XFX Radeon HD 4870 XXX 1GB video card review @ Elite Bastards and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

“We've already mentioned that XFX have stuck steadfastly with AMD's reference cooling solution for this board, but that aside we see clock speed increases similar to those previously noted on the Radeon HD 4850 XXX – In this particular case, the board's RV770 GPU gets a 25MHz speed boost up to 775MHz, while the 1GB of GDDR5 memory on the board gets a 50MHz increase to give it a final clock of 950MHz.”

It’s kind of funny, really. Not even a month ago, we didn’t know if Sirius would actually be a company come mid-March. Now, we’re looking at an outfit with real potential for growth and success. Interesting how a perfect suitor and a good move to partner with a hot-as-fire device can change things, huh?We’ve heard that Liberty Media (DirecTV’s parent company) is already looking at the viability of Sirius XM-DirecTV bundles, which would presumably give DirecTVSirius XM subscription for a nominal fee. And considering

AMD has announced that is has shipped the 50 millionth ATI Hollywood graphics processor for Nintendo's Wii games console. Nintendo Wiis HollyWood GPU is clocked at 243MHZ, the internal memory of it includes 3MB of embedded graphics memory and 24MB of high speed main memory.

We congratulate Nintendo on this major milestone for its popular Wii console. AMD shares Nintendos excitement for delivering engaging experiences for every member of the family, said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. Were proud to provide the ATI Hollywood chip as the cool and quiet graphics engine that factors so prominently in the overall enjoyment for Wii owners. AMD counts Nintendo as a valued customer and we continue to work together to make console entertainment a growing phenomenon worldwide.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has done the technical work to make the operating system work on Netbooks, but the low-cost laptops still pose a challenge to the way Redmond does business. As the only fast-growing part of an otherwise sluggish PC market, Netbooks are clearly a product category that Microsoft can't afford to ignore. At the same time, computers selling for only a couple hundred dollars don't give Microsoft the opportunity to get the kinds of revenue for each copy of Windows that it is used to receiving.

“Our position is that Netbooks are small notebook PCs,” said Don Paterson, a director in Microsoft's Windows unit. “The distinction that has existed around Netbooks is, to some extent, a creation of the industry's mind.” Although it will offer a low-cost version of Windows 7–Windows 7 Starter–to compete with Linux to power the cheapest of Netbooks, Microsoft is ultimately hoping consumers and PC makers will pay more to get the “home premium” version of Windows Vista, which supports things like a touch screen or the Media Center interface.

VIA Technologies today announced the VIA VX855 Media System Processor (MSP) – an ultra power efficient, all-in-one chipset that addresses the key performance and entertainment requirements of today's small form factor and mobile PC systems.

Compatible with the ultra compact VIA Nano, VIA C7 and VIA Eden processor families, the VIA VX855 MSP integrates all the cutting-edge features of a modern chipset's North and South bridges into a 27mm x 27mm single chip package that saves over 46% of silicon real estate compared with competing twin-chip core logic implementations. This miniaturization, combined with extensive power management technologies and the ability to run fanlessly within a tiny 2.3 watt power envelope, enables system builders to design ever smaller, lighter, and more portable systems. The VIA VX855 MSP integrates a high performance DDR2 memory controller, a 400/800MHz FSB processor interface, and extensive I/O capabilities (such as 6 x USB 2.0, SDIO, UART, SPI, LPC and SMBus) in a single chip. Support for the integrated VIA Chrome9 HCM Graphics Processor, HD audio controller, and a host of display interfaces in its in-built LVDS transmitter, CMOS LCD and CRT interfaces, allows for more flexible multimedia playback options.

Google Voice, which some are calling Gmail for phones, is being rolled out.For now, it will be available only to users of GrandCentral, which Google acquired all the way back in 2007.GrandCentral basically consolidates all your phones, giving you a single number to ring on your home, work and mobile phones and a voicemail box you can access from anywhere, including the web.And for all those folks and who miss being able to screen phone calls by listening as callers leave their message on an answering machine,

The solid state drive, or SSD, market is incredibly hot at the moment, with a constant influx of new products that seem to leapfrog previous offerings at every turn. No one has been able to overtake Intel’s X25 series of SSDs in terms of overall performance just yet, but the SSDs available from many other companies today are clearly superior to the previous generation. The latest offering to land on the HotHardware test bench is the OCZ Apex Series SATA II SSD. Like OCZ’s previous solid state drives, the Apex

Combining the latest computing experience with a contemporary look, the Dell Studio One 19’s beautiful design and features take shared computing to a new level. Dell today announced the Studio One 19, a beautiful all-in-one computer that looks just as good in the living room as it does the kitchen. The optional touch capability provides the optimal experience for moms and their kids as they peruse photos from Spring Break and other family events. The Studio One 19 is ideal for the shared computing experience,

California Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-El Cajon) has proposed legislation that would probably make people look askance at California again. Seriously, he has proposed AB-255, a bill that would require online mapping services such as Google Earth to blur satellite images of schools, hospitals, churches, and government buildings, all in the name of security. Those not in compliance would face heavy fines, $250,000 for each day, in fact. The bill states: (a) An operator of a commercial Internet Web site or online

Super Talent has released one of the largest capacity USB flash drives available with their new Luxio 64GB drives. Does high capacity mean low performance? We've given it a test drive to find out for those thinking of investing in a high-capacity portable storage device.