XFX PVT88PYDF4 GeForce 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Ready Video Card (Dual DVI/S-Video) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First things first: This is the XFX Alpha Dog edition. The PVT it gives says it is the stock XFX but the one I got in the mail was the Alpha Dog.
I have a Dell Inspiron 530 computer with the Q6600 and the 8600GT graphics. I bought this as an "upgrade." First things first, I had to upgrade my power supply from the stock 350watts to a 500watt PSU. This graphics card has a power supply plug on the end of it. The card is INCREDIBLY LONG ... So much so you better make sure you have space for it if you have a small box. For the Dell Inspiron 530 - had to take out a hard drive to get it in the case.
Now for the actual review. I'm an Eve-Online player. I went from 170FPS (8600GT) to 410 FPS (8800GT) in station with Eve Classic. I went from low 50 FPS (8600GT) to 210 FPS (8800GT) with Eve Premium. Yeah, there is a HUGE difference... The graphics are so much better than the 8600GT as well.
The downsides (reason for 4 stars): This card runs INCREDIBLY hot - so hot I can't even touch it for a second. The card is upside down in my case so it blows hot air to the bottom and just recirculates it. I had to install a case fan and leave a PCI slot open to blow the hot air out. I HAVE NOT had the card freeze but if you don't have good case ventilation that might be an issue for you.

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NVIDIA GeForce 8 series graphics processing units (GPUs) redefine the PC gaming experience. With a revolutionary unified architecture and full support for Microsoft DirectX 10 games, GeForce 8 series GPUs deliver unprecedented performance, extraordinarily detailed environments, and film quality game effects.
GeForce 8800GT Product Highlight The 8800 GT delivers award-winning color clarity with true high definition video. Featuring a unique thermal fansink design that enables XFX to punch up the core clock from the industry standard 625 MHz to 640MHZ, the 8800 GT 512 MB card also stays up to eight degrees cooler in 3-D applications. It also features enhanced fan speed and improved airflow.

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Lian-Li Armorsuit Aluminum Gaming PC Case PC-P80 Review

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(More customer reviews)Pros: High quality materials, construction, fit & finish. Huge interior. Easy opening side panels and the removeable mobo tray is very useful. Great airflow. Worked well with my Coolmax 1350W ps, Foxconn Destroyer mobo, AMD Phenom X4 9850 & fancooler, WDHDs, Lite-on DVD burners, 4 Nvidia Tesla C1060s & 16GB Micron DIMMs. Also easily accommodates the completely redundant Mac Mini I planted within on the bottom at the back, cut the fins out of the P80 rear bottom vent and the mini rear panel fits perfectly there. Cooling not an issue; I did replace the stock rear fan with the (louder & higher CFM) spare LED fan that came with my mobo, but did not need to. This was my first build and the PC-P80 made it SIMPLE.
Cons: price is steep but hey, you get what you pay for and this is worth every penny.
Other Thoughts: Also I installed the transparent side panel LI W-75 BT from Lian Li, well worth the 75 extra bucks if you like watching the fans spin and the leds blink.

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AROMORSUIT PC-P80 designed for GAMING! With optimized cooling performance, support four graphics cards system, capable of housing today & tomorrow most advance hardware!

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Corsair CMD12GX3M6A1600C8 Dominator 12 GB PC3-12800 1600Mhz 240-pin Triple Channel DDR3 Memory Kit Review

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(More customer reviews)Don't listen to W. Garrahan's review.
This kit, if put in a proper I7 motherboard with tri channel and 3 slots will be fine.
XP won't recognize the 6gb ram but will not slow your pc down at all.XP 64 would be better but I'd go windows 7, I won't install vista or Vista64.
This kit is rock solid, superfast and easily handles more voltage and oc.

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Corsair\'s enthusiast memory solution for Intel\'s Core i7 Triple channel DDR3 processors. DOMINATOR family of memory represents the ultimate in performance technology engineering from Corsair. The DOMINATOR was designed to have the highest performing IC maximum over-clocking capability and efficient DHX cooling – all the while being stable and reliable.This 12GB DOMINATOR kit memory solution has been designed specifically to support the Intel Core i7 triple channel memory DDR3 solutions. This solution runs at an incredibly fast 1600MHz at CAS latency of 8-8-8-24. So not only do you get to run your Intel Core i7 Triple channel memory system at 1600MHz but with these tight Latency timings your system performance will rock. 12GB of memory is what Corsair recommends for the best performance on current graphic intensive games, applications and the latest operating systems like the new Microsoft Windows 7.

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Zotac ZBOX Intel Atom D510 1.66 GHz Dual Core All-in-One Mini-PC with No Memory, No Hard Drive and No OS Review

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(More customer reviews)I was a little concerned that the Z-BOX would be a bit underpowered, but the new atom processor coupled with the ION chip set give it plenty of go.
With win7 it works right out of the box, although you'll need to get the latest NVIDIA drivers (windows update has these as optional updates), and it required a Bios update to quiet the fan, but once that was done it was pretty much inaudible, especially with the TV on.
As an indication of how it handles the load, Media Center uses about 40% CPU (distributed across the 4 cores) even when recording 2 HDTV channels using separate USB DVB-T receivers and playing back a previously recorded show (all at 1080i).
There was even enough grunt in the ION graphics (which are supposed to be equivalent to a GeForce 218) to get it play Left 4 Dead, UT3, Portal etc. all at near HD resolutions, with reasonable frame rates, although the details and reflections were turned down.
Getting it to work with MythTV (back end / front end all in one) was a little more challenging, but that's down to Linux not the PC. In the end, it worked for that as well.
It wakes as expected from signals on the Microsoft USB remote control, but not the RF keyboard or mouse, and the BIOS doesn't support wake on lan - for me not a show stopper.

The only other minor issue I have found is that any drives attached to the eSata port get seen as non-removable, only gets detected if the device is present at boot, and Windows crashes if it's unplugged.
Does run a little warm, especially when you hit it hard with games, but it doesn't seem excessive.
On the whole, I'm very happy with it!

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Enjoy eco friendly computing with superior energy-efficiency and performance with the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC powered by the class-leading next-generation NVIDIA ION and Intel Atom architectures. Next-generation NVIDIA ION graphics deliver unrivaled levels of performance and high definition video decode capabilities to the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC with NVIDIA CUDA , PureVideo HD and HDMI 1.3a technologies for eco friendly computing with premium audio and video capabilities. High performance eco friendly computing is only two thumb screws away with the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC thanks to a user friendly design that makes mastering the mini-PC quick and easy. Space for a 2.5-inch hard drive and one 200-pin DDR2-800 DIMM slot enable users to customize the internals of the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 to their own needs while USB 2.0 ports, a 6-in-1 memory card reader (SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/xD/MMC) and eSATA port provide greater external expansion capabilities for perfect eco friendly computing.

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