Need For Speed Undercover

NFS series is back and so are the cop chases. So that means that I can 1. crash, 2. ram, 3. topple............ 1834. @#$% the police cars! Whoopie! But wait there's more. NFS: UC feels like NFS Most Wanted and for me, it is a good thing, I don't know about you.

In undercover, you play the role of an undercover officer (!!!!!). You mission is to take down a group of street racers cum smugglers. Sounds like a B Grade Hollywood action flick... I said sounds! It looks better. The story is predictable.

The racing will take place in the Tri-City Bay area. You will easily find yourself in a fast car. Well, one thing I like about undercover is its galore of vehicles (more than 50) that you can drive. You can, as always upgrade your ride to add frills (you still can't make it fly though). You earn money for not only winning a race but to win it by a big margin. Driving with style recharges your nitrous faster which is a good thing.

The cop chases aren't challenging enough because after hanging around for a while, they get off (owing to the fact that you are a police officer yourself I guess). You can still 1. thrash, 2. shatter..... 1693. @#$%! the police cars as much as you like. A note of caution, never try this in real life because the real cops don't get thrashed easily.

The PS3 version runs like a sideshow whereas the XBox 360 version runs perfectly fine. The graphics aren't much different to Pro Street.. The online mode is great but the races are short.

If you loved NFS Most Wanted like I did, you will love this game too. The game lacks originality.

Intel X58 Extreme DX58SO Motherboard and Intel Core i7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hugely anticipated Intel "Nehalem" series of processors is out tests show it is a performance beast. Now, it is such a beast that it deserves a chipset that can tame the beast. That is exactly what x58 does. It supports triple channel DDR 3 memory and Socket 1366. It uses the same ICH10 southbridge but that's where the similarities end. Another excellent feature of this motherboard is that it is the motherboard apart from "Skulltrail" to support both Crossfire X and SLi making it the perfect choice for hardcore gamers.

The Processor

The processors we are testing are i7 920 and i7 965. The former is mid-range while the latter is high-end. But make no mistakes i7 920 can easily slaughter previous generation High end Core 2 Duos and Core 2 Quads.Both of them are quad core processors like Core 2 Quad series.

SLi and Crossfire X
Finally, an Intel motherboard that supports SLi. Manufacturers though will have to get the motherboard certified by Nvidia which will release new drivers supporting SLi on the board. Anywhere between 2 to 4 (yes! FOUR) Nvidia cards can be set up in SLi. The fourth card will be dedicated to PhysX processing.

DhryStone CPU Test

It is clear from the test that Core i7 is really fast and overclocking makes it even faster.

Memory Test

Here, x58 demolishes the others by a huge margin due DDR-3 memory kicking in.

3D Mark06 CPU Test

Call of Duty 4 (2 x ATi Radeon 4870 X2)

Well the performance of the Core i7 is earth shattering. The performance difference between the two processors is huge even at higher resolutions. Please note that we have used the highest possible settings.

Far Cry 2 (2 x Ati Radeon 4870 X2)

Even Core i7 is not powerful enough to use two 4870 X2 to their full potential. We run into CPU benchmark which is ideal for testing processors.

Verdict

It is not often that I recommend a new processor for gaming but this one definitely falls into that category. The sheer power of this processor makes a huge impact in your FPS count let alone other tasks. And the chipset, well I cannot comment on its performance because its socket is not backward compatible but it shines in the features department.

Nvidia GeForce GTX280

  The graphics cards are getting better by the day and the market is getting heating up. Flashback 2007, when 8800 GTXs and 8800 Ultras were ruling the graphics card market, eating all the games for breakfast. These cards seemed to get through every benchmark thrown at them even without SLi.................Then came Crysis, the game with great graphics but sadly, no card was able to run it in its full glory. Nvidia tried to borrow some time to get their 9 series ready by introducing 3 way SLi. The game couldn't even run decently on these so  called "High End" 3 Way SLi rigs. When the 9 series was out with 9800GX2, which was 2 8800GTs on one card, Crysis remained a tough nut to crack. Even two of these were too less to handle crysis. Meanwhile, ATi had released their top end card HD 3870 x2, which was had two HD3870s as a single card. But, the attempt was in vain. Crysis was just too good for this junk (Crysis made them junk!). But now the time has come when Crysis is to be run with all the eye candy turned up and resolutions cranked up to 2560 x 1600. Nvidia's new card, GeForce GTX 280 is the new monster. This card is a beast with 1.4 billion transistors. It is based on the same old 65nm fabrication process. It also supports Nvidia PhysX which will make the physics calculations to a new level. We have to wait for the new drivers to see it in action though. It has 240 shader units and CUDA parallel processing which will reduce the load on the processor in regular tasks other than gaming.

Performance

Call of Duty 4

This card doesn't perform really well if you compare it to 9800 GX2 in quad SLi. But still it shows that it's undoubtedly the best single core card money can buy.

Crysis

Finally, a card that can run crysis in its full glory, that's what you may be thinking but hey, think again. If you believe that a single GTX 280 can run this game at highest settings, think again. It takes three of these cards to achieve that. But that's the only way you can play this game at maximum settings at 2560x1600.

As you see, 3 of these cards run crysis ad 38 FPS at the maximum possible settings at 2560x1600 resolution in the most graphically intense area of the game. Hmmmm......not bad!

Verdict

The verdict doesn't need to be long. The benchmarks show everything. Three of these cards will make the best rig money can buy but at a very steep price of about $640. So, three of them will cost you about $1900. Buy these if you have robbed a bank recently else it may bankrupt you!

Nvidia 9800GTX

With 9800GX2 breaking the performance barrier a week ago, expectations are high from the 9800GTX. Before you throw away your twin 9800GX2, read this review. There is no doubt about the fact that 9800GTX is a sibling of 9088GX2, but the question arises, elder or younger. Lets see.

Basically, the formula behind 980GTX is, take a 9800GX2, rip it into two, overclock it like hell, throw in some changes and you're done! So all of you, stop screaming like hell as this is a card whose performance is roughly the same as the 8800GTX. So, is there anything new? The answer is yes and no! Performance wise, it is the same as the 8800GTX. The price is lesser than its previous generation counterpart, apart from lower power consumption. So, this card is based on the same old G92 core which is used in 9800GX2 and 8800GTS 512MB. But the performance is better than the 8800GTS because of higher clock speeds. The fabrication process has moved to 65nm as opposed to 90nm of 8800GTX.

PERFORMANCE

The performance of this card is a huge letdown. It is at par with 8800GTX which has been around for atleast two years now. However, two of these are a shade better than the 9800GX2 due to the higher clocks.

Call of duty 4 shows that this card is slightly faster than 8800GTX.

You can draw absolutely no conclusion from Crysis. At lower resolutions, the card is better than even the 9800GX2 but higher resolutions show an absolutely different story.

VERDICT

If you were planning to buy an 8800GTX, dump the idea. 9800GTX is the way to go. Although, the performance of both these cards is similar, go for the 9800GTX because of lower power consumption, lower price and slightly better performance.

God of War: Chains of Olympus

Ever played a God of War game? If not, you are missing out something you shouldn't. The first two games of the series were released for the playstation 1 and 2 leaving PSP users feeling like second class citizens. But the wait is finally over. Finally, a god of war game for the PSP. And it is as good as, if not better than the PS2 version.

The action takes place before the original God of War game when Kratos, the main character of the game is loyally serving Ares, the god of war in exchange for his freedom from his messed up past. The story unfolds in cutscenes which rival the best of Oscar winning movies.

 

The combat system is awesome, just like the PS2 version. The graphics are way better than the other PSP games. But the great graphics don't compromise on the frame rate. The game runs smooth even in the most intense scenarios. Dodging attacks involves pressing both the shoulder buttons and moving the analogue stick. This is more complicated than the PS2 version as the PSP has only one analogue stick but once you get used to it, its good.

The only alternate weapon in the game is the Gauntlet of Zeus which is used to pummel the foes and is great fun to use. Every enemy kill yields red orbs which are used to learn new attacks and upgrade skills.

The gameplay is mostly linear but contains some alternate paths leading to upgrades and extras. There are a few puzzles to solve though not as taxing as the ones in the Prince of Persia series. Like the PS2 version, there are a few extra costumes and movies unlocked after completing the game but the replayability is limited.

This game has a few not so good elements. The worst one is that it is nothing new. Everything in the game is the same as the first two games. It feels like a stripped down version of the original games. Another problem is that it is too short. After finishing the game, you'll be left asking for more.

If you don't have a PSP, beg or steal it. Or alternatively, you could buy it too(though that's a secondary option)! This is by far the best game on the PSP and a good reason to get a PSP too.

THE GOOD   Great gameplay Best looking game on PSP Loads of blood and gore

THE BAD Limited replayability. Too similar to the original GOW games. Too short

Quad SLi(2x9800GX2)

Hardly a week has passed since the launch of the new monster 9800GX2 and nVidia has launched a product to blow ATi out of the competition with its (partially)new technology-Quad SLi! This technology makes an enabled rig a different animal altogether.

REQUIREMENTS

I know you cant wait to know what you need for setting up a quad SLi rig! Here it goes:

• 2(yes! two!) Nvidia 9800GX2
• A number crunching processor(at least 2.7GHz dual core)
• 2GB of ultra fast memory
• Fully patched Windows Vista
• A monitor supporting at minimum of 1920x1200 resolution.
  
• 850W or higher PSU
• Games!

As you can see, Quad SLi is a costly affair and you'll have to pay your nose out to get your hands dirty on one. A piece of advice- spending such a huge amount will be pointless if you won't be playing games at very high resolutions(above 1920x1200).

OUR TEST RIG

Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme 3.2GHz

Motherboard: Nvidia 790i SLi

Memory: 2x1 GB Corsair DDR3

That's some serious horsepower for our beast.

PERFORMANCE (Call of Duty 4)

The rig shattered our first benchmark- Call of Duty 4. At a resolution of 2560x1600, 4x Anti Aliasing, 16x Anisotropic filtering and all the settings maxed out, the rig cruised at 104 FPS versus 57FPS recorded by a single 9800GX2 with the same components!

PERFORMANCE (Crysis)

The rig performed poorly in crysis. The rate went down terribly at higher resolutions. The frame rate was only 4FPS better than a single 9800GX2. Maybe, a few driver updates will fix the problem.

The main problem with Quad SLi is that due to the huge load of data transfer between the four GPUs, the processor is put under a lot of stress. So, QSLi shows its real power only at resolutions above 1920x1200.

PERFORMANCE (3d Mark 06)

The performance at default settings was nothing special. At 16152, it was slightly lower than the single card.

PEFORMANCE(GRAW 2)

Again, here, due to the CPU bottlenecks, Quad SLi shows its power only at higher resolutions. The QSLi setup beats the single card by a huge margin at 2560x1600, amazing!

PERFORMANCE(F.E.A.R.)

This benchmark shows exactly what was expected from it. Forget words! Look at the results!

FINAL WORD

So, is four better than two? Both yes and no! Yes when Quad SLi works well. And no when scaling problems arise like in Crysis.

But at present, I don't see the need to invest in a second 9800GX2 as the games run just fine with "one" 9800GX2. And when they don't, like in Crysis, the Quad SLi fails too.Also, 56 FPS is equally playable as 110 FPS, so, why invest so much? You could add another card to your setup at a later time.

Nvidia 9800GX2

The graphics card market is getting heated up now. Nvidia is coming up with a new card every few weeks. The 8800 Ultra had been reining the graphics card market for quite some time now. To change it all, comes a new contender (or champion should I say), the 9800GX2. It is basically two 8800GT s bridged together and mind you, this is not any other card, it is a monster! With a gig of 512-Bit memory, this card eats every benchmark for breakfast.

PERFORMANCE
Benchmarks show that this card can take on two 8800 GTX in SLi! It shows blistering frame rates with all the eye candy cranked up in most of the games. It completely knocks out all the cards out there. You won’t like to waste such insane amount of power for running games at 1024x768 resolution, so you can pretty much ignore those benchmarks. It scores 12992 points in 3dmark 06 which is lower than 8800Ultra and HD3870X2 but the real world tests are more reliable than synthetic tests.

POWER CONSUMPTION
The power consumed by this card is good. The idle consumption was around 165 watts (The 8800 ultra consumes 160W). Under stress, the consumption jumps to around 375 W which 10W more than 8800 Ultra. So, the performance is doubled and consumption is the same! This is due to the 65nm fabrication process.

VERDICT
It is too early to say now. Buy this card only if you have money to throw. Moreover, this card cannot run Crysis in its full glory. To do that, you have to get two of these cards, a fast processor and a large hole in your pocket.

ATi Radeon 3870X2

The year 2007 was a real nightmare for ATi. There cards were slaughtered by their Nvidia counterparts. This year, ATi is making an attempt to better it. Their first attempts this year were HD3850 and HD3870. These cards offered enormous value for money as they performed nearly as good as HD2900XT at half the price and less power consumption. This was mainly due to the 55nm fabrication process. Now, ATi is moving on to the high end category with the launch of HD3870X2 which is basically two HD3870s bridged together on a single PCB much like Nvidia's now ancient 7850GX2. With a massive 1332 million transistors and 640 steam processing units, the X2 is expected to give stiff competition to Nvidia's high end cards.

PEFORMANCE
The card shows pretty decent performance in Crysis at 1024x768 resolution. The 8800GTS 512 MB beats it by a good 9FPS. But as the resolution is scaled up to 2560x1600, it is a shade faster than 8800 Ultra. In Call of Duty 4, at the lower resolutions, the card is a shade better than 8800 Ultra. Scaling up the resolution brings the two cards neck to neck.

VERDICT
The only thing I say about this card is that buy this card only if you have a very large monitor supporting resolutions upto 2560x1600 or if you are an ATi fan(this seems to be the only reason to buy Ati cards nowadays).

iPOD NANO

The Apple iPods have been reigning the PMP market for quite sometime now. From the days of the original iPod to the latest generation iPod Touch, each one of them has been successful due to its unique design.
The users of the previous generation iPod nano users started wishing when it will support video. Good news for all you folks, it already does!


DESIGN
This one has a funky look and is wider and shorter than the previous gen nanos. The glossy finish of the previous generation is gone and is replaced by a matte finish which, thankfully is less prone to scratches. It measures 2.75 x 2.1 inches and is .25 inches thick(or should I say .25" thin!). It begs to be held. Despite being insanely thin, it is quite sturdy. The back is still stainless steel. The bigger and better 2.5" screen has a resolution of 320x240 making it one of the crearest displays I've seen. It is even scratch resistant. The clickwheel is the same and the hold button is at the bottom. The headphone jack is awkwardly placed at the bottom right curve.

MENUS
The menu has been redesigned to take advantage of the wider screen. It has been split into two halves. The left side shows the fully customizable menu and the right one shows the album art of the track being played.
Cover flow feature of the iPhone has been used in the nano. It arranges the album arts of all the albums on the nano in a very appealing and useful way.

PLAYBACK
The audio playback of the nano is, as usual, awesome. A custom equalizer is still missing. While playing audio, then center button can be tapped repeatedly to show the playback menu which allows you to shuffle songs or albums without going back to the main menu.
Video playback is crisp and brightness can be adjusted duting the playback though watching movies on such a small screen is not a good idea. There is no TV output feature. Strangely enough, it is available in the menu. The battery lasts up to 5 hours which is a good thing.

EXTRAS
The nano has been bundled with quite a few games but its a pity that the previous generation ones can not be played on it.

VERDICT
The nano 3G is a great device and the only problem with it is there is no 16GB version available.

NERO 8 ULTRA

When was the last time you had to burn a disc and you didn't click on that nero icon on your desktop?
Hard to remember? Years have passed since the first release of nero and it has evolved from a CD burning software to a full multimedia suite. The latest one in the series is nero 8. It features a completely revamped interface from the previous version and much more....

THE INSTALLATION
The installation is the same as the version 7; its plain and simple. It has a custom installation mode which, I recommend because the typical installation installs a hell lot of junk on your computer. The rest of the installation is a breeze.

WHAT'S NEW?
The whole interface has been redesigned to give it a vista like look. It even has a start menu! Another new feature is that you can burn data and audio discs from the start smart interface itself. It finally supports the burning and playback of HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. For vista users, it also has a nice sidebar gadget that can make copies of non copy protected disks with a click of a button(literally!)

THE BAD
The problem with this new version is that it unnecessarily hogs resources. For those having slower systems, you can get a cup of coffee till nero starts! Even on decent machines, it starts after a delay of ten seconds or so which can be frustrating. Another problem is that the interface is redesigned so, it gets difficult to find things in it...(er...someone tell me where the erase disc option is).

THE VERDICT
This upgrade is nothing great and unless you want to burn HD content, DONT upgrade!