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."