ASUS just announced that the Xonar DX soundcard is going to available soon on the retail market. Engineered for pristine, clean audio quality with a 116 dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), the Xonar DX is equipped with innovative technologies such as Dolby Home Theater and DirectSound3D Game Extensions 2.0 (DS3D GX2.0) offering immersive home theater audio and rich gaming sound features, which makes it ideal got that HTPC you are planning on building. The Xonar DX will be available via ASUS North American resellers starting March 24, 2008. The introductory MSRP is $89 USD. This is far lower priced than the Asus Xonar D2/PM Ultra Fidelity 7.1 PCI Sound Card, which has a street price of $174 plus shipping.

Todays motherboards feature onboard audio solutions rated between 80-86 dB SNR. Low quality components and electrical interference introduce unintentional noise and distortion to the overall audio experience. Adopting CirrusLogics CS4398 Digital Analog Convertors (120 dB SNR & 117 dB THD+N), the Xonar DX achieves 30% cleaner sound. The Xonar DX dramatically minimizes the output of background noise, as little as 1/32 (-105dB) of the total harmonics distortion versus traditional motherboard audio (-75dB). Listeners can now enjoy clean audio as it was meant to be heard.

Western Digital announced today that it is now shipping in volume its WD Caviar SE16 640 GB 3.5-inch hard drives based on 320 GB-per-platter technology — a platform that it has been shipping since January 2008 and is serving as the foundation of all of the company's 3.5-inch drive families. The WD Caviar SE16 640 GB (model WD6400AAKS) hard drives may be ordered now and have a manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) of $139.99 USD, but can be found at retailers like Newegg for $129.99 plus shipping.

“The 640 GB capacity point will be an important one for our desktop customers, and WD is leading high-volume shipments to the channel and OEM customers, said Don Bennett, general manager and vice president of WD's desktop business unit. “Two-platter hard drives have always been the perfect balance of value, capacity and performance for many of our customers. Today's common two-platter drives are limited to 500 GB, but we are expanding capacity by 28 percent on the same design with WD's leading technology heads and disks.

March 19, 2008 – New reports have surfaced regarding Dell’s plans to get back in the handheld game with an upcoming smartphones and/or PDAs running Windows Mobile. A new DIGITIMES report, which cites anonymous sources from the Taiwanese tech market, indicates that Dell is working with Foxconn Electronics to develop the devices. Foxconn plays a major role in design and production for some of the biggest names in consumer electronics including Apple, Sony, Nintendo, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard, as well as Dell itself.

Google has been hard at work on the Windows Mobile front these last months, and today they’ve released yet another Windows Mobile goodie: a Google Search Today Screen Plug-In. To get the free plug-in, just point your mobile browser to mobile.google.com. Looks like a keeper!

While it’s just a rumor at this point, it seems that NVIDIA is planning on breaking into the CPU business.  This isn’t exactly surprising as the not-to-distant future looks like a place where CPUs have a dedicated GPU onboard and the future of add-in cards is unclear.“NVIDIA and VIA discussed three possible scenarios, including a strategic alliance, acquisition of only VIA’s processor division, or the acquisition of the entire company, according to the sources. Though no deal was agreed upon, since VIA

Video: GIGABYTE GV-RX387512H HD3870 512MB Crossfire Review @ GamePyreVvikoo Geforce 9600GT Turbo (512Mb DDR3) @ CPU3DMSI N9600GT-T2D512-OC (GeForce 9600 GT) @ HardwareZoneNVIDIA’s GeForce 9800 GX2 – Early Test! @ Tweaktown Motherboards & Chipsets: ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ Motherboard Review @ Legit ReviewsIntel’s X48 Express chipset @ The TechReportMSI X48 Platinum Mainboard Review @ X-bit LabsMemory & Storage: OCZ ReaperX HPC 4GB PC2-6400 @ PhoronixMemoRight GT MR25.2-064S 2.5-Inch 64GB SATA SSD @

Kingston Technology just sent us work that the Kingston family of HyperX DDR3 memory modules have been SLI-certified by NVIDIA Corporation, as part if its program to offer gaming enthusiasts solid platform/memory compatibility, stability and performance solutions when building high performance systems using the new series of NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI platforms.

Kingston N Series HyperX memory (designated with an 'N' at the end of the part number to indicate NVIDIA SLI-ready memory with Enhanced Performance Profiles
(EPP)) delivers the fastest performance possible when paired with the latest NVIDIA MCP790i series chipsets. Memory DIMMs receiving SLI-Ready certification are
required to support EPP technology to ensure the modules can be automatically detected and their full potential realized with the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI and nForce 790i SLI platforms.

No, seriously.  Verizon is one of a group called the P4P Working Group, and they are trying to increase P2P efficiency.Providers have banned, blocked or slowed peer-to-peer traffic in their efforts to keep the flood of music, video, games and software from overwhelming their networks. But Verizon Communications Inc. has broken ranks with the industry and announced Friday that it plans to help its users share files faster — at least those who do it legally.With researchers at Yale University and a group

As with all rumors, please take the following news item with a grain of salt until we receive official confirmation or denial from Intel.Intel has had quad-core CPUs on their road map for some time now, but the details have been very hard to come by until recently.  Rumor has it that the high end part, the QX9300 will cost over $1000 and will feature a faster FSB to go with it’s increased TDP:“The Core 2 Extreme QX9300 will be manufactured at 45nm and have a core frequency of 2.53GHz. The CPU will come

ASUS today released the ROG Striker II Extreme series of motherboards. Supporting NVIDIAs nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset the Striker II Extreme is the motherboard for overclockers and power users. This powerful series of motherboards is also equipped with innovative technologies for enhanced graphical and thermal performance, versatile overclocking options, as well as a vast array of features that include device protection.

The Striker II Extremes Fusion Block System utilizes a Pin-Fin heatsink design that combines the ROG's renowned heatpipe design with the additional ability to connect to a water cooling system. This unique design means users can enjoy 50% cooler thermal performance to the north bridge, south bridge, and even VRM with a single connection; Providing them with a versatile, efficient, and advanced thermal system resulting in improved overclocking and stability.