Techgage Reviews

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Following-up to a hit like Modern Warfare must have been tough, but Infinity Ward has done a great job of delivering what we hoped to see, while tossing in many other surprises as well. Let's take a look at the game from all angles, the fine and the rough, and finish things off with a look at performance across numerous graphics cards.

ASUS P7P55D Pro

On the lookout for a P55 motherboard to match that shiny new Lynnfield CPU? Given the sheer selection available, deciding on one can be a hassle. ASUS' P7P55D Pro looks to appeal to a large crowd, though, by offering a slew of useful options, impressive overclocking abilities and a great design for an easy-to-stomach $170.

ASUS Radeon EAH5850

If we had an award for the "best bang for the buck", it would require little thinking to give it to ATI's Radeon HD 5850. For the price, it offers incredible power, superb power consumption, and of course, DirectX 11 support. We're taking a look at ASUS' version here, which along with Dirt 2, includes a surprisingly useful overclocking tool.

Quick-Gage: AMD's 125W Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

People scoffed at AMD when it released its Phenom II X4 965 a few months ago thanks to the 140W power rating. To help make up for it, the company has now followed-up with a 125W version, sporting a lower price, along with improved C1E and DDR3-1333 support. With these improvements, is the X4 965 a first-choice CPU?

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X

It's no secret that the Radeon HD 5870 is the fastest GPU on the planet, but what do you get when you take it, toss in a more robust cooler, quieter operation, higher clock speeds and not one, but two free games? You get the Vapor-X, from Sapphire. Despite all that it packs in above the reference version, it modestly carries just a $20 premium.

Managing Your Audio to Keep Neighbors Happy

Whether you live in an apartment or a house ten feet from another, it's important to make sure that sound levels coming from your home aren't going to result in trouble from the neighbors. But don't fret, as there are simple ways for you to tweak your sound to maximize the experience without affecting your neighbors, all of which are explained here.

Intel's 34nm TRIM Firmware & SSD Toolbox

Few people would argue that the solid-state drive is one of the best types of storage ever created, but there have been certain downsides up to this point. Aside from general pricing, eventual slowdowns caused some to think twice about a purchase. But, TRIM, along with Windows 7, is here, and the problem is (almost) a thing of the past.

NZXT M59 Mid-Tower

The value in PC components today is fantastic, with the chassis being no exception. With its M59 mid-tower chassis, NZXT proves that value doesn't have to mean cheap, as this one is packed. It features a cool design, LED lighting, features usually only seen on higher-end models, and of course, a $59.99 USD price-tag.

Using the ASUS Xonar Essence STX Under Linux

Crave high-end audio, but use Linux? The situation surrounding this has been bad in the past, but that's not so much the case now, especially where ASUS' Xonar family of cards are concerned, including the headphone-specific Essence STX. Thanks to dedicated developers, the support today is just about as good as the audio quality.

ATI Radeon HD 5770 - DirectX 11 for the Masses

AMD may have released its first Evergreen GPUs mere weeks ago, but don't think it's slowing down for anybody. The company has followed-up with its first mid-range parts, belonging to the HD 5700 series. Performance is much more modest on these new cards, but no features have been scrapped. It's all here... DirectX 11, Eyefinity and more.