Tuesday News

The very successful Envy24 (24 bit / 96 kHz capable) is now available to the mainstream PC community in another form, the Envy24HT. VIA did some changes from the Envy24 to the new Envy24HT. First would be the lack of the 20-channel 36 bit wide digital mixer, which is very useful for audio studio processing. Second is the extended sampling rate of 192 kHz, from the 96 kHz Envy24 is capable of (making it the first audio controller on the market with this feature). And third is the new 7.1-channel support. As we clearly see, VIA cut down the digital mixer, useful only for studio processing and mixing, in the Envy24 and instead added new features, like the 192 kHz sampling rate and 7.1-channel output. In a few words, the Envy24HT is a chip intended for the consumer market with studio sound quality.

We, A1 Electronics have just posted our latest Pocket Sized review of the Antec LANboy PC computer case which your readers might be interested in.

The Epox 8RDA+ at stock speed performed very well however it was during the overclocked testing that the Epox 8RDA+ really shined. I have been running this motherboard with the front side bus set at 200 mhz for about 2 weeks now and with 100% stability. I have been able to push this combo a bit farther with the highest front side bus setting of 202mhz at 1.75 volts, this being the highest FSB I have ever been able to achive...

The heatsink and fan combination on the Cooler Master xDream SE seem to be very nice. We at LR have some relatively high expectations of this HSF. The xDream SE is geared towards overclockers and should cool very well. As you will see in our tests, we will find out how the xDream SE compares to the Thermalright SLK-800!

I’ve wanted to try these out for awhile. If you’re familiar with TweakMonster’s last set of Ramsinks for the GF3 line and prior; you know that they’re known for quality and performance. I want to see if the BGA version lives up to its predecessor. Most modders and tweakers are familiar with the idea of a ramsink but for those of you that think it sounds like a designer sink made by Dodge, think again. Ramsinks have two purposes that can be used with an “and/or” attitude. The first and foremost is to help keep your RAM cool. The sink gives precious surface area that allows the heat to spread further and receive additional cooling that the RAM would not have without the sink. The second is for looks. I’ve seen a lot of ramsinks and can honestly tell you that none of them looked bad in my opinion.