Tag: Hardware

Sound & Vision gives it a go and builds their own HTPC. They target the Mac Mini as the platform to beat, which I’m not sure is really the right point of comparison due to the pain of adding lots of tuners to it. What do you guys think of their build?

Intel has released updated pricing information for all of its processors. Most processors maintain existing pricing, but the low power quad cores (which a few of you may be intersted in) all had price reductions of 13%. These models are: Q9550S – 12M L2 Cache, 2.83 GHz, 45nm – from $369 down to $320 Q9400S – 6M L2 Cache, 2.66 […]

Those crazy Canadians take a good look at the new passively cooled Radeon HD 4850 from Gigabyte. They even take the time to test temps in multiple cases under multiple conditions. This one seems to be a winner, with the passively cooled system performing better than the stock fan by a good margin.

Do this frequent driver releases do anything for anyone? I guess there are a few fixes that are worth mentioning… Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System – Resolutions above 10 x 7 will now full screen properly for specific HDMI displays – VC-1 progressive disc playback no longer exhibits block corruption  Wow…impressive, I’m glad they fixed HDMI full […]

HardOCP has up a thermal paste shootout looking at many factors in usage and testing for ten different types of thermal paste and and also cheese…yes I said cheese… HardOCP We take 10 high profile thermal pastes used for mating heatsink surfaces to CPUs and other components and subject those to over 1200 hours of testing to find out which […]

My first several HTPCs were all AMD. Why? The main reason was always cost. AMD, for the most part, has won the bang for your buck contests since the XP days. That seems like ancient history today, though I am sure there are a couple of XP 2400+ HTPC still kicking around. Intel handed down the bitch slap with the […]

I would have fell over dead in shock if Hauppauge did not have HD PVR support for when W7MC launches later this year. According to Brent w/ Geek Tonic, things are moving that direction 🙂 Not much else to report. Geek Tonic I’ve received confirmation from a reliable source that Hauppauge is working directly with Microsoft to ensure the Hauppauge […]

If you are interested in Windows Home Server, the Home Server show podcast is a good place to get started. Episode 29 features a quick interview with a WHS team member that had spilled a couple of juicy details about upcoming WHS releases. We can expect to have a minor release this year based on the existing WHS platform Beta’s […]

Those who purchased a CableCard HTPC will be happy to know that Ceton will be shipping a Multi-channel TV card tuner later this year. Of course, this was no secret to begin with as their efforts have been known for sometime now. Do keep in mind that this is no tru2way enabled, you will need some sort of SDV adaopt […]

Mike, of SilentPCReview, has had a long history of working with Antec to produce quality thermally managed case products. His latest endeavour is working with Antec on the Fusion’s big broather the Max Fusion. The Fusion Max is designed to handle higher end components while providing 3 thermal zones for enhanced airflow and cooling characteristics. I am confident that it […]