Total Gadgets

If you’re looking for the ultimate graphics card then look no further than nVIDIA’s latest offering - the dual-GPU GeForce 9800 GX2. 

The 9800 GX2 is nVIDIA’s first dual-GPU graphics card (ATI already had the 3870 X2 on the market) and this card literally blows away the competition.  Benchmark after benchmark has show the 9800 GX2 to be the leader in terms of pumping out frames per second.

• Stream Processors - 256
• Core Clock (MHz) - 600 MHz
• Shader Clock (MHz) - 1500 MHz
• Memory Clock (MHz) - 1000 MHz
• Memory Amount - 1GB
• Memory Interface - 512-bit
• Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) - 128
• Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) - 76.8

One 9800 GX2 not enough for your gaming?  If you’ve got a 790i motherboard then you can put two of these puppies in your system!

Pros:

• Awesome power.
• Double your power by adding a second card (OK, to be precise you don’t double your power, but you increase it dramatically).

Cons:

• Expensive.  Very expensive!  This card is around the $500 mark.
• Generates a lot of heat.
• Can be noisy.

Do you slouch at your desk?  Does that give you a bad back or a still neck?  Does it harm your productivity?  What about eye-strain?  If so you need VISOMATE, USB vision and posture reminder utility!

VISOMATE is a USB-powered device that clips to your monitor and keeps an eye on the distance between your forehead and your monitor (the ideal distance is 35 to 60 cm).  If you get too close or too far away, a blue LED switches on.  If you slouch, a red LED is illuminated.  For $26, it’s money well spent if it works.

Features:

• Interactive distance detecting with program
• Works with ultrasonic sensor
• Flashing LED signal indicates correct distant away from monitor
  Blue LED: Your head is positioned within the “NOT RECOMMENDED” visual range (35 to 60cm*) from the monitor
  Red LED: Your head is positioned closer than 35cm* from the monitor and that means you are “TOO CLOSE”
• CHIME ON/OFF selection for personal setting
• Powered by USB port, no battery needed
• Support any computer with USB port
• Cable length: 180cm
• Dimension: 56×56x24mm
• Weight: 72g

Acer has released the 19-inch AL1951D -  a flat-panel display that boasts an amazing 2ms response rates, a feature which makes this a must for serious gamers and anyone who wants to be at the cutting edge of technology.  This ultra-fast screen response times (which you can think of as being equivalent to the refresh rate of a traditional CRT screen) means a better, smoother image.

It’s not going to be long until we see a flat panel that has a sub-1ms response rate, but for now this is the best you are going to get.

Spec:

• 1280 x 1024 Native Resolution
• 300 cd/m2 Typical Brightness
• 1000:1 Contrast Ratio
• 16.2 Million Display Colors
• VGA and DVI-D Video Inputs
• 2 Millisecond Response Times
• 1.5W x 2 Speakers
• 160 degrees (H) x 160 degrees (V) Viewing Angle

Pros:

• Refresh rate (the best around)
• High-brightness LCD
• Photo-like image quality
• Price: $379

Cons:

• None!

Now I can see this being the “must have” hardware for 2006 – the Matrox TripleHead2Go box allows you to hook up three 19–inch monitors to any PC to transform it into a three-screen monster system capable of 3840×1024.  In case you’re wondering, three 19–inch monitors will give you a massive 45–inch diagonal viewing area!

You don’t need a monster system to take advantage of the TripleHead2Go – it can be attached to any PC – desktop or laptop.  The TripleHead2Go is also small – palm-sized – making it a portable solution (well, apart from having to cart around three screens!).

The beauty of the TripleHead2Go is that you can upgrade existing systems without even having to open the case – not only does this mean that upgrading systems is fast but it doesn’t need to be carried out by experienced technicians.

Price is $299 and it will be available April 2006.  For more details visit the Matrox website.

Yep, you read that right – 65–inch!  Today Sharp have announced that the largest professional LCD monitor will be available this June.

The [tag]PN-655[/tag] features 1920 x 1080, two megapixel high-definition resolution.  The PN-655 contains a four-wavelength spectrum, cold-cathode fluorescent backlight that provides an enhanced color spectrum. It also features Bright Pixel Elimination culls “stuck-on” white pixels, to make a failed pixel “invisible” to the viewer.  Response time is listed as less than 6ms.

The price has not yet been fixed (if you have to ask the price, this isn’t for you!).

Sapphire Technology has just issued a press release confirming that they will be the first company to offer [tag]HDMI[/tag] compatible graphics card.

The card, [tag]RADEON X1600Pro[/tag], is the first [tag]HDMI-HDCP[/tag] graphics card. The new card, from Sapphire, is an RADEON X1600Pro.

Here are some preliminary details:

• Clock - 500MHz
• Shader units - 12
• Memory clock - 800MHz GDDR3
• Memory interface - 128-bit
• Memory support - 128MB
• Interface - PCI Express
• Outputs - VGA/HDMI
• Max 3D res (HDMI) - 1920×1080
• Max 3D (VGA) - 2048×1536

The RADEON X1600Pro is expected out in April.

For more details read the Sapphire Technology press release.

What is [tag]Origami[/tag]?

Well, [tag]Microsoft[/tag] is somewhat secretive at the moment which is leading to a whole raft of rumors.

What we know is that it’s based on [tag]Windows XP[/tag] and that it’s a device rather than a replacement to a PC.  It’s not a pocket device but will fit into small bags and purses.  It is capable of supporting features like GPS, Bluetooth, 3G cellular technology and Wi-Fi. 

Oh, and Origami will cost around $600.

The hype-storm will soon give way to more details.

[tag]Western Digital[/tag] have announced that it has begun shipping the 500 GB [tag]SE16[/tag] [tag]Caviar[/tag] [tag]SATA[/tag] [tag]hard drives[/tag]. 

This is a massive hard drive - With that capacity you could store 142,000 digital photos, 125,000 MP3 files, 222 hours of DVD video or 60 hours of HD video.

Features:

• 500 GB capacity
• 16 MB cache
• 300 MB/s transfer
• 7200 RPM
• Whisper quiet technology
• Cool operating temperatures

For more information visit the Western Digital website.

Features Data Lifeguard™, Data Lifeguard Tools™ and Shock Guard™.