Hardware Reviews

The required motherboard review: KT600 by Soyo.

Two SATA RAID reviews between Maxtor and WD. Of course, the controller makes a difference as well as far as speed goes, but still a good reference if you're looking into SATA RAID. (If anyone knows of a good SATA RAID controller capable of RAID 5, please email me).

A cooling duct review/guide from CyberCPU. We've had many people wondering how they can keep their systems cool and quiet, and many claim this is a great way with air, though the review may not take that perspective. I'd like to note that it depends on your component setup. With 6 harddrives that need cooling, you need more ducting than you can fit and that would require many more fans, thus increasing noise levels. Ducting is much more useful for a very basic system setup, as it does not create a coherent airflow within the case. This means that there will be hot spots wherever there is no ducting. Also, I recently got an email noting that postive pressure systems are useful for those attempting to keep the inside of their case clean, as dust will get sucked in from all the crevices between drive bays etc. The problem with this theory is that positive pressure systems will create eddies and much more randomn currents that are more likely to hold hot air in the case, whereas negative pressure systems move all of the air out of the case, creating that coherent airflow that is necessary to cool ALL of the components in the case. If you are worried about dust getting in, i suggest some foam or scotch tape.

Tweaktown has a review of the K8T800 chipset.

If I was buying myself a component stereo system, I'd definitely get one of these, an ATX case that looks like a stereo component, to add some versatility without having a beige box in my living room. Of course, if I were doing that, I'd want a really sweet soundcard, but which one should I get. Last but not least, a pair of nice cans are requisite.