The guys at Phoronix have taken a ThinkPad and an Opteron-based server, and run both Hardy Heron & Vista Ultimate on each to see which OS consumes the most power while running.

"With Ubuntu 8.04 LTS now available, we have decided to run another simple power comparison."

First we've got the ThinkComputers guys, who are giving away a trio of prizes from CoolerMaster. It's a forums-based contest with a 35-post minimum. Posting in the contest thread gets you one entry, while if you follow along with the CoolerMaster trivia throughout the contest, each correct answer will get you additional entries.

The Shrimpies have been appointed the task to send one Belgian overclocker (or team of two) to Amsterdam, Netherlands for the European MSI overclocking finals in August. Post your o/c'ing results in their forums in order to get into the pre-qualification round. The top three will get prizes, and the winner will get to represent at the finals.

Notebooks

ASUS M51S 15.4" @ TechGage

Video Cards

DIAMOND Radeon HD 3650 1GB @ TweakTown

HIS Radeon HD3650 IceQ @ OverclockersOnline

EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT AKIMBO 1GB @ Motherboards.org

Motherboards

XFX nForce 630i GeForce 7150 @ HotHardware

EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW @ Gamepyre

RAM

Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red 800 MHz 4 GB Kit @ techPowerUp

Power

SilverStone Strider ST50F 500W @ HardwareSecrets

Tuniq Miniplant 950W @ OCIA

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W @ BurnOutPC

CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 1000W @ Hi-Techreviews

Cooling

Akasa Gemini Notebook Cooler @ techPowerUp

Thermaltake DuOrb CPU Cooler @ 3DGameMan

Etc.

Motorola MotoPure H12 Bluetooth Headset @ BlueTomorrow

Zibra Open It! Package Opener @ OCIA

AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 @ TechReviewSource

Honeywell 22-Inch LCD @ BenchmarkReviews

Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard @ Futurelooks

Cirago Micro USB Bluetooth Adapter @ Tweaknews

Razer Destructor Mouse Pad @ Pro-Clockers

Corsair Flash Voyager GT 16GB @ Phoronix

No source cited, but hey, that's what the rumor mill's all about, right?

"The first 2 models from the GeForce 9900 series will be 9900 GTX and 9900 GTS instead of 9900 GT we reported earlier. It seems Nvidia has decided to launch them as early as July to counter RV770 and steal the performance crown away."

No one seems to know why Sun bought Montalvo, or exactly what it was that Montalvo was producing. MYSTERY! Warning: Sun PR babble follows:

"We believe acquiring these assets will enhance the current and future products we are developing and expect them to contribute to future generations of Sun's microprocessor technology, which will in turn drive additional differentiation for Sun's Systems products."

Um, ok.

EOL be damned. Dell's apparently going to keep on keeping-on. There's definitely a demand, & they'd be silly to ignore it. Not only that, but:

"Dell's plan could conceivably allow its business customers to skip Vista, the current version of Windows, altogether. Microsoft has said it plans to launch Vista successor Windows 7 in 2010."

The gang at the TechReport have posted an updated system building guide for this month. Intel systems are their recommendatons for all but one of the configurations. The only AMD recommendation is a new config: the "couch potato," & that's because you can use a 780G-based board. Good point.

"We've even included a fifth system this time around: the Couch Potato Mk. 2. This latest take on the ultimate home theater PC combines HD tuning capabilities with Blu-ray playback support all wrapped up in a quiet, power-efficient package."

Motherboards

Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P @ HardwareLogic

Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 Intel X48 @ ThinkComputers

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3P @ Virtual-Hideout

ASUS P5K PRO Intel P35 @ Bigbruin

Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI @ Legit Reviews

Displays

Samsung SyncMaster 2263DX Dual Display @ DigitalTrends

Samsung SyncMaster T220 Widescreen @ Futurelooks

A/V

Alienware High Definition Media Server @ LegitReviews

Head-Direct RE1 Earphones @ techPowerUp

Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1 Headset @ OCIA

Storage

OCZ Rally2 Turbo 4GB USB Flash @ ASELabs

Western Digital VR150 300GB Velociraptor @ Motherboards.org

Etc.

Cyber Snipa Stringer Gaming Mouse @ Pro-Clockers

GIGABYTE G-Power 2 Pro CPU Cooler @ TweakTown

LiteOn EZ-DUB External DVD Drive DX-20A4PU @ TechwareLabs

Assassin's Creed Director's Cut Edition PC @ TTGamer

nVidia's can of whoop-ass is on its way, in the form of the MCP79, a single-chip mobile chipset aimed at small form factor notebooks. Watching the nVidia/Intel spat unfold's gonna be mighty entertaining...

"Each variant of MCP79 incorporates a DX10-capable GeForce graphics controller supporting Shader Model 4.0, NVIDIA's VP3 video processor, and support for Hybrid Power/Hybrid SLI/Hybrid Performance."

For reference

There are a slew of sites hosting various details on AMD's 4800-series (aka RV770) and its supposed arrival next month, but TGDaily's got the best overall write-up, imo. Hit the link for the full, two-page read.

"The new GPU has 480 stream processors or shader units (96+384), 32 Texture units (up from 16), 16 ROP (same as 2900/3800), a 256-bit memory controller and native GDDR3/4/5 support (expect GDDR3 and GDDR5 memory versions of RV770 cards)."

Ten tips for texting that are actually functional. I didn't know about the Google calendar one. Pretty interesting stuff.

"Just send a message with the word 'next' to GVENT (dial 48368) and you'll get back the time and details of your next scheduled event."

CPUs

Intel QX9770 Quad Core Extreme @ Tweaknews

Video Cards

HIS HD3850 AGP @ 3DGameMan

Foxconn 9800GTX-512N Extreme OC @ Futurelooks

RAM

OCZ ReaperX HPC PC3-10666 Enhanced Bandwidth 2x1GB @ APHNetworks

Software

Sun Solaris 10 5/08 @ Phoronix

Nemo: A New File Manager for Linux @ MadPenguin

Professor Layton and the Curious Village DS @ TTGamer

Storage

Buffalo TeraStation Pro II 1TB Rackmount NAS @ ThinkComputers

A-Data C702 16GB Flash Drive @ OCModShop

Cases

Cooler Master Cosmos S @ HardwareSecrets

Antec Mini P180 mATX @ Pro-Clockers

Etc.

Gigabyte STA Thin Client @ Phoronix   Motorola Z9 Phone @ CoolTechZone

Mushkin XP-800 AP 800W PSU @ techPowerUp

LapWorks Attaché Laptop Stand @ Virtual-Hideout

Edifer E3350 PC Speaker System @ DigitalTrends  My iButton @ TechwareLabs

Nikon D60 10.2MP Digital-SLR Camera @ TechGage

Enhance Tech T4H CR External RAID Tower @ TweakTown

The general consensus is that while the concept is good, the execution (as has been par for the course lately with AMD) is flawed. If, for some reason, you're forced into buying an AMD CPU right now, go with the X4 9850 Black Edition. The pricing scheme just doesn't make any sense otherwise....

Hexus
LegitReviews
Motherboards.org
the TechReport
TweakTown
HotHardware
XbitLabs
PCPerspective
FiringSquad
Bit-Tech
ChileHardware (Spanish)
TechwareLabs

Notebooks

Lenovo ThinkPad X300 @ DigitalTrends

Storage

SimpleTech 250GB Signature Mini Portable Drive @ TechwareLabs

Buffalo MiniStation 320GB TurboUSB Portable Hard Drive @ Futurelooks

Cooling

Xigmatek Red Scorpion S1283 HDT CPU Cooler @ BenchmarkReviews

Noctua NH-U12P CPU cooler @ XtremeComputing

Etc.

Silverstone MS05 External 2.5inch SATA HDD Enclosure @ Madshrimps

Nesteq EECS 700 Watt Ultra Quiet PSU @ Bigbruin

LiveWires T1 Custom IEMs @ techPowerUp

MLB 08 The Show PSP @ Gamepyre   Cyber Snipa Stinger Gaming Mouse @ OCIA

Lapworks Attaché Laptop Stand @ HardwareLogic

MoJo designer snooker cue @ Hexus