The BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O+™ and GeForce® GTX 295 H2OC™ ThermoIntelligence® Advanced Cooling Solutions are maintenance-free, self-contained liquid cooling units attached to enthusiast-grade BFG Tech graphics cards that easily install into most systems right out of the box and never need refilling or additional components. These unique solutions feature a top of the line BFG Tech graphics card plus a high-performance cooling loop designed by CoolIT Systems™ that pushes coolant across the GPU and exhausts heat directly outside of the system chassis. Three different system speed settings—Auto, Quiet, and Maximum—give total control over acoustics and performance.

“We’re very excited to be the first company to bring this type of professional grade advanced cooling solution to PC enthusiasts”, said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. “The BFG ThermoIntelligence Advanced Cooling Solutions provide customers a way to get all of the benefits of liquid cooling their graphics cards right out of the box, without having to install a separate liquid cooling system that requires assembly, filling, and challenging maintenance from time to time.”

Impressive Heat Dissipation

Both ThermoIntelligence® Advanced Cooling Solutions keep the graphics card running up to 30°C cooler under load as compared to standard air cooled models, which ensures reliable operation and longevity.

Custom Cold Plates
Both solutions feature highly efficient, custom cold plates that direct cooling liquid over vital parts of each specific graphics card to effectively absorb heat.

BFG GeForce® GTX 295 H2OC™ with ThermoIntelligence® Advanced Cooling Solution
Memory: 1792MB (1.8GB) GDDR3
Core Clock: 675MHz (vs. 576MHz standard)
Shader Clock: 1458MHz (vs. 1242MHz standard)
Memory Data Rate: 2214MHz (vs. 1998MHz standard)
Processor Cores: 480 (combined)

BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O+™ with ThermoIntelligence® Advanced Cooling Solution
Memory: 1024MB (1GB) GDDR3
Core Clock: 691MHz (vs. 648MHz standard)
Shader Clock: 1566MHz (vs. 1476MHz standard)
Memory Data Rate: 2592MHz (vs. 2484MHz standard)
Processor Cores: 240

Availability
The BFG GeForce® GTX 295 H2OC™ graphics card with ThermoIntelligence Advanced Cooling Solution will be available in limited quantities starting August 5, 2009 at NewEgg.com in the U.S., and at leading online retailers in the U.K.

The BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O+™ will be available in limited quantities starting August 12, 2009 at NewEgg.com in the U.S., and at leading online retailers in the U.K.

Visit www.bfgtech.com/advancedcoolingsolution.aspx for more information.

Netgear Gigabit Switch

In part two of this article I am going to be talking about each piece of networking equipment and how it interacts with the network and its importance.

The basic goal for any network is to create a reliable, fast and easy to maintain infrastructure. Our network had the following criteria:

All Television, Telephone, and Internet is to be powered by Time Warner Cable (TW).

• Telephone via TW VOIP, Using the 66 block all house phone jacks work.
• Television via TW Digital Cable, our house has two High Definition, and two Standard Definition TV’s.
• Internet via TW High Speed Internet, by setting up a simple network we can share this with our 6 computers and have network enabled backups.

In the last article we talked about our goals for the network and outlined the network map. Below we talk about each device and what it does.

Cable Modem

• A cable modem is a type of modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a cable television (CATV) infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high bandwidthof a cable television network. They are commonly deployed in Australia,Europe, and North and South America. In the USA alone there were 22.5 million cable modem users during the first quarter of 2005, up from 17.4 million in the first quarter of 2004.

Voice Over IP / ATA

• An analog telephony adapter, or analog telephone adapter, (ATA) is a device used to connect one or more standard analog telephones to a digital and/or non-standard telephone system such as a Voice over IP based network.

Patch Panel

• Patch panels offer the convenience of allowing technicians to quickly change the path of select signals, without the expense of dedicatedswitching equipment.

Network Switch

• A network switch is a computer networking device that connectsnetwork segments.
• The term commonly refers to a Network bridge that processes and routes data at the Data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Switches that additionally process data at the Network layer (layer 3 and above) are often referred to as Layer 3 switches orMultilayer switches.
• The term network switch does not generally encompass unintelligent or passive network devices such as hubs andrepeaters.
• The first Ethernet switch was introduced by Kalpana in 1990.

WiFi Router

• Wi-Fi (pronounced /?wa?fa?/) is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance for certified products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. This certification warrants interoperability between different wireless devices.
• Wi-Fi is supported by most personal computer operating systems, many game consoles, laptops, smartphones,printers, and other peripherals.

Apple Airport Express

• AirPort and AirPort Extreme are local area wireless networkingproducts from Apple Inc. based on the IEEE 802.11 standard (also known as Wi-Fi).
• AirPort and AirPort Extreme in common usage can refer to theprotocol (802.11b, and 802.11g and 802.11 Draft-N, respectively), the expansion card or the base station.

Now that we know what each device does I will explain how each one is connected to each-other.

Starting with the feed coming into the house, we have a single RG6 drop from the utility pole and from there it goes into the garage utility room where it is then split off into its appropriate places. It first goes into a 3 way -5.5db splitter where it goes to the Cable Modem, Telephone ATA, and Television Amplifier.

Television Splitters and Amplifier.

Television

The signal coming into the 3 way splitter is low to begin with and is causing some of our HD channels to come in pixelated at times, so the only way to combat that was to install a Multimedia Drop Amplifier that has a +20db output signal. After the amp I have a 8 way splitter with 5 rooms connected, leaving 3 ports free, on those 3 I put terminators on to prevent signal loss and interference. With the new amp and splitter installed, the televisions are all now working much better and very rarely do they go blocky.

Phone

66 Block

Since we are using VOIP for our phone service I wanted to have the phone signal going though to all the wall jacks just like a normal POTS (Plan Old Telephone Service) does I decided it was best to use a 66 block and by using the new wiring I installed previously I was able to connect every room that has a phone to the VOIP service. This also allows for us to easily upgrade and add additional lines of phone and or digital extensions if we decide to install a PBX phone system.

Ethernet

Patch Panel

I connected the Cable Modem to the Patch Panel where it then goes up into the office and is connected to our Belkin WiFi Router, I setup the WiFi with a secure WEP password and MAC address authentication. I then connected one of the LAN ports to the second ethernet wall jack returning to the Patch Panel, this is where I have my 5 port Gigabit Switch located, from the Patch Panel I have one port as the uplink and then the four remaining ports plugged into the three remaining rooms and the fourth connected to my Ubuntu File Server (Future Article).

You may be wondering why I decided to place the Belkin Router up in the house? Well I did that because as with most consumer networking equipment, it will randomly lockup and need the occasional reboot and by having it in the house it saves a trip down to the garage.

In one of the bedrooms I then have a AirPort Express connected to the ethernet wall jack, this is used for printing and wireless music playing. One advantage of having two WiFi routers is the possibility of setting up a Guest Network, with this we can have it open and not secured, but we can isolate the WiFi network from the Physical Wired Network and Computers.

In this article i will talk about setting up a home network and centralizing the entire home telecommunications into one central location out of the way of normal life.

This article is based on my house and a few years ago I had spent 2 weeks completely rewiring all the telecommunications of the house and relocating it from outside the house to the utility room in our garage, this required installing over 1000 ft of Cat5e ethernet cable used for both Ethernet and Telephones and 500 ft of RG6 television cable. Each room received three Cat5e cables and two RG6 cables, this provided for 2 Ethernet, 2 Telephone and two Cable Television ports.

The reason I choose the utility closet to use for the telecommunications room was done after careful research and planning, the garage is on the lower level of the house and stays cool year round allowing the equipment to stay cool and not worry about overheating. The second reason for this was the ease of running wires to the attic, In this setup I have a 2.5“ bundle of wires running into the attic where it then is split to each room. Another advantage of having the networking equipment located out of the normal day to day area is the network becomes seamless and you don’t see networking cables and tv cables running all over the house, It gives the house a much nicer feel.

I will not be going much into the actual installation of the network, but more the hardware and the reason it is hooked up this particular way.

To start here is a breakdown of the network setup and the requirements:

• 2 Ethernet, 2 Telephone, 2 Cable TV ports / per room.
• Central location for Patch Panels, Splitters, Amplifiers, Switches, Modems, and File Servers.
• Provide Battery backup for VOIP Telephone (Voice Over IP) Service.
• Gigabit Wired & 802.11 b,g,n Wireless Networks.

The list of equipment currently installed (in order from Time Warner Cable -> Computers / Telephones):

1. 3 Way Splitter -5.5db
2. Port 1 Cable Modem, Port 2 Telephone VOIP ATA, and Port 3 +20db Multimedia Drop Amplifier
3. Amplifier to -> 8 Way Splitter to televisions
4. Telephone VOIP ATA -> Telephone 66 Block
5. Cable Modem -> Patch Panel
6. Patch Panel -> Belkin WiFi router (located in office)
7. Belkin Router -> Patch Panel
8. Patch Panel -> Netgear Prosafe Gigabit Switch
9. Switch -> Patch Panel (one switch port for each additional room)

In Part 2 I will talk about each component and its relationship to other components on the network, and why each one is important.

Need a computer that will match your new outfit? Help is on the way. Researchers are working on a low-tech computer that would cost as little as $12.

You can get these already in India. They look something like the original Nintendo console that many of us played video games on as a kid in the 1980s.

Variations on that original console sell in India for anywhere between $10 and $20 and plug into your TV, complete with game controllers and a computer keyboard. The consoles eventually expanded their game repertoire beyond “Duck Hunt” rip-offs to very basic word processing software.

“Now, would you like a computer to go with your new purse?”

El Monte CA – iBUYPOWER, know for it’s innovative and powerful gaming PCs, is excited to launch its new line of Video PC’s. The Video PCs’ are built with the amateur videographer on mind – individuals who prefer to shoot video rather than stills, and post their experiences on sites like You Tube. The iBUYPOWER Video PC line includes the Video Bot, Video Pro, and Video Extreme, which are priced at $1,299, $1,799, and $4,299 MSRP respectively.The Video Bot, housed in an NZXT Appollo case, features the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 CPU, nVidia 9800GT GPU, and 4 GB of DDR-2 RAM. Customers looking for a little more power will find it in the Video Pro. iBuyPower packed an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor, ATI HD 4850 graphics card and 8 GB of DDR- 2 RAM into a Gigabyte Poseidon case.

The Video Extreme however, is built to be just that – extreme. Housed in a Thermaltake Armor case, the Video Extreme is stocked with the best components available – an Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9770 CPU, ATI HD 4870 graphics card, 8 GB of DDR-3 1333 RAM, Blu-ray burner and a 1200W power supply.

“Millions of people visit sites like YouTube to share their videos everyday, yet before now no computer manufacturer has built a pc dedicated to the needs of this community,” said Darren Su, Vice President of iBUYPOWER. “We decided it was time to provide these aspiring filmmakers with a professional video editing solution.”

All three of the iBUYPOWER Video PCs come with Adobe’s Premier Elements 4.0 editing software, built-in 8 channel surround sound, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition, a 12-in-1 card reader/writer and a 3 year limited warranty. (FULL SPECS BELOW)

As part of the launch iBUYPOWER is giving away a Video Pro System, a $1,799 value, and a $2,000 gift card to the winner of the Favorite Gaming Moments YouTube Contest. Contestants will upload videos they create of them reenacting their favorite gaming moments. The contest will run through August with a winner being selected from a group of ten finalists by the You Tube community in the second week of September. Visit www.iBUYPOWER.com/WinAPC for contest details