VR-Zone.com — A Walkabout in SLS (1-4-2006)
| Filed Under: | Archives, Editorials, Sim Lim |
| Posted By: | VRArchiver |
| Date Posted: | Mon April 3 2006 9:08 am |
ASUS EN7600GS
It's been another week, and we're back into Sim Lim Square to report on the latest and most interesting computer and related peripherals, right from it's sources!
One of the new arrivals this week would be the ASUS EN7600GS Silent. Right after the launch of the 7600GT, NVIDIA has introduced another "GS" variation to the 7600 family of GPUs. This new "GS" card is a slower card when compared against the 7600GT, but it'll be a cheap and very cool running card - targeted primarily at HTPC setups which don't require much GPU power especially in the 3D segment. This card from ASUS, like it's name suggests, is a silent running card with no moving parts at all. Instead of a usual fan that cools down the core, ASUS deployed a rather large heatsink over both the core and the memory, to provide passive cooling. For those who're looking for a relatively cheap but silent card for your noiseless PC setup, you can get it at Fuwell at $ 299.
This is how the ASUS EN7600GS Silent is packaged. Large box from ASUS - as usual.
This is how the card looks like. With a large passive heatsink covering both the core and the memory, this card doesn't have any moving parts that would produce any form of noise.
This is how the back of the card looks like. It has a protruding portion of the heatsink, probably to increase the amount of surface area needed to dissipate heat.
Being an entry level card, it comes with the standard VGA and DVI out, of course not forgetting the DIN TV out connector. This is much unlike the usual 7600GTs we've seen, where GT cards comes with Dual DVI out.
Xpertvision 7600GT
It's been the 3rd week after the launch of the NVIDIA Geforce 7600GT GPUs, and finally, we're seeing some new and radical cards based on this GPU. The Xpertvision Geforce 7600GT Sonic happens to be the first 7600GT which arrived in Singapore with a customized Printed Circuit Board. This happens to also be the first card that has cooling on it's memory chips. Although we were told that these cards feature a 1.2ns (instead of the usual 1.4ns found on reference designed cards) memory, we could not produce a picture on these fast memories, due to memory cooling heatsinks being stuck on the RAMs itself. Nevertheless, these Xpertvision cards are pre-overclocked at 575MHz Core and 1500MHz Memory right out of the box. These cards are being sold at Fuwell, at a reasonable price tag of $ 349.
This is the packaging of the Xpertvision Geforce 7600GT Sonic. Huge packaging from Xpertvision this time round.
This is how the card looks like from the top. This Xpertvision card is probably the first 7600GT around that doesn't sport the usual green PCB. The layout of the components are different too.
This is how the back of the card looks like. Instead of the usual push pin clips used on almost all other 7600GTs, the Xpertvision 7600GT comes with rather elaborate wire clips as show in this picture.
We could not bring you any pictures of the RAMs as of yet, due to large heatsinks being stuck on the RAMs itself. The Xpertvision 7600GT is also the first to have such cooling features.
The Xpertvision 7600GT is also the first 7600GT that doesn't come with the usual Dual DVI configuration. While the reference cards comes with Dual DVI and the usual TV out, this cards only has a single DVI output, a VGA out, and the standard TV out.
Gigabyte i-RAM
For the performance enthusiast, this is something that promises to bring performance to another level for your PC. The Gigabyte i-RAM is another break through in the storage sector. The i-RAM itself is actually a platform for solid state memory, where conventional DDR memory can be plugged onto the card and it would serve as a conventional SATA hard drive. By having such a storage device, access speeds and seek times could be dramatically reduced to fractions of what a standard hard drive is capable of. Due to the volatile nature of RAMs, the i-RAM actually comes with a battery pack that would keep data on RAMs for up to 15 hours, just incase you've plugged out your card from the PCI slot (the PCI slot only provides power to the card, no data transfer occurs there), or you've unplugged your PC from the power source. This innovative card goes for just $ 239 (not including any RAMs) at Bell Systems.
The Gigabyte i-RAM packaging.
This is how the Gigabyte i-RAM looks from the top. 4 DIMM slots that can accommodate 4 pieces of DDR RAMs.
This is the battery pack that powers the memory modules when the card is unplugged from the computer, or when there's no power source allocated to it.
The Exilinx chip on the card acts like a SATA controller, a memory controller, and as a bridge chip between these 2 interface.
Of course, the SATA port here would allow you to plug in your standard SATA data cables to this card, and allow data transfers between the card and the PC. Do note that all data transfers are done on the SATA port here, and not on the PCI interface. The PCI interface merely acts as a power source to the card only.
Due to the various reviews floating around, this card we've seen on the shelves happens to be the final production card, Rev 1.3 for the card we saw.
Leadtek DTV-2000H
Television junkies will be in love with this new product we've found in Sim Lim Square this week. The Leadtek DTV2000H is a TV Tuner card that allows the tuning in of both Digital TV and Analog TV channels. While there has been solutions that address either the standard Analog TV or Digital TV, but this is one of the first affordable dual purpose PCI card. In Singapore, most of MediaCorp's free to air channels are already available in Digital TV signals. This TV card goes for just $ 139, available at Fuwell.
This is the packaging of the Leadtek DTV 2000H. Being a small package, the contents sure pack a punch. Yes, this card comes with the standard 2 years distributor warranty, just like any other Leadtek product.
This is how the card looks like. The metal can portion of the card caters to the Analog segment, while the the smaller chip caters for the Digital Video Broadcast functions.
Here's the range of I/O ports that's available on the card. The connectors include TV RF for Antenna (for Analog only), TV RF for Cable (Analog + Digital), FM RF input, input for remote controller, output for Audio, and a 9 pin DIN for Video in.
This is the demodular/decoder chip for the Digital Video Broadcast - Terrestrial (DVB-T).
The larger Conexant CX23881 chipset is responsible for the Audio / Video capturing functions on this card.
Just like all other TV tuners available, this DTB2000H comes with a rather comprehensive remote controller that can do just about anything related to TV tuning.
These are the remaining cables that Leadtek provides for this package. A IR remote sensor, an FM antenna, and a video capture cable is included.
A Slim and very portable MP3 Flat Speaker
Over at MCP Computers, we've discovered an interesting portable speaker that might interest mobile warriors who love music. This MP3 Flat Speaker that we found comes in a very compact format. The case itself is actually the speaker module, where the music is emitted. When not in use, it can just be tucked away nicely in a slim package. Although it doesn't provide any high fidelity music, you can't complain much for this small package that goes for only $ 25 at Bell Systems. What's more, it comes in 4 different colors of Black, Pink, Green and Blue to match your audio player.
This is how the MP3 Flat Speaker is packaged.
Here's some specifications of the speaker on the back of the packing.
Once out of the box, this is how the speaker looks like.
Once you upzip the "case", you can find the battery compartment, and also an audio connector where you can plug it to your audio device.
This speaker operates with just 2 "AA" batteries.
The package comes with a sling belt that can be belted on to your waist. Of course, there're a lot more ways as to how you can carry this speaker around.
XiMeta Netdisk
With the trend of home networks being more and more common, there's been a surge of storage devices made for such smaller networks. While most Network Attached Storage (NAS) solutions are either very expensive, and/or, hard to setup, this new hard drive enclosure would interest the mass. The XiMeta Netdisk promises a simple NAS solution that only require the input of the network's IP address. This device also double up as a normal hard drive enclosure with standard USB outputs. Being a simple enclosure, it comes with a rather small price tag of just $ 138. If you're interested, it can be found at Bell Systems.
This is how the packaging of the XiMeta Netdisk looks like.
This is the chart which compares the advantages of NetDisk over other competing brands.
This is how the NAS capable enclosure looks like. The size of this device looks pretty much like most hard drive enclosures around.
Here's how the back of the enclosure looks like. The USB2.0 interface, the DIN power interface, and the LAN connector can be found here.
Here's how the inside of the enclosure looks like.
This is the chip that drives the NAS capabilities of NetDisk.
Zalman VF-900Cu / New Game Titles!
Over at Fuwell, we've seen the newest VGA cooler from Zalman. Promising an improvement over the older VF-770Cu, the new Zalman VF-900Cu comes with more fins, and also 2 heatpipes that would better dissipate heat from the base of the heatsink, where the core of the graphics card is directly under. Being very slim in nature, there will not be any problems if you're planning to have 2 of them for SLi or Crossfire. The coolers can be bought at $ 89 each.
This is how the packaging of the Zalman VF900-Cu looks like.
Here's a closer look at the flower shaped VF900-Cu.
Here's a shot at the VF900-Cu from the side. Though it might appear big from the top, it's actually a very slim heatsink.
To illustrate how polished the base of the VF-900Cu, we've placed a $ 1 coin, and captured it's reflection.
Here's a complete picture of how the cooler is from the underside.
We believe that you VR-Zone readers are pretty much into excitment. Gaming is probably one of the more important aspect for geeks like us, so here are some new games to keep you entertained. All these new game titles could be found at Gamers Hub at the price stated below.
Based on World War II, Blazing Angels is a flying game made for Xbox 360. This title can be bought at $ 69.90.
Dungeons and Dragons Online is an Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG) for PC. It comes with 30 days access, this game goes for $ 79.90.
The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion is another new fantasy role-playing game on the Xbox 360 console. This game goes for $ 69.90.
That's all for this week, see you in our next weekly article =)
