circuitREMIX

Daily Reviews for May 16

brandon — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:38:39 PDT

Vapor Chamber Cooling via Coolermaster's TPC-812 Heatsink @ Frostytech.com

Vapour chambers and heatpipes work on the same principle, the difference is that vapour chambers are planar thermal devices that conduct heat in two dimensions. The two 19x3mm vapour chambers on the Coolermaster TPC-812 heatsink are double-stacked (one vapour chamber on top of three heatpipes), much like the Xigmatek Aegir. Since vapour chambers are planar devices this represents a more efficient application that piling tubular heatpipes on top of tubular heatpipes. Coolermaster's TPC-812 is the first CPU heatsink to pass our test bench employing both vapour chambers and heatpipes in one package.

MSI Z77A-GD65 (Z77) Motherboard Review @ eTeknix.com

When the Intel Z77 chipset was announced, MSI were quick to jump on board with a range of boards including the Z77A-G43, Z77MA-G45, Z77A-G45, Z77A-GD55 and the board we’re looking at today; the Z77A-GD65. The GD65 is the top Z77 board from MSI, and while from the offset it seems to offer some strong features, it also comes with an attractive price tag at $189. With this being an MSI board, and our experience generally sits with other manufacturers, we are extremely keen to see what this is capable of in terms of performance.

NZXT Phantom 410 Special Edition Mid-tower Case Review @ Hi Tech Legion

With the NZXT Phantom 410 Special Edition, NZXT went directly to the fans and asked them what colors they wanted their cases. Voting took place, and the top four color combinations have come to life as the NZXT Phantom 410 Special Edition. We took a look at the NZXT Phantom 410 upon its initial release and found it to be a truly excellent case all around. The Phantom 410 SE is a mid-tower case with clean cut lines that are designed by Johnny Hou at NZXT in his trademark styling, right at the cutting edge, while making an elegant impression. To add to this, NZXT has added top quality finishes to the Phantom 410 SE in gunmetal/black trim, black/white trim, black/orange trim and white/blue trim to make for an excellent housing for a truly showpiece build. In addition to great aesthetics, all of the features of the Phantom 410 have been held over.

Corsair Hydro H100 Self Contained Watercooling Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

The Hydro H100 heatsink ships fully assembled, filled with a propylene glycol based coolant and plumbed. The waterblock is connected by 24cm of flexible FEP tubing to the heat exchanger which measures about 274x120x25mm in size. Two 120mm fans are included, these operate at 2600-1300RPM and create a fair bit of noise at full tilt. Corsair's Hydro H100 is a no fuss, self contained CPU liquid cooling solution for use on Intel socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD socket AM3/AM2/FM1 processors.

ECS Z77H2-AX Black Extreme Motherboard Review @ Madshrimps

The Z77H2-AX Motherboard from ECS has gold accents all over the place, comes with a clean design and the offered hardware bundle should be enough for most users; regarding the software which ships with it, most is in trial version mode and we would have preferred to see more which could have added value to the product like THX TruStudio Pro. The UEFI interface can be used with ease, except the RAM section, which is more difficult to use compared to the one found on ASRock motherboards.

Antec GAME ONE Midi Tower Review @ NikKTech

The moment many of us have been waiting for the past decade is finally here and so Diablo III by Blizzard is has arrived in its retail form (the beta was good but not quite tweaked). In any case because this was an event unlike most (we did wait for almost a decade) i was hoping i could review something related with it today as i did yesterday with the SteelSeries Diablo III headset but unfortunately since there aren't that many Diablo III branded peripherals out there yet this just wasn't possible. Instead today we will be taking a look at one of the latest midi towers to hit the market by Antec, the GAME ONE.

EVGA GeForce GTX 670 SuperClocked Video Card Review @ Hardware Secrets

The GeForce GTX 670 is based on the same architecture used by the GeForce GTX 680, called “Kepler,” is manufactured under the new 28 nm processor, has a dynamic overclocking technology, and supports the PCI Express 3.0 specification. The only differences between the GeForce GTX 670 and the GeForce GTX 680 are the core clock (915 MHz vs. 1,006 MHz) and the number of graphics processors (1,344 vs. 1,536). The memory configuration is the same. EVGA is releasing five models based on the GeForce GTX 670: The stock model (USD 400), the SuperClocked model (USD 420), the FTW model (USD 440), the stock model with 4 GB of memory (USD 470), and the SuperClocked model with 4 GB of memory (USD 490).

Inno3D iChill GEFORCE GTX 670 2GB OC Video Card Review @ Tweaktown

Today we're looking at a version from Inno3D. This is a company we haven't heard from in ages and for the most part it's probably got to do with the fact that NVIDIA have been fairly quiet up until a month ago. Today, though, the GTX 670 we're looking is part of the iChill series, a line that's been around for a while and has always impressed us.

Corsair Vengeance K90 Keyboard @ TechwareLabs

Today we take a look at Corsair's top of the line entry into the mechanical keyboard market, the Vengeance K90. With Cherry MX Red switches, 54 fully programmable "G-keys", multimedia controls, and laser etched backlit keys, let's see if this fully featured board will be able to stomp the competition.

DIAMOND Radeon HD 7870 2GB Double Black Diamond Video Card

brandon — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:30:00 PDT

Launched a little over two months ago in March, AMD's Pitcairn graphics processor took over the $250-350 sweet spot in the video card market with the Radeon HD 7850 & 7870 series of GPUs. Even now, they still don't have any current generation competition from yet from nVidia, who is still relying on the GTX 500 series to fill its product line under the $400 price point.

Shortly after the launch of the Radeon HD 7870, the only video cards available were clones of the reference design. Now that we're past the initial launch period, new models of the 7870 are now available which deviate from the standard. Today we're looking at one of those 7870s from Diamond.

Manufacturer:

Diamond

Manufacturer Product Page:

DIAMOND Radeon HD 7870 2GB Double Black Diamond

Daily Reviews for May 10 - GeForce GTX 670 Edition

brandon — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:25:08 PDT

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Video Card Tests @ Benchmark Reviews

NVIDIA Have enjoyed the fruits of their labors with the recent launch of Kepler, their latest ultra-efficient desktop GPU architecture. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 seized the crown for graphics performance, but also has a price tag fit for kings. Now NVIDIA are back to address the needs of performance gamers with GeForce GTX 670, using the same GK104 GPU found in GTX 680 along with 2GB of GDDR5 memory running at the same clock speeds. For around $399 the GeForce GTX 670 matches price to the AMD Radeon HD 7950, yet performs to the level of Radeon HD 7970. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 video card against the leading competition, including the GeForce GTX 570 that it replaces.

Palit JetStream GEFORCE GTX 670 2GB Video Card Review @ Tweaktown

The first GTX 670 we're looking at comes from Palit and is part of the new JetStream series; a series that impressed us when we looked at the 2GB and 4GB versions of the GTX 680 that launched last month. Today we'll find out if stepping back from the GTX 680 to GTX 670 can help keep this new series looking strong.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Review Feat. EVGA: Bringing GK104 Down To $400 @ Anandtech

Like GeForce GTX 680, GeForce GTX 670 is based on NVIDIA’s GK104 GPU. So we’re looking at the same Kepler design and the same Kepler features, just at a lower level of performance. As always the difference is that since this is a second-tier card, NVIDIA is achieving that by harvesting otherwise defective GPUs. In a very unusual move for NVIDIA, for GTX 670 they’re disabling one of the eight SMXes on GK104 and lowering the core clock a bit, and that’s it. GTX 670 will ship with 7 active SMXes, all 32 of GK104’s ROPs, and all 4 GDDR5 memory controllers. Typically we’d see NVIDIA hit every aspect of the GPU at once in order to create a larger performance gap and to maximize the number of GPUs they can harvest – such as with the GTX 570 and its 15 SMs & 40 ROPs – but not in this case.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Video Card Review @ HardOCP

The first next generation GPU to be released by NVIDIA was the high-end GeForce GTX 680 on March 22nd, 2012, codenamed "Kepler." This $499 GTX 680 represented the first in the line of Kepler GPUs and served as NVIDIA's new flagship single-GPU video card. Our testing, over and over has proven that the GeForce GTX 680 competes well with AMD's current offerings, providing a greater value and a greater performer. NVIDIA's latest Kepler release was just one week ago. The GeForce GTX 690 was released, which contains two GeForce GTX 680 GPUs on board for SLI action on a single video card. This $999 video card produced the best performance we've ever seen in a single-card package.

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 670 graphics card: The GK104 in platform shoes @ TechReport

There's no magic to the GTX 670's appeal. Nvidia has dialed back the specifications just a bit versus the GTX 680 and sliced 100 bucks off of the price. Math is fun; do it with me: the GTX 680 lists at $499, so the GTX 670 will sell for $399. That's getting into territory where a lot more folks might feel inclined to justify the expense. The GTX 670 has a chance to be pretty popular.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Review @ Hardware Canucks

Overclocking will also be a big part of the GTX 670's life, particularly when it comes to board partner versions. At launch, we'll see higher clock speeds on cards that go for as little as $10 more than than stock examples. Others like EVGA's Superclocked edition demand a $20 premium but will incorporate higher clock speeds and even changes to the reference heatsink designs. In short, we'll likely see a broad array of GTX 670 cards, some of which may compete directly with a GTX 680. We'll have a review of some custom designs in the coming days so stay tuned. NVIDIA may want to put the final nail in Tahiti’s coffin but they won’t get too far if their latest graphics card hits the same availability bottlenecks as the GTX 680. However, for the time being at least, it looks like the GTX 670 will have a hard launch with plenty of board partner cards in the channel. Whether or not this will be enough to satisfy demand is anyone’s guess.

NVIDIA & EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

This morning NVIDIA announced the GeForce GTX 670 2GB GDDR5 video card that has a total of 1344 CUDA cores and has seven streaming multiprocessors instead of the eight found on the GTX 680. NVIDIA also lowered the clock speeds down a bit as the base clock on the core of the GeForce GTX 670 is 915MHz (980MHz Boost) versus 1006MHz (1058MHz) on the GeForce GTX 680. The 2GB of GDDR5 memory remains untouched and stays clocked at 6008MHz (effective). Even with one less multiprocessor than the GTX 680, gamers will be able to experience amazing gaming performance and for a better value. The price versus performance value is better on the GeForce GTX 670 as it is costs just $399, which is $100 less than the GeForce GTX 680. The GTX 670 is less than 10% slower than a GTX 680, so you get card that costs 20% less and still packs a mean punch. With a little overclocking, pretty much any GTX 670 should be able to get up to GTX 680 performance levels, so gamers have a very interesting card to check out. Who knows, maybe you can even unlock the SMX unit that NVIDIA said was fused off!

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Graphics Card Review - Kepler for $399 @ PC Perspective

Unlike both the GTX 680 and the GTX 690 launch, retailer cards will vary quite a bit on launch day as NVIDIA allowed their partners to have early access to the designs for the GTX 670 (hence the leaks obviously) and built their own custom solutions. Our testing today is based around a reference-clocked Galaxy GTX 670 2GB card as well as a reference card from NVDIIA - so we are going to show you base results. Of course we spend some time on overclocking later in the article.

ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II 2GB Review @ TechPowerUp

The GeForce GTX 670 utilizes the same 28 nm GK104 silicon, with one streaming multiprocessor (SMX, amounts for 192 CUDA cores) cut out, resulting in a CUDA core count of 1,344. The GPU clock speeds are also toned down a tiny bit, with 915 MHz core, and 980 MHz GPU Boost frequency, but the memory clock speed (of 6.00 GHz, resulting in 192 GB/s bandwidth) is left untouched. It packs 112 texture memory units (TMUs), and 32 raster operations processors (ROPs). The GeForce GTX 670 retains the entire feature-set of the GTX 680, including 4-way SLI support, and the ability to drive four monitors by a single card (and hence 3D Vision Surround). The ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP is a fully custom implementation of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670. ASUS has put a dual-fan Direct Touch cooler on the card and increased the clock speeds considerably to 1058 MHz base clock. Price-wise the $20 increase is reasonable, bringing the total to $420.

Daily Reviews for May 9

brandon — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:53:25 PDT

Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. C CPU Cooler Review @ eTeknix.com

The Megahalems is a single tower CPU cooler which is split down the centre by an air pressure-enhancing channel. 6 nickel-plated, U-shaped, 6mm copper heatpipes connect the flat, nickel-plated base to an aluminium fin array. 2 pairs of fan clips allow users to install a pair of 120 or 140mm fans of their choice in a single or push-pull configuration. Prolimatech also offer separately-available 38mm wide fan clips for users looking to unleash some extreme cooling potential with 38mm thick fans. At a height of 158.7mm and weight of 790g without fans, the Megahalems can certainly be considering beastly in size when it comes to single tower CPU coolers.

Noctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan @ Pro-Clockers

The fan we are review here today will be the Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm fan. Noctua has been the recipient of many awards for the fan designs. There are long lasting, quiet and allow the user to install them in many different configurations. But the F12 takes fan technology to a whole new level. Every physical piece of this fan offers some in the way of science to help make it one of the most efficient fans to date.

Crucial m4 256 GB Review @ HCW

The Crucial M4 256GB has dropped significantly in price recently, and can be found for as little as $249 online. Compare that to the likes of the 240GB SandForce powered OCZ Vertex 3 at $280, or the Intel 520 Series at $330. In fact, it is probably the cheapest synchronous-flash SATA-3 240/256GB drive you can buy right now. Other drives in this price range will be using slower asynchronous flash.

Corsair Hydro H80 Watercooling System Review @ Frostytech.com

Corsair's Hydro H80 is a no fuss, no mess CPU liquid cooling solution that installs with ease onto Intel socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD socket AM3/AM2/FM1 processors. The unit consists of two parts, a 12v DC pump head with integrated reservoir and thin skived copper waterblock, and the fluid-to-air aluminum heat exchanger. While the Corsair Hydro H80 does perform exceptionally well, it ain't perfect.

SteelSeries Kana Mouse Review @ XtremeComputing

The KANA falls in to the middle category, classified by Steelseries as “the middle child” the KANA fills a void often left in the market for high end business users and casual gamers. Not every office worker needs 7-20 buttons, not every gamer needs buttons everywhere when just a few extra will suffice for the casual gamer, the KANA with 6 buttons and easy to use UI is poised to fill this gap.

CM Storm Sentinel Advance II Laser Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews

Back in September 2009, CM Storm released the Sentinel Advance Laser Gaming Mouse. It sported a 5600 DPI laser sensor, which was the top-of-the-line at the time. 5600 DPI is still very high for a gaming mouse. Now Cooler Master is releasing the next evolution of this gaming mouse, the CM Storm Sentinel Advance II Laser Gaming Mouse SGM-6010-KLLW1. Sporting an Avago ADNS-9800 laser sensor, the Sentinel Advance II has the capability to scale up to 8200 DPI and all the way down to 200 DPI. In this article, Benchmark Reviews examines the CM Storm Sentinel Advance II Laser Gaming Mouse SGM-6010-KLLW1.

Daily Reviews for May 8

brandon — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:37:20 PDT

Bitfenix Shinobi XL Case Review @ Hardware Secrets

The Shinobi XL is the latest full-tower case from Bitfenix, featuring nine expansion slots and, therefore, supporting XL-ATX motherboards. It has the same basic look as the original Shinobi mid-tower case, with a rubber coating on its front and top panels. Let's see what the Shinobi XL brings to the table.

Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews

Designed to become the Over-Clocker King, the Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler is a fairly large HSF that can handle CPUs rated up to 240 Watts! The Frio OCK comes with six 6mm high-efficiency U-shape heatpipes and a pair of 130mm high static pressure fans to keep your processor nice and cool. Read on to see how this StarCraft II themed CPU cooler performs on our Intel Sandy Bridge test system!

Zotac GTX 680 AMP! Edition @ Technic3D

The ZOTAC GTX 680 AMP! Edition Graphic Card arrived Technic3D. Technic3D will check the AMP! in the following Review with a Resolution from 2560x1600, 1920x1200, 1680x1050, the real Power Consumption, loudness, temperature, Overclocking and many more in new Games against other Graphic Cards.

Kingston SSDNow V+ 200 120GB Solid State Drive @ Pro-Clockers

The V+ 200 is offered in several different size variations including: 60GB, 90GB, 120GB, 240GB and 480GB. The drive takes advantage of a SandForce SF-2281 controller that has made a big name for itself over the past year and a half. And if you have been in the market for a SSD you should that the SF-2281 controller is capable of reproducing some really nice data transfer number which we will talk about in the review.

Coolermaster Gemin II S524 Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

In this review Frostytech is testing out the Coolermaster Gemin II S524, a top-down heatsink that stands only 105mm tall and weighs a modest 594grams. Height is one of the other advantages of top-down coolers, this model is a good 50mm shorter than the average tower heatsink! The Coolermaster Gemin II S524 is compatible with Intel socket LGA1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD socket AM2/AM3/FM1 processors. The Gemin II S524 ships with a 120mm PWM fan mounted to its frame, but has holes to accept a 140mm fan in its place as well.

Thermaltake BigWater 760 Plus CPU Liquid Cooler Review @ NikKTech

Testing CPU Coolers may not really be a hard thing to do but as many of you know it does take time to remove the old one, clean old thermal paste remains, place new on the CPU and install the cooler you want to test. Because of that i always like to have as many CPU Coolers as possible for testing so i can avoid having to go through the same lengthy procedure every few days. Yesterday i uploaded a review about the best CPU Air Cooler currently, the Silver Arrow Extreme by Thermalright and as you can imagine it was one out of many units lined up for testing. Usually i don't really like to upload two reviews about the same hardware type one after the other but since i consider this review as a bit special a made an exception. So today we will be covering one of the latest liquid CPU Coolers by Thermaltake, the BigWater 760 Plus.

NZXT Cryo E40 Notebook Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion

The NZXT Cryo E40 notebook cooler is one of their entry level releases. The Cryo E40 features some unique designs on an entry cooler. The first nice feature is a special low-powered magnetic clasp design for both the metal mesh top, and the two 80mm fans. The top is easily removed for access to the fans. The 80mm fans can be adjusted to any position under the lid and are powered by a single USB connection. The USB wire can be routed on either the left or right side, allowing adaptation to any laptop configuration. The Cryo E40 features a 4" incline for easy typing ergonomics. The cooler supports up to 15" notebooks and is lightweight and very portable.

Akitio Taurus Mini Super-S LCM External RAID Storage Review @ TechwareLabs

With the prices of hard drives slowly coming back to manageable prices, we've seen a trend of new storage "accessories" being released to the market. Today we will be looking at a hybrid between portable and RAID. The Akitio Taurus Mini Super-S LCM supports 2x 2.5" drives in either a RAID 0 (stripe) or RAID 1 (mirror).

Daily Reviews for May 7

brandon — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:01:02 PDT

Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews

Today we take a look at the newest cooler from Noctua. This time Noctua is showing the Small Form Factor users some love with their new NH-L12 extra low profile CPU cooler. The NH-L12 is a low-profile cooler for Small Form Factor cases and HTPC environments. Join us as we see just small this cooler is and how the new Noctua NH-L12 performs. The NH-L12 from Noctua was a little surprise for me. I felt the little guy wouldn’t hold up to the heat. It did, and for users that have a smaller/narrower case and not interested in the least to overclock then the NH-L12 would be rather perfect. Top it off with Noctua’s 6 year warranty and awesome build quality, the NH-L12 has win all over it...

Thermalright Silver Arrow Extreme CPU Cooler Review @ NikKTech

This is it people, summer is once again finally upon us and although the weather is getting hotter and hotter each day that goes by as usual people seem to be ok with that and focus mainly on going to the beach to get the usual skin tan while watching whatever it is they like to watch most. Unfortunately the summer period is also the worse period of the year for everything related with technology from cars, machines in general and electronics including our precious computer systems. Because of that Thermalright just released their latest and perhaps most powerful CPU Cooler to date, the Silver Arrow Extreme which we've been testing for the past week (we are also the first ones worldwide to thoroughly test it).

ASUS P8Z77-V LGA1155 Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion

The ASUS P8Z77-V sits dead in the middle of the new V series, sporting top quality components across the board and a plethora of truly useful features. While the ASUS P8Z77-V boasts many enthusiast class qualities, such as DDR3-2600 capabilities with T-Topology, tri-SLI/Crossfire and quad GPU capable PCIe 3.0, LucidLogix VirtuMVP, Smart DIGI+ VRM with dual processors and Intel and Asmedia SATA III and USB 3.0 controllers, it also offers great usability and features for other segments. Built in Wi-Fi b/g/n with access point capabilities and ASUS’ new Wi-Fi GO! with DLNA server capabilities and remote device capabilities make the P8Z77-V a natural fit for entertainment. To add to this, 7.1 audio with optical out features DTS enhancements, and HDMI/Display Port/VGA/DVI outputs make the P8Z77-V a multimedia powerhouse.

ECS Z77H2-A2X Black Edition Intel Z77 Motherboard Review @ PCSTATS

Today PCSTATS has a real treat for you - the ECS Z77H2-A2X Black Edition Golden motherboard! Every metallic surface on this board is gold plated so it's got quite the 'bling' factor going for it. The reason for all the gold is that 2012 is the year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac calender, making this a very auspicious time. ECS's Z77H2-A2X motherboard is built around the Intel Z77 chipset and primed for Intel's 22nm 3rd Gen. Intel Core i3/i5/i7 'Ivy Bridge' processors.

Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

In this review Frostytech will be testing Coolermaster's Hyper 212 Evo heatsink, an exposed heatpipe base tower cooler. Heatpipe direct touch, or exposed heatpipe base heatsinks are dead common these days because the technique has proven so effective. Particularly among the current crop of processors which feature integrated heat spreaders.

Intel DZ77GA-70K Motherboard Benchmark Tests @ Benchmark Reviews

I've sometimes thought that Intel tries too hard with its enthusiast level motherboards. The Extreme series, which is what Intel seeds reviewers with when new CPUs are introduced, tend to "shout" with prominent skull logos, POST code readouts, POST sequence LEDs, and other bling, but in my experience they fall down badly on features and performance. So you can understand that I wasn't expecting too much from the DZ77GA-70K motherboard. But I was in for a surprise.

Fractal Design Arc Midi Case Review @ Technic3D

The Fractal Design Arc Midi is the next PC-Case in the Technic3D Editorship. The Arc Midi supports ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards and have place for eight 140mm Cooling-Fans. We will check this and many more in the following Review.

Thermaltake Frio Extreme CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

The Frio Extreme follows a trend that we are seeing around here regularly. And that is using two towers of fins to add to the overall surface of the cooler to better perform on an overclocked processor. Just recently we tested the Phanteks TC14PE which was an outstanding cooler but we really wanted to see if the Frio Extreme could take it down as one of the best coolers we have tested this year.

Daily Reviews for May 4

brandon — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:28:14 PDT

Phanteks PH-TC14CS CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

If you haven’t heard of Phanteks by now you may not want to call yourself a gamer, enthusiast or overclocker. Phanteks has put out one of the best coolers to surface as of late. The dual tower TC14PE is one cooler to be reckoning with. Regardless of the success of the TC14PE Phanteks can’t just hang their hat on one cooler. There are people who don’t need the extreme when it comes to an air cooler but something that perform better than stock and don’t cost an arm and a leg. That is where the PH-TC14CS comes in.

GeIL EVO CORSA 16GB DDR3 2133MHz CL10 PC3-17000 Review @ TechwareLabs

Designed for the latest enthusiast desktop setup, the GeIL EVO CORSA series is the marriage of performance RAM for the 2011 socket CPU lineup. Featuring quad channel memory in kits of either 8GB or 16GB, this 1866MHz+ stock memory is sure to support the power of the latest CPU offering from Intel. Every module produced at GeIL undergoes rigorous in-house stress-testing to ensure you receive a functional product, ready to drop into your latest motherboard purchase. This DBT Enhanced process ‘burns-in’ the memory modules at the factory to ensure your RAM is primed to perform.

Verbatim 500GB USB 3.0 Store 'n' Go Portable Hard Drive Review @ Legit Reviews

The Verbatim 500GB USB 3.0 Store 'n' Go portable hard drive comes in a small and sleek package, yet manages to pack a significant punch for its size. With the market moving more and more into USB 3.0 it’s good to see drives that are already taking advantage of the technology. The USB 3.0 transfer speeds really managed to surprise me as this hard drive was hitting over 80MB/s on both read and write speeds in the benchmarks we ran...

Intel DZ77GA-70K Motherboard Features Overview @ Benchmark Reviews

Intel has tried to sell motherboards into the enthusiast market in the past, with little success. Even though their top-end motherboards are labeled Extreme Boards and have prominent skull logos (everyone knows skulls are good), the features and performance have been notably lacking, especially in comparison to the best of the third party motherboards. I've not been impressed by any of the previous Intel Extreme Boards I've reviewed, but the Intel DZ77GA-70K was a revelation. Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the features of Intel's first motherboard that's actually competitive with the big boys.

Nexus Value 430 Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets

The Value 430 from Nexus is an entry-level power supply that the manufacturer claims to be one of the quietest power supplies available today. The manufacturer also promises efficiency above 80%, even though this unit doesn't have the 80 Plus certification. Let's see if the Nexus Value 430 is a good buy.

Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

The Noctua NH-L12 is a lower profile heatsink that stands 93mm tall and is a little over 130mm square. The heatsink comes with two fans; a 120mm NF-F12 PWM fan on top and a 92mm NF-B9 PWM fan tucked away beneath the fins. In a nod to being flexible, the top fan can be knocked off the NH-L12 to lower its height to 66mm for really compact computer cases if necessary. That's a far cry more compact than the typical 160mm tall tower heatsink!

Daily Reviews for May 3

brandon — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:04:20 PDT

SilverStone Precision PS07 White Case Review @ Hardware Secrets

The Silverstone Precision PS07 is a case targeted to microATX motherboards, also supporting the Micro-ITX and Micro-DTX formats. It is bigger than traditional small form factor (SFF) cases, such as the Sugo series models from the same manufacturer (see the Sugo SG05, Sugo SG06, and Sugo SG07 reviews). In fact, the Precision PS07 has similar size and features as the Temjin TJ08-E. Let's take a look at the new white version of the PS07.

Leetgion El’Druin Gaming Mouse @ NikKTech

Leetgion surprised pretty much everybody with their latest StarCraft II optimized Hellion gaming mouse but they also have another gaming mouse in the works optimized for the much awaited Diablo III game called El'Druin. So far only 3D Rendered pictures have been circulating the world but as always we got the first exclusive look at their product which features an even more impressive and at the same time radical design than the Hellion. Design aside the El'Druin features the same 5000DPI AVAGO 9500 Laser Sensor as the Hellion, Omron micro-switches and much more (specifications listed above). So take a look and do tell us what you think.

HIS Multi-View + Sound Adapter Review @ Madshrimps

The Multi-View + Sound Adapter from HIS is a device suited for the USB 3.0 bus, meant to connect an additional monitor to our system, on the HDMI interface; the product does not need extra power and functions with the help of the DisplayLink technology. The manufacturer also mentions that we can connect up to 6 displays to a single system, each with its own adapter.

Corsair Force GT 180GB SATA III SandForce SF-2282 SSD Review @ Hi Tech Legion

The Corsair Force GT series SSDs are designed for users who want the latest SandForce based performance with no compromises. The Corsair Force GT SSD line uses 25nm Synchronous NAND for superior incompressible data handling unlike the Asynchronous NAND used on Corsair Force 3 series products. The Corsair Force GT SSD line capacity ranges from 60GB all the way though 480GB and promises ~555MB/s sequential read speed. Utilizing the SATA 3 6Gb/s interface, Corsair Force GT SSDs are perfect for building high-end gaming PCs as well as high-performance computing.

Silverstone TJ04-E Evolution Case Review @ Ninjalane

One of the first Silverstone cases we ever reviewed was the Temjin TJ04 and felt it was one of the cleanest looking cases you could buy. In that review we also discovered that while it did look amazing the case was plagued with a few cooling issues that were easily solved with a few modifications. In this review we will be looking at the TJ04-E Evolution chassis. The case is based on the original TJ04 design but with a few significant upgrades.

Zalman CNPS10X Optima Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

Zalman CNPS10X Optima heatsink is a fairly standard tower cooler in most respects; it offers pretty good thermal performance, accomodates a front and rear fan and has an exposed copper heatpipe base. The CNPS10X Optima CPU cooler stands 153mm tall so it should fit into most mid tower chassis and weighs in at moderate 630 grams.

Thermaltake Frio Advanced CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

Of the entire series the Frio Advanced is the smallest of the lineup. It is targeted at individual looking for great cooling potential in a smaller form factor cooler. It is able to accomplish this with a combination of two 120mm cooling fans in a push-pull configuration and using a direct touch base. But is this enough to make you fork out your hard earned loot?

Adaptec RAID 6805E RAID Controller @ TechwareLabs

The topic of RAID has come up again here at TechwareLabs with the Adaptec ASR 6805E RAID card taken for a spin. We compare the Adaptec card against a single Western Digital hard drive connected to the motherboard, and Two/Four Western Digital drives in a stripe using both the 6805E and on-motherboard RAID.

Daily Reviews for May 3 - GeForce GTX 690 Edition

brandon — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:57:58 PDT

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 dual-GPU graphics card uses two GK104 Kepler cores and has a total of 3,072 NVIDIA CUDA cores! With a base clock speed 915 MHz and a "typical" Boost clock of up to 1019 MHz, we are pretty sure this card will be faster than anything we have every tested! Read on to see how it performs and overclocks in our review on this monster! When it comes to the performance results, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 easily becomes the fastest gaming graphics card that we have ever tested. It is also one of the better looking cards that we have ever used as well. You can tell that NVIDIA left no stone unturned and has tried to make this product the best video card the company has ever released...

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Benchmark Performance @ Benchmark Reviews

Back on 22 March 2012, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 video card made headlines and became the best-performing single-GPU graphics card on the market. Only six weeks later NVIDIA engineers have successfully combined two 28nm GK104 GPUs together to create their new GeForce GTX 690. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests game performance with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, a double-slot graphics card equipped with a pair of Kepler GPUs. Featuring NVIDIA's cutting-edge GPU Boost technology, the GeForce GTX 690 video card can dynamically adjust power and clock speeds based on real-time application demands. Using EVGA Precision-X, the GeForce GTX 690 has both GPUs overclocked beyond 1200 GHz to produce ultimate graphical performance in PC video games.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Review: Ultra Expensive, Ultra Rare, Ultra Fast @ Anandtech

In an unusual move, NVIDIA took the opportunity earlier this week to announce a new 600 series video card before they would be shipping it. Based on a pair of Kepler GK104 GPUs, the GeForce GTX 690 would be NVIDIA’s new flagship dual-GPU video card. And by all metrics it would be a doozy. Packing a pair of high clocked, fully enabled GK104 GPUs, NVIDIA was targeting GTX 680 SLI performance in a single card, the kind of dual-GPU card we haven’t seen in quite some time. GTX 690 would be a no compromise card – quieter and less power hungry than GTX 680 SLI, as fast as GTX 680 in single-GPU performance, and as fast as GTX 680 SLI in multi-GPU performance. And at $999 it would be the most expensive GeForce card yet.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Dual GPU Video Card Review @ HardOCP

On Saturday April 28th, many hardware enthusiasts and gamers had reason to be excited excited as NVIDIA introduced its GeForce GTX 690 to the world. In our GTX 690 sneak peek we discussed NVIDIA's goals, pricing, and a few specifications along with pictures. NVIDIA went to great lengths to seal the deal on this being the most robust, and well engineered dual GPU video card ever. Kyle called the GTX 690 "Perfection Inside and Out," and he may just well be correct as the GTX 690 was built with design and engineering priorities rather than budget restraints.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Review - Dual GK104 Kepler Greatness @ PC Perspective

Today is the first on-sale date and review release for the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 4GB dual-GPU Kepler graphics card that we first announced in late April. This is the dream card any PC gamer out there combining a pair of GTX 680 GK104 GPUs on a single PCB and running them in a single slot SLI configuration and is easily the fastest single card we have ever tested. It also the most expensive reference card we have ever seen with a hefty $999 price tag.

GeForce GTX 690 Review @ Guru3D

The GPUs on the GeForce GTX 690 have a boost clock of 1019 MHz, and that's less than 3% away from the GeForce GTX 680 at 1058 MHz, so that sounds pretty terrific. All other specs are identical; the number of shader processor cores, memory speed, and memory bandwidth per GPU are the same on both cards. The first impressions of the board are really good, a nice sturdy design, the cooler is nearly a work of art -- we'll talk about it guided with some photo's though as there is much to talk about. Looking at the printed circuit board (PCB) we spot a vigorous 10-phase digital PWM design for the cores themselves while the memory will likely receive its own 2-phase grid allocated. Two 8-pin PCI-E connectors feed the card. NVIDIA is giving the GTX 690 a maximum power target of +35%, which given the card’s default power target of roughly 265W means it can be set to draw up to ~350W, and that means you'll be able to overclock nicely as well.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 4 GB Review @ TechPowerUp!

In more ways than one, this launch is an assertion of NVIDIA's technological leadership, because AMD still hasn't launched its enthusiast-segment dual-GPU graphics card, yet, and one can't expect it to be out before June. The GeForce GTX 690 is a dual-GPU graphics card with two 28 nm GK104 GPUs, the same chips found in the GeForce GTX 680. The two chips each are clocked slightly lower than GeForce GTX 680, and rely on a PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip for bus interface, however, NVIDIA claims that GTX 690 should provide performance comparable to GeForce GTX 680 2-way SLI. The card also costs the same as two GTX 680s, at US $999. Which makes it the most expensive reference design graphics card ever released.

Daily Reviews for May 2

brandon — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:30:41 PDT

Asus Maximus V Gene (Z77) Motherboard Ivy Bridge Review @ eTeknix.com

Little over two weeks ago we took a look into the all new world of the Z77 chipset and board that will support Intel’s all new Ivy Bridge processors. This lineup of boards included the Maximus V Gene and we were very impressed with what the board has to offer and more so its performance. For a long time we’ve been wanting to see how these boards fair with an Ivy Bridge chip installed instead of the older Sandy bridge processors. In the same respect we’ve had to be very careful about what we could and couldn’t say about the new architecture and what features its contained and how this could then be put into practice on the boards themselves.

Antec Three Hundred Two Mid-Tower Case Review @ Madshrimps

Antec, one of the biggest case manufacturers on our humble blue planet, has recently upgraded their cheap entry level gamers case, the Antec Three Hundred. The new version is simply baptised as the Three Hundred Two. The predecessor was one of Antec's best selling chassis, but Antec had to bring their little 300 up to 2012 standards. No quickly removable HDD bays, no tool-less optical drive bays and cable management was close to non existent. Logic design flaws as the original Three Hundred enclosure already dates back from 2009. Let's open the box and see what the Antec engineers came up with.

CM Storm Trigger Gaming Keyboard Review @ Ninjalane

Today we will be looking at the latest gaming keyboard in the CM Storm line, the Trigger. Cooler Master works with high profile professional gamers and enthusiasts through their eSports sponsorships to co-develop products like the Trigger at a military grade level. The result is some of the most attractive and functional products on the market today.

Lancool PC-K65 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets

Lancool is a brand that belongs to Lian Li, and is used for cases from this company that are not made entirely of aluminum. Typically, Lancool cases have an aluminum front panel and steel body. Having two separate brands is a two-edged sword. While it helps users to easily identify the material the case is made of, oftentimes resellers list products under the wrong brand. (Case in point: This particular case is listed at Newegg.com as "Lian Li," not "Lancool.") In addition, the manufacturer is not clear on its marketing message to the end-user about the difference between the two brands.

Silverstone Strider Gold Evolution 850W Power Supply @ Pro-Clockers

Today, we get a chance to look at Silverstone’s latest power supply. The power supply is the Strider Gold Evolution which comes in various wattages which would include: 750W, 850W, 1000W and 1200W. The model we were sent was the 850W unit which is plenty large enough for most. But for those that do need than Silverstone has you covered. The entire series is modular which I know everyone will love and very quiet.

Gigabyte Z79-UD3 Motherboard Review @ Madshrimps

Even though main focus is lately on Ivy Bridge, let's not forget about Intel's High End range based on the X79 chipset. One of the main drawbacks of Socket 2011 is the total platform cost. Besides the quad core i7-3820, the hexacores versions cost a pretty penny. On top of that, most of the X79 mainstream boards are far from cheap. Prices of 250 euros and more are pretty common. Luckily for us Gigabyte and ASRock have got 'let's call them a more" budget friendly motherboard in their X79 lineup. Gigabyte's type numbering has always been kept pretty simple. Today's UD3 board is the entry board for their limited socket 2011 series. Limited, because Gigabyte only has got 3 boards left in the X79 range : the UD3, UD5 and a gamer orientated G1 Assasin 2 board. The X79-UD7 board has been EOL'ed. And till now there's still no sign of the X79-UD5 S(erver) version. But does a "cheap" board mean that the quality or performance is inferior ? Time to find out what this X79-UD3 has got in store for us.

ADATA Premier Pro SP900 (0-provision) 256GB Solid State Drive Review @ Tweaktown

ADATA recently released three new 2.5" form factor drives and a new mSATA model. Two of the three 2.5" drives are SATA 6Gbps, both with SandForce controllers and new 0 provision programming. The first is the new SX900 with synchronous flash, the new flagship for ADATA. The second in this SATA 6Gbps group is the SP900 that we are looking at today. ADATA currently lists three capacity sizes for the SP900; those are 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. It is going to take me awhile to get used to typing that for sure as 60, 120 and 240 has been programmed in my subconscious for a long time now. Per the specifications sheet, the SP900 uses asynchronous flash. ADATA also does a very good job of listing AS SSD incompressible data performance on the specs sheet. The question is though, why does our drive have Intel 25nm synchronous flash on it? Let's cover some of the other details and work our way back to the flash question in a couple of pages.

Cooler Master TPC 812 CPU Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews

It's been a while since we have had a CPU cooler from Cooler Master on the test bench. Well, today we have the Cooler Master TPC 812 tower cooler. With the TPC 812 Cooler Master is pairing up Vertical Vapor Chambers with traditional heatpipes to improve performance. Join us as we see just how well the Cooler Master TPC 812 performs on our Intel LGA2011 test bench.

Crucial Adrenaline 50GB Solid State Cache

brandon — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:30:00 PDT

While SSDs make for extremely attractive purchases from a performance point of view, they can be relatively pricy, especially when compared to the cost-per-gigabyte of traditional hard drives. The capacity of entry level SSDs in the lower price range are also mostly made up of 60-64GB, which are too small to use as an application and OS drive for many users. So while we're in this transitional phase, a new class of interim devices have cropped up in the market, solid state cache drives. These solutions pair up small solid state drives with caching software, and provides users with the performance benefit of an SSD while maintaining the capacity of a hard drive. Today, we're looking at Crucial's solid state cache drive, the Adrenaline. It combine

Manufacturer:

Crucial

Manufacturer Product Page:

Crucial Adrenaline Solid State Cache

Daily Reviews for Apr 30

brandon — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:30:04 PDT

Kingston HyperX T1 2800MHz DDR3 Memory Review on Ivy Bridge @ Legit Reviews

Kingston Technology is getting ready to release new HyperX dual-channel memory kits that have been engineered especially for the new Intel third-generation Core i7 and i5 processors (Ivy Bridge). These new kits range in speed from 1600MHz to 2800MHz and we got our hands on a 2800MHz kit a little early to give you a look at what to expect next month. Read on to see how our Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge CPU and Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H motherboard perform with some HyperX memory!

Thermaltake Element Q Small Form Factor Chassis @ TechwareLabs

Small form factor PC's can often be a fun endeavour but they can also be an essential part of a network. Their leading applications include HTPCs and wordprocessors/internet browsers but the limitations only exist with software. Some Mini-ITX cases come with all the bells and whistles and start at a small fortune. But what if you're looking for a chassis without breaking the bank? Here to hold that position in the market is the Thermaltake Element Q Small Form Factor Chassis.

AMD A8-3870K Black Edition APU Review @ Madshrimps

The Black Edition A8-3870K APU from AMD is aimed at the mainstream market and offers enough performance for occasional gaming at lower resolutions, other multimedia activities or office work, this without the need to buy a dedicated video card. Thanks to the unlocked multiplier, overclocking becomes much easier than before and the performance gains after this operation are quite surprising.

HIS HD7950 IceQ Turbo 3GB Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews

We have now seen round three of the AMD HD7000 series video card launch cycle and still NVIDIA have yet to fully show their hand, and until they do these new video cards are going to cost an arm and a leg. In this article we take a look at the more moderately priced (compared with the HD 7970) HIS Radeon HD7950 IceQ Turbo 3GB video card armed with AMD's Tahiti 28nm GPU Core. Sure enough it will run your favorite games with high settings at 1080p but with an msrp of $459.99 you might want to check your finances before you click that buy button. Benchmark Reviews aims to provide you with an unbiased review of the HIS Radeon HD7950 IceQ Turbo 3GB video card (model H795QT3G2M) and report back our findings, keeping you informed on the latest technologies available on the market today.

Razer Naga Hex Expert Gaming Mouse Review @ NikKTech

The very first target group of gaming mice was FPS gamers since due to its nature the mouse offered significantly better performance/speed and accuracy compared to both the keyboard and gamepads/joypads. Because of that and also because almost a decade ago FPS games were flooding the market it took many years before manufacturers started even considering the development of gaming mice for other game types such as RTS and MMO's. Fortunately today the market is filled with countless gaming mice designed with special features for every gamer type out there from FPS and RTS gamers up to MMO gamers. The Naga Hex by Razer which has been with us for the past week was designed not only to cover the needs of regular FPS gamers but also the needs of the more demanding MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) gamers who require the best of all worlds including speed/accuracy, control and extra buttons.

Intel Core i5-3570K "Ivy Bridge" Processor Review @ Hi Tech Legion

The Intel Core i5 3570K is part of Intel's Ivy Bridge processor line retailing for $212. The Core i5 3570K is based on 22nm manufacturing technology and uses new 3D-trigate transistors to deliver better performance at a lower TDP than Sandy Bridge based LGA1155 CPUs. Coinciding with the 3rd Generation Core i5 3570K's release are the new Intel Panther Point chipsets which deliver native USB 3.0 and PCI-E 3.0 support to mainstream Intel systems. Equipped with 4 cores/4 threads with 6MB of L3 cache and having a maximum turbo frequency of 3.8GHz, the Intel Core i5 3570K has plenty of processing power for most enthusiast needs.

Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) Review @ TechwareLabs

The one storage drive line that has bucked the trend over the years and managed to create noticeable separation between itself and its contenders/pretenders, and that is Western Digital’s VelociRaptor line. Prior to SSD’s hitting mainstream, the VelociRaptor line, with its 10,000 RPM spindle speed, was “the” pinnacle of performance and was the defacto choice for anyone that put performance before price. Fast forward to present day, where widespread competition is making SSD drives more and more affordable the VelociRaptor line isn’t enjoying the same V.I.P treatment from enthusiasts it once used too.

Corsair Vengeance K90 Gaming Keyboard Review @ Hardware Secrets

We continue to analyze the Vengeance line of gaming-grade keyboards and mice from Corsair, after reviewing the FPS-oriented K60 keyboard and M60 mouse. Now we're about to see the peripherals designed for strategy and role playing games, featuring more configuration capabilities. First we'll take a look at the Vengeance K90, a mechanical keyboard with 18 macro keys and an illuminated aluminum chassis. Let's describe its physical characteristics.

Daily Reviews for Apr 17

brandon — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:25:08 PDT

SanDisk Extreme 120GB Solid State Drive Review @ eTeknix.com

There are now more drives adopting the new Toshiba 24nm Toggle Flash memory and one of these is from SanDisk. You may remember that we looked at the 240GB Solid State Drive from SanDisk a while back, but it was only aimed at the budget conscious consumer wanting to move to an SSD from a standard mechanical drive due to it’s SATA II speeds. Today however, we see SanDisk moving up in the market with their Extreme SSD that features Toshiba Toggle Flash memory, with 24nm technology and the famous LSI SandForce SF-2281 controller chip that is used in the majority of drives on the market today.

Titan Fenrir Siberia TTC-NC55TZ(RB) Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

Top down cooling has its advantages, though tower cooling is usually the preferred method given its compact footprint. In this review Frostytech is testing out a heatsink from Titan that aims to satisfy both tower and top-top heatsink designs, in one. The Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition TTC-NC55TZRB heatsink is built around five 8mm diameter copper heatpipes which extend in two directions from a copper base block to independent fin stacks, essentially making one large CPU cooler from separate 'tower' and 'top-down' heatsinks.

Corsair Force 3 180GB SSD Review @ RWLabs.com

Corsair has been kind enough to send us a sample of their newly configured Force 3 180GB Asynchronous NAND equipped drive. Nothing special about that right? Well not so fast. Digging a little deeper we find this drive is similar to the Corsair Force GT 180GB drive we just reviewed in that this drive is also equipped with a LSI SandForce 2282VB1-SCC Solid State Drive Processor. During the review of the GT we did in fact find the 400 pin 2282 Processor is indeed capable of producing slightly higher performance than the 256 pin 2281 Controller PROVIDED it is complemented by MORE than 16 NAND Modules.

ASUS P8Z77-V PRO Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

The ASUS P8Z77-V PRO is a top mid-range socket 1155 motherboard targeted to the forthcoming "Ivy Bridge" processors (third-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors) and also supporting the current "Sandy Bridge" models (second-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors). Let's see what the ASUS P8Z77-V PRO will have to offer.

Corsair Vengeance K90 Mechanical Keyboard @ Benchmark Reviews

Having reviewed many keyboards it suprised me how excited I was to review the Corsair Vengeance K90. With its unique design, Cherry MX Red switches, and as Corsairs first foray into the keyboard market I found the K90 to be a interesting prospect in a world filled with rather ordinary keyboard designs. Join Benchmark Reviews as we look at the K90 and evaluate if its unique design merits the $129.99 asking price that is it being given.

Noctua NH-L12 Low-Profile CPU Cooler Review @ NikKTech

Strangely enough although the latest LGA2011 Sandy Bridge CPUs are the hottest thing currently, at least in terms of processing power there still aren't that many new cooling solutions in the market that support them and since i decided on starting over with a brand new LGA2011 based CPU Cooler database (the old LGA1366 one was way too long) this has proven to be quite the problem. Thankfully aside the huge NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler Noctua has also launched another LGA2011 compatible CPU Cooler the latest low-profile NH-L12 which although targeted towards HTPC users and not hardcore overclockers and enthusiasts still it carries quite a punch for its size as you will see later on.

ASUS ZENBOOK UX31E Ultrabook Review @ Legit Reviews

The first Intel Ultrabook that we will be looking at here on the Legit Reviews is the ASUS Zenbook. This Ultrabook is available in two sizes, the ASUS UX21E (11.6" display with a 1366x768 resolution) and the ASUS UX31E (13.3" display with a 1600x900 resolution). The model that we are going to be reviewing today is the ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH52 and it features a 13.3-inch display, 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-2557M processor, 4GB of DDR3 1333 MHz memory (RAM), and a 128GB solid-state drive.

Reeven Kelveros CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

Today, we will be taking a look at a CPU cooler from a company that we have never heard but the results of the testing that we performed may change that, especially if you are looking for a cooler from a company that looks to want to give the user high quality, well performing products. The company is called Reeven and the cooler is the Kelveros. The Kelveros has a standard tower configuration but the shapes of the fins are very “different”. Check the review to see what we are talking about.

PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card

brandon — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:15:00 PDT

As many of you are probably already aware, AMD released their mainstream enthusiast GPU offering, Pitcairn, a little over a month ago. Better known as the Radeon HD 7800 series, the two models making up this mainstream class are the 7850 and 7870. By nature, qualities of the mainstream enthusiast class consist of a good balance between high image quality and value pricing. With Pitcairn, this translates generally translates to maxed out (or close to it) image quality in games at HD 1080p resolution, with a launch price tag between $250-350. Now that we're past the initial wow of the paper launch and products actually widely available to buy, we're taking a look at the cheapest Pitcairn offering we could find. That happens to be PowerColor's Rade

Manufacturer:

PowerColor

Manufacturer Product Page:

PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB

Daily Reviews for Apr 16

brandon — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:51:45 PDT

Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB Hard Drive Review @ Legit Reviews

Users can expect a 25% increase (according to WD) in performance and we saw sequential read/write scores that exceeded the rated specifications of 200MB/s. This is supported by a large 64MB cache to help buffer data. Overall, for a spinning platter drive, performance was very good and it's a bit amazing that they've been able to get so much capacity in a drive with the platters rotating at 10,000 RPM. With such speeds, you'd expect the drive to be noisy but even on our open test bed, the noise was...

RAZER Naga Hex Expert MOBA/Action RPG Gaming Mouse Review @ Madshrimps

The new mouse from the Naga family is Hex and Razer has built it for MOBA and Action RPGs; it comes with 6 extra buttons on the thumb side and 3 different rubber thumb rests are also provided, to suit our needs. The customization of the mouse functions can be realized by using the powerful Razer Synapse 2.0 software, which can be downloaded freely from the manufacturers’ website.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion

The Rampage IV Extreme is the top-of-the-line X79 motherboard from ASUS' Republic of Gamers brand. The ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 motherboard is fully compatible with the Intel's LGA2011 Sandy Bridge-E processors, capable of running Quad-SLI natively, as well as providing support for Quad-channel DDR3 speeds up to 2400 MHz and 64GB across eight DIMM slots. Designed for hardcore gamers and extreme overclockers, the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard exclusively introduces three new features that make extreme performance tuning a lot easier.

Logitech Harmony 1100 Advanced Universal Remote Review @ NikKTech

In my bedroom alone i have a grand total of 7 remote controls for quite a large range of devices so you can certainly understand how frustrating having to find the right one every time can be. Universal remote controls have existed for many years now but never could a single remote cover 100% of your needs so if you were really lucky and you didn't have many devices of the same type to control you would just need to keep the AC remote around. The very first universal remote i used was the rather impressive (even by today’s standards) Philips SBC RU880 i bought back in 2004 and which is still working just like the first day. However much like everything in this world the time has come for something improved to take its place and i just couldn't think of anything better for the job than the Harmony 1100 Advanced Universal Remote by Logitech.

ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

The ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE is a high-end socket 1155 motherboard targeted to the forthcoming "Ivy Bridge" processors (third-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors) and also supporting the current "Sandy Bridge" models (second-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors). Let's see what the ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE will have to offer.

NZXT Havik 120 CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

Since we reviewed the Havik 140, they have released the Havik 120 which is only capable of supporting 120mm fans, two of them. And you might have guess it the cooler is smaller than the older brother. But NZXT does believe the Havik 120 will provide the end user which would be overclockers, gamers and enthusiasts with outstanding performance.

Corsair Vengeance K60 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ Benchmark Reviews

The Vengeance K60 FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is one of Corsair's latest introductions. This keyboard is a rare cherry MX red keyboard (similar to cherry MX blacks), offering very light resistance to key presses, and no tactile "click" during presses, perfect for quick successive key presses like double taps. Benchmark Reviews will review this keyboard for its FPS gaming capabilities as well as general usage.

NZXT Switch 810 Hybrid Full-Tower Case Review @ Hi Tech Legion

The NZXT Switch 810 Full-tower case is a mainstream-level case. The Switch 810 from NZXT features a high-airflow design that can house up to ten 140mm/120mm fans, and can also hold a triple radiator, which should be more than enough to cool the current line-up of high-performance enthusiast class components. The four external 5.25" drive bays, as well as the six HDD bays inside the NZXT Switch 810, use tool-less locks for convenient installation. The NZXT Switch 810 can house long video cards, up to 375mm without the internal adjustable fan, and 350mm with the adjustable fan installed. Unruly power cables inside the Switch 810 can be tamed with a smart cable management routing system. For $169.99, the NZXT Switch 810 provides a full featured chassis that has substantial value and convenience that consumers should be looking for.

Daily Reviews for Apr 12

brandon — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:02:26 PDT

MSI GeForce GTX 680 TwinFrozr 2GB Overclocked Video Card Review @ Tweaktown

As the weeks have gone on we're going to start to see new variants of the GTX 680 and today we're looking at one from MSI which is part of the much loved TwinFrozr series. Because it's part of the TwinFrozr series and we've already looked at a pre-overclocked GTX 680, we figured today we'd take the time to manually overclock the MSI GTX 680 TwinFrozr and see what kind of performance we can get out of it via MSI Afterburner. Of course there's a few things we need to do before we get to the performance side of things and the first is check out the bundle that MSI has going on. Once we've done that we'll take a closer look at the card itself along with its default specifications and what we managed to overclock it to. From there we'll get into the performance side of things.

Akasa Venom Voodoo Heatpipe Direct Touch Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews

Today we are looking at the Venom Voodoo from Akasa. The Akasa Venom Voodoo features two 120mm viper fans and six high capacity heatpipes that directly touch the processor! With a street price of around $55 shipped, this is an affordable cooler, but how does it perform? Join us as we put the Venom Voodoo on our Intel LGA2011 test bench to see how it handles the heat.

Corsair Vengeance M60 Mouse Review @ Hardware Secrets

We continue to explore the new Vengeance line from Corsair. After our review of their FPS keyboard, the K60, it's time to check out its companion mouse, the M60. The model reaches 5,700 dpi of resolution, and its main features include an aluminum metal frame and a red sniper button for precision shooting. Let's describe the product and then proceed to the analysis.

Corsair Vengeance M60 Laser Gaming Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews

The Vengeance M60 FPS laser mouse is Corsair's latest addition to its line of products. The M60 has 8 configurable buttons aimed at maximizing the FPS gaming performance. The dedicated "sniper" button is one of its most interesting features with the promise to help accurate aiming. Benchmark Reviews will be testing out the Vengeance M60 and see if it's a worthy buy.

Asrock Z77 Extreme6 Socket 1155 Motherboard Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

Asrock wants to remain in the mouths of buyers after the successful release of the X79 Extreme9. And in order to do you they would have to put out another great board. And we do believe they have done so with the upcoming Z77 Extreme6. Looking at it for the first time all I could think about was the X79. A awesome looking motherboard with features galore. But with all the new motherboards being released is this a keeper?

Bitfenix RAIDER Midi Tower Review @ NikKTech

Quite a long time ago i announced that i would also perform product reviews based on requests made by you, the readers and although many things have happened during the past months (mainly the launch of this new project) i haven't forgotten about that and so a while ago i started looking into my emails for review requests. Well it seems that many of you are actually not bored (who knows, some may) by my extremely thorough PC Case reviews (at least pictures-wise) and have asked for a review of the latest midi tower manufactured by Bitfenix to hit the market called the RAIDER. Of course as some of you know if possible i always try to cover your requests and so the Bitfenix RAIDER Midi Tower is modeling for us today.

Daily News for Apr 9

brandon — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:35:26 PDT

Corsair Force Series GT 180GB Solid State Drive Review @ Tweaktown

Over the last couple of weeks we've seen some pretty amazing SSDs. You know when you are doing one thing, but really want to work on something else? That is what I've been going through these last couple of weeks. The reason why is because Corsair has taken another approach in order to achieve modest performance improvements. We've seen the SandForce SF-2282 controller used on a retail consumer drive one other time, but it's implementation was identical to the SF-2281 configuration. The SF-2282 is identical to the 2281 in every way except one, the number of byte lanes, moving from 8 to 16. We've speculated for some time that the SF-2282 was used on most if not all 480GB models, but we've yet to see one to confirm. Ironically we'll have our first 480GB drive in the lab tomorrow.

Corsair Vengeance 16GB Quad Channel 1600 MHz Memory Review @ HCW

The Corsair kit comes with an XMP profile which will set the multiplier to 1600 MHz. The official specs use the vague descriptor “with headroom to allow overclocking” which I guess means that they think it will work at higher speeds, but aren’t promising anything. The main timings to 9-9-9-24 at 1.5v, which is pretty standard for a 1600 MHz kit as we saw in our Best Memory for Sandy Bridge review.. It comes with Corsair’s famous lifetime warranty on parts and labour, which means you will never, ever have to worry about going out and buying a new kit should this one fail. In the rest of our Corsair Vengeance quad channel review, we’ll take a closer look at the packaging and installation, and move on to performance and overclocking.

Cooler Master TPC 812 Vertical Vapor Chamber CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

Cooler Master is going back to the original concept of outperforming the next cooler. They are doing this by using two proven technologies together to achieve this goal. The two techs are heat pipes and vapor chambers. Each has two different processes to getting the job done. But does this combinations spell out a winner?

Corsair Vengeance K90 & M90 MMO/RTS Keyboard and Mouse Review @ Legit Reviews

We really liked the looks of the K90 keyboard and the floating keys made clean out dust, dirt, and the random Doritos crumb a breeze. The backlighting is great with three levels of brightness and the ability to turn it off. Eighteen 'G' keys to record on the fly or software driven macros with three memories for a total of 54 is what we would call overkill but nice if you are a macro fan. The Cherry MX Red keys on the K90 are top of the line with light activation and subtle audio click. Putting a 20KRO PCB in the K90 takes advantage of the maximum simultaneous key press USB can handle and should guarantee no key presses are missed in the heat of battle...

Corsair Vengeance M90 Gaming Mouse Review @ TechwareLabs

The M90 is a good first product geared toward MMO and RTS gaming. They also have a sister product the M60 geared toward FPS games. The M90 has an aluminum metal frame\base that gives it solid feel without a lot of weight. The brushed aluminum also is a nice contrast to the rugged black plastic. The mouse has a nice ergonomic shape that makes using the mouse for long periods of time comfortable.

MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA1155 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews

It's time for a new Intel chipset: the Z77 Express chipset replaces last year's Z68 chipset and its predecessor P67 chipset. Aside from the support for what MSI calls "third generation Intel Core processors", the Z77 brings some enhanced features like native SuperSpeed USB 3.0. MSI's not satisfied with letting the Z77 stand on its own, though, and adds its own unique features to their MSI Z77A-GD65 board. Benchmark Reviews tests this new motherboard and compares its performance and features against a top-end Z68 motherboard. Is an upgrade for your rig warranted?

Asus Sabertooth P67 Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane

Asus introduced the concept of a TUF (The Ultimate Force) motherboard to address a market that demanded higher quality components that have passed rigorous stress tests covering extreme heat, cold and thermal shock to ensure the utmost in reliability. In this review we will be looking at the Asus Sabertooth P8P67 motherboard featuring Military class TUF components on board, Thermal Radar, Thermal Armor and one of the longest warranty periods for any motherboard on the market of 5 years.

Hitachi GST Deskstar 7K4000 4TB HDD Review @ NikKTech

When i first started using a personal computer i remember that i chose a configuration with an 300MB hard disk drive which was not only the highest capacity drive available at the time but it also cost as much as half of the entire system. Almost 22 years later technology has advanced to a level where a person can actually purchase one of the latest entry level 4TB hard disk drives (4000000MB) for less than USD350/300Euros, currently that is since prices tend to fall. Hitachi GST has already released 3 different 4TB HDD models in the market, two in their Deskstar consumer oriented line and one in their Ultrastar enterprise line. Today with us we have the high end consumer model, the Deskstar 7K4000 (HDS724040ALE640) and as usual it will go through rigorous testing to see just how well it performs compared to other hard disk drives in the market.

Gaming Video Cards for a Steal: The GeForce GTX 560 & Radeon HD 6870 at $150

brandon — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:30:00 PDT

In the current video card market, all eyes are on the Radeon HD 7000 series and the GeForce GTX 600 series. They are the latest and greatest series of GPUs from AMD and nVidia respectively. And they both have great offerings with the high end Radeon HD 7970 and the GeForce GTX 680. Right now, AMD has offerings from the Radeon HD 7000 series that extend from low to high price points, and the same thing will happen with nVidia in the near future. Now that new generations of GPUs have been released, it's out with the old.

Manufacturer:

XFX

Zotac

Manufacturer Product Page:

Zotac GeForce GTX 560 (ZT-50708-10H), XFX Radeon HD 6870 (HD687AZHFC)

Daily Reviews for Apr 4

brandon — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 07:18:17 PDT

OCZ Technology Vertex 4 (Indilinx Everest 2) 256GB and 512GB SSD Review @ Tweaktown

I find OCZ's current situation similar to the early 1990's 49ers. OCZ had a very good run with SandForce, winning best consumer SSD awards with both the Vertex 2 and a year later with Vertex 3. Just like Joe, the SandForce SF-2000 series is starting to look a little older and the young competition from other makers is starting to catch up. SandForce might offer the fastest controller to date, but that might not be the case starting next season. Before Steve Young was traded to the 49ers he played in Tampa Bay. There he had two horrible seasons, but everyone could see the talent including 49ers head coach Bill Walsh. Indilinx, in their later years as a separate company was not competitive with controllers from Intel and Samsung. In a sense OCZ traded to pick up Indilinx, mainly their RAM and peripherals product lines (they were actually just dropped). In their yearly product cycle OCZ was ready to release something new, something fresh, but their star quarterback SandForce was injured. OCZ had already released an impressive top to bottom lineup of products based on the SandForce technology so there weren't any gaps to fill with SandForce based products.

ASRock Fatal1ty x79 Professional Intel 2011 Motherboard @ TechwareLabs

With the release of Intels X79 chipset and new 2011 socket it was only a matter of time before we saw Motherboards aimed at the gamer. X79 brings Quad Channel memory architecture and PCI 3.0 supporting the RAM and Video Cards respectively. Finally we get to take a look at the infamous ASRock Fatal1ty Professional Motherboard with the new X79 Chipset. The new X79 chipset brings PCI3.0 and Quad Channel Ram onto the Intel market. PCI3.0 is aimed squarely at gamers because of its throughput for the latest high end GPUs and this board has 4x of them. Fatal1ty has always been aimed at the power-user and gamer and they have (seemingly) not disappointed at first glance. All of this leaves us excited to get our hands on the board. ASRock has given us this boiled down spec sheet which leave us drooling...

In Win MANA 136 Midi Tower Review @ NikKTech

Regardless of how many PC Cases i review there seem to always be more and more arriving at my doorstep each day that goes by. Now last week i brought you two midi tower reviews, one regarding the latest Prominent R by NEXUS and one about the Overseer RX-I by Thermaltake. Both proved to be quite impressive but for some people their size (although midi) may just be a bit too much. For that reason today we will be taking a look at one of the latest midi towers introduced in the market by In-Win, the MANA 136 which is just a step beneath normal midi towers in terms of size.

MSI R7970 Lightning Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

Earlier this month MSI launched the companies AMD Radeon HD 7970 based Lightning series video card, the R7970 Lightning. The MSI R7970 Lighting is clocked at 1070 MHz on the core and 1400 MHz on the memory (5600 MHz effective). This is an impressive 15.7% clock increase on the core and a mediocre 1.8% on the memory. Read on to see how this $599 video card performs against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 and take a look at how far we overclocked it! Overclocking the MSI R7970 Lighting was a blast and the fact that we could take it from 1070 MHz on the core all the way up to 1275 MHz was impressive. AMD released the Radeon HD 7970 with a 925 MHz core clock, so this is a 350 MHz overclock on the core! This card was really fun to overclock on air, so we can only imagine what those with LN2 pots will be able to hit...

OCZ Vertex 4 Indilinx 256GB & 512GB SSD Reviews @ Legit Reviews

It seems like only yesterday when OCZ debuted the original Vertex drive complete with then little known Indilinx engineered controller. Those drives flew off the shelves and helped put OCZ on the SSD map. For the fourth generation Vertex, Indilinx is back, this time proprietary to only OCZ and ready to take on all comers. Just how does it stack up with the likes of Intel and Samsung? Have a look to see what we found! So far, OCZ's decision to acquire Indilinx seems to be paying off as their proprietary controller now ranks, in our eyes at least, as one of the best you can buy while others are still leveraging third party controllers. Having control of the components has its advantages, positively impacting both cost and quality control - both of which are supremely important in this competitive marketplace. The Indilinx Everest 2 controlled drives are really going to give the other large players, namely SandForce, Marvell, Samsung and Intel serious competition and the incentive to step up their game...

Roccat Kave Headset Review @ Hardware Secrets

Foldable model features 5.1 surround sound and comes with an independent unit for volume control. See how the headset fared in our test. Roccat is releasing the Kave, a large foldable headset with 5.1 surround sound and a separate unit for volume control. The connectors include four minijacks (3.5 mm for the sound channels) and a USB (for the control unit and headset lighting). Let's describe the Kave and then proceed to its evaluation.

OCZ Synapse Cache 64GB Solid State Drive

brandon — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:00:00 PDT

In our past SSD articles, we've focused a great deal on SSDs targeting the high end enthusiast market. It's no doubt that they're speed demons, but as we all know, in the computer hardware market you pay premiums for things like higher capacity and top end performance.

Today we're going to the opposite end of the spectrum as far as SSDs go. Most of our readers are familiar with the OCZ Technology, a company with beginnings in the DRAM market, but a name now synonymous with power supplies and solid state drives. In the world of solid state drives, OCZ covers the whole spectrum including products targetting the enterprise market and performance enthusiasts. The product we'll be examining is one of their entry level mainstream products, the Synapse Cache solid state drive.

What makes this product interesting is it's paired with a piece of software from NVELO called Dataplex. When combining OCZ's Synapse Cache drive with Dataplex, the idea is that users will get to experience the performance benefits of a pure SSD while enjoying the storage capacity of an existing hard drive. Dataplex monitors a user's behaviour and caches frequently used data on the Synapse SSD so that it's available for quick access.

Manufacturer:

OCZ Technology

Manufacturer Product Page:

OCZ Synapse Cache 64GB

Daily Reviews for Apr 3

brandon — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:53:16 PDT

Cooler Master QuickFire Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ Pro-Clockers

One thing the QuickFire was missing was the 10-key pad that many of us are so use to having. It also has the Cherry MX Red switches which I loved even with it click noise when pressing the keys in and the lower resistance when pressing keys. The new QuickFire Pro is a totally different keyboard as it employs brown switch which we will get into later and a plus a 10-key pad. My excitement is already building so lets get into this.

Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

The Intel Z77 chipset will be released by the end of this month, but we had the privilege of getting the Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H for a "first look" article. It will be a top mainstream socket 1155 motherboard targeted to the forthcoming "Ivy Bridge" processors (third-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors) and also supporting the current "Sandy Bridge" models (second-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors). Let's see what the Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H will have to offer.

Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Review @ HCW

A little over a week ago, we reviewed the 990FX based Asus Crosshair V Formula. While highly impressed with the solid performance and extra features, $220 is a lot to ask for an AMD motherboard these days. Since AMD isn’t offering much in terms of high end CPU performance, it makes little sense to spend that much. Gigabyte usually excels when they stick to a philosophy of only including the things that really matter, with few bells and whistles. We were extremely pleased with their Z68XP-UD4, so it will be interesting if they can replicate that performance with this 990FX board.

Antec P280 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case @ Benchmark Reviews

For many enthusiasts want a quiet system, with room to spare, and a beautiful exterior the Antec P280 is exactly what they are looking for. The Antec P280 is a "Super Mid Tower" designed as an addition to venerable Performance One series. This refresh comes with a redesigned interior, exterior, and an updated port selection. These updates came without Antec disrupting the Performance One series goal of "Quiet Computing", using materials with different acoustic qualities to help minimize the amount of sound leakage. Benchmark Reviews will evaluate if the noise characteristics and build quality of the Antec P280 are worthy of the Performance One moniker that it has been given.

Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB 2133MHz Quad Channel Kit Review @ NikKTech

Many of you know that up until 5-6 months ago my favorite testing platform was the LGA1366 by Intel which was also the only platform with triple channel DDR3 support, something that played a huge part in my choice. Besides that's also why 3 out of my 4 test rigs featured Intel Core i7-920 (Bloomfield) CPUs each paired with 12GB of RAM (3x4GB). However all things come to an end eventually, especially when it comes to all things related with technology and so the launch of the latest Intel LGA2011 platform signified the upgrade of my primary test system. It did take a while until i finally managed to get the 2nd revision of the Core i7-3930k (Sandy Bridge-E) CPU to build the system but since that happened I’ve been putting all the latest Quad channel memory kits to hit the market through various tests to see just how good the new platform really is. So the very first Quad Channel DDR3 kit review to upload is about the latest and fastest Quad Kit manufactured by Kingston currently, the HyperX Genesis 16GB Kit running at 2133MHz with a CAS Latency of 11 (khx2133c11d3k4/16gx).

Foxconn Nano PC nT-i1500 Barebone Review @ Madshrimps

Foxconn has brought us to the table the latest generation of Intel Atom CPUs, by using the small Nano PC chassis which features about the same layout inside as the barebones we have tested from them in the past. The system power consumption is very low, temperatures are good in load and the noise generated is decent. Only thing that needs to be fixed to make this product fully functional is the VGA driver which in its current state offers low performance in both 2D and 3D environments, and Intel does not offer any support for x64 OSes.

Thermaltake Overseer RX-I Midi Tower Review @ NikKTech

Yesterday i uploaded a review surrounding the latest PC Case manufactured by NEXUS, one of the latest players in the market, called the Prominent R which may not have the most radical design in the market but it does carry a large number of features making it a very good overall solution in the midi tower segment of the market. However since the design of the case may not appeal to everyone out there today i decided to take things a bit further (more like at the opposite side) and bring you a review about one of the latest midi tower offerings by Thermaltake called the Overseer RX-I (VN700M1W2N) which also happens to have a large number of features but this time over the design part of the unit has nothing simple about it (you can tell for yourself just by looking at the intro image).

OCZ Synapse Cache 64GB Solid State Drive Giveaway!

brandon — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:37:58 PDT

We've teamed up with OCZ to give away an OCZ Synapse Cache 64GB Solid State Drive!

Daily Reviews for Mar 29

brandon — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:43:30 PDT

MSI Radeon HD 7970 Lightning 3GB Video Card Overclocked Review @ Tweaktown

The Lightning series of video cards from MSI are just one of those series that I look forward to probably a little bit more than most other series on the market. MSI are consistent with the series and we have never been disappointed with any model that gets the Lightning treatment. The latest video card to get the Lightning treatment is the AMD Radeon HD 7970 and as always we hope it brings us some serious overclocking potential like previous Lightning models have. The HD 7970, though, is a good jumping point for MSI as the model itself has proved to perform quite well when it's come to overclocking. With the general MSI tweaks, though, we expect some serious clocks.

Asus Crosshair V Formula Review @ HCW

Asus has combined a lot of extra hardware features and unique software to come up with one of the more interested motherboards we've come across in a while. Today we review the Crosshair V Formula, which is based on the AMD 990FX chipset.

Biostar TZ77XE4 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

The Intel Z77 chipset will be released in April, but we had the privilege of getting the Biostar TZ77XE4 for a "first look" article. It will be a top mainstream socket 1155 motherboard targeted to the forthcoming "Ivy Bridge" processors (third-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors) and also supporting the current "Sandy Bridge" models (second-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors). Let's see what the Biostar TZ77XE4 will have to offer.

Sapphire HD 7850 OC Radeon Review @ TechwareLabs

TechwareLabs reviews the Sapphire HD 7850 OC showing a reasonably priced Radeon card with Eyefinity puts up benchmark numbers that challenge or surpass the NVIDIA 500 series. We benchmark the HD 7850 OC on a PCI 3.0 and PCI 2.0 motherboard to see if the HD 7850 OC has what it takes to take advantage of this new technology.

Logitech Squeezebox Touch Wi-Fi Music Player Review @ NikKTech

Many people i know think that just because people such as I have been working with computers over the past 2 decades they have no other interests or hobbies but that really couldn't be more wrong since i also happen to love many other things including cars, paintball and most things related to music and movies. True i can't actually review cars here (at least not for the time being) but gadgets and electronics related to music have always been in my crosshairs and that's one of the reasons behind today's review which is about one such device. Of course as the title reveals the gadget i am talking about is no other than the Squeezebox Touch Wi-Fi Music player by Logitech.

Corsair Carbide 300R Case Review @ Madshrimps

Corsair has targeted with their Carbide chassis series a brand new range of end users. Those that still prefer a decent quality build, but at an affordable price/performance ratio. We already saw the 400 and 500R versions on the test bench. Today we introduce Corsair's latest offering the 300R. Still a Midi Tower case with adequate cooling. But the main focus is the price tag. Corsair wants to position this 300R versus all the budget cases out there. And I must say the price turned out to be very competitive, retailing around plus minus 65 euros. Let's take a plunge into the world of this Carbide 300R case.

Silverstone Temjin TJ-04E PC Tower @ Pro-Clockers

The TJ04E from the outside does look a little simplistic but that is part of the elegant sleek look that we have seen not only from Silverstone but other manufacturers as well. The thick aluminum front panel and completely square corners is just part of it. There is the addition of 2.5” and 3.5” drive capacity increase which is unreal for a mid-tower. And users of longer video cards will not have to remove HDD cages like in many of the other cases on the market. So, you can have your file server and gaming rig all in one case.

ASUS EA-N66U Wireless-N450 Ethernet Adapter @ Benchmark Reviews

Devout followers of the technology industry may have seen a sneak preview of ASUS' latest dabble in networking hardware back in January when it was announced at CES 2012. Maybe you only read an information starved press release after the event, either way there hasn't been much information regarding the ASUS EA-N66 3-in-1 Dual Band Wireless N450 Ethernet Adapter until now. Benchmark Reviews recently reviewed the ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band Wireless N900 Router and USB-N53 Dual-Band Wireless N300 USB Adapter, and now the EA-N66 3-in-1 Ethernet adapter completes the trio. There are a few Wi-Fi to Ethernet bridges available on the market as well as dedicated Wi-Fi repeaters and Access Points, but never before have all three functions been combined into one device, and never has a piece of networking hardware ever looked so interesting. Speed is the name of the game here, the EA-N66 3-in-1 Dual Band Wireless N Ethernet Adapter has a 10/100/1000 Base-T co! mpliant RJ45 interface and can operate on 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless N frequencies at speeds up to 450Mb/s.

Daily Reviews for Mar 22

brandon — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:40:01 PDT

10 Things to Consider Before Setting Up RAID @ TechwareLabs

RAID, the final frontier. These are the voyages of...ah, who am I kidding? Choosing to implement RAID today isn’t embarking on a mission to boldly go where no one has gone before. This technology has literally been around for years, and today RAID support can be found within most operating systems, integrated on motherboards, or easily added to any system as a 3rd party controller for almost nothing (quick search on Amazon yields controllers for less than $30). With its wide availability, you may find yourself at some point contemplating taking the plunge and configuring a RAID setup on your own system. However, before doing so, there are some things you should consider.

ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

The Intel Z77 chipset will be released in April, but we had the privilege of getting the ASRock Z77 Extreme6 for a "first look" article. It will be an entry high-end (or top mid-range, if you will) socket 1155 motherboard targeted to the forthcoming "Ivy Bridge" processors (third-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors) and also supporting the current "Sandy Bridge" models (second-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors). Let's see what the ASRock Z77 Extreme6 will have to offer.

Lian Li “The Hammer” PC-100 PC Tower @ Pro-Clockers

That case would be The Hammer or PC-100. The Hammer has made its rounds around the forums do to one of its unique features. The feature is a win to some and little bit on the strange side for others. That one unique feature is the 180 degree turn of the motherboard. Yes, you hear it right. The rear of the motherboard is now in the front of the case. Today, we will see how this places out for Lian Li.

Arctic MC001-BD HTPC Media Center @ Benchmark Reviews

Home entertainment is quickly changing, and computer techology has become integrated with the personal space. Data storage and playback is becoming more diverse and streamlined by the second. More and more entertainment can be found on the Internet; TV shows, movies, music... the list goes on. To keep up with the demand for instant entertainment, manufacturers such as ARCTIC are designing devices that are ever more sleek and quiet, usually with an array of features to keep the consumer content in their own personal empire. If you are looking to update your home theater with personal entertainment devices, or simplify your leisure time, there are many new Windows Media Center devices emerging on the market. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center with Blu-ray player to see if this Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium HTPC can combine the benefits of personal computer with multimedia streamer.

Antec P280 Performance Case @ Pro-Clockers

And with that being said today we will be talking a long hard look at the newest member to the family, the P280. The new P280 retains some of the sleek designs we come to love in the older models but once you really get inside the case you can see the many differences in them. Read on as we get to tour the P280 in its entirety.

GSkill RipjawsZ PC3 17000 CL9 Quad Channel Memory Kit @ Ninjalane

When building a high-performance system you need to ensure that you are using the right components for your application. In the case of gaming and overclocking your choice of memory module can often be crucial in leveling out low framerates and getting the best performance possible especially when paired with the latest Sandy Bridge processor from Intel.

NVIDIA Kepler Geforce GTX 680 Video Card Review Edition

brandon — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:33:57 PDT

NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 (Kepler) 2GB Reference Card Video Card Review @ Tweaktown

When it comes to specifications we can unfortunately only really tell you what we're seeing here in GPU-Z today. That's telling us that we're dealing 1536 CUDA cores and 32 ROPs. As for the core clock you can see that comes in at 1006MHz and the new "Boost" or "Dynamic OC" goes to 1059MHz which can be seen on the furthest most panel - hardly much of an improvement in clocks at all.

NVIDIA Kepler GPU GeForce GTX 680 Video Card Review @ HardOCP

NVIDIA’s Kepler GPU is finally here, and we've been enjoying getting to know the brand new GeForce GTX 680 video card. The GeForce GTX 680 marks the introduction of NVIDIA's next generation of GPUs and will eventually be followed by others in the family. As of right now, only the GeForce GTX 680 is being launched. The GeForce GTX 680 will be NVIDIA's current flagship GPU, and is based on the new Kepler architecture. The GTX 570 and 560 GPUs are going to stay in the mix for a little while longer. NVIDIA is positioning this video card to sell at the $499 price point. If you recall, the GeForce GTX 580 was also launched at $499. NVIDIA certainly sees this silicon to be fueling the high-end video card. Our hope is that the GeForce GTX 680 has moved Green performance upwards at the price point of $499. We will also see how it compares to the Radeon HD 7970, which is the closest competition to the GeForce GTX 680, though priced higher at $549.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Review: Retaking The Performance Crown @ Anandtech

Starting from the top, GTX 680 features a fully enabled GK104 GPU – unlike the first generation of Fermi products there are no shenanigans with disabled units here. This means GTX 680 has 1536 CUDA cores, a massive increase from GTX 580 (512) and GTX 560 Ti (384). Note however that NVIDIA has dropped the shader clock with Kepler, opting instead to double the number of CUDA cores to achieve the same effect, so while 1536 CUDA cores is a big number it’s really only twice the number of cores of GF114 as far as performance is concerned. Joining those 1536 CUDA cores are 32 ROPs and 128 texture units; the number of ROPs is effectively unchanged from GF114, while the number of texture units has been doubled. Meanwhile on the memory and cache side of things GTX 680 features a 256-bit memory bus coupled with 512KB of L2 cache.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

This morning NVIDIA introduced the GeForce GTX 680 video card which is the first card in the long awaited GeForce 600 series and also the first desktop GPU based on the new 28nm 'Kepler' core architecture. This means that the GeForce GTX 580 has been officially dethroned after over 16 months of rule! Its hard to imagine that the GeForce GTX 580 was released back in November 2010 but it was and the card has served gamers well. Priced at $499, the GeForce GTX 680 comes at the same suggested retail price as the GeForce GTX 580 did, but features a new GPU core that has 1536 CUDA Cores. The GeForce GTX 580 had just 512 CUDA cores, so with three times as many CUDA cores you know things are about to get very interesting.

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680 graphics processor @ TechReport

The GK104 is obviously more tailored for graphics than GPU computing, and GPU computing is an increasingly important market for Nvidia. The GK104 can handle double-precision floating-point data formats, but it only does so at 1/24th the rate it processes single-precision math, just enough to maintain compatibility. Nvidia has suggested there will be some interesting GPU-computing related announcements during its GTC conference in May, and we expect the details of the bigger Kepler to be revealed at that point. Our best guess is that the GK100, or whatever it's called, will be a much larger chip, presumably with six 64-bit memory interfaces and 768KB of L2 cache. We wouldn't be surprised to see its SM exchange those 32-wide execution units for 16-wide units capable of handling double-precision math, leaving it with a total of 128 ALUs per SM. We'd also expect full ECC protection for all local storage and off-chip memory, just like the GF110.

Daily Reviews for Mar 19

brandon — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:39:46 PDT

Ivy Bridge preview with GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H (Intel Z77) and Core i5 3750K @ Tweaktown

It seems to be due to stock more than anything else. While there's plenty of stock to hit the retail channel, the system integrated (SI) channel can't be as heavily populated. With the SI segment being huge for Intel it's important to keep all those guys happy and that's coming at the cost of the official Ivy Bridge launch being pushed back. With the official launch of Ivy Bridge still being a little over a month away we don't want offer the i5 3570k as a normal full review because we could see a little change from a motherboard point of view over the coming month. We doubt it, but it's possible, so for that reason we're keeping this as a preview.

Corsair Carbide 300R Case Review @ Hardware Secrets

Let’s take a look at the most entry-level case from Corsair, the Carbide 300R, targeted to users on a budget who want a good quality case with several fans. The 300R is the latest mid-tower case within Corsair's Carbide series, which is the entry-level case series from this manufacturer. Despite being the most inexpensive case offered by Corsair, it provides good construction quality, supports up to seven fans, and is clearly targeted to the user on a budget who is looking for a good computer case. Let's see what the Carbide 300R has to offer.

Asrock X79 Extreme9 Socket 2011 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers

The X79 Extreme9 shares the spotlight with the newly released X79 Professional which is under the Fatal1ty line. The Extreme9 has the features and options that the hard-core overclocker and enthusiast will look for in a new board to play around with. It begins with the 16+2 power phase configuration along with high-end caps and full featured AXTU overclocking software. But the overclocker isn’t the only people Asrock is aiming the Extreme9 at. There are the gamers as well. But what is it in for them? Read on and find out.

Intel CPU Scaling on an AMD Radeon HD 7950 Video Card @ Legit Reviews

Instead of firing up the Intel X79 system for testing, we are going to set up one of our Intel Z68 platforms and take a look at the performance scaling between six different Intel LGA1155 processors when using a high end graphics card like the AMD Radeon HD 7950. What we are going to try to answer is can you game effectively on a budget processor like the Intel LGA1155 Pentium G620, or do you need to step up into the Intel Core series of processors? If we do step into the Intel Core series can you get away with a processor like the Intel Core i3 series or is gaming limited to the Core i5 series and Core i7 series...

ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

Let’s take a look at the most high-end motherboard from ASUS for the Intel socket 1155 platform based on the Intel Z68 chipset. We are going to take a look at the highest-end socket 1155 motherboard from ASUS, the Maximus IV Extreme-Z, which offers four PCI Express x16 slots supporting high speeds and a myriad of advanced options for the extreme enthusiast. We already wrote about its predecessor Maximus IV Extreme, which has pretty much the same features, but uses the Intel P67 chipset. The Maximus IV Extreme has a simpler voltage regulator circuit, also.

ASUS Rampage-IV Formula Intel X79 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews

Within the world of personal computing, there is a group of people referred to as enthusiasts. This generalization can be a little confusing, so let's explore it. An enthusiast is someone who uses their computer for much more than the average user. An enthusiast can usually be further categorized as one of two types of people; a gamer or a performance tuner. For enthusiasts, the middle-of-the road just doesn't cut it. They want the best that manufacturers can provide. It is with enthusiasts in mind that ASUS created the Republic of Gamers line of products. The ASUS Rampage IV Formula LGA 2011 motherboard is one of the latest releases in the Republic of Gamers line. Here at Benchmark Reviews, we've gotten our hands on an ASUS Rampage IV Fomula Battlefield 3 Edition motherboard and we are taking you piece by piece as we explore this enthusiast inspired piece of hardware.

Kingston SSDNow V+200 120GB SSD Review @ Legit Reviews

Kingston has introduced their SSDNow V+200 line that's specifically marketed to enterprise/business customers for consistent, reliable performance. In fact, the referred to the drive as the "everyday business SSD" and they also offer their KC100 line of enterprise SSDs. After all, few business users are concerned with monster performance numbers but rather cost and reliability instead. We'll be having a look at the 120GB version of this SF-2281 based drive today...

OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB Solid State Drive

brandon — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:30:00 PDT

In our last SSD roundup, we took a look at a variety of drives with different controllers and NAND configurations. We found that those two factors make up a big part in dictating how a drive will perform. The drive that we're reviewing today, OCZ's 240GB Vertex 3 Max IOPS SSD, has a controller and NAND configuration that we haven't examined before, so it will be interesting to see how it compares. Positioned up-market compared to the Vertex 3 that was awarded our Editor's Choice award in our SSD Roundup, we'll see what the Max IOPS variant brings to the table.

Manufacturer:

OCZ

Manufacturer Product Page:

OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB SSD

Daily Reviews for Mar 14

brandon — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:22:44 PDT

24nm Flash SSD Faceoff - SanDisk Extreme Retake and Plextor M3 Pro @ Tweaktown

Today we are taking another look at the SanDisk Extreme 240GB, this time with TRIM working. To spice things up a bit, we're also including performance data from the new Plextor M3 Pro SSD in our charts. While we were playing driver investigator a pair of new M3 Pro drives hit our lab. Normally we'd have these drives finished up and the review posted within a couple of days, but obviously we were having some issues. The Plextor M3 Pro is the newest SSD on the market to use Toshiba 24nm Toggle Mode flash. The SanDisk Extreme uses the same flash, made at the same factory, but sporting a SanDisk badge. These two drives, the SanDisk Extreme and the Plextor M3 Pro are the hottest new SSDs on the market, with the fastest flash available. They have one very big difference though, the SanDisk uses a SandForce SF-2281 controller and the Plextor M3 Pro uses the ageless Marvell 88SS9194-BKK2.

MSI Big Bang XPower II (Intel X79) Motherboard Review @ Tweaktown

While the motherboard side of things has been a bit quieter recently, a couple of good looking ones have arrived that we need to get stuck into. While it looks like the video card market isn't going to slow down any time soon, the motherboard market on the other hand is about to go into overdrive as we see the launch of the Intel Z77 Express Ivy Bridge platform soon. The most recent board we're looking at today comes from MSI and is the latest to be part of the Big Bang series. The Intel X79 Express based Big Bang XPower II looks the part, but how does it go when we get past its looks?

Corsair Hydro Series H100 Liquid Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

Just about every manufacturer has tried their luck at building a water-cooling especially models that supposes to be easy to install and takes hardly any effort to maintain. But the popularity of these kits picked up when Corsair Hydro Series. It started with the H50 and ends with the model we will be taking a look at today and that would be the H100.

Antec Three Hundred Two Midtower Case Review @ Legit Reviews

The Three Hundred Two has received several new updates. The interior has been updated to be similar to what Antec did with the Eleven Hundred. Some of the updates include making the hard drive and 5.25" bays to tool-less, upping the expansion slots from 7 to 8, adding wire routing holes to help improve cable management, front USB3 with internal header connection, and adding mounting points for 2.5" drives. Antec also added some changes to the cooling aspect of the Three Hundred Two...

ASUS RT-N66U Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router @ Benchmark Reviews

Building on the success of the RT-N56 Dual Band WiFi router, ASUS has been hard at work trying to create the next 'next-best' wireless router. Today, Benchmark Reviews brings you the ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router. As you will see in the images that follow, the ASUS RT-N66U certainly looks the part and is different in that way from 99% of routers on offer today. The RT-N66U has three high power external antenna to allow simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals to run at up to 450Mb/s concurrently, this allows you to stream HD content to your media devices (5GHz) while you enjoy uninterrupted wireless internet (2.4GHz). On the box ASUS claim that the RT-N66U has "Leading giga-level throughput over 900Mb/s" but as with most claims this doesn't always come true, our testing threw out some good numbers but nowhere near ASUS' claims. The ASUS RT-N66U has two built in USB 2.0 ports that allow you to share printers and USB st! orage over LAN and WAN, and also allows you to share a 3G/4G internet connection.

NZXT Phantom 410 Crafted Mid tower @ Pro-Clockers

After the commercial success of the original Phantom Crafted tower, NZXT felt they had to grace the public with a smaller version of the case. The Phantom 410 is an abridged version of the bigger brother but scaled down to give the buyer a better value. In the case of this case value does not mean quality was reduced or the features were lessened. The Phantom 410 and its Darth Vader-like front facial come in three different colors: black, white and red.

OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SATA III 2.5'' SSD Review @ Madshrimps

The Vertex 3 2.5’’ SATA III 240GB SSD from OCZ is built around a SandForce SF-2200 series processor and succeeds to deliver very good transfer speeds, also dethroning all other products tested in the past. The only downside would be the price, considering that the 240GB variant can be found at online stores for about 400 Euros.

Daily Reviews for Mar 9

brandon — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:43:13 PST

SilverStone TJ04-Evolution Mid-Tower Chassis Review @ Tweaktown

In SilverStone's own description, they bring to light that the original chassis concept was introduced in 2004 for this specific Temjin chassis. The original TJ04 looks like a relic at this stage in chassis design as well and is a great candidate to take everything out of the box that made is so past tense in today's market and introduce it as something much better equipped to battle with the massive amount of competition in the mid-tower segment. So, SilverStone did just that - they took one of the better selling cases of it's given era and redesigned just about everything, but left enough of the original design to remind you of the original design. On the outside there is plenty new going on, the face plate has been redesigned, but is where the new Temjin keeps the design elements of the original. There is a windowed version of this chassis and we will be seeing that version today. On the opposing panel there is a dual fan filter for a new way of introducing air into the Temjin. Speaking of filters, the top of the chassis also has a dual fan filter that is removable. Even the back of the case gets a bit of the redesign to offer things wanted in today's chassis. On the inside there is too much that has changed to go over it at this point, you will need to keep reading if you want to see just what the new evolution of the TJ04 offers there.

AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Reference Design Video Card Review @ Tweaktown

First we checked out the XFX offering which was called the HD 7770 Black Edition S Super Overclocked, then we looked at the Sapphire card and discovered it carried with it a similar strong overclock and we tested the new model in CrossFire. From there we moved away from the HD 7770 and looked at the HIS HD 7750 1GB to see how the new HD 7700 series was rounded out. If that wasn't enough of the new HD 7700 series we also checked out the dual fan MSI HD 7770 and proceeded to see how high we could overclock the model. After all that was done and I found myself looking at the reference HD 7770 we have here today from AMD. I realized that we actually haven't looked at reference clock performance of the new model.

Zalman Z11 Plus Case Review @ Hardware Secrets

Today we are taking a look at the latest mid-tower case from Zalman, the Z11 Plus, which comes with a very affordable price tag. The Zalman Z11 Plus has a very unique design. Its left panel comes with a tinted window, and both the left and right panels come with a hidden 80 mm fan (Zalman ZA8015AL). These fans use a standard peripheral power connector; the manufacturer doesn’t publish the specifications for them.

Corsair Carbide Series 500R Mid Tower Case @ Pro-Clockers

Corsair may have another case on their hands that one could call a water-cooler’s dream as well as being air-cooled friendly. The case is the Carbide 500R. One of the advantages the 500R has over the 800D is that it can be had for around $120 and comes in black or white. We were fortunate to get the handsome white model from Corsair.

Cougar Evolution Enthusiast Mid Tower Case @ Pro-Clockers

Today, we will be taking a look at our first Cougar product. You may think it would be a power supply as it is what many of us know them for. But that is not the case here today. We will be taking a look at one of the few cases that produce. The case would be the Evolution. The Evolution is aimed at the gamers and enthusiast that wants a rugged well built case. Does it offer all the features this genre of PC user looking for? We will put it through its paces to find out.

Lacie 5big Office+ Nas Review @ TechwareLabs

Finding a backup and/or storage solution for a small business environment that fits a price point can often be a challenge. Deciding whether to choose a rack-mounted solution or discrete solution, also what OS to choose, how much storage space you need adds to that challenge. LaCie is attempting to tackle this challenge with their 2Big and 5Big NAS solutions.

Daily Reviews for Mar 8

brandon — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:54:41 PST

Asus P9X79 Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane

Asus P9X79 Motherboard Review In this review we will be looking at an entry level X79 motherboard from Asus called the P9X79. The P9 series of motherboards are part of the mainstream consumer line from Asus designed for the majority of users looking for a stable system and a few upgrade options as you move up the product line.

Rosewill Blackhawk-Ultra Super Tower Computer Case Review @ Legit Reviews

Rosewill put a lot of thought into the Blackhawk Ultra Super Tower especially for those that want to run on air. With no less than seven fans included and space to mount another seven this has to be one of the highest air flow potential cases we have seen in full tower form factor. Rosewill also made the case silent by using these large fans we could barely hear any audible noise. It is hard to beat 10 + 1 hard drive / SSD mounting spots which should be more than enough for even the largest media collector. Our own uber rig only has 5 HDD and 3 SSD's which would leave three open slots in this beast...

Corsair Vengeance 1300 Headset Review @ Hardware Secrets

Corsair first entered the gaming-grade headset market with the HS1, a digital model we already tested. Now they put on the market the Vengeance line, comprised of an analog model (the 1300) and its digital equivalent (the 1500). We will test the Vengeance 1300, beginning with a look at its physical characteristics and then proceeding to its performance.

Intel Core i7-3820 Extreme Edition CPU @ Benchmark Reviews

Not quite a year after Intel released Sandy Bridge with the new LGA-1155 platform they upped the performance bar again. This time around, the Sandy Bridge-E LGA-2011 platform is bigger, faster, and represents the top-of-the-line for consumer computing. Intel "Extreme Edition" processors have always brought out the best that the company has to offer, but the Extreme moniker isn't limited to the performance. The price of Extreme Edition CPUs generally matches, with the highest end of these clocking in near $1000. The LGA-2011 platform offers a lot in terms of performance computing, besides just the Extreme Edition CPUs, though. You also get a full 40 PCI-E lanes and quad-channel memory compatibility. So what about those of us that don't need a $1000 CPU, but we still want to use three or four GPUs to their full potential? For that, we have the Intel i7-3820 3.6GHz CPU. In this article, Benchmark Reviews goes under the hood of the littles! t Sandy Bridge-E processor.

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & 7850 Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

The AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition ($349) performed better than the AMD Radeon HD 6970 ($364.09) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 ($329.99) and in some cases it was trading blows with the mighty GeForce GTX 580 ($449.99). When this card becomes available on March 19th, 2012 we expect that pricing on other cards on the market will be adjusted. This card was very powerful and in some benchmarks and games we found it being only slightly slower than a stock Radeon HD 7950 3GB card that costs nearly $100 more. The AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz edition card is solid and ideal for those running...

Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 Dual-X 3GB OC Video Card Review @ Tweaktown

We're getting to that point where's it's been long enough after the launch of a new high-end video card model that we start to see companies mixing it up a bit and while XFX came out the gate early with the custom cooled Black Edition Double Dissipation model, we haven't seen anyone else do anything. Well, that's till today! Today we're looking at the brand new Sapphire HD 7970 Dual-X 3GB OC which at the time of writing hasn't even shown up on the Sapphire website yet. That gives you an idea of just how new the model is and just how quickly we're able to get ahold of it thanks to being based out of Taiwan now.