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AOpen SV320 Housing
...AOpen is a manufacturer known not only for the manufacturing of
motherboards, but also of a wide array of high quality
multimedia products and other gaming componants. Today we look
at yet another great product in the long line of quality and
well respected products from AOpen, the SV320 Server Case!!! I
first laid eyes on the this housing case while at Comdex and
knew that this case would be great for a server with all the
options it had.
Gravis Destroyer Aftershock Rumble Joystick
...After playing with the
software a little bit and programming my buttons, I loaded up a
few force feedback games I had. As I ran through my cadre of
games I began to notice a common theme that disturbed me a
little bit. Don't get me wrong, the joystick handled
beautifully, but what I noticed was that the forces from the
force feedback weren't as strong as I wish they could have been.
Since the joystick wasn't self powered, and relied on the USB
port for power the forces were a bit weak for my taste. Aside
from that minor drawback, the forces from the games were
everything I could have hoped for. The missiles felt like
missiles, the guns felt like guns, and all the little extras
anyone would expect from a good force feedback joystick.
ThrustMaster Firestorm Dual Power Gamepad
...The price is
competitive at 30 bucks, but still I find it hard to recommend
the pad to hardcore sports gamers like myself. There are other gamepads on the market that may be better suited for sports
games, but I feel flight sim and racing game fans will be very
satisfied with its performance. For those of you who are
programming freaks, the twelve buttons on this pad should make
you happy. Overall this is a decent gamepad that I would
recommend to the average gamer who wants a few different
features in their gamepad.
Gravis Eliminator Gamepads
...Overall, the
Eliminator Aftershock and the Eliminator Pro are both very
comfortable, well laid out gamepads. They provide tight and
accurate (thanks to the two precision buttons on the Aftershock
and the one precision button on the Pro) playability. The only
feature missing from these pad is a throttle. But if you're into
sports game like I am, I don't even mind those types of features
being absent. Still, its comfort and precision are far grander
than the gamepad competition on the market today. The rumble
effects are on par with other rumble pads. With the classic
layout of the Pro you just can't go wrong in the heat of the
battle or while playing your favorite sports game.
AOpen
AOW-224
...In the world
of gaming networking, it is almost paramount to have a switch
running in the background of your network. Instead of your
standard cheepie hub, this will create a lag free environment.
This is the especially crucial if you plan to have a LAN party,
where you have multiple computers accessing the server and where
lag-less sections is a must.
Evergreen Portable MP3 CD Player
...The new
Evergreen Portable MP3-CD Player is your all-in-one portable
music solution. This little player allows you to enjoy your
favorite audio CDs and CD-Rs filled with MP3 files, whenever you
want. Gone are the days when you have to load CDs into your
player every 12 or 13 tracks. No longer are you required to pay
hundreds of dollars to enjoy your favorite MP3 files on the
move. You can record MP3 files to a 650 megabyte CD-R and play
them directly on Evergreen's Portable MP3-CD Player, and listen
to as many as 170 tracks from a variety of artists with no
interruptions. That's about 10 hours of continuous music
enjoyment!!!
RumbleFX 3D
Sound Amplifier
...does it
really do what it claims, is the question that's probably
running through your mind. Well, I'll just say I always thought
I had a good sounding system, that is, until I hooked up that
little blue box. Never had I realized how flat my sound had been
and that to really feel the bass I had to crank up the volume. I
played CDs, MP3s, and a bunch of FPS games and heard noticeable
improvement in all of them.
AOpen
MS-810 Speakers
... When playing
No One Lives Forever, I could very clearly hear the sounds
represented by each weapon or action. While shooting at the
enemy after I cranked the speakers up, I could hear each of the
casings hitting the floor from both the satellite speakers. The
highs were clearly represented. When I shot the bazooka, the
subwoofer produced a good boom and wasn't muffled at all. For
variety, I also tested this with NASCAR Racing 4. This game
really pushed the subwoofer and speakers to their limit with the
roaring engines and intense crashing sounds.
RumbleFX
Force Feedback Headphones
... Believe me,
I tried to create the most horrific wrecks possible and still
the only way I could hear real rumbling was by driving over the
grass. Now the shooter games are another story. While playing
Quake 3, I could hear footsteps going by and when the rocket
fired by my competitor approached me, the RumbleFX Headphones
perfectly emulated the Force Feedback technology. Then when the
rockets passed by the Force Feedback affect slowly decreased,
all the while normal sounds still played clear and fresh.
Counter Strike was by far the most enhanced by these
headphones.
AOpen
1640 Pro DVD
... I was
recently give the task of writing about the AOpen 1640 Pro DVD
player. Frankly I was a little bored with the idea of writing on
a plain old boring DVD drive, you’ve seen one you’ve seen ‘em
all; Right? Wrong! The 1640 Pro by AOpen is a technological
marvel, with a trayless front loading system, similar to those
found in car stereos, and blazing speeds of 16X DVD and 40X
read, this DVD player blows away the competition. For all you
tech nuts out there here are the specifications.
AOpen
HQ45 Mid Case
... Upon opening the case, which
involves undoing a few screws, you will find an envelope with
all the screws, binders and equipment needed to install your
components. You will also see there is room for three 3.5” hard
drives without a FDD or two 3.5” hard drives with a FDD
installed at the front bottom. This case features three
external 5.25” bays, one internal and two external 3.5” bays,
which should be enough for most users. The HQ45 comes with a
250W power supply, only 250W you say? Well, it should be enough
power to supply the average user and/or the hardware that will
fit into this case.
AOpen
HQ08 Full Sized Case
... The
HQ08 is appealing to the eye, and at first glance you can see
that the case can pack a punch. The above picture depicts the
HQ08 with blue trim, but it also comes in gray, aquamarine, and
green for variety. This case has all the standard features that
earmark a quality case: rolled smooth edges, many drive bays
(internal and external), a removable motherboard tray, two
removable 3.5” trays, and a large, open interior. The quality of
this case, which is constructed of 1mm thick sheet metal, is
beyond question.
AOpen
AW744 Pro Sound Card
... Today’s
games are being developed to support surround sound and EAX
Environmental Audio, and because of this, the sound card has
become even more important in the game of realism. Most of the
cards out there today that can give you the 3D surround sound
experience cost around $99. Today we will look at the AW744 Pro
4-channel sound card, a high-quality, yet inexpensive, card from
AOpen that costs less than $50. Although Creative Labs still
makes the best overall sound cards on the market, there are
several chipsets that are not far behind. One of these chipsets
is the YMF744 from Yamaha, which AOpen decided to use in their
latest offering...
AOpen
12X10X32 CD-Rewriter
... I was fortunate
enough to be able to meet the people from Aopen America at the
2000 Comdex show in Las Vegas, showing off their new, hot
releases for 2001. I recently received the Aopen CRW1232
12x10x32x CD-rewriter. Aopen is known for producing budget ROM
drives with their CD-writers being one of the best on the
market. The price is great too at around $179.00. This competes
with likes of Plextor and Yamaha, without having to pay $300 to
$400. I must say that for half the price, this drive packs a
punch and can compete with other 12x drives on the market
today. Let’s take a look at the specs to see what makes this
drive worth owning...
Linksys
Etherfast Cable/DSL Router
... Because the average number of PCs per
household has recently increased, people have been faced with
the question of “How do I get more than one computer online
with only one IP address, while stopping hackers or intruders
from invading my privacy?” Fortunately, Linksys,
a company out of Los Angeles, has a solution for this type of
problem. The Linksys BEFSR41 Cable/DSL router was
made specifically for this purpose.
Top
of the Line Video Cards
... Now presenting... the Top Ten
Video Cards.... Do they offer DVD support? What kind of RAM do
they use? What about the chipset? Patience, it is all explained
inside...
Pentium 4
... I've managed to wade through
the different articles, and tech junk I could get my hands on to
bring you the specs on Intel's newest chip. It's kinda long, but
it's got all the goods. Introducing the Pentium 4...
Game
Commander 2
... It is a
revolutionary new product from Sontage Interactive. If you can
get passed feeling like a dork talking to your computer while
your significant other laughs at you or asks what did you just
say. If you can over come these obstacles then you should have
no other problems. This is one of the simplest easy to use
programs to set up and use that I have ever used. Not only does
it work as a game control it can also be used as a chat tool in
conjunction with your favorite online chat programs...
Microsoft
Sidewinder "Game Voice"
... The
Sidewinder Game voice allows the user to set up profiles for
each game and comes with several pre-designed profiles for
several popular games on the market. The profiles are simply
vocal macros for the game you wish to play. The game voice
software allows the user to type in a word then assign that word
keyboard a function or several functions. So if your game
requires you to press the "G" key on the keyboard to use a
grenade you can program the game voice to recognize the word
"grenade" to mean press the "G" key.
3Dfx
Voodoo 5 5500 AGP
... The Voodoo5
5500 AGP from 3dfx is the next stage in the evolution of
ultra-high resolution gaming. Utilizing a revolutionary scalable
architecture, the Voodoo5 5500 AGP features dual 3dfx VSA-100
chips for more 3D horsepower. Working in parallel, these
processors produce over 667 Megatexels per second to create
extraordinary 3D worlds in vivid 32-bit color. Boasting
state-of-the-art Real-Time Full-Scene HW Anti-Aliasing, the
exclusive T-Buffer Digital Cinematic Effects engine, 64MB of
graphics memory for top performance and support for 2D
resolutions as high as 2048x1536, the Voodoo5 5500 AGP gives
today's PC gamers the raw 3D power and premium 2D performance
they crave.”
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