Based on today’s preliminary Core2 Duo benchmarks, it
looks like Intel’s next-generation Core 2 CPUs will be
turning in incredible performance once they hit
retail. The Core2 Duo E6600 chip turned in very
impressive results in SiSoft Sandra’s multimedia
tests, most likely thanks to the enhancements Intel
has incorporated into Core2’s SSE engine such as its
128-bit registers. The Athlon 64 FX did hold its own
in the memory bandwidth tests, thanks most likely to
its integrated memory controller. In real world usage
the Core2 system ran Quake 4 faster than the Athlon 64
FX we tested, in some cases by as much as 9%. Looking
over the results, you can’t help but be impressed by
Core2’s performance results.
The real question though will be how easily Intel can
produce Core2 processors and what the pricing will be.
If Intel prices Core2 aggressively and can keep up
with demand, it could be one of the most exciting new
products from the company. Fortunately we won’t have
to wait long for answers.
Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD 4850 and Radeon 4850 Dual Slot Review
The Sapphire Toxic 4850 is loaded with features. The card ships with an all-copper dual slot, dual heatpipe cooler from Zalman, the VF900-Cu. But that's not all, the board is also OC'ed to higher speeds than any other 4850 card on the market. In this article we officially review the Sapphire Toxic 4850 as well as its younger brother the 4850 Dual Slot. Both cards deliver cooling that's significantly improved over ATI's cooler. Find out how well these cards perform in today's review!
Soul Calibur IV Review
Are the additions of Darth Vader and Yoda enough to carry the Soul Calibur series? Yes and no. Brett finds the fighting enjoyable, but Namco Bandai's isn't perfect. Read the pros and cons in today's review!
FiringSquad Rumor Patrol: Apple, NVIDIA
FiringSquad's top secret division looks at technology rumors floating around the 'net. In this round: NVIDIA and Apple!
Palit GeForce 9800 GT Sonic Review
Rather than rely on NVIDIA's reference board design for the 9800 GT, Palit has incorporated a number of improvements into their 9800 GT Sonic, including a 3-phase board design, dual-slot cooling, and OC'ed clock speeds. How does the 9800 GT card perform in comparison to the popular GeForce 8800 GT and a host of other GPUs? Find out in this article!
Budget Gaming PC Roundup
In this article, Jakes takes a look at three different $1,000 gaming PCs from CyberPower, iBuyPower, and MainGear PC. Each company took a different approach to tackling the $1,000 budget, and one company really stood out with their extraordinary build quality. See how the various PCs fared in our Budget Gaming PC Roundup!
PhysX Performance Update: GPU vs. PPU vs. CPU
After posting our PhysX story last week, many of you wrote in asking for PPU benchmarks, so today we've delivered! Armed with our original BFG PhysX card, we booted up an X48 Core 2 QX9650 testbed and re-ran the benchmarks. See how the PPU fared against the CPU and GPU in this quick article!
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Performance Preview
With 1600 shaders, 2.0GB of GDDR5 memory, and 2.4 TeraFLOPS of graphics horsepower, the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is one impressive performer. See how the card stacks up running 8xAA against SLI GeForce GTX 280 and 260 in single card and 4-Way CrossFire. We've also thrown in 24xAA benchmarks as well. Is 2GB of memory really necessary? All the answers lie inside!
PhysX Performance with GeForce
Later this month NVIDIA will open up GeForce-based PhysX processing to their entire range of GeForce 8/9 and GTX 200 GPUs. In this article we take a look at their performance (as well as ATI's Radeon HD 4000 series), in four different PhysX applications. What kind of performance can you expect? Find out inside!
MSI R4850 512M Review
Looking for a Radeon 4850 card that runs significantly cooler than ATI's stock Radeon 4850 reference design? If so, you'll want to check out MSI's R4850 512M. The card features a dual-slot cooler with quad copper heatpipes. See how the card compares to the regular Radeon 450 in today's review!