Week of August 9, 2009

Trying to narrow down the right selection will take some research. The main characteristics I look for in a chassis are the overall size and its airflow design. Will the X-Fighter have what it takes to impress me? We will have to see.

CLICK HERE FOR In Win X-Fighter Mid Tower Case PRICING & SHOPPING

"I've taken a look at a few Ulti-mat brand mousing surfaces and for the most part they're fairly decent overall, but not perfect. Today I've got their newest pad called the Breathe F-X3 and it's similar to the other Ulti-mat pads I've looked at in that it's cloth and has a non-slip backing to it, but the F-X3 is larger than the others. I've tested it with three mice I've got on hand, so read on to learn more about it..."

So you just upgraded you system and realized that you forgot that your little power supply can’t produce enough juice to power your system to the full, what do you do? Well you could try getting a bigger power supply which in the end is what you’re going to have to do anyways. So now that you got a bigger power supply you find that it’s to big for your case and that once again you have to make another forced upgrade. Well with the Nexus RX-1K 1000 watt PSU you don’t need to worry about that inconvenience. With this handy little power supply you get the silence that most nexus products are known for, combined with a modular 1000 watt power supply no bigger than a standard sized PSU. Let’s take a closer look at this tiny powerhouse:

"PC-8N is a new all-aluminum mid-tower case from Lian-Li. Using 1.5 mm-thick aluminum panels, this case is very light, weighting only 10.5 Lbs (4.8 Kg). Let's see what to expect from it."

MSI's latest addition to their Lightning Series is the N275GTX Lightning with 1792 MB memory and a new Twin Frozr II dual 80 mm fan cooler. Being targeted at overclockers it is overclocked out of the box of course. All this sounds like a noisy card? Nope, on the contrary, the card is actually the quietest card in its performance class, by far.

CLICK HERE FOR MSI N275GTX PRICING & SHOPPING

The drive we are looking at today is the long awaited Intel replacement which is built on the 34 nanometer manufacturing process - this has the long term benefit of helping to reduce the costs to manufacture therefore meaning less cost to the consumer - well thats the theory anyway. Randy Wilhelm, Intel's Vice president and senior manager was keen to announce publically that their goal was to be not only the first to acheive 34nm NAND flash memory lithography but to do so with the same, or faster performance than the previous versions.

CLICK HERE FOR Intel X25-M 160gb SSD Drive PRICING & SHOPPING

Cell phones have become an integral part of our lifestyle and culture, taking place as almost a necessity in our hierarchy of needs. Unfortunately these futuristic pieces of tech are typically very fragile and therefore often unfit for more strenuous conditions. The cell phone phenomenon has persisted for years now however, and solutions to this problem have been developed. Phone cases aren’t exactly a wondrous, technologically ingenious way of protecting your new gadget, but they work. One manufacturer, Otterbox, has developed a reputation for making quality phone accessories. New phones are being released every day, and yet Otterbox seems to have a unique case solution for most if not all phones. They were kind enough to send us a case for the Samsung Omnia, known as the Defender, to test in everyday use. Here is how it measured up.

CLICK HERE FOR OtterBox Samsung Omnia Defender Case PRICING & SHOPPING

Recently Lancool has released a new series of cases called Dragonlord. The Dragonlord series consist of four models: K62, K60, K58 and the lower model K56. Each of the cases has a few more options than the lower models but all generally share similar front facials which is a predominantly mesh. The model we will be concentrating on will be the K56. The K56 offers a lot of tool-less options that will put the building time at a minimum. If you want to know more about this new case then you have to read the rest of the review.

CLICK HERE FOR Lancool DragonLord PC-K56 PRICING & SHOPPING

The webcam has revolutionised communications with users now able to not only speak to one another over the internet but now also see them; and most importantly, cheaply. With IM services, such as Skype and MSN, all offering video calls, the demand for webcams is still pretty high and manufacturers are always coming up with new ways to sell their products; whether it is animated functions or the stand-out design.

Today, we take a look at a very “unique” type of webcam that is styled around a dog. Incorporating a 5 megapixel camera, microphone and a small fan it has its fair share of features so let’s see what it can do... "

"This time we tested Zalman CNPS 10X Extreme CPU cooler, which is based on the now traditional "tower" design, with five U-shape heatpipes connecting the base to the heatsink. The main feature from this cooler is its speed controller, nicely designed. But will its performance be better than the one from its competitors? Check it out!"

CLICK HERE FOR Zalman CNPS 10X Extreme PRICING & SHOPPING

Most computer cases nowadays are suffering from a size problem; they seem to be getting bigger and bigger as people find more stuff to put inside them. But what if you're looking for a case that is mid-sized yet still provides high performance cooling? NZXT, makers of a wide range of computer products, offers a case that promises to deliver just that, the NZXT Panzerbox Computer Case. Will this case offer the best of both worlds? Read on to find out.

CLICK HERE FOR NZXT Panzerbox Case PRICING & SHOPPING

"Kingwin's XT-1264 is the first tower-style heatsink to pass through the Frostytech test labs which incorporates asymmetrical "U" shaped heatpipes. In other words the heatpipes are not even, rather one length of each vertical heatpipe is 30mm shorter than the opposite. "

CLICK HERE FOR Kingwin XT-1264 Heatsink PRICING & SHOPPING

“This a mouse with few very unique features when it comes to its design and functions. It looks somewhat futuristic but ergonomically it is designed for right handed users and there are some details that can look odd at first glance. One of these features is presence of mouse wheel on left mouse button. Also, left button is positioned lower than the right one which makes this mouse look as some sort of two fingered paw. This button layout is definitely better for FPS gamers because it allows faster access to mouse wheel and third button. Between left and right mouse button, where wheel should have been, is placed Triple Click button that can be used as left button double click…”

CLICK HERE FOR Verbatim Rapier V1 PRICING & SHOPPING

"I was very impressed with the X-7 X-Station's performance. It was not at all what I was expecting. Both the CPU idle and load temps were almost the same as my full-tower case. The GPU idle temp was the second highest. Much to my surprise however, the X-Station managed to have the lowest GPU load temp. The chipset was a little toasty. Both at idle and load, the X-Station did only 1C better than my generic case. Then again, it did keep my HDD the opposite of toasty. That's right!!! The X-Station kept my HDD way cooler than a full-tower case! I thought that was pretty amazing. Overall, the X-Station performed great as a mid-tower, and that's with my mediocre wire management."

Since the dawn of the computer era started, the need of fans has become as necessary to use as the heat sinks we use to cool our computer components. As chassis become bigger they are able to handle a larger amount of fans. The need to limit the amount of noise the fans produce has become a top priority for most of us computer users.

Fan controllers are a perfect candidate for us users to help limit the amount of noise these fans make by adjusting the amount of voltage to each fan we hook up therefore dropping the amount of noise that the fans make. Fan controllers also gives us another ability of organizing all of our fan wires in a more organized manner increasing overall air flow in the chassis, at the same time tiding up the interior of our chassis.

NZXT has come up with a rather unique fan controller that not only controls five fans, but also allows us to monitor up to five component temperatures. The Sentry 2 fan controller is a touch sensitive fan controller that allows us to manually adjust the fan speed or allows the fan controller to control the fans automatically in conjunction with the temperature probes.

If I had to choose one word to describe my experience with the Synology Disk Station DS409slim NAS, it would be superb. In normal operation it is almost silent, data transfers are snappy, and the scalability is amazing. There are a ton of very useful features with the Disk Station Manager firmware 2.2, and with the stable version due out in September the future is looking very good.

CLICK HERE FOR Synology Disk Station DS409slim NAS PRICING & SHOPPING

!HEAT KILLS! We all know that heat kills electronic devices. Is it any wonder that manufacturer's put so much attention into keeping them cool? Here is another innovative product from JETART Technology that promises keep your laptop cool and leave plenty of room in your bag for snacks! This is the JETART miniSTAND NP8900 Notebook Cooler! This device is a highly portable laptop cooler that will fit your mini-notebook all the way up to your full size 15-inch laptops. So lets dive in and take a closer look at this new piece of technology!

"G.Skill's Falcon 128GB SSD is one of many Indilinx-based drives on the market, so we figured it would be fast. But how fast? Let's say we were rather surprised at the results. We wanted to check things out up close and personal so G.Skill let us test drive a Falcon. That's a good thing, because we may have a new King of the SSD Hill on our hands."

CLICK HERE FOR G.Skill Falcon 128GB SSD PRICING & SHOPPING

The Thermaltake Element T case set out with a mission of providing an excellent gaming case on a budget and has succeeded. This case has the features you want in a mid-tower case with features like tool-less drive installation, plenty of airflow with two fans standard and room for two additional fans to provide maximum airflow, and 7 3.5" bays for HDDs where most cases of this size and price range have four or five at most. The design philosophy of Thermaltake really shines on this case and I highly recommend it. Due to its overall features and tool-less design I must say that for the $79.00 pricetag it's a Hot Product!

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Element T PRICING & SHOPPING

'Out of the box processors have been stuck at 3.2 - 3.33 GHz for quite a number of years now. Clock for clock they have been getting better but the top end speed has been 3.2 - 3.3 GHz. AMD pulled one out of the hat and fielded the Phenom 2 X4 965 with a native frequency of 3.4GHz. To achieve this record breaking frequency they had raise the TDP on the Phenom 2 X4 965 to 140w and bump the voltage to 1.4, previously the Phenom 2 X4 955 which ran at 3.2GHz was the flagship chip and it ran at 1.35v with a TDP of 125w. The Phenom 2 X4 965 promises blazing speed, an unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking, and with a little maturity on the CPU family we're hoping a little more overclocking headroom.'

CLICK HERE FOR AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE PRICING & SHOPPING

Tweaknews was down fo about 10 1/2 hours due to a ip change for the server. With time, over today, the dns servers around the net will update and should be pretty quickly resolved.

I am sorry if this caused anyone any inconvenience.

Nathan
p.s. I luv u

"Today for review I’ve got a product that helps to eliminate the standby mode of electronics, specifically your audio/video equipment. The product is called the TrickleStar TV TrickleSaver, and what it does is sense when you turn your television off then it switches everything else off instead of allowing them to go into standby mode. I’ve been using it for over a week now and it works perfectly with my HDTV and accessories, it’s small, and it seems fairly well made, but there’s one small problem with it… read on to learn more. "

"The Magellan Maestro 4370 offers GPS navigation of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. There is voice guidance and announced street names to make navigation safer and other features, such as land guidance and 3D buildings, increase accuracy and easy of use. Live traffic reporting is also included and allows you to navigate around heavy traffic."

CLICK HERE FOR Magellan Maestro 4370 PRICING & SHOPPING

Previously I reviewed one of MSI's latest 790FX-GD70 and I considerd it to be hands down, one of the best AM3 boards I have used. Some time has past now and my collection has grown a bit more and today we get to toy with the Asus M4A79T Deluxe. It seems like we are getting rehahes of the tired 790FX chipset but with each board their seems to be more and more improvements. Even though we patiently await the newer AMD chipsets ahead it's always nice to see a new board in the pile.

CLICK HERE FOR Asus M4A79T Deluxe PRICING & SHOPPING

"Even above the excellent quality and thoughtful inclusions however is the sheer fact that all of these features fit onto such a tiny board. Integrated X-Fi is extremely nice, and being able to run SLI or Crossfire on such a small board is a huge boon to gamers on the go. I am extremely impressed with the Asus Rampage II GENE and recommend it without reservation to anyone looking for a uATX board. I also recommend it to people just looking to get into overclocking, because with the temp monitors you can OC on auto, see what the board sets, and then work from there! Asus has out-done themselves with the Rampage II GENE, which holds to its Republic of Gamers branding to the roots."

CLICK HERE FOR Asus Rampage II GENE PRICING & SHOPPING

The N620's main difference is the use of two 120mm fans instead of the dual 92mm fans. It's slightly larger than the little brother, and utilizes one more heatpipe.

CLICK HERE FOR Cooler Master Hyper N620 PRICING & SHOPPING

"Ever wonder how an LED light bulb is made? Not the tiny coloured lights, but the big, bright, solid state light bulbs gradually replacing incandescent and compact fluorescent lighting everywhere? Thanks to an offshoot of the Taiwanese firm Glacialtech, which makes PC power supplies and heatsinks, PCSTATS has put together a virtual factory tour of its GlacialLight LED lighting plant situated near Beijing, China. Follow along as PCSTATS takes you on a guided tour of a LED lighting factory!"

Lately, we have seen some new products hit the market that would not have been feasible a mere 3-4 months ago. Case in point: the G.Skill Trident F3-16000CL9T-6GBTD model that we will reviewing today. This is a triple-channel 6GB DDR3-2000 9-9-9-24 memory kit, featuring a low 1.65V default voltage and a price that will make you do a double-take: $160CDN / $130USD.

"3Rsystem's Iceage 80 Prima Mini is a compact CPU cooler that stands just 104mm tall. It's ideally suited towards compact PC systems, slim cases, or simply as a low noise cooling solution for energy efficient sub-85W processors. Given the burgeoning volume of 85W, 65W and 45W energy efficient processors, compact coolers like the Iceage 80 Prima Mini are certainly handy for any PC situation where there's not a lot of headroom."

The ASUS ENGTS250 1GB GTS 250 video card's heatsink is unique and not only gives the card a different look, but also makes it appealing in situations where low noise and low heat production are a must. I can see it being a good fit in a desktop or an HTPC setting where decent 3D performance may be desired, but where serious game play is not a priority.

CLICK HERE FOR ASUS ENGTS250 PRICING & SHOPPING

And to lead the ITX revolution, Silverstone has released two very attractive cases in the SG05 and the SG06. The SG05 is the lower price mesh covered unit that was released first. The SG05 was one of the best looking ITX cases on the market. Later came the SG06 which we are going to take a look at today. The SG06 is the more elegant case with sleek lines and a very profound presence.

"The Corsair Obsidian 800D might be a massive full ATX tower chassis, but it was designed to be a well functioning chassis. Corsair wanted the case to be that large so multi-GPU video card setups could be used as well as allowing custom water cooling kits to be installed. The Corsair Obsidian Series 800D chassis is also an example of what happens when you think outside the box and design something from the ground up. Several of the design features are unique to this chassis and make it stand out from the crowd. It has clearly done well enough to earn our Innovation Award and we can't wait to see what Corsair is planning for their next case design..."

"GMC are a company known for innovative ideas and unique aesthetics – for instance the Bulldozer and Corona. Once again, the Korean company have created a rather unique looking enclosure, named the X-Station. This PC case, like most of GMC’s product range, seems to have a very bold appearance but does it live up to the standards set by their other cases? Only one way to find out."

In a market saturated with mid-tower computer cases there are countless designs and different features to choose from. The one choice most people can agree on is getting a good value for their money. AZZA is trying to make this choice easier by offering the Spartan, a case with bold looks for gaming at a low price.

Not long ago, BFG announced a series of ultimate gaming systems under the moniker "Phobos." A lot of people have been wondering what kind of power supply comes with such a system. Wonder no more, for I have an LS1000 on the bench today. This is one of the smaller units that you may find inside a Phobos, weighing in at an even one thousand watts.

One great example of such a device is the Synology Disk Station DS409+. The DS409+ is a four-bay NAS device that holds up to four, internal SATA drives that can be set up in a variety of different RAID configurations. The DS409+ also includes an external eSATA port and two USB 2.0 ports, which can be used to attach external hard drives to for additional storage or for dedicated backups of the server; you can also attach up to two printers to the USB ports and use the DS409+ as a print server as well...

"With our Intel Core i7 test bench running stock settings we can see how the Zalman CNPS 10X Extreme performs. With the fan running at 100% the CNPS 10X Extreme did very well. Cooling the system to a nice 57.50*C, it is a full 12* cooler than stock cooling, and only 3* off of our first place cooler, the Titan Fenrir. Running the pre-set modes the CNPS 10X Extreme fell in the pack, but still did well..."

" Today I have to review a Zotac GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 Video Card AMP Edition. Zotac is currently producing dozens and dozens of cards, from the GeForce 5 series through the 200 series. This particular card was chosen for a machine that I’d call a “casual everything” computer. By that, I mean that the machine running it occasionally does some video production, some gaming, some photo editing, and the like. However, it doesn’t do enough that it needs the world’s best card. It’s also not your grandma Betty’s solitaire and email machine. "

CLICK HERE FOR Zotac GeForce 9800 GT PRICING & SHOPPING

"The Titan Fenrir offers Heatpipe Direct Touch (HDT) technology, a very efficient technology in tower-style heatsinks, and promises some efficient cooling numbers. It does look rather similar then to a few other HDT products we've seen, so we have high hopes for this cooler. Let's take a closer look and then strap it into the hot seat on a highly overlocked Core i7 and see what it can do."

Even with the the i7 and their accompanying X58 boards being the current most sought-after combination when it comes to CPUs, LGA775 chips continue to sell well. Because of this, many companies have opted to release additional P45 boards into their lineups. DFI has done just that with their new $100 Blood Iron P45-T2RS Elite. Can this board live up to the legends put forth by past DFI products? We intend to find out.

What is impressive about the new LapFit displays is the fact that Samsung offers you a chance to add multiple external monitors to a single PC without the need of additional graphics card or complex software installations, with everything being all done via USB connection. Read on to learn about the new Samsung SyncMaster 19-inch LD190G widescreen LapFit LCD monitor and to see if this is something that could peak your interests. Reviewing this monitor made it clear that the LapFit is not only useful just for the notebook crowd.

"Stereoscopic 3D technology for PCs - not to be confused with 3D graphics - has been around for more than half a decade, courtesy of graphics processor manufacturer Nvidia, but due to a dearth of displays that do justice to the technology, consumers have been slow to adopt it. However, Samsung's 22-inch, 120Hz SyncMaster 2233RZ has been designed specifically to let users take advantage of the delights of stereoscopic three-dimensional viewing (it even comes plastered with Nvidia's "GeForce 3D Vision Ready" logo to prove it). Based on our tests, it delivers as promised, producing theatre-quality 3D in the comfort of home."

CLICK HERE FOR Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ PRICING & SHOPPING

"Overall, the Thermaltake Massive23 CS did a great job at cooling a notebook and did it with some flare. The addition of being able to select different fan colors on the fly really makes this cooler stand out from the pack and gives it some appeal to those in the gaming crowd, as the product title might suggest. The simple controls and classy design of the cooler itself provide a nice contrast to the bling of the fan. An additional bonus you get while using the Massive23 CS is the better ergonomic positioning of the keyboard. The added tilt helps keep your hands in a better position, allowing for a more comfortable computing experience."

When it comes to headphones and microphones for aviation and some of the biggest names in music they have relied on Sennheiser products for years. It was only natural that they would venture into the gaming headset market. In the time sense then, they have made a name for themselves with high quality sound along with microphones. Their most recent gaming headset the PC-350 is their top dog with full over the ear cups that I love so much. After a little begging they sent a pair for me to try out, let’s see if they live up to their reputation.

CLICK HERE FOR Sennheiser PC-350 Gaming Headset PRICING & SHOPPING

Today was Christmas in July for me. I answered the door to find a large package from a small computer chassis/power supply vendor called Azza. I’ll tell you up front, there is a lot about the Fantom 900 case to love. The appearance and quality is top notch and it’s full of small thoughtful goodies that make it a step, or two, above its fellow 500+ cases. Thumb screws galore are located throughout this case making install and tear down a breeze. Airflow through their massive fans is superb and there is even room for more to be added (can we get it to hover folks?).

CLICK HERE FOR Azza Fantom 900 PRICING & SHOPPING

"On the test bench today is Plextor's PX-B310U external Blu-ray drive. In addition to Blu-ray playback (but not burning), this full sized external ODD, which connects to the PC over USB2.0 cable, doubles up as a DVD and CD burner. The PX-B310U supports DVD reading and writing in both the + and - formats, as well as reading and writing to DVD-RAM and Dual-Layered DVD discs."

CLICK HERE FOR Plextor PX-B310U PRICING & SHOPPING

"The right case can make or break a build. It is the utmost outer expression of your PC's personality. From the eggshell steel 'whitebox' to the acrylic torture rack, PC cases vary greatly in form and function. My first real gaming computer was housed in a Thermaltake Armor Jr. I was never a big fan of the hinges and the door was a bit flimsy, but I loved that system and logged thousands of hours on it playing various games. My most recent case was also by Thermaltake, the Mozart TX, which is a huge step up - easily one of the largest PC cases on the market. Today we are getting to test out one of Thermaltake's latest offerings in the gaming case market, the Element G."

CLICK HERE FOR Thermaltake Element G PRICING & SHOPPING

Recently we’ve been taking a look at some pretty high end CPU coolers which, despite the different fin configurations and heatpipe layouts, are all reasonably similar. The Cooler Master V8, which we are to take a look at in this review, is a litter different in that although it is based on a tower format design it has added heatsinks on both sides and a centrally mounted fan.

CLICK HERE FOR Cooler Master V8 PRICING & SHOPPING

"Noctua is renowned for their silent fans, and from our experience we've seen them to be excellent quality, so that's two ticks in the Good column. They also are rather expensive though, but as we've come to learn, top performance rarely comes cheap. Noctua has released their NF-S12B FLX case fan, a successor to the S12 that showcases a few design improvements. But is performance better as a results? Let's find out."

CLICK HERE FOR Noctua NF-S12B PRICING & SHOPPING

In such a crowded market it can be difficult for first time buyers to know what best fits their needs and today we are going to look at a number of different products from a variety of manufacturers, most of which you may have not heard of before now with Cooler Master being the only well known name in our line-up today. However, the Megahalems will be the product to watch as Prolimatech aim to take a chunk out of the Thermalright TRUE’s market share.

CLICK HERE FOR CPU COOLER PRICING & SHOPPING

"When I set out to overclock these modules, I had a goal of reaching 1866 with reasonable settings. Loosening the timings and increasing the voltage did not greatly improve stability beyond 1800MHz, and the modules weren't hot at all. Nothing like the original DDR days. No matter how much QPI or memory voltage I poured in, the results were similar. The highest I could manage to boot with was 1868MHz, unstable and 2Mhz over of my goal of 1866, with rolling blue screens proving that these modules were finicky at higher speeds. They appeared stable with CAS 10, which didn't add any headroom, but then what's the point at running that loosely with high voltage. At CAS 9 they would boot happily and run for a while until a random BSOD would appear. Testing was conducted with 1.66V at stock timings. The overclocked testing was done at 1800MHz, rather than the volatile settings and loose timings that were needed for the extra 66MHz. 1800MHz was very simple."

Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems have found their way into homes just as they did with the office space years ago. Prices for NAS server products have dropped to the point where it's more expensive to buy the drive that goes in them than the actual storage device itself. Patriot, a company based around memory technologies, has recently began to sell the Patriot Corza Network Storage Server PCZ35SNAS2 to retailers for under $100. This dual-bay SATA NAS can accommodate either SSD or hard disk storage media, and offers RAID-0/1/JBOD configurations over a gigabit Ethernet network connection. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the transfer speeds for the Patriot Corza NAS against some of the biggest names in the industry, and determines just how much value you can get from this network storage appliance.

CLICK HERE FOR Patriot Corza NAS PCZ35SNAS2 PRICING & SHOPPING

“It is hard to define exactly what ASUS 22T1E is: monitor or TV? It has 21.5inch panel that can display Full HD resolution (1080p). Because of this feature we can categorize this model as monitor since there are just few other TV models that have such resolution/size ratio. On the other side, if we take a look at other features such as numerous audio and video connectors it is clear that this is TV model. Our impression is that primary function of ASUS 2T1E is TV receiver so we will treat it as such…”

It appears many of you remember my Photoshop guides from years ago as I still get emails asking to create more to help you guys get the most out of your designs and creative ideas. As you may know I don't believe in making these guides extremely complex because many people reading this will have a copy of Photoshop installed but have really no idea how to use even the basic features. With this in mind I believe that a good guide should use simple procedures to let you get something useful and creative from the program with as little effort as possible.

Want to have fileserver, but don't have the money or place to put the server? NAS is your solution. Raidsonic, among many other manufacturers, has launched network-attached storage product line and today we will have a look at their IB-NAS902B NAS-device.

Featuring 20 to 20,000Hz frequency response and the 40mm Neodymium drivers combined with 2.0, 5.1 and 7.1 sound capabilities. The Megladon has a Malestrom sound engine that is capable of visualizing to 7.1 Dolby at the push of a button. It also lets you individually set the sound on any of the 7.1 speakers. Tired of opponents sneaking up on you, the Medladon can be set for louder rear speaker volume and make those sneaky buggers sound like elephants trying to put the sneak and creep on you.