard drives, and now Seagate has joined the party with a Barracuda LP that packs two terabytes. We take a closer look at how this 5,900-RPM 'cuda compares with its Caviar rival.
56 comments —
Last by Freon at 2:59 PM on 10/16/09 -
Intel graphics drivers employ questionable 3DMark Vantage optimizations
3DMurk all over again?
Intel's latest graphics drivers for Windows 7 appear to violate Futuremark's optimization guidelines for 3DMark Vantage. We investigate, and make some interesting discoveries in the process.
122 comments —
Last by travbrad at 2:29 AM on 10/18/09 -
The TR Podcast 52: Killing Inferi, finding the 5850, and all about Fermi
Plus who uses GPU computing, PhysX exclusivity, and more...
Tune in this week as Jordan and Cyril debrief Scott about the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference, the new Fermi architecture, and more.
14 comments —
Last by tbone8ty at 10:34 PM on 10/14/09 -
Intel's Core i7 comes to notebooks
Clarksfield arrives in Clevo's W870CU mobile gaming rig
Nehalem has finally arrived for notebooks in the form of Clarksdale Core i7 mobile processors that are virtually identical to their Lynnfield desktop counterparts. Keep reading to see how the new Core i7-920XM performs inside a cutting-edge portable gaming rig.
57 comments —
Last by MadManOriginal at 1:59 PM on 10/11/09 -
Nvidia's 'Fermi' GPU architecture revealed
GPU computing grabs center stage
Nvidia has spilled the beans on how its upcoming GPU architecture is built to excel in GPU-computing applications. Keep reading to see what makes the architecture code-named "Fermi" unique.
149 comments —
Last by blubje at 2:45 AM on 11/15/09 -
AMD's Radeon HD 5850 arrives
Say hello to the 5870's smaller, nimbler sibling
With a $259 suggested retail price and a smaller footprint, the Radeon HD 5850 brings a slightly diluted version of the 5870's potent cocktail. Let's see if it goes down any easier.
210 comments —
Last by glynor at 12:47 PM on 10/09/09
