Thursday, April 14, 2005

Choosing the Best Value DDR Memory. PC3200 Memory Module Kits Roundup

11:33 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

AnandTech has compared seven DDR memory module kits. The round up includes matched pairs from such manufactures as Kingston, Mushkin, OCZ and Transcend. The competitors are set to operate at stock frequency of 400MHz, but feature different stock latency settings. The products were compared to find the best performance on stock speed, overclockability for an optimal price.

“Some buyers ask nothing more than that their memory run at stock DDR400 speed as specified. If that buyer is you, then any of the seven memories that we tested here will meet your needs. All 7 of them ran at their specification or better without any problems at all. We would suggest that the CAS 2.5 memories are a bit faster and cost about the same as the Cas 3 we tested. Great choices here are the Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/1G and the Transcend JM366D643A-50. 1 Gigabyte of either memory costs about $100 and they are sometimes on sale for even less. The Transcend is rated at CAS 2.5. The Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/1G is rated at CAS 3, but we had no problem at all running the Kingston at CAS 2.5 at DDR400,” concludes AnandTech.

For overclockers on the budget, AnandTech suggests different memory module kits.

“There is an old southern saying that you can’t make a sow’s ear into a silk purse - another way to say, you can’t get something for nothing. Two memories in this roundup challenge that old sage - OCZ PC3200 Gold or “Value BH5” and OCZ PC3200 Value Series or “Value VX”. If you can supply the voltage, then these two memories will reward you with 2-2-2 performance all the way from DDR490 to DDR510,” adds the web-site.

• AnandTech: Value RAM Roundup: Computing On a Budget.

Apple’s Plans for Tiger OS Release Revealed. Apple Claims Longhorn Developers Copy Firm's Upcoming OS

11:28 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

On April 29^th Apple Computers is going to release its latest operating system, according to reports. The Mac OS X, also known as “Tiger”, will bring a number of features for Apple made computer users.

“Apple claims the 200 new features in Tiger make it well worth a $129 retail price. Certainly, Tiger is proof that Apple isn’t ignoring its traditional business. Many of its features are the kinds of behind-the-scenes capabilities that are unlikely to attract much attention but are nonetheless important. Jobs is enthusiastic about a new feature that will allow Tiger-equipped Macs to handle high-definition video,” writes BuisnessWeek Online.

Although Apple’s business looks as bright as ever, analysts are not sure whether the release of new OS will increase Apple’s sales.

“Honestly, I don’t think new consumers are going to get really excited about it they have to see the immediate value [to go out and get a new Mac], and it’s hard to communicate that in TV ads,” says Tim Deal, an analyst with research firm Technology Business Research.

Steven Jobs has other thoughts and expectations.

“Tiger will give customers one more reason to buy a Mac, because it’s so far ahead of Windows, the people developing Longhorn are trying to copy everything they can from it,” boasts Steven Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

• BusinessWeek Online: Apple’s Tiger, Burning How Bright?

TV Tuner - A Hardware That Transforms PC. Hardware MPEG2 TV Tuners Reviewed

11:19 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Computers may be powerful and may be not, but virtually any TV tuner automatically transforms them into multimedia machines with broad set of capabilities. The Tech Report has posted a comparison of three TV tuners. All of the competitors feature hardware MPEG2 encoding and are fully compatible with Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system. ATI TV Wonder Elite, eVGA NVTV and Hauppauge PVR-150MCE l.p. were compared in terms of CPU utilization, image quality, bundle and price.

“Overall, it’s hard to come up with a verdict. The PVR-150MCE l.p. is easy to discount due to its comparatively poor image quality. Although the TV Wonder Elite has great image quality, works flawlessly, and comes with a swanky remote, it costs twice as much as the competition. The eVGA NVTV, which also has low CPU utilization and great image quality, runs only $62 online and comes bundled with the NVDVD decoder, making it perfect for Media Center Edition and thus our Editor’s Choice. Just keep in mind that if you have an Athlon 64 system with a VIA chipset, you might want to avoid the NVTV until NVIDIA resolves its issues with that platform,” concludes The Tech Report.

• The Tech Report: Hardware MPEG2 TV Tuner Comparison.

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