Wow, it's been a long time since I've been able to bring you the latest and greatest in Hardware News.  Let's hop in and see what I've missed

Kicking things off for us this morning, OC Mod Shop takes a look at the Sapphire HD 4870 Toxic Video Card.

The HD 4870 Toxic is a great performer.  The 4870 Toxic consumes far less power, is cheaper than, and (in many cases) outperforms nVidia's GTX 280 video card.  Given its price point, the 4870 Toxic has some of the best performance for the money, and it is factory-overclocked.  What's not to like?

Next up this morning, Techware Labs has a go at the NZXT Tempest Enthusiast Steel Mid-Tower Case.

Tweaktown calls next as they have a go at the MSI IM-945GSE-A Mini ITX Motherboard.

The ASUS P5QL-E is making a showing over at X-Bit Labs.

We won’t lose anything here, as we have just seen, Asus P5QL-E will not lose to any other mainboard. However, we will be able to use the money saved on mainboard, CPU and memory for a faster graphics card, larger hard drive or anything else we need. So, objectively, Asus P5QL-E is an excellent choice for users who want to ensure their investment is worth it. Although it still cannot compare against solutions on Intel P45 Express.

The AXP Supernova 1000w and 800w PSUs look sweet.  Stop by XS Reviews to see how they performed.

The Lian Li PC-60FW is making a showing over at Virtual Hideout.

Though the case pursues a minimalist philosophy, it provides enough features but more importantly, properly executes them. The ease of installation, well-designed HDD cage and abundant airflow provided by the stock fans highlights this. We have no problem recommending the PC-60FW.

Viper Lair has the MSI DKA790GX Platinum motherboard.

Inside HW calls next as they take a look at the XFX GTX 260 Black Edition.

Last time when GTX260 was tested we said that it is good graphics card but overpriced. Situation is now significantly better because price for this card is below 300€. ATI HD 4870 still offers better price/performance ratio but XFX GTX260 Black Edition is nicely tuned graphics card that bring lot of XFX goodies with it. Come to the Dark Side! :)

Hardware Secrets are letting the cat out of the bag on the Tagan A+ Diablo Advanced.

Big Bruin is up next with their look at the Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 512MB Graphics Card.

The same card is getting still more attention from the folks over at Overclocker's Club.

As we have seen the HD 4830 series card are something to keep an eye on. For the price they offer the power needed to run today's games on medium to high settings with no problem and even take on cards that are designed to be faster than them. When put to the test the Sapphire HD 4830 stood its ground and even matched or beat scores of other cards in its class. When you factor in a price of around $100 for an HD 4830 vs $250 or more for an HD 4870 or a GTX 260 you can purchase two cards and CrossFire them for less than a single card of the latter. This GPU is going to be a hit for those of us who want to push the latest games but want to watch what we spend on our components in the money situation the world is currently facing.

Tweak Town has the super quick Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe HD 4870 X2 2GB Card.

If you find yourself wanting a CrossfireX setup, we would avoid the Revolution 700 because the massive cooler is going to be a pain to work with. If you’re looking for a single card HD 4870 X2 setup, though, this card has the goods. While it would have been nice to see Palit do a bit more with the clocks, these days it’s so easy to overclock that it’s not really a big deal.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been able to bring you the latest and greatest in Hardware News.  Let's hop in and see what I've missed

Bit Tech kicks things off this morning with a look at the ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard.

Asus' power saving, while all encompassing and quite fancy on the surface, generally doesn't work as efficiently as MSI's DrMOS and GreenPower, which keep things simpler and allows some degree of overclocking too. For the most part, its list of features feel a bit like basic tickboxes although Asus' EPU² certainly does work to save some power.

Next up, Bjorn3d takes a closer look at the Intel X58 Smackover.  Is that the opposite of a smackdown?

The Smackover X58 motherboard definetly delivers the hype that surrounded it form the rumors we all have been hearing. This motherboard performed beyond my expectations. It also scaled extremely well during overclocking. The overall layout of this motherboard, I will have say, is good (besides the SATA connector placements). The placement of the EPS, 4-pin Molex, and the SATA power plugs were in a great place on the motherboard and would not interfere with other motherboard components, while at the same time allowing us a better way in reagrds to cable management.

Modders Inc shows off the NZXT Whisper.

Bottom line here, if your looking for a full tower case that has plenty of room and at the same time will help keep things rather quiet then your search is over. The NZXT Whisper is a silent monster of a case and it's ready for your huge system.

Think Computers has a go at the Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB Video Card. 

So what's the big deal with the Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe? COOLING!!! The cooling on the reference HD 4870 X2 left much to be desired. Honestly, load temps of over 90C are pretty scary. The highest load temp I saw with the Revolution 700 was a momentary 77C, all the rest of the time the temperature was 74C. An average drop of 25C on idle temp is just as impressive. And all this with the fans at a silent speed.
 

The SilverStone Fortress FT101 Mid Tower is getting some lovin today -- Hardware Canucks are taking a look.

Phoronix is having a go at the same case.

The SilverStone Fortress FT01 doesn't outdo the Temjin TJ10 if you're after an extended ATX enclosure, need a surplus of room, or require dedicated cooling for your graphics card(s), but if you're just looking for one hell of a well-designed and well-built desktop chassis, the Fortress FT01 rings that bell. The SilverStone Fortress FT01 looks superb (at least we think so) both on the interior and exterior, is about half the weight of the TJ10 and is smaller making it easier to transport, and has excellent cooling capabilities. The dust filters and foam used for noise dampening is an added bonus found on the FT01 that we hope will find its way to more SilverStone enclosures.

How about some free stuff!  Driver Heaven is giving away the coolest NIC I've ever seen.

Tweak Town takes the Intel Core i7 from Stock to Clocked.

All in all, we do see some impressive performance increases when we move to 3.8GHz, with some games showing better gains then others. With 3.8GHz being 100% stable for us, not only under games but also under prime, we’ve found the sweet spot for our new test system. So, with everything said and done, look forward to all our graphics card reviews from here on which use the setup we have here today.

The Elite Bastards are revisiting NVIDIA GPU PhysX.

Driver's Heaven is checking out the G.Skill Pi Black PC2-6400 4GB Memory Kit.

The G.Skill Pi Black PC2-6400 800MHz 4GB kit offers great value and performance at a reasonable price. It certainly isn't one of the fastest kits currently available but it overclocks quite well and should be a fine addition to any mainstream system. The new heatspreaders are not a ground-breaking discovery, but they are much better than the simple heatspreaders of the lower end models.