This is a short list of the meanest, fastest and most powerful 3D video cards on the market today. If you own one of them, well - lucky you!

XFX GeForce 7800 GTX

The XFX GeForce 7800 GTX video card comes with a PCI Express interface, 256MB DDR3 video memory and supports a maximum resolution of 2048 X 1536. Though its price is a bit steep, its one of the fastest video cards on the market right now.

Powercolor Radeon X800 GT

A leading manufacturer of video cards, Powercolor has come up with the Powercolor Radeon X800 GT card. It is PCI Express based, runs on 256MB of DDR3 memory and a maximum resolution of 2048 X 1536. Cheaper than many of the cards in this list, but still gives extremely good 3D performance. Great value for money.

BFG GeForce 7800 GTX

Another PCI Express graphics card, the BFG GeForce 7800 GTX runs on 256MB of DDR3 video memory and a maximum resolution of 2048 X 1536. BFG produces quality video cards and the GeForce 7800 GTX is no exception. Its price may scare off the casual user though.

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

The ATI Radeon 9800 Pro is still one of the hottest selling high-end video cards in the market. The Radeon 9800 Pro graphics processor scores very high on most benchmark tests. With an AGP 8X interface, 128 MB of DDR video memory and a maximum screen resolution of 2048 x 1536, this card is highly recommended.

Connect 3D Radeon X850 XT Platinum

Built on the Radeon X850 XT graphics processor, the Connect 3D Radeon X850 XT Platinum is a PCI Express card that runs on 256MB of DDR3 memory and a maximum resolution of 2048 X 1536. Highly recommended for spectacular 3D performance, and gives the GeForce video cards a run for their money.

Conclusion

Buying a good performance video card will reap many benefits - you’ll be able to play the latest 3D games in full screen glory, as well as edit video and graphics with ease.

However, please take note that having a good video card does not necessarily translate to great video performance. Factors like your CPU, motherboard and system RAM will come into play. For example, having a BFG GeForce 7800 GTX installed in a old AMD Duron or Intel Pentium Celeron system will definitely not give you the desired video performance you seek.

Now go do some research and buy that dream video card!

Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on building computers. Visit his website at Build-Your-Own-Computers.com for tips and tricks on assembling a PC, as well as buying good computer components.

TFT LCD monitors are rapidly becoming shipped with new computers by default. On this page I explain you the frequent trouble of TFT monitor and how to resolve them.

No display or white screen:

If this is a new install make sure the refresh rate is not set too high. If you installed a new video card in your system make sure the refresh rate is not set too high. Under Windows, reboot the system and go into "Safe Mode" (Use F8 key on boot up) select safe mode and change the refresh rate under display properties to either 60Hz or Default. Then reboot the system and the screen will turn on. Maximum mode on 15" TFT screens is 1024×768 and maximum mode on 17" and 19" TFT is 1280×1024. Check to see if the green light is on with the external power adapter. Make sure all plugs are secure and the video cable is properly attached to the computer.

Dark screen in games:

TFT Liquid Crystal Display monitors are a unique devices that are manufactured to meet excellent picture clarity and reproduction in a native mode. Outside a native mode graphics will be darker, fine lines and text will be thicker. Native mode for 15" TFT panels is 1024×768, 17" and 19" TFT panels are 1280×1024. Most games can be configured to run at 1024×768 which should produce clean graphics.

Thick text:

As described above, TFT LCD monitors perform best in their native modes. Other modes can be used however the reproduction of text will vary in thickness depending on the mode the monitor is running in. Best text reproduction is view in the monitors native mode.

Faint or unseen text:

TFT monitors are Bright! So bright that sometimes text in a DOS program may be very faint or not seen. In order to see this text, you can reduce the contrast level down until the text is visible. TFT LCD monitors were manufactured to perform in a GUI environment such as Windows, Linux (X) and Macintosh. Older designed programs may have upgrades to enhance this effect to make the text legible.

Wavy lines on the screen:

In some instances you may encounter wavy lines on the screen. These are usually 1/4" thick and move in a vertical motion. This is caused by a noisy electrical feed from a wall outlet. If you change your vertical refresh rate under display properties to 75Hz this effect should disappear.

Small dot on screen:

TFT panels by their very nature are difficult to manufacture. KDS uses displays from various suppliers including; Samsung, Hyundai and Acer, who all guarantee the display to be 99.99% free from pixel defect. What that means is a 15" LCD display can have up to about 6-10 broken pixels and still be considered "acceptable". Broken pixels are individual pixels, which are stuck on, off, or as one particular color. Depending on their location and intensity, they can be next to invisible or obvious. This is common to ALL TFT screens and is not considered a defect by the screen manufacturer.

Dark areas:

Retail TFT LCD monitor products employ the use of a single TFT backlight. This backlight is responsible to deliver full edge to edge brightness across the screen. On some models the screen may not be as bright in the center or the edges as other areas. This is due to the design the actual panel manufacture took to keep costs down so that the TFT panel is affordable for the retail environment. Prices of TFT panels vary according to added features (TV tuner, SVIDEO etc.). They also vary according to the number of backlights that are in the panel. High-bright monitors with multiple backlights can cost upwards of $2,500.00 for a 15" panel.

Willson Peterson is computer expert and network engineer. He is the author of “How to backup your computer data.”and "Monitor Glossary of Terms."

Click here ==> http://www.ebookarticle.com to visit his website.

Motherboard technology changes so rapidly that the notable motherboard manufacturers like ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI come out with new boards every few months.

To help you out, I’ve consolidated a summary list of the top 5 Pentium 4 motherboards which I recommend.

These boards are all great performers - you won’t go far wrong if you build your Pentium 4 system using them. So let’s take a look at the list:

Intel D875PBZLK

The Intel D875PBZLK is a Socket 478 motherboard that gives leading performance for Intel based systems. It supports AGP 8X and 4X, comes with built-in LAN support, USB 2.0 and serial ATA features. A very nice motherboard indeed.

Abit IS-10

The Abit IS-10 Socket 478 motherboard releases incorporates the the Intel 865G chipset to deliver mind boggling speed and power. All the standard features of a good motherboard are there - in-built video and audio, LAN support, USB 2.0 and serial ATA. A very popular item in the market.

Gigabyte 8I848P-G

The Gigabyte 8I848P-G is a Socket 478 motherboard with integrated audio, AGP 8X and 4X support, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0 and serial ATA features. This full-function platform delivers excellent performance and rock-solid stability. A very affordable board that should be in a budget enthusiast’s shopping list.

ASUS P4P800E Deluxe

The ASUS P4P800E Deluxe is a high-end offering from the motherboard manufacturer. Built around the Intel 865PE chipset, this motherboard includes lovely features like IEEE 1394 connectivity, Multi-RAID technolog, as well as 8-channel audio, Serial ATA, USB 2.0 and Gigabit LAN. You get giddy just reading that don’t you? There’s also an interesting Wi-Fi slot that can be used for wireless LAN upgrade.

Gigabyte 8I915PL-G

A second Gigabyte board on our list? Well, yes. The Gigabyte 8I915PL-G Socket 775 motherboard is a solid performer with built-in audio, LAN support, USB 2.0 and serial ATA features. Most importantly, it comes with PCI Express support, which is needed to power the next generation of video cards.

Conclusion

OK - which of these motherboards would I buy? I’ve always liked Gigabyte and Abit motherboards so I’d certainly recommend the Gigabyte 8I848P-G, Gigabyte 8I915PL-G and the Abit IS-10. Ultimately, its your own decision - so consider what features you need and your budget, then make an informed choice. Happy shopping!

Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on building computers. Visit his website at Build-Your-Own-Computers.com for tips and tricks on assembling a PC, as well as buying good computer components.

If you stay up on the Scientific Magazines and Journals you will know that NASA has come a long way in their research to study our Earth. They now have more data than ever before and can use this data with the aid of super computers to process it. In the past computers could not crunch the numbers fast enough to handle the massive data sets and numbers of data sets. Now super computers have changed all that, now we can develop models to answer questions, which help us know the future. To many these models appear like magic.

Such modeling can help us understand the effects of an asteroid or god, forbid a comet hitting the earth and what will be the most likely outcome of such. Which regions will be devastated by the blast and which regions will receive its long-term effects and where life will survive conquer and adapt.

We can use such modeling to predict pollution coming from Fires in CA or China and how they affect the entire Earth Atmosphere Grid. We can know the currents of Volcanic Ash as it sweeps and dissipates around the planet. We will even be able to predict what this ash will most likely do to the current and near future weather patterns and what such a chain reaction will do to our surface plants and animals long term. We can also understand the climate changing effect of burps of Earth through volcanic activity and the extent that space weather, solar flares and our own pollution contribute or take away from the whole of the atmospheric earth system. Super computers are making this a reality today. Think what this means to the future of mankind?

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

My new laptop is fantastic, with it’s nice new squeaky-clean operating system it runs like a dream. But it wasn’t long before I had to face the technical challenge of getting all my old data from my old desktop computer (which was bursting at the seams with data!) onto my new laptop.

I was also intending to format and give away my old computer, so I could not afford to lose any of this data in the process.

I sat down at my old computer and listed all of my important files to assess exactly what and how much data I needed to transfer over to the new laptop.

Including my pictures, MP3’s, Office documents, work backup’s and so on, I was looking at transferring about 20 Gigabytes worth of data, it seems to build up so quickly! Thank goodness for my new laptop’s 100 Gigabyte Hard Drive, which will allow me to transfer all of my data to it and still have room for a lot more. I know that the main application programmes (Word, Excel and so on) from my old computer will all have to be reinstalled on to the new laptop from their original install disks, but how do I get all the rest of the data over to the new laptop?

Floppy disk? - no way, even if my laptop had a floppy disk drive I would need about 14,000 disks!

CD or DVD? - Both my new laptop and my old computer have CD ROM drives, to get all my data over using CD’s I would need about 30 disks as well as some software to package all the data up nice and tidily across the 30 disks, viable but a lot of work and time needed. DVD’s would be better but my old computer does not have a DVD drive! There must be an easier way.

USB Memory Stick? - Not really a viable option, the maximum capacity of the USB Memory Stick that I can afford is 512MB, so this would require about 40 swaps from the old computer to the new and as my old computer is only USB1.1 which transfers at 1.5 mega bytes this process is going to be possible but really slow.

Networking? - Apparently I could network my two machines together with a "Cross Wired Network lead" and a copy of "Networking Computers for Dummies", but unfortunately my old dinosaur of a computer does not have a network card! Network cards are cheap enough but I still don’t want to spend any money on this old computer and really don’t fancy fiddling around inside the desktop. Although it does sound good to be able to connect the two computers together and transfer the data through the cable.

This is when I came across a very handy cable called a USB Data Link Cable. Apparently I can just plug one end into the USB port on my old PC and the other end into the USB port on my new laptop and then as if by magic, I should have a USB Network between both computers. Now this sounds more like it! Both my computers have USB ports and even though my old computer is USB1.1 and my new laptop is USB2.0 the cable should work anyway, although the transfer rate will only be at the lower USB1.1 speed.

After finding more about this cable on the Internet I found out that it is also known as a USB File/Data Transfer Cable. Once connected, the transfer of data is done quickly and effortlessly by simply dragging and dropping files from one window to another, just as you normally would when moving files around on your system. So I ordered one online right away.

The USB Data Transfer Cable arrived the next day and I got down to the business of getting the thing to work, the hardest part was working out the blatantly "translated" instructions. All I had to do was install the included software from the CD, once only on each of my computers, then plug the cable into a USB port on each computer and run the software. Two Windows Explorer type windows appeared, one showing files on the laptop and the other showing files on the PC, then I simply dragged and dropped files between the two computers.

I was amazed, this USB cable solution was fantastic. It was so easy to set up and turned out to be the cheapest option by far at only £15 and much less hassle than any other option, almost too good to be true, magic!

Article by Iggy Quazi director of Ecommerce business Mouse2House based in Essex, England stocking a wide range of digital imaging devices. For more info visit the Mouse 2 House company website at http://www.mouse2house.co.uk where you will find the latest in digital media products.

What is a tablet PC, how is it different from a laptop and is it the right computer for you? To find the answer to these questions lets take a look at tablet PC’s and how they work.

Tablet PC’s were originally designed to put mobile computers in the hand of people working in the field. The people using them spent the majority of their time away from a desk and wouldn’t have access to a keyboard or mouse. Users would make entries via stylus or digitizer. The lightweight and highly portable nature of these types of computers made them perfectly suited to field technicians and health care workers. These original models are known as slate tablets do to their distinctive one piece design. The entire computer screen and all was encased in one small unit, usually weighing 4 pounds or less. All of the units came with ports for connecting an optional keyboard, mouse, CD/DVD drive, printer, monitor or other computer peripherals. By choosing not to include all of these peripherals computer manufacturers were able to shave off pounds and lengthen the battery life considerably.

Many people were attracted to these new tablet PC’s but still wanted a traditional keyboard setup. Manufacturers responded to consumers demand and the convertible tablet PC was born. A convertible tablet PC looks very much like a small notebook computer. Aside from the monitor it functions exactly like a traditional laptop computer. The monitor is attached on special hinge that allows the monitor to swivel, making it an extremely powerful tool for small customer presentations and demonstrations. The monitor is also capable of swiveling completely around and lying on top of the keyboard with its screen facing up. This gives it the appearance of the traditional slate tablet PC. Convertible tablet PC’s traditionally have a larger viewing screen, larger hard drive, larger battery, and other accessories. These extras make it a much more powerful computing platform, but they also make it heavier and more expensive.

Is a tablet PC the right PC for you? The real question is how portable does you’re computing lifestyle have to be? Do you spend a lot of time outside of a traditional office environment? Do you need to use a computer to record or makes notes while you’re walking, or moving from place to place, if so a tablet PC is the perfect choice for you? For salespeople or business men who spend a lot of time traveling a convertible tablet is probably a much better option. It gives them more power, and more features, with a more traditional computer setup.

© Copyright TabletPC.6LN.com, All Rights Reserved.

Eve Larson is the lead writer for the Six Level Network Tablet PC News and Review website (http://tabletpc.6ln.com).

If you’re a wireless network fan, you’ll also realize that most notebooks have wireless network support by default. Many laptops also have a much wider screen to allow enjoyment of multimedia and games.

Here’s a personal scoop of the top 5 thin and light notebooks out in the market right now.

Toshiba Satellite M45-S3511

Powered by an Intel Pentium M 740 (1.73 GHz) processor and 512 MB of RAM, the Toshiba Satellite M45-S3511 is well suited for both home and office use. It also comes with a widescreen display, a speedy 8x DVD+/-RW burner and a huge 100 GB hard drive. A very nice notebook that is highly recommended.

Gateway M460XL

The Gateway M460XL is powered by an Intel Pentium M 750 (1.8 GHz) processor and 512 MB of RAM. The battery is very long-lasting and there’s also a modular bay for adding an extra hard drive, a floppy drive, a CD-RW or DVD drive. You also get a 8x DVD+/-RW burner and a 80 GB hard drive.

Sony VAIO T240P/L

The Sony VAIO T240P/L notebook comes with an Intel Pentium M 1.2 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM and an Intel 855GME graphics core. Its long battery life will help keep you working for hours. There’s a big 60 GB hard drive, but only a CD-ROM / DVD-ROM combo drive and a small 10.6 inch screen. Despite these shortcomings, however, you get a top quality brand name notebook that looks slim and sexy to boot.

Asus V6V

The Asus V6V laptop features a fast Intel Pentium M 1.86 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon X600 graphics processor. This makes it great for high performance graphics and games, especially with the included 4x DVD+/-R burner and a 60 GB hard drive.

HP Compaq nc4010

The HP Compaq nc4010 notebook comes with an Intel Pentium M 725 (1.6 GHz) processor, 512 MB of RAM and an ATI RADEON IGP 350M graphics processor. The downsides of this laptop are the small 12.1 inch viewable screen size, the lack of an optical drive a small 40 GB hard disk. However, its price is hard to beat and one of the lowest in this list.

Conclusion

Whew! That’s a whole lot of notebooks for you to look at. Try to keep the above thin and light notebooks in mind when you’re out shopping for one. Compare other models you find against these to help you make a better purchase decision. Good luck!

Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on building computers. Visit his website at Build-Your-Own-Computers.com for tips and tricks on assembling a PC, as well as buying good computer components.

How many times has your email server left you out in the cold. It seems so simple, doesn’t it? Someone sends you mail, you get it and read it. Then, you file it. Just like the standard postal mail that comes to your home each day. But, with email, things just get so jumbled up. Lost emails are a real pain because the email server always seems to eat the important emails that you send out. But, then again, maybe you just notice those and it’s not sending out a ton of your other emails as well….Before you begin to worry, think about the large task that email servers have and you’ll better understand just how important and difficult their jobs are.

Okay, so we are not talking about an important position in a company, but the fact is that you need your email servers to function in this world. For that reason, many email servers are continuously updated to have the right set of information on them to keep them moving smoothly ,which in turn keeps you happy. But then there are those missing emails. If you have quite a bit of trouble with your email server, then you perhaps should consider switching. The fact is that there are many of them out there and they all seem to be excellent quality from the start, although that doesn’t last.

One of the largest problems with email servers is their control of or lack of control of spam. Yes, we all get it and we all hate it. It just clogs are in boxes and leaves us with nasty old viruses that slow us down. Hopefully we don’t get any spy ware with it as well. Nonetheless, many email servers have added in some great spam protection for their email services. This is great news that all of us email users should appreciate hearing about!

for more information please see http://www.email-server-deals.co.uk

However, selecting a board from the vast range of AMD motherboards out there is certainly a daunting task. Its all too easy to select an incompatible or badly designed motherboard that will cause slow downs or system failures when you set up your new computer.

Here’s a personal list of the top 5 AMD Athlon motherboards which I’d recommend. Check them out - they’re excellent motherboards which will last you a long time.

ASUS A8N-SLI

The ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe is an all new AMD 64-bit Socket 939 platform which gives leading performance with multimedia applications. With SLI PCI Express graphics, Serial ATA RAID, dual Ethernet, 6-channel audio, IEEE 1394, USB2.0 - you can just imagine what power you can get out of this one.

MSI K7N2G-ILSR

The MSI K7N2G-ILSR offers ard offers a combination of performance and flexibility at a reasonable price. Everything you need is built in: AGP 8X, Serial ATA RAID, dual Ethernet, 6-channel audio, IEEE 1394, USB2.0 and the nForce2 integrated graphics processor. Highly recommended.

Chaintech SK8T800

Chaintech has always made quality motherboards and the SK8T800 is no exception. A Socket 754 platform, this board provides AGP 4X/8X support and incorporates a long list of features. It has performed very well in various benchmark tests too. Overall, a solid motherboard at a very good price.

ABIT NF7-S2

The ABIT NF7-S2 is designed with the overclocker in mind. Standard stuff is all there: AGP 8x, dual-channel DDR, Serial ATA, 6 channel audio with Dolby Digital 5.1, USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394. Do take note that you buy a board that is version 1.2 or higher. Overclocking was touted to be problem in earlier versions.

Gigabyte GA-K8U

The Gigabyte GA-K8U represents great value for money. Run an AMD Athlon 64 processor with DDR400 memory, SATA hard drive, AGP 8X video, built-in audio sound and high speed USB 2.0 support. This Socket 754 board is best suited for those on a budget but who still want great performance.

Conclusion

So which motherboard do you choose out of the five? Well, if you want extreme performance and screamingly fast speed, then you’ll certainly want to get the ASUS A8N-SLI. For those looking for a better price, I’d say the MSI K7N2G-ILSR and Chaintech SK8T800 are good choices. However, its always best to do your homework. Check out the motherboard manufacturer’s website and make sure you do sufficient research before buying.

Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on building computers. Visit his website at Build-Your-Own-Computers.com for tips and tricks on assembling a PC, as well as buying good computer components.

The idea of a laptop, or portable, computer was first conceived by Alan Kay, who worked for Xerox, at its Research Center in Palo Alto CA. He called it a Dynabook. He wasn’t the first to offer a completed laptop computer for public consumption, however. That honor went to Grid System’s William Moggridge in 1979. His brand new concept was housed in a magnesium case that was die cast. Its bubble memory was a total of 340 kilobytes. The laptop also had a luminescent folding graphics display screen.

A vastly improved laptop computer was the 1983 brainchild of Gavilan computer. Their latest version offered DOS as well as their very own Gavilan operating system, 64 kilobytes of RAM, was expandable to twice that, an 8088 microprocessor, a touchpad mouse and even a printer. The laptop and printer together weighed a hefty 15 pounds, although the laptop was a reasonable 9 pound weight.

In 1984 Apple got into the laptop act, premiering its Apple llc. Although notebook size, it was still at the high end of the comfort scale, weighing in at 12 pounds. And, as always at the start of an electronic revolution it wasn’t cheap - retailing for $3500. The Apple llc had an 8088 microprocessor, 256 kilobytes of memory (certainly tiny by today’s standard but a massive step up at that time), two floppy drives ( 3 1/2", not 5 1/4′), space for the installation of an internal modem (not part of the original packaging), and both parallel and serial ports. It even included its own applications for telephone and address book, word processing, appointments, and calculations. It earned rave reviews and the age of the laptop was born.

Soon after IBM and its shadow, Toshiba jumped on board the laptop bandwagon.

Today’s laptops of course are far more advanced, less expensive, and smaller than these early versions. But when you’re looking for your own laptop many of the features offered by these pioneers are still the ones you’re going to want to research for your laptop purchase today. Here’s what you’ll need to compare before you make your laptop purchase:

Microprocessor - This is the brain of your laptop, the part that tells the other parts to get going and do their job. The best microprocessors now available are Pentium, the latest a Pentium IV. A step down from Pentium are the Celeron and AMD versions. Which product you choose determines the speed of your laptop. Pentium is the best and therefore the fastest. Much depends on the use you’ll be making of your laptop.

Operating System - this group of instructions, preprogrammed, dictates functions to the microprocessor. Power and security variances are determined by your choice of operating system.

RAM and VRAM - Random access memory (V is for video), should be a minimum of 126 MB to accommodate today’s software programs.

Disk drives - The newest laptop versions will have DVD or CD drives and no floppy drive. They hold more, weigh less and last longer. Remember, however, that you may have backed up your old PC with oodles of disks. If that’s the case, rather than back up all over again you may want to purchase an external floppy drive for your laptop.

Modem - While some laptops offer external modems, the easiest to use is one with want an internal 56k modem.

Alan Jason Smith is the owner of http://www.tkcicomputers.com which is a great place to find computer links, resources and articles. For more information go to: http://www.tkcicomputers.com.

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