Custom Cooled Video Card Shootout: ASUS & MSI

One of the sub-categories cropping up amongst OEMs are videos cards which feature highly customized cooling along with special controller chips or other functionality that help facilitate tweaking the card's performance. These cards all have a few things in common. First, they all mount beefy and often very radical cooling designs which are a distinct departure from the ATI / NVIDIA approved reference cooler designs. They also offer some form of advanced tweaking features either in software, firmware or hardware (or perhaps all 3), that a stock reference design wouldn't possess, such as fan and voltage control.

The tweaker-friendly video card segment seems to be getting more popular as more OEMs are producing custom cards that fit the mold. We're going to give you a peak into what makes these cards special by giving you the run-down on three available options which are excellent representatives of what the segment currently has to offer.




All three of the cards are equipped with non-reference cooling designs. In addition, they all pack some special goodies under the hood which will please most tweakers, modders and overclockers. Lastly, each of these video cards takes a slightly different approach and offers a different angle on the tweaker-friendly video card package. The ASUS ENGTX260 Matrix takes a hands-off approach. All of the tools are included to support your tweaking and overclocking endeavors, but no factory overclock is included. The MSI R4890 Cyclone SOC takes the exact opposite approach, offering one of the highest factory overclocks available for a Radeon 4890. The ASUS Matrix GTX285 falls somewhere in between. And all three cards offer special features not available in stock reference design cards. As you might imagine, this means all three cards also command a slight price premium over reference design copies.

enTourage eDGe Dual-Screen E-Reader Looks To Topple Nook And Kindle

Just when you thought the e-reader market couldn't get any wilder, it does. We've got Amazon's Kindle, Sony's Reader, Barnes & Noble's Nook, a host of other smaller devices and now this: the Entourage eDGe. The self-proclaimed "Dualbook" is sort of a e-reader/LCD book in one, with two screens that fold open and shut just like a real book.

The interactive device supports doodling, note-taking and highlighting, and it will also let owners send e-mails and instant messages when they're not browsing the Internet. It'll also take pictures, record and play audio/video and--oh yeah--display e-book content as well. Named a finalist at the Consumer Electronics Association's i-Stage event, the enTourage eDGe is a dual-screen, WiFi-enabled device that has optional access to 3G networks. It features a 9.7" E Ink display on one side and supports books in both EPUB and PDF formats. On the other, there's a 10.1" LCD with a touch screen interface for surfing the 'net, watching movies or playing back music.

Oh, and if you're worried about your notes being lost (much like those recent Sidekick owners), fret not; all documents are saved directly to the device and are backed up on Entourage Systems’ servers if a unit gets damaged or goes missing. The device also supports Bluetooth keyboards for those thinking about getting really crazy, and given that both screens can work together (text can be highlighted on one screen and drug to another), there's plenty of sharing that's bound to go on.