Gearbox: July 05

Sunbeam Molex Lights
Supplier XCOM Tech
Website www.xcom.com.au
Price $9

A case in need is a case with no phosphorescent atmosphere. Just as soon as we thought lights had found every inch of the box to occupy, there’s another chasm to be filled. This time the mighty Molex plugs are on the receiving end of visual beatification. Packing six tiny PCBs with two LEDs on each, these slip over the male end and power up with the female plug jacked in. White plugs are highly recommended for these lights to give your case a good dose of serenity.

MediaGate MG-35
Supplier Anyware
Website www.anyware.com.au
Price $299

If your lounge isn’t suited for a home theatre PC, this is for you. Weighing at a mere 450g, though it can fit PATA hard drive, this beauty doesn’t require one. As long as you can an Ethernet cable, with access home network, it can play the majority of media files whether DivX, WMA, XviD movies, WMA, MP3, OGG, audio files or imagery. Sporting intuitive menu system, an IR remote and equipped with component, optical, s-video and composite and capable of up to 720p/1080i, is a pretty damn good unit.

SilverStone TJ06
Supplier Altech
Website www.altech.com.au
Price $220

Following the popular upside-down and back-to-front design that the Apple G5 started, seeing as the CPU is located at the base, SilverStone whacked a ‘Wind Tunnel’ over the top. Going from front to back, this ensures the CPU heat is completely isolated. This paves a gold-lined passage for passive heatsinks, with a 120mm fan at either end of the tunnel, passing all the hot air out back. With screwless everything, eight 3.5in and five 5.25in drive bays, this is a very efficient and attractive tower. It just needs a power supply.

PCI External Bracket for IDE HDD
Supplier PC Case Gear
Website www.pccasegear.com.au
Price $8

Thinking outside the box requires the use of scalpel surgery and the exodus of the brain. If you’re sick of doing things the normal way and hate the idea of conforming and playing by the rules, how about an inside-out machine? This bracket acts as a bridge in order to pipe a PATA IDE port and a four pin Molex line out the back of the case. With an IDE port on the outside, either internal hard drives or optical drives can easily be jacked in externally at full speed, albeit slightly less plug-and-play.