Windows Vista 32 is very popular at the moment, but the 64 bit version is also gaining ground as well, and that is due to the fact that it allows the users to enjoy the entire quantity of RAM they have on their computers. The 32bit is limited to 3.5 GB maximum RAM usage due to the distribution of the computer system resources. So, as an example, if a gamer wants to boost the “speeeed” from Unreal Tournament 3 for example, and also wishes to make use of the 4GB he just installed, he would need to use Windows Vista 64. We have been asked by some friends to present them some quality upgrade RAM modules. Especially for this purpose, we have selected the OCZ PC3-10666 ReaperX HPC With Enhanced Bandwidth kit because it comes with 2 modules that can work in dual-channel, each having 2GB! Imagine if you buy 2 kits, that equals 8GB of RAM for your system. The bottom line is that any user normally doesn’t normally use more than 4GB of RAM for desktop applications and games. 8GB is more often met within server environments, where there’s a huge traffic of high amounts of data – it is understandable the “need for speed”. This OCZ set not only is of 4GB, but it is also a DDR3 type, which means fast proceesing of big quantities of data – highly recommendable for the enthusiast gamers. The specs are: DDR3, PC3-10666, 1333MHz, with the timings 6-5-5-18 (1.85V). The thermo-conductive pipe guides heat away and quickly dissipates it through the aluminum fin array.

As you can see in the image above, the ReaperX HPC (Heat Pipe Conduit) modules offload heat with extreme efficiency due to a new dual copper heat pipe design. Each memory chip is in direct contact with a thermo-conductive pipe that guides the performance robbing heat away from key memory components and quickly dissipates it through the aluminum fin array. The addition of the extended fin array nearly doubles the total surface area available for heat dissipation while the heat pipes warrant near isothermicity throughout the entire design. The result is a doubling in effective heat dissipation at equal delta t or, in real systems, a significantly lower operating temperature of the memory modules. The price is quite good for the value: $280.

Your video-games look wonderful if you have a powerful video card, but there is nothing that beats the “realistic feel” offered by a professional soundcard. And we have chosen to present the X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series from Creative. Like other sound cards from the X-Fi, it has the revolutionary X-Fi powerful audio processor, which delivers blazing-fast frame rates in games with hardware accelerated Direct X, while the X-Fi CMSS-3D module delivers incredible surround sound over stereo headphones for gaming, movies and music. Why is this X-Fi such a powerful audio processor? The chip offloads audio processing from the CPU, accelerating Direct X, OpenAL and EAX 5.0 games and providing realistic cinematic audio without impacting frame rates, with 64MB of X-RAM for fast loading of high-quality sounds. Also, the gamers need to know that this card was especially designed to bring out the best in terms of high quality and accuracy in the sounds from the game Unreal Tournament 3. Darragh O’Toole, Senior Brand Manager for Audio with Creative said: “The difference between gaming with motherboard audio and Sound Blaster X-Fi is stellar; X-Fi technologies put you right at the heart of the game” (…) ”Unreal Tournament 3 deserves to be played on the best hardware to guarantee that the game sounds as good as the developers intended. Our partnership ensures that our existing customers know how great the game is and that new gamers know how much better their systems can sound with Sound Blaster X-Fi”, he added. The developers of Unreal Tournament 3 worked closely with Creative to ensure that their game sounds as good as it looks when experienced using a Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card. The highly anticipated game offers support for advanced audio standards including EAX and OpenAL which can be enjoyed equally in Windows XP and Vista when the user has Sound Blaster X-Fi installed. So the fun is guaranteed in UT3, but the Creative sound card can bring out the best in music too, 24 bit and 192kHz quality level, along with the software media applications that come bundled or can be downloaded from the creative website. Unlike many people have said, this card (along with others from the X-Fi series) is supported under Windows Vista 32bit and 64bit. The price is quite acceptable too: $165.

Sources from the hardware industry have confirmed that AMD will be releasing the Radeon 3870 X2 one week earlier, and that would be around January 23 (2008). The big “update” that these cards bring is “double the excitement, triple the action”: in other words – there will be 2 VPUs on the card which would allow for quad-VPU CrossFire configurations on the motherboards with CrossFire compatible chipset and two 16x PCIe slots. Certain websites have an NDA (non disclosure agreement) on the actual specs of the card and they claim that it will be lifted on the release date. It is expected that the card will have an acceptable price when compared to the list of features it has to offer, as AMD got us used to.

It was about time for Nvidia to come up with a double-gpu card again. The 9800GX2 reminds us about the 7950GX2 and it is said that this card will be the one to support the quad-sli configuration setups. Judging by the looks, there are two PCBs (printed circuit boards) inside, each with one 65nm built gpu (most likely G92s with 128 stream processors), 1GB of video memory (512×2), and two DVI outputs. The expected date of announcement is February 14, 2008. Gamers are barely waiting for this card to be released. Among other ports, there is also an HDMI port near the DVI ones but it hasn’t been confirmed whether it will send out 5.1 sound as well besides HD video signal quality, like the standard 2xxx and 3xxx video cards from ATI.

There are not many motherboards that support the DDR3 memory standard yet, however, if you like Intel CPUs, and if by any chance you find an ASUS Maximus Extreme main board – you can start looking for DDR3 memory kits. One of the memory makers, Crucial has created a special dual channel set of 2GB kit (1GBx2). The specs are: Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800, 8-8-8-24 timing latencies, DDR3-1600 to be used at 1.8V bios setting, with 128Meg x 64. For normal Windows XP systems, you will be fine with 2GB, but if you need an visibly increased speed and processing power – you could get 2 kits so that you can have 4GB of DDR3 RAM for the most memory demanding applications like games and graphic editing programs. Another bonus of the BallistiX is that they can be overclocked – they work both at higher speed and tweaked timings: there are two “high” profiles – XMP Profile 1: 1600MHz 8-8-8-24 and XMP Profile 2: 1600MHz 7-7-7-24. A very big downside for this memory kit is that it is VERY expensive at the moment – nearly $450 – but prices will lower down in time. And since they are so expensive, it must be noted that the buyers must be people who have experience on tweaking and overclocking hardware, otherwise it will be a total waste and the customer would better be looking for DDR2-1066 modules.