Week of November 16, 2008

"The new Signature Series from Antec is a premium power supply line, which means that products from this series (so far 650 W and 850 W models were launched) have tighter specs. For example, voltage regulation is set at 3% instead of 5% (7% instead of 10% for the -12 V output). Between the lines the manufacturer says this line has a very high efficiency, although on the specs table they list efficiency as "80% minimum". Signature 650, also known as SG-650, features a half modular cabling system and only one 80-mm fan, which the manufacturer says is quieter than other 80-mm solutions. Let's see what is really inside this power supply and why it is so much more expensive than other units."

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Sleek-Audio's much anticipated Custom earphones are put to the test, pitted against the usual suspects in the in-ear arena. These new Custom in-ears can be customized in any thinkable way, right from the frequency response, to the color and artwork on the shell.

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"The Gears of War Edition Zune has a 120gb capacity, which should be more than enough for anyone really, and it of course comes packed with all kinds of things pertaining to Gears of War 2, including videos, stills, concept art, backgrounds, the full soundtrack and quite a bit more "

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This anti-guide is targeted to a wide range of people. Some are parents who are out of touch with their teenagers (and twenty-somethings). Others are grandparents who think the latest trend-knockoff on QVC would make a perfect gift. Some are girlfriends who just don't know what their technology-enabled boyfriend would want.

So far we have tested GIGABYTE’s EX58-UD5 in our Core i7 CPU review and we have just recently given the P6T Deluxe the tick of approval as well, but ASUS isn’t stropping there. P6T is actually aimed at the mainstream and enthusiast sector, where today’s contender is aimed more so at the extreme and hardcore users. Running under the name of the Republic of Gamers series, the Rampage II is ASUS’ second Core i7 model to hit the market.

If you are a hardcore gamer and you like first-person shooters, the Cyber Snipa Game Pad 2 is something you should consider. It is a great improvement over the keyboard in terms of both form and function - it is more compact and the buttons are organized to be exactly where you expect them.

"Logitech spouts out peripherals year after year and never ceases to impress us with their creative innovations. Their new MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse is no exception. With its advanced technology and a striking appearance, Logitech continues its success in the high-end mouse market. But is shelling out the money for a flashy upgrade worth it?"

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We've had a far better experience with this board than we have had with the DS3R - it feels more stable, more reliable, it looks better and for £100 it's good value too. It's not the most feature rich P45 on the market - it's missing dual LAN and CrossFire - but not everyone wants those, and there are lots of different P45s on the market to cater for every possible whim. It still has a very useful eight SATA, great audio, a superb BIOS and plenty of PCI and PCI-Express for expansion - all these are genuinely useful additions and not marketing gimmicks or "nice idea, probably won't ever use" like Asus' Express Gate.

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Picking out a new graphics card is easier to do now than ever, as there seems to be a model to cover every single price-range, and not just from one single GPU manufacturer, either. Today's card is one that represents the ~$125 price spot and is designed as a step-up from the 9600 GT, with ASUS applying their usual TLC to help add even more appeal.

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"Heat spreaders on memory modules are nothing new; they first saw use on RAMBUS memory back around the turn of the century, and quickly caught on in the enthusiast memory market as a means to help dissipate extra heat brought on through higher performance. More recently manufacturers have taken to incorporating heatpipes and additional banks of fins to provide even better cooling capacity. The Thermaltake RamOrb takes this idea one step further by adding a fan directly to the heatsink."

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"Keeping this case clean and up to date is made easy, thanks to the removable motherboard tray. Installing hardware was a breeze, nearly everything can be done outside the case, leaving you ample space to work. The processor's heatsink backplate can even be changed just by taking off a side panel. Speaking of heatsinks, the case can accommodate up to 200mm high coolers, so even the tallest ones out there will fit without a hitch. The whole enclosure is also a breeze to take apart, especially after a quick glance over the well detailed manual, making maintenance that much more enjoyable. Fortunately, there is an air filter in front of each intake in order to keep dust outside as much as possible."

“That area where Thermalright has just recently come into it's own, is the videocard market; first with the HR-03, then the GT, and now-a-days with the GTX. But alas, not every user can afford the 5 slots that cooler eats up when a fan is strapped to it. That's where the T-Rad coolers come into play. By sacrificing just two slots after your graphics card, you too can keep it chilly with either 2x92mm or 1x120mm fans. Will it turn out to be a winning blow? There's only one way to find out - tear it from the package, slap it on a card, throw in a healthy measure of thermoster, and finally... we'll see how it does. Come on in, this is going to be an interesting one.”

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“Formula 1 circus has a lot fanatical followers and many of them cheer for most successful team in history of Formula racing, Italian Scuderia Ferrari. This phenomenal “stable” isn’t connected only with “studs” but through numerous licenses, Ferrari is linked with some products that aren’t in any correlation with race cars. Among sundry articles from sneakers to Segway you can find even TFT monitors with Ferrari brand that are produced by Acer. We are now presenting to you 22inch model produced in limited series and each TFT has unique identification number…”

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So there are really two takes on this card today. The XFX GTX 260 216 Black Edition is the fastest available GeForce GTX 260 card on the market with a clock speed exceeding the reference clock speeds by 90 MHz. At this moment the price point on the card is $299 after a $30 Mail in Rebate from Newegg. The obvious competition at the moment is the ATI HD 4870 cards and the performance spectrum is interesting on both. The higher clock speed versus the standard GTX 260 cards allows for near GTX 280 performance levels, which is quite an achievement from a gamer's point of view.

"We get bleary-eyed checking out all the new HDTVs. Bigger, better and cheaper are this year's watchwords in a nutshell. And yet, if you walk into a decent retailer (i.e. Magnolia in your local Best Buy) and gaze over a wide expanse of higher-end flat panels, one series always stands out: Pioneer's Kuro plasma HDTV line. Consistently rated by everyone with 20/20 vision as the best available, we couldn't wait to put the new Elite Pro-111FD through its paces. Although wonderful, though, one huge drawback for the product family is the simple fact that featured selections are wildly-expensive compared to plasma market-share leader Panasonic's offerings. For example: A top-end (and very good) 1080p 50-inch Panasonic TH-50PZ850U is $2,999 and the entry-level 1080p TH-50PZ80U is $2000 (it's not too shabby either). The same-sized Kuro? Try $5,000 for a top-end Elite or "only" $4,000 for a plain vanilla Pioneer. And this, before we even consider manufacturers like Vizio, who offer similar-sized models for around $1,500. But hey, what can we say: Even in this horrible economic environment, it's still nice to dream of have the scratch to purchase a luxury HDTV. Hit the jump to see how well this new set fared."

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"AMD had a display set up for the media that showed overclocking performance that included air cooling, TEC/Water Cooling, Phase Change Cooling, and lastly liquid nitrogen cooling for the top end. The overclocking performance ranged from just under 4GHz to over 6GHz on the LN2 system..."

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Cases and more cases, if you look at the market you will find various cases from small to big towers and even HTPC cases, but the queston is how are you supposed to know which is right for you. Thermaltake is a big case manufacturers and have supplied the market with reliable and high quality cases for a longer period now, we are going to take a look at their V9 case today that seems to be a normal sized miditower case but with the extra twist to it.

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"A while ago, having a webcam was considered a luxury; nowadays, with VoIP technology and the instant messenger boom, the peripheral ceased to be considered superfluous and became almost essential in this world of social networking, online dating and virtual meetings. Gone is the time of sphere-shaped webcams that blurred the user's face - now the market has some pretty advanced choices, like the top tier option from Logitech, the QuickCam Pro 9000. Among its several advanced features, it captures high-definition video and compensates for poor lightning. Let's first describe the product and then proceed to our test."

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"If you've already made up your mind in purchasing a Radeon HD 4850 ... then you have to take a look at the HIS ICEQ4 Radeon HD 4850 TurboX first. It offers excellent performance, great features and superb value for money. The HIS ICEQ4 Radeon HD 4850 TurboX has proven that it's excellent graphics card for the mainstream gamer."

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Equipped with two 140mm and four 120mm fans this case from NZXT is build to provide a maximum of airflow to the components installed inside. It is a mid-sized tower case with enough room to fit high end VGA cards and third party CPU coolers. We compare the performance of the NZXT Tempest to our multitude of competitors, read on to find out if this case is truly the Airflow King.

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The growing demand of PC users for high-end products and outstanding performance has initiated Lian Li to declare a new series of Power Supply Units (PSU) entitled “MAXIMA Force”. Lian Li is well known for its top notch computer cases, but what do we know about their power supplies.

This card reader is feature rich in that it has something that not many other card readers have, 12v/5v output for external storage along with the many other features, it is easy to use because there are no drivers, and it comes with a very clear and effective instruction guide, it is very fast, and is not too expensive, though most card readers can be had for $10+ cheaper. This is a stellar product.

"The TRUE Copper is the best performing air cooler [H]ardOCP has ever tested. The TRUE Copper is also the most expensive air cooler we have ever tested. If you're looking for the very best air cooling heat sink on the market, price be damned, then you've found it."

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The Thermaltake BlacX SE hard drive dock provides a convenient way to access 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch SATA drives without installing them in a computer, or in an external drive enclosure. You can swap out drives quickly and easily, and while the speed isn't what you might want for frequent, large transfers, it is quite good for USB 2.0.

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How things have change over the last couple of years with the computer power supply. It used to be that 500W was all you needed to power your system, but today we find 1kW and higher power supplies in many enthusiasts' systems. Of course, this is all because of the SLI and CrossFire technologies that have taken off since they first appeared. It's is possible to find many systems with two graphic cards or even three graphics cards, and sometimes the ones with only two cards each consist of two GPU cores, bringing the total to four GPU's. These high performance graphic cards draw insane amounts of power.

Unlike any other offerings weve seen from Antec the Skeleton is unique in every way. The Skeleton utilises a completely open air design, radically different from a traditional case. Antec has created something more akin to a test bench, attempting to bring the concept to a more mainstream audience. Hopefully the innovative Skeleton can live up to Antecs reputation and prove to be a viable option for enthusiasts and overclockers.

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But in the meantime for the enthusiast we have DDR3 that is topping 2000MHz at 1.8 volts. To me and many people that are gamers and overclockers is the way to go. Speed, power and the fun factor is just too much to not get excited about. Today we have OCZ's SLI Edition of 2000MHz DDR3. Matched with a good 790i motherboard like the EVGA Ultra and some dual Nvidia video cards has the making of being one hell of a rig.

"That time in the past where the need for system memory of less than a gigabyte has come and gone and is but a distant memory. Welcome to the now where operating systems can make use of 4 gigabytes or more of system memory. The Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3 PC3 10600 modules deliver performance with a little extra bling for the guys and gals who like to show off the innards of their system. In my testing I found the Crucial modules superior to all of the modules I have tested to date. The only weak spot was the memory bandwidth and 1024x768 gaming score, this was however a small enough difference that in day to day operation you would never see at the performance differential. The tight timings do help with the performance of these modules. Even though some of the comparison modules are running tighter timings they come close but do not deliver the same performance."

Today we are releasing the third review in our Core i7 series which focuses on the features and performance of the Intel Core i7-920. The Core i7-920 is considered to be the processor for the mainstream consumer primarily because of its price to performance ratio. The i7-920 doesn't have the unlocked multipliers that its more mature sibling does, but it is still a quite capable chip with its 2.66 GHz factory clock. We intend to share all of our findings and hope after reading this review you will have a much better understanding of the Core i7 family in general and the i7-920 in specific. We also plan to go into as complete of a discussion as possible on everything you can do to enhance capabilities this processor brings to the table. Unfortunately we don't have a QX9770, Intel's previous "King of the Hill", to compare the i7-920 to; but we should note that in all the test results we've seen the i7-920 (model BX80601920) outp! erforms the QX9770 in all processor dependant tasks. So the only true competition for the i7-920 are the other members of the Core i7 family which we will be testing for comparison purposes.

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"Last year at CES, we saw OCZ Technology's first bid to the mouse market with their Equalizer gaming mouse. The Equalizer had all the makings of a good mouse—on-the-fly DPI switching, back and forward buttons, a nice rubber feel, even two sizes. Today we have for review OCZ's next try at a gaming mouse, the Dominatrix (I know, right?)."

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"Ok, a few days ago I took a look at the Vantec AeroFlow FX120, today I've got the little brother to that cooler, the AeroFlow FX 92. How does it compare to the larger version? Read on to find out... "

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"nVidia is launching today a new version of GeForce GTX 260 with 216 processors instead of 192 to better compete with Radeon HD 4870. In fact nVidia is pitching to reviewing websites that this new GeForce GTX 260 is faster than Radeon HD 4870 for the top latest games released (FarCry 2, Fallout 3, Dead Space, Call of Duty World at War and Left 4 Dead). Let's see the performance increase brought by this new model and how it is compared to other nVidia products and competitors - including Radeon HD 4870, of course."

"We've all heard the expressions "you get what you pay for" and "nothing in this world is free" before. But as any online-savvy computer user can tell you, if you spent some time in cyberspace you might beg to differ. Literally hundreds of free programs are available (as downloadable software or online-only applications) that are guaranteed to increase fun and productivity, yet won't cost you a dime. And while these offerings might be as feature-rich as their paid counterparts, you might just be surprised at the scope and quality of the selection that's out there today. Ready to enjoy the best for less? Put away your wallet and take heed to the following freebies."

With the US economy nearly in the tank we as computer users are smart to compare and find the best cost to performance ratio whether we are buying a processor or a video card. Using this criteria if you are looking for a video card that won't break the bank, but will surprise you with clock speeds it is capable of reaching. Then the video card you want is the Sapphire HD 4830, in our review we were able to OC the memory speed by by more than 20%.

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Well that something is power supplies. Its not like the Coolermaster is new to power supplies but the new Ultimate line from them is poised to be a big hit with the consumers due to the stability and the efficiency of the unit. But with a name like Ultimate Coolermaster has better offer more than efficiency and stability but power and looks to make the potential buyer to even consider it for their new rig. Today we will be taking a look at the smaller of the line in form of a 700 watt power house.

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"The V8 from Cooler Master is a very unique looking cooler that performs quite well. In the cooler world today it is getting harder to tell one tower cooler from another. This is not the case with the V8. With its crazy heatpipe bends and the fan shroud it makes the cooler stand out. Combined with the fact it really can perform, to me this makes the V8 a very attractive cooler..."

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"Crucial have always been one of the more popular high-end memory manufacturers, with their Crucial Ballistix kits being an overclockers favourite. However, Crucial do another kit, known as the Ballistix Tracer sporting black heatspreaders and fancy LED lighting. Let's see if they're as good as we hope."

"There is not a single game in this performance preview that is unplayable at either maximum or close to maximum settings. Something that can be appreciated after the Crysis bomb was dropped and was found to be all but unplayable with any real quality if you wanted a decent FPS. So where on the price ladder do the latest cards fall? A valid question when your hard earned dollars are at stake. Well, with a quick search on Newegg I found that the HD4870 512MB could be had for as little as $210 while the 1GB version ran as low as $265, both solidly in the middle and lower end of the range. For the boys in green the GTX260/216 core can be had for as little as $229, while the lowest price on a factory overclocked card came in at $239, $25 cheaper than the 1GB HD4870. At least in this game and hardware comparison you have to give the Nvidia camp the win. The company is now competing on price as well as performance and seem to be on the winning side of the fence this go around. The margin is slim at times but higher performance with a decent price will always come out on top for the price conscious buyer, that being most of us!"

It's that time of year again and Christmas is around the corner. The year's hottest games are about to be released and it's time to look at new Tech Toys to make your year's gaming experience the best it can be. This year we decided to go with a price point comparison of two of the best GPU's out there, the Nvidia GTX-260 Core 216 vs the ATI 4870 1 GB edition in a head-to-head 5 game Hottest Title Shootout. Both of the selected GPU's are at the same price point roughly $300 (USD). The ATI card has 1GB of memory and the Nvidia card has 896MB of memory, and it's going to matter. We're testing at uber resolutions for this shootout. The lowest resolution is 1920x1200 and the highest resolution is 2560x1600 with AA set at 4x and AF set by the game.

On the whole, I've been pleasantly surprised at the HannsG HG221AP's performance in our battery of tests – it's not only on a par many of the other 22-inchers we've seen recently, but it surpassed many of them when it came to image quality and/or colour vibrancy. That's not to say it's perfect though, and nor is it the best 22-incher on the market by a long stretch. But it is one of the cheapest.

Asus has always been one of the computer industry's leading innovators, being the first to field many new ideas and support new platforms. The introduction of Core i7 is no exception. Asus had initial offerings of X58 Core i7 motherboards in production before Core i7 even made market. Their early jump on the socket 1366 Core i7 platform shows heavily in the Asus P6T Deluxe. No features were overlooked, nothing was skimped on, and they fielded a fully functional, feature rich board capable of driving SLI and Crossfire on demand so that you don't have to be afraid that better motherboards will come out later. They might come out with other motherboards, but we seriously doubt any will come out better or stronger than the Asus P6T Deluxe.

With the Intel X48 based Rampage Extreme leaving it mark as an outstanding board, it was sure we hadn't seen the end of the Rampage. With the advent of the Intel Core i7 CPU and Intel's X58 chipset, Asus brings to us the Rampage II Extreme, a motherboard for gamers and enthusiasts alike. Will this one live up with extreme features like its older brother?

“This is one of those few times when you'll hear me say it: Get this product! Though it requires a spot of its very own in the room, and tends to be quite on the heavy side, this case manages to move a LOT of air in near silence (if the sound of air moving doesn't bother you).”

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A lot of enthusiasts set aback by the high cost of the current generation of GPU's are looking for GPU's that will still provide good FPS in demanding games, but are a little more pocket friendly. That usually means the last generation of GPU's which still provide plenty of punch, just not in the pocket. We're reviewing a single XFX 9800GTX+ Black Edition, but with the scaling improving on SLI a couple of these beauties on a 775 or 1366 socket board would yield pretty sweet results.

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"We took a quick look on MA78GM-S2H a socket AM2+ motherboard from Gigabyte targeted to AMD CPUs targeted to HTPC (Home Theater PC) or "media center" computers. This motherboard is based on AMD 780G chipset with ATI SB700 south bridge chip. Because of the available features this board isn't targeted to the low-end market but to PCs that require a lot of multimedia features, which is an expanding market right now. It uses the micro-ATX form factor, so you can install it on a smaller case targeted to this class of computers."

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" ... the Tsunami MJR2 Slim HTPC chassis is aimed at the HTPC user who's on budget. What makes it attractive to these users ... is the price, it's unbeatable ... but don't expect the world from it."

"Considering how the XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition already has a significant overclock I wasn't expecting much in the way of overclocking headroom. That being said, the results were incredible. I was able to get the core up to 739Mhz, the shaders up to 1557MHz, and the memory up to 1285MHz. This was a 73MHz core overclock, 153MHz shader overclock, and a 286MHz memory overclock."

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"In this review we'll analyze performance of a single processor core in comparison with two main competitors. For this purpose we'll use two motherboards -- Biostar TPower I45 (IP45A-A7P) and ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP -- that allow disabling all CPU cores but one in BIOS."

For the recently published Silverstone La Scala SST LC02B HTPC enclosure review, it is now time for a HTPC guide, which explains step by step how to build a living room PC. This beginners guide shows how easy it can be to build a PC for the living room. If you have a few hardware components, for example from your last PC upgrade and like to tinker a HTPC, then you should not miss this guide.

If you are looking for an extremely compact and stylish portable hard drive, the new Seagate Free Agent Go series is definitely worth checking out. While the aesthetics are a strong selling point, Seagate didn't sacrifice the performance in order to produce a pretty product. It may not offer the high speed transfers available with an eSATA drive, but the USB 2.0 interface performed quite respectably during testing.

Despite delivering both excellent thermal and gameplay performance on the whole, we can’t help but feel that the Gainward HD 4870 1024MB Golden Sample is a little bit of a letdown, especially considering the £30 price premium it carries over the stock HD 4870 1GB. For that extra fifteen percent of investment the in game frame rate returns are generally around the two to three percent mark thanks to the very conservative core overclock, which is pretty disappointing.

Need a solid motherboard offering for that brand-new Core i7 processor? ASUS' first "mainstream" X58 board proves to be a true winner, offering a feature-packed and well-thought-out design, support for both CrossFireX and SLI, plentiful accessories and overclocking potential to keep enough the most hardcore enthusiast pleased.

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Scythe is one of those companies like Thermalright that is known for making some awesome coolers. One of my all time favorites is the Ninja. A cooler that gave the other companies something to worry about. But like the other companies Scythe has decided to try and conquer the GPU cooling market. Their attempt comes in the form of the Musashi. The Musashi is a two heat pipe cooler that is aimed at cooling many of today's mainstream video adapters like the ATI HD4870 and the Nvidia 9800GTX.

Are you looking for a budget graphic card for your HTPC with enough kick to really game with? A graphic card that is energy efficient but also has enough power to play the latest and greatest games. If that's not enough for you how about you throw in 320 stream processing units, up to 1GB of memory and support for Microsoft DirectX®10.1 games, the ability to watch Blu-Ray movies and play HD content. Well Sapphire Tech has done just that with the HD 4650 OC edition graphics card. Not possible you say?

The most popular computer case designs get licensed out to other manufacturers all the time, so it's not surprising that Cooler Master has re-launched the ATCS 840 after their own previously modeled design. The full-tower RC-840 chassis is built on the principal of cooling performance, which is where it receives its name. ATCS stands for Advanced Thermal Cooling Solution, and the RC-840 has more than enough room inside to accomplish this task in short order. In this articles, Benchmark Reviews tests the black aluminum-alloy RC-840-KKN1-GP model and explores the various configurations gamers and enthusiasts can expect from this enclosure.

When we first reviewed the GTX 260 with 216 SPs, we mentioned that every company would be calling their card something different and it turns out that we were spot on with that assessment. All of Nvidia's major partners have their hands in this new 216 SP cookie jar so it is only natural that BFG would release their own overclocked versions of this card. Much like their competitors, they have chosen a unique name with their new MAXCORE designation for the "unlocked" GTX 260 cards.

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"As the first Blackberry clamshell phone ever, the Pearl Flip is designed for a specific cross-section of mobile users: Those who don't really need a full QWERTY keyboard. Note that the original Pearl, still a viable alternative, started the trend of predictive type, where the truncated keypad automatically fills in words and letters as you enter them. The good news, of course, being that The Flip is just as useful. As long as, that is, you don't mind a steep learning curve."

"I was really impressed by the overclockability of MSI's 4830. In the end I was able to get a nearly 25% overclock on the RV770 core and a 20% overclock on the GDDR3 memory. The R4830 clocks in this review were initially adjusted using CCC and then AMD GPU Clock Tool. To reach my final overclock speeds I began by increasing the core and memory clocks in 25MHz increments until I hit 710/1025. Any speed above 710MHz on the core created instability. However, the memory didn't stop at 1025MHz. I was able to get the memory up to 1075MHz before hitting any instability. As you can see in the screen shot of CCC, even with such a heavy overclock the R4830 still idled at 37 degrees."

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Today we are reviewing the Microsoft Entertainment Desktop 8000 keyboard and mouse combo. This combo is specifically designed for use with any Home Theater PC. It provides all of the controls you will needed to operate Windows Media Center as well as the normal controls for all of Windows audio and visual functions. So come on along an take a look at this very nice combo that may be the very thing you ask your friend or spouse to give you for Christmas.

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“Even though the launching of “Barcelona” (previous server processor from AMD) was in city Barcelona, Spain, “Shanghai” was launched in Berlin, Germany, and not on Far East (as we expected). Presentation opened Ian McNaughton and opening word continued Emilio Ghilardi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, AMD EMEA, who will succeed next year Mr. Henry Richard on same position but worldwide. Considering that he’s relatively newcomer in AMD, with only few spent months in company, Ghilardi first spoke about reasons why he accepted new position regardless on situation in AMD…”

Every now and then various manufacturers publish strange products. Sometimes those products come with great success. Generally those products are fun for a week or two, and then they lie around your cabinet after the purchase. This time we have an opportunity to review Evercool’s Booster wrist cooler.

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"The Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 heatsink FrostyTech is reviewing today is equipped with vibration absorbing rubber fan posts, a 120mm internally illuminated PWM fan that scales in speed from 1000-2200RPM, and a glossy black nickel plating that case modders must love. The 600gram Dark Knight S1283 heatsink is compatible with socket 775 Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad CPUs, and all socket 754/939/940/AM2 AMD Athlon64/Phenom processors. "

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"Today we are going to get a bit more familiar with some of the more interesting HD4850-offerings. All of these cards
feature an improved cooler, higher frequencies and better performance than the reference cards."

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"Today we are going to examine two products from ASUS: Lion Square and Triton 85. Although both coolers have only recently appeared in our local market, they are already ranked high in company's model range. These coolers boast of original design and promising functionality. They also feature some interesting technical elements, which we are eager to examine."

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The model on test today is possibly the best model they have produced, it has a large 160GB hard drive (twice the 80gb model released earlier), a 10inch screen with 1024x600 display and an almost full sized keyboard (around 92%). To top all this, we have bluetooth, wifi, 3 USB ports and VGA out.

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"Neural implants have always been a cyberpunk fiction staple. They either grant the user special abilities or turn them into near cyborgs. We're not there yet, but for what is worth OCZ is trying to make that future a little less distant (and fictional) with the Neural Impulse Actuator, or NIA for short. It's a control system that interprets your brain waves and tracks facial muscle tensions into game input, making it possible to control by thought the actions of a virtual gunman during a game of Counterstrike, for instance. The idea behind the concept is to increase reaction time up to 60% by eliminating the time it takes the command from your brain to reach the hand over the mouse. We are about to see if it delivers, but first let's take a look onto the device itself."

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"With ATI continuing to dominate the top end graphics card market, they're releasing cards left right and centre, to get even a firmer grasp on the top end of the industry. Today I'm looking at their 4830 card, which promises some top performance with a reasonable price tag. Let's see how it does."

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"I do like the Asus U-75HA power supply, Asus fans will love it ... but to be honest, I've seen better. Having said that, it does offer good performance, good stability, and with four +12V rails at 18A, it's more than enough to satisfy most mainstream users. If you're after a decent mainstream power supply with a good brand name ... then the Asus Asus U-75HA is worth considering."

Until recently, all ASUS netbooks have come from the Eee PC team, but now the ASUS notebook team seems to be joining in on the fun. They have released the new N-series of business notebooks which range from the full-size N50 15.4" and N80 14" models powered by 'proper' Intel Core 2 processors down to the N20 12.1" ultraportable. The smallest model of the range is the N10, a tiny 10.2" model powered by an Intel Atom N270 processor on the 945GSE chipset. Sound familiar? While at least on paper, the ASUS N10 looks like a standard netbook, is priced like a netbook (albeit a high-end one), and has the key specifications of a netbook, according to ASUS it isn't, exactly. ASUS is calling the N10 the first "Corporate Netbook".

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"Tagan did an outstanding job when they created the IcyBox IB-NAS4220-B. For about $150 you get a well documented, good looking, and feature packed network storage system that works incredibly well. Whether you need a media server, file server, and/or print server, the Tagan IcyBox IB-NAS4220-B will meet your needs. Those using strictly wireless networks will want to avoid streaming video, but otherwise the IcyBox will satisfy your network storage needs."

With the HAF 932, Cooler Master has another outstanding full tower case in their arsenal. The HAF 932 lives up to the high air flow name and comes packed with plenty of features to help with a clean install. It has quickly become my favorite case to work on.

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"One of the fastest memory kits you can buy just got bigger. HardwareLogic recently reviewed Patriot's 2GB Viper memory kit and loved its relative value and performance. Today, I take a look at the Extreme Performance Viper PC3-16000 kit which gives 790i users a superfluous 4GB at a screaming 2000MHz. With its flamboyant NVIDIA green paint job and elevated heat fins, there is no confusing this product with any other memory. If you are in the market for crazy fast DDR3, you have to check out this review. Read on as I throw this memory on to the test bench and help you figure out if this is the kit you are looking for."

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"When a phone call did come in, it registered quickly by pausing any music that was being played and playing a distinct ring tone. Incredibly, very few people could tell that I was on a Bluetooth headset - let alone one that was embedded in some Oakley sunglasses. Even when on the bike, the Motorola electronics did a great job of filtering out wind noise and enhancing my voice when on a call. The Oakley O ROKR Pro has to be one of the best performing Bluetooth headsets we have had the pleasure of testing..."

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The Sapphire Toxic HD4870 is looking to resolve these two issues by utilizing their own Vapor-X cooler (Vapor Chamber Technology), as well as throwing in a little over clock just for good measure. Both of these features should help the faint of heart rest a little easier by giving them a better performing card with better cooling, while still maintaining the manufacturer's warranty.

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Asus has built an AM2+ socket motherboard based on the AMD 790FX chipset and the product of that is the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe motherboard set to support a quad CrossFireX setup with 140w CPU support.

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Attached to the top of the copper base which makes contact with the CPU is a small nickel-plated aluminium heatsink, which is itself linked to the four copper heatpipes to help provide the maximum possible heat transfer away from the CPU itself.

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"There are some mainstream motherboards on the market that overclock very well. The GF9300T-A is not one of them if you are using a 1333 FSB processor. With limited overclocking options in the BIOS, its very difficult to push your components higher than 1333 FSB. With that said, I gave it my best shot. The board did recognize the E8600 and set its speed correctly but the Mushkin memory was automatically set to 800MHz. There is no CPU voltage adjustment in the BIOS, so pushing the processor past stock speed did not provide stable results. Attempts to get the memory to its rated 1000MHz resulted in data corruption and led to an operating system reinstall. While I was eventually able to push the RAM to 900MHz, I would not recommend overclocking this board with its limited headroom and the lingering possibility of data loss."

Fear not my enthusiast brethren, in our second publication we will be covering all that you asked for and more as we review the Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition (XE). We have now had sufficient time to spend with Core i7 series and our knowledge base on these processors and their supporting components has grown exponentially. In our first article, Intel Core i7 CPU & DX58SO X58 Platform we covered most of the available information regarding both the Nehalem Technology and the architecture used with the Intel Core i7 Processor family. We will therefore not repeat that discussion, instead; our goal today is to spend most of our energy concentrating on those features and performance aspects of the Intel Core i7-965XE that have led it and its other i7 kin to be dubbed "The Fastest Processor on the Planet" by Intel.

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Finding an affordable chassis that's both large and feature-packed can be a little difficult, but Cooler Master's latest HAF 932 delivers on all accounts, and the goods don't stop there. This steel full-tower features huge interior space, great ease-of-installation, many bundled fans, hardcore design... all on top of having a price tag that's easy to stomach.

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"OCZ Technology first began doing business in August of 2000 and since then has earned a reputation for being one of the top manufacturers of enthusiast computer hardware in the marketplace. >From their initial offerings of high speed memory, to their current lineup including power supplies and cooling products, OCZ's claim to fame has been their commitment to the end user. They continue to be innovators in their field and are constantly developing new and exciting products like the one we have for review today, the HF-MK1 HydroFlow CPU waterblock."

The new XFX 9800GTX+ Black Edition is probably one of if not, the fastest 9800GTX+ cards on the market at the moment, and paired in an SLI configuration they are smoking fast, even faster than a standard GTX280 oddly enough. Add the fact the card comes with a full retail edition of Far Cry 2 only sweetens the pot on buying this card. The game alone cost $49.00 at some retail stores, which is you calculate into the price makes the card about $169.00, ad in the rebate and the price is even better. Almost all NVIDIA cards are made from the same place as fabrication plants for these cards are a small amount of companies so the company you buy from is a very important factor. XFX offers excellent warranty programs and solid customer service as well as being responsive to e-mail and phone support.

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"The product is the Black and Decker Power Monitor, B&D isn't quite known for it's electronics, more tools and appliances, but the Power Monitor is a very useful device overall. The Power Monitor is basically a two piece unit, one part that attaches to your electric meter, and the second part that resides inside of your house. The idea behind the Power Monitor is to help you monitor your power consumption and adjust things accordingly. "

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A bit late to the market, but, as always, DFI comes in with a bang. Today we have a look at the latest addition to the DFI lineup, in the form of the (ultra) high end X48-T3RS. Does it have what it takes to beat Asus et al? Read on to find out.

“The appearance of first netbook by Asus, EEE PC, brought to polarization in public opinion. While supporters of netbook concept accentuated mobility and low price, opponents had some other arguments in their favor. First was the fact that work on such a small device is uncomfortable, and the second objection goes to its toyish looks that only goes hand in hand with young girls and boys. Time showed that new netbook models with 8.9-inch and 10-inch diagonals can offer to most users quite satisfactory work conditions and HP 2133 Mini-Note PC completely changed stereotypes when it comes its toyish looks…”

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"When luxury notebooks come to mind, few consumers are likely to rattle off "Gateway" among the list of companies that offer a high-end product. If anything, the company's cow-spotted boxes and mid-Western origins are more likely to call to mind practical computers suited to Ma and Pa back on the farm. Acer's purchase of Gateway over a year ago has begun to shift that image, though, and the 16-inch MC7803u multimedia notebook is among the new breed of PCs to reflect that push toward a classier Gateway. Although priced at $1,000, Gateway has swaddled the MC7803u in leather, stretched the screen to 16 inches, and given it some respectable guts. If you're willing to overlook the slightly cheap look and feel of its luxury posturing, there's a decent machine inside for the price. But a major nag with screen flexibility killed any desire we had to own one of these notebooks."

To that end, we got the first kit of Triple Channel DDR3 to achieve the 2000 MHz mark. Kingston technologies fielded the first kit of Triple Channel DDR3 capable of hitting 2000MHz within the allowed 1.65v RAM memory voltage limit on Core i7. Nay sayers said it couldn't be done. We're here to tell you it has been done. Kingston knocked one out of the park with their HyperX KHX16000D3K3/3GX 3GB kit capable of running 2000MHz with the rated timings of 9-9-9-27 at 1.65v.

“First keyboard that we will present to you today is named diNovo Keyboard for Notebooks. First thing that we have noticed is that although this keyboard is designed for notebook computers, you can use it without any problems in desktop environment. In case we would like to grade this device, diNovo Keyboard for Notebooks would get the best possible grade for its design. Central area of this keyboard is made in piano finish, and palm rest surface is made of brushed-aluminum…”

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“Zotac has been around for a few years now and finally heating things up by providing anything but stock graphics cards. The thing that stands out most about these guys, if you haven't browsed their product line yet, is that everything comes "AMP". That means, you won't find any stock frequencies here, but factory overclocked and tuned graphics cards. Their slogan is, "It's Time to Play".”

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Gigabyte has recently launched a line of motherboards featuring "Ultra Durable 3". What is Ultra Durable, you ask? Well, it features the Ultra Durable that Gigabyte has been talking for a few years now that includes their Dynamic Energy Saver, where the motherboard will throttle down to save some power. We have previously looked at this feature with our X38 reviews (EX38-DS4 or EP35-DS4). The Ultra Durable 3 steps even further in terms of cooling of the motherboard. Gigabyte has designed the motherboard with "2oz of Copper and 2oz Copper Power and Ground layers for dramatically lower system temperature, improved energy efficiency, and enhanced stability for overclocking." In addition, the motherboard also features Japanese Solid Capacitors, Lower RDS MOSFET, and Ferrite Core Choke.

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Today I've got a combination review and article for you, more of a roundup, or comparison piece really. Samsung sent me their new Super Write-Master 22X DVD burner for review, just the drive though, the OEM version basically, and I've been meaning to do a small article about optical drives, comparing their speeds, so I figured why not incorporate the new Samsung into the article.

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World at War isn’t a bad game, it just isn’t a very remarkable one despite bearing the Call of Duty moniker. Again, World at War has fallen victim to the Treyarch curse, but it’s also got the double whammy of being set in the Pacific theatre. Decent co-op and multiplayer are blessings, but they can’t counteract the curses completely.

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