Is networked storage really necessary?

The ultimate truth behind that question lies within the individual and what he or she use the data for. On one hand laying down extra money to have dedicated storage seems to be something unnecessary in a sense that they really do not need more storage, or there is only one computer in the network. On the other hand if there are multiple computers on the network that share a printer, then the ability to have a computer dedicated to network storage becomes more and more acceptable. Aside from data sharing features, networked storage offers redundancy back up options to secure key data on all of the computers across the network.

So if after all of these deliberations have decided that networked storage is an important aspect in one’s home environment then the VIA ARTiGO A2000 is something that you might want to pay close attention to. The A2000 is designed to be a home media server designed to be as energy efficient and low power as possible. It comes with a total of 2 3.5″ hard drive bays a Base 1000/100/10 Ethernet connection and an optional WiFi card. The VIA Artigo is a barebone system which also focuses on minimizing the costs of owning a home server for the end consumer. Noting that it is a barebone system means that there will be some manual work involved in assembling all of the components of the system. Read on and join me as I try to distinguish whether the extra cost and efficiency match up to the extra work.

Features

	Supports high-speed data transfer (up to 3 Gb/s) and big storage capacity (up to 1.5TB for each of the two 3.5” SATA-II hard drives).		A quiet ball-bearing fan silently cools the system with noise levels remaining below a mere 26.8 dB.		Based on a VIA processor and chipset combination, the ARTiGO A2000 is an energy-efficient system with low power consumption.
	Designed with high quality solid capacitors, the ARTiGO A2000 is built reliability in mind — promising up to six times the lifespan of a regular PC.		Supports high-speed Internet access on a speedy PCI Express bus.		Built-in bootable Compact Flash socket is perfect for installing a slimmed-down version Windows or Linu

]]> http://www.techwarelabs.com/via-artigo-a2000/feed/ 0 http://www.techwarelabs.com/via-artigo-a2000/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techwarelabs/~3/v61UJuUYRXc/ http://www.techwarelabs.com/nzxt-beta-evo-computer-casechassis/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:05:23 +0000 Androski Matthew http://www.techwarelabs.com/?p=3818

Introducing the BETA… EVO?

I know what you’re thinking; Déjà vu on the case review? Nope this is not the NZXT Beta being reposted; this is the supposedly classier brother the NZXT Beta EVO. While still a budget case my biggest question is…  Is the EVO worth the extra money?  Follow me as I look at the newest revision of NZXT Beta promising to offer increased cable management and a revised interior layout.

NZXT’s take on the Beta EVO.

“Announcing the Beta EVO, a sleek, all black value packed mid tower case at a budget price. Beta EVO features advanced cooling performance with support for up to 6 120 mm fans with an option of a 140mm fan at the top. Beta EVO also provides external dual radiator support along with a meshed front panel allowing for enhanced cooling potential.

Full of options for expansion, the case fits high performance 10.5″ graphics cards, up to 4 external 5.25″ drives and 5 internal 3.5″ HDD racks. Beta EVO provides a number of features that significantly enhance ease of installation including screw less installation for 5.25″ drives and superior wire management capabilities with the bottom mounted PSU and 180 degree turned HDD cage. It also features punched holes in the motherboard allowing for quick CPU bracket removal.”

Features

• Fits ATX Standard Motherboards and Power Supplies

• Fits large 10.5″ performance graphic cards

• Expanded cooling directly cools video cards and CPU

• Support for up to 6 120mm fans with the option of dual 140mm at the top

• Screw less installation for hard drives and external 5.25″ drives

• Black Internal finish for sleek look

• Meshed front panel allows for better airflow than traditional cases

• Superior wire management with bottom mounted :: PSU and CPU punch-out for heat sink removable

• Removable PSU filter

• 180 degree Turned HDD for a cleaner internal finish and better wire management

• External Dual radiator support

• Top mounted USB/Audio for convenient usage

]]> http://www.techwarelabs.com/nzxt-beta-evo-computer-casechassis/feed/ 7 http://www.techwarelabs.com/nzxt-beta-evo-computer-casechassis/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techwarelabs/~3/J-JLq3Ed5lw/ http://www.techwarelabs.com/athlon-ii-x3-435/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:02:19 +0000 Erik http://www.techwarelabs.com/?p=3788

Introduction:

With the ongoing buzz of people worrying about the economy and their own funds, the term “low budget” is becoming  used far more often. Today, we are going to be looking at AMD’s Athlon II X3 435 processor. The Athlon II X3 435 has 1.5MBs of L2 Cache per core and is a 95W (45nm) processor. It supports all the same features found in the rest of the Athlon II processors (X2, X3 and X4 alike). However, AMD’s larger aim is based on it’s price point. With a amazing sub $90 price there should be no reason not to take a second look  at the new Athlon II CPUs, especially if you are on a budget.

Lets not forget about the array of testing ahead. Keep reading to see how the Athlon II X3 435 handled all the testing.

AMD’s Take:

“Do more of the things you want to in less time and enhance your digital life with the multi-core performance and energy efficiency of AMD Athlon™ II processor-based desktop systems. Combined with superior ATI Radeon™ HD graphics technology, systems based on the AMD Athlon™ II processor deliver a vivid visual experience, superior multi-tasking, and exceptional digital media performance with next-generation energy efficiency.”

Features & Benefits

• Better Multi-Tasking Means Increased Office Productivity
• Setting the Pace in Digital Media
• Get more Power using less Power
• AMD PowerNow!™ Technology (Cool’n’Quiet™ Technology)
• AMD64 Technology
• Enhanced Virus Protection*
• AMD Athlon Processor Architecture Performance
• HyperTransport™ Technology
• Ready for the 64-bit future
• Purchase with Confidence

Specifications:

Model Number/Core Frequency	X3 435 / 2.9GHz
Cache Size	64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (256KB total L1 per processor) 512KB of L2 data cache per core (1.5MB total L2 per processor)
Process Technology	45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
HyperTransport™technology links	One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth	Up to 37.3 GB/s total bandwidth
Types of Memory	- PC2-8500 / DDR2-1066MHz - PC3-10600 / DDR3-1333MHz**
Die Size	169.5 mm² (45nm)
Packaging	Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)

Let’s have a quick look at the breakdown of the architecture for the Athlon II

]]> http://www.techwarelabs.com/athlon-ii-x3-435/feed/ 6 http://www.techwarelabs.com/athlon-ii-x3-435/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techwarelabs/~3/krBrIq3QgeE/ http://www.techwarelabs.com/haupauge-hvr-1800/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:30:47 +0000 Chris http://www.techwarelabs.com/?p=594

Introduction:

The notion of a personal Home Theater PC (HTPC) is becoming more prevalent lately. Many ideas can go into the planning of an HTPC. Will it be able to stream video across the network? Will it act as a central media hub? Will it be able to view online videos? The most important question being, will it be able to record and playback TV? This is where Hauppauge shines. Hauppauge has been producing quality TV tuner cards for quite some time now. In the Linux community, their cards are near synonymous with MythTV. So does their latest addition, the  WinTV-HVR-1800, have the goods to make it into your next HTPC build? Read on, and we’ll tell you.

]]> http://www.techwarelabs.com/haupauge-hvr-1800/feed/ 7 http://www.techwarelabs.com/haupauge-hvr-1800/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techwarelabs/~3/YzPn9nsAemU/ http://www.techwarelabs.com/axle-3d-announces-geforce-gt-220-and-geforce-210/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:55:09 +0000 Dan Shannon http://www.techwarelabs.com/?p=3961 AXLE is proud to release the new series of GeForce® GT 220 and GeForce® 210 which bring you a new definition of HD entertainment with affordable price.

Superior Graphics Processing

Both the latest games and 3D applications have stricter requirement on the graphic performance than before and the integrated graphics solution is not powerful enough. AXLE GeForce® GT 220 packs 48 processing cores into

a compact power efficient design delivering up to 30x the performance* of Intel integrated solutions.

Powerful Video Editing / Playback

Get all the video processing power that your digital lifestyle requires. Clean up home video 4x faster and post it on Facebook with the AXLE GeForce® GT 220 or GeForce® 210. Convert your video and put it on your iPod in minutes instead of hours** or make your DVDs look like HD. AXLE GeForce® GT220 and GeForce® 210 can playback any Blu Ray Movie with any modern CPU.

Premium Windows 7 Experience

Graphics processing units (GPUs) are an essential element of today’s PCs, enabling more visual and more I nteractive experiences. As a leader in visual computing and the inventor of the GeForce® GPU, NVIDIA® worked closely with Microsoft® on the development of Windows 7 to ensure that its GPUs take full advantage of the great new features and functionality. If you use your PC to enhance photos, watch or edit videos, play games, or if you simply desire a fast and efficient graphical interface, AXLE GeForce® GT220 and GeForce® 210 offers a premium experience with Windows 7.

Applying the new 40nm GPU technology from NVIDIA®, AXLE GeForce® GT 220 and AXLE GeForce® 210 deliver a more advanced level of performance than the predecessors 9500GT and 8400GS. In terms of the number of shaders, GT220 has 50% more than that of 9500GT whereas G210 has 100% more than that of 8400GS. AXLE GeForce® GT 220 comes with 2 versions of memory, 128-bit 1.6GHz DDR3 memory and 800MHz DDR2 memory. The card features NVIDIA® Unified Architecture, NVIDIA CUDA™ technology, Microsoft® Windows 7 support, NVIDIA® PureVideo® HD and NVIDIA PhysX® technologies, HDMI ouput with HD 1080p display support, PCI Express 2.0 support and Microsoft DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1 support.

AXLE GeForce® 210, on the other hand, is assembled with 64-bit 1.2GHz DDR3 memory or 800 MHZ DDR2 memory. The additional features embrace NVIDIA® Unified Architecture, NVIDIA® CUDA™ Parallel Computing Architecture, NVIDIA® PureVideo® HD and NVIDIA PhysX® technologies, HDMI output with HD 1080p display support, Microsoft DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1 support and PCI Express 2.0 support.

For detailed product information, please visit www.axle3d.com.

]]> http://www.techwarelabs.com/axle-3d-announces-geforce-gt-220-and-geforce-210/feed/ 0 http://www.techwarelabs.com/axle-3d-announces-geforce-gt-220-and-geforce-210/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techwarelabs/~3/5ZZ9VbJf138/ http://www.techwarelabs.com/axus-fit-500/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:51:32 +0000 dwarf http://www.techwarelabs.com/?p=3887

Introduction

RAID is very popular among those looking for the fastest possible, the most reliable possible, or both when in comes to their storage solution, but not everyone has the chassis space to pack 4+ drives for their RAID6, or just the two required for RAID0 and 1. That’s when you turn to a RAID box. RAID boxes allow for external RAID control for professional situations that need many drives for speed or redundancy, or both. They come in many sizes and many budget ranges, and are perfect for those that don’t want their main drive to be on RAID. Today, we have the AXUS FiT 500E RAID subsystem. This mid-sized enclosure offers 5 drive bays and easy RAID configuration through it’s rotary switch and LCD screen. We’ll play with the AXUS FiT 500 after the break, but first, here is some information about AXUS and the FiT 500.

AXUS Microsystems Inc

“AXUS Microsystems Inc is the professional Storage products manufacturer — produces high reliability and cost effective RAID Storage products. The company specializes in RAID Storage Solution at an affordable cost, while offering superior customer service and responsive technical support. We have been in the Storage Solution business for more than 10 years, and we deliver top-quality, reliable Storage Solution.

As one subsidiary of ASUStek, our continual commitment to providing dependable, fast, break-through Storage technologies has retained a high percentage of large institutional repeat buyers, small/medium businesses, and multi-purpose media applications.

Thank you for your interest in AXUS products; we look forward to serving all your Storage needs.”

Specification

RAID Series FiT 500 Model number FiT500E FiT500F Bay number 5 Tower/Rack Tower RAID Level 0/1/10/3/5/PM/LARGE/CLONE Event notification Buzzer, LCD, GUI RAID Level eSATA/USB2.0 eSATA/1394b/USB2.0 Disk Interface SATAI/II HDD size 3.5″ RAW capacity up to 7.5 TB RAID Management GUI/LCD/Rotary switch RAID Management Windows /Linux / Mac OS ( OS independent and transparent ) Power Supply 220W Electrical AC Voltage 100~240 VAC / AC frequency 50~60 Hz Temperature Operating temperature 5~35 ℃,None-Operating temperature : -40 ~60 ℃ Relative Humidity 20% ~ 80% non-condensing Dimension (mm/inches) WxDxH 140 x 242 x 208/5.67 x 9.53 x 8.19 Weight (kg/lbs) 3.88/8.55

Features

Cost Effective Raid 5 solution:
FiT built with cost effective Hardware RAID SOC solution and most popular SATA Disk interface. SOC technology truly enforces low-cost and easy-to-use RAID 5 storage solution, and SATA Disk interface brings benefits from the high performance, large capacity and lowest cost SATA drives.
No more restriction:
FiT supports 48 bit LBA addressing bit that free of 2TB restriction, FiT allows high demanding users to store large data of music, audio and video files while many small RAID systems still locked by 2TB limitation. By overcoming the 2TB limitation, FiT extended the lifetime of RAID systems and disk drives significantly.
Compact:
The FIT is designed to be compact from the outside, yet spacious and versatile from the inside. The HDD tray connects directly with backplane and an External FAN module on the rear-end side gives the FIT compact footprint.
Multiple RAID Level
FiT Supports multiple RAID Levels including RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, PM, Large, and Clone that can be tuned to the required level to support your application on capacity, reliability and performance necessarily.
One Button backup
FiT packs with one button backup software, PCClone_EX, offering an easier way to backup your data. By only one time configuration, RAID box will automatically do the further backup tasks when user clicks the One Button Backup .
SMART and Noise-Free Fan module.
With a thermal sensor and SMART, 4 levels RPM of FAN module efficiently reduce / lower the noise, provide a quite working environment for power-users, and let them to be more focused on creations. Hot-swappable Fan module prevents the situation of data damage from overheating Raid.
Hot Swappable Tray
This is not only for Simplifying Hard disk installation but also for preparing redundant data protection in Real-times.

]]> http://www.techwarelabs.com/axus-fit-500/feed/ 4 http://www.techwarelabs.com/axus-fit-500/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techwarelabs/~3/XW-9JnevHTc/ http://www.techwarelabs.com/amd-athlon-ii-240e/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:37:13 +0000 Will http://www.techwarelabs.com/?p=3693

Introduction

Home Theater PCs have been all the rage in recent years.  As people turn more and more to internet-based services like Hulu and NetFlix to get their entertainment, the demand for devices that can handle all that media and stream it to your TV has shot up dramatically.  While many pre-built set-top boxes exist to fill this niche, they often leave much to be desired.  Limited format support, limited storage space, limited choice of media services; too many of these boxes leave you wanting more.  Also, none of these boxes allow for gaming, beyond trivial games like Peggle or Bejeweled.

This is where the DIY home theater PC comes into play.  You choose how it looks, you choose what goes inside, and you set it up to do just what you want, and nothing you don’t.  Building a HTPC on the cheap is fairly simple, but it needs a good CPU to do all the things you want it to do.  Enter AMD’s Athlon II X2 line, a series of cheap, low-power-draw CPUs that are aimed squarely at the budget PC and HTPC market.  Today we’ll be looking at the Athlon II X2 240e, one of AMD’s most economical offerings in the Athlon II line.

Specifications

Model Number & Core Frequency	X2 240e / 2.8GHz
OPN	AD240EHDK23GQ
L1 Cache Sizes	64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (256KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes	1MB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
Memory Controller Type	Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed	2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported	Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-8500  (DDR3-1066MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0 Specification	One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth	Up to 33.1GB/s bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR2 or DDR3-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
Packaging	Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location	GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 1 Module 1
Process Technology	45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size	117.5 mm2
Approximate Transistor count	~ 234 million
Max Temp	72 degrees Celsius
Nominal Voltage	.775 – 1.35V
Max TDP	45 Watts

*Note: configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes
The specifications here are mostly what you’d expect, though of particular note is the maximum TDP, or Thermal Dispersion Profile.  This CPU is meant to draw 45 watts at most, which puts it 20 watts below the Core 2 line of processors in power draw.

]]> http://www.techwarelabs.com/amd-athlon-ii-240e/feed/ 8 http://www.techwarelabs.com/amd-athlon-ii-240e/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techwarelabs/~3/FoJiHoEQ9ek/ http://www.techwarelabs.com/news-103009/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:45:46 +0000 Jason Jacobs http://www.techwarelabs.com/?p=3853

TechwareLabs Daily News

• ASUS Maximus II Gene Motherboard @ Hothardware
• Western Workstation & Server CPU Comparison Guide Rev. 3.3 @ TechARP

• Xigmatek Balder SD1283 HDT CPU Cooler @ Tweaktown
• Antec Skeleton Open Air Computer Case Review @ Tweaknews
• AMD Athlon II X4 630 Extreme Overclocking with LN2 @ Tweaktown

Ghost Detecting Gadgets that Confirm your Sanity

With Halloween coming up this weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to discuss a problem far too many of us face—homes that are haunted by evil spirits.These gadgets can confirm you are not completely crazy.

What does it say about the sanity of anyone owning more than one of these gadgets?

Check out the article here.

Ten Most Geekiest Halloween Costumes Explored @ Engadget

—clearly, Halloween is dominated by nerds far too old to trick-or-treat. It was also clear that mdg357’s homemade Iron Man suit was more than deserving of the free pizza.

The old school Megatron dude would have won it for me, strictly on style points.

Facebook Awarded $711 Million In Anti-Spam Case

“Facebook is on a never-before-seen legal rampage against high profile internet spammers. Today Facebook was awarded yet another nine-figure settlement, this time for over $700 million. Facebook also has a criminal contempt case on Wallace, which means a high likelihood of prison, a big win for the internet and a milestone in cyber law. ‘The record demonstrates that Wallace willfully violated the statutes in question with blatant disregard for the rights of Facebook and the thousands of Facebook users whose accounts were compromised by his conduct,’ Jeremy Fogel wrote in his judgment order, which permanently prohibits Wallace from accessing the Facebook Web site or creating a Facebook account, among other restrictions.”

I don’t understand why the courts impose such rubbish awards, they have to know there’s not a snowballs chance in hell that Facebook will ever see the cash.  It would be far more productive to take a realistic assessment of the damage and penalize the individual in both a cash and sentence that would be more meaningful. This guy will simply declare bankruptcy and restart another spam campaign.  Jail time for the SPAMMERS!

New Threats Against Pirate Bay Owners

In what is shaping up to be the never ending saga of The Pirate Bay it seems the Swedish courts are trying a new tactic.  Prosecute the founders and ban them from running their own site. Uum yeah, neither they, nor the website is even in Sweden anymore.  But hey MPAA and RIAA don’t give up yet. . . you could always hire a hitman for the job.

“The Pirate Bay should be closed, and if it isn’t, two of the founders will each have to pay a fine of 500,000 Swedish kronor (US$71,500), according to a verdict in the Stockholm District Court. This time it’s Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg who are in the court’s crosshairs. They have been forced to shut down the site or pay the fine. The court has stated that the site will have to remain closed unless Neij and Warg are exonerated on another similar case they’re involved in, which is now on appeal.”

Federal Judge Says E-mail Not Protected By 4th Amendment

“In the case In re United States, Judge Mosman ruled that there is no constitutional requirement of notice to the account holder because the Fourth Amendment does not apply to e-mails under the third-party doctrine. ‘When a person uses the Internet, the user’s actions are no longer in his or her physical home; in fact he or she is not truly acting in private space at all. The user is generally accessing the Internet with a network account and computer storage owned by an ISP like Comcast or NetZero. All materials stored online, whether they are e-mails or remotely stored documents, are physically stored on servers owned by an ISP. When we send an e-mail or instant message from the comfort of our own homes to a friend across town the message travels from our computer to computers owned by a third party, the ISP, before being delivered to the intended recipient. Thus ‘private’ information is actually being held by third-party private companies.”"

UPDATE:

I blogged yesterday about a new opinion on e-mail and the Fourth Amendment. I received a few requests for a copy of the opinion, so I formatted a version of it and have posted it here.

In the course of re-reading the opinion to post it, I recognized that I was misreading a key part of the opinion. As I read it now, Judge Mosman does not conclude that e-mails are not protected by the Fourth Amendment. Rather, he assumes for the sake of argument that the e-mails are protected (see bottom of page 12), but then concludes that the third party context negates an argument for Fourth Amendment notice to the subscribers. I missed this because the reasoning closely resembles the argument for saying that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply at all, and I didn’t read the earlier section closely enough. That’s obviously a much narrower position, and I apologize for misunderstanding it the first time in the quick skim I gave it. Sorry about that: The fault is entirely mine.

This could be very bad, guess its time to fire up the digital shredder and start the process of “getting off the grid” before big brother comes calling.

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