ASUS P5LD2-VM

It's once again the weekends, and right here at VR-Zone, we'll present our Weekly SLS Walk About :)

Since the appearance of Dual Core Intel CPUs sometime back, Intel i945 family and i955X based boards came pouring right into SLS, and here, we found a couple of new mATX i945G based motherboards, which are Dual Core ready. Over at ATF Multimedia, we spotted the ASUS P5LD2-VM motherboard, based on the i945G chipset. Being a mATX form factor board, it means there's a choice of getting a small and cute case to go with it, yet enjoy the unparalleled performance from an Intel Pentium D / XE processor. ASUS had been a name associated to quality, this board is certainly the one to go for if you need a small and simple, yet durable and stable platform. Priced at $ 239, and with 3 years solid warranty, this is a steal!

 

A very generic packaging for this board, but it doesn't mean generic quality and performance.

 

The ASUS P5LD2-VM from top down.

 

A closer look at the silk screen print on the board. Revision 1.02 for this board pictured.

 

Fanless MOSFET cooling could be found on this board. This is something usually found only on high end enthusiast boards, but you get it on the ASUS P5LD2-VM.

 

A look at the rear I/O ports.

 

The onboard Intel PC82573V PCI Express Gigabit LAN controller found on the board.

 

A picture of the label found on the box of the board, with a summary of the features found on this board.

Gigabyte 8I945GMF and Foxconn 945G7MA

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Next, we spotted another i945G mATX board over at DAT Computers. The Gigabyte 8I945GMF is another simple, mATX board, that is also Dual Core ready. Being traditionally Gigabyte, it also has that strong reputation of quality, this board is no different. Almost similar in terms to the ASUS board in the previous page, this 8I945GMF has onboard Firewire, while the ASUS board lacks of. Priced at $ 220, it is also a very reasonable price to pay for such a product.

 

The Gigabyte 8I945GMF from top view.

 

A look at the rear I/O connectors. The presence of Firewire is indeed welcoming.

 

For those who are interested, the silk screen of the model number on the board.

 

The usual sturdy SATA2 connector, on the Gigabyte board. No more broken SATA ports anymore!

 

The PCI Express LAN controller on the board, the Marvell 88E8053 Controller.

 

This Realtek ALC882 takes charge of HD Audio capabilities on this board.

 

The usual Gigabyte ultra large Northbridge heatsink. The package also includes a clip on fan, for this heatsink, for active cooling.

 

The new Gigabyte iDNA packaging for this 8I945GMF board.

 

A label present on the box, with a short summary of the features present on this board.

 

Foxconn, a name associated to various connectors, and even casings, have their own mATX i945G board. The Foxconn 945G7MA is based on the Intel i945G chipset, and is similar to the Gigabyte 8I945GMF. Foxconn, being one of the largest OEM motherboard makers on earth, it's products definitely comes with that peace of mind, when it comes to reliability. Priced at $ 225, this board could be found at DAT Computers.

 

A top view of this Foxconn board.

 

The I/O connectors present on this motherboard. Firewire included!

 

A Broadcom BCM5788 PCIe Gigabit LAN controller could be found on this board.

 

A label on the packaging, with a brief summary of the features found on this board.

 

The Foxconn packaging. Note that the silver plague on the box. It really adds that touch of class in packaging.

 

 

 

Gigabyte 8I945P-Pro

Of course for those who wants something more performance targeted, there is always the Intel i945P chipset. We spotted the Gigabyte 8I945P-Pro motherboard, based on the i945P chipset. Meant for users who want that every bit for performance, Dual Core capabilities, features packed, yet still affordable, this board is the board to go for. Priced at $ 275 over at DAT Computers, this is also another reasonable price for such product.

 

A bird's eye view of the board in question, the Gigabyte 8I945P Pro.

 

A look at the rear I/O connectors on the board.

 

The large Northbridge heatsink on this board, similar to the one we introduced on the previous page. Like wise, this there's an included clip on fan, for users who want active cooling on the Northbridge.

 

An ITE IT8212F GigaRAID controller takes charge of the additional 2 PATA ports on the board, and giving them RAID capabilities as well.

 

This BroadCom BCM5789 PCIe Gigabit LAN controller takes care of the onboard Gigabit LAN port.

 

The larger iDNA packaging for this 8I945P-Pro board.

 

A label present on the box, with a summary of key features present on this board.

A Couple of new (and Cheap) Graphics Cards

Now that we've seen Geforce 7800 GTX from various reputated companies in the previous weeks, we now see 3rd tier companies also bringing in these high end card. Eagle Geforce 7800 GTX is one of them. However, the shocking thing is that we that exact same reference card you find in other top brands, you get the same with Eagle, with a much much cheaper price tag! Found at DAT Computers, this gem goes for $ 900 only!

 

Still that same old card, same fan, same PCB as compared to other more expensive cards.

 

The Eagle icon, on the heatsink, distinguishes itself.

 

The connectors found on the card. Same dual DVI, and a S-Video out.

 

The back of the card.

 

The package of this Geforce 7800 GTX. Very great value for money indeed!

 

ATI had been pretty vacant on the mid-low end range of their products, especially on AGP market. Now, it seems like they had filled up this vacant with the Powercolor X700 AGP. Meant to compete with Nvidia's Geforce 6600 cards, this might be the answer for ATI lovers and die hard fans. Found at Fuwell, this card goes for $ 249.

 

A picture of the card from top down.

 

This Powercolor card requires a power connector, similar to the X700 Pro AGP.

 

A back view of the card. The Rialto bridge is left there totally without any form of cooling, since the bridge is extremely cool to run.

 

The I/O connectors. VGA, S-Video and DVI.

 

The heatsink is relatively simple, indicating a cooling running card.

 

The RAMs present on this card. 3.0ns DDR2, better then most 6600 out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hard Drives, and Routers

Over at Storage Studio Singapore, we found a couple of new and interesting hard drives. Like the Western Digital WD1600JS 160GB SATA 2 hard drive. Unlike the other SATA2 drives found anywhere, this model comes default with a "true" firmware, which supports 300MB/sec transfer rates. Priced at $ 173 for this model, it sounds like a great deal!

 

The label of this WD1600JS drive.

 

A picture of of the PCB board on the drive.

 

Of course, the much awaited Hitachi 7K100 2.5" notebook drive is out, also at Storage Studio Singapore. The great thing about this drive is it's impressive sustained transfer speed, and it's 7200RPM rotational speed. Like what Hitachi says, this drive is the only 2nd generation 2.5" notebook drive in the market. Price at $ 439 for 80GB, this drive could be compared to desktop drives in terms of performance!

 

Just a label on the anti static bag, sealed with the hard drive inside.

 

Over at ATF Multimedia, we found this D-Link DWL-G730AP Pocket Router. Great for mobile warriors and people working on a space constrained environment, this Pocket router is small in size, and yet still deliver the standard set of functions a router could. Priced at $ 139, this is still pretty reasonable in pricing.

 

A picture of the Pocket Router's packaging, with a picture of the router.

 

Some features found on this router.

 

A short illustration on the capabilities of this product, and also, what's included.

 

Some more features listed on the back of the package.

 

 

ThermalTake Cooling Solutions

Thermaltake has a couple of new cooling solutions around, and their new ThermalTake Bigwater SE is one of them. Similar to the previous Bigwater, this newer model comes with a 5.25" bay reservoir. Great for newbies starting out on water cooling. Found at DAT Computers, this model goes for $ 168.

 

A picture of the Bigwater SE package.

 

Some features listed on the side of the package.

 

We found another of their new product, the ThermalTake Golden Orb 2 heatsink. Riding on the success of their Golden Orb back then, ThermalTake comes with a new and improved version, to cool today's hot CPUs. Though this new Golden Orb 2 shares the same striking resemblance to Zalam's CNPS-7000 family of fans, this Orb 2 comes with thicker fin, and a full copper base. Found at Fuwell, this product goes for $ 55.

 

A top view of the heatsink. Very similar to that Zalman one eh?

 

 

The base of the heatsink is a solid copper base, machine to flatness.

 

The packaging of this heatsink. From the picture, it seems, the fan on the heatsink comes with cool blue LED light.

 

Some specs found on the back of the packaging.

 

Alright, that's all for this weekend folks, see you again next week, on our regular SLS Walk About :)