This is a thread I've been thinking about doing for a while. I would like it if Yang can "Sticky" this, as it's going to be an on going thread. This is my attempt to make the already great Alienware forum even better. In here you'll find an ever growing list of NEXTtech to which I either have used and think works wonders or it's something new and looks to have a big impact on the world of gaming and computing.
If you don't always have the time to scout the web for what's new, pop in here from time to time and get the scoop. I should be updating this thread every two days or so. It'll also be fun to look back after a while and see what predictions were WAY OFF too.

7/12/06
THERMALTAKE'S BIG TYPHOON HEAT SINK.
So I'll start with something that's been out for a bit already, my favorite heatsink for the Intel P4 LGA Socket 775 and AMD K7 or K8, the Thermaltake's Big Typhoon Heat Sink. It sells for about $45.00 dollars and can be found either online or at any Comp USA store.
I want to start with saying that, like myself, if you're not so keen on the idea of watercooling your Alien or otherwise, this is the BEST heat sink your money can buy! It's value vs. preformance is what makes it so.



Now as the picture shows, make no mistake, this thing is big!! The heat sink has a copper base, six copper heat pipes and, 142 aluminum fins.


I have a Prescott P4 3.73GHz EE which I keep Oc'ed at 3.9GHz and when gaming I go further to 4.2GHz.
When the P4 is clocked at 3.9GHz with the Intel stock cooler at Idol I was getting 47c temps
At load with the stock cooler I was hitting a frightful 66c.
So let's see how the Thermaltake Big Typhoon does with a Prescott.

@ 3.9 GHz-
At Idol with stock cooler: 47c
At idol using Big Typhoon: 31c
That's an amazing 16 degree drop folks!! Were talking "water cooling" results with a air driven heatsink! Will the Big Typhoon do as well at load?

@ 3.9 GHz-
At load using stock cooler: 66c
At load using Big Typhoon: 52c
Again, an incredible 14c drop! Keep in mind that this test is done with roughly a 200MHz increase in Oc'k.
I've been able to get this CPU up to 4.52 GHz Stable, with my house air conditioner on.

I had a easy time installing it. The mother board had to be taken out because of the back brace that helps distribute the weight of this thing. The weight is 813g (28.70oz) All in all I would say that someone who has never put on a heatsink before would have an easy time with this one. One thing however, I recommend going to your local HomeDepot as I did and get yourself four slightly longer size screws. The ones that come with the sink, are short, about a fourth of an inch too short. So when you go to put the nuts on top and twist down you're left with the nut only half on the screw, which given the size and sheer weight of this thing, it's no good like that. It's an easy fix that a quick stop to the store will take care of. I also swaped out the nuts for a longer thicker nut. Just for my own peace of mind. Other then this, everything went smooth!


Because of the size of the sink you might think you'd have clearence problems with caps and such. I didn't have any! The pipes are quite long which brings the base out far enough so everything should have room.
This sink is also dead silent! I mean it!! It uses a 120mm fan which has a noise output of 16dBA. I just didn't like the Black and Orange colors that Thermaltake keeps using so I swaped it out for a red lit three speed 120mm fan instead.
So in closing, if you're still on the fence with water or just want a all out powerful and quite heat sink, the Thermaltake Big Typhoon is a best buy and has great overclocking preformance.
Here are a few reviews for you to chew on.

http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=ttbigtyphoon1
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Revie...oon/index.html
http://www.bigbruin.com/contentintro.php?file=6165

7/12/06
50 TEREBYTE OPTICAL DISK



This will be BIG! It seems that someone who is super smart at Harvard (arn't they all?) has developed a new tech where DVDs coated with a layer of bug protein made from tiny genetically altered microbe proteins, could someday allow for up to 50 TB's of info, which would remove the need for a hard drive in the future. The one disk to rule them all!
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1680304.htm

7/13/06
ALL HAIL CONROE! LONG LIVE INTEL...
I guess Intel is set to announce its long awaited Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors at midnight tonight. It's been a big story lately that Conroe has been beating the brow of AMD's FX line and X2's as well. This is a welcome change to Intel as they've spent almost two years getting their respective butts kicked from AMD. I've been online today and already the tales of getting a Core2 Extreme to 5.2GHz are pouring in. Even beating out the 3D mark 05 record, Conroe is a mega winner for 06 and 07.


It should be a long year for AMD as they have to scramble out a plan to now regain the crown.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3228

7/13/06
THE WORLDS FIRST NETWORK CARD FOR GAMERS...
We're going to need more slots! First physics cards now this.... I guess the idea of having a stand alone network card is that it'll free up CPU cycles and lower PING too!

The card itself, has a 400MHz network processor with 64MB of dedicated PC-2100 DDR memory. There's just not enough room on my mother board for all this stuff.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3316

9/5/06
It's high time I did something with this thread. Not much has come out worth talking about though. Then I found this.....

A microscopic air conditioner.

"A microscopic air conditioner. "It's based on a phenomenon that's been known for hundreds of years," said Mamishev, an electrical engineer at the University of Washington. "But for the first several hundred years, nobody put it to much use. We are putting it to use."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...olchips04.html

"They are using it to cool down microchips. The digit-crunching work done by computers produces a significant amount of heat. Efforts to increase computing chip power and capacity continually run up against this limiting factor of excess heat production."

WOW, this could be the watercool killer I've been hoping for!!

9/5/06
AND THEN THERE'S THIS??
AI acceleration

This truely is the year of add in cards! Hardware accelerators for games seem to be the latest craze these days. After Ageia's PhysX physics accelerator and Bigfoot Networks' Killer NIC gaming network accelerator, a company called AIseek is promising an accelerator for artificial intelligence. Where PhysX allows physics interactions with a greater number of objects than software physics, AIseek says its Intia processor supports a greater number of intelligent non-playable characters than standard general-purpose processors.
"AIseek provides innovative technologies to power tomorrow’s computer games. AIseek's flagship product, the IntiaTM processor, is the first dedicated processor for artificial intelligence (AI). By accelerating and optimizing behavioral computations, the Intia processor empowers developers to build entirely new game worlds, populated by intelligent life."

Not much on their web-site but here's the link!
http://www.aiseek.com/index.html


10/08/06
The Spot Cool by Antec...

I came across this little guy in the local Best Buy. I seem to like cool things which this is and, I like to keep things cool which this does!

It retails for $19.99, a good price. I wish it was green or red but hey, everything's blue. Anyway, I fiddled with it a while and found this cooling fan to be incredibly adaptable. Largely due to the great and inventive design. The fan has a bendible neck which allows you to place it in areas of your case that you'd never get a standard fan into. The fan also has a three speed setting which are as follows:
LOW - 2000 rpm's
MEDIUM - 2500 rpm's
HIGH - 3000 rpm's
-FRONT-

-BACK-

If you have any dead spots in your case where the air flow doesn't reach, I highly recommend this as your solution. Also, it works well for channeling airflow to your liking. It's swivel head design is another plus for ingenuity, making this a hard item to pass up! I was able to knock off 4 degrees on my graphics card with this placed under the cards own fan. 4 degrees is not bad for twenty bucks!


When it came time to see if my CPU temps could fall a little I swapped it out to a better local. Here you see more of the versatility this fan posses. I was able to hang this upside down and screw it into a hole in the front of the case. In doing this I could bring the flow over to the ram and CPU. I could only get a 1 degree drop in CPU temps but I suspect that's because the BIG Typhoon really does a killer job cooling that processor off and it's just about as cool as it's ever going to get on air.


I would think this "Spot Cool" fan would be a help to a lot of you. Give it a try.

-MORE TO COME-

isin't 50TB's a bit excessive (heh, bit.. get it?)

Updates!

20 years ago 80GB was a bit excessive

psh no, 50TB isnt excessive at all, i mean if someone has absolutely every single song, game, and DVD, then this is obviously necessary!

I have added what might be the NEXT big thing in CPU cooling......check it!!

I have the BIG TYPHOON and i think it sucks... its loud and doesn't impress me that much in terms of air temp....

O----ver----RATe-----d *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap*

Huh Duke... Sorry it doesn't work out for you. It works wonders for me!! It's also near silent too. You know I was talking about Thermaltake's BIG Typhoon and not putting a REAL typhoon in your computer right??

yeh... its not quiet at all.. not in the least bit...

Duke, it's 16 dB! It doesn't really get much more silent then that for a fan!! Maybe your fan is broken......

If it were broken i would probably be seeing higher temps then what you have posted...

but I'm running an OC'ed 4400 2.2 Ghz X2 @ 4800 2.4 Ghz and seeing similar temps when I did not have it OC'ed and with a stock CPU fan...

The 16db is complete BS.

I also have it on my x6800 and it's doing fine. Can't complain at all. Doubt I'd get much over 3.5 without going liquid.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=2196219

I'm telling you theres nothing wrong with it. Its not quiet. Come in vent and I'll hold my mic up to it.

Screw the big typhoon. Its all about the thermalright XP-90C/120!

I've added a review of another great product called the "Spot Cool." Look for it in the first post in this thread!