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AMD is catching up with Intel with all these recently released processors. The Athlon XP 2700+ uses the relatively new Thoroughbred B 0.13-micron core. The Thoroughbred B runs with a 333MHz front-side bus (FSB). This supposedly yields a 20% performance increase from the old 266MHz FSB. This processor runs at 2.17GHz with 256K of L2 cache. Intel’s Pentium 4 processor on the other hand, has 512K L2 cache. Surprisingly, the Athlon XP’s can be as fast or even faster than a comparable Pentium 4 processor.

Out of the box, the Raidmax LP-6100D Blue Aluminum PSU has an aesthetically pleasing design. The exterior of the PSU has been encased in a blue anodized aluminum chassis. The thick aluminum chassis has small fins incorporated into the design, which allows this unit to act as a heatsink and provide additional cooling for the PSU. The unit measures approximately 150mm x 145mm x 86mm and is slightly heavier than most steel based power supplies on the market. By default this unit comes with two transparent built-in UV sensitive 80mm ball bearing fans, which are positioned, on either side of the unit for optimal cooling. The Raidmax LP-6100D did not ship with any instruction manual but includes a few built-in features, which include over current protection, over temperature protection and in-rush current protection.

This brings us to the question of cost. The AiW 9700 Pro, the current flagship, doesn't come cheap. ATi has addressed the cost concerns with a new AiW 9000, but it may still be a bit pricey for some people. That is where the ATi AiW Radeon VE comes in. It's cheap, provides TV-Tuner and video editing capabilities, and is powered by the Radeon 7500, which is no screamer, but will let you play most games at acceptable framerates. Though not everyone has an AGP slot, everyone will have a PCI slot, which will work out fine since the AiW VE is a PCI part.

Way back in May of last year we introduced you all to the then all new entry to the 80mm heatsink market, the, Global WIN CAK488T. At the time, it was the first universal cooler that was as happy on an AMD CPU as it was on an Intel P4. The CAK488T is still the only cooler that employs a 70 mm to 80 mm fan adapter as part of its standard configuration.