Of all the parts of a computer, keyboards are perhaps the most sensitive to personal subjective preference. Most decisions on a CPU or videocards can be resolved with cold, hard facts, but keyboards choices tend to be very subjective. On the one hand, you have some that don't care about what keyboard they use, so as long as it works. On the flip side, there are some who are religious about their keyboard preference. I'm somewhere towards the latter group, having been using my trusty original Logitech G15 keyboard for the past 2.5 years.

Gaming keyboards certainly have their place as they typically offer extra keys and functionality that's useful to most gamers. However, they have also carried a hefty price tag, as we saw with the Logitech G15 Rev. 2, which ended up costing even more than the original. Today, we'll take a look at OCZ's entry into the gaming keyboard market, with their Alchemy Elixir Keyboard, which surprisingly retails for only $30 USD. This is certainly a nice selling point, but let's see if the low price has any affect on quality.

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So what exactly are the improvements made to the PSP-3000's newly upgraded LCD screen? According to a report by Engadget Japan, the screen is more colorful, has a stronger contrast ratio, and to the praise of gamers everywhere, has a faster response time. The official stats? Color gamut is twice as wide. The contrast ratio is improved 5 times. The response time has doubled. For gamers that have complained about the PSP-1000 and 2000's slow response time (which creates a ghosting effect in certain games), this is certainly good news.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to this unit however, is really just how small it is; after all it does only sport a 92mm fan and two heat pipes - which loop around in Zalman's Patented "Figure 8" pattern, to deliver twice the performance from each pipe. Normally speaking, this section of the review can be found to be much longer, but unfortunately since this is such a simple, and easy to use product, there really isn't much to say for the packaging, and the form. That being said, the next section will cover the base, installation, and durability concerns.

Perhaps one of the nicest things I found to this heatsink was the quality of the finish. Usually speaking, my mind registers more compact and simpler items to be inexpensively made, and as such, finding a flat, gleaming base and an easy to use mounting rig with this heatsink were both major boons. As with all heatsinks, this wonderful mating surface will end up demolished when the heatsink finally gets installed, and thankfully, it's a very simple installation.

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No doubt you’re familiar with the Universal Serial Bus – we ranked it as our top PC innovation of all time. But what do you know about the next version of this ubiquitous interface? USB 2.0 (otherwise known as USB Hi-Speed) boosted the original 12Mbps data rate to 480Mmb/s over eight years ago, and now USB 3.0 (dubbed USB Superspeed) is set to multiply that bandwidth tenfold. The USB Implementers Forum (led by Intel) released the USB 3.0 spec to hardware partners last week after some reported disputes with AMD and Nvidia (who, afraid Intel would have a jump start in incorporating the tech in chipsets, threatened to develop their own USB standard). But how does this affect you? We dug up some new information about USB 3.0, got our hands on the new connectors, and even took a look inside the new cables.

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MaximumPC

This makes sense on very many levels, but at the same time we've gotta think those long-suffering PS3 owners will be a bit "hacked off" by Sony's announcement of a motion-tracking sword game headed for... the PS2. The PS2's market saturation (every man, woman and child on earth has at least two), and the EyeToy's general success (10.5 million units sold) make the combo the perfect trojan horse for fighting the good fight against Wii world domination. Sony's using new (sort of) color tracking technology to beef up the EyeToy's motion tracking that will let it detect and track brightly colored objects, instead of just motion, for two new EyeToy: Play games due for the holidays this year. The one we've really got our eye on is the kiddie-oriented Hero which is a first person perspective sword fighting game that comes complete with a fluorescent toy sword for battling kinda-almost-evil antagonists. Of course, none of this would be disappointing in the slightest if Sony would just work PS2 backwards compatibility into its fully capable PS3, and hey, maybe they'll surprise us. Nudge, comma, nudge. Wink. Wink.

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Engadget

As far as I can remember, there haven't been quite as many success stories from enthusiasts as there have been with motherboards sporting the Intel P35 Chipset. It has been a nice jump for regular users, but especially for extreme users that like to overclock. Straight out of the gates, the chipset offered some form of respectable overclocking as well as plenty of features even on budget ended motherboards. Many a user have found the chipset to be a good reason to upgrade from slower motherboards and systems.

Well, we're now seeing P35 motherboards in shorter supply around the market. And as with the ever scaling momentum of the computer market, it was only a short matter of time before we see a replacement. The real question with all new upgrades are whether or not it's worth the cost. Rarely do I advise someone jumping to the next chipset unless there is some extreme new performance gains. Otherwise, it just seems worth skipping a generation in between for good measure.

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If at first you succeed, just go and raise the bar anyway...

Since seems to be the motto at Pioneer since it has followed up its ground breaking (and potentially Blu-ray compatible) 16 layer 400GB optical disc (below) with a 500GB version less than one month later.

A mammoth 25 layers were jammed onto the disc this time around and it also has the same potential to be made Blu-ray compatible - though whether a disc with the capability to handle around 20+ 1080p flicks has really any use other than as a storage medium is open to some debate (2160p Fuller HD anyone?!).



"While Blu-ray discs (BD), offering both 25GB and 50GB, are sufficient for users' current demands, we envision the need for a technology that can support far greater capacities as HD streaming in particular becomes commonplace and users build larger files of digital content," said Pioneer Multimedia Division Product Manager Brendan Sheridan. "The multi-layered method is compatible with Blu-ray devices providing a long term future for the technology and is more easily produced when compared to competing technologies such as holographic storage."

Sheridan admits the disc is only a research project at present though talks are ongoing with the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) about formalising the standard. Public availability? Between two and four years it claims - though I'm guessing it will take a brave man to risk a 500GB coaster...

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When it comes to our computers, we'd love to always have the biggest and the best. However, reality indicates that isn't always possible. But that also doesn't mean we have to "settle" when it comes to memory options. For the PC enthusiasts who are looking for quality and value, Kingston offers the KHX6400D2LLK2/4G Memory Kit, a product in their HyperX DDR2 line. The HyperX DDR2 offers faster speeds, lower latencies, higher data bandwidths and lower power consumption than DDR. Kingston has this specifically to say about the KHX6400D2LLK2/4G:

"Kingston's KHX6400D2LLK2/4G is a kit of two low-latency 256M x 64-bit 2GB (2048MB) DDR2-800 CL4 SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) memory modules, based on sixteen 128M x 8-bit DDR2 FBGA components per module. Total kit capacity is 4GB (4096MB). Each module pair has been tested to run at DDR2 800MHz at low latency timing of 4-4-4-12 at 1.95V. The SPD is programmed to JEDEC standard latency 667Mhz timing of 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V. Each 240-pin DIMM uses gold contact fingers and requires +1.8V."

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It seems like NVIDIA graphics card releases run as clock work with the Catalyst drivers from AMD. With the GTX 280, GTX 260 and 9800 GTX+ released not all that long ago, it comes as no real surprise that NVIDIA has gotten up once again and released not only one new card today, but two.

The first card is the 9800 GT which is what we have here with us now. The other is a 9500 GT which of course sits at the lower end of the scale when it comes to performance. Unlike some of the more recent releases, it seems that companies are already prepared to attack the 9800 GT with new cooling methods and overclocks. We see here that GIGABYTE has already strapped a Zalman cooler onto the newly released card and Palit are ready to go with an overclocked model carrying the "Sonic" naming scheme, too.

Before we get stuck into the benchmarking side of things, let’s take the time to have a quick look at the package and the card itself.

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TweakTown.com

As can be seen in the picture above, the Home button on the original and current PSP models is now occupied by a PS button, similar to the one on the PlayStation 3 controller. One could assume that Sony would have made the Home to PS change in an attempt to prevent confusion with its Home service. The purported microphone is to the right of the volume buttons.

Read more on this and check out some pics right here.

Kotaku Global