Week of May 25, 2008

Today we have the pleasure of reviewing E-Power's Zumax ZU-750, a 750-watt power supply that has a couple of unique features we have not seen on other power supplies before. If you would like to find out exactly what we are talking about please visit our web site and read our review using the link below...

"Here at XSReviews we've taken quite an extensive look at NZXT's range of cases, but NZXT have found one we haven't had out mitts on yet. This one's called the Tempest, and it has it's own slogan: “Welcome the airflow king”.

CLICK HERE FOR NZXT Tempest SHOPPING & PRICING

Today, Matt Homan takes a look at the new powerhouse from PALIT, the Geforce 9600GSO Sonic graphics card. With its 768MB, 192-bit DDR3 memory, we're sure it's going to rock the benchmarks.

The ASUS ATI Radeon EAH3870 is up for review today at Bjorn3D and I am ready to dive in. It is a 512 MB DDR4 card with plenty of bang for the buck. Actually we are going to find out if it is more beneficial to own an ASUS EAH3870 or a Leadtek Winfast PX9600GT card. Both are priced closely at a wopping $20 difference. Will the 3870 perform better, achieve lower temperatures, and deliver the 9600GT a black eye? That is what we will find out in this review. Behold the goodness of ASUS, 'Rock Solid - Heart Touching'.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS HD EAH3870 SHOPPING & PRICING

The ECS A780GM-A Black Series AMD 780G motherboard wound up being quite interesting. It offers quite a few appealing features, such as a back panel full of useful connections, onboard HD audio and video with HDMI output, an integrated RAID controller, support for AMD's Hybrid CrossFire and their new Phenom processors. With such a selection of goodies onboard, the relatively low price initially seems too good to be true.

CLICK HERE FOR ECS A780GM-A Black Series AMD 780G Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

Due to the similarities between this and the Eclipse-62, the Mirage was always going to be compared to its sibling, the Eclipse. However, when you look at the case on its own, you realise just what a good piece of kit it really is. Probably the best removable motherboard tray I've ever used, combined with rock solid build quality from the light and durable aluminium frame make a great base for a system build, and while the look of the case could be seen as a little boring, there's plenty of room for customisation.

The Raidmax Iceberg is a sturdy case designed to suit the gamer who is also conscious of style. Coming stock with three 120 mm blue LED fans and a side panel window in addition to being quite sturdily constructed of aluminum, this case is made to please gamers.

It has been a while since we’ve seen anything from XFX, but they’re back today with a 9600GT. This particular model we’re looking at isn’t any ordinary 9600GT, it’s the XXX Alpha Dog Edition which sits at the absolute top of the food chain in the world of 9600GTs.

“Recently, ASUS was among the first companies to put a pair of ATI HD 3850s on a single graphics card, for a more affordable dual-GPU experience. I reviewed a Radeon HD 3850 (single GPU) earlier this year, and was very impressed with it.performance just shy of an 8800GT at $100 less. A pair on one card should be an awesome experience. Today I will be looking at the ASUS EAH3850 X2 1GB, twin 3850s with 512MB each, one of the few on the market. Will it meet my dual-3850 expectations? How will it compare to the 9800GTX, nVidia's top of the line single-GPU card? Read on and see!”

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS EAH3850 X2 1GB Dual GPU Video Card SHOPPING & PRICING

"The Scythe Shuriken Low Profile CPU Cooler is one that is able to be used in many different setups that you may have. It could be used in a large case, or a smaller case that does not have much overhead clearance, such as an HTPC. For the size of this cooler, I was surprised at the cooling capability that it yielded. It was able to beat out the other low profile coolers that I have used in the past, as well as the stock Intel heatsink/fan setup that comes with retail processors. It did fall short when it comes to the larger heatsinks, which is to be expected, seeing as those coolers do have a larger surface area and are able to draw heat from the processor and cool it with a larger fan. The fact that this cooler comes in at a price of around $30, makes it a good bargain for someone looking to upgrade from the stock cooler or building an HTPC."

GlacialTech is known for their light and cool materials. Both the Igloo Silent and PWM are just that, with superior noise reduction. The Silent has a 3-pin connector and the PWM has a 4-pin, meaning that the PWM takes advantage of the newer CPU fan connectors on the latest motherboards, allowing the motherboard itself to control the speed of the fan. In short, when things get hot, the Igloo PWM gets going. When temperatures are back to normal, the motherboard sends a signal through the fourth wire that tells the fan to slow down. But fear not if you only have a 3-pin on your mobo, either one will still work on older and newer motherboards.

"For testing, I used two programs, HD Tach and HD Tune, to test the write and read speeds of the drive in the dock. For reference purposes, the drive used was a 3.5” Maxtor 320GB, 7200 RPM SATA Drive. During testing, I was curious to see how having USB devices plugged into the hub would affect drive performance as they share the same USB bus to the computer."

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake BlacX SE Hard Drive Dock SHOPPING & PRICING

Artiom checks out the latest gear from Cyber Snipa to enhance your game. Want to mark your opponent for death and paint the map with their gibbs? Check out the Stinger mouse which comes complete with weights and enough bling to pimp your game in any setting. We personally love the target emblem blazing in the back.

CLICK HERE FOR Cyber Snipa Stinger Laser Mouse SHOPPING & PRICING

Even though X-Spice is not a very well known brand name, they achieved what nobody else could do: building an extremely quiet power supply that is stable and affordable. We are testing the 530W model today and found that it could easily handle a Quad CrossFireX rig, and produced less fan noise under load than most other power supplies in idle.

ASUS finally antes up to the bang-for-the-buck table with a value-priced product in their Xonar family of performance audio cards. It’s got a solid feature set, and debuts with ASUS’ new DS3D GX 2.0 environmental DSP, but does it break new ground in the price/performance department?

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Sound Card SHOPPING & PRICING

"Like many gamers, we anticipated a heated videocard war would take place this past year between Nvidia and AMD. But instead of a knock-down, drag out fight between two heavyweight contenders, we instead witnessed Nvidia dancing around the ring with its 8800 series GPUs while the company formerly known as ATI nary made an attempt at the performance crown. In recent months AMD has finally responded with its HD 3870, and while it still doesn't manage to regain the lead, it did prompt Nvidia to release a new series in its lineup, the 9x00. Or did it?"

CLICK HERE FOR Asus EN9800GTX 512MB Videocard SHOPPING & PRICING

In the past when a new Noctua CPU cooler arrived on my doorstep, it was pretty much a given that I would have a new performance leader for air-cooled CPU heatsinks. Times are starting to change and I am beginning to have my doubts after the arrival of the Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer and ZEROtherm ZEN FZ120. It is difficult to imagine anyone making a cooler than can rival the performance numbers achieved by these two products.

Asus followed up with numerous accessories and multi-colored models in the months after their initial release. The follow-up units were essentially identical to the originals though, save for the different colored enclosures.

CLICK HERE FOR Asus Eee PC 900 SHOPPING & PRICING

"The Centurion line of Cooler Master cases has always been a solid entry-level series, targeted at gamers who don't want bling. Even modders like the steel. For enthusiasts, there's the Stacker series, with 5.25" bays running top to bottom, ready for any possible kind of expansion. And now they've created a middle ground."

CLICK HERE FOR Cooler Master Centurion 590 Mid-Tower Case SHOPPING & PRICING

Finally, we had tested Acer Aspire 6920G after Acer's
announcement for new Aspire Gemstone notebooks in March this year. Black cover in "piano" finish looks very elegant despite our first thought of greasy fingerprints all over it. At some point, I even thought that I am too subjective, so I asked my colleagues what they think and we finally agree that fingertips are less noticeable than on other notebooks with similar finishing process. In the middle of notebook cover is logo which lights up when notebook is on."

CLICK HERE FOR Acer Aspire 6920G SHOPPING & PRICING

"I remember, it seems just like the other day that I was amazed with my 32MB flash drive, and how much it could hold, and today I am testing the 32GB Corsair Flash Voyager, which amazed me yet again. While the speeds aren't the best, there does have to be some sacrifice for the massive amount of data that can be stored on the drive. Thumb drives are taken just about everywhere we go. Because of this they are sometimes subjected to less than ideal conditions for an electronic device. With the Flash Voyager line, Corsair has a drive that is water and shock resistant. Valuable assets in today's "go everywhere" world. Coupled with this ruggedness is the ten year warranty that backs up the device, so there are no worries about replacement for probably longer than this drive will be considered large."

CLICK HERE FOR Corsair Flash Voyager 32GB SHOPPING & PRICING

Most people probably haven't heard of the Cyber Snipa brand. This was the first time that I've ever used or even heard of their products. Don't let this fool you. The Cyber Snipa Stinger is quite a powerful mouse and if you ask me, a better mouse than most other high end gaming mice. It offers everything you can think of in a gaming mouse: ergonomics, comfortable, weight system, mice feet, and horizontal scroll just to name a few. Read on further to see how good this mouse really is.

CLICK HERE FOR Cyber Snipa Stinger Laser Mouse SHOPPING & PRICING

More than anything else, the new NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset is designed for next‐generation processor technologies, and supports 3‐way SLI, Quad SLI, DDR3 with EPP 2, PCI Express 2.0, 1600 FSB CPUs, and the meticulous hardware control via the Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA).

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS Striker II NSE nForce 790i SLI Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

The Silverstone KL03 is a mid-priced case with a price online of $180~. At this price, the case has a lot going for it as it has the space of an EATX case while easily fitting long video cards like the X1950XTX and 9800GX2 video cards. With NVIDIA’s next generation GT280 cards rumored to be the same size, the need for a case like the KL03 is clear. The main negatives of the case include the inability to remove the FDD cage which means that if you don't have a FDD, those spots are pretty much wasted. The five hard drive bays are sufficient for most users but it would have been nice to include a sixth HDD bay instead of the second FDD drive bay which is redundant in any case as most people don't have a use for a floppy disk. The lack of a removable motherboard tray is also a minus. Overall, the faults with this case are minor, and you should seriously consider buying one if you’re looking for a Med-Tower case that will work with larger PSUs and video cards.

CLICK HERE FOR Silverstone KL03 Case SHOPPING & PRICING

"Lite-On Corporation has been in the optical drive business since 1999 and makes many of the products that OEM system builders use in their computers. But they also sell products in the consumer retail market which are typically priced in the lower end of the scale compared with some of the equivalent models from other major brands. For this reason they're a popular choice for many home builders as well."

The TS-409 is a SFF device designed to hold a lot of storage and fill a lot of needs. Find out if Jason liked the Turbo TS-409 and how easy or difficult the setup is.

CLICK HERE FOR QNAP Turbo TS-409 NAS SHOPPING & PRICING

The Altair A380 is an affordable slim HTPC case, with a very clean look coupled with a very durable construction. The included power supply is 80 Plus certified and can easily power today's mATX boards with multi core CPUs. Also included is an infrared remote control which is compatible with Windows Vista.

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

Have you ever been roughing it either outdoors or just to your job and thought to yourself, "Damn, I wish I had a box that was waterproof, crushproof, watertight, and would only fit some of the smallest crap I own?" If so, the OtterBox 1000 Series Case will make you jump for joy. Admittedly, OtterBox makes these kinds of cases in all different shapes and sizes. But, since size does matter to most of us, the size of the 1000 series is just not adequate to fulfill our desires.

CLICK HERE FOR Otterbox 1000 SHOPPING & PRICING

The Intel® P45 boards will sport a die shrink of the onboard components to 65nm as opposed to the previous 90nm standard. This die shrink would lead us to expect less power consumption as well as improved power efficiency. The P45 also offers official support for PCIe 2.0 with more adaptable lanes to help better support the use of multiple GPUs based on the CrossFireT architecture. The P45 based boards will feature the new ICH10 series southbridge, which is extremely close in its feature set to its ICH9 brethren, but the primary difference between the two is the ICH10 series has removed LPT and legacy PATA support entirely. While not officially offering support for the new 1600 MHz FSB processors we have it on good authority that most of the P45 boards will support these chips.

"Asus has appealed to the budget conscious, feature loving, overclocking enthusiast very well indeed even though some of these features are mutually exclusive in use. It's not perfect but it's evidently a clear that this is a thorough evolution over previous Asus products, even previous P35 boards as a whole. It's raised the bar massively for what mainstream should be compared to the previous generation, yet in almost every area it's still left us wanting more. Its hardware features are innovative and daring, but we find ourselves rhetorically questioning "would I actually use it though?" If yes, then jump on it like it was made of gold. Asus has proved that its P45 P5Q Deluxe is a step up from P35, and almost emulates X48 but for far less money: it has our vote for this reason alone."

"Bgears is a relatively new company that is creating some cool items that are being aimed at specialist areas of the PC market. An example of this is the HTPC enclosure being looked at today, the b-Envi. We plan on seeing if Bgears can come up with something that is different from the crowd, but at the same time we will check out the feature set to see if it is worthy of our hard-earned dollars.

The first thing you notice about the b-Envi is the small stature. While this isn't uncommon in an HTPC case, most manufacturers have gone the route of making the box look like a piece of stereo equipment. Bgears has turned a different direction and have opted for an appearance like the old SFF cases, which actually had enough room inside to do something with."

"Apevia opened its doors in March of 1999 with the goal of providing “state-of-the-art technology at fair and affordable prices.” The company may best be known for its gamer targeted PC cases, but they also carry other products - including PSUs. Today we have an Apevia 900 watt Warlock PSU ready for the test bench. With its clear acrylic side panels and multi color LED 135mm fan, it's obvious the Apevia 900 watt Warlock is target at the modder and gamer markets. But, has it “Got Game?” Let's find out."

CLICK HERE FOR Apevia Warlock 900 Watt Power Supply SHOPPING & PRICING

"Temperatures were about average in the Thermaltake Armor+, with the exception of the video card - which was helped by the 230mm intake fan and the optional PCI card fan. The case has enough room for any system builder, and is certified for NVIDIA's Tri-SLI, so there will be no cramping here. The removable motherboard tray is great feature, and should be standard in all computer cases. If removed, the two hard drive cages at the bottom of the Armor+ leave enough room to install a two-fan liquid cooling radiator, so you are not stuck with the LCS if you choose to go with an aftermarket liquid cooling setup. The number of 5.25" bays lets you expand your hardware to your hearts' content, as long as your motherboard can handle it. The case is quite heavy, so you might not be toting it to LAN parties."

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake VH6000BWS Armor+ SHOPPING & PRICING

Computers of today are used in so many different ways that generate tons of heat. So, for those of us who know more about computers than just where the power button is, realize that we must do something to alleviate this problem if possible. One such way to do this is by utilizing system or case fans.

"The 80GB Zune has undeniable cool factor, given its big screen and built-in WiFi. But rather than trumping the competition, it falls in that gray area between the somewhat ho-hum iPod Classic and the rip-roaring iPod Touch. We applaud Microsoft for trying to make the hardware and software as un-Microsoft (read: user-friendly) as possible, but even this second-gen model has some kinks that need working out. And although we love the wireless sync and recently upgraded song-sharing features, we hope future generations will include more practical WiFi features like a Web browser."

CLICK HERE FOR Microsoft Zune 80GB SHOPPING & PRICING

The T-Power N750 comes loaded with features and accessories. BIOS options leave nothing to be desired by even the most adventurous overclocker, giving a solid platform for AMD fans. I love the package of accessories and software included and NVIDIA finally brings PCI Express 2.0 support to SLI configs for AMD CPUs. While onboard video is less than stellar, adding a high end video card will allow for some energy savings.

CLICK HERE FOR Biostar TPower N750 SHOPPING & PRICING

OCModShop's cheat database can help you get past those frustrating levels, beat that boss, or just give you general play tips to improve your scores. Our database grows every day, and we have lots of codes and achievement lists for the Nintendo Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, and PC games (of course!).

"Logitech currently has the "Ferrari of notebook mice" - the VX Revolution - to which we've given a stellar review. It's a great product, but sports a hefty price tag and it's a little too big considering it's a laptop mouse. There's now a viable alternative from Logitech in terms of size and price: the V220 cordless optical mouse. It has some cool features (rubber grip, programmable scroll wheel) and some cost-effective solutions, like having an optical sensor instead of a laser. But this doesn't mean it's any less precise than its laser-based counterparts, as we'll see further along in this review."

CLICK HERE FOR Logitech V220 Cordless Mouse SHOPPING & PRICING

"Once the domain of OEMs, slipstreaming allows a user to bundle newer service packs, updates, drivers or even applications right into the Windows install media. With the recent release of Windows XP Service Pack 3, there has never been a better time to build a disc to suit. In the following pages we'll tailor your old Windows XP CD to reduce its size, install faster, recognize your SATA drives during install and pre-install your favorite applications."

CLICK HERE FOR Windows XP SHOPPING & PRICING

"We take a closer look at the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX USB stick, testing performance and durability in this article which is first in a series. Can this supercharged USB stick serve as a portable HDD, available in sizes up to 8Gb there definitely is potential."

CLICK HERE FOR Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 4GB USB Stick SHOPPING & PRICING

Today Artiom takes a look at the high end CPU heatsink by Spire named the Fourier IV. We test out the Fourier IV in a current test rig to seeif it can handle the heat output of a quad core. Check out our take on the installation and performance of this copper beast.

"With more and more emphasis being put on the cooling proficiency and the quietness of cooling products, many people are beginning to look try different ways to keeping their PC chilled at a reasonable noise level. One of the most popular methods is to purchase a passive cooler, I.E. one without a fan. But can these fanless coolers really live up to their fan-covered ancestors?

That’s the question that begs to be answered, so Coolermaster have sent me the Z600 to check out. "

"Today for review I've got the Vizo Mini Ninja Notebook Cooler, and I've got two notebooks on hand to test with it to see how well it handles the heat. The Mini Ninja is well made and quiet, it even features a pass-through USB power connection so you won't lose a USB port while using it to help cool your laptop. So read on to check out the Mini Ninja and see if it can handle the heat or not?! "

"The Hypersonic Avenger AG2 starts at $1349 and the system we tested today was $1598 since we had an upgraded CPU, extra memory and faster 7,200 RPM hard drive. The Hypersonic Avenger AG2 is the fastest notebook that we have ever tested when it comes to CPU performance, which is impressive considering the Dell XPS M1710 that we compared it against was nearly $5,000 a couple of years ago. The Avenger AG2 is fast enough to make most desktop systems look slow, but this does come at a price..."

When it comes to power supplies for personal computers today picking the proper power supply can be a time consuming process that leaves you more confused than when you started looking for for a PSU to power that beast you drive. It's literally a jungle of wires and connectors, voltages and amps, confused by dozens of choices of the various manufactures out there.

CLICK HERE FOR Tagan TG1100 BZ Series 1100W SHOPPING & PRICING

The Aeneon XTune 2GB DDR3-1600 dual channel memory kit wound up surprising me. While I didn't expect it to perform poorly, I did not anticipate that it would keep up with similar kits with tighter timings. Despite being rated for 1600MHz at 9-9-9-28 timings, it managed to perform on par with other kits with timings of 8-8-8-34 and 7-7-7-18.

Taipei, Taiwan, 27 May 2008 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today introduced the new VIA OpenBook™ mini-note reference design targeted at the rapidly growing global market for ultra-portable notebooks.

The VIA OpenBook mini-note reference design introduces a host of new innovations, including the next generation of VIA Ultra Mobile Platform, based on the VIA C7®-M ULV processor and the new all-in-one VIA VX800 digital media IGP chipset. Together, this ultra compact, power efficient platform delivers richer computing and multimedia features, including a stunning 8.9” screen and greater video playback support, in a compact and stylish clamshell form factor that weighs just 1kg.

ASUS' 'V-Cool' graphics cooler used on this board is a dual-slot affair which is much tidier than the far bulkier arrangement seen on their silent GeForce 8600 GTS offering, which is a big plus straight off the bat. The large heatsink covers the entire front of what is otherwise a very standard GeForce 9600 GT design, complete with six-pin PCI Express power connector.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS EN9600GT Silent SHOPPING & PRICING

Intel's P45 is due out next month, but the boards are already rolling in. Our first look is at ASUS' P5Q Deluxe, a DDR2 offering that's feature-packed and comes in at a great price. Features include a layman's RAID tool, updated Splashtop, lots of connectivity, a great layout and more.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS P5Q Deluxe SHOPPING & PRICING

"The Aeneon XTune DDR3 1600 2 x 1GB kit of desktop memory is not only a great looking kit of memory that you can proudly display in your rig, but the sticks are also able to perform very well. This kit of 2x1GB memory is able to operate at 1600MHz with only 1.5 volts being pushed through it. This is one of the advantages of DDR3 memory over DDR2 memory; the kits are able to perform at higher speeds with lower volts without sacrificing the timings that need to be set. The timings of this kit were, at stock, not very low to begin with, but not quite as high as I have seen in the past. When you begin to overclock the memory, you do need to loosen the timings beyond what I would like to set them at, though it does pay off with the higher clock speeds. The voltages that this kit of memory took, 1.5 volts, will help in reducing the overall temperatures inside of your case as the memory sticks are not heating up quite as warm as others."

"Today we are going to take the new speed champion for a spin; MemoRight’s GT. We will run our standard speed tests then take a pair of identical drives and run them in RAID 0. To keep things simple we are going to test the drives on a commonly used Intel motherboard that features Intel’s built in RAID controller which many of you would most likely have in your system already.

The MemoRight GT is a 2.5-inch drive that is capable of either being used in a desktop or notebook. Adapters are available to convert the drive to suit a standard desktop 3.5-inch bay. As shown above, the GT is capable of pushing a full 120MB/s in both read and write speed; this makes it even faster than the MTRON PRO I tested last month!"

"Noctua does not fail to impress with their new NH-C12P. Focusing on mainly tower based heatsinks over the last couple of years, it is refreshing to see a potent down-draft design from Noctua. It provides an excellent holistic cooling solution without sacrificing much in the performance department. The airflow gaps are very functional and contributed to the NH-C12P reaching the top of our motherboard cooling charts."

Recently, I took a look at the Hiper Type M 580W power supply, and gave it a less than stunning review. Well, it turns out that the 580W unit's bigger brothers, the Type R II and Type M 880W models, took exception to that; asking me to pick on someone my own size: namely, them.

CLICK HERE FOR Hiper 880W Double Header Power Supply SHOPPING & PRICING

CoolerMaster has done it again with an excellent Med Tower case for the under $70 range. The case offers 9 drive bays, a Front Panel IO with Firewire, tool less construction and more. At the targeted price point, the Centurion 590 can’t be beat. The only negatives on the case would be the lack of a removable motherboard tray and the positioning of the water cooling holes could be a little better. Otherwise this is an excellent case that can fit into any enthusiast’s needs and worthy of a Hot Product Award. CoolerMaster cases rock in my book, as their original WaveMaster case is still in use in the lab.

CLICK HERE FOR CoolerMaster Centurion 590 Case SHOPPING & PRICING

"It's very interesting to compare quad-core and dual-core processors, as the cheapest Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600) already costs about $200. This price border separates more expensive CPUs from popular products in the market. So, common users may be tempted to buy a real quad-core processor, even if it does not operate at a high clock rate. We only have to find out whether it's an objectively expedient decision."

Travagan's Colors is the name of a brand new portable headphone amplifier. It is much smaller than most normal portable amps and only costs $59. The design is quite outlandish since it resembles a dog bone. The question is of course how does this little thing stack up against some of the bigger portable headphone amps.

Today marks our first look at the heatpipe tower design. This design isn’t relatively new to the industry but is different from what we have become used to here at ModSynergy. Regular coolers have a fan that blows downward on the heatpipe, and hot air can escape anywhere it wants to. But with tower style coolers, the heatpipes are raised vertically and the hot air is exhausted through the left side of the case. This idea seems like a much more efficient design because the hot air is being directed to where your rear exhaust fan lies. Read on to see if this indeed makes a difference.

"...Like its predecessor, the DK X48-T2RS is affordable, overclockable and offers very good performance. If you want a good performing x48 based motherboard with a no-frills package/contents, then this motherboard is worth considering. "

CLICK HERE FOR DFI LanParty DK X48-T2RS Motherboard SHOPPING & PRICING

“As for the test results, the ZEROtherm Zen FZ120 CPU Cooler ranks right up there with a lot of the newer-released coolers currently out on the market however this cooler will only retail for $39.99. So even if you're on a budget, this cooler will still enable you to get a top tier cooler for a respectably low price. With ease of installation and a quiet operating fan, along with the same high quality and now lower cost, the Zen FZ120 will make an excellent addition to your hardware.“

The Asus Xonar DX isn't the perfect product a spec sheet would lead you to think – its software interface might be appalling and we've had to wait for a proper EAX driver to fix popular games like BioShock and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, but at least it installed without issue on various systems including boards based on Intel’s P965, X48 and P45 chipsets, along with Nvidia nForce 780i SLI and AMD 690G-based motherboards – we even used an x8 slot instead of just an x1 and as expected, it made no difference. The only problem we've heard is that there are issues with it and the 790i Ultra SLI because of the PCI to PCI-Express bridge chip.

CLICK HERE FOR Asus Xonar DX PCI-Express Sound Card SHOPPING & PRICING

"The X300 notebook has an Intel Core Duo SL7100 (1.2GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB) CPU. The monitor is a 13.3” WXGA+ TFT (LED backlight). There is a 3x3 UltraConnect II which is a connectivity suite offering wireless LAN, UWB (UltraWide Band), Bluetooth and numerous wireless WAN choices including a system that utilizes native GPS functionality that is built into the X300.

The hard drive is unique in that it is a solid state drive (SSD) 64GB in size. What this means is that the hard drive is not a rotating disk in the traditional sense, but rather comprises of several chips with addressable memory arrayed in a specific format to prolong the usability of the SSD drive."

CLICK HERE FOR Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Series Notebook SHOPPING & PRICING

"Overclocking the X48T-DQ6 was in all respects just the same as the X48-DQ6. The Q9450 I use in my reviews ran up on the same 470FSB limit that it did on the DDR2 version of the board. This limited my memory overclock to only 940MHz at 8-8-8-24 1t. Tweaking the voltages and timings did not allow me to progress any further. Reaching the limits of my chip may seem like a bad thing, but it's not really when you look at it. Some never get that far, while some people can eclipse the results I have achieved. It all comes down to how good your individual hardware is and the time it takes to pull the most from the X48T-DQ6. There are enough options in the BIOS to allow for fine tuning the voltages, clockspeeds and memory dividers. I found that the B (333) dividers were the most stable for the hardware I used on this board. Of course, your mileage may vary."

CLICK HERE FOR Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 SHOPPING & PRICING

"For a lot of people, an all-in-one bundle from a popular brand is just what they need; it would minimize the research work for finding quality, and it would combine soundcard and speakers/headphones to further reduce consumer work. Enter the 5H v2 USB headset from SteelSeries. This headset not only comes backed by the name that so many people trust, SteelSeries, but also comes bundled with a USB soundcard for a cheap upgrade over onboard sound."

CLICK HERE FOR SteelSeries 5H v2 USB Headset SHOPPING & PRICING

"Today we will be looking at a 9600GT from PNY which comes in under the Verto naming scheme. While this might sound like some form of OC series, it isn’t. Verto is simply what PNY choose to call their graphics card line-up.

It still carries the same one-slot profile, but we have a smaller fan that sits on the left of the card as opposed to the right. The shape of the cooler is also slightly different to the standard cooler."

“NZXT has recently been coming out with some great mid tower cases. ThinkComputers got the chance to take a look at the new NZXT Tempest case. This case is probably different than most other cases you've seen because it has a bottom, rather than top, mounted PSU. It also includes plenty of features for overclockers, water coolers, and storage fanatics, while still displaying a sleek design. NZXT calls this the "Airflow King" because it includes SIX 120mm and larger fans. Don't worry, they're probably quieter than the case you have right now.”

CLICK HERE FOR NZXT Tempest Case SHOPPING & PRICING

The bundle and support are very well with the XFX Black Edition GeForce 9800GTX, it comes with COD4, which is one of the hottest PC gaming titles available at this moment and costs around $49.95 at most e-tailors or retailers making the card a more attractive buy. Support and warranty options are well taken care of BY XFX as they take very good care of their customers in the after purchase environment and quick RMA return times. Overall this card is a solid piece of equipment that excels in the 1920X1200 and below resolutions with moderate AA and AF settings. In the 1680 and 1280 resolutions you can turn up the AA and AF settings to their maximum values and get great FPS gameplay. Not quite an Editor's Choice, but definitely a Hot Product award winner.

CLICK HERE FOR 9800GTX SHOPPING & PRICING

Multimedia computers are definitely the future of modern home systems and it's quite logical when users attach significance to devices that will go hand in hand with them. One of these devices fell into our hands. We are talking about Logitech diNovo Mini which unites mouse and keyboard and it's adapted for using it from your sofa. Logitech was lead with idea of keeping diNovo Mini in living room, and give us plenty of functions that can fulfill all our tech needs.

CLICK HERE FOR Logitech diNovo Mini SHOPPING & PRICING

"Last week nVidia held their Spring 2008 Editor’s day, where they presented their forthcoming series of graphics processing units, which will be released next month. While we can’t talk about this new chip series yet due to the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), we can talk about some ideas that nVidia is seeing as “the future of computing” – basically more GPGPU usage (i.e. the use of the graphics chip to process regular programs) and the co-existence of "competing" technology."

Like a lot of other people I've been looking for a little future proofing (If such a thing exists) when it comes to my Computers Power Supply. As Enthusiasts computers become more powerful their thirst for power has been ever growing, Triple SLI machines with high end graphics cards can pull over 1k watts actively under intensive use. I'm not using triple SLI yet but I'd like to have enough power ready in case I decide to go SLI.

"The HTC Stereo Handsfree with Volume Control is from our friends at USBFever and it's really three things in one, a mini-USB to 3.5mm jack adapter, volume control and a microphone. This little gadget essentially lets you turn any headphones or earbuds you have into a handsfree setup. There are many choices out there for handsfree sets but really most have sub-par headphones included with them, and it's usually only one earpiece, with this gadget from USBFever you get to use your own headset. Being able to use any headset is very nice indeed, also you can get this for about $15.00 shipped to you from USBFever, so not only is it very useful but very inexpensive and well worth it... "

"Today I will be looking at one of OCZ's newest power supplies, the EliteXStream 800w PSU. This will be the first OCZ power supply I have reviewed here. OCZ is well known for their high-performance system memory and have been in the power supply business for a while as well. Will the EliteXStream 800 live up to the high expectations I have of OCZ products?"

CLICK HERE FOR OCZ EliteXstream 1000 Watt Power Supply SHOPPING & PRICING

Each year NVIDIA hosts a invite-only event for industry editors. Everyone from reviewers to magazine editors were on hand to learn the reasons behind NVIDIA's latest graphics processor launch. At this editor's day event, the heads of technology converge for a day of demos and discussion - and a few nice surprises. Benchmark Reviews was pleased to receive an invitation into this exclusive event, and looked forward to the opportunity to share thoughts with the biggest name in the graphics market.

But the big bonus is the PC Clone Lite program that is included with the drive. An outstanding and simple backup program coupled with a one touch button on the rear of the Kingwin Elite shows how some products are truly engineered to work hand in hand with needs in mind and certain software in hand.

Gelaskins is a very thin but effective sticker to protect your portable electronics devices from scratches and other light damage, but also adds a nice individual touch to your gadget. We tested the iPhone version of the product.

With today's advancements in digital audio, mp3 players keep getting smaller, and sound keeps getting bigger. With all the brands out there to choose from, which do you buy? Today, Dan Shannon takes a look at the Orb from mStation, and this just might be the brand for you.

CLICK HERE FOR mStation Orb 2.1 Stereo SHOPPING & PRICING

"What do you if you have more than 20x high speed fans in your PC and want to control them through an easy front-end? Build your own fan controller of course! In this tutorial we show you how to convert that old 300W ATX PSU into the most powerful rheobus you have seen."