Week of May 15, 2011

If you’ve broken, lost or squashed the standard headset that comes with each Xbox 360, you don’t just have to buy another Microsoft-branded one. There are plenty of third party headsets of varying quality and some – like the GameCom X10 – can be found for less than the official version.

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Today's contender for the mini-ITX crown is the ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe. Being based on the H67 the chances of extreme overclocking are nil, but for use in a HTPC build it offers all (and I mean ALL) the features one would want in such a motherboard. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a multitude of video connections are just a few of what this new motherboard has to offer.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe DEALS & PRICING

While testing may have been necessary to prove the performance claims regarding the Seagate GoFlex Slim 320GB USB 3.0 hard drive, the other key selling point is blatantly obvious with just a casual glance. The GoFlex Slim lives up to its name, as it is ultra-compact in all directions, especially its thickness. At just 9mm thick it is about as thin as some bare 2.5" drives.

CLICK HERE FOR Seagate GoFlex Slim 320GB DEALS & PRICING

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The Rasurbo Real&Power 550W PSU arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review from Technic3D the next PSU with two +12V rails (28A/20A), 120mm Fan, 5x SATA hard disk connectors and 2x PCI-e 6+2-Pin.

If you’ve broken, lost or squashed the standard headset that comes with each Xbox 360, you don’t just have to buy another Microsoft-branded one. There are plenty of third party headsets of varying quality and some – like the GameCom X10 – can be found for less than the official version.

This pocket camera comes with compromises, but a $90 price tag and dead-simple operation help balance the Canon PowerShot A800's lack of optical image stabilization and HD-video capture. It also delivers good, clean, sharp images, along with solid speeds.

CLICK HERE FOR Canon PowerShot A800 DEALS & PRICING

HIS has taken the AMD HD 6790 reference design, increased its clock speeds and slapped their new IceQ X thermal solution on it. The result is a solid HD 6790 card that is about 5% faster than the AMD version, which delivers awesome temperatures and good overclocking potential.

The Corsair Graphite 600T Special Edition is the next PC-Case in the Technic3D Editorship. The 600T supports ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards and have place for three Cooling-Fans and a Watercooling Kit. We will check this and many more in the following Review.

CLICK HERE FOR Corsair Graphite 600T DEALS & PRICING

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Today, we have the SteelSeries 7H Headset to review. It boasts a pull out microphone, is travel friendly (by being able to dismantle into 4 pieces), features rich clean sound and has interchangeable ear cushions. Let’s take a closer look at the 7H.

CLICK HERE FOR SteelSeries 7H Pro Gaming Headset DEALS & PRICING

Corsair's Obsidian Series of computer cases took the world by storm not too long ago. As a new case manufacturer they decided to leave all the glitz and glamour at the door to instead opt for a refined and unified look. With almost unparalleled cable routing, superb design for water coolers, and its utilitarian design, the Corsair Obsidian 800D won Legit Review's Innovation award. Now Corsair has been hard at work developing a new chassis for the Obsidian line of computer cases and the 650D is the brand new Mid-Tower for that lineup. The first images of the much anticipated Corsair Obsidian Series 650D chassis showed up at CES 2011 and the case hit store shelves in April 2011 with a current price of $179.99 with a two year warranty. Images are out and it is obvious that Corsair took large notes from their success with the Graphite Series 600T Mid-Tower when they made the 650D. Today we're going to take a look at the Corsair 650D and see if it has the ability to grab our coveted Editor's Choice award like its brothers, the 600T and 700D...

Today we are looking at Zotac’s take on the new Nvidia GTX560, a card which should NOT be confused with the GTX560 ‘Ti’. The Ti was released at the start of the year and is a higher end part targeting a slightly different market. Nvidia have released the latest GTX560 to fill a void in the mid range where AMD are currently very strong. This card is set to deliver the final death blow to the previous generation GTX460, which was one of the best cards Nvidia have ever released.

CLICK HERE FOR Zotac GeForce GTX560 DEALS & PRICING

MSI's X-Slim lineup garnered industry-wide praise when launched a couple of years ago, and now the line-up is stepping up to Fusion. The X-Slim X370 is the company's newest ultraslim machine, and while it doesn't look too different than X-Slim machines of the past, the internals are definitely deserving of a closer look. The X370 is powered by a dual-core E-350 Accelerated Processing Unit, and it's joined by a very nice list of extras...

The first products to come to us from ineo Tech are the I-NA317U+ USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station and the 3.5” HDD Storage case. The ineo I-NA317U+ is a single HDD dock that accommodates 2.5” or 3.5” HDDs with no necessary adapters. Just drop in the drive and it's ready to go. The ineo I-NA317U+ also offers the convenience of true Plug & Play in Windows XP/Vista/7, Linux and Mac OSX. Included in the package is a USB 3.0 cable and power supply. The ineo 3.5” HDD Protection Box is perfect for storing your HDDs, and is shock, dust, and splash resistant to help keep your disks safe. The case features an embossed area for labeling and two blank labels are included.

The Azza Toledo 301 brings a lot of neat features to the table. It supports a 240mm radiator, so if water cooling is in your area of interest, than this is definitely an option to consider. It also features great tool-less solutions for the hard drives and optical drives. Sure, the wire management could have been better, due to the poor placement of the hard drive connectors, but in the long run it didn't impact performance - just aesthetics. The case is very upgrade-able, also being able to take on up to six additional fans.

The board deserves its high-end status, in terms of both build quality and features. It has a good cooling system and lets you achieve nice overclocking results.

CLICK HERE FOR MSI 890FXA-GD70 Motherboard DEALS & PRICING

It comes as no surprise that Thermaltake is now breaking into the audio market following the successes of its competitors. Their new Tt eSports Shock One Gaming Headset distinguishes itself with flashy design and integrated DTS Surround Sensation, contrasting to the more common Dolby Headphone technology. The performance of the Shock One is important to both Thermaltake and DTS as they challenge a market filled with competition. Benchmark Reviews will be pitting the new comer against other Dolby headsets like the Corsair HS1 and Logitech G930. One thing's for sure, while many other companies chose a relatively neutral design that suits a wider audience range, the Shock One has been built from the ground up for gamers.

CLICK HERE FOR Tt eSports Shock One Gaming Headset DEALS & PRICING

Well, after doing a quick Google search, I have absolutely no idea. It seems that Thermaltake's sub-brand Tt eSPORTS decided to flip the "eu" at the end of Azureus to make Azurues. See the difference? According to the all-knowing internet, the only thing that takes the name Azurues is the Tt eSPORTS Azurues. So what is this mouse based off of? It is not blue, it has no hind-legs for jumping, and it is not poisonous.

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS Azurues Optical Mouse DEALS & PRICING

The Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T is a streamlined case designed to bring full tower functionality with an emphasis on performance and style. The 600T comes with a user-selectable side panel (windowed or mesh), four 5.25″ bays, six hard drive bays with full SSD compatibility, an innovative cable routing system, and cooling from dual 200mm fans sporting white LEDs. The 600T also includes some up-market features, such as pre-cut holes in the motherboard tray with built-in rubber grommets, as well as plenty of room behind the motherboard to route cables for a clean, uncluttered interior. The optical drive bays are tool-free. The side panels easily detach thanks to built-in latch mechanisms, and an integrated fan controller allows you to choose between quiet operation or maximum cooling performance.

CLICK HERE FOR Corsair Graphite 600T DEALS & PRICING

CLICK HERE FOR TWEAKNEWS.NET'S REVIEW ON THIS PRODUCT

This 47-inch LED-backlit set employs passive 3D technology to deliver outstanding 3D imagery with the use of lightweight, inexpensive glasses that can be worn comfortably for hours. But that's only part of the story: inky blacks, excellent color quality, low power usage, and a robust feature set all help to make the 47LW5600 our latest Editors' Choice 3D TV.

CLICK HERE FOR LG Infinia 47LW5600 DEALS & PRICING

After the Define and Array cases, the gloves come off and Fractal Design is jumping into the fray with a classic chassis aimed at the higher end mid-range market. We take the Arc for a spin to see if it keeps us and our hardware afloat in the battle or if the existing players in this price segment have the bigger guns.

Picking a video card in today's age is a tough decision, amongst all the choices of not only manufacturers, but also models. Sapphire has proven to fellow reviewers and me to be a name that can be not only be trusted in terms of support and customer service, but depended upon when it comes the newest technology available.

I've become quite a fan of the new GTX 560 thanks to the aggressive price tag NVIDIA have chosen to go with. At $199 US it's a fantastic valued card and combined with the fact NVIDIA have let its partners go a little crazy straight away with the model helps make the launch more interesting than others.

Today we'll be looking at the ASUS version of the card which carries the DirectCU II label, which we know means we're going to be looking at an awesome cooler while the TOP label that's also present lets us know we're going to have quite the overclock out of the box.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS GeForce GTX 560 DEALS & PRICING

The latest Toshiba Enterprise class MBF2450RC 2.5 inch SAS hard disk drive is not only power friendly but it also delivers impressive read/write speeds thanks to a rotational speed of 10k thus offering the same performance levels as the best 3.5 inch 7200RPM drives currently available in the market.

CLICK HERE FOR Toshiba MBF2450RC 450GB SAS HDD DEALS & PRICING

Zalman has for years had coolers that were a very nice balance of unique style and performance. The CNPS11X is no different; it has unique looks with solid performance, and does it quietly. The overall looks of the CNPS11X are nice. The Black Pearl nickel plating and blue LED fan gives the cooler some flare while not being overbearing. The new V or triangle design is definitely different for a tower cooler, which something that sets it apart from the crowd. Like the old barrel style coolers this can be spotted from across the room and you can know who made it..

CLICK HERE FOR TWEAKNEWS.NET'S REVIEW ON THIS PRODUCT

There have been many Solid State Drives released in the last couple of months, and today we are looking at the new 240GB Vertex 3 from OCZ which is tagged with the ‘Max IOPS’ moniker. This drive has been tuned for users who require greater transactional throughput.

There’s something about a board with a single PCI Express slot that seems to make it weaker somehow. The fact is, the large majority of computer users out there only use a single video card. That makes spending the extra money on a board with features you’ll never use kind of a waste. And, given economic uncertainties, there are a lot of people looking to make the cheapest jump possible to new technology like INTEL’s Sandy Bridge. That’s where the new ASRock P67 Pro3 motherboard seems to excel. Let’s see if “super budget” means more or less performance.

While looking at the back, one notices the red interior color, which is also present on the rear around the Motherboard I/O and expansion slots. Like many case manufacturers are doing now, CoolerMaster also chose to mount the PSU at the bottom of the case. The top panel of the case features the ability to accept either a 120mm or 140mm fan. The bottom of the case includes a fan hole if you choose to mount your PSU so the fan is facing downward and the case does include a fan filter for this application. The bottom also features round rubber feet to resist slipping.

CLICK HERE FOR Cooler Master Centurion 5 DEALS & PRICING

As more and more professional devices are moving to SDHC, having a high end card like the Patriot Memory LX Pro provides the ability for fast speed and response time when taking photos or recording HD video. The comfort of knowing that your card can react as quickly as you can on the moments that count the most is unprecedented.

Ever dream of a mid tower case that had four hot swap internal SATA drive bays that you could access easily? Of course the case would have to have plenty of fans for cooling, and a pass thru ventilation design for the PSU to reduce heating the internal components. And of course, you would want your mechanical drives to be noise isolated. It might also help if the case had a cool look with a back lit LED fan to kind of show it all off. Hey let's throw in water cooling holes just in case, and what would be nice is if the price was affordable. Perhaps less than a hundred bucks?

CLICK HERE FOR TWEAKNEWS.NET'S REVIEW ON THIS PRODUCT

The P8P67 Pro is one of the latest Cougar Point motherboards from ASUS for the LGA 1155 “Sandy Bridge” architecture. Targeted between the basic P8P67 and the Deluxe, the motherboard aims to bring nearly all of the power of the Deluxe, at a more modest price point. The P8P67 Pro brings choices to the table. Without the added cost of a PCIE PLX chip, the Pro still brings 3 PCIE x16 slots and 2 PCIE x1 slots into play leaving the exact configuration up to the user, because not all slots can run at the same time.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS P8P67 Pro DEALS & PRICING

Nvidia has released another model of videocard on the market. Will this one be popular, or will it contribute to the model number confusion and and continue to flood the videocard market with version that are not needed. Read on to find out.

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Its on folks, after a few years of being stonewalled, XSR is back working with OCZ; and what a good way to get back into the swing of things. Today it’s the OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD that we’re looking into; hopefully it’s not the last one we’ll do either, so I better do I good job; though I can’t give them an easy time either, what a dilemna.

The Buffalo CloudStor Pro (2TB) is an easy-to-setup networked attached storage (NAS) device that allows you to remotely access your files from any networked computer and from a remote location via computer or supported wireless device. It works quite well, but it does lack in security features and speed.

The SteelSeries Siberia Neckband Headset arrived Technic3D. SteelSeries Siberia Neckband is now available in an alternate design for mobile devices like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. The redesigned headset offers brand new features that include a single 3.5mm jack and an in-line remote. The easy to access in-line remote can be used to answer calls, control volume, as well as a quick button access for play/pause and fast forward. We will check this and more in the following Review.

So let's go back to basics and start from the beginning. A computer system is nothing without sufficient cooling much like a car performs better when at an optimum temperature, whereas some develop faults with cold starts. Think of computers as the other way round, as hot temperatures can lead to catastrophic failure and a nice cool, chilled system will run flawlessly 99.99999% of the time.

Thanks to its enterprise grade build quality, blazing fast speeds and 3TB of space the latest Constellation ES.2 3TB SATA 3 hard disk drive by Seagate has simply managed to pull ahead from the competition.

I remember vividly when Silverstone released the Raven RV02. It has been one of the stand out products for me in the last decade, utilising the simple theory that ‘heat rises’ as the foundation of the design. Until then I had been astonished that no chassis designer had built a case from the ground up with a pure focus on vertical airflow. Today we are looking at the third incarnation of the design, the RV03.

Onza Tournament Edition from RAZER is an XBOX 360 controller which brings some benefits over the standard controller, like analog sticks with adjustable tension, face buttons with blacklight, extra programmable buttons or longer triggers; also, the rubberized non-slip surface comes only with the Tournament Edition version.

We've tested most processors from Intel, but no due attention has been paid to a lot of CPUs from AMD. Today we shall make amends and examine as many as five affordable processors from this company.

Let us not get too carried away with the "bacony" goodness of the Max 5G. Many would have expected this "meaty" enclosure to make a lot of noise, considering it incorporates two fans. With two fans, one would at least expect to hear much of the fan noise. However, after turning it on for quite some time, it was actually not too bad. Continuing on with my daily chores, it almost made me think the fans were not even on, but the stylish blue LEDs convinced me otherwise. I am not sure what is with all the blue LED fans that manufactures keep using on almost all the electronics I use, but it is almost getting to the point where my computer is now a glowing blue monster in the middle of the night.

The LapAir was designed with easy access to the fan, making cleaning simple and quick. A wire management groove has been cut along its backside (insert your own “groove in the backside” joke [here]) to help keep the USB wire that powers it protected and out of the way. The LapAir also features a USB port extender so that you will not have to worry about losing a valuable USB connection in order to use the cooler. We will be tossing the NotePal LapAir on our test bench lap to see just how well it performs.

Speedlink are a German company who are well known for making budget peripherals, such as mice, keyboards, cables, speakers, controllers and headsets for PCs, laptops and consoles. With the Strike FX, they have created a Playstation-like wireless controller which is compatible with both Windows PCs and the PS3 itself.

This makes it a good base for the HIS 6790 IceQ X Turbo Graphics Card which expands on this with uprated Core and Memory clocks. A default card comes clocked at 840/1050 while the HIS 6790 IceQ X Turbo Graphics Card comes out-of-the-box at 900/1100. We also managed to squeeze a little extra from the Core and took our sample to 920. Not a particularly large increase, but the memory jumped all the way to 1200MHz without issue. In games, the HIS 6790 IceQ X Turbo Graphics Card does very nicely, and would suit a single 1080p monitor well. Despite this, the HIS 6790 IceQ X Turbo Graphics Card does have all the ports and features needed for some Eyefinity action, although I would expect to see a need to run at reduced detail settings for the higher resolution.

Zalman is well known for their vast array of quality cooling products and today, that’s no exception. Today we get to take a look at the Zalman CNPS9900 MAX CPU Cooler, which can come with either red or blue (we have) LEDs. Its circular design features a dual heatsink design with a centered 135mm ultra quiet fan. This goes along well with its black-pearl nickel plating all over the cooler. With this cooler keep up with the cooling quality of Zalman? Read on further to find out.

CLICK HERE FOR Zalman CNPS9900 MAX PRICING

CLICK HERE FOR TWEAKNEWS.NET'S REVIEW ON THIS PRODUCT

AMD launched yet another Deneb SKU, named Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition, and clocked to yet another all time fastest from AMD - 3.70 GHz. After recent price cuts, Phenom II X4 980 will cost around $185, which puts it back to back with Intel's locked SB models Core i5 2400 and 2500. This may be the last time for our friend to shine and battle out with the competition.

HTPC's and home servers are becoming a popular fad at this present time and as more consumers are jumping on this band wagon, more companies are feeling the need to fill the market with new products. This is where market leader Lian Li step in with the PC-C50B case, designed perfectly for server and HTPC use no matter who you are and what your needs are. This was obviously all added with the addition of low powered components from AMD and Intel in the form of Fusion and Sandy Bridge.

Today we are fortunate enough to be reviewing the CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G gaming mouse, an updated model from the Sentinel Advance that we reviewed back in 2009. The Sentinel Advance received a gold award from Vortez.net, so let’s see how the improved specification of the Z3RO-G fares.

CLICK HERE FOR CM Storm Sentinel PRICING

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This is changing with the Cooler Master NotePal LapAir Notebook Cooler. The NotePal LapAir puts a new bit of versatility in the Cooler Master lineup. The LapAir comes with a near noiseless fan with exceptional cooling performance. There is a sponge mat on the bottom for a new level of lap comfort. Cooler Master included a removable mesh grill on the top, over the fan, for easy cleaning access. To power the LapAir, there is a USB connector that also acts as a pass through so the laptop doesn't lose a USB port. There are also groves underneath for easy USB cable management. The LapAir is compatible with all laptops up to 17 inches.

Phison SSDs aren't as well-known to computer hardware enthusiasts as those controllers from SandForce or Indilinx. For many within the industry, SandForce dominated the 2010 market in much the same way that Indilinx did throughout 2009. But not everyone can afford the premium brand names, or desire the fastest solid state drive technology. Building on the name of their budget Torqx TRB product line that came in 32/64GB capacities, Patriot Memory issues the Torqx 2 series for high-performance power users with capacity up to 256GB. The Patriot Torqx 2 SSD is specified to offer 270 MB/s reads over the SATA 3.0 GB/s interface, with write speed reaching 230 MB/s. In this article, Benchmark Reviews confirms these results by testing the Patriot Torqx 2 on a B3-stepping Sandy Bridge platform with plenty of bandwidth headroom.