Gearbox: July 05

Mio136 GPS
Supplier Synnex
Website www.synnex.com.au
Price $849

Global Positioning Systems are cool – there’s something warm and fuzzy about satellites triangulating your bearings. If you have a vehicle, you may have pondered at the thought of grabbing one for the twisty trips to the newsagent. Aside from occasionally pointing us down the wrong way of Sydney’s infamous one-way streets (we recommend a roof-mounted antenna for better reception), it has a myriad of navigation options, from avoiding traffic tolls, 2D/3D maps to seeing where the red-light cameras are and how fast you’re going. Welcome to the GPS wonder world.

Joytech Digital AV Cable
Supplier Joytech
Website www.joytech.net
Price $35

Buying cables for better quality imagery on consoles is a must for any visual enthusiast, but cables, regardless of their type, are generally quite expensive. Which is why we were taken back by this wondrous bundle of cable. At two metres you get component lines and an optical audio line, alongside S-Video and composite leads. Available for both Xbox and PS2, these cables deliver a sweet boost in on-screen quality, even though both Microsoft and Sony have neglected us PAL users by pulling high definition from out-of-the-box support. This you want.

Gigabyte GN-LC05
Supplier Gigabyte
Website www.giga-byte.com.au
Price $TBA

If you’ve upgraded to a PCI Express based system with a couple of PCI-E x1 slots, you’ve probably wondered when they might be put to good use. This is one such pathway. Previously, delivering true gigabit Ethernet via an add-in card required the use of a 64-bit PCI slot as the standard desktop 32-bit PCI slot doesn’t have the necessary bandwidth. Don’t let its size fool you – as tiny as this looks, it delivers a sweet blow to the ol’ Cat.5 cable. All you need now is a gigabit switch for some rampaging LAN goodness.

Sunbeam Smart Fan Controller
Supplier XCOM Tech
Website www.xcom.com.au
Price $19

Smart fan controllers are for the lazy among us that prefer processors to turn electronic dials than have a rheobus, and this is no different. When its thermal probe detects an ambient temperature of 18°C to 32°C it adjusts the voltage of the two fan power lines from 40 to 100 percent respectively. It even has LED lights in it – four of them. So when the temp hits 42°C or higher, it bleeps and flashes its LEDs at you. Give your fans intelligence and plug them into this shiny pyramid.