Our New Forum! An Asetek PR, Budget Video Shoot-Out, Abit AA8 & Others

Good afternoon HotHardware Fans!  We've got something brand new for you today!  To compliment our relatively new layout, we've just launched a brand new forum!  If you're already a member, click here and check it out!  If you're not a member yet, what are you waiting for?  :)  All you need is a valid e-mail address to register, and you can immediately get it on the action!

We've also got healthy serving of hardware news for you, including an interesting PR from Asetek where they overclocked a new LGA775 P4 to almost 4.6GHz...

 Overclocking Intel's flagship with 28 percent asetek shows it is possible!

The guys from asetek shows that their VapoChill LightSpeed with sub-zero temperatures is the exact right cooling unit to do the trick when it comes to overclocking Intel's top processor with a 3,6GHz clockspeed. In the pre-benchmarking the core speed showed 4584 MHz, that is almost an amazing 28 percent boost! This achievement was further more only possible using the absolutely best available hardware for the time being from hardware manufacturers; ABIT, Kingston, ATI and Intel.

System specifications:
VapoChill LightSpeed with a beta socket kit for LGA775
ABIT AA8-DuraMax – Intel 925X Based LGA775 ATX Mainboard, FSB800, Dual DDR2- 533, PCI Express
ABIT RADEON X800 PCI Express card
Kingston HyperX 1024 MB DDR2 RAM
Intel 3,6GHz Prescott CPU

asetek will as soon as possible take the above listed system through some heavily benchmarks. They might even have a couple of surprises up their sleeves.  More Details Here...

 Budget VGA Battle – Gigabyte GeForce FX 5500 vs. Radeon 9550 @ TweakTown:

"Today we compare the Gigabyte GeForce FX 5500 with 64-bit memory bus against the Radeon 9550 with twice as much memory bus action to work with. It's the budget graphics card comparison and we are holding the battle for your viewing pleasure."

 Gigabyte GA-8I915G-MF (i915G Chipset) Motherboard @ HardwareZoom:

"GA-8I915G-MF is a cost-effective solution for the latest LGA775 Intel P4 CPU with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 - the fastest Intel integrated graphics engine ever available. Packed with features like PCI-Express, Gigabit LAN, Firewire and Intel High Definition Audio. GA-8I915G-MF will be the best choice for a mini-PC."

 ViewSonic 17" VA720 LCD Monitor Review @ TechFreaks:

"For the $330 price-tag, the monitor delivers a great performance and is a recommendable solution for someone looking for something a bit nicer than their current CRT. I can't recommend this monitor for someone who has a performance demanding agenda, such as a hardcore gamer or avid movie watcher. The lack of DVI certainly doesn't help the VA720's appeal but is still ideal for the office workplace and moderate home users. And at its current retail price, the VA720 is almost a steal."

 BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC @ The GamePC Labs:

"Today at the GamePC Labs, we've taken a look at one of the first actual GeForce 6800 products to hit the market, the 6800 GT OC from BFG Tech. The OC tag implies that the card is pre-overclocked out of the box, allowing for performance levels higher than stock 6800 GT cards. We test out this new card against nVidia's previous generation 59xx series GPU's along with rival ATI's X800 Pro and X800 XT cards."

 ABIT AA8 DuraMAX Motherboard Review @ HardOCP.Com:

"My initial thoughts are that the ABIT AA8 DuraMAX is one of the most stable boards that we've have had the pleasure of testing in a while. I had absolutely no problems during any phase of testing with this board and am actually quite surprised since this board does have such cutting-edge technology abundantly sprinkled about its surface."

That's all we've got for this installment.  Check back later though, we'll have some more goodies posted shortly!  Thanks!