Hardware News

"The performance of Kingston's HyperX DDR3-2000 3Gb kits is in no doubt, one of the fastest we've tested to date. It offers great cooling features, good overclocking abilities and nice looks to match. However, it's a shame about the cost of these kits ... I guess that's the price premium people pay for being the first to have the latest and the greatest. Rate at DDR3-2000, that's PC3-16000 spec, Kingston can happily take the crown for being the first to release the world's fastest Triple Channel kits. "

"So I kind of really liked this G.Skill memory kit. While not the highest enthusiast memory kit available that would reach 2000 MHz, it certainly showed us really good potential. Fact is that if you are planning your Core i7 rig to run at 1600 MHz .. this might be the memory kit for you to choose. It offers good value for money. See, the high-end kits may reach 2000 MHz, but obviously are much more expensive. Intel would like you to use 1333 MHz, all the X58 motherboards have 1600 MHz standard as an option, and we got this memory stable up-to 1866 MHz. So that's a certain soft spot for me. Compared to last weeks tested OCZ memory it however is 1 CAS cycle slower and that shows. But you need to synthetically test it to notice that difference. See, in the real world gaming experience .. the difference just is not at all noticeable. This partly is the power of the new memory controller in the Core i7 processors."

"With the XP3 1600 triple channel memory kit Mushkin presents a solid and well performing product that should find its place in a Nehalem based gaming or enthusiasts system. The XP3 1600 kit also comes with nice overclocking capabilities.

With the XP3-12800 memory kit, Mushkin presents a high-end product which should find its right place in a high-end or overclocker's system. With only less changes in the BIOS we reached a reasonable clock of 1810 MHz with 8-8-8-24 timings and 1.75 volt."

Intel X25-E 32GB Solid State Drive Review

December 18, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"While still very quick even with the write speeds halved, this certainly takes a lot away from the X25-E, especially in regards to the possibility of using it as a boot partition. While the first run through writing to the disk would be very quick indeed, reusing hard drive space nullifies the huge write speed performance advantage, making the X25-E somewhat of a disappointment, especially considering its £505 price tag.

The capacity itself is also a real sticking point – these days 32GB is nothing in terms of storage, and was barely enough space to install Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit and Crysis. While we love the idea of a fast writing, fast reading drive for use as a boot drive, it needs to actually be able to fit more than the operating system onto it to make it a realistic option.
In comparison, the MLC based Intel X25-M doesn’t suffer from the same re-write speed problems thanks to MLC using storing data using multiple states per cell, is more than twice the size at 80GB, costs £50 less, and has near identical read performance."

Swiftech MCW-NBMAX Northbridge Water Block Review

December 18, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The MCW-NBMAX not only has the look but also the performance to simply outclass the vaunted ASUS heatpipes. Overall, the Northbridge load temperature dropped by 13°C and the Southbridge benefits from the NBMAX as well, seeing a temperature drop of 10°C. With the MCW-NBMAX installed, the northbridge temperature never passed the 42°C mark, with our test rig remained very consistent and stable during all of our test runs. "

OCZ Unveils Flex EX Performance Memory Series

December 18, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today unveiled the Flex EX memory series, featuring breakneck speeds demanded by enthusiasts in an updated compact form factor to maximize memory configurations on your motherboard. These premium high-density modules operate at incredibly fast DDR2 and DDR3 speeds to run the latest memory-intensive games and applications, and offer enthusiasts the thermal management necessary for the stability and performance on high-end gaming and overclocking systems.

Offering some of the industry’s fastest modules to date, the Flex EX series encompasses the needs of enthusiasts, power users, and gamers with incredible frequencies up to DDR3-2000, and DDR2-1200 as the fastest DDR2 4GB kit available. The Flex EX Series has a specifically tailored configuration for all users to maximize the performance for all types of systems."

• OCZ PC2-9600 Flex EX 4GB (2x2GB) 1200MHz CL 6-6-6-18 @ 2.2V.
  
• OCZ PC2-6400 Flex EX 4GB (2X2GB) 800MHz CL 4-4-3-15 @ 2.1V.
  
• OCZ PC3-12800 Flex EX 4GB (2x2GB) 1600MHz CL 7-6-6-24 @ 1.9V.
  
• OCZ PC3-16600 Flex EX 4GB (2x2GB) 2000MHz CL 8-8-8-30 @ 2.0V.

Thermaltake Xpressar Phase Change Unit Preview

December 18, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"At this time the Thermaltake Xpressar is just a creative design pushed through by Thermaltake’s engineers. This team is looking to turn their designs into a full retail product that will be available on retail shelves and at your favorite e-tailer. While we would all like to see Thermaltake succeed in these plans, the truth is that Core i7’s high heat output when overclocked may force the engineers to redesign the Xpressar, or at least make them consider a larger compressor or more exotic refrigerant. The more they need to stray off course, the higher the cost will be for consumers."

EVGA X58 3X SLI Motherboard Review

December 17, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The EVGA X58 3X SLI is a solid example of the new round of motherboards for Intel's new Core i7 processor based on the X58 Express chipset. Though we have at least one major gripe with the board's awkward 8-pin ATX power connector location, the rest of our experience with the board was first class. One pleasant surprise was EVGA's re-branded ELEET tuning software with CPUID technology driving the interface. We were able to dial in an impressive overclock at 4GHz on standard air cooling with the ELEET tuning utility and were able to get their quickly with its intuitive control panel menu screens, all on the fly on a Vista desktop.

In terms of integrated features, the X58 3X SLI has just about all you could want in a new X58 board, including both internal reset and power button switches, and a highly appreciated external clear CMOS switch peeking through its back IO panel. At $299 currently, the X58 3X SLI is right in the middle of the pack price-wise, as X58 boards go, which is still of course a little lofty due its recent introduction. As a total package however, with EVGA's cable and connector assortment that includes both 2-way and 3-way SLI connectors, the X58 3X SLI is definitely worth your short list consideration, if you're considering a migration to the Core i7 platform."

Lian Li Silent Force 750W Power Supply Review

December 17, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The Lian Li Silent Force 750W PSU is a very well designed and balanced product with an excellent electrical performance and elegant appearance. It will certainly satisfy any enthusiast, specifically modders and HTPC users with its great acoustics performance and modular design. The components have been carefully chosen, the heatsinks are very good and even the textured paint job is unique and refreshing in style. If Lian Li could bolster the output of the 12V lines it would be close to perfect.

Taking into consideration all of the above, the Lian Li Silent Force S750GE earns our Editor's Choice Award."

Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Case Review

December 17, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The Cooler Master HAF 932 is quite possibly the best full tower ATX gaming case you can buy today for this kind of money. The HAF looks tough and aggressive while not being over the top. Then again the design manages to be clean and functional. Many gaming oriented cases manage to look aggressive, but at the same time a little silly as if they were designed for a 10-year old.

The HAF 932 on the other hand appeals to the 10-year old in us while also being a case that we wouldn’t be embarrassed to own. In fact, quite the opposite as the HAF 932 is the perfect case to use to show off.

As we mentioned previously, the HAF 932 is very well equipped featuring a huge degree of cooling options along with a list of other impressive features. More importantly it carries a price tag that won’t bowl you over. Currently, the Cooler Master HAF 932 can be had for $160 and that’s not a cut down version with half the fans missing, for this price you get the full package. "

Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME Motherboard Review

December 17, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"In conclusion, I recommend the Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME X58-Express DDR3 motherboard to enthusiasts wanting the absolute best possible performance and functionality out of their Intel Core i7 system. Overclockers are guaranteed to enjoy the myriad array of settings and BIOS configuration options, while the performance enthusiast will admire the scalability of 3-way SLI and CrossFireX. 24GB of total DDR3 capacity will please 64-bit users, and ten total SATA ports will ensure that no drive is left behind (a popular initiative for my SSD collection). The full depth of Gigabyte's proprietary product features is well worth the asking price, and there isn't another motherboard available that can offer much challenge to the EX58-EXTREME. Considering the matched performance against Intel's DX58SO, the final choice will depend on your needs."

G.Skill & OCZ Solid State Drive Reviews

December 17, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• Benchmark Reviews: G.Skill FM-25S2S-64GB SATA-II MLC SSD:
  
  

  "In conclusion, the G.Skill FM-25S2S-64GB SATA-II SSD has really impressed me with a rare combination of phenomenal performance and incredibly affordable pricing. This MLC Solid State Drive produced a swift 0.19 ms response time roughly 45x faster than Western Digital's Raptor HDD. The write-to performance was actually about the same, while read-from performance was nearly 60% faster; which means less wait time for impatient super-users like myself. With so many choices available now, shopping for SSD's can be tricky. Don't let it be; my suggestion is to trust the G.Skill FM-25S2S series to impress you."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• ocaholic: OCZ Core V2 60 GByte MLC-SSD Review:
  

  "At this point we nearly don't dare mentioning the OCZ core V2's random writing performance: 1.5 MByte/s on average. This is very far behind any other hard drive we had in our test lab. When it comes down to sequential writing the Core V2 at least can cope with the slowest hard drive in our database. If you take a closer look you'll clearly see that there is a massive issue with writing several processes parallel. Fortunately the writing performance is way better. In this case the OCZ Core V2 is capable of putting itself on the second place behind the Intel X-25M. With performance figures of 20 MByte/s with 4 KByte Blocks and up to 150 MByte/s when reading bigger blocks in this discipline the Core V2 performs very well.
  
  After these tests we wanted to know why the OCZ Core V2 SSD has such a poor writing performance. Our trace lead us down to the Core V2's controller which comes from JMicron. This controller can also be found in other SSDs so they will suffer the same issues. If you compare the JMF602A to controller on the Intel SSD you'll realise that the one from JMicron comes with a very small chache compared to Intels controller. We also think that the algorithmic which allocates the memory cells has optimizing potential."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Processor Released

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• bit-tech: AMD's Athlon X2 7750 and 7550 processors:
  
  

  "For enthusiasts, AMD has finally done the best it can with its 65nm K10 core although we have to say it's too little too late as a K10 dual core would have been competitive 12 months ago. Even then though, the lack of overclocking headroom and higher power consumption would still turn today's cost concious power users towards Intel's 45nm alternatives. We'll delve in platform value and how overclocking affects the performance results later in the week.
  
  While the Athlon X2 7700 series CPUs may not twist the nipples of our readers quite so much, for the general public who just want a cheap upgrade with great, well rounded performance, they're a decent heart to a great platform when combined with a 780G board and an ATI Radeon HD 4800 graphics card. What's more, the new Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition and 7550 CPUs appear to offer better price to performance over Intel's competitive offerings and they're certainly worth buying over the older K8 Athlon X2s."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• DriverHeaven: AMD Athlon 7750 Black Edition and Asus M3A78-T Review:
  
  

  "Other than the crazy marketing decision to call this product Athlon rather than Phenom X2 there is little to fault about the 7750 Black Edition. The 7750 brings the Phenom core into the low end of the market and with it allows consumers on a budget to benefit from the more advanced core and features offered by the Phenom architecture.
  
  As we noted earlier in the review there will always be some scenarios where the older, higher clocked Athlon CPU’s such as the 6000+ outperform the newer model but generally this happens in tasks where end users are unlikely to notice much of a difference. Conversion of an audio CD for example is faster on the 6000+ where as video encoding, 3D rendering and gaming show better results on the 7750 Black Edition. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• EXTREME Overclocking: AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Processor Review:
  
  

  "The AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition processor is a welcome addition to product lineup of K10 chips. While not as glorious as AMD's high end Quad or Tri core Phenom processors, the dual core products still fill an important niche. Targeting the mainstream & budget consumer, I think the pricing is quite reasonable for the processing power that it delivers. Being a Black Edition processor also means the multiplier is unlocked, making it a cinch to overclock (especially with the AMD Overdrive utility).
  
  Benchmarks show it is neck and neck with Intel's E5200, and actually out-performs the E5200 in the general application benchmarks (which includes popular Adobe & Microsoft products), and in video encoding. I was pleasantly surprised to see the X2 7750 keep pace with the E5200 in gaming too. One benchmark that kind of threw me was in Far Cry 2 where the X2 7750 beat out the E5200 by a distinct margin."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Guru3D: AMD Athlon X2 7750 BE review:
  
  

  "So then, the conclusion is often a little more complicated than expected. On one hand, price-performance wise AMD has a very exciting product here, and that has everything to do with pricing. Fact is, we took an Intel E8200 (2.67 GHz) processor that clock for clock seems to be a little faster than the 7750 BE (2.7 GHz) processor. Both are positioned really close though. However, for the E8200 processor you'll still need to cough up 169 USD which is over ~80 USD more expensive."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Legit Reviews: AMD Athlon X2 7750 and 5050e Dual-Core Processor Reviews:
  
  

  "Both the AMD Athlon X2 5050e and the Athlon X2 7750 processors serve a place in today's market, but the roles for the two processors are clear as night and day. The AMD Athlon X2 5050e is perfect for those wanting to build a system that uses low power and has a quiet cooling solution. The thermal properties on the Athlon X2 5050e were amazing and the fact that the processor runs at just 41C on the factory heat sink was most impressive. With an aftermarket cooler and a case with good airflow the Athlon 5050e could easily be air cooled, which is amazing for a processor running 2.6GHz. The AMD Athlon X2 5050e felt fast on the desktop and you wouldn't know it was energy efficient if someone didn't tell you."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TweakTown: AMD Athlon X2 7750 BE 2.7GHz CPU Phenom goes Dual-Core:
  
  

  "As far as pricing goes, AMD expect the Athlon X2 7750 BE to retail for about $79 USD, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. If so, it's going to make this a rather attractive option for users on a budget where massive performance isn't of all importance. If the pricing information we were given is accurate, it will make this new entry level processor from AMD well cheaper than the cheapest Core 2 Duo from Intel."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• X-bit Labs: AMD Launches “Phenom X2”: AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Review:
  
  

  "Objectively speaking, new Athlon X2 7000 series processors will hardly be able to improve AMD’s market standing at this time. The thing is that even though the top Athlon X2 7750 from the Kuma generation turned out faster than the top Brisbane CPU, the advantage is not very significant overall. On average the improvement makes only 3-5%. Moreover, other Athlon X2 7000 series models will not be able to offer any improvement over the already existing Athlon X2 from 5000 and 6000 series.
  
  However, so far it is enough for dual-core AMD processors to retain certain parity in terms of performance with the competitors from Intel – Pentium DC. And although Intel has recently moved them to new 45nm cores, Athlon X2 7750 CPU remains a worthy rival not only to Pentium DC E5200, but also to the newer Pentium DC E5300."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Razer Goliathus Mousepad Review

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The Razer Goliathus sells at just under 20 dollars for the regular version, 15 for the space efficient version and 25 dollars for the oversized version. These are very reasonable prices and you get the feeling you are buying something different than the rest. I always get this feeling when I am using something from Razer. Their packaging, the looks the quality it all comes down to the utmost care they take to make their products just a little bit different than the competition. Sure a gaming surface, or simply put a mouse mat. Is nothing special and underneath the bonnet most of these mats are similar to each other. Overall it’s a nice mouse mat, but I don’t foresee myself using it longer than a year, because it would be worn out too much on the edges!"

CPU Cooler Review Roundup - Thermaltake, Vantec, Xigmatek

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• ocaholic: Xigmatek Apache EP-CD901 Top-flow Cooler Review:
  
  

  "With the Apache EP-CD901 Xigmatek presents a cheap an good looking cooler which unfortunately has a limited cooling capacity.
  
  Installing the cooler is very easy. Xigmateks push pins are a comfortable and elegant way to mount the retention frame. We can't get rid of the feeling that the contact pressure is to low.
  It was interesting to find out that the fins close to the fan were cold despite the very high core temperatures. After shutting the system down it only took a few seconds until the whole cooler was very hot. This fact lets us conclude that the heat transport doesn't work properly."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• ThinkComputers: Thermaltake SpinQ CPU Cooler Review:
  
  

  "The Thermaltake SpinQ CPU cooler is certainly a different take onto CPU cooler design, which is why it has already won many awards for its design. While it looks pretty cool when it comes to design and aesthesis I just think it could do slightly better in the cooling area, at least for the price on Thermaltake's website of $79.99. Doing a quick look online I was able to find it for $20-25 cheaper than that.
  
  While I like the easy of install and custom fan adjustments, they just aren't my biggest fans. If you're looking for a sweet looking CPU cooler to show off and still have some decent performance then I think the SpinQ would be a good choice, but if you're looking for extreme cooling for overclocking, this probably isn't your best choice. Overall ThinkComputers awards the Thermaltake SpinQ an 8 out of 10 score."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Tweaknews: Vantec Aeroflow FX120 Heatpipe CPU Cooler Review:
  
  

  "To be honest, the FX120 looks very nice and is one of the few coolers to support the old Intel socket 478, but the negatives far outweigh the positives here. There are quieter, cheaper coolers out there with better performance that are much easier to install, so it's difficult to recommend this cooler to any user with the possible exception of enthusiasts using the aging 478 platform. Even then, it's a reach."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Hiper Solid & Superslim Alloy Series Keyboards Review

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The more compact size of the keyboard has predictably meant that the key layout has had to be altered, and while the Solid Alloy packs in the full QWERTY key quotient (say that fast, five times), everything is a little squished. There’s no gap between the F-keys and the top line of number keys and only the smallest of dividers between the QWERTY keys and the numpad, with the middle block of keys relocated all over the place. For normal office use it’ll certainly take some getting used to, especially as some keys such as the arrow keys and right Control, have been shrunk to accommodate the relocated keys.

Despite their aesthetic similarities, the Solid Alloy uses completely different keys to the Superslim, eschewing the scissor style keys in favour of more conventional sprung keys (although the springs have long been replaced by rubber pads in all but the most old skool of keyboards). While still responsive and with a good degree of travel, we prefer the scissor style keys of the Superslim and it’s a shame they couldn’t have been used instead of the more conventional sprung keys."

AM2+ Motherboard Review Roundup - ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI & More

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• CPU3D: MSI KA790GX-F Motherboard‏ Review:
  
  

  "The performance of all AMD 790GX based motherboards are very similar. It's aimed at the mainstream market so don't expect too much from it. The only question is which brand would you prefer. The MSI KA790GX does offer a lot of extras, for example it's the first 790GX based motherboard to feature all 3 types of display connectors ... D-Sub, DVI and HDMI, perfect for HTPC systems."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• iXBT: ASRock A770CrossFire Motherboard‏ Review:
  
  

  "Motherboards on the AMD 770 chipset initially came with the SB600 Southbridge. But several months after the rollout of AMD 780, manufacturers got an opportunity to use the new SB700 Southbridge in combination with previously designed Northbridges. It was not relevant for High-End chipsets (790FX), as such motherboards usually used additional controllers to expand their functionality to the excessive number of ports. But this opportunity proved to be very useful for inexpensive motherboards on AMD 770, because such motherboards usually don't come with additional controllers, and so integrated functionality of the chipset is very important."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• iXBT: Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H Motherboard‏ Review:
  
  

  "This motherboard combines functionality of Gigabyte MA78GPM-DS2H and Gigabyte MA78G-DS3H based on AMD 780G. Besides, it now supports processors with TDP up to 140 W and enjoys advantages of the 790GX chipset: higher performance of the integrated graphics core, symmetric mode of graphics ports for CrossFire, Advanced Clock Calibration and RAID 5.
  
  However, unlike the above motherboards (exclusive AMD 780G models to some degree), 790GX-based motherboards from other manufacturers also offer high functionality and are rigged up to the reasonably maximum level. So users can afford to be choosy now. In particular, this motherboard offers one of the most powerful CPU voltage regulators (it's an economic model at the same time -- owing to field-effect transistors of the new generation) and an imposing cooling system, we've ever seen in motherboards of this class. But it has some drawbacks as well: relatively low characteristics of the integrated analog outputs and the lack of eSATA (which is available in Gigabyte MA78GPM-DS2H, by the way)."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• PCSTATS: Biostar TF8200 A2+ GeForce 8200 Motherboard Review:
  
  

  "For all of its integration, the TF8200 A2+ requires a few extra purchases in order to get the most out of it - there are only four available USB ports, and scant little bundeled in the box. For a motherboard that costs around $100 CDN ($80 USD, 40 GBP), this is unfortunately pretty common.
  
  Stil, for anyone planning to build a home theatre PC that operates quietly, or a cost effective PC with HD content decoding capabilities, the Biostar TF8200 A2+ is a worthy platform to consider."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• PCSTATS: Foxconn A7DA-S AMD 790GX Motherboard Review‏:
  
  

  "The Foxconn A7DA-S' most important feature is its integrated Radeon HD 3300 graphics processor & 128MB of dedicated DDR3-1333 Side Port Memory, courtesy of the AMD 790GX chipset. AMD has taken an already "high-performance" IGP, the Radeon HD 3200 found in the AMD 780G chipset, and overclocked it as well as expanding its graphics capabilities, making this the most powerful integrated graphics motherboard that PCSTATS has tested so far. That's like saying it's the biggest rubber duckie in the bathtub, just keep the superlatives in perspective.
  
  While this does sound like great news for gamers, who have typically been unable to do any gaming on integrated graphics platforms at all due anemic real-time 3D performance, it's not a replacement for a discrete videocard yet. It's also worthwhile to take cost into consideration if you're considering an AMD 790GX chipset based motherboard. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Power Supply Review Roundup - Antec, FSP, In-Win & More

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"With the exception a couple of Klingons fighting in the corner, Ikonik's starship seems to be starting off on the right course. The Vulcan 1200W is as big, bad, and for the most part as stable as anything currently on the market, and there's a ton of potential here. Once they address the few minor issues plaguing this unit, Ikonik is going to be a force to be reckoned with. You mark my words. All they have to do is work a bit on that ATX connector, and the next thing you know these will be flying off the shelves."

"For FSP's first review here at Overclockers Online, they haven't done a bad job at all. The Power Mod 700W may not be the prettiest unit out there, but it does get the job done. The unit remained quiet through all tests and the modular connections were a big plus.

Where the Power Mod 700W falls short is price. At the lower ends of $100 dollars, there are quite a number of options out there; including a number of units we have looked at in the past. That isn't to say the Power Mod is a bad unit.

The unit did perform well in all of our tests. As we slowly piled on the load and turned on the heat, the Power Mod 700W looked promising. The voltage regulation was steady and the unit remained quiet."

"The In-Win Commander 850W PSU delivers in all the categories that matter when it comes to choosing a power supply: silent operations, stable performance, and nice looking exterior. And I was impressed by the attention to detail which does help the supply stand out. At ~$200 USD, the PSU is a little on the pricey side, but you do get a lot of features. Overall, its solid design makes it a quality choice for a power supply for any high end or gaming rig."

"With the racing stripes and tight rails, the TruePower Quattro 850 isn’t only a stunner but also an impressive performer. For someone who wants a quiet gaming PC, the silence of this unit would be greatly appreciated by many as well as the amount of power provided.

The cost too is quite reasonable. Not only are you purchasing the PSU itself, but as an added bonus, Antec have kindly included 3 years warrantee should anything go wrong.

This sums the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 to be an excellent addition for any gaming system."

"The IKONIK Vulcan 1200 offers a lot of power with a massive 12v rail subsystem. This allows for a multitude of possibilities including a tri-power video card setup or even a Peltier cooling system without the need to have a separate power source for the high-end stuff. The hefty capabilities of this product also give you some growing room for those next generation video cards that will need even more power."

Samsung Syncmaster XL30 30-inch LCD Monitor Review

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The XL30 is hard to recommend purely as a gaming screen, you would in all honesty be much better saving a huge chunk of cash and opting for either the Dell 3008 fpw or the Samsung 305T. When you take into account the fact it only has a single DVI input and no support for HDCP then it perhaps isn't even ideal as an all round multmedia screen either.

Once however I put aside the practical aspects of this review I can quite simply say that this screen gives such an impressive colour rendition that even my Dell 3008 fpw looks positively bland. The greens and reds are so pure and saturated that when you start using a screen with ordinary fluorescent lamps (and a colour gamut of around 75% NTSC) then you begin to realise what you have been missing all this time."

Three-Way X58 Motherboard Roundup

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"We were impressed by the bundle offered by Asus with their X58 board and the same can be said of this product from Gigabyte. It does lack the fancy diagnostic device provided by the P6T but we are given plenty of cables and connectors, some of which are not included with the competitor’s offerings. One such item is the 3-Way SLI bridge connector which points us to one of the major advantages that the EX58-UD5 has over some other X58 boards. That is support for 3-Way SLI which could be a real selling point for those who want the best gaming performance available. Gigabyte also offer 10 SATA ports on this particular model and dual BIOS chips which allow users to recover from corruption caused by overclocking. In addition to this we also have Q-Flash for simple BIOS updates and support for 24 GB of DDR3, something many X58 boards do not offer."

PC Case Review Roundup - Cooler Master, Lian Li, Tagan & More

December 15, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• Benchmark Reviews: Cooler Master Cosmos Black Label Computer Case:
  

  "When you're rating a Limited Edition boxed set, the odds are very good that presentation will be top-notch. Like most everything that comes from Cooler Master, function is held as highly as fashion, and the Black Label kit is no exception. The retail packaging is more than informative enough to educate buyers before they make the purchase, which is always helpful towards comparison shoppers. It wouldn't be fair to ignore the aura of Black Label membership, and the exclusive feeling of owning a Limited Edition product among the sea of clones. The Black Label delivers a top notch buyers experience, and the packaging and presentation are all above expectations."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• bit-tech: Lian Li PC-9 chassis‏:
  

  "While it’s obvious Lian Li has tried to keep things simple with the PC-9, it ends up feeling more like a chassis designed from a checklist rather than a well thought out product in its own right. Features like cable routing, dust filtering and an adjustable fan controller have been included but are very poorly implemented and there’s little of the attention to detail that has so often made Lian Li a first choice for enthusiast cases. With the cripplingly high price only adding to its woes, the Lian Li PC-9 is a disappointing and unconvincing showing from Lian Li."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• CPU3D: Lian-Li PC-9 Aluminum Chassis‏:
  

  "I have to congratulate Lian-Li for producing a very nice chassis for the mainstream market. It offers excellent build quality, solid Aluminum construction, it's light-weight, strong and it's got some great features. It might not suit the gamer or the highend enthusiast user ... but for everyone else it's perfect, except the price!"

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• DriverHeaven: GMC X-7 'X-Station' Case Review:
  

  "The X-7 X-Station is GMC's first gaming chassis and they tried to make it as affordable and appealing as possible. It is not a chassis you could compare against a very expensive high end aluminum model, but it would be a good product for those who are building a gaming system with a strict budget. For those people who are looking to build a typical gaming system the X-7 could be a good choice, but if you are building a powerful system or if you have many HDDs you will have to look elsewhere."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Futurelooks: Lian Li PC-A7010 All Aluminum Full Tower ATX Case Review:
  

  "In the end, we have another great enclosure from the folks at Lian Li. The price may be a little steep, but you get what you pay for. With the added features like the SATA backplane, the six quiet but cool fans, and the incredibly roomy layout, this case will likely find itself to be the home of my new main desktop rig. I’m sure it will do just as well as your own."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Hardware Secrets: Cooler Master ATCS 840 Case Review:
  

  "If you are willing to make a USD 270 – USD 280 hole in your wallet, we think Cooler Master ATCS 840 is one of the best options around.
  
  Usually we don’t give awards to cases on this price range because most of them have too many little flaws that are inexcusable if you are willing to pay that much for a case. ATCS 840 is a good exception, being a practically flawless case. You won’t regret buying it."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Hardware Secrets: Lian-Li PC-7F Case Review:
  

  "In summary, we think this is a terrific product for the average user. It is a high-quality all-aluminum mid-tower case quoted on the same price range of good steel cases. So for the same price of a high-end steel case you can take home this all-aluminum product, which is lighter and dissipates heat better. High-end users, however, may not like some of the limitations from this case, especially the low number of fans and reduced number of hard disk drive bays compared to other products. But this isn’t exactly a problem, as this kind of user would be looking for a different product anyway."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Modders-Inc: Sigma WindStorm Mid-Tower Case:
  

  "Over all I was well pleased with the Sigma WindStorm. This is the second Sigma Product case I have used and both have been high quality enclosures.
  With that said, I only had a couple of issues with the case. First the locking mechanisms on the expansions slots are really sub-par with anything other than a light nic card or modem and even then "good luck". Second, The upper side panel intake fan may be a problem to those who have tall aftermarket cpu coolers, and let's face it with these coolers costing as much as most budget cases, ... well you better measure and be sure before you buy."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• PureOverclock: In Win Matrix:
  

  "This little case has many nice features, and IN WIN did a great job thinking outside the box so to speak with the Matrix. They've designed a layout which creates a simple and smart installation concept while enabling a practical approach to building your mATX system. The exterior case design is very sleek and has a sense of elegance which we respect because it not as obnoxious as many of the cases made today. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TechwareLabs: Tagan Diablo Advance PC Case:
  

  "Overall, this case is a mixed blessing. The chassis design is unusually good for a budget case, and the thermal management features are a welcome boon, saving the need to tie up a drive bay or two with aftermarket accessories. The poorly-managed wiring, on the other hand, combined with the lack of spaces to tuck away extra lengths of cable, make difficult the task of anyone seeking to employ a little cablegami to clean up the interior of their system.
  
  This case is aimed at a very particular niche: the budding overclocking enthusiast who is not quite ready to make the jump to liquid cooling. For these people, the El Diablo Advance will serve their needs quite adequately. There's a fair bit of work involved in achieving a tidy appearance with this case, but at a MSRP of $99, many will find it worth the effort."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Top 20 3DMark Vantage Movers & Shakers

December 15, 2008 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler Review

December 12, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Overall, the Noctua NH-C12P offers a great performance level along with a unique design. The cooler does utilize a 120mm fan, while still allowing for appropriate clearance on other components. With its size, there is still a chance that it might not fit in all cases. I tested the NH-C12P in four different case here and only found one that had an issue. Simply making the pre-notched area a little larger resolved the issue. The NH-C12P has a good look to it but might turn you off if your looking at installing it in a windowed case. For those that are worried about swapping the fan and hurting the coolers performance. I decided to install one of the ACRyan Blackfire UV fans on the NH-C12 to see how it would perform. The temperatures stayed with 1C - 2C of the stock temps. Dropping 1C - 2C in temps was an acceptable outcome for me when it came to how well it looked in the case with the ACRyan fan installed."

Gigabyte & NZXT Mice Review Roundup

December 12, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• Bigbruin: NZXT Avatar Gaming Mouse Review:
  
  

  "This may be NZXT's first foray into gaming mice, but they have produced a solid initial offering. The Avatar seems to mix elements from other popular gaming mice with a bit of NZXT's own innovation to create a recommendable product.
  
  The comfort and performance of the mouse are key selling points, but the high level of customization is obviously important, too. While I was initially concerned that the low weight would really lower my enthusiasm about the product, I found that over time I could get used to it. The mouse would be far more appealing with an adjustable weight system, as I have a feeling that while many users could get used to the weight, they might not want to."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• ThinkComputers: NZXT Avatar Gaming Mouse Review:
  
  

  "Overall the NZXT Avatar mouse is a pretty good mouse for NZXT's first attempt at one. The ambidextrous design allows all types of gamers, especially with small hands to feel comfortable with their mouse. I really didn't find anything wrong with the mouse itself other than the small design didn't quite work 100% for my large hand. I only found the software to be lacking with fine tuning of DPI settings, but at least they made that up with being able to adjust the polling rate, which I can't say that I've seen on any other software."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TweakTown: GIGABYTE GM-M7700 Wireless Laser Laptop Mouse‏:
  
  

  "With all this nifty gear stuffed into it, you might think the mouse is a little oversized for a travelling companion. But in actuality, it’s one of the smallest wireless mice I have reviewed; maintaining the delicate balance of being small enough to slip in a laptop bag, but at the same time still fitting comfortably in the hand.
  
  As can be seen in these pictures below, the comparison in size to Microsoft’s Explorer Mini mouse shows that this mouse is a much tighter package to one of its main rivals. However, I prefer the rubber grips of the GM-M7700 as it gives the mouse a much nicer feel when being held for long periods of time."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  

Thermaltake Soprano Aluminum Keyboard Review

December 12, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The Soprano is a great keyboard for general internet surfing, email and occasional document preparation. If a larger, classier version of a laptop keyboard sounds appealing to you, then it will be a welcome addition to your home office setup for years to come. The construction is solid and the keys are nice and quiet but are also a bit closer together than what you'd find on a standard keyboard. That is fine for short-term typing, but after extended use I was wishing for my old generic keyboard back.

I was really hoping for this to be an all-in-one solution because I like the look of the Soprano and the aluminum surface provides a comfortable wrist rest area and is effective at preventing hand sweat. Unfortunately though, when it came to gaming I just couldn't stick with it. If it weren't for my hands cramping up after long periods of time this keyboard would be a winner."

RivaTuner 2.21 Released

December 12, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• FOURCC INTZ and RAWZ formats are no longer forcibly disabled on GeForce 6 and newer display adapters when closing the 'Textures' tab in Direct3D tweaks dialog. Please take a note that these formats are required for proper GTA IV functionality, so if you experience problems with missing textures in this game on NVIDIA GeForce 6 and newer display adapters then please try to open the 'Textures' tab and press the 'Defaults' button.
  
• Fixed 'Restore after suspended mode' option in low-level fan control tab, corrupted in the previous release due to multi-GPU related core changes.
  

• Updated databases for Detonator and ForceWare drivers. Added databases for ForceWare 180.60, 180.70 and 180.84.
  
• Added Catalyst 8.12 driver family detection.
  
• Added 'Enable FOURCC INTZ surfaces' and 'Enable FOURCC RAWZ surfaces' options to the 'Textures' tab of the Direct3D tweaks dialog.
  
• 'Restore after suspended mode' option in low-level fan control tab is multi-GPU oriented now. Now the option affects all display adapters in the system instead of currently selected display adapter only.
  
• 'Allow separate 2D/3D clock frequency adjustment' option is no longer provided when enabling driver-level hardware overclocking. The option is now hidden to reduce the amount of false bugreports posted by the beginners trying to disable 2D/3D clock frequncy then claiming that the hardware stays at extremely low boot clocks. Power users can still control this option via AllowMaxPerf registry entry.
  
• Extended list of detectable supported FOURCC formats in 'IDirect3D9 HAL adapter formats' diagnostic report category.

ATI Catalyst 8.12 Performance Analysis

December 12, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"So, that’s the new driver set from ATI. What can we say about it? On a whole performance is pretty good and we do see gains in a lot of places. We can’t quite see those 10% and 20%+ gains that we saw mentioned in the release notes, but they really are best case scenario and may impact different in-game settings more than others.

Apart from performance, ATI have now implemented the use of Stream technology; this is designed to compete against NVIDIA and its CUDA technology. What will be interesting is how it compares to NVIDIAs technology and how much people will use it over the coming months."

The Games of Christmas 2008: GPU Performance Analysis

December 12, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"As we come down into the sub-$400 price category, things become even less clearly defined. If one of the standouts has to be our GTX 260 with 216 SPs since it provides great performance right across the board. Indeed, I would even recommend an overclocked GTX 260 216 over a GTX 280 considering how close the two cards are performance-wise. Since you will probably ask; the HD 4870 1GB really doesn’t hold much sway for me considering more often than not it can barely keep a lead over its 512MB brother yet it costs quite a bit more. Its price premium is completely unjustified unless you are playing at ultra high resolutions with every imaginable IQ bang and whistle enabled. However, you still have to take into account that the extra memory does have its uses and for all we know, 1GB could become the standard in the not so distant future. Only time will tell."

Intel Core i7 Memory Performance Guide

December 11, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Starting with the basics, our general performance tests showed strong bandwidth gains when increasing the memory clock frequency. However, the WinRAR performance test and CINEBENCH seemed to find DDR3-1333 memory to be the sweet spot rather than the more speedy 1600MHz modules.

For those interested in games, the very nature of gaming applications means these will rely more heavily on the GPU than other components like memory. In other words, we saw very little difference in performance when comparing triple-channel DDR3-800 memory versus DDR3-1600."

ATI Catalyst 8.12 Drivers Released

December 11, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• ATI Stream computing harnesses the tremendous processing power of the graphics processing unit (GPU) for high-performance, data-intensive computations over a wide range of scientific, business and consumer applications.
  
  
• ATI Stream technology enables the hundreds of parallel Stream cores inside AMD graphics processors to accelerate general purpose applications. These capabilities will allow ATI Stream-enabled programs, for a variety of different tasks and from a growing number of software vendors, to operate with optimized performance or with new functionality.
  

• Using ATI Stream technology, owners of ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series and ATI Radeon™ HD 4600 Series of graphics cards can help accelerate the conversion of standard and HD video into multiple formats for use on differing consumer electronics devices.
  

• This release of Catalyst™ introduces a new advanced video quality control: Noise Reduction for progressive video content, which removes ghosting artifacts while preserving details of the original video. The slider control can be found in the All Settings page of the Avivo Video tab found in the Catalyst Control Center.
  

• 3DMark Vantage DX10 – performance gains of up to 5% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on HD46xx, HD4550 and HD4350.
  
  
• Call of Duty: World at War DX9 – performance gains of up to 21% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD48xx.
  
  
• Crysis DX10 – performance gains of up to 25% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx.
  
  
• Crysis Warhead DX10 – performance gains of up to 13% for Single card mode and up to 16% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx.
  
  
• Devil May Cry 4 DX10– performance gains of up to 6% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
  
  
• Fallout 3 – performance gains of up to 15% for Single card mode.
  
  
• Far Cry 2 DX10 – performance gains of up to 10% for Single card mode and up to 57% in Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
  
  
• FEAR DX9 – performance gains of up to 6% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on Radeon HD4870X2 and HD4870.
  
  
• Hellgate: London DX10 – performance gains of up to 6% for Single card mode and up to 10% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx.
  
  
• Left 4 Dead DX9– performance gains of up to 10% for Single card mode and up to 5% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4870 series.
  
  
• Lost Planet Colonies DX10 – performance gains of up to 10% for Single and Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
  
  
• Prey OGL – performance gains of up to 15% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on Radeon HD4870 1GB products, HD46xx, HD45xx.
  
  
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky – performance gains of up to 10% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.
  
  
• Unreal Tournament 3 DX9 – performance gains of up to 18% for Single card mode and up to 15% in Crossfire mode, especially in cases where AA is enabled. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and HD38xx.

Logitech Unveils Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard

December 11, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"With its sculpted, ergonomically inspired shape and pushing-the-envelope functionality, the Logitech G13 advanced gameboard completes your search for gear, augmenting a Logitech® G15 keyboard for gaming and a Logitech® G9 Laser Mouse.

Delivering increased comfort, the iconic contoured design complements the natural shape of your hand and fingers, while the smooth, concave home-row keys make it easy to locate buttons by touch. With three game modes, 25 programmable keys and a programmable analog stick, the G13 gameboard offers up to 87 ways for you to control your game (software installation required). And you can set up custom button-profiles for each one of your favorite titles. You can even create macros on the fly without having to pause your game.

And for another tactical advantage, the 160-by-43-pixel GamePanel LCD shows live game stats, system info and even messages from other players."

Fusion-io ioDrive PCIe Solid State Storage Review

December 11, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Once you calculate the low power consumption with the small size, it is easy to see how advanced the Fusion-io really is. Even if the ioDrive performed at the same level as the traditional platter drives, it would still be a remarkable product. The thing is that the ioDrive does not perform at the same level of the fastest platter drives; it outperforms them by a very large margin. When it comes to actual server load performance the benchmark numbers are crystal clear. The ioDrive is the fastest drive we have tested, faster than the best solid state SATA II drive and faster than the best enterprise 15,000 RPM drive in an 8 drive RAID configuration."

PC Case Review Roundup - Antec, NZXT, Gigabyte & More

December 10, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Underneath all the plastic rubbish and noisy fans though, there is a sound core chassis here. The thermal performance figures are very impressive and the interior is roomy with a couple of very nice little touches especially in regards to the case’s cable management system. Sadly these aren’t enough to compensate for the negatives and despite its solid thermal performance, there are plenty of cheaper and better built alternatives out there that we’d opt for instead of the Spedo."

"The Coolermaster Sileo 500 is a very well made and decent chassis for anyone who cherish their silence. Cooling performance is OK, considering there are only 2 x 120mm silent, low rpm fans to cool the entire chassis. It may not be suitable to most gamers or enthusiasts, but it is one of the most silent chassis we've tested to date ... ideal for the office or home study."

"The impressive nature of the Mini P180 begins with the packaging as it features plenty of product images and specifications which leave the consumer with few questions about the chassis. This positive first impression continues when unboxing the case as we find it well protected within foam and with plastic covers on each of the sides to ensure it arrives in the same condition as it left the factory. Inside the case we have all of the screws and attachments required for a system build and Antec also include a reasonably well written manual and cable ties to ensure our build is as simple and tidy as possible."

"They call it the “Airflow King” for a reason the NZXT Tempest case has a great overall feel and is definitely one of the best bang for your buck cases you can get right now. The Tempest has great airflow throughout the whole chassis and best of all it includes all of the fans. The case is very sturdy aside from the small issue with the front panel which isn’t a deal breaker by any means. It will definitely be able to keep your rig cool and looking great too."

"This is the case that will find a home in my office, I tend to be very picky about the type of case I like and this happens to be in my mind the perfect case whether I leave it with fan and fin cooling or switch it over to a true water cooling case. It has everything ready to accept a a double 120 reservoir at the top of the case so converting will be a piece of cake. If you can afford this case I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to buy a nearly perfect case. I use nearly since we all know that no case can be perfect or perhaps it can be."

"I am quite happy with the b-Envi being my new case. Some of the things I really like about it is the ability to fit a full ATX power supply inside. I didn't want to have to buy another power supply for this case and most smaller power supplies are not modular and I didn't want to have to mess with all of the extra cables. Also you have windows on each side of the case, it is definitely cool being able to look over at the case and see everything cramped inside. Finally the touch-sensitive buttons on the front bezel are a nice addition and add a "cool" factor to the case."

"The only real problem that I had with the case was trying to get my hard drive to fit into the 3.5" slots, but perhaps this was on my error; it's hard to tell. Overall I really enjoyed this case and with a hefty price tag of $399.99 I hope whoever does buy this case puts it to good use. If you plan on using a lot of storage, need dual power supplies, or just want to load your case with gaming gear then this case would be great for you. I've reviewed many NZXT cases and I have to say that they have the best quality of gaming cases out there. The NZXT Khaos has to be my favorite NZXT case and probably one of the all of the cases that I've used/reviewed. Overall Think Computers would like to award the NZXT Khaos Classic Series Full Tower Case a 9 out of 10 score and our Editors Choice Award."

"The new series of HEC’s system cases seems to be just as successful as the former series. The 6XR8 is a very good product for its money. It features a nice and demure exterior design, a reliable chassis, good ergonomics and cooling, and a low level of noise. I guess the only drawbacks worth mentioning about it are the inconveniences you may encounter when connecting and laying out the cables of hard drives. Moreover, the default 450W power supply offers a rather limited selection of connectors. The 6XR8-PE comes with a more interesting 600W PSU, but its price goes beyond the mainstream class."

Foxconn ELA P45 Motherboard Review

December 10, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"As you may have already understood, our impression of Foxconn ELA mainboard is not very positive. The attitude to this board could be calm, neutral, interested or even excited only if you look at it from a distance. Once you get your hands on this solution and try working with it, then numerous problems and issues cause nothing but frustration. The mainboard is inhumanly severe, almost any settings change leads to CMOS clearing. The only possibility here is to leave everything at defaults, however, you shouldn’t expect the board to automatically pick the most optimal settings either. At this point, we really couldn’t figure out what they needed to come up with unique design, additional jumper sets and BIOS settings, if none of this actually works?"

Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3-1333 4GB Memory Kit Review

December 10, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"What's the bottom line with this kit? The answer is simple. The Crucial 2x2GB PC3-10600 Ballistix Tracer kit offers great performance right from the get go. An inexperienced overclocker will be learn how to overclock and tweak their PC through simple FSB modifications or graduate to the more experienced realm with voltage changes and timing modifications.

Performance is key for a PC and the Tracer kit doesn't disappoint. The tight stock timings generated reasonable performance numbers despite the lower speed we're use to seeing. Backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and a limited life-time warranty, the timing to buy this kit couldn't be any better as we enter the holiday season. Your glowing and dazzling PC will be enough reason to not need to setup a Christmas tree!"

CPU Cooler Review Roundup - Noctua, Thermaltake, Vantec & More

December 10, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• OCModShop: Noctua NH-U12P Heatsink Review:
  
  

  "So here's the final bill. The Noctua NH-U12P comes in pretty when it comes to temperatures. The idle temp was not much more than standard, but it showed its true colors when I turned on the heat. The heatsink's other colors might not appeal to everyone, however.
  
  The only real drawback to this heatsink is its height; as it may not fit in every case. This tower design is pretty standard today, because it is simply one of the most efficient architectures. Hopefully Noctua will send us one of their low-profile C12-series heatsinks for testing."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• PC Perspective: Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler Review‏:
  
  

  "Cooler Master’s new V8 CPU cooler delivers very good cooling with minimal noise and it really looks good. The fit-n-finish is excellent and the performance to noise ratio is very good. The cooler is relatively easy to install and features secure mounts for both Intel and AMD platforms. Overclockers and users interested in maximum performance will be disappointed to find the V8 won’t accept high-speed 120mm fans that are typically 38mm thick."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TechwareLabs: Vantec AeroFlow FX120 CPU Cooler:
  
  

  "The AeroFlow FX 120 is definitely a strong cooler. Out-performing the MaxOrb is a great feat and should definitely be noted. On the downside, this cooler is very massive and only just barely fit in my case and might not fit in a different case. Other than that, the AeroFlow FX is definitely a stylish, customizable, and big cooler and gets my vote, and at $39 is not bank breaking. With all this said, I'd like to give the Vantec AeroFlow FX 120 the TechwareLabs Awesome Hardware award for out cooling the ThermalTake Maxorb. That's all folks."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Tweaknews: Thermaltake Duorb Heatpipe CPU Cooler Review:
  
  

  "Thermaltake's DuOrb CPU cooler has a lot going for it. The design itself will appeal to some enthusiasts with the need for a high performance cooler without the excessive height of some comparable coolers. In addition, the design also provides excellent clearance around the socket while enhancing cooling in the immediate area. The fit and finish is excellent, the mounting secure, and the performance is quite good. It's relatively easy to install, but some careful measurement and forethought should be undertaken by a potential user to assure a successful outcome. With its twin fan, side-by-side design and LED fans, the DuOrb has a distinctive look and aggressive stance that will look good in a windowed case."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• X-bit Labs: Thermaltake V14Pro Cooler Review:
  
  

  "The cooler is truly beautiful, but we also shouldn’t forget about its improved cooling efficiency: for not every cooler out there can get a quad-core CPU overclocked to 3.7GHz running in Linpack for 30 minutes. However, overclockers may still be able to find something more efficient and quieter and definitely way cheaper than $83 they ask for Thermaltake V14Pro…"

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

MSI X58 Eclipse & X58 Platinum Motherboard Reviews

December 10, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• bit-tech: MSI's Eclipse SLI X58 Motherboard‏:
  
  

  "This board is killing me because I want to like so much as the MSI team has clearly put in incredible effort and risk into designing the Eclipse SLI. Since just the P45 generation six months ago, so much has changed for the better which we need to give MSI credit for - the GreenPower core is excellent, the D-LED 2 is a good evolution, the board looks fantastic, it's stable with 12GB of memory and it's finally got a compelling market niche. The problem is that it's only 95 percent of the way there and it still needs attention to tidy up the loose ends - the BIOS and the software needs work, the cooling isn't wonderful, the D-LED 2 can evolve further, the X-Fi is either love or hate and the GreenPower Genie can go in the bin.
  
  The difference between the MSI Eclipse SLI and Asus P6T Deluxe is that despite the Asus' shortcomings, underneath it was still very usable and yielded an eminently enjoyable experience. With the Eclipse SLI, we were using it and loving this or that feature then suddenly, BAM!, we hit a brick wall and were left to think "that could be better." There were enough of these moments to drop it out of a recommendation. Knowing the design schedule for X58 was even more incredibly intense than usual because it was a new platform, I just wish MSI had more time to sit back and think it through or use it more, before finalising things."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• CPU3D: MSI X58 Platinum Motherboard‏:
  
  

  "It's hard to say what I really thought about the MSI X58 Platinum motherboard. Something inside of me really like the performance it has to offer, but another part of me didn't like the difficulty in the overclocking department ... a BIOS update would probably fix that. But not everyone is an overclocker. So, from an end user, non-enthusiast point of view, the MSI X58 Platinum motherboard has everything going for it ... good performance, great features and it's cheaper than the Eclipse."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Power Supply Review Roundup - Akasa, Antec, OCZ & More

December 9, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• bit-tech: Antec's Signature 850W power supply:
  
  

  "While we don't like the cables so much because they look ugly and they miss a few features, technically they are very good and between them and the modular connectors they are both of high quality to match the rest of the unit. Antec has pulled through in that regard and instead of just going to Delta, telling it to build it a PSU and slapping an Antec badge on it; it's thought about the product as a whole.
  
  The extra efficiency won't offset the extra cost, but £135 for the hardware you get in the black box isn't particularly bad value. Whether you go for this or the recently lower priced Cooler Master Ultimate UCP 900W will get you an excellent PSU either way – if we had reviewed the Cooler Master a week later at £146 and not £160+ it would have been recommended too. With regards to the Antec Signature 850W, the bottom line is that if you do want to splash out on a truly premium purchase, this is certainly one to keep high up on the short list."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• DriverHeaven: Akasa 80+ 500w PSU Review:
  
  

  "The Akasa Power 80+ 500W PSU may not be a top performance product, but it offers excellent value to mainstream users. The very high efficiency does not only improve the overall electrical performance but it also lowers the power loss, improving the thermal and acoustics performance considerably as well. The Power 80+ 500W would be a very good long-term investment for people who are building simple office or mid range gaming PCs."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Guru3D: OCZ ModXtream PRO 600 Watt power supply review‏:
  
  

  "You know, I think that if you purchase a PSU with a bit of a brand name stamped on top of it, that it probably can't be really bad. I doubt any really bad 2008 PSU's still even exist. It's no different with the OCZ Technology ModXtream PRO. From what we can tell it's a fine power supply. You get a nice dark black look, great cooling, modular options and we figure, very stable voltages. OCZ is offering the product at roughly 69 EUR / 89 USD and tops it off with a 3 year warranty.
  
  What I like the most though is the proclaimed high efficiency, an efficiency of roughly 86% at normal power consumption, it might be even a tad higher yet we do not have numbers on that available. So not only does it save on energy consumption and thus mother nature, but when you think about it .. also you power bill. You have your modability, efficiency and the nice aesthetics. The cables themselves are nicely sleeved in black wrapping."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• JonnyGURU: NorthQ Giant Reactor 1000W Power Supply Review:
  
  

  "In what will likely make NorthQ feel a lot better after the disappointing Black Magic 650W unit, the Giant Reactor lands a good solid nine here at jonnyGURU.com based on solid performance first seen with the Giant Connector 850W. While I am not quite ready to call this unit a true 1kW unit due to the lower combined 12V rating than what is usually found at this power level, the fact is that it did do 1kW at temperatures well above what most units are even rated for, and it did the job cleanly and with excellent stability. Folks, if you're planning a dual 280 GTX or Crossfire 4870x2 setup, this unit won't let you down. Just don't try and throw a third such card at it, and you'll be fine."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Rbmods: FSP Power Mod 700W Power Supply Review:
  
  

  "Conclusion: The FSP Power Mod 700W PSU is an attractive mid-range power supply that delivers solid performance without any frills or hassles. The modular cable design combined with the quad 12V rails is something you expect to find in the higher end supplies. The unit can be purchased directly from FSP’s direct site, www.shopfsp.com, for a great price currently of ~$109 USD (prices may vary), which is a very budget-friendly price for such a supply. If you’re looking for a modular supply that delivers sound performance and are willing to deal with the nits I noticed, you should give this supply some consideration."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Cooler Master Aquagate MAX Liquid Cooling Kit Review

December 9, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"So taken as a whole the CoolerMaster Aquagate MAX can definitely be a success. It's a good amount better in performance compared to say the average Thermaltake Bigwater kits yet prices slightly higher. Aesthetics wise this is one of the best looking kits your money can purchase. It's easy to install, easy to use and overall performs really well. it's good, but not in the enthusiast high-end segment. it could be there though if CoolerMaster would look into a slightly better water-block. Shave off another 10 Degrees C on our 4 GHz overclock and this kit would be just astounding.

For me the biggest negative where the noise levels. If you are not at a ESA compatible environment (nForce 780/790) you will not have control over the FANS and the reservoir where the fans are regulated seems to only force 2400 RPM on the fans. Therefore at default the are slightly too loud and could become bothersome. "

Hippus & NZXT Mouse Reviews

December 9, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• DriverHeaven: Hippus HandshoeMouse:
  
  

  "The HandshoeMouse is certainly an unusual product and is in a different league from any other ergonomic mice we’ve seen or used before. There has clearly been a lot of effort put into the design and it has really paid off. The mouse is incredibly comfortable to operate and provides an extraordinarily relaxing experience. It may not be suitable for gaming but for any other tasks it is a fantastic mouse.
  
  At €120 (~£100 at time of press) the HandshoeMouse comes in at a hefty price, which will certainly put off a lot of curious eyes. However, for those are worried about conditions such as RSI and those who will value the comfort it offers, the HandshoeMouse is an ideal product. Even after hours of use it will still provide safe and effortless operation for the user. Additionally, the product may be invaluable to people who suffer from conditions such as arthritis by enabling them to use their computer in comfort."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Techgage: NZXT Avatar Gaming Mouse:
  
  

  "Overall, this is a good-quality mouse, and I was surprised by how impressed I was with NZXT's first attempt at a gaming peripheral. Offering flexibility, speed and style, you can now affordably frag your friends with silky smoothness. The ability to switch on the fly easily without having to flip the mouse over makes the 2600 DPI Avatar a worthy choice for a gaming enthusiast... as long as you don't mind a lightweight offering."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

ATI Catalyst 8.12 Performance Analysis

December 9, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Overall the drivers themselves do give you a bit of a performance gain, and the Avivo is a very cool feature, but I would like to see it have options for changing sizes, bitrates etc for the end result videos. Yes there are choices for Sony PSP and iPod Video so they should be the correct size, but I would still like to have full control over the final output."

GIGABYTE GM-M8000 GHOST Gaming Mouse Review

December 9, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Overall, I’d say that this rodent belongs among the ranks of top end gaming mice. With its customisability and solid performance, it’s become a quick favourite of mine because of the balance between ergonomics and features.

One slight issue I had trouble with, however, is the software scroll speeds seem far too high if you have them anywhere past the second notch. I’d often go flying past parts of web pages I’d wanted to see. Trying to compensate for this under the Windows scroll speed defaults it to the M8000 software setting.

This mouse should definitely be considered if you are looking for a top quality gaming mouse from a top quality name like GIGABYTE, because you are not going to be disappointed."

Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H mATX Motherboard Review

December 8, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Gigabyte's EG45M-DS2H motherboard takes a novel approach to the design of an affordable integrated-graphics motherboard that's capable of supporting multiple displays. Rather than focus on providing the installed video card with maximum bandwidth, the EG45M-DS2H sources the PCI-express bandwidth from another device entirely, ensuring that the onboard G45 chipset can run to the fullest of its potential while still feeding a secondary graphics device.
In addition, the EG45M-DS2H boasts a full set of features designed to improve system performance while minimizing energy usage. The board's 4-stage power supply nets some power efficiency gains, but that's not the only power-saving feature on the board."

Top 20 3DMark Vantage Movers & Shakers

December 8, 2008 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Palit GeForce GeForce 9800 GTX+ Graphics Cards Reviews

December 8, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The two versions of Palit GeForce 9800 GTX+ are good products if you don’t mind their outdated architecture. The version with a nonstandard PCB design is preferable. It is smaller and has better cooling and requires somewhat less power. Moreover, this version may prove to be cheaper due to its simpler design. Its lower overclockability is its only drawback, but you can’t expect substantial benefits from overclocking such cards anyway unless you use some extreme overclocking methods. Such overclocking just adds a few frames per second in Fraps and other benchmarks but cannot be felt during actual play.

So, if you want to buy a GeForce 9800 GTX+, the Palit GeForce 9800 GTX+ with nonstandard PCB can be a good choice. The reference version of GeForce 9800 GTX+ should only be bought for serious overclocking."

GELID Wing 12 120MM Fan Review

December 8, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Clearly we have a winner here. The GELID Wing 12 is a fan that performs as solidly as its unique design and construction. The included fan controller is a plus. Even at low fan speeds, the Wing 12 performed well and silently. Rubber mounting posts are included, which greatly simplify installation and make a difference when it comes to isolating noise from the fan.

My only gripe with the GELID Wing 12 would be the fact that you can't power it by means of a 4-pin Molex connector.

Apart from this minor shortcoming, the Wing 12 is perfect in every aspect. Heck, it's even waterproof!"

Intel X58 Motherboard Review Roundup

December 8, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• ocaholic: ASUS P6T Deluxe OC-Palm:
  
  

  "With the P6T Deluxe OC-Palm ASUS presents a mainboard thouroughly designed for PC enthusiasts. The boards performance and stability is on a high level but some numbers a lower than on a Gigabyte GA-EX58 UD5.
  
  The BIOS settings on the other hand are very good, especially the voltage settings are well thought.
  
  The layout is perfect: ideal placed connectors, angled SATA ports, enough space around the components and onboard power- and reset button make it very easy to assemble a system on an ASUS P6T OC-Palm. The attractive equipment - onboard SAS controller and OC-Palm - perfect the already very good package."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• ocaholic: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Overclockers Choice:
  
  

  "When it comes down to performance, stability and equipment Gigabyte plays with the GA-EX58-UD5 in a very high league. All benchmarks performed very well and could be done absolutely stable. Also the layout is optimal. Therefore you get easily accessible connectors, 90 degree angled SATA ports as wells as onboard power and reset buttons.
  
  For gamers and/or overclocking freaks the GA-EX58-UD5 comes with and easy to handle BIOS and with the 12+2+2 phase power design you get an absolutely stable current supply. In our overclocking attempts we managed to get more than 200 MHz out of the GA-EX58-UD5 which these times is a really respectable value for an X58 mainboard."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• t-break: MSI Eclipse:
  
  

  "The MSI Eclipse SLI impresses with its set of features such as the nifty D-LED2 display, DrMOS features that offers exceptional stability while maintaining great power efficiency. Best of all though is the three PCI-e x16 slots that support both NVIDIA's SLI and ATi's CrossFireX configurations. And not forgetting the addition of a Creative X-Fi PCI-e audio card to the equation making for an excellent and immersive gaming experience thanks to its EAX 5.0 technology.
  
  Performance wise, this board is a perfect competitor against other motherboards. We did overclock the motherboard to check its maximum FSB and we managed to hit a bus speed of 179 MHz stable at all times using Auto Settings in the BIOS."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Lian Li Maxima 750W Power Supply Review

December 8, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• Bigbruin:
  
  

  "The bottom line is that this is a respectable power supply worth considering if you can find a good deal. It didn't really do anything better than less expensive units, and one thing to keep in mind is that the published data on the number of PCI Express connections is wrong. The unit is advertised as having four 6+2-pin PCI Express power connections, but there are really only two. Issues like this, as well as the elevated price, keep me from getting too excited about this power supply and keep it from earning any performance based awards. But, the ability to turn off the LEDs in the fan earns it the award of "Great Idea"."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Overclockers Online:
  
  

  "The Maxima force is quite the bundle. This unit brushes off anything thrown in its direction, and maintains and incredibly quiet operational temperature, but more than performance this unit also looks good. With a black crinkle finish, the Maxima force has a subtle yet undeniable rugged appeal, yet at the same time elegance. Let's not forget, this is a Lian Li product. Fully sleeved cables and black connectors are a nice addition as well, and top off the deal.
  
  But now, let's talk price. Conventional train of reasoning would tell us that because Lian Li cases are expensive, this power supply should be expensive as well. Unfortunately, it is. For a little more than $200 dollars, this unit could be yours. Expensive, but for what you get, the price is proportional."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Gelid Silent Spirit CPU Cooler Review

December 7, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"If you need a good replacement for your standard cooler and you are not interested in a slightly more expensive model (Xigmatek S1283 is only $7 more), or a slightly louder one then this cooler will not only meet but easily exceed your wildest expectations. It is only at high overclocks the the Silent Spirit start to disappoint, but then again, if you are serious about overclocking you are more than likely already into water cooling and thus not part of the market niche Gelid is looking to woo.

All in all, we hope to see more of Gelid's coolers in the future since the Silent Spirit is a great first effort. This isn't an easy market sector to get into but it seems that this is one company which is well on its way."

GIGABYTE GK-K8000 GHOST Gaming Keyboard Review

December 7, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Overall, this keyboard is one of the most solid solutions I have ever seen on the market for gaming. It maintains all the great functionality of the gamer style keyboard by giving the user assignable hot keys and at the same time, the solid cherry key switches will mean less "uh-oh" and "whoops!" when you accidentally toss that grenade at your team mates.

here is some room for improvement, though; it would have been really nice to see some lighting on this keyboard, even with the bright orange WASD keys it’s still hard to make out any of them in near darkness of your monitors glow. It’s a feature that every manufacturer and their dog are pumping out and it wouldn’t take anything from the board if it was added, so fingers crossed for revision 2.0!"

A-DATA & Elixir DDR3 Memory Kit Reviews

December 7, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• CPU3D: Elixir DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 4Gb Kit (with heat spreaders)‏:
  
  

  "I have mixed feelings about these Elixir DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 4Gb kits. The good thing about these modules, is that they offer some decent performance, and they do look pretty good too. The golden heatspreader looks great, and helps with cooling the modules down. What's more, these 4Gb kits are much more affordable than others on the market.
  However, the bad news is ... that these modules do not overclock as well as I hoped. They can easily reach the rated speed of 800Mhz that's DDR3-1600, but anything above that ... our system would fail to boot. This is a real disappointment.
  
  I must give Elixir credit for trying to capture some of the enthusiast market share. They will find it hard to compete with the well established names in enthusiast overclocking memory. But we all learn from mistakes, don't we. Although they do look good, offering decent performance ... it's the poor overclocking ability that is ultimately its downfall. It will take some time for Elixir to really mature in this very competitive enthusiast market ..."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TweakTown: A-DATA Vitesta DDR3-1333MHz 3GB Triple Channel Kit:
  
  

  "Having said that, A-DATA provides an extremely impressive kit here for your consideration.
  
  Compared to the Corsair 6GB kit, while it’s half the size, it’s also cheaper. DDR3 still costs more than DDR2 but we soon hope to see this change. The other major advantage of this kit is that being only 3GB in size allows it to fit within the 32-bit OS usable memory window. 4GB and above needs a 64-bit OS to take advantage of any extra memory, so you’re safe for XP and Vista 32-bit here."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Thermalright TRUE Copper Heatsink Review

December 7, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"What can I say, the TRUE Copper is the best cooler on the market today in terms of performance and quality.

Sure it's a bit expensive, and it might break your motherboard, but we all like to push things to their extremes, and live on the edge.

The TRUE Copper will certainly give you bragging rights, in not only that it's probably the most expensive air cooler out there, but also the fact that it's a limited edition and for the fact that it provides the best cooling performance with or without a fan. You can create a truly silent PC with this cooler."

Four-Way Intel X58 Motherboard Roundup

December 7, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"We are proud to present the ASUS P6T-Deluxe with our Gold Editors Award. We highly recommend this board for beginners and advanced users alike. The Deluxe is not perfect, no board is, but it was by far the easiest board to use on a daily basis. Regardless of whether we wanted to setup a stable 24/7 folding machine or push the board to its limits trying to reach a new overclock record in the labs, it was a simple process to do either. We especially liked the ASUS BIOS as it is very informative, lists out the min/max and standard settings for the major BIOS options, and makes it possible for new users to quickly get the most out of the board. Yet, it still retains enough options to satisfy most tweakers and always recovered from settings that made us look for the clear CMOS button on the other boards.

When it comes to performance, the word balanced was the first thought in our minds. The P6T Deluxe offers the best video performance of the boards we tested while providing class leading performance in the majority of our application benchmarks. The board also features an array of options including Serial Attached SCSI controller support, SLI and CrossFire, very good on-board audio capabilities, eSATA and Firewire, and enough USB ports to make one forget about needing a hub. Based on the layout, this is the board we would recommend for 2x SLI or CrossFire users, plus you get the bonus of class leading video performance."

Sparkle GeForce 9800 GTX+ Graphics Card Review

December 7, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The Sparkle 9800 GTX+ did quite well in our games tested today, overall it proved about 15% faster than the previous generation high end 8800 GTX, luckily it doesn’t come with a very high price tag. We spotted it for €152 in Europe and $180 in the USA, and amongst other Geforce 9800 GTX+ offerings the Sparkle is very sharply priced. The direct competitor for the GTX+ is an overclocked Radeon HD 4850 512Mb card, while a reference clocked HD 4850 is noticeably cheaper (€130/$150) it’s also slower than the new GTX+. A factory overclocked HD 4850 starts at around ~€160/$200 making it more expensive than the card tested here. There’s no denying that the current 9800 GTX+ pricing seen is thanks to the ATI’s aggressive pricing.

Until we’ve had an opportunity to put an overclocked HD 4850 against the GTX+ we can’t draw final conclusion, what we can say though is that the Sparkle 9800 GTX+ is a very capable graphics card able to run the latest games fluently at relatively high resolutions. Sparkle’s custom version adds a capable cooling and native HDMI support which makes it quite future proof. If you hunger for more they also have a Calibre P980X+ version which comes with higher GPU/MEM/Shader clocks (761/1161/1911)."

Radeon HD 4000 Series Graphics Card Review Roundup

December 5, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• Bigbruin: Sapphire Radeon HD4830 512MB Graphics Card:
  
  

  "While the performance obviously won't equal the more expensive cards, the price-to-performance ratio is very favorable. It makes the Radeon 4830 worth considering for gamers who don't need the absolute best, just a card that can hang with today's games while leaving plenty of cash in their pocket. The card would be a good fit for non-gaming systems too, as the performance, low noise output, and low heat production would make it an excellent choice for an HTPC."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• bit-tech: Gigabyte's Radeon HD 4850 1GB (GV-R485MC-1GH)‏:
  
  

  "Overall then, Gigabyte's GV-R485MC-1GH is a decent enough card backed with a good warranty that's ideally suited for those who are on a quest for absolute silence. However, we don't recommend the Radeon HD 4850 1GB for the wider market at the moment because the price increase doesn't reflect decent enough performance improvements in more than a few select titles at some rather extreme settings - that's not a fault of Gigabyte's, it's merely because of the general price difference between 512MB and 1GB variants of the Radeon HD 4850.
  
  Should you choose to purchase the GV-R485MC-1GH though, there is one recommendation we need to make: you'll need to employ at least some airflow inside your chassis because the heat needs to be moved somewhere in the long run even though Gigabyte's Multi-Core cooler is better than a lot of passive coolers we've seen over the years."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• DriverHeaven: HIS IceQ4 HD4850 TurboX & Club3d HD4850 OC edition:
  
  

  "The HIS card is a viable all round purchase. It performs great, looks stunning, and can be obtained at an extremely competitive price. The card is packed with all the latest features such as 7.1 HDMI surround sound support and DirectX 10.1 capability. Even with the aggressive out of the box pre-overclocking the IceQ heatsink managed to keep the toasty RV770 core at respectable temperatures and exhausted the hot air out the rear of the case. Additionally, the cooling configuration is quiet and is more than likely to be almost inaudible in the majority of enthuasiast systems."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• DriverHeaven: PowerColor LCS HD4870 (Water-Cooled) Graphics Card:
  
  

  "Although we cannot help but wish for a little more from the card in terms of the amount of memory and shipping speed there is no doubt that the PowerColor LCS HD4870 is an impressive product. It retains all of the great features from the reference model such as DirectX 10.1 and HDMI support (including 7.1 audio) and adds to them an exceptional cooling solution and the highest core speed we have seen on a 4870."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• DriverHeaven: Sapphire 4550 and 4650 GFX Review:
  
  

  "The 4650 is yet another success story for AMD. As far as pricing goes, the card is direct competition to Nvidia’s 9500GT, and it does a great job of putting the hammer down with some impressive results. As far as raw performance goes the 4650 beats the Nvidia card easily in almost all of our tests, getting average FPS numbers 20 or so higher than the 9500. The only game we tested which favours the Nvidia card is Crysis Warhead which has always had a strong showing on the green side."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• OCModShop: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 Toxic Review:
  
  

  "The HD 4870 Toxic is a great performer. The 4870 Toxic consumes far less power, is cheaper than, and (in many cases) outperforms nVidia's GTX 280 video card. Given its price point, the 4870 Toxic has some of the best performance for the money, and it is factory-overclocked. What's not to like?"

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Viper Lair: MSI Radeon HD R4670 512MB:
  
  

  "I wish I had an 8800GT to hand, because I wouldn't be surprised to see the MSI R4670 match or beat it right across the board, and consider that the 8800GT's are still twice the price or more, and it's a no brainer. Pretty much everyone is feeling the pinch and counting the pennies, so it's nice to know that if you do have to compromise and get a low priced card for your gaming, your not going to be missing out on much this time around. If you're the casual gamer and used to buying budget priced cards, then the MSI R4670 might just give you an inkling on what you are missing out on with higher end cards.
  
  The overall package is basic; at this price I'd of been surprised if there was any extras, however I do think that this card is just perfect for HTPC use."

  
  Click here: to read the full review.
  
  
  
• X-bit Labs: ATI Radeon HD 4830 Graphics Accelerator:
  
  

  "Thus, the Radeon HD 4830 fulfils its purpose which was to fill in the gap between the Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4670. The card does its job well, being 100% worth its price. It may be slower than the GeForce 9800 GT in some games but the latter is based on an outdated architecture and doesn’t feel good in modern computations-heavy games. The Radeon HD 4830 is unlikely to become a sensation like the Radeon HD 4850, yet it is quite capable of becoming the best inexpensive gaming card featuring all modern multimedia capabilities."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  

Albatron & MSI Mini-ITX Motherboard Reviews

December 5, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• Albatron Mini-ITX KI780G:
  
  

  "With Mini-ITX hotting up, it’s no wonder that companies are starting to grab hold of it with both hands. And Albatron isn’t a stranger to it, in fact they have sent us a couple of boards in the past and they haven’t disappointed. With the latest investments in the IGP market, it’s of no surprise to see things heating up in this market segment.
  While VIA may have invented the Mini-ITX market, they sure don’t own it and with boards like the KI780G things are looking good. Compared to an EPIA board, you can choose you own CPU, memory and it’s just that simple. Upgrading is possible on the Albatron board while the CPU is a fixed feature on the VIA board. Where the VIA board is more suited to a car PC that you set and forget, the digital PC and home theater option is more the Albatron KI780G’s aim."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• MSI IM-945GSE-A: MSI IM-945GSE-A Mini-ITX Fanless Atom Motherboard‏:
  
  

  "We have started to see some interesting ideas come out, but Intel’s limitations put on the Atom platform for its partners really limits what Atom is capable of. Pair it with some dual channel memory along with a better IGP and you may see some HD movie playback as well.
  
  MSI’s industrial board is extremely good for what it has to work with; it has the potential for a great car PC platform as it allows for the use of all the major features you will have in a car such as USB GPS, WiFi through the mini PCIe as well as TV playback with an add-in PCI tuner card."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  

Four-Way Power Supply Review Roundup

December 5, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• HardOCP: Tagan BZ 1300W PSU:
  
  

  "The Tagan BZ 1300W is the Tagan’s second 1300 watt attempt to pass our gauntlet and its second failure. On some fronts the BZ 1300W represents solid improvements over the previous ITZ1300 (such as the DC Output Quality and efficiency) but on others it actually takes a step back (total DC Output capacity at 100v and internal build quality). It isn't like this unit is absolutely horrible as it did do well on all of the 120v testing and when it went it did so simply shutting down or latching off. However, the BZ 1300W's three failures result in a product that is certainly not award worthy and certainly not from our experience a value as $429.99 product. Had this unit been a much more economically priced unit perhaps some of these short comings could have been mitigated by price alone, but as it stands this unit is positioned as a premier product and in that field it isn't close to award worthy at this time."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Hardware Secrets: BFG MX-550 Power Supply Review:
  
  

  "BFG MX-550 proved to be an excellent product if you stay inside its maximum labeled power.
  
  If you pull up to 80% (440 W) from it, it will deliver at least 84.5% efficiency. Working with it at up to 60% (330 W) from its labeled maximum capacity you will see efficiency between 86% and 88%, which is terrific. Pulling its full labeled power efficiency dropped to 81.6% – not as great as the other results but still above the 80% mark.
  
  Electrical noise level was very low, far below the maximum allowed, and the voltages were always within 3% from their nominal values."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Hardware Secrets: MSI Turbostream 600 W Power Supply Review:
  
  

  "We were surprised with this power supply. With so many people saying bad things about the many previous incarnations of Solytech we were expecting a power supply with low efficiency and that couldn’t deliver its labeled power.
  
  This unit could deliver its labeled 600 W at 52º C, which is wonderful, plus we could pull up to 746 W from it, and it survived!
  
  But this isn’t a “perfect” power supply. Its main problem is the presence of only two SATA power plugs. If you have more than one hard disk drive you will need to use an adaptor to convert a standard peripheral power plug into a SATA power plug. If this bothers you, then you need to choose a different product."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• PC Perspective: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Power Supply Review‏:
  
  

  "The OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W tested out to be a good power supply. It produced good voltage regulation and delivers excellent efficiency. In addition, the ModXStream does its job very quietly, is 80Plus and NVIDIA SLI certified, and comes backed with OCZ’s PowerSwap warranty. On the down side, the DC outputs were not as clean (AC ripple) as we have come to expect from OCZ and PC Power & Cooling. And the 3-Year warranty goes along with the lower price point. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

ASUS G70S & G71V Gaming Notebook Reviews

December 5, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• X-bit Labs: ASUS G70S Gaming Notebook:
  
  

  "The G70S marks a new level of performance in ASUS’s gaming series of notebooks. The designer team has endowed this machine with a true gaming spirit. Its original highlighting is spectacular indeed. The G70S puts to shame every other notebook we have tested in our labs so far when it comes to sheer speed, too. No other notebook we’ve dealt with could deliver such a high performance in 3D games."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• ITreviewed: ASUS G71V Gaming Laptop:
  
  

  "Despite the capabilities to satisfy even the most hardcore gamer, the G71V is just as adept at running resource intensive Windows Vista applications, such as image and video-editing programs. If you’re looking for a truly dedicated gaming experience within a highly portable package, this badboy is just the ticket. In fact, we’d go so far as to say it’s one of the best overall gaming laptops on the planet - especially considering ASUS’ aggressive pricing. Alienware still has the upper hand in terms of raw power and customisation (the G71V can’t be customised with CrossFire graphics cards or solid state drives for instance), but as an overall package the G71V it is hard to beat. It even runs so cool and quietly that you’ll hardly notice it’s even on! Our only disappointment is lack of support for nVidia’s flagship GeForce 9800M GTX graphics chipset."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  

Eight-Way PC Case Review Roundup

December 5, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• CaseCritics: Sunbeamtech Acrylic HTPC Review.
  
  
• Hardware Secrets: Tagan A+ El Diablo Advance Case Review.
  
  
• High Tech Review: Clio 1000 Full Tower Case Review.
  
  
• Legit Reviews: AeroCool AeroRacer Pro PC Case Review.
  
  
• Rbmods: Lian Li PC-9 Computer Case Review.
  
  
• ThinkComputers: Sunbeam Automation Mid Tower Case Review.
  
  
• Virtual-Hideout: Aerocool AeroRacer Pro Enclosure Review.
  
  
• Virtual-Hideout: Lian-Li PC-60FW Case Review.
  

Asus P5QL-E Motherboard Review

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"In fact, Asus P5QL-E has very few objective drawbacks, which we have already mentioned in our review. They are not very serious, by the way, and have been caused mostly by smaller dimensions of the PCB. However, despite the lack of available PCB space, Asus engineers managed to fit in all the necessary controllers, so from the functional standpoint Asus P5QL-E is as powerful as any Intel P45 Express based solution out there.

The next thing: poor CPU and memory overclocking potential. It is a serious drawback. We couldn’t overclock any of our test processors. Besides, our super-fast DDR2 9136 memory was working almost as regular DDR2 6400. But remember the unannounced rule: inexpensive mainboards for inexpensive processors. Knowing what this mainboard is actually capable of, you can easily find a suitable processor for it that will have a high clock frequency multiplier, for example, a CPU from Intel Pentium Dual-Core or Intel Core 2 Duo E7xxx family. Asus P5QL-E functionality will be more than enough for their successful overclocking. Besides, you will not need to spend a ton on super-fact memory: just go with the regular DDR2 800 instead of highly overclockable and therefore expensive elite modules."

Watercooled GeForce GTX 280 Showdown

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Judging the value of the these cards is something that’s generated a fair amount of discussion here in the office, not least because for just a tenner more than the MSI GeForce GTX 280 HydroGen and a good £40 less than the BFG GeForce GTX 280 H₂OC you can pick up ATI’s dual GPU monster, the 4870 X2 – unquestionably a better performing card in the majority of circumstances.

However, if all you’re after is pure performance out of the box, then these cards were never going to be for you in the first place. Watercooling is all about combining high performance with whisper quiet, much improved cooling and furious overclocking, and this is where both these cards have excelled. Even when heavily overclocked, both were extremely cool even with our basic watercooling setup, and the noise difference between a pair of decent 120mm fans and the GTX 280’s stock cooler when things get cooking is staggering – if you’re looking for real high performance graphics without the wind tunnel background noise then either of these cards are a great choice."

Razer Boomslang Collector's Edition 2007 Gaming Mouse Review

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The Razer Boomslang™ CE 2007 is a fantastic collector's edition mouse; especially for me as I am the proud owner of the original 2000 dpi Razer Boomslang™ gaming mouse. This latest mouse being my 5th Razer™ mouse so I was obviously very excited to do this review for TechwareLabs on Razer's latest offering. The Razer Boomslang™ CE 2007 gaming mouse has a unique feel and movement experience that comes from the "Mouse with the Killer Instinct" coupled with the look and feel of titanium, the sleek low-slung profile of a snake about to pounce on its' prey, and the 10,000 limit of units available worldwide for this collector's item, makes this an unbelievable mouse to own. For those new to the Boomslang feel, the original ball mouse took a few weeks to get used to it due to the location of the ball on the mouse versus most every other mouse around, but for those of you looking to acquire the Razer Boomslang™ CE 2007 rest assured the new mouse's optical sensor location make the transition into this serious gaming mouse an effortless one and one that will quickly grow on you, the avid gamer."

Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe (HD 4870 X2) Review

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• ThinkComputers:
  
  

  "So what's the big deal with the Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe? COOLING!!! The cooling on the reference HD 4870 X2 left much to be desired. Honestly, load temps of over 90C are pretty scary. The highest load temp I saw with the Revolution 700 was a momentary 77C, all the rest of the time the temperature was 74C. An average drop of 25C on idle temp is just as impressive. And all this with the fans at a silent speed.
  
  The output interface is pretty cool too. Someone spending that kind of cash is likely to keep the card for a long time, and the DisplayPort connector, though not yet popular, may come in handy. Not a lot of cards have a HDMI connector, and for those that hate adapters as I do will appreciate the addition of an HDMI port, since HDTVs are becoming very popular as second monitors."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TweakTown:
  
  

  "The first thing we’ve got to say is the Palit Revolution 700 is a BIG card and while there is a Crossfire connector sitting up on top of that PCB, the chances are you’re not going to be able to use it due to either there being not enough room on your motherboard, or your Crossfire connector not being long enough.
  
  As for performance, well, there isn’t a whole lot to say. The 50MHz bump in memory speed really does nothing for performance. The good news is, however, that the larger cooler, the better cooling and the lower temps at stock are going to make overclocking opportunities greater."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  

PC Case Review Roundup - NZXT & Thermaltake

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• DriverHeaven: Coolermaster ATCS 840 Chassis Review:
  
  

  "Build quality is top notch, all the screw holes line up perfectly and nothing needs forcing into position. Additionally, vibrations are down to a minimum with almost everything fitting tightly and securely. The edges of the side panel do feel quite loose but they don’t appear to cause any vibration problems with loud audio bass.
  
  The ATCS 840 is very silent in operation, this is due to the use of three 230mm fans with one spinning at a mere 1,700 rpm. Even in a silent environment the ATCS is barely noticeable and will keep distractions to a minimum."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• MadShrimps: NZXT Tempest Airflow King ATX Case Review:
  
  

  "Tastes differ of course, and if you ignore the visual aspect, we are left with a sturdy steel ATX case which fan easily fit 8 HDDs with cooling to match it. An Ideal internal ATX layout with PSU at the bottom. Pre-installed water cooling tubes, top fans bigger than most radiators. Good build quality overall. While it didn’t storm through our performance tests, it didn’t drag behind either, the included fans are moderately noisy, but with a capable fan controller can be handled easily, allowing you to strike a balance between performance and noise.
  
  Do we recommend it? Well, there’s no denying where NZXT got their inspiration for the Tempest, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Antec should be very flattered. The Tempest takes the edge in the looks department, but can’t quite match the raw performance of that top 200mm fan in the Nine Hundred."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Modders-Inc: NZXT Whisper Case Review:
  
  

  "Overall I was very pleased with how well the NZXT Whisper stacked up against other cases I have had the experience with. It had a nice clean look to it on the outside and was indeed extremely well built. It was to me very quiet and true to it's name.
  
  The inside was fairly well laid out with a few minor exceptions that to me seemed to restrict air flow somewhat, but could easily be rectified using an aftermarket internal 5.25" fan cage easily found and added to the front drive bays. A few added psu extensions would also be very helpful. One thing I did notice was that the finish on the chassis seemed awful thin and very prone to scratches."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Rbmods: NZXT Rogue Small Form Factor Computer Case Review:
  
  

  "The NZXT Rogue Small Form Factor (SFF) computer case is a uniquely designed case that adds a bit of flair to any computer build. The case has a solid aluminum/steel construction that lends itself well being transported around, and the large number of fans/openings provides excellent cooling performance. On the negative side, the case isn’t very accommodating to all types of computer components (especially CPU coolers), and it’s a little on the heavy side. But if you’re willing to put a little effort to making this case work for you, you’ll likely be rewarded with a case that has both style and function."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Rbmods: Thermaltake V9 Case Review:
  
  

  "This is a nice case, probably half an inch smaller than most but everything fits pretty well into it. It has most of the normal features that these cases have but the case is high quality which I really have noticed when building a silent setup in it. The parts in the case are well put together as I don't hear any vibrations or noise when the computer is running. The only flaw that I have found is that there is no type of fan adapters to slow the RPM down, so what I'm saying is that it makes a bit to much noise for my taste. Overall though a cool case that should not empty your wallet. Another flaw I found later on was that the holes on the harddrive cage are placed wrong to use the tool free clips. I have tried two different drives not and none fit, this makes it more work to open up the front so you can put a screw in on both sides. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Techgage: NZXT Whisper Full-Tower Review:
  
  

  "Seeing as the name chosen was “Whisper”, I was expecting a very quiet machine when powered up. Unfortunately, the included fans are anything but quiet. A fan controller is definitely going to be required if you are looking for that elusive silence. The insulation does a good job of keeping other sounds squelched but there is no getting around the fact that the system fans are just far too loud as is.
  
  All in all, I had a very hard time coming up with an overall rating for this chassis. When you take the good with the bad, I feel this case should receive a 7 out of 10 rating. The flaws taken individually are not big, but there are too many to overlook."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TechwareLabs: NZXT TEMPEST - Enthusiast Steel Mid-Tower:
  
  

  "The installation of the motherboard and the rest of the components into the NZXT Tempest was not bad at all. There was plenty of space to install the components and run cables. Though the lack of cable runs which would assist with hiding the cables was a little disappointing. The mounting screws which are required to mount the right side of any 5.25" drive bay component was also disappointing and above all else frustrating as each time the screw missed the mounting screw threads, the screw would drop between the motherboard panel and the 5.25" wall which resulted in leaning the case one direction or another to get the screw to drop. Finally the Tempest as stated above needs some re-engineering on the front two tabs which hold the top. Since both cases had broken within the first few times they were handled, and not roughly at all seemed to be a real downfall to its design. Despite this design flaw, the case is still a nice chassis."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TechwareLabs: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS:
  
  

  "A computer case is something that has to fit the user. With the size of the Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, there should be no problem fitting anything for anyone. With a MSRP of $399.99 from ThermaltakeUSA.com, this case can be found for less than $340 (directron.com) with a little shopping around. This may seem like a significant price to pay for a simple case, but this is no simple case. Here at TechwareLabs we see alot of cases, and this is one of the most impressive yet. If you are not looking to liquid cool your rig, this case can still be obtained as the Thermaltake Armor+ MX. If you do opt to loose the LCS, the regular case can be picked up for only $229.99 MSRP and you can later upgrade with the purchase of the Thermaltake BigWater 780e for $279.99. If you do choose this option, you will be spending about $110 more, and you will have to settle with the front of your case saying "Armor+" rather than "Armor+ LCS". On the bright side, this case has everything you could ever need and more. With seven quick swappable hard drive mounts, you should have no reason to run out of HDD room. By far, one of the nicest cases that i have seen in ages, TechwareLabs proudly presents this case with our Editors Choice Award."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  

Hiper M1000W Power Supply Review

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The Hiper M1000 1kW unit is a very well designed, high quality product and scores well above the average in every performance category. According to Hiper, the M1000 is set become one of the cheapest 1kW units available. If you are shopping for a reliable and affordable power supply able to output up to 1kW and with excellent overall performance, the Hiper M1000 1kW comes highly recommended."

Three-Way Solid State Drive Roundup

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"And that, in essence, is where the SSD rests today - as an expensive extravagance limited only to the most ludicrously high end PCs. While the Intel X25-M breaks the mould and proves SSDs can deliver not only phenomenally fast read, but also decent write performance, its price tag is sure to put all but the most opulent hardware enthusiast off.
Sadly the same can't be said for J-Micron based drives like the Patriot Warp v2 and G.Skill 128GB. While they deliver on the promise of significantly increased read speeds, the compromise on write speed makes them useless for all but the most specialist setups. While the price is a whole lot cheaper than the Intel, if you're looking to switch your boot drive over to an SSD you might as well not bother - the issues around drive stuttering and read/write performance in Vista 64-bit just make them more of a headache than a help, although they remain an option if you're considering a dedicated game install drive."

MSI DKA790GX Platinum Motherboard Review

December 4, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"From a performance standpoint, the MSI DKA790GX performed on par with the 790FX in a stock speed scenario. Overclocking tells a different tale as the 790GX was a very good overclocker. The new SB750 South Bridge is a lot more stable in this department and for those of you looking to squeeze more out of their CPU, you will want to think about this if you’re due for a motherboard upgrade.

Sticking on the subject of overclocking, the board was very stable once we established an acceptable overclock. The board never buckled at 240FSB, and if your cooling is up for it, you can probably do a little better. Even if your overclocking goes south, the board will default back to basic settings after 4 attempts. If you feel less adventurous, you can even use theoverclocking dip switch on the motherboard itself for an easier overclock, though you’ll have more flexibility doing it through the BIOS."

OCZ DDR3-1333 & DDR3-2000 2GB Memory Kit Reviews

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• HardwareLogic: OCZ Platinum Edition PC3-16000 2GB Memory Kit Review:
  
  

  "Sometimes you don't have to pay top dollar for an excellent product. Few companies can keep up with OCZ as they continue to flood the market with affordable, high performance memory that demands mass appeal. The Platinum DDR3-2000 kit serves up a delectable dish of succulent speed and tasty timings, while backed by a lifetime warranty that provides coverage for overclocking. Yummy!
  
  It is difficult to find fault with this kit but if we had to quibble over something, it would have to be OCZ's use of the green PCB. With most high end motherboards taking the black PCB route, it would be nice if the memory followed the same trend.
  
  Once the benchmarks and overclocking runs were done, we became a believer. Without a doubt, this is the best bang for your buck 2000MHz kit on the market. If you are looking for blistering fast memory at an awesome price, you should definitely check out OCZ's Platinum DDR3-2000 memory kit."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Sharky Extreme: OCZ PC3-10666 Gold 2x1GB Review‏:
  
  

  "The transition to DDR3 has been a rocky one, as high prices and the lack of a compatible AMD platform have been two big strikes against this memory format. By offering DDR3 priced for the masses, companies like OCZ have cleared up at least one point of contention. Enthusiasts will want to stick with lower latency DDR3 and squeeze every ounce of performance from their systems, but entry-level users looking to get on the DDR3 bandwagon at a minimum of cost will find the OCZ PC3-10666 Gold 2x1GB kit a perfect match."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

ASUS G70S Gaming Notebook Review

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"The G70S marks a new level of performance in ASUS’s gaming series of notebooks. The designer team has endowed this machine with a true gaming spirit. Its original highlighting is spectacular indeed. The G70S puts to shame every other notebook we have tested in our labs so far when it comes to sheer speed, too. No other notebook we’ve dealt with could deliver such a high performance in 3D games."

Antec Case Review Roundup

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• DriverHeaven: Antec Skeleton Review:
  
  

  "The Antec Skeleton set out to bring a test bench configuration to a wider audience, making testing and swapping components easier while also looking extremely attractive. It certainly does have fantastic aesthetics, unfortunately though it is the design of the frame which is one of the product's biggest downfalls. Anybody using such a product is likely to be an enthusiast and the fact that the chassis is incapable of housing a tower cooler is a big letdown. Youre only going to be able to fit small coolers with the tray all the way in which will negate much of the advantage you gain from using an open air setup as far as cooling is concerned. Additionally, any graphics card larger than a GTX280, by length or height, is not going to fit."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Legit Reviews: Antec Veris Fusion Black HTPC Case Review:
  
  

  "We could tell that a lot of thought went into the design of the Antec Veris Fusion Black HTPC case with regards to air flow and noise reduction. The rubber grommets for the hard drives and rubber feet for the PSU and optical drives are the little touches that help Antec's products stand out from the rest. At $175, the Veris Fusion Black seems to justify its price.
  
  Aside from the tight cabling issues when using a full length video card, the only other gripe I had was that this case would not work well going in a narrow home theater cabinet since the intake fans are mounted on the side of the case. We ended up putting this PC under our 32" LCD TV in order to allow for the Antec Veris Fusion Black to have enough room to breathe."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TechwareLabs: Antec Three Hundred Case Review:
  
  

  "The Antec Three Hundred is designed to be a low-end case for the computer gaming enthusist as well as the general user. With an average selling price of around $70, this case is well within the price range of anyone who spends any kind of money at all on their computer rig. Antec has provided peerless cooling options in the ThreeHundred: two stock fans with the option to mount three more and a case that is tailored towards cooling with a perforated front bezel and a bottom-mounted power supply to keep your rig clear from cables. The uniqueness of the built in cooling features, without support from any of the other benefits of this case, is more than enough to put this case at the top of its class!"

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Tweaknews: Antec Veris Fusion Remote Max Premium Home Theater PC Case Review:
  
  

  "The Antec Fusion Remote Max is a great HTPC case. It keeps the installed system cool, is all but silent and has an outstanding software package. The fit and finish is very good, and the contrasts on the front panel treatment give the Max a look that is both distinctive and pleasing. The chambered design seems to work well, so we'll ignore the relatively minor installation issues associated with the design.
  
  The LCD screen is a nice touch and worked flawlessly throughout testing, but I'd like to see a brightness control for this feature in the otherwise excellent software. With the lights down and a movie playing, the screen can be a bit distracting from certain angles. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Virtual-Hideout: Antec Skeleton Open Air Case Review:
  
  

  "The Antec Skeleton is an original, innovative concept finally put to work. It's a fresh break from square edges, windows, and standard features. Besides being unconventional, it combines excellent features of both a accessibility and efficient use of space. The quality and design behind the Skeleton are top notch Antec. If you're a real enthusiast, you just have to ask yourself one question. Are you afraid of change?"

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 Triple Channel Memory Kit

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Corsair’s Dominator kit is extremely impressive; with a total of 6GB capacity you’re not going to run out of any system memory for games or applications and even 4GB is more than enough.

The only real problem with this kit is the price. DDR3 is still more expensive than DDR2 and when you’re packing three modules into a kit rather than two, you’re up for more cash again."

MSI P6NGM mATX Motherboard Review

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"If you are looking for leading edge performance, well, you have clicked on the wrong review. If you want the base of an HTPC, then the MSI P6NGM very well could fill the HDMI void you and many like you are experiencing."

Patriot Warp V2 128GB Solid State Drive Review

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"In conclusion, the Patriot Warp v2 128GB SATA-II SSD has really impressed me. Despite the large 128GB of DRAM capacity it must flash in each cycle, the PE128GS25SSDR produced a swift 0.19 ms response time that is roughly 45x faster than the Western Digital Raptor HDD. The write-to performance was about actually about the same as the Raptor's, while read-from performance was nearly 59% faster; which means less wait time for impatient super-users like myself. I don't expect anyone to be thrilled that the Warp SSD costs considerably more per gigabyte than the WD Raptor or Seagate 7200.11, but when performance is most important there's no denying the second version of Patriot's Warp Solid State Drive."

Thermaltake MaxOrb EX CPU Cooler Review

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"I was pretty surprised with the results the MaxOrb EX achieved. I wasn't quite expecting such good results. Good results though do come with a price at times. At the Thermaltake website the retail price is $69.99, but with a quick online search it can be found for closer to $50. I was also a little afraid whenever I first opened the box and found the push-pins, but I was reluctant to find the use of a retention frame to provide better support and an easy installation with these clips. ThinkComputers awards the Thermaltake MaxOrb EX CPU Cooler a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award."

Left 4 Dead Performance Analysis

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"Okay guys and girls. This concludes our Left 4 Dead VGA graphics performance article. This title should really not be any problem for a modern PC and definitely doesn't need high-end gear. The three cards that really shine (for the money) are GeForce 9800 GTX+, GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870.

We had a lot of fun doing this article, as quite frankly... the game is just pure fun to play. It's bloody, messy, has humor, looks pretty good and the simplicity really works in this title."

ASUS X58 Motherboard Reviews

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

• Benchmark Reviews: ASUS P6T Deluxe OC Palm Edition X58 Motherboard:
  

  "The ASUS P6T Deluxe OC Palm Edition is currently priced at $338.99 at New Egg. While some might argue that this is too expensive, we feel that given all the features this X58 board brings to the table that it is priced at a very reasonable level. Considering that the other boards of it's caliber are priced in the same range and have in many cases less than half the features, we feel the price is actually quite good. Cost-conscious shoppers might like the standard (non-OC Palm edition) ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard more; especially when it costs significantly less. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• bit-tech: Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard:
  
  

  "The Asus P6T Deluxe is a good value motherboard (which may be a little expensive for most) that works well and you can easily ignore the bits you don't want to use without losing out on the experience. It is an excellent backbone for some Core i7 shenanigans, despite the fact Asus could really do with a tidy up and consolidation in the future."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Neoseeker: Asus P6T Deluxe OC Palm Edition Review & Overclocking:
  
  

  "The Asus P6T Deluxe is a really nice motherboard - I became quite fond of the OC Palm device, and it consistently had the best stock clock speed results of the three X58 boards I've reviewed so far.
  
  I liked the feature set of the board - I was especially impressed with the inclusion of a SAS interface, although I suspect few of the buyers of the board will take advantage of it. I think the BIOS needs a bit more work, the ability to tweak the QPI settings may allow for more overclocking headroom, because as the MSI Eclipse showed us, the Core i7 920 has a LOT of overclocking headroom when paired with a great overclocking board."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Techgage: ASUS Rampage II Extreme - The Definitive Overclocking Board?:
  

  "ASUS has long supported overclockers with their motherboards, but the Rampage II Extreme takes things to the next level. In addition to an even more robust BIOS than what we're used to, we're given the ability to put our multi-meters to good use with the help of easy-access board contacts. When all said and done though, is the RIIE really worth the $400 asking price?"

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  

SilverStone Fortress FT01 Case Review

December 3, 2008 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

"From an aesthetics perspective, the FT01 is a case that just about anyone will like the look of. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder as case aesthetics are very subjective. None the less, there are no flashy LEDs, stickers or oversize logos anywhere to be found. This case would look right at home on the desk of a hardware enthusiast just as much as it would on the desk of an office worker.

The build quality of the FT01 is near perfect. There are no sharp edges anywhere within this enclosure and the uni-body construction makes it not only a strong case, but removes the need for internal supports within. The black painted interior was a pleasant surprise and the brushed aluminum finish is top-notch just as the side panels have a nice heavy feel to them and lock into place very securely. We were unfortunately disappointed to see that our acrylic window arrived cracked in two places due to over-torqued screws. However, we are able to look past this issue as it is clearly a manufacturer's defect and does not appear to be wide-spread from what we can tell."

Top 20 3DMark Vantage Movers & Shakers

December 1, 2008 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky