Tech Freek http://www.tech-freek.com Mon, 12 May 2008 04:55:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 en Tagan BZ800 SMPS http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/05/12/tagan-bz800/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/05/12/tagan-bz800/#comments Mon, 12 May 2008 04:55:27 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/?p=138 tagan-bz800

Tagan is a relatively new name in the market for desktop power supplies. Enter their new BZ series,a funky product line, meant for discerning users and gamers and offering some show to what is usually just go.The BZ series do things radically differnt as far as visuals go. They’re modular, with pipe-like connector cables complete with circular pin arrangement(called piperock by Tagan) that ensure incompatibility with any other power supply. Then there cool looking LED-lit circular strips around each modular socket on the PSU that illuminate when a cable is plugged in. The cables are color coded as per the LED color. This ensures no mistakes while plugging in cables. If you have a transparent side window, the ensuing lighting is definitely one to get the drool out as intended. Add to that a large cooling fan(135 mm) with blue LEDs and the BZ800 is definitely lit to kill! There is a pair of branded nylon gloves free publicity for Tagan if you should chose to wear them around. The outer body itself is reasonably well built, but the gauge of sheet used isn’t as good as the CoolerMusteredRealPower 1000W or the Corsair HX series.
On the technical front the BZ800 sports six 12 volt rails. There is a Turbo mode which disables the power limitations on the 12 V rails allowing them to overdraw power , in case you should need it. Four PCIe (two 6 pin and two 8 pin) power connectors mean SLI/Crossfire is possible with the latest cards. With a combined load capacity of 64 amps on the 12 V rail (768 W) the BZ800 is no different from other recent power supplies, which concentrate on beefing up the 12 V rail that typically powers CPUs,graphics cards, hard drives, optical drives and case fans.
We fired up our nuclear reactor of a rig,consisting of our Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6850 CPU, ASUS Striker Extreme, two WD Raptor 80 GB HDDs, a500 GB WD caviar HDD, two DVD RW drives and an x-Fi Elite Pro. Just to make things interesting, we took our quad core to 3.6 GHz,and ran a gamut of benchmarks. Not once did it seem that the BZ800 ran out of juice, and performed well right through.
At $200 the Tagan BZ isn’t cheap by any means, but for a high-end power supply (which it most certainly is), the price isn’t too bad. The only better option we’ve seen is the CoolerMaster Real Power 1000W Pro-which is much costlier. Incidentally, the fact that the BZ800 is 80+ certified means your power bills will be in check. If you’re looking for an extreme PC or a super duper gaming rig, and need a powerful PSU with loads of visual appeal, you can’t go wrong with this.

Specifications:
800 W continuous power, max power (12 V)-768 W (64 A), 8x SATA connectors, 2×6 pin PCIe connectors, 2×8 pin PCIe connectors, 6x peripheral connectors (4 pin).

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/05/12/tagan-bz800/feed/ Army of Two : The Game People Play http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/08/army-of-two-the-game-people-play/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/08/army-of-two-the-game-people-play/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:45:56 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/?p=135 EA Games Army of Two

Introduction
Army of two is an in style video game developed by the giant ElectronicArts Corporation, Montreal. It was released in the market with the compatible version of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 4th March, 2008 in North America. Army of Two is also popularly known as Ao2 or AoT. It is a third person shooting video game that revolves around two private military organizations who hire top level mercenaries to complete the job more efficiently and faster than the government military organizations. The time span of the story is from 1993 to 2009.
Army of Two is a collective third person shooting video game with a plan on cooperative and matched strategies. The theme of the game is somewhat similar to ‘Gears of War’. The players will start with the game’s integrated ‘Partner Artificial Intelligence’ or with the other players to fight through political commotion, war and a conspiracy so cleverly and accurately placed that it can destroy the entire world. The characters of Army of Two are popular as they work just like human beings.
The story
The story of the game starts in Somalia during 1993 once Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem were working in the 75th Ranger Regiment of US Military. They were put to a short training lesson, the course headed by their comrade Pedro. After that, they were consigned to work with Philip Clyde, who is a private military contractor. The name of his company is Security and Strategy Corporation (SSC). SSC orders the team to assassinate Abdullah Mohammed Alim. When this mission is complete, the SSC CEO Ernest Stockwell orders Philip Clyde to invite commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Richard Dalton to join the private security company for a desk job, which he agrees. Afterwards, he requests Ernest Stockwell to include Salem and Rios to be included in the company as contractors. During the next year, three of them enter the private sector. The spicy conversation between these comrades is added taste of this game. You Testfreaks are to figure it out.
After that, the story revolves around almost throughout the world including Afghanistan, Iraq, USS Constellation, China and Miami.
The controls and Gameplay
The gameplay is fairly smooth. The weapon customization is the best part of AoT. The choice is intensive. The arms that are available for customization are shotguns, pistols, submachine guns, light machine guns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, sniper rifles and assault rifles. Some equipments like under-slung grenade launchers, extra-large magazines, grip handles and new barrels can be substituted to give the armor a new look and function. The players can upgrade their armor as the game progresses by purchasing from the market. But one has to be careful while purchasing as the team who finishes the game with more amounts of cash wins the game. The face masks can also be tailored with the main characters of the play.
Earlier, a firing range for the newly obtained arms was available. But due to the lack of standards, it was removed from the later versions.
Graphics
ElectronicArts used the popular graphics formula – the UE3. The character mode is top class, even during the cut scenes (which cause problem mainly in the other games). EA did not pay attention to the textures as like other games. Sometimes, it looks like a PS1 game. The appearance of water during the 5th mission is pathetic.
Overall rating
Army of Two is good but not at par with the best programs available in the market as per my opinion. Consider to borrow it from some of your friends or from the parlor. Test is yourself and then consider for the purchasing. The FreakScore is 8.00.

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/08/army-of-two-the-game-people-play/feed/ Canon PowerShot Sx100 IS http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/06/canon-powershot-sx100-is/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/06/canon-powershot-sx100-is/#comments Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:22:16 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/?p=134

The Canon PowerShot SX100 IS is the first ultra-zoom camera boasting 10x optical zoom in its compact body. Touted as the perfect camera in the hands of any family member, we found it to be true-the Sx100 IS is simple to use, and delivers superb photographs with minimum tweaking. The SX100 is relatively bulky and can only be carried around in a pouch-too large for any pocket. Similar to other A-series Cameras from Canon, the SX100 has a plastic body, however it is well put together and exudes a built-to-last feel. Instead of a five way rocker, the SX100 IS has a rotating click wheel for browsing the menu-quite intuitive to use.
The SX100 IS an 8 Mega pixel camera with 10x optical zoom, face detection and image stabilization. The camera has other features typical to the A series of cameras-scene modes, manual focus, color swap-ping, panorama mode and so on. The 10x optical zoom combined with an excellent image stabilization works wonders taking distance shots. The flash on this camera is simply superb-in fact, the best flash we have seen on any point-and-shoot camera. The SX100 IS uses AA size batteries-on an alkaline pair, we got around 120 photograph; using Ni-MH, batteries we got 400 shots-terrific. the down-side to the use of AA batteries is the flash recycle time-painfully long, and becomes noticeable when batteries are low. color rendition is accurate and natural. the camera performs admirably even in low ISO settings-we got excellent photographs even at 80 ISO. Higher sensitivity ISO setting such as ISO 800 and 1600 are completely useless-grainy images.
Working with manual focus and macro was fun, and it delivered some really good shots. The best part about SX100 IS is the ease with which any one can take good photographs. Video capture is excellent. A 20 second video requires 30 MB of space. Priced at $300, the camera is a steal for the features and performance it offers. If you have any friends coming from abroad, ask them to get you the camera.
Canon PowerShot Sx100 IS

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/06/canon-powershot-sx100-is/feed/ Samsung NV8 Digital Camera http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/03/samsung-nv8-digital-camera/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/03/samsung-nv8-digital-camera/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:34:20 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/?p=130 Samsung NV8 Digital CameraThe Samsung NV8 is the younger sibling of the NV10 that we tested in October 2007. This is an 8 MP camera with 3x optical zoom, and looks and feels exactly like the NV10. The interface on the camera is simple to use, and is controlled by the touch sensitive buttons on either side of the screen. They’re easy to use, but take a little getting used to. The camera has a rough matte finish with a 2.5- inch screen.
Image quality is also very similar to the NV10. The clarity and crispness is there, and higher ISO levels give out a little grain in the image. The colours aren’t very vibrant; and have a washed look to them-especially in outdoor lighting. Indoor shooting is a different story altogether, and the NV8 seems to be better indoor then outdoors. You can get macro shots from up 4 cm away with good results. The video quality is good, and the same macro feature works for videos as well. Video resolutions are 640*480 and 320*240, and are saved as AVIs using MPEG4 codecs. The audio birate is 64 kbps, though the quality is nothing special.
Face detection and image stabilization are present as features, but image stabilization only kick in when you turn the mode knob to ASR (Advanced Shake reduction). If you use ASR for videos, a small area of the capture is cropped. This camera is pretty much the the NV10 with a lower MP rating. This average performing camera is priced at $350, and to be frank, there are better cameras available in the same price range.

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/04/03/samsung-nv8-digital-camera/feed/ Logitech MX Air : Cord-Free, Surface-Free Control http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/logitech-mx-air-cord-free-surface-free-control/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/logitech-mx-air-cord-free-surface-free-control/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:46:13 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/logitech-mx-air-cord-free-surface-free-control/ Revolutionary products are hard to come by, and the Logitech MX Air is one we’ve been eying since its release. The MX Air works something like the Nintendo Wii’s innovative Wiimote. The MX Air is unlike any other mouse. It’s a handheld controller that you can wave about to move the pointer on the screen. It’s definitely attractive with its sleek streamlined shape. It’s also very light and sports a glossy black Logitech MX Airfinish with a chrome metallic surface on the back. The shape of the mouse has been designed with comfort in mind-but it dose get slippery after long hours of use with sweaty palms.
There are two mouse buttons, but no middle click button, though you can assign the function to one of the other buttons using the bundled SetPoint software. There’s a touch panel between the main mouse buttons, and you can run your fingers on the panel to scroll. It has to be said the mouse is really difficult to get started with, but over time it becomes more usable. For those who can’t us it, there’s also a laser sensor under the mouse so you can use the same device on your desk like a regular wireless mouse. The drivers allow you to set separate sensitivity settings for the mouse when on the desk and when off it. The mouse is vary accurate, and any inaccuracy you might experience is more likely because of the human hand not being steady enough.
Playing Fps games on it is very difficult and close to impossible in air (We just thought we’d try), but it’s a decent mouse on the desk. It makes a lot of sense as a controller for a Media Center PC and it also makes a good presentation tool. It’s a good product that does its job well, but Rs 8,995 seems like a lot to pay for the novelty.

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/logitech-mx-air-cord-free-surface-free-control/feed/ Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/cyberlink-powerdvd-73-ultra/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/cyberlink-powerdvd-73-ultra/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:31:25 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/cyberlink-powerdvd-73-ultra/ Cyberlink’s new PowerDVD 7.3 ultra is a software disc player with all the controls and features that you may fiend in any hardware player, and much more. The interface is very clean and easy to understand. The controls are at the bottom of the window and balloon help is alwayes there, so you will never be left confused. You can even control the speed of playback, and it dosen’t cause the “Chip’n'Dale” effect on voice even at high playback speeds. There are many hotkeys available during playback, as you can exercise total control with a flick of a button.
PowerDVD is not resource hungry-on our modest computer, it starts up in a second and plays HD clips with complete ease. It supports native hardware acceleration provided by most modern graphics chipsets and takes advantage of it to take the load off the CPU while rendering HD video. playback is stutterless and audio was crisp and clear thanks to the smart de-interlacing support. CLEV-2 is a proprietary video enhancement technology from Cyberlink that detects vidio content and dynamically adjusts brightness/contrast/ saturation ratios for a better viewing experience.
Cyberlink Pano Vision is a non-linear video stretching technology that is used to stretch the video to your desktop resolution with minimal distorion. All speaker configurations are supported, and there are a host of different audio modes, such as Dolby Headphone that creates a virtual surround sound experience while using headphones, Dolby Virtual Speaker that creates virtual surround sound through two speakers, etc. Some of the newer sound technologies supported are Dolby Pro Logic Iix, Neo:6, and SRS TruSurroundXT. DivX, DVD (MPEG-2), DVD+VR, DVD-VR, DVD-Audio, VCD (MPEG-1), SVCD, MiniDVD formats and DVD files on hard drive are all supported. For HD aficionados, PowerDVD also supports blu-ray as well as HD DVD with support for the H.264 format. There is also a See-It-All OPtion THat will adjust the playback speed of your movie so that you can watch an entire movie before your laptop battery runs out . This software is a worthy buy.

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/30/cyberlink-powerdvd-73-ultra/feed/ Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB : A Pebblefulof Music! http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/13/creative-zen-stone-plus-2gb-a-pebblefulof-music/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/13/creative-zen-stone-plus-2gb-a-pebblefulof-music/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:45:08 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/13/creative-zen-stone-plus-2gb-a-pebblefulof-music/ Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB

With Apple launching a whole new range of iPods recently, including the iPod Touch, can Creative afford to be far behind? Not one to be caught shuffling around (pun intended), Creative has launched the Zen Stone Plus series. With a player so tiny, we’d expected the Zen Stone to felt flimsy, but surprisingly it didn’t. There’s a small circular blue OLED screen- nothing special- and a play button surrounded by a circular button that houses four controls-track shuffle and volume up / down. There’s a tiny button on the top of the player that has controls for the Menu and play / pause functions.
Available in 2GB only, the Zen Stone features FM radio and supports up to 32 presets, inbuilt audio recording, and stopwatch function-not bad for such a small device. Unlike iPods, there are no drivers required to connect it to your PC-just drag and drop, which is a huge relief. Music quality is a mixed bag with the Stone. Firstly, if you’re even remotely interested in good sound, throw away the bundled earplugs. Once we replaced them with our Creative EP630 headphones, everything was so much clearer. Then we tried the Bose Intra Ear-our reference for PMPs-and things seemed even better. Punchy, tight bass, superb vocal tones, and a decent extended high-end makes the Zen Stone very suitable for rock, pop, jazz and reggae. If you listen to lot of classical music, you’ll need much better headphones to bring out the recessed highs. Bottom-line: the Zen Stone is only limited by its default earplugs-and most PMPs are.
Don’t let this stop you buying it-if you want something tiny, sturdy, and easy to use, the Zen Stone will suit you. If you want good sound, invest in a pair of decent in-ear earplugs.

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/03/13/creative-zen-stone-plus-2gb-a-pebblefulof-music/feed/ Nokia E51 : Specs and Review http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/02/29/nokia-e51-specs-and-review/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/02/29/nokia-e51-specs-and-review/#comments Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:13:44 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/02/29/nokia-e51-specs-and-review/ Nokia E51If you are an executive in the marker for a suitable call phone, Nokia’s E serise offers the best bang for the buck. the Nokia E51 is the latest from the venerable E serise, and an apt successor to the hugely popular E50 model, which it will eventually replace. The E51 brings in new features at a price that’s hard to beat. The keypad is completely revised, with dedicated keys for Contacts, Calendar, E-mail and Home. The softmenu keys, however, are too small for comfort. The rest of the keypad is a delight good tactile feedback, and key spacing is immaculate. The rebberised keys for volume up / down, push-to-talk and power are head to operate,though.
The E51 feels peppy-it uses the processor as on the flagship N95. With 130 MB of memory on board, you can do lot of multitasking without the phone getting sluggish, and the memory can be expanded to 4 GBvia the microSD slot (a 512 MB card comes bundled). The E51 runs on Symbian OS Series 60, and crams in lot of features besides the standard set. Most of these will go down well with executives-for example, the Advance call manager lets you manage incoming and outgoing calls efficiently. In addition, WorldMate, an application for frequent fliers, comes bundled. The E51 is a 3G, quad-band phone with HSDPA, Wi-Fi (820.11g) Bluetooth, Micro USB and an infrared port. There’s a switch to turn bluetooth on and off on the main keypad. Multimedia features include a good MP3 player, a 2MP camera with still and video shooting, and FM radio.
Signal reception is good, as is voice clarity. Internet browsing speeds are faster then with the E50 or E61, thanks to the revised Web browser. The camera is above average, but loses performance in low- light conditions, with little or no echo on the recipient’s side. We got around three days of battery life with nominal usage and a terrific seven days of standby time. The Nokia E5 retails at $375 ; it is, we think, a must- buy.

Micro-SD card
Micro SD memory
Memory Stick Micro
M2 memory
M2 card

]]> http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/02/29/nokia-e51-specs-and-review/feed/ Asus P525 : Full PDA Half Phone http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/02/15/asus-p525-full-pda-half-phone/ http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/02/15/asus-p525-full-pda-half-phone/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:55:01 +0000 Abhik http://www.tech-freek.com/2008/02/15/asus-p525-full-pda-half-phone/ Asus has brought up their full line-up of PDA phones and the P525 is a PDA with a number pad, sometimes of a rarity. Its a touch screen running Windows Mobile 5 and the charcoal grey that made the P525 such a good looker makes another appearance. The P525 is a beautiful beast, all smokey gray with chrome buttons down the side panel in sharp contrast. We also liked the screen-crisp, clear and good contrast, visible even in direct sunlight.
The number keys look like sculpted buttons that have been integrated into the body. They Asus P525give just the right amount of feedback when used, and never feel tacky.We don’t like the joystick though; its too small and smooth and theres insufficient tactile feedback. We also didn’t like the fact that the joysctick’s in between the number keys 2 and 5. this affects access to the number 2.
Voice commander makes another appearance, a really excellent piece of code, this-that allows you to do so much more with the voice commands. The excellent business card scanner is also preinstalled. Theres also a password protected security application called My Secrets that allows you to protect your files by encrypting them. All the usual Windows Mobile applications are present as well.
There is a dedicated button for the camera, which is surprisingly good for a PDA. The volume button is very ergonomic, as is the hold button which prevents keypad, button and screen use.
While the loud speaker offers decent volume, we lament the volume levels on the hands free kit, its just too low, be it music or a voice call. While on the topic of calls, signal quality could have been better, a parent weakness of most of the PDAs. If you need a good phone, please look elsewhere.
Where the P525 scores is in PDA functionality (even though it forgoes a QWERTY keypad), looks nobody will disagree here and, of course, the software package that improves productivity by quite an extent. At $500 the ASUS P525 is a good PDA, but a strictly avarage phone. Its flashy for sure, and will draw glances anywhere. You’ll have to decide what is more important to you - PDA features or just a Mobile Phone.