Week of August 17, 2008

Innovations like three 230mm fans as standard, and a design geared to high airflow, the HAF 932 is worthy of my recommendation and an Editor's Choice award. The only negatives I can find are the lack of a motherboard tray that is removable and the small negative of an all steel construction due to the fact that I prefer aluminum in my cases construction. The case is very solidly built and will likely outlast most of the system components that are put in it. Cooler Master's HAF 932 case has many features found on much pricier cases including the IO area having both four USB 2.0 and external SATA ports. Thrasher2 our resident system builder liked the case so much he took it home to use in a personal system of his, and this over other cases we have here in the lab.

6GHz was easily attainable with the E8600 having an ungodly low 1.84vcore and I was able to bench between 6100MHz and 6200MHz depending on the benchmark. Consumers with single-stage phase change systems should be able to easily hit speeds of 5200Mhz to 5500MHz as I was booting at 5500MHz around -40 Celsius with ease. This is where the E0 stepping really shines, past 5GHz it just tears everything else to shreds and makes it look easy...

CLICK HERE FOR Intel E8600 Core 2 Duo Processor SHOPPING & PRICING

" ... the Xigmatek Achillies S1284 is an amazing cooler for a brilliant price. It's a worthly contender for this year's most silent CPU cooler. "

Bigger is better right? Then it follows that two fans are better than one in which case the DuOrb not only has two but adds heatpipes and enough bling to satisfy even the most aggressive case modder. We stuck the DuOrb into our test rig for some overclocking and testing. Does the DuOrb cool as good as it looks?

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake DuOrb CPU Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

"Up on the review block today is the Mach 1 900Watt Power Supply from Kingwin that not only looks great, but features an interesting modular cabling system that securely locks the cables into the PSU to insure they will not come loose. During my time with the Mach 1 I found it to be a very quiet and exceptionally stable power supply that will meet or exceed the demands of most high end system on the market today. "

Tension Labs EAP03 is the name of a brand new earphone audio processor that can boost your experience in a variety of ways. The EAP03 features a built in microphone and can sample it into the audio feed, providing you with the power to control the level of isolation you want from your earphones.

While the OCZ Vendetta 2 isn't silent, or the absolute best thermal performer, it strikes an excellent balance between them considering the £23 price tag. In fact, in some respects we think OCZ might be selling itself short at this price, or we'd happily pay a few quid more for some spare screws and gromits... and a new mounting mechanism. While it might not be up there with the big boys of the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 or Noctua NH-U12P in performance, for the money there is very little able to touch the Vendetta 2's performance, both thermally and acoustically.

CLICK HERE FOR OCZ Vendetta 2 SHOPPING & PRICING

Unlike the others Scythe did not add more heat pipes to the cooler to attempt to make it better. The added weight and size as well as an improved fan to aid in a higher performance capacity in the Ninja 2. There are a few more differences we can discuss but we will not be doing it in the introduction of the review. So sit back, relax and read along as we take the Ninja 2 for a little ride.

CLICK HERE FOR Scythe Ninja 2 Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

Just over two months have passed since the release of our initial article. XFX has sent us a replacement sample for the GTX280 which is completely free of from the electronic component hum we initially experienced. In addition to the GTX280, XFX also sent us their latest and greatest XXX version of the card for review. We decided to embrace this as an opportunity to compare the two cards in a head to head along with a number of other popular graphics solutions. Our intent is not to rehash the plethora of features already covered in great detail in the aforementioned article, but more to concentrate on serious testing and expound on those features that prove noteworthy with the more mature drivers we will be using.

"Now that the HD 4850 has been hanging around for a bit, we’re beginning to see more and more companies jump on the aftermarket bandwagon. The latest company to do this is Palit, bringing the highly popular HD 4850 to the also highly popular Sonic line.

The HD 4850 has had so much going for it from the word go; its aggressive pricing and excellent performance gave users everything they wanted. It wasn’t all rosy, though; while the use of a single slot cooler was handy, it caused the card to run extremely hot."

CLICK HERE FOR Palit Radeon HD 4850 Sonic Graphics Card SHOPPING & PRICING

"The case performed on par with the comparison test case with similar characteristics. The airflow was more than adequate, and cooled all of the hardware I had in it and then some, and with all of the room available, I could add enough hardware to run NORAD. Thermaltake really makes it easy to install and remove hardware with the tool-less design and removable parts. This is the most modular case I have ever had the pleasure to test, and on top of that, you can add Thermaltake's integrated Liquid Cooling System for even better temperature control. The design of the case makes me feel like I truly have a powerful self-built system, instead of a "cookie cutter" computer with a drab chassis."

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Xaser VI VG4000BWS SHOPPING & PRICING

"We review quite a few cases here at OCIA.net, but it's been a few months since our last one from Apevia. It's always exciting to see what new chassis designs they come up with, one common factor among them all is the ability of Apevia to produce a quality, stylish case at a very good price. Today we have a new mid-tower to take a look at, dubbed the X-Sniper."

CLICK HERE FOR Apevia X-Sniper Mid-Tower Case SHOPPING & PRICING

As video card power demand grows, so do power supply outputs; nowadays it’s not uncommon to see a 1000W+ power supply being offered. But what if you already have a decent power supply but just want to add a bit more power for the video cards? Thermaltake, well-known makers of a wide range of computer products, might have the solution in the Thermaltake Power Express 650W VGA Power Supply. This dedicated power supply brings serious amounts of power to your video cards, but is it worth the effort?

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Power Express 650W VGA PSU SHOPPING & PRICING

“Beside Satellite A300 and P300 notebook series, Toshiba also released on market redesigned Satellite L series. We will introduce you with all novelties through testing of model Toshiba Satellite L300-11G. L series didn’t experience that much cosmetic changes like new A and P series did. We could even say that Satellite L300 is less “fancy” than its predecessor. Some of us will count that as big plus because L300 has above all “neutral” design…”

CLICK HERE FOR Toshiba Satellite L300 Laptop SHOPPING & PRICING

Welcome to the next generation of cooling and just damned cool. Introducing the Transformer 6 from Evercool. Featuring a copper base, heat-pipe technology, aluminum fins and a design that looks ready to destroy, the Transformer is more than meets the eye. Or is it?

"The Asus Striker II NSE sports an attractive black PCB and very little color compared to many other boards. The black color lends to the overall classy feel of the board. With the first glance at the board, it is hard to miss the Fusion block system that cools the board. Asus has decided that hard core enthusiasts would like to cool off the North Bridge using their water cooling setups, and provided an easy way to do that by placing a water block on the North Bridge..."

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS Striker II NSE Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

Apevia X-Sniper has a unique look all its own. The front panel is adorned with an aluminum metallic-colored door, and balanced by two fan speed controllers at the top; power and reset switches on the bottom. Along with plenty of front panel air ventilation holes ensure optimal heat exhaustion. X-Sniper is made of sturdy SECC metal and comes furnished with a large see-through window (G Type).

CLICK HERE FOR Apevia X-Sniper G-Type Case SHOPPING & PRICING

Recently while researching laptop prices we found Novatechs own branded laptops which feature some impressive components but retail at a level we can only wish Alienware would use! Of course buying a laptop from a relative unknown is always a risk, so today we will be taking an in-depth look at the X80r Pro, covering all the bases and letting you know if they are worth your money.

Looking for a big 4GB kit of some fast memory for your DDR2 based PC? Nitro has an in depth look at some good gaming memory from AData that promises speed and low latency. Does the PC-8500 kit from AData deliver performance to match its claims? Read our review to find out.

"We've reviewed quite a few Mid-End coolers from ASUS, which almost always had decent technical properties. But the company also has a thoroughly developed High-End series. And the first such product to be reviewed now is Silent Knight II -- a promising premium cooler that offers an interesting combination of advanced design and attractive exterior."

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS Silent Knight II CPU Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

Today we take a look at OCZ latest addition to the Flex series : the Flex II DDR3 kit. As a matter of fact, this is our first DDR3 review in the house - better late than never I suppose - so have a look what DDR3 water cooled at 2Ghz can bring to your doorstep.

CLICK HERE FOR OCZ DDR3 PC3-16000 Flex II Water Cooled Memory SHOPPING & PRICING

“BFG has a great power suppy here - not only does it look good, but it does it with performing style. For the duration of the testing, and the subsequent gaming session afterwards, performance remained solid while silence was in full effect. I found no issues with any of the cabling, or the installation of the unit - that was the fault of the unit. Overall, I would have to say that if you're in the market for a PSU at this price point ($219), BFG's ES800 is an excellent choice. While it's lack of support for Tri-SLI is definitely disappointing, it's ability to take a system with two 4870x2 or 9800GX2 cards is admirable.”

CLICK HERE FOR BFG ES800 Power Supply SHOPPING & PRICING

"After seeing the headroom still left on EVGA's GTX 260 FTW card, I was expecting big things from the Palit GTX 260. Initially I was slightly disappointed that I could not match the overclocking ability of the EVGA card, but when you sit back and think, you realize that this is not a factory overclocked card. As such, it is binned a little lower, and costs a little bit less as well. What I did get from the card was 128MHz on the GTX 260 core, 112MHz on the memory, and 276MHz on the Shader clocks. As a percentage, the increases equal out to an 18% jump in the GPU core speed, 10% on the memory, and almost 20% on the Shader clocks. All of these increases are pretty substantial, and provide a serious performance boost when the CPU does not bottleneck the system's performance."

CLICK HERE FOR Palit GTX 260 SHOPPING & PRICING

Where does Gigabyte stand when it comes to wowing the crowds and pushing the envelope? This is the very question we look to answer today with our in-depth review of the Gigabyte GA-EP45T-Extreme. We will scower this motherboard with a fine tooth comb looking for faults and weaknesses as well as highlighting its great features and convienences. When speaking of the Intel P45 chipset, there is no end to the possibilities of features and it appears Gigabyte has tried to pack them all together in one impressive package.

CLICK HERE FOR Gigabyte GA-EP45T-EXTREME DDR3 Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

"A little bit ago I took a look at the Thecus N3200 NAS box and it was a nice choice overall, but today for review I've got the TS-109 Pro II Turbo NAS from QNAP that personally I like much better than the Thecus. One of the main reasons is that it only uses one drive, the other reason is because of the features and abilities of the TS-109 Pro II, this box is small but packed to the brim with numerous features that anyone will love and use. This box even has a 500Mhz CPU with 256MB of DDR2 ram built in to make sure the system runs smoothly and does what you want when you want it to. "

CLICK HERE FOR QNAP TS-109 II Pro Turbo Nas SHOPPING & PRICING

"Today HardwareLogic will cover the newest enclosure from Danger Den, the Tower-26 acrylic case. Those considering the Tower-26 had better make sure their components are up to snuff, because if they're not, they'll be on display for all world to see. And mock. To keep it simple, the Tower-26 looks to be a fantastic option for those wanting to showcase the great deal of time and money they've spent assembling the finest in hardware."

*Stomp*. *Stomp*. Footsteps are heard outside, is it Godzilla? NO, it's the In Win GunDam case!! Today, Artiom shells out his tech knowledge to see if he can bring the infamous Metal Suit GunDam case down to our level.

CLICK HERE FOR In Win Metal Suit SHOPPING & PRICING

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

"J&W Technology is a name I was not familiar with, however they have been around since 1994 and currently sell 450,000 units monthly. Until just recently they have not had any distributors outside of Europe, Asia and Australia, however recently a few of their products have popped up on North American e-tailer sites like Geeks.com. Today I have for review their JW-RS780UVD-AM2+ motherboard. This is a micro ATX board utilizing the AMD 780G chipset, features the latest HT 3.0 and PCIe 2.0, support for DDR2-1066 memory, onboard Radeon 3200 DX10 graphics with 64Mb SidePort memory, and HDMI and HDCP ready."

"Monster Cable and hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre teamed up on the Beats design. The result: Noise-canceling headphones that look way cooler than high-end competitors from Bose and Sennheiser. Beyond the cool factor, these headphones perform admirably for all types of music, and they can serve as a wired headset for phones with a 3.5-mm jack or adapter. The active noise cancellation, however, seems like an afterthought and keeps the headphones from achieving their potential. But we think Monster and Dre are onto something, and we look forward to improvements in future versions."

"Nikon boasts their Coolpix S600 as the camera with the world's fastest start-up time and the world's most compact design. We set out to check out these claims as well as to test the capabilities of this small point-and-shoot camera. We will look at the S600 from the view-point of the everyday photographer."

CLICK HERE FOR Nikon Coolpix S600 Camera SHOPPING & PRICING

Lian Li cases are the best designed in the business and this is one of them. The V1100 Black has five 5.25" drive bays, but more importantly, has the ability to install six HDDs. There are a total of four 120mm fans on the case, offering total cooling solution for any user with the caveat that tall CPU coolers will preclude the optimal use of the fans. Otherwise the case has the features, and looks to be well worth the price online. Quality cases are important for the hardware enthusiast as it determines what can be installed in the computer. This is a very stylish piece of equipment and it is very functional as well as being attractive to the eye. Its priced in the mid $200.00 range and is available online and at a few retail outlets.

CLICK HERE FOR Lian-Li V1100 Black Case SHOPPING & PRICING

"With all the recent fuss over ATI's 4870 X2 card, it's no wonder the green camp are bristling a little. However, all is not lost if you are an nVidia fan boy, they do have one hell of a hefty card that's supposed to be hot on the heels of ATI's top dog. Perhaps with some overclocking we could coax enough performance out of it to take back the crown? Today I'm testing out XFX's GTX 280 card, and it's a monster. "

CLICK HERE FOR XFX GTX 280 SHOPPING & PRICING

"The idea to integrate a graphics core into all chipsets looks quite natural for NVIDIA, which strategical task has always been to promote its own graphics solutions in its chipsets. On the other hand, users start to pay attention to performance of these graphics cores even when they wouldn't have cared in other cases."

" ... If you're an enthusiast who's really mad for watercooling but still using a DDR2 motherboard ... then I would definitely consider the OCZ's Flex2 DDR2 PC2-9200 4Gb kits."

CLICK HERE FOR OCZ DDR2 Flex II XLC PC2-9200 kit SHOPPING & PRICING

Just when we thought we would no longer receive any more 9600 GTs because we figured we’d reviewed just about every single one on the market, ASUS has decided to run around and release a new one.

The particular card we’re looking at today is part of the Republic of Gamers collection, which is something we tend to see more in the motherboard department. It makes a lot of sense, though, that ASUS are going to expand this popular naming scheme out to more than just motherboards. This new card comes to us as the EN9600GT Matrix. Matrix is also something we haven’t heard of from ASUS before, so it will be interesting to see if they’re going to start creating some new lines.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS GeForce EN9600GT Matrix Graphics Card SHOPPING & PRICING

Good things come in slightly smaller packages... Smaller than a full tower case, that is! A few weeks ago the Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS full tower chassis was reviewed at Bigbruin.com, and the overall impression was quite positive. This time around we have the mid tower version, the Armor+ MX VH8000BWS, another solid case that houses all of the features of its larger kin, as well as some additional ones.

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Armor+ MX VH8000BWS Mid Tower ATX Case SHOPPING & PRICING

I am back and it is time to take a look at one of the most used yet under appreciated PC components: the mouse. I personally have always been a trackball user; I know, very taboo, but I've had a difficult time finding a mouse that felt... well, right. Even giving some well known brands a chance like, the Creative Fatal1ty 1010, Logitech MX518 and an off the beaten path Sandio 3D Gaming O mouse. Now Wolfking steps up to the challenge with their new Wolfking Trooper MVP Gaming mouse. Riding on the success of their Wolfking Warrior XXtreme Gaming Keypad, let us see if they can keep the momentum going.

CLICK HERE FOR Wolfking Trooper MVP Gaming Mouse SHOPPING & PRICING

The DS3R was designed as an inexpensive essentials board and it exceeds its quota. While we cannot recommend the board for Multi-GPU purposes that doesn't mean you can't use a good single card or a GX2/X2 or the second slot for another Nvidia card for PhysX. Like any P45 if you can tweak the nuts off it the performance is exceptionally good - and the Gigabyte has plenty of options that work (!!) to do this.

CLICK HERE FOR Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R SHOPPING & PRICING

Looking to add reliable and high performing storage to your linux based server? Michael Bosse tests the Fujitsu SAS hard drives in a linux environment and brings to you expected performance in an enterprise setting. Find out if the Fujitsu drives the best for your server upgrade?

Sunbeam's Core Contact Freezer is a cost effective CPU cooler for AMD and Intel CPUs. Its eight heatpipes make direct contact with the processor for optimum cooling. Also included in the package is a fan controller which allows you to optimize the acoustics to your usage scenario.

CLICK HERE FOR Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer SHOPPING & PRICING

"Built with the Intel P45 Express and Intel ICH10R chipsets, the ECS P45T-A motherboard supports all Socket 775 Intel processors running with a Front Side Bus of 800/1066/1333 MHz. That includes the new generation of 45nm 'Yorkfield' and 'Wolfdale' Core 2 Duo processors. Gamers who plan on running a pair of CrossfireX enabled videocards in tandem (say, a pair of Radeon HD4850's for example), will find two PCI Express 2.0 compliant PCIe x16 slots at their disposal."

CLICK HERE FOR ECS P45T-A Intel P45 Express Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

Do you own a laptop? Of course you do. Who doesn't? Here's another question for you, how many of you have scars or third-degree burns on your legs and crotches from your portable PC? Ever wish there was something out there that would let you get your work done without burning out your 3.5 floppy? Well, the geek fairy may have answered your prayers. Except for the 3.5 thing. Some issues you just have to deal with on your own.

CLICK HERE FOR Evercool Zodiac Aluminum Notebook Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

What’s so great about the TOP line-up from ASUS is that they don’t get a card and just add an extra 10MHz to the core and 20MHz to the memory, the TOP line-up of cards are really well overclocked cards that stand out from the competition.

"The Diamond HD 4870 features some of the most current technology available on the market and sits at an easily affordable price point. The power requirements aren't anything to snuff at but for those users looking for a single-GPU card to game at 1920x1200 with high settings, the Diamond HD 4870 is an excellent option. A single HD 4870 wouldn't be able to game at 2560x1600 but the beauty of CrossFire would let you couple two or three of these cards together till you have enough graphical power..."

CLICK HERE FOR Diamond HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Video Card SHOPPING & PRICING

“Launch of nVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 280 brought a huge enthusiasm in last two months, but it already begun to fade. The main “culprit” is ATi which showed to all of us that even when hard times come they are continuing with good work as if competition isn't a problem and as confirmation of their efforts we got incredible new generation of graphics cards. The whole story started with great Radeon HD 4850 and continued with HD 4870 that had GDDR5 memory. After great critics for these two GPUs, ATi was aware that they shouldn’t stop there, if they want to overthrown nVIDIA from the top performance throne. And they did it…”

"BIOSTAR has another winner on their hands in the T-Power I45. I will no longer turn my nose up to BIOSTAR motherboards as the company has given us reason to consider it a serious player in the enthusiast motherboard market in North America."

CLICK HERE FOR BIOSTAR T-Power I45 SHOPPING & PRICING

"Its predecessor, the AVR-2807 was one of the best midrange receivers of the last couple years. The 2808CI adds digital goodies like HDMI 1.3 and 1080p upscaling, as well as the Audyssey MultiEQ XT auto-calibration system, which tailors the amp's sound to your room acoustics. It's a complex amp to set up, and the user guide is so-so, but when you're finally done you'll be rewarded with great sound and power across three independent zones. The bottom line: You can't do better than this for around $900 USD. For a few extra bones, you can step up to the Denon's 2809CI was recently released and adds adds a few extra inputs, including an HDMI, and Audyssey Dynamic Room EQ."

CLICK HERE FOR Denon AVR-2808CI Receiver SHOPPING & PRICING

"On this ECS board, I did not get very far with my attempts at overclocking. I attribute this to the board only having a 4-pin CPU power connector and a four phase voltage regulator setup. I could not get enough clean power through the board to sustain a stable overclock. I did get the ECS GF8200A up to 2.94GHz by bumping the CPU frequency up to 210MHz from the stock 200MHz, and upping the CPU multiplier to 14x. However, to do this, I had to push the CPU voltage up to 1.55v, which is, in my opinion, the highest I would ever like to see the vCore of a CPU. With everything stable at 2.94GHz, that's where the overclocking benchmarks will be run."

CLICK HERE FOR ECS GF8200A SHOPPING & PRICING

On the face of things the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 TOXIC looks like a pretty poor choice for those looking to grab a budget graphics card. It finds itself in the no-man's land of being a good £30 more expensive than the cheapest HD 4850 cards on the market, and only £35 less than the cheapest HD 4870, which it trails by a good few FPS in most tests.

CLICK HERE FOR Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4850 SHOPPING & PRICING

Installing the Thermaltake DuOrb heatpipe CPU cooler on a motherboard with an open layout should be very simple thanks to the well thought out mounting hardware that will hold the cooler in place and will keep it from sliding around. As seen in the review, there could be issues installing the DuOrb on some motherboards.

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake DuOrb Heatpipe CPU Cooler SHOPPING & PRICING

Technology doesn't play favorites, and when it reaches an apex there is an indifference towards who develops it. ATI has learned this lesson the hard way, having watched from the sidelines for so long that most have forgotten that AMD could be a leader in technology. The Radeon HD 4870 X2 is the latest evolution in graphics cards, and ATI has delivered something bigger than we've ever seen before. Benchmark Reviews is fortunate to test the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 Dual-RV770 GPU video card 100251SR against a collection of todays hottest video cards available.

" It seemed like some time ago that external storage was the oddball for people. Times have certainly changed now that internal hard drives are so large that backing up to optical media is really an impossibility. More and more external drive enclosures are coming out to provide the need, but they aren't created equal. Icy Dock's 3.5" External Screwless Hard Drive Enclosure (MB664US-1S) aims to fit the external storage needs of everyone in a convenient to use package. I believe they have achieved that. "

"Listen up folks, the DDR3 era is upon us. Both Intel and AMD have adopted the newer standard, and with Intel's Core i7 (the chip formerly known as Nehalem) peeking around the corner, there's just no looking back. Despite the temptation posed by dirt-cheap DDR2 modules, any build from the ground up should be focused on DDR3, save for those on an extremely tight budget. Newer processors are finally starting to benefit from the added benefit, and each new chipset release finds new ways of optimizing memory performance, making those DDR2 modules seem ancient by comparison."

CLICK HERE FOR Kingston HyperX PC3-14400 2GB Memory Kit SHOPPING & PRICING

"How do you decide which router to buy in this day and age? Is there one product that has it all? You’ll be hard pressed to find a product with all the bells and whistles, but we may have one here today that comes close to the mark.

Today we get up close and personal with TRENDnet’s very latest router, the 300Mbps Dual Band Wireless N Gigabit Router sporting model number TEW-672GR. Specifically, we are looking at version 1.0R, which is the shipping version you’ll find in the stores when buying."

CLICK HERE FOR TRENDnet 300Mbps Dual Band Wireless N Gigabit Router SHOPPING & PRICING

"The ATP EarthDrive uses a manufacturing process called "System in Packaging" that, according to ATP Electronics' website, "encapsulates all exposed components and points of failure." This means that the drive should be very durable and waterproof. I'm sure you all want to know if this SIP process works, so I dunked the EarthDrive in water for about an hour. After I let the drive dry off (so I don't burn up my own USB ports), I plugged it into my laptop, and it came right up with no problems. Now, you no longer have to worry about ruining your flash drive if it goes through the washer - but you probably shouldn't put it through the wash, just to be on the safe side."

CLICK HERE FOR ATP EarthDrive SHOPPING & PRICING

For a unit that performs as well as those which double it in terms of cost, Corsair's TX750W is quite a contender. Uncommon to most budget power supplies, Corsair has neither fallen short on performance or features. Shrugging off each of our tests is a feat of its own, but matched with perks
found commonly in much more expensive units such as a beautiful paint job, quality fan, fully sleeved wires and matching black Molex connectors, I must honestly say, this is pretty much as good as it gets.

CLICK HERE FOR Corsair TX750W Power Supply SHOPPING & PRICING

"It's been almost a year since the original Asus Eee 701 appeared stateside, making traditional ultra-portables look fat with its size and weight, sending prices plunging with its $400 price tag, and triggering a landslide of imitators. In that time, many have tried, but few have succeeded in one upping Asus at its own game. The Wind is MSI's freshman effort in the emerging subnotebook genre, but the company has managed to run with the best of them by offering a 10-inch display, a fast and efficient Intel Atom processor, and loads of storage."

CLICK HERE FOR MSI Wind Laptop SHOPPING & PRICING

"Welcome to PCSTATS massive 99 Windows Vista performance tips and tweaks guide! This incredible collection of Tech Tips is all about making your computer perform to its full potential with Windows Vista. Knowing Microsoft, chances are good that there's a tip or two in this 31-page long Guide that will make a world of difference for your PC. Take control of Windows Vista with help from PCSTATS. We've got 99 ways to squeeze out better performance, enhance boot times, free up hard drive space and trim away Vista's fat."

With Fall on the horizon, it will soon be time for collegiates all over the nation to gear up for fierce gridiron combat. In NCAA Football 09 by EA Sports, fans can get into the action in style. Playing on my Playstation 3 with the Dual Shock 3 control, I was easily able to setup and start the game. I chose to play the all new mascot play to start which allowed me to play as Harry the Husky the beloved mascot of my alma matter The University of Washington.

CLICK HERE FOR NCAA Football 09 SHOPPING & PRICING

The 4850 videocards seem to be the best bang for the buck cards on the market right now. Asus has released a TOP version which is a factory overclocked card and it also has a big Glacier cooler on it to keep the noise down. We are going to compare it vs some other high performing cards today and see if this TOP card really adds some top performance to it.

"First of all, it was planned to oppose GeForce GTX 280 with CrossFire configurations based on two separate HD 4850 or HD 4870 cards. Then the company presented a dual-GPU solution on a single PCB, the RADEON HD 4870 X2. We've already published its preview with several tests. Now it's time for a sterling article with theoretical data, synthetic tests, and an expanded set of games."

Looking to add an attention grabber to the front of your case? Jack checks out the Aerocool Modern V which promises flash and functionality at the same time. Does it come through on each of these fronts? Read his evalutaion before purchasing.

CLICK HERE FOR Aerocool Modern V Display SHOPPING & PRICING

Thermaltake may have the largest selection of cases available right now. They have been the type of company to not rest or settle with their current collection of cases in their catalog. This is great for the builder that wants to be able to select from a long list of cases without seeing a repeat of the same case. What I mean is some companies take one case and keep recycling the same design over and over. All this being external. Yes, Thermaltake will make one case and make it in a small and a larger size. Nothing wrong with that.

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Xaser VI MX Mid Case SHOPPING & PRICING

Last month, I took a look at one of the most powerful units Silverstone has to offer, the ZU1200M. Today, I'm checking out the modular version of this unit and am anxious to see whether or not it performs as good as, better, or worse than its non modular brother. I'm sure you're all anxious to find that out as well, so let's delay no more.

CLICK HERE FOR Silverstone Zeus ZM1200M 1200W Power Supply SHOPPING & PRICING

"This month OCZ Technology celebrates their 8th anniversary manufacturing high performance memory products for the computer enthusiast market. They're also the latest manufacturer to jump on the Fatal1ty bandwagon, releasing both DDR2 and DDR3 modules under the world famous PC gamer's banner, in PC2-6400, 8500 and PC3-10666 speeds. OCZ sent us over a pair of their new Fatal1ty modules for review, the 2x2Gb PC2-6400 Dual Channel kit, and claim "these high-performance memory kits were co-developed with the expertise of the world’s 12-time champion to meet the needs of fellow gamers."

Kingwin's Mach 1 unit is modular with what they dub as aircraft style connectors. The connection points have a screw type outer lock instead of the plastic catch tabs typically seen elsewhere. Shown below are the eight power out ports that you will connect the modular power cables to. Unused ports are covered by rubber caps to keep them clean and sealed off.

CLICK HERE FOR Kingwin 1220w PSU SHOPPING & PRICING

The other day we looked at the GTX 260 from GIGABYTE. Today we’re going to be looking at the slightly more expensive GTX 280 version from them. Since launch, we haven’t really seen any companies do much with the GTX 280. While a few have come overclocked, we have found that they’ve all stuck to the reference cooling option.

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" ... The Sapphire Radeon HD4870x2 is one of those cards that just oozes with appeal ... I can't really see why any hardcore gaming enthusiast would ignore it. It has everything going for it ... features, price and performance. "

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From a performance point of view, the ASUS Maximus II Formula is simply head and shoulders above the other P45 motherboards I've tested in the important categories of Sysmark (overall system score) and 3DMark (Graphics scores). From a Features point of view, the 8 SATA ports, CrossfireX compatibility and the ability to overclock the CPU to a higher clock speed automatically (CPU LevelUp) are features that a gamer will use. The inclusion of a full version of Kapersky Antivirus and 3DMark06 are added bonuses that make this motherboard worthy of a ROG sticker and my recommendation. P45 chipsets have hit the market in full force with ICH10R and a slew of improvements due to the smaller process scale of 65nm. As we move further into 2008 and into 2009 we’ll see a whole new platform, but for the mainstream enthusiast gamer this board is as good as it gets.

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"The Corsair TW3X2G2133C9DF memory kit is a very impressive memory kit that was found to be 100% stable at these insane clock frequencies. Running at 2133MHz is no joke and it's still beyond what most platforms today are capable of running. To be honest the nForce 790i SLI is pushed nearly to its limits running memory this fast!"

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Through the last few years, BFG has always been at the forefront of the pre-overclocked craze and with their OCX cards, they take things to the next level. We should mention now that in our conversations with BFG they have stated that creating a highly overclocked GTX 280 isn't as easy as it seems due to the massive amounts of heat generated by the core directly influencing the final overclock. That being said, in this review we will be looking at their GTX 280 OCX which is highest-clocked GTX 280 in their lineup that keeps the stock cooler.

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“We've seen many laptop/notebook coolers here at VH since we started getting into reviewing mobile items awhile back. Some decent, most not so decent. Well today I have for you a new entry into the notebook cooler segment from NZXT called the Cryo LX. The beauty is definitely unique. Not just because it'll support a 17" widescreen notebook with ease, or because it sports three 120mm fans, or even because it's made of aluminum. What makes this unit unique is the ability to fold it virtually in half! That's just a few of the nice features of this new Cryo LX. Let's check out some more...”

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"Overall, I would have to say that the limited edition Gigabyte EP-45 Extreme is the best motherboard that I've ever used for overclocking. The BIOS was simple to navigate, and Gigabyte's Dual BIOS technology really gives the user some peace of mind knowing that if they screw one BIOS up, another BIOS is right there for them to use. The LED readout is an overclocker's dream, because it allows us to see where the issues are if the system isn't booting. For me, the memory was what was holding my overclocking back. I was able to obtain an FSB speed of 500MHz, which is extremely good, considering four threads of data are being sent through the Northbridge at 500MHz x 7 (3.5GHz). I don't think I've ever hit 500 on a motherboard due to some sort of bottleneck of the CPU or memory."

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When ATI was acquired by AMD a few years ago, one product that seemed to fall off of the new corporate radar was ATI's All-In-Wonder line of Graphics/TV-Tuner hybrid cards. This was an area of the market where ATI had exclusivity, yet we haven't seen a new All-In-Wonder offering since May 2006. Rest assured however, ATI has not abandoned the All-In-Wonder, they've simply been working on the next iteration of the Graphic/TV-Tuner stalwart, with their latest offering coming in the form of the ATI All-In-Wonder HD.

Like the older card, the newer card also supports NVIDIA's CUDA, which allows the GPU to function as a CPU for computational purposes. The latest FAH has started to take advantage of this, and the preliminary results look promising. Although the newer GTX 200 series cards have a much more powerful CUDA, the fact that you get CUDA in the 9800 GTX/GTX+ means the card will be able to utilize such power when the application is able to use CUDA.

Ultimately, however, it's those professionals – graphic artists, publishers and the like – that stand to get most out of this wonderfully colour-accurate monitor. If sufficient budget is available, we doubt the XL30 will disappoint for those users. For everyone else, we recommend you plump for a more conventional and affordable 30-incher and if you want to spend a little bit more, it's still well-worth considering the NEC LCD3090WQXi.

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Not everyone can afford the bleeding edge of graphics hardware, and not everyone needs it. NVIDIA has already made headlines with their high-end GeForce GTX 280 video card, which offers high performance at a premium price. Most enthusiasts have seen so much coverage for the high-level graphic products that it might feel like nothing exists for the lower consumer segment. Benchmark Reviews hasn't forgotten about the entry-level enthusiast, which is why we test the Foxconn GeForce 9500 GT 256MB PCI Express video card 9500GT-256FR3 against the bigger names in this review.

" Since ASE Labs is getting more and more into producing videos, it is time to start reviewing digital video cameras. The first such device is absolutely perfect for the Youtube crowd and has been making the rounds on the internet. The Flip Video Mino from Pure Digital promises web videos made with ease and they aren't kidding. "

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Even though comparisons will be made, our intention is not to directly compare ATI against Nvidia in this article, but more to see how both leading ultimate solutions will run on a system which should in theory be less CPU bound than most. To further downplay the side effects of the two Quad processors affecting the results, we have watercooled both CPU's and overclocked them to 4.4ghz (a 1.2ghz overclock @ 400x11). This will let both graphics solutions stretch their legs as much as possible at the highest resolutions.

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"Thecus N5200 is a high-performance Network Attached Storage (NAS), a box where you install hard disk drives to make them available to your network, basically a small yet powerful file server for your home or office. The reviewed model allows the installation of up five hard disk drives, supporting RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JOB, featuring three USB ports, one eSATA port and two Gigabit Ethernet ports. How is the performance of Thecus N5200 compared to other NAS boxes? Check it out."

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“This time we introduce to you three devices from Level 1, which cover different target user groups: WBR-3460A, WBR-3408 and WAP-0006. WBR-3460 is ADSL/ADSL2+ router, WBR-3408 is Wireless AP Broadband router and WAP-0006 is Wireless LAN. So, something for everyone. Let's see...

WBR-3460 is a typical representative of ADSL2+ router class. It has integrated 4-port switch, ADSL2+ modem and Wireless AP. ADSL2+ modem exists in two versions as Annex A and Annex B, depending on type of phone port – classic or ISDN type…”

" Today for review I've got six fans from Gelid Solutions, in total there are three 92mm fans and three 120mm fans to be put to the test. Four of the fans are from the Gelid Silent line of fans, two of them are TC or Temperature Controlled fans, two more are PWM controlled fans. The final two fans up for review are special fans aimed towards the enthusiast called the Wing, these fans are brightly colored with neon green blades and a black frame, but what really makes the Wing special are the features of them, and especially the fact that the blades can be removed from the housing for cleaning."