PC Review News Edition - 10th February 2004

[Ian]

Welcome to this week's PC Review News Edition. This week we have a rather good competition going, as you can win yourself an Aurora Transparent PC Case - supplied by our friends at UC-Solutions and MyShuttle.

<center><img border=0 src="https://www.pcreview.co.uk/images/adverts/PCREVIEWAD.jpg"><br><b>Win Me!</b></center>

We are also on the look out for some talented article writers, or news reporters. If you think you have what it takes, drop me an E-Mail on the "about us" page.

Bit Tech have a writeup on the current state of Tablet PCs, entitled "Tablet PCs - Is anyone listening?". Worth a read if you have never given Tablet PCs much thought, or are in need for a laptop/PDA combo.

SilentPCReview have a look at the new Shuttle ZEN SSF PC, which I must admit looks incredible. It is even smaller than the previous generation Shuttle SSF PCs!

<center><img border=0 src=https://www.pcreview.co.uk/images/news/100204/zen1.jpg><br><b>Shuttle ZEN PC</b></center>

This week Microsoft has also warned that a "critical" flaw in the latest versions of Windows XP could allow hackers to access a person's computer. The BBC have all the info, and it a must read for users with the Windows XP operating system. Be sure to visit Windows Update to protect your PC!

HardOCP have a review of the new ASUS SK8V motherboard for Socket 940 CPUs. It looks like a good board, but not a cost effective solution for a new PC.

Performance wise, the SK8V definitely delivered. However, the proximity in performance on most benchmarks between it and the Athlon64 board coupled with the 3400+ CPU was rather disturbing, on multiple levels. The SK8V should have blown the Athlon64 board out of the water, just due to the fact that it has an incredible amount of memory bandwidth available due to its Dual Channel memory bus. This is really where the cracks start to show - for the price, the SK8V / FX-51 combo performance when compared with the Athlon64 / 3400+ just don’t justify the cost differences between the two.

Check out the full article here