BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

• Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
  
• Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
  
• Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
  
• Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
  
• Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
  
• Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
  

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

• Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
  
• Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
  
• Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
  
• Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
  
• Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
  
• Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
  

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

• Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
  
• Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
  
• Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
  
• Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
  
• Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
  
• Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
  

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

• Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
  
• Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
  
• Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
  
• Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
  
• Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
  
• Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
  

Scythe Fenris Wolf

Manufacturer:Scythe
UK Price (as reviewed):£134.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$167.79 (ex. Tax)

As we’ve looked at more and more cases in past year there’s been a continued vein of support within our forums for a case that keeps it simple, in terms of both looks and features, while still delivering the excellent build quality and value for money bit-tech readers expect.

It’s the reason the P182 is still so enormously popular amongst our forumites and is a feat that hasn’t really been repeated since. Yes, we’ve looked at some awesome cases, but there’s still part of us that yearns for the balance of well executed simplicity, performance and affordability – we can’t all stretch to an ATCS 840 after all.

First Look: SilverStone Raven RV01

Manufacturer:SilverStone
UK Pricing:£171.35 (inc VAT)
US Pricing:$249.99 (ex Tax)

SilverStone’s latest prestigious case breaks the established mould of case design by rotating the motherboard tray to hold your expansion cards vertically. The cooler of your graphics card is therefore pointed directly up at the roof exhaust. This seems the most logical orientation for a high-end PC, as cold air can be sucked in through the floor and passed up (aided by fans and thermodynamics) to be exhausted out of the top.

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB

Manufacturer:Sapphire
UK Price (as reviewed):£259.97 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$339.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 625MHz
Memory Clock: 1,986MHz
Memory: 2,048MB GDDR3
Warranty: Two years (parts and labour)

We had a brief look at Sapphire's ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 in November when the card launched, but at the time there was no official driver support from AMD – the company simply provided us with a pre-release hotfix driver that wasn't available for download. This driver had some issues where performance dived through the floor and then we learned that official AMD support wasn't forthcoming until at least Catalyst 9.1.

Lian Li PC-888

Manufacturer:Lian Li
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around £420 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around $500 (ex. Tax)

When you celebrate an anniversary you might go out for a few drinks, perhaps a meal, pop open a bottle of champagne and make a toast to the occasion. Not Lian Li though, who has a history of celebrating its anniversaries by producing chassis that take the humble PC case and turn it into something unique and memorable.

Lian Li PC-888

Manufacturer:Lian Li
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around £420 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around $500 (ex. Tax)

When you celebrate an anniversary you might go out for a few drinks, perhaps a meal, pop open a bottle of champagne and make a toast to the occasion. Not Lian Li though, who has a history of celebrating its anniversaries by producing chassis that take the humble PC case and turn it into something unique and memorable.

Lian Li PC-888

Manufacturer:Lian Li
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around £420 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around $500 (ex. Tax)

When you celebrate an anniversary you might go out for a few drinks, perhaps a meal, pop open a bottle of champagne and make a toast to the occasion. Not Lian Li though, who has a history of celebrating its anniversaries by producing chassis that take the humble PC case and turn it into something unique and memorable.

Ericsson to lay off 5,000 workers

The telecoms infrastructure firm Ericsson is to lay off 5,000 workers, after its results for the fourth quarter of 2008 showed a 31 percent year-on-year drop in profits.

The results came out on Wednesday, with profits in the fourth quarter of 2008 totaling 3.9bn Swedish kronor (341m) down from SEK 5.6bn in the corresponding quarter of 2007. Ericsson blamed the drop on restructuring charges and a "dramatic drop in the contribution" from Sony Ericsson, which is Ericsson's handset-manufacturing joint venture with Sony.

Ericsson to lay off 5,000 workers

The telecoms infrastructure firm Ericsson is to lay off 5,000 workers, after its results for the fourth quarter of 2008 showed a 31 percent year-on-year drop in profits.

The results came out on Wednesday, with profits in the fourth quarter of 2008 totaling 3.9bn Swedish kronor (341m) down from SEK 5.6bn in the corresponding quarter of 2007. Ericsson blamed the drop on restructuring charges and a "dramatic drop in the contribution" from Sony Ericsson, which is Ericsson's handset-manufacturing joint venture with Sony.

Ericsson to lay off 5,000 workers

The telecoms infrastructure firm Ericsson is to lay off 5,000 workers, after its results for the fourth quarter of 2008 showed a 31 percent year-on-year drop in profits.

The results came out on Wednesday, with profits in the fourth quarter of 2008 totaling 3.9bn Swedish kronor (341m) down from SEK 5.6bn in the corresponding quarter of 2007. Ericsson blamed the drop on restructuring charges and a "dramatic drop in the contribution" from Sony Ericsson, which is Ericsson's handset-manufacturing joint venture with Sony.

Ericsson to lay off 5,000 workers

The telecoms infrastructure firm Ericsson is to lay off 5,000 workers, after its results for the fourth quarter of 2008 showed a 31 percent year-on-year drop in profits.

The results came out on Wednesday, with profits in the fourth quarter of 2008 totaling 3.9bn Swedish kronor (341m) down from SEK 5.6bn in the corresponding quarter of 2007. Ericsson blamed the drop on restructuring charges and a "dramatic drop in the contribution" from Sony Ericsson, which is Ericsson's handset-manufacturing joint venture with Sony.

Lian Li PC-888

Manufacturer:Lian Li
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around £420 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): TBC - Around $500 (ex. Tax)

When you celebrate an anniversary you might go out for a few drinks, perhaps a meal, pop open a bottle of champagne and make a toast to the occasion. Not Lian Li though, who has a history of celebrating its anniversaries by producing chassis that take the humble PC case and turn it into something unique and memorable.

Ericsson to lay off 5,000 workers

The telecoms infrastructure firm Ericsson is to lay off 5,000 workers, after its results for the fourth quarter of 2008 showed a 31 percent year-on-year drop in profits.

The results came out on Wednesday, with profits in the fourth quarter of 2008 totaling 3.9bn Swedish kronor (341m) down from SEK 5.6bn in the corresponding quarter of 2007. Ericsson blamed the drop on restructuring charges and a "dramatic drop in the contribution" from Sony Ericsson, which is Ericsson's handset-manufacturing joint venture with Sony.

Dawn of War II beta launches

If you're a hardcore fan of THQ and Relic's Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War strategy games then we've got good news. You'll be pleased to know that the official multiplayer beta for Dawn of War II has now launched on Steam - providing you own the original standalone expansion, Soulstorm anyway.

The even better news though is that, even if you don't own Soulstorm then you can still get in on the beta for cheap - Valve has slashed the price of the standalone

Dawn of War II beta launches

If you're a hardcore fan of THQ and Relic's Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War strategy games then we've got good news. You'll be pleased to know that the official multiplayer beta for Dawn of War II has now launched on Steam - providing you own the original standalone expansion, Soulstorm anyway.

The even better news though is that, even if you don't own Soulstorm then you can still get in on the beta for cheap - Valve has slashed the price of the standalone

Dawn of War II beta launches

If you're a hardcore fan of THQ and Relic's Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War strategy games then we've got good news. You'll be pleased to know that the official multiplayer beta for Dawn of War II has now launched on Steam - providing you own the original standalone expansion, Soulstorm anyway.

The even better news though is that, even if you don't own Soulstorm then you can still get in on the beta for cheap - Valve has slashed the price of the standalone

Red Hat version 5.3 released

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 became globally available on Wednesday, with the new enterprise OS featuring virtualization improvements, support for Intel's Core i7 architecture and inclusion of the Open Java Development Kit from Sun.

When interviewed in October 2008, Red Hat global chief executive Jim Whitehurst said virtualization was one of the company's key priorities. "Virtualization should be part of the operating system, not a separate layer," he said at the time.

Red Hat version 5.3 released

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 became globally available on Wednesday, with the new enterprise OS featuring virtualization improvements, support for Intel's Core i7 architecture and inclusion of the Open Java Development Kit from Sun.

When interviewed in October 2008, Red Hat global chief executive Jim Whitehurst said virtualization was one of the company's key priorities. "Virtualization should be part of the operating system, not a separate layer," he said at the time.

EA: "We want to make quality games"

EA's CEO John Riccitiello has re-iterated that he is trying to lead the company away from it's reputation of making cheap and cheerful cash-ins and repetitive sports games and more towards innovative, quality titles.

That said, he does admit that the company need to make a profit too - but he doesn't believe there needs to be a distinction between profit and quality.

"Some of my greatest beliefs regarding gaming are that our art form is today - or certainly has the potential - to be recognised as the peer of the best of Hollywood movies. I want to help others see that.

Logitech's income drops 70 percent

More bad news for anyone employed in the tech sector, with peripherals manufacturer Logitech announcing a whopping 70 percent drop in net income – and a series of job cuts to bring things back in line.

According to figures quoted by BetaNews yesterday, the company is facing a massive slump in income for the last financial quarter – not helped by some acquisition initiated before the scale of the global economic slowdown was apparent.

AMD also cuts processor prices

Within hours of Intel cutting its processor prices, AMD has responded by trimming the prices for its new 45nm Phenom II CPUs.

Although the prices haven't affected AMD's official price list, Novatech and Newegg have reduced the price of both the 940 and 920 processors.

In the UK, the Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition was selling for around £220 including VAT and Novatech is now selling a boxed retail Phenom II X4 940 for under £190. Meanwhile, the 920 was selling for about £190 and Novatech now has it down at £160.

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P and DS4 mobos

Manufacturer:Gigabyte

Gigabyte GA-EX58-DS4

UK Price (as reviewed):£185.98 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$244.99 (ex. Tax)

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P

UK Price (as reviewed):£203.42 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$259.99 (ex. Tax)

Some of us want a brand-spanking new Core i7 system, but nearly all of us don't want to pay over the odds for a motherboard - that's something which has become quite a barrier of entry into the world of Nehalem. At £200 and under, these Gigabyte boards reset the trend just a bit by making X58 motherboards close to affordable, but by no means cheap - they are at least

Bush leaves behind a mixed technology legacy

news analysis Months after being sworn in as president, George W. Bush sat down with reporters and his wife, Laura, for a technology-themed event: a relaunch of the Whitehouse.gov Web site, which previously had been rather dilapidated.

Bush and his aides proudly demonstrated the new features, including photo essays, better access for the disabled, and a kids' area with details about the First Pets. The president said the Web site would let Washington become "more accessible" and let Americans "participate in the process."

Fake reviews prompt Belkin apology

Fake positive reviews of Belkin products were actively solicited by one of its employees, the company admitted on Sunday.

Belkin, a networking and peripheral manufacturer, apologized for the worker's actions, which sought to artificially boost Belkin's status on Amazon while denigrating existing bad reviews.

On Friday, The Daily Background website revealed how someone, apparently Belkin business-development representative Mark Bayard, had used the Mechanical Turk service to ask users to write positive reviews of a Belkin product at a rate of 65 US cents (45p) per review. The requests made it clear that writers need have no experience of, nor even own, the product in question. Mechanical Turk is an online clearing-house for small jobs that cannot be done by machine, such as writing product descriptions. It is, coincidentally, run by Amazon.

Intel cuts prices by up to 48 percent

Intel on Monday cut the prices of many of its mainstream processors, with some of the cuts lopping off as much as 48 percent.

The prices of five different versions of the Intel Core 2 Quad processor were cut by as much as 40 percent, with the 3GHz Q9850 dropping from $530 (380) to $316. Meanwhile the 2.33GHz Q8200 dropped in price by 16 percent, from $193 to $163.

The Pentium Dual Core processor line also saw price cuts, with the 2.5GHz E5200 chipset having a cut of 24 percent from $84 to $64.

IBM accused of mainframe monopoly

A complaint alleging that IBM has abused its position in the European mainframe market was filed with the European Commission on Tuesday.

The complaint from T3, a small US supplier of mainframes, said IBM has "a history of abusing its monopoly power in the mainframe industry", according to a statement from T3.

IBM is accused of engaging in a range of anti-competitive actions, including "preventing the sales of competing mainframe hardware products by tying the sale of its operating system to its mainframe hardware". IBM is further accused of "withholding patent licenses and certain intellectual property to the detriment of mainframe customers".

Melbourne school considers thin for 4,500+ PCs

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) this week said that the first half of 2009 would see the university evaluate whether to commit to a thin client solution for thousands of university workstations.

"We'd have about 4,500 PCs in what we call student laboratories," executive director of IT services Allan Morris told ZDNet.com.au. "Many of those would be candidates for thin client." Other PCs which would come into consideration were those in the libraries.

HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB IceQ4+ Turbo

Manufacturer:HIS
UK Price (as reviewed): £229.00 (inc. VAT) - expected
US Price (as reviewed):$291.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 770MHz
Memory Clock: 4,000MHz
Memory: 1GB GDDR5
Warranty: Three years (parts and labour)

When AMD released the ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB, it was the first time in a long time where we've actually seen the larger frame buffer size make a real difference in games. The original Radeon HD 4870 was a fantastic product and the 1GB version was arguably even better – the increased price was well worth swallowing in order to pocket the sometimes significantly enhanced gameplay experience.

G.Skill Titan 256GB SSD

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$499.00 (ex. Tax)

We’ve said before in the past that the rise of the SSD as a replacement to the conventional mechanical drive is inevitable, but still some way off. Affordable SSDs might have the performance in the read stakes, but their poor JMicron drive controllers have so far proved disappointing when you look at write performance, and while Intel’s X25 series of SSDs are able to produce excellent read and write speeds their price is extremely prohibitive.

MSI Click BIOS - Evaluating UEFI

Manufacturer:MSI

Those who own and use computers of a fruitier nature have had UEFI BIOS’ for a while, in effect making this seem normal. However, in terms of us more other folk who like to build our own - we've been limited to the old school sixteen colour array for as long as anyone can remember. The typical old school BIOS some of us have grown to know inside out has changed very little since its invention, but for the last year at least MSI has been one of the few companies at the forefront of changing that.

MSI Click BIOS - Evaluating UEFI

Manufacturer:MSI

Those who own and use computers of a fruitier nature have had UEFI BIOS’ for a while, in effect making this seem normal. However, in terms of us more other folk who like to build our own - we've been limited to the old school sixteen colour array for as long as anyone can remember. The typical old school BIOS some of us have grown to know inside out has changed very little since its invention, but for the last year at least MSI has been one of the few companies at the forefront of changing that.

MSI Click BIOS - Evaluating UEFI

Manufacturer:MSI

Those who own and use computers of a fruitier nature have had UEFI BIOS’ for a while, in effect making this seem normal. However, in terms of us more other folk who like to build our own - we've been limited to the old school sixteen colour array for as long as anyone can remember. The typical old school BIOS some of us have grown to know inside out has changed very little since its invention, but for the last year at least MSI has been one of the few companies at the forefront of changing that.

MSI Click BIOS - Evaluating UEFI

Manufacturer:MSI

Those who own and use computers of a fruitier nature have had UEFI BIOS’ for a while, in effect making this seem normal. However, in terms of us more other folk who like to build our own - we've been limited to the old school sixteen colour array for as long as anyone can remember. The typical old school BIOS some of us have grown to know inside out has changed very little since its invention, but for the last year at least MSI has been one of the few companies at the forefront of changing that.

MSI Click BIOS - Evaluating UEFI

Manufacturer:MSI

Those who own and use computers of a fruitier nature have had UEFI BIOS’ for a while, in effect making this seem normal. However, in terms of us more other folk who like to build our own - we've been limited to the old school sixteen colour array for as long as anyone can remember. The typical old school BIOS some of us have grown to know inside out has changed very little since its invention, but for the last year at least MSI has been one of the few companies at the forefront of changing that.

Razer Mako 2.1 speakers

Manufacturer:Razer
UK Price (as reviewed):£241.49 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$354.98 (ex. Tax)

Contrary to what Richard says every time a set crosses his desk, speaker systems are one of the most fun things to review. Mainly all it involves is playing your favourite games, watching some high-quality videos and listening to some music. Then you fiddle with the settings, try the other connectors and try it all over again.

Razer Mako 2.1 speakers

Manufacturer:Razer
UK Price (as reviewed):£241.49 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$354.98 (ex. Tax)

Contrary to what Richard says every time a set crosses his desk, speaker systems are one of the most fun things to review. Mainly all it involves is playing your favourite games, watching some high-quality videos and listening to some music. Then you fiddle with the settings, try the other connectors and try it all over again.

Razer Mako 2.1 speakers

Manufacturer:Razer
UK Price (as reviewed):£241.49 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$354.98 (ex. Tax)

Contrary to what Richard says every time a set crosses his desk, speaker systems are one of the most fun things to review. Mainly all it involves is playing your favourite games, watching some high-quality videos and listening to some music. Then you fiddle with the settings, try the other connectors and try it all over again.

Razer Mako 2.1 speakers

Manufacturer:Razer
UK Price (as reviewed):£241.49 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$354.98 (ex. Tax)

Contrary to what Richard says every time a set crosses his desk, speaker systems are one of the most fun things to review. Mainly all it involves is playing your favourite games, watching some high-quality videos and listening to some music. Then you fiddle with the settings, try the other connectors and try it all over again.

Nvidia (Zotac) GeForce GTX 285 1GB

Manufacturer:Nvidia
UK Price (as reviewed):£294.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$349.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 648MHz
Shader Clock: 1,476MHz
Memory Clock: 2,484MHz (effective)
Memory: 1,024MB GDDR3

With the launch of the GeForce GTX 295 last week, Nvidia has started to roll out its 55nm GT200b GPUs onto the market. Today the company is rolling another new graphics card – the GeForce GTX 285 – but unlike the GTX 295, the 285 utilizes just a single GT200b GPU.

Belkin N1 Vision

Manufacturer:Belkin

ADSL2+ Version
UK Price (as reviewed):£113.42 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): NA

Cable/DSL Version
UK Price (as reviewed):£92.38 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$122.98 (ex. Tax)

Spare a thought for the humble router. Following the meteoric rise of home broadband, and the subsequent increase in home wireless networks it now seems that nearly every broadband enabled home has one of these wondrous boxes, sitting behind sofas or shoved behind the TV, busily delivering your precious packets of data from the wilds of the internet to the safety of your home network.

Shuttle X27-D Atom dual-core barebones SFF

Manufacturer:Shuttle
UK Price (as reviewed):£205.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$214.99 (ex. Tax)

Another year and leading SFF manufacturer Shuttle seems to continually exist in the background, yet has stepped away from its usual XPC line to devise a smart design using the latest tech. Surprisingly using the even smaller mini-ITX form factor, the X27-D is based on Intel's Atom 330 dual-core processor. This is basically two 1.6GHz Atom dies strapped to the same package and inside the case features the mini-ITX motherboard and 60W DC-DC PSU.

In-Win Commander 750W PSU

Manufacturer:In-Win
UK Price (as reviewed): £102 (inc. VAT) MSRP
US Price (as reviewed):$169.99 (ex. Tax)

In-Win is a Taiwanese company with offices in Los Angeles stateside, The Netherlands and even the UK. In-Win Style is the retail division which has been running since 2005 although the company has barely marketed these products in the past and the company is still predominantly driven by its OEM/ODM business.

Palit Revolution 700 (Radeon HD 4870 X2)

Manufacturer:Palit
UK Price (as reviewed):£373.74 (Inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):NA

Core Clock: 750MHz
Memory Clock: 3,800MHz (effective)
Memory: 2GB GDDR5
Warranty: Two years (parts and labour)

Thanks to ATI/AMD’s fairly lenient approach to board partner card design, we’ve seen plenty of custom cooled Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870s since RV770’s launch back in the summer. There have been plenty of cards using custom PCBs to help keep costs down and in some cases improve the card’s power delivery system.

Developers expect SaaS boom

More than half of software developers worldwide expect to work on internet-hosted applications during 2009, confirming the success of software-as-a-service, according to a survey from Evans Data.

The survey, published on Monday, found that an average of nearly 52 percent of respondents planned to work on SaaS projects in 2009, with adoption expectations highest in the Asia-Pacific region.

North American developers had the highest current adoption of SaaS, at 30 percent. European developers were currently engaged in fewer SaaS projects than in the US or Asia, but 53 percent of European developers said they expected to work on internet-hosted software sometime this year.

Cooler Master Sniper

Manufacturer:Cooler Master
UK Price (as reviewed): £120 MSRP (inc. VAT)[/eurl]
US Price (as reviewed): $180 MSRP (ex. Tax)[/eurl]

Cooler Master had an excellent 2008 by all accounts, tweaking modders favourite: the Cosmos, to produce the Cosmos S. Later it followed up with the excellent (but slightly flawed and very ugly) HAF 932, finally capping the year with the release of our Case of the Year 2008, the superb ATCS 840.

Cooler Master Sniper

Manufacturer:Cooler Master
UK Price (as reviewed): £120 MSRP (inc. VAT)[/eurl]
US Price (as reviewed): $180 MSRP (ex. Tax)[/eurl]

Cooler Master had an excellent 2008 by all accounts, tweaking modders favourite: the Cosmos, to produce the Cosmos S. Later it followed up with the excellent (but slightly flawed and very ugly) HAF 932, finally capping the year with the release of our Case of the Year 2008, the superb ATCS 840.

Cooler Master Sniper

Manufacturer:Cooler Master
UK Price (as reviewed): £120 MSRP (inc. VAT)[/eurl]
US Price (as reviewed): $180 MSRP (ex. Tax)[/eurl]

Cooler Master had an excellent 2008 by all accounts, tweaking modders favourite: the Cosmos, to produce the Cosmos S. Later it followed up with the excellent (but slightly flawed and very ugly) HAF 932, finally capping the year with the release of our Case of the Year 2008, the superb ATCS 840.

Cooler Master Sniper

Manufacturer:Cooler Master
UK Price (as reviewed): £120 MSRP (inc. VAT)[/eurl]
US Price (as reviewed): $180 MSRP (ex. Tax)[/eurl]

Cooler Master had an excellent 2008 by all accounts, tweaking modders favourite: the Cosmos, to produce the Cosmos S. Later it followed up with the excellent (but slightly flawed and very ugly) HAF 932, finally capping the year with the release of our Case of the Year 2008, the superb ATCS 840.

Cooler Master Sniper

Manufacturer:Cooler Master
UK Price (as reviewed): £120 MSRP (inc. VAT)[/eurl]
US Price (as reviewed): $180 MSRP (ex. Tax)[/eurl]

Cooler Master had an excellent 2008 by all accounts, tweaking modders favourite: the Cosmos, to produce the Cosmos S. Later it followed up with the excellent (but slightly flawed and very ugly) HAF 932, finally capping the year with the release of our Case of the Year 2008, the superb ATCS 840.

Nvidia GeForce 3DVision & How 3D Works

Manufacturer:Nvidia

Genuinely three dimensional films and games are something of a technological holy grail – the possibility of taking traditional forms of entertainment beyond the confines of a two dimensional screen in a way that everyone can easily use and enjoy is certainly tantalising enough to have drawn heavy investment from major electronics manufacturers and Hollywood studios alike.

3D Displays, no matter how niche and expensive, are currently on show at this week’s CES show in Las Vegas and James Cameron’s in production film,

Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 1,792MB & Quad SLI

Manufacturer:Nvidia
UK Pricing: £400 (inc. VAT) - estimated
US Pricing: $499 MSRP

Core Clock: 576MHz
Shader Clock: 1,242MHz
Memory Clock: 1,998MHz
Memory: 1,792MB GDDR3

Just a week before Christmas, Nvidia allowed us to disclose some early performance numbers for its next flagship part, the GeForce GTX 295. Because the card was still a few weeks away from release, there were some restrictions which we detailed in the first page of that performance preview.

AMD Phenom II X4 940 and 920 CPUs

ManufacturerAMD

Phenom II X4 940

UK Price (as reviewed): TBA
US Price (as reviewed): $275 MSRP

Phenom II X4 920

UK Price (as reviewed): TBA
US Price (as reviewed): $235 MSRP

AMD's 45nm CPUs have arrived and while some might claim "better late than never" seeing as Intel has been shipping its own for more than a year now, the rest of us might be pleased they have arrived at all, given the recent struggles inside the company. The company's 45nm silicon on insulator (SOI) process allows for cooler CPUs, which affords AMD more thermal overhead for larger caches and higher clock speeds.

Hiper Type R II 680W PSU

Manufacturer:Hiper

Hiper Type R II 680W PSU: HPU-5B680 (Blue)

UK Price (as reviewed):£91.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$128.99 (ex. Tax)

Hiper Type R II 680W PSU: HPU-5K680 (Black)

UK Price (as reviewed):£74.75 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$114.99 (ex. Tax)

Hiper Group has strong UK origins - which, if you're patriotic enough to care, makes a change from the usual Taiwanese and United States (read: Californian) tech companies.

AMD Athlon Neo: The New Ultra-thin Platform

Manufacturer:AMD

It's like a marketing buzzword masterpiece, or mayhem, depending on which way you look at it, but having tried to sum up what AMD is aiming for in its new Athlon Neo product is difficult to say the least.

AMD didn't want to just "make an Atom" - jumping in an Intel bandwagon when it's never been strong in the mobile realm is not an idea that AMD seems to relish, and besides, most of the Silverthorne team designing the Atom CPU were reassigned from the fabled Tejas project in 2005. This would mean for AMD to design a "true" Atom-esq CPU, it would have to think three years ahead.

Viewsonic VX2260WM - 22" Full HD monitor

Manufacturer:Viewsonic
UK Price (as reviewed):£163.29 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$263.99 (ex. Tax)

For some time now, we've known that most of the major monitor manufacturers are planning to dump their 16:10 aspect ratio widescreen models in favour of the 16:9 standard commonly seen in HDTVs.

In fact, it's expected to be an extremely rapid transition. Several brands have already announced their intention to migrate the majority of their PC monitors to 16:9 by the end of 2009.

First Look: Seasonic M12D 850W PSU

Manufacturer:Seasonic

I would consider it to be an understatement to say that Seasonic has clearly gone to a lot of trouble to make this PSU. It's been a while since Seasonic released something quite so new without just OEMing for other company's products, and it's making quite a fuss over its new M12D PSU.

At 850W it's the highest wattage PSU Seasonic has ever launched, where as everyone else has chased the four digit threshold that very few people care for, instead the new frontier in PSU technology is efficiency. Seasonic's M12D is rated an impressive 80Plus Silver - achieving 85 to 88 percent efficiency across the 20 to 100 percent load range with a 90 percent upwards PFC.

The bit-tech Hardware Awards 2008

Notable Mentions:Intel Core i7 920, Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e

One thing's for sure, we didn't expect to still see the Core 2 Quad Q6600 ruling the roost again in 2008, but it has continued to cause a number of problems for AMD's quad-core processor line up. It's not only a great performer out of the box, but it's also a great overclocker with nearly every Q6600 hitting at least 3.0GHz - and most going well beyond this with rudimentary air cooling.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB Hard Disk

Manufacturer:Seagate
UK Price (as reviewed):£111.54 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$129.99 (ex. Tax)

Can you really ever have enough hard disk storage? We don’t think so. All too many times we’ve gone and bought a monster hard drive and uttered those immortal words "I’ll never fill this!" only to find six months down the line that ripping our whole CD and DVD collection has made that once mighty drive seem woefully insufficient.