Introduction

Round three is almost done! All the entries are in and it's time to vote. Just look the scores! The quality of writing has shot up fantastically and there's plenty to learn and enjoy in all the articles submitted for this round of our FiringSquad Editors Challenge sponsored by the Intel Core 2 Duo processor!

Old School Gaming: Geforce 6600GT still falls short

By OldFriend
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OldFriend goes over his GeForce 6600GT in a median rig, comparing how it performs in some older and newer games. Though the results are somewhat predictable, we're judging OldFriend's prose and syntax as much as his judgment. Then there's the added benefit of humor – check out the Pros and Cons.

Flashing the GeforceFX 5200 for Mac

By Power666
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Power666 looks into upgrading his ancient G4 system with a GeForce FX 5200. The problem? It's a PC card. The solution? Well, he flashes it – and he tells you how to do it. He then overclocks it, tests it, explains options for Mac Pro owners, and issues with other GeForce cards being run on Macs. Definitely worth checking out just for the different flavor alone!

$50 Gaming CPU: Athlon 64 3200 "Venice"

By Darrellwu
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Darrellwu provides a very in-depth review of the Venice-core Athlon 64 3200+. Complete with screenshots, graphs, and overclocking results. For added benefit, Darrell has overclocked the CPU and the GPU separately, to show where the bottleneck lies. To make things even better, Darrell isn't the only one to test the 3200+! Read his article so you can compare against the other entry.

INTEL P4 1.8A -- A 2007 PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

By KevinSpiess
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KevinSpiess combines a fun rant about Moore's Law (something to do with Doritos and a screwdriver set, apparently), along with a painful review of this half-decade old processor. How painful? How about trying to run Company of Heroes and Half-Life 2! Ouch. Even more ouch was on the way, as Kevin tried to overclock the CPU by 1GHz! That's a bigger percentage overclock than the legendary Celeron 300A@450. Can he do it? Find out!

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor - Still Capable!?

By Droniac
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Deja vu? Or is this a mortal showdown between two authors with the same subject? Like Derek Perez and Brian Burke going at each other with knives, Droniac and Darrellwu circle around the Athlon 64 3200+ and try to produce the most interesting, insightful, professional article? Who will win (if either makes it at all)?! You decide!

Value Processor a Diamond in the Rough.

By CanadaDave
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CanadaDave commits assault by benchmark, a class 3 felony in at least six of the G7 countries, as he tests the Pentium D 805. The only thing his benchmark suite is missing is the amount of hamsters that need to power this Pentium with their spinning wheels. On the serious side, CanadaDave provides a historical context for the processor and explains its importance in the Intel-AMD war, as well as doing the tests and overclocking it.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core: Golden to the Core

By OgreFade
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The processor reviews continue, this time with OgreFade's analysis of the Athlon 64 X2 4200+. Not only does OgreFade test the processor in a variety of benchmarks, he also goes over some of the more esoteric features like Cool'n'Quiet. I'm pretty sure that's not how you'd contract “Cool and Quiet”, but hey, AMD's marketing department has millions of dollars and I only have Strunk & White. Though OgreFade fails to excuse AMD's horrible grammar, we still think his article is worth reading.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Review

By Jacobvandy
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Jacob (hey, I like this guy already -ed.) reviews the fastest of the processors in our competition. He does so with the help of the most colorful and, well, bizarre graphs we've ever laid eyes on. It's like someone took a Wiimote and started drawing images behind the charts... Interestingly enough, jacob tests on Vista, rather than XP, while providing a full Core 2 Duo family tree.

ATI Radeon X800XL – Hanging Tough

By DaugWok
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DaugWok rescues us from the CPU assault with a graphics card review. Taking the venerable Radeon X800XL under the microscope, he puts it through its paces in a variety of games. And really, isn't that the prettiest graph you've seen in a while? Sure, it's a bit crowded, but the kid's got style!

NVIDIA 8800GTX EXPOSED AND EXPLOITED

By BucNews
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What happens when a man ingests a white paper, chews it up, and spits it out? A big spitball, unless his name is BucNews (or Alan Dang). BucNews breaks down the NVIDIA 8800GTX and speculates where all of its power could be used.