Falcon Northwest Mach V - Radeon HD 2900 XT

When it comes to gaming computers, you always want the larest and greatest model so you can have that extra step on the competition. Well now you can have it with the Falcon Norhwest Mach V(Radeon HD 2900 XT).

When you are in the market for a gaming computer, your best option is to go with a company that custom builds one to your needs. The boutique system builder like Falcon Northwest is one of the better companies out there. Falcon NW offers many more flexible configurations than most companies, like the ability of installing both Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista Premium on the same computer. Other companies will require you to choose one or the other or may not even offer XP Pro amd most new machienes only come with Vista.

But what is special about this particular computer? This computer comes with the new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT cards which are the first single 1GB cardson the market. These new cards are set up in a CrossFire configuration and use internal connectors. This is good because ATI's CrossFire and nVidias's SLI require extra cables to have the cards connected for direct communications. The new version uses internal ribbon cabels which is way more attractive than the previous generation CrossFire's ugly external dongle. In addition to being better looking, you now do not have to worry about your external cabels getting caught on things when you move your PC around.

The Mach V has an overclocked quad core QX6800 processor which helps to boost the system's multimedia scores. Like the prvious model of the Mach V, the new version runs the Photoshop CS2 test in 27 seconds and smokes all competition at the Windows Media Encoder Test with an impressive 47 seconds. This fast speed lets you finish multi-media projects very quickly and allows you to get over a dozen different iterations of the project before most computers can pump out three or four.

With all this power, the Mach V has particular forte, gaming. But this Mach V is different from most gaming computers. Like always , the Mach V tops all 3D gaming tests but this version does it on Vista. The Mach V breaks the 16,000 barrier at 3DMark06(16,660 at 1,280-by-1,024 res.) Games have fluid and stutter free animations.

Compared to some other gaming PCs on the market, like the XPS 710 H2C from Dell and Gateway's FX530XT, the Mach V may seem overpriced and overpowered. However, the money you save on the other ones will result in a downsize of performance. The Falcon NW Mach V will run you around $7,930, a hefty price to pay but the performance you are getting is unparalled. This computer is definitley worth a look if you are in the market for a top notch gaming PC.

As an added bonus, Falcon Northwest comes with a beatuiful variety of custom designs you can outfit on your PC. Each design is custom sage brush painted for a truly unique look.

Apple Ipod Shuffle How Small is Too Small

The new Ipod Shuffle is here and if you thought the last one was small then this one might just blow your mind. The new Ipod shuffle is the worlds smallest mp3 player.
Height - 1.8 inches Width - 0.7 inches Depth – 0.3 inches Weight – 10.7 grams or 0.38 ounces. This thing is tiny it weighs roughly the same as 2 nickels and is the size of a standard paper clip!

Also did I mention it has no buttons on the device itself. It looks like a glorified flash drive with an off/off switch and an apple logo that’s it. All the button are on Apples Headphones on a remote that’s attached to the cable. The remote come with 3 buttons: two for the volume control (up/down); and a central button that has multiple functions. Press once to stop/play, twice to skip song, three to skip back, or you can hold to activate the voice system. Holding down the button will cause the Shuffle to say the song that you are playing.

Also if you hold down the middle button for 3 seconds your Shuffle’s Voiceover will start naming your playlists and just press the clicker again to access the playlist that the voiceover is currently announcing.

One big complaint that I would have with this is what I you have your ipod shuffle hooked up to your stereo in your car. You literally could not use it unless you have some software that integrates your car stereo with your ipod otherwise there would be no way to play your music because you would have no buttons.

The specs on the shuffle though are pretty good. It comes with 4GB of space which is about 1000 songs, and has a battery life of 10 hours. The cost though is a big disappointment with a high cost of $80.

Ok back to the size of this. I personally would never be able to hold on to this for more than a week before loosing it. I mean if I can’t keep quarters or pens from falling out of my pocket how am I going to keep this from falling out. This should be the final size that these get down to, any smaller then I am going to have to be using a microscope to find my shuffle.