Hardware News

Toshiba Z830 13-Inch Ultrabook Review

May 31, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

OCaholic have reviewed the lightweight Toshiba Z830 notebook, which features a 13.3-inch 1366x768 display, dual-core/four-thread 1.6-2.3Ghz processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and Intel integrated HD 3000 GPU.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Thanks to a quick SSD it feels very responsive. A closer look at battery life shows that the Z830 really has some stamina. It take more than four hours and thirty minutes until the device is going to shut down when you browse the web via using the integrated WiFi module.

If you should be looking for the lightest of all Ultrabooks then you'll have to look at the Z830. If you're really interested in this device we recommend that you try the keyboard and touchpad to see wether you like it or not."

While nearly all Ultrabooks have very similar specs, the Z830 stands out for being one of the lightest. Though this reduced weight comes at the cost of perceived durability.

Click here to read the full review.

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Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Case Review

May 31, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Over Clock Intelligence Agency have posted a review of the high end Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Case, which is the successor to the original Cosmos.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Cooler Master has cooling covered as well with several options for both air and water cooling enthusiasts. The stock air cooling should be plenty for the average build but if you're a hardcore overclocker or otherwise plan to load the Cosmos II up with a ton of hardware, know that you do have cooling options.

If you're looking for a full tower system that's capable of holding a ridiculous amount of hardware, look no further than Cooler Master's Cosmos II. I've been using the 800D almost exclusively for the test system for over two years but the torch has now been passed on - the Cosmos II is my new all-time favorite chassis."

This might just be the finest case ever produced and easily worth its high asking price. Even if you have no plans to buy a high-end case, definitely give this case a look.

Click here to read the full review.

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HIS Radeon HD 7870 & 78650 GHz Edition Graphics Cards Review

May 31, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Metku have reviewed the mid range HIS GHz Edition 7870 & 7850 graphics cards, which feature custom coolers and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"In the recent years AMD's mid-range gaming cards have been offering very good value for money and performance per watt, and the Pitcairns sure keep up the reputation. The cards perform very similarly with the last generation HD 6970, while consuming 60 watts less power. One thing we've also noticed with the HD 5770, HD 6850 and HD 6870 is that they've all been decent overclockers, and the newcomers didn't let us down on this area, either. Both GPUs overclocked by 15% without any problems, which made the performance numbers even more impressive."

These seem like very decent mid range AMD cards. Though both the Asus ASUS HD 7850 Direct CUII or MSI HAWK 7870 make for some stiff competiton.

Click here to read the full review.

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Muskin Chronos Deluxe 120GB & Choronos 240GB Solid State Drive Review

May 31, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have posted a review of the high performance Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120 & 240GB SATA 6Gb/s solid state drives, which are based on the SandForce SF-2281 controller.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120GB is definitely the faster of the two drives, being equipped with expensive 3Xnm Toshiba Toggle Mode Flash. It performs exceptionally well with both incompressible and compressible data and if you need a drive that will cope with all kinds of data files then it proves to be a wise buying decision.

The Mushkin Chronos 240GB is certainly no slouch either, however due to the lower cost NAND memory it can struggle with incompressible data, dropping to around 220MB/s-260MB/s during sequential read and write testing. The Deluxe 120GB by comparison scores around 465 MB/s in a sequential read test."

While both of these are high performance solid state drives, the smaller 120GB model is clearly superior.

Click here to read the full review.

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Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive Review

May 31, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Techspot have tested the mainstream Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SATA 6Gb/s solid state drive, which is based on the SandForce SF-2281 controller and features 555MB/s read and 510MB/s write speeds.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Although the HyperX 3K outpaced the original HyperX in virtually all of our tests, we should note that we're using data recorded from last year as we no longer have the drive. In other words, it's possible that when loaded with the latest firmware, the HyperX may deliver the same performance as the newer drive. Regardless, the HyperX 3K was certainly impressive, generally matching the performance of Intel's 520 Series.

Overall, Kingston has provided a nice alternative to last year's drives and we see no reason why you shouldn't take advantage of the more affordable 3K lineup."

This seems like another in a long line of very high performance SandForce-based SSDs. Though for a bit more you can have the Intel 520 Series 240GB model, which is slightly faster and has a longer warranty.

Click here to read the full review.

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Gainward GeForce GTX 680 Phantom Graphics Card Review

May 30, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have reviewed the high performance Gainward GeForce GTX 680 Phantom graphics card, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Gainward has brought a really strong NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 based video card to the table that stands out from the reference model with more performance, stronger cooling numbers and lower noise levels. There's very little to complain about when it comes to the Phantom, if we had to pick on anything though, it would be the bundle.

Thanks to a strong overclock combined with a cooler that not only looks great, but performs exceptionally well, you just have a really strong video card that stands out from the pack. If you're on the market for a GTX 680 that's going to perform better than a reference one in cooling, noise and performance, then this is one video card you should be looking at for sure."

With its custom triple slot designed cooler this video card is impressive and easily worth the slight premium over a reference model. Though if you are looking for a triple slot solution the Asus GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP is another solid choice.

Click here to read the full review.

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Thermaltake Dr Power II Power Supply Tester Review

May 30, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

RB Mods have reviewed the Dr Power II, which can easily test power supplies to check whether they are properly functioning.

Let's see what they had to say:

"This thing really works. Its quick and super simple to utilize, and while its not going to get into the details of power supply capability; it does what it promises and quickly testes the PSU. If you are working as a technician or have to debug multiple power supplies regularly, this is quite a time saver. If you have a questionable power supply or are wondering if that is the root of your problem, it will identify a defect.

Its a simple device, and it simplifies the process of quick diag, it also serves as a replacement to your volt meter if you are checking voltage output on power supplies. This without the need for a jumper on the 24pin to power up the PSU."

While this is not a tool you will need all that often, it is the kind of tool that every enthusiast should own.

Click here to read the full review.

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ASUS Maximus V GENE Z77 LGA1155 Motherboard Reviews

May 30, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Bjorn3D and OCaholic have reviewed the small ASUS Maximus V GENE mATX motherboard.

Let's see what they had to say:

Bjorn3D:

"The overall layout of the board is just excellent, and everything works well which is a definite plus. The sheer amount of tuning options just for memory alone is staggering and is any benchmarker's dream solution. Finally, to round out the litany of impressive features, USB BIOS and ROG Connect serve to make users' lives much easier.

The Maximus V Gene is an excellent board, great for any LAN gaming system or a small form-factor PC capable of gaming. If you want an Ivy Bridge motherboard, there is very little reason not to look at the Maximus V Gene unless you're looking for more than 2 way SLI/Crossfire."
Click here to read the full review.
OCaholic:

"At a first glance the Maximus V Gene definitely leaves a very good impression. The mix of overclocking features and a high quality audio hardware makes this a state-of-the-art motherboard for mATX-gaming. And next to a very nice looking design you find useful features like for example GameFirst. This software allows you to configure your network device the way gaming traffic gets prioritized (keyword traffic shaping).

If you should be looking for a truely excellent mATX motherboard, that comes with a lot of useful features and also good performance values, then ASUS' Maximus V Gene is most definitely a good choice for you."
Click here to read the full review.

Although you don't actually need a Z77 motherboard to use an Ivy Bridge processor, P67 & Z68 boards work perfectly, this motherboard proves that big performance can come in a small package.

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Samsung Series 5 Ultra 14-Inch Notebook Review

May 30, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

TBreak have reviewed the sleek and stylish Samsung Series 5 Ultra notebook, which features a 14-inch 1366x768 display, dual-core/four-thread 1.6-2.3Ghz processor, 4GB of RAM, 16GB SSD, 500GB 7200RPM HDD and a AMD Radeon HD7550M 1GB GPU.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Series 5 Ultra is a decent notebook, but its certainly not an Ultrabook. The unit may be sleek, but its not Ultrabook-sleek, despite what Samsung claims. The device also feels much heavier than other Ultrabooks, in part due to the included optical drive and HDD. If youre in the market for a decent notebook that offers a number of connectivity options and acceptable performance, then this is the one for you. If youre shopping for a genuine Ultrabook, then there are much better options to look at."

It may be a touch on the heavy side for an ultrabook, but the Series 5 Ultra is still an extremely portable notebook that offers better video performance than most ultrabooks can.

Click here to read the full review.

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Crucial Adrenaline Solid State Cache Review

May 30, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardcore Ware have reviewed the Crucial Adrenaline Solid State Cache, a companion solid state drive which is optimized for caching applications in conjunction with a standard HDD.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Crucial Adrenaline we looked at today is one of a few models that aim to offer a dedicated SSD cache that can be used on any Windows system, not just those with Intel SRT.

As far as Dataplex vs Intel Smart Response goes, they both performed roughly the same when SRT was set to Maximized Mode. The Dataplex software tended to cache programs a bit more quickly and aggressively, which led to slightly better performance in office applications.

In my opinion, if you are building a mid-range system, you need to include an SSD Cache drive such as the Crucial Adrenaline. It would actually be more useful than trying to manage a 128GB install drive while running most of your applications from a mechanical drive, which is what most people do."

This seems like a more complete option than the OCZ Synapse Cache. It's definitely worth a look if you haven't yet made the transition to SSDs and you only have a limited budget.

Click here to read the full review.

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MSI Radeon HD 7850 Power Edition OC Graphics Card Reviews

May 29, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Guru3D and Tweak Town have reviewed the MSI 7850 Power Edition OC 2GB, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

Guru3D:

"When you look at the overall package, performance, the new Eyefinity updates, PCIe gen 3 compatibility and all other stuff then we can only conclude that we happily embrace the Radeon HD 7800 series in the mainstream to enthusiast graphics card arena. For those that embrace multi-monitor gaming, it's for you guys that AMD decided to go for the 2GB framebuffer / graphics memory.

Concluding I find the MSI R7850 Power edition with TwinFrozr III cooler to be a really fun product. This one has all the variables right from the baseline performance, factory higher clock frequency, the silence and good temperatures. Overall it's a very decent gaming graphics card for anyone with a monitor up-to 1920x1080. Priced at 225 EUR we feel it's a fair deal for a really nice graphics card."
Click here to read the full review.
Tweak Town:

"MSI's Radeon HD 7850 Power Edition doesn't disappoint! I'm not shocked by that, MSI honestly are one of the most consistent companies when it comes to producing quality video cards and the Power Edition series is another one of those lines that stands out against the competition in a big way.

If you're looking for a video card that's going to come in under that $300 mark and you're happy to get down and dirty with the overclocking side yourself, the MSI HD 7850 Power Edition is going to be a video card you should be looking at without a doubt in my mind. The performance you're able to get out of it is amazing which makes for a really well valued video card that sees no negative points. "
Click here to read the full review.

This is easily one of the best Radeon HD 7850's on the market right now thanks to the exceptional TwinFrozr IV cooler.

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Xigmatek Dark Knight SD1283 Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler Review

May 29, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have reviewed the Dark Knight SD1283 Night Hawk Edition, which uses three 8mm heatpipes in a HDT base configuration.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The one thing that will get most buyer attention is the relatively low cost of the Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition cooler. Most of the coolers tested along with this Xigmatek are in the $80-100 price range and on an even plain is the Cooler Master. Tying the results of the TPC 812 is something that sort of made me think something was wrong, but multiple runs, even a retest of the CM cooler showed me these results are spot on. Considering you can get this cooler delivered to your door for around $54 dollars, I can't see many buyers passing up this option in tower cooling.

It has the looks, the price and the performance to make it well worth your attention, even if it isn't exactly and entirely "new", Xigmatek is onto something with this design and ceramic coating combination."

Confusing name aside, the SD1283 Night Hawk Edition is a good cooler at a good price.

Click here to read the full review.

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GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3 LGA1155 Motherboard Reviews

May 29, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

eTeknix and Hardware Secrets have reviewed gaming-oriented mATX GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3, which is designed for the 22nm 'Ivy Bridge' processors, but is also compatible with current Sandy Bridge chips.

Let's see what they had to say:

eTeknix:

"We said at the start that this board seems to pack a punch in terms of features and performance, and we certainly wasnt wrong. We also said that it does skimp out, and at $179, it is definitely attractively priced, at the lower end of the Z77 scale. When compared to its big brother; the G1 Sniper 3, the price different is quite astounding, with the full-sized ATX board coming in at $279, a whole $100 more expensive, and from what we can see, the only main differences are the faster memory speed and extra PCI-Express expansion slots.

All in all, I can honestly say that the G1.Sniper M3 has managed to carry on the G1 series legacy, if not improving it slightly along the way. Micro-ATX versions of high-end boards are always going to be hit or miss, and Gigabyte have clearly done their research and developed a winner here."
Click here to read the full review.
Hardware Secrets:

"Although it uses the microATX form factor, the Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 is a high-end motherboard, targeted to users who want to build a small yet powerful PC.

Its highlights include the presence of three PCI Express x16 slots (supporting both CrossFireX and SLI), which are great to see on microATX motherboards, and a high-end audio codec from Creative. Also worth mentioning are the overclocking capability in 0.01 MHz increments, the presence of two BIOS chips, and support for three PWM fans.

The price of this motherboard is not bad for all the features it brings, so it is a really nice choice if you are building a small form factor computer for playing games and carrying it around."
Click here to read the full review.

Though it may be missing some of the features of previous G1.Sniper models this is still an excellent motherboard...if you don't mind the 'loud' colour scheme.

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Max Keyboard Nighthawk X8 Keybaord Review

May 29, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Pure Overclock have posted a review of the Nighthawk X8 mechanical gaming keyboard, which features Cherry MX Brown key switches and full NKRO abilites.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Retailing for about $145, the Nighthawk X8 isn't cheap, but great design and functionality rarely are. It's not much more than most other mechanical keyboards on the market, and the small premium is well worth the investment in our opinion. If you are a fan of sleek design without unnecessary frills, then the Nighthawk X8 should be at the very top of your keyboard shopping list.

There are those who talk a big game, and those that just bring it. The NIghthawk X8 is like the unassuming kid on the bench who can wow the crowd by nailing 20' jumpers all day long. You wouldn't know it at first, and Max Keyboard may not be a household name, but after seeing the Nighthawk X8 in action, we think it may be the best kept secret out there. Hopefully that's about to change, because this keyboard is a winner."

While the software may need a bit of refinement, this is still one sweet gaming keyboard. Check it out!

Click here to read the full review.

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Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case Review

May 29, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Techware Labs have reviewed the budget friendly Corsair Carbide 300R mid tower case.

Let's see what they had to say:

"If I was in the market for a sleeper mid-tower case that looks classy and sleek instead of gawdy the Corsair Carbide 300R would definately be on my shopping list. I love that the case comes stock ready for nearly anything that you want to put into it but also that it can stand the test of time by upgradable cooling. The only place I can see this case falling short is with someone who wants internal RAID: with only 4x HDD/SSD bays youre somewhat limited with expansion. "

It may give up some of the features which help the rest of the Carbide series standout, but it does seem like a decent choice for budget minded consumers.

Click here to read the full review.

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Asus P8Z77 WS LGA1155 Motherboard Review

May 28, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

OCaholic have posted a preview of the high-end ASUS P8Z77 WS workstation motherboard, which features four PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots.

Here's what they had to say:

"Most importantly there are the cooling blocks which keep the current supply at adequate temperatures. They're simply too big which has the consequence that installing several high end aircoolers can be a bit tricky. On the other hand the board looks absolutely marvellous. We very much like the color design and to us it very appealing.

Basically the ASUS P8Z77 WS Deluxe's Layout is well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. Also the debug display is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Furthermore the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots is also well thought an therefore nothing needs to be criticized at this point."

Minor issues aside, this is a fantastic Z77 motherboard as it is one of the few to have four PCI-E x16 slots for graphics use. It might be a 'workstation' motherboard, but it would be perfect as a high-end enthusiast model.

Click here to read the full review.

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XFX Radeon HD 7870 & 7850 Double D Black Edition Graphics Cards Review

May 28, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Magazine have reviewed the mid range XFX Double D Black Edition 7870 & 7850 graphics cards, which feature custom coolers and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The XFX R7850 DD Black Edition does retail for $275, but it does feature the nice cooling and an aggressive initial overclock. The ability to take it up to 1050/1375 with no problems whatsoever gives it another boost when considering the value of the product.

Overall I am very pleased with XFXs entry into the hotly contested midrange market. Their products look unique, perform as expected, and have a few extra surprises under the hood.

The HD 7850 is another matter altogether. The XFX version here is only $274, and I believe the user gets a lot of value for that price. Good performance, good cooling, decent bundle and warranty, and a pretty snappy looking card with good capabilities make it THE card to have at that price range.

These are certainly cards to keep a good eye on, and XFX has made a nice splash with these new designs. "

Double entendre's aside, the Double D Black Edition HD 7850 looks to be a good mid range card and easily the better value of the two. The increased overclocking potential and custom cooling solution make it is easily worth the slight premium over a reference model.

Click here to read the full review.

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Corsair Vengeance C70 Mid Tower Case Review

May 28, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Secrets have reviewed the military inspired Corsair Vengeance C70 mid tower case.

Let's see what they had to say:

"It has been a long time since we saw a case that we said wow as we opened the box. The Corsair Vengeance C70 impressed us in every possible way. Its design and construction quality are impeccable, and you will have a very unique-looking case. Its suggested price is on the high side, but we know that online retailers sell cases for less than the suggested price, so we expect to see this case being sold for USD 120-130, which is a terrific price point for such a unique product."

As we've come to expect from Corsair, this new model is damn near perfect. Though the 'unique' styling of the C70 may be too 'loud' for some consumer's tastes.

Click here to read the full review.

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Comay Venus Pro 3 128GB Solid State Drive Review

May 28, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have reviewed the Comay Venus Pro 3 SATA 6Gb/s solid state drive, which features 555MB/s read and 525MB/s write speeds.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The big draw for this drive will obviously be the inclusion of the enterprise power scheme. It's what makes the Venus Pro 3 unique. Since this feature started out in the enterprise and now more enterprise users are taking advantage of consumer low-cost SSDs, I can see the database guys eating these up. To a lesser extent, notebook users may find benefit from the Comay Venus Pro 3 power features as well. Notebooks tend to get us in trouble at least once a year when someone unplugs the power and the battery slowly dies taking that review we're working on with it. At least with the host power loss protection, the chances of the document being stored on the flash increases. Also, the switch between unplugged and plugged in can do odd things to sensitive components, an area we'd worry less about with the Venus Pro 3."

This is obviously a very good SSD, but super capacitor or not, for my money I would rather have the Intel 520 Series 120GB due to its higher transfer speeds, longer warranty and greater availability.

Click here to read the full review.

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Razer Tiamat 7.1 Gaming Headset Review

May 28, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Heaven have reviewed the Razer Tiamat gaming headset which feature true 7.1 surround sound capabilities.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Razer Tiamat 7.1 feels like a solid unit. Each part fits together well and overall it has a real feel of quality, right down to the green stitching used on the high quality headband. The headset also looks great thanks to the transparent side covers and a well-designed control pod with textured, silver trimmed dial. Elsewhere the quality continues with a braided cable of decent length and the leatherette cups are replaceable which will add longevity.

Well built and aesthetically pleasing, pair the Razer Tiamat 7.1 with a good quality gaming soundcard and it offers an excellent surround sound experience which enhances gameplay and movies on PC. This headset is especially great for those who love a lot of volume and power to their sound."

While their multi-speaker arrangement does nothing for music, for moves and games these are an excellent option. Though you will pay a premium for their 'true' 7.1 surround sound abilites.

Click here to read the full review.

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ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP Graphics Card Review

May 25, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have reviewed the new Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Asus Geforce GTX670 Direct CU II TOP is one of the greatest video cards we have ever tested. At the out of the box settings it is faster than the reference clocked GTX680, which we already know, is no slouch.

The GTX680 is a phenomenal performer so I was surprised to see that the overclocked ASUS GTX670 managed to beat it in all our benchmarks by a minor, but noticeable level.

The card is built around a custom PCB design and power efficiency and stability is first class. We pushed this card hard during our benchmarking phase and it delivered some incredible frame rates.

Performance is not the only area that needs a mention. The Direct CU II cooler maintains a 66c threshold when gaming, even more remarkable when we factor in that the fans are producing very little in the way of noise emissions."

This is easily one of the best GTX 670 graphics card on the market today. Check it out!

Click here to read the full review.

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MSI Radeon HD 7870 TwinFrozr III Graphics Card Review

May 25, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Guru3D have reviewed the MSI Radeon HD 7870 2GB TwinFrozr, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"When you look at the overall package, performance, the new Eyefinity updates, PCIe gen 3 compatibility and all other stuff then we can only conclude that we happily embrace the Radeon HD 7800 series in the mainstream to enthusiast graphics card arena. For those that embrace multi-monitor gaming, it's for you guys that AMD decided to go for the 2GB framebuffer / graphics memory.

Overclocking then, as you have noticed from the reference article and now this review, the 7870 cards are tweaking marvels, your maximum with this cooler will roughly be 1200 MHz though. Voltage tweaking is an option with this model, you can push the GPU a little higher, however you will quickly stumble into the aforementioned noise issues."

Thanks to the exceptional Twin Frozer III cooler, it is easily worth the reasonable price premium over a reference model. Though for only a little more you could get a MSI Radeon HD 7870 Hawk which provides even better over-clocking potential.

Click here to read the full review.

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ASUS G75V 17-inch Gaming Notebook Review

May 25, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

OCaholic have reviewed the high end ASUS G75V gaming notebook, which features a 17.3-inch 1920x1080 display, quad-core/eight-thread 2.3-3.3Ghz processor, 12GB of RAM, dual 750GB 7200RPM HDDs and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M 2GB GPU.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Generally the ASUS G75V leaves a good impression and it is a solid gaming notebook. We especially liked the big display with the very good colors as well as brightness. Additionally you get a well built keyboard. Impressive is the cooling system. Although the G75V draws more than 140 Watts out of the wall the notebook isn't noisy at all. ASUS really did its homework very well.

Equipped with a Core i7-3610QM quad core CPU that features eight threads clocked at 2.3 GHz there is plenty of performance slumbering under the bonnet. Combined with the new NVIDIA Kepler based GTX 670M this notebook quite easily outperforms the other models we have in our comparison charts, when it comes to 3D performance. But also regarding 2D performance there is a noticeable increase compared to the predecessor."

A 9.47 pounds the G75V is obviously not really that portable, but it is a phenomenal desktop replacement (DTR) gaming notebook.

Click here to read the full review.

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Alpenfohn Matterhorn PURE CPU Cooler Review

May 25, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have reviewed the all new Alpenfohn Matterhorn PURE, which uses a 6 heatpipe and solid copper base configuration.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Alpenföhn Matterhorn PURE is a high performance cooler which costs around half the price of the leading, flagship coolers from Thermaltake, Phanteks and Noctua. If you arent willing to spend more than £30 on a cooler, then the Matterhorn PURE is certainly worth being shortlisted.

Overall we are left with positive impressions of the Matterhorn PURE. We certainly have no concerns with Alpenföhns build quality, the product is engineered to a very high standard.

The cooling performance of the Matterhorn PURE proved to be impressive for a cooler of its size, barely being challenged by the overclock of the i5 2500k. Our results indicate that there is plenty of headroom left to deal with hotter running processors, and higher overclock/voltage settings."

This looks like a great budget cooler. Check it out!

Click here to read the full review.

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MyDigitalSSD BP3 512GB Solid State Drive Preview

May 25, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have previewed the MyDigitalSSD BP3 512GB SATA 6Gb/s solid state drive, which features a Phison S8 controller and Toggle Mode NAND.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Today we're just going to preview the MyDigitalSSD BP3 since we don't have access to the release firmware just yet. As you know the SSD market is really heating up, just last month we previewed the OCZ Vertex 4 and then had to test a new firmware release just a few weeks later. The MDSSD BP3 will put us in a similar situation, but we don't mind since we're able to tell you about another new technology before it's officially release.

When it comes to the new firmware we're hearing that Phison is working on increasing IOPS performance, an area where the BP3 falls behind the competition. We're hoping that native command queuing write performance is also addressed in the initial release as well. Time will tell. "

While it may not be able to compete against the likes of Intel and their 520 series, this new Phison S8 controller and second generation Toggle Mode NAND based drive appears to be shaping up to be a very decent budget solution.

Click here to read the full review.

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Titan Fenrir Siberia CPU Cooler Reviews

May 24, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru and Pure Overclock have reviewed the Titan Fenrir Siberia, which features both horizontally and vertically orientated fin arrays.

Let's see what they had to say:

Kit Guru:

"The Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition CPU cooler is certainly an innovative design and it is refreshing to see a company try something different.

The cooling capabilities are quite impressive and the airflow methodology ensures that other component temperatures drop a little, which is certainly a good thing.

The cooling performance is quite good, but it is outclassed by competing solutions. It is also quite loud, unless you are willing to compromise by reducing the fan speeds and subsequently dealing with increased temperatures.

There is no doubt it is an interesting design and we appreciate that the airflow can help support surrounding components. At the end of the day however it just isnt good enough to compete in the £60+ sector."
Click here to read the full review.
Pure Overclock:

"The Titan Siberia moves in a new design direction for CPU coolers, one that we rarely see, with dual fans that are seated in opposing directions on the motherboard. A vertical fan creates the downward cooling for the CPU and motherboard components, while the vertical fan helps dissipate the heat and further improve efficiency with the numerous heatpipes. It's the best of both worlds in a way, though we know that downward-facing and non-direct touch coolers are not the absolute best design for peak cooling perfrmance.

Keep in mind that the Titan Siberia is not what I would call massive, but it is very tall. It is also especially wide enough to pose a problem on some of the smaller cases I have seen, but posed no problems at all on my mid-tower. "
Click here to read the full review.

Thanks to its dual fans and cooling fin arrays the Fenrir Siberia offers very good performance. Though for less money you can have a Corsair H80 which will provide better cooling and offer less installation issues.

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XFX Radeon HD 7870 Black Edition Graphics Card Review

May 24, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Magazine have reviewed the XFX 7870 Black Edition, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The 3D power of the Radeon HD 7870 and especially the dashing Black Edition Dual fan of XFX is so convincing. Even with the additional measurements of Testproband was partly from a very good figure. Partial means that the GPU temperature by 78 ° C under full load, even to a HD 7950 Black Edition Dual Fan exceed - the same applies in a similar manner for the temperature in the no-load operation. With less than 40 dB (A) noise when idle and about 41 dB (A) under load, and provide the cooling fan configured to control, however, still potential for optimization in terms of the temperature evolution. With 274 watts under full load the card is one of the most economical overall in our testing ground and can get hold of at the Idle measurements even in first place."

With its custom heatsink and factory overclocking, the XFX 7870 Black Edition is another fine addition to AMDs upper mid-range lineup.

Click here to read the full review.

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HIS Radeon HD 7870 IceQ X Turbo X 2GB Graphics Card Reviews

May 24, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

eTeknix and Kit Guru have reviewed the HIS Radeon HD 7870 IceQ X Turbo X 2GB, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

eTeknix:

"When overclocking a card like this, a custom cooler is a must-have as overclocking requires higher temperatures, and the stock cooler simply cant keep up when you push things beyond its capabilities. The IceQ X cooler does a fantastic job of keeping temperatures down, even when stressed to the max in terms of core clock and memory speeds. Not only did we witness low temperatures, but also saw this card as a strong contender when it came to acoustics and power consumption.

While we got good temperatures, acoustics and power consumption, the card wasnt hindered when it came down to sheer performance, and some solid results were seen over the reference AMD 7870, though the non-turbo IceQ model 7870 did show some similar numbers, and though we double and even triple checked everything, we cant see why the performance figures were so similar."
Click here to read the full review.
Kit Guru:

"There are no shortage of custom cooled HD7870 cards available today as manufacturers fight to get market share. Despite some confusing naming conventions, both of the IceQ cards deliver fantastic value for money when compared against the somewhat listless reference solution.

The actual performance of the cooler is without reproach however, dropping core temperatures and maintaining an impressive 57c variable when gaming. Noise levels are not intrusive, although it is audible when dealing with the synthetic Furmark stress test.

The more expensive IceQ X Turbo X (note the Xs) is based around a more compact cooler with HIS deciding to adopt a larger, centrally mounted fan for this particular design. The cooler isnt actually as effective as the plain Turbo version, running 2-3c hotter under the same conditions. "
Click here to read the full review.

This looks like a very good yet compact video card. Though the MSI 7870 Hawk will run cooler, quieter and have more overclocking potential.

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Corsair Vengeance K90 MMO gaming keyboard reviews

May 24, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Everything USB, Hot Hardware, Pure Overclock, and Techware Labs have reviewed the Corsair Vengeance K90 MMO gaming keyboard.

Let's see what they had to say:

Everything USB:

"I really like the direction Corsair has taken gaming keyboards with their Vengeance K90. Mechanical keys are a godsend that should be placed into every gaming keyboard, and I find myself preferring Corsair's selection of Cherry MX Red keys for gaming over the MX Blues in its closest competitor. Ultimately this boils down to personal preference, however, so it'd be nice if Corsair were to offer a a variety of SKUs with different Cherry keyswitch types. Dedicated media controls, 20-key rollover and a full-length wrist rest do well to push the K90 above the rest of its mechanical cousins, and other keyboard makers would do well to follow Corsair's lead here."
Click here to read the full review.
Hot Hardware:

"If the notion of dropping that kind of moola on a keyboard and mouse when you can buy serviceable alternatives for a fraction of the cost is ridiculous to you, think of it this way: If youre buying an expensive, souped-up sportscar, youre not going to balk at the extra cost to upgrade from a cassette deck to a CD player and from a plastic steering wheel to a soft leather cover. Likewise, youre already dropping loads of cash for a powerful gaming rig, so why suddenly turn miserly and deprive yourself of peripherals that match the craftsmanship and performance of the rest of your system?"
Click here to read the full review.
Pure Overclock:

"Having used many keyboards in my day, I am a huge fan of the mechanical design, and the K90 is built like a tank, able to withstand an enormous amount of abuse. Aesthetically speaking, it's a great exercise in minimalism, and a refreshing and unique change from most other black keyboards on the market. Some may prefer a more flashy approach, but the sleek design works extremely well here, with a wonderfully slimline design. In addition, not only is the "floating" effect of the keys above the deck beautiful, but it's very functional as well to allow for easy cleanout with the inevitable food crumbs we're all prone to."
Click here to read the full review.
Techware Labs:

"The Corsair Vengeance K90 really is the complete package. You get all of the stand-out features of the best mechanical keyboards put into one great looking, solid package. The K90 can really do it all, FPS gaming, MMO gaming, multimedia, and typing, and it can do them well. The G-keys, the prominent feature of this keyboard, are simple to use and work extremely well. The backlight is very nice to have for those late night gaming sessions and the multimedia keys allow you to control your music without even minimizing the game.

The name of the game here is no compromises. You get the mechanical switches, macro keys, backlight, and multimedia keys in that beautiful brushed aluminum chassis and at only $130, the K90 is priced very competitively. "
Click here to read the full review.

This seems like a fantastic gaming keyboard equaling the best from the more established brands.

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Patriot Viper Extreme Division 2 DDR3-2133 8GB (2x4) Memory Kit Review

May 24, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have reviewed the high performance dual channel Patriot Viper Extreme Division 2, which have timings of 11-11-11-30 @ 1.65v.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Patriot Viper Xtreme Division 2 2,133mhz memory kit has impressed us. It is true that there is no shortage of quality memory on the market today, but we think these custom copper core heatspreaders really help to make the product stand out.

Performance at 2,133mhz is much as we would expect although the timings are a little looser than some competing products we have tested in the last year. It would be fair to say that this doesnt make any difference in the real world, but it is slightly noticeable with some of the synthetic test results."

While the timings are a little loose, this looks like a good budget friendly memory kit.

Click here to read the full review.

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Alpenfohn K2 CPU Cooler Review

May 23, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

eTeknix have reviewed the Alpenföhn K2, a dual-tower style CPU cooler which comes equipped with both a 120mm and 140mm fan.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Alpenföhns K2 may not break any CPU cooling barriers but that doesnt mean its performance is a disappointment. With the higher thermal loads that overclocks bring being put into question, the K2 actually manages to narrowly outperform Noctuas mighty NH-D14, a cooler which has long been a fan favourite at a slightly higher price point.

Aesthetics are a strong point of the K2. The black-bladed fans contrast the white of the inside of their frame to create an elegant appearance. The heatsink itself has an appealing look with closed sides on each of the towers and the Alpenföhn logo embossed onto the summit of each fin array. It may not be quite as trendy as the Phanteks CPU coolers with their coloured designs, but Alpenföhns K2 is still an aesthetically pleasing option, especially when compared to Noctuas and Thermalrights dual tower options."

This looks like a decent dual tower cooler. Though for about the same you can have a Phanteks PH-TC14CS, which will provide even better performance.

Click here to read the full review.

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ECS Z77H2-AX Black Extreme LGA1155 Motherboard Reviews

May 23, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

eTeknix and Mad Shrimps have reviewed the ECS Z77H2-AX Black Extreme Golden motherboard, which is designed for the 22nm 'Ivy Bridge' processors, but is also compatible with current Sandy Bridge chips.

Let's see what they had to say:

eTeknix:

"Ive made it clear about the styling, that it looks as though Flava Flav has got his hands on it and given it the all-star gold treatment, and while this is gimmicky, a lot of consumers are going to eat it up and think its the best thing since sliced bread. Feature wise, the board does include some interesting aspects, such as the mSATA connector and the amount and variety of expansion slots. It also has Bluetooth and WiFi which only a handful of boards in this day and age actually include, straight out of the box. So to say that this board is lacking is a completely false statement as it offers more in terms of bundle and features than most of our boards we tested, put together."
Click here to read the full review.
Mad Shrimps:

"Besides the usual bundle that we have found before like the USB 3.0 front panel, ECS has also included some plastic blue port covers to avoid dust accumulation in case we do not use all the connectors at once. The board features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi dongles built-in and plenty of eSATA, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports on the I/O; after installing the Wi-Fi dongle drivers, we may get into the situation that the adapter does not detect any nearby networks; usually, this is solved by connecting the provided Wi-Fi antenna inside the case. Some other manufacturers have chosen to provide an external antenna that we could place anywhere outside the case. This board is also great for multi-GPU setups, thanks to the included PLX chip which allows PCI-E x16 functionality for the first two slots, at the same time."
Click here to read the full review.

This certainly looks to be a good motherboard, but with such a high asking price and 'unique' color scheme it will not be right for everyone.

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GIGABYTE G1.Assassin 2 LGA2011 Motherboard Review

May 23, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tech Gage have posted a review of the high-end gaming-oriented GIGABYTE G1.Assassin 2, which is based on the Intel X79 chipset and which features an integrated Creative Soundblaster X-Fi digital audio processor (a real one!) and Bigfoot Killer E2100 network processing unit (NPU).

Let's see what they had to say:

"We've been using this board in our GPU test rig for just a couple of weeks, but it's been on-the-go for most of that time. It's not just being used for our graphics card content, but also our hard drive content (we love killing two birds with one stone, where able), and in all of the testing done so far, our experiences have been excellent.

Something I am not personally super-keen on is overclocking, but this board does seem to have what it takes to get your Core i7 to the level you want it. I've successfully OCed the CPU stable to 4.5GHz, though I am confident it can go higher. For the sake of ultimate stability, we've stuck to 4.2GHz, which it has been running at this entire time."

If you are planning on building the ultimate gaming system, and have the budget to back it up, this motherboard should be on your short list.

Click here to read the full review.

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Bitfenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Case Review

May 23, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have reviewed the Bitfenix Shinobi XL full tower case which supports XL-ATX motherboards.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The BitFenix Shinobi XL is an impressive chassis on many levels. The huge physical design means it is ideal for a expensive high end system build, and for overclocking the components inside.

BitFenix offer LED fans to customise this case, if you want to modify it further. There is also very good watercooling support, allowing the user to fit two 360mm radiators with plenty of space for reservoirs and pumps, once the 3.5″ bays are removed. If you are willing to invest a little time, the Shinobi XL could be transformed into a silent running case.

System installation was easy, although we were disappointed that we couldnt remove the motherboard backplate without removing the motherboard from the case. Unfortunately the cut-out is not big enough for every system (ours included)."

This is a very good case for the money, it sets itself part from the pack with four USB 3.0 ports, a SuperCharge port, superior watercooling support, XL-ATX motherboard support and impressive cable management.

Click here to read the full review.

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Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 Vapor-X Graphics Card Reviews

May 23, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Heaven and Pure Overclock have reviewed the Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 Vapor-X, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

Hardware Heaven:

"As we have come to expect from Sapphire and their Vapor-X range the 7770 OC Edition is a well-built card. The blue PCB looks great and the cooler feels solid.

Looking at gaming performance, as we have seen for some time the 7770 OC trades blows with the similarly priced GTX 560 with the faster card very much depending on which game we play. The main thing to take away from the framerates however is for gaming at 1920x1080 the 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition always gives us playable performance. When we add to that the exceptionally quiet cooler and low temperatures it becomes a very desirable product for those who don't want to move up to the more expensive 7800 cards and above."
Click here to read the full review.
Pure Overclock:

"The positioning of the Radeon 7770 is interesting, as it doesn't really battle any current-gen Nvidia card. Going back to the Fermi cards also leaves a distinct gap in Nvidia's lineup, at least in performance, between the GTX 550 and 560. Really, it's the GTX 460 that occupies that spot, a card from two generations past. It appears that's the spot targeted with this card, as the 7770 Vapor-X is priced competitively and looking to scoop up marketshare in the upper budget-oriented range.

Coinciding with the middle pricing scheme, the 7770 Vapor-X easily beats the GTX 550, while costing about the same. In fact, this Sapphire card keeps pace with the GTX 460 which are becoming hard to find but are also more expensive. Further, the performance in games that are more tessellation-heavy is even more impressive, as it pulls well ahead of the Nvidia competition. "
Click here to read the full review.

For a Radeon HD 7770, this is an impressive graphics card. Check it out!

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Corsair Carbide 300R Case Review

May 22, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Metku have reviewed the budget friendly Corsair Carbide 300R mid tower case.

Let's see what they had to say:

"In short Corsair has done it again. No matter what the product category and no matter what the price tag, they just seem to know how to make a great product. The Carbide 300R sells at $90 and manages to pack a lot of features to that price tag. Many other cases in this price bracket often lack in some area, but the 300R simply doesn't seem to have any major problems. It's sturdy, easy to install, packs enough stock cooling (with plenty more optional), has dust filter and also the frame is painted black.

Really the only slight problem is that the front panel dust filter could be easier to clean and the bundle should DEFINITELY come with an USB2-adapter, but other than that there isn't much else to say. Good work, Corsair!"

ASUS Maximus V GENE Z77 LGA1155 Motherboard Review

May 22, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have reviewed the small ASUS Maximus V GENE mATX motherboard.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Coming in at $199 the ASUS Maximus V GENE comes in and hits at a really nice price point. While ROG boards tend to be a little bit more expensive than other models, the mATX form factor on offer from ASUS means that the pricing comes in slightly more aggressive and sits very strong against a lot of other models.

Overall ASUS has put together an awesome motherboard that comes in at a strong price point, offers good performance and comes with a really nice bundle. The mATX form factor from ASUS is as always strong and brings with it an aggressive price tag making for a really strong product."

Although you don't actually need a Z77 motherboard to use an Ivy Bridge processor, P67 & Z68 boards work perfectly, this motherboard proves that big performance can come in a small package!

Click here to read the full review.

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MSI GT70R 17-inch Gaming Notebook Review

May 22, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

T Break have reviewed the MSI GT70R gaming laptop,which features a 17.3inch 1920x1080 display, quad-core/eight-thread 2.3-3.3Ghz processor, 16GB of RAM, 2x 64GB SSD, 7200RPM 500GB HDD, Blu-ray drive, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M 1.5GB GPU.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Its clear that the new hardware in the GT70 is a significant improvement over last years GT780R models. While the graphics card may remain a generation old, the higher clock speeds most certainly help improve performance. Combine this with the new Ivy Bridge processor and SSDs in RAID, and you have a supremely capable gaming laptop. Heck, even Windows boots in 11 seconds flat!

The Killer E2200 LAN card and Dynaudio speakers are just extra features that enhance the value of this machine. "

Weight issues aside, the GT70R is one feature packed desktop replacement (DTR) gaming notebook. Though the price of it will put it outside the budget of many.

Click here to read the full review.

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Cooler Master TPC-812 CPU Cooler Reviews

May 22, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Bjorn3D and Hardware Secrets have reviewed the Cooler Master TPC-812 CPU Cooler, which uses a 6 heat pipe / 2 vapor chamber configuration.

Let's see what they had to say:

Bjorn3D:

"We expect an aftermarket cooler to work better than the stock cooler, and the CoolerMaster TPC 812 CPU cooler performed beyond our expectations. At load it kept the CPU temps below what the stock coolers could at idle. It is quiet enough to make most users happy, even if it doesn't fit in the silent category. With the use of the included 'Silent Mode Adaptor' consumers can trade some of the cooling for even less noise. With this unit's abilities there is room for that trade.

The fit and finish are excellent, the overall appearance is quite attractive. The cooler is well constructed of quality materials. It is easy to assemble and will fit in almost any gaming or enthusiast case with no problems. Narrow chassis' should not be considered for housing this cooler."
Click here to read the full review.
Hardware Secrets:

"We were very curious about the real-world performance of the new vapor chamber technology. Although following the same principle of a heatpipe (phase changing and latent heat exchange), it could improve the heat conduction from the base of the cooler to the fins.

However, what we saw on the Cooler Master TPC 812 is a good, but not revolutionary, cooling performance. It performed nearly as well as the best air coolers we tested so far, and with a reasonable noise level. .

In addition to its performance, the price tag of the TPC 812 is similar to the most high-end air coolers on the market. .

Due to its excellent cooling performance, we are giving the Cooler Master TPC 812 the Hardware Secrets Golden Award. .

But, to be honest, we were a little disappointed about what we had hoped would be a revolutionary performance."
Click here to read the full review.

This is a good and highly innovative cooler which proves that big performance doesnt need to come in a large package.

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Inno3D GeForce GTX 670 iChill HerculeZ 3000 Graphics Card Review

May 22, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Heaven have reviewed the new Inno3D GeForce GTX 670 iChill HerculeZ 3000, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"With their GTX 670 Inno3D have created a version of the card which looks great with the large, triple slot cooler looking impressive and blue PCB adding a nice flash of colour. The card feels solid and it was good to see supports sitting between the aluminium fins keeping them stable. The ability to easily and quickly dismantle the heatsink cover for additional airflow or fan cleaning is a nice touch too. We also like that Inno3D have taken time to source high quality bearings for the fans.

In terms of performance we get no surprises, the card is close to the GTX 680 reference PCB cards and offers the same features at a lower cost. Gaming performance against the high end Radeons is also impressive but it is the cooler which is the real highlight, offering some great thermal performance and near silent operation."

While the large cooler and factory overclock are impressive, both the Gigabyte 670 OC and Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II Top have just as impressive coolers and come with higher factory overclocks.

Click here to read the full review.

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AMD A4 3400 Llano PU Review

May 21, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have reviewed the budget friendly A4 3400 Llano APU (Accelerated Processing Unit). This 32nm 2.7Ghz dual-core chip is based on the FM1 socket, supports DDR3-1866 memory speeds and features an integrated Radeon HD 6410D GPU with 160 shaders. What's most impressive is the fact this processor retails for a mere $50, which opens the door for some very cheap yet well-rounded systems.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The AMD Llano A4 3400 isnt going to appeal to the high performance audience, but for those people who want a basic, cost effective processor with graphics acceleration then we feel it has a lot to offer.

Ultimately it has been designed for those on a strict budget, and enthusiast users who desire a system with very low power consumption. The A4 3400 is a very tempting proposition due to the incredibly low power drain and efficiency under load.

Additionally, the A4 3400 is it well suited for a home server environment as it delivers solid all-round performance and produces minimal heat. For a farm of low cost machines, it really does have advantages, especially as the asking price is only £49.98 in the United Kingdom today. It is significantly more powerful than the Intel ATOM quad core processors we have reviewed in the last year."

While AMD's Llano APU's have recently been replaced by Trinity APUs, the A4 is still a very decent, low cost solution where shear performance is not the primary concern.

Click here to read the full review.

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Noontec Zoro Headphones Review

May 21, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

eTeknix have reviewed the budget friendly Noontec Zoro stereo headphones, which feature 40mm neodymium drivers and soft cloth ear coverings.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Overall then, I was happy with the Noontec Zoro, once I had realised that they just werent designed for brutal death metal, the warm tones of classic rock and screaming guitars they really started to shine, the sound quality is pin sharp, no doubt about that, but this has come at the cost of power out put and personality to the sound. In my opinion, any set of headphones should really be a good all-rounder when it comes to what music they are used to listen to, giving an equal result across the board for what ever takes your fancy, especially if you have a wide taste in music like I do, Im not about to go buy two sets of head phones, one for metal and one for pop music."

For the price these look like a very decent set of cans. Just don't expect them to act like a $200 pair.

Click here to read the full review.

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G.Skill TridentX DDR3-2666 8GB (2x4) Memory Kit Review

May 21, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have reviewed the high performance dual channel G.Skill TridentX DDR3-2666 8GB (2x4) Memory Kit, which have timings of 11-13-13-35-2T @ 1.65v.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Across the board we can see strong gains in performance with a strong boost to write performance and improved latency. Here we've got a kit of RAM that runs extremely fast on the new Intel Ivy Bridge platform.

The addition of the Turbulence II cooler also slightly bumps up the price. If you're looking for a kit that can perform, though, this is one you should be looking at. G.Skill has been extremely aggressive with new Ivy Bridge RAM and is releasing more models than its competitors.

If you don't quite need this speed, but like the TridentX series, I'd recommend saving some money and picking up the PC3-19200 kit. If you're happy to spend the bigger bucks, though, and you want a kit that can do in excess of 2700MHz DDR when overclocking, then this PC3-21300 kit is probably just what you're after and won't disappoint."

If you have a system that can handle such high memory clocks, then this kit is worth a look. Though be prepared to pay more for DDR3-2666 speeds.

Click here to read the full review.

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MSI Nighthawk Mid-Tower Case

May 21, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Techware Labs have reviewed the budget friendly MSI Nighthawk mid-tower case.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Nighthawks design is surprisingly robust for its weight, and has a few really nice features. The card reader in particular is a feature Id like to see included in more cases; the prevalence of digital cameras makes this a natural addition. The included fans are not terribly powerful, but theyre quiet, and positioned where theyll do the most good. The grommet mounting holes on the door panel are a nice touch; they eliminate any vibration noise the side fan might otherwise cause.

This is a case I wanted to like; it looked to have a nice mix of features for an acceptably low price tag$75 at time of publication. That said, a little more thought and care going into the little details would have made this a much stronger product. If youre looking for a nice case to stuff a budget gaming PC into, the MSI Nighthawk will certainly fit the bill. "

This seems like a pretty good case, but it does have to compete with similarly-priced models like the Corsair Carbide Series 400R and Fractal Design Define R3.

Click here to read the full review.

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KFA2 GeForce GTX 680 EX OC Graphics Card Review

May 21, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have reviewed the KFA2 GTX 680 EX OC, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"With a high end discrete graphics card we have learned to expect a certain amount of noise, however the reference cooled GTX680 is surprisingly quiet. We have been saying it for a very long time, but AMD really do need to ditch their huge stockpile of tiny red fans and adopt a similar principle to Nvidia.

The KFA Geforce GTX680 EX OC has improved even further on the excellent Nvidia reference design. The addition of an extra fan means that KFA2 can spin both at a slower rate. We only recorded a shift of 500 rpm between idle and load states, which means that the noise levels only increase slightly. .

The reference GTX680 hardware responds exceptionally well to overclocking, and with the 100mhz core boost it manages to outperform the AMD HD6990 in the Direct X 11 based 3DMark 11."

A 100mhz factory overclock in indeed impressive. Though for about the same price you can have a ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP which is faster and easier to find.

Click here to read the full review.

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EVGA GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked Graphics Card Reviews

May 18, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Canucks and Guru3D have reviewed the new EVGA GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked, which features an improved heatsink and 6% overclock over the reference design.

Let's see what they had to say:

Hardware Canucks:

"With that being said, we feel that EVGA packed in just enough of an improvement to make this card worthwhile. Its clock speeds may not turn any heads but the subtle upgrades that went into addressing our concerns with the reference version deserve some major credit. Instead of slapping on a heatsink that exhausts heat directly into your case, EVGA upgraded the cooler specifications without affecting the exhaust-style setup of the reference design.

But is the Superclocked really worth $20 more than the reference design? We certainly think so. Its 5% premium translates into 4-5% higher framerates along with an improved heatsink, EVGAs legendary customer service, a transferable warranty and more than enough overclocking headroom to satisfy just about anyone. Thats a tradeoff were more than willing to make, and so should you."
Click here to read the full review.
Guru3D:

"EVGA has a solid offering in their hands with the GeForce GTX 670 SC edition and that isn't a hard think to accomplish as the GTX 670 all by itself already is a really nice product. It's a product that really is hard to dislike. We do feel it's pre-overclocked a little on the shy side compared to what we have seen from the competition.

Realistically though we think EVGA is keeping room in their lineup for other faster clocked SKUs. Overall the performance sits in-between a GTX 670 reference and the GTX 680 reference, and that's nothing to be ashamed about alright. The GeForce GTX 670 SC is a very nice performer that is very capable for 1920x1080/1200 and the newest games."
Click here to read the full review.

Thanks to the refinements EVGA has done, the GeForce GTX 670 SC is easily worth the small price premium over a reference design model.

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GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3 LGA1155 Motherboard Review

May 18, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Bjorn3D have reviewed the gaming-oriented mATX GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3, which is designed for the 22nm 'Ivy Bridge' processors, but is also compatible with current Sandy Bridge chips.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The board is a great performer and the CPU and memory both clock rather easily with the Sniper M3, but there is a bit of tweaking needed to get to really high clocks. The audio solution is quite strong and it sounds very nice in-game.

Anyone looking to build a capable and powerful LAN gaming system I think would have a hard time turning this board down pending a single card is used or if used with a chassis with more than 4 slots. The board is a G1 Killer board at a value price, but all omissions aside can do the job and rightfully so would be a good option for anyone looking to get into an Ivy Bridge gaming rig."

Though it may be missing some of the features of previous G1.Sniper models this is still a very good motherboard...if you don't mind the 'loud' colour scheme.

Click here to read the full review.

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Alienware X51 Gaming Desktop Review

May 18, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Kit Guru have reviewed the Alienware X51 gaming desktop system, which was configured with a Intel Core i7-2600 four-core/eight-thread processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 555 1GB graphics card, 8GB of DDR3-1600 RAM and a 1TB hard drive.

Let's see what they had to say:

"The Intel Core i7 2600 is a capable processor, however we have good news for prospective customers. In the last couple of weeks Alienware have updated the processor to the 3rd generation Core i7 3770k which is slightly faster than the last generation 2600.

Power consumption is another positive point of this system. The optimised configuration means that it only drains 50W of power when idling, and only 65W when watching a high definition movie. This could be left on for many hours a day without having a noticeable, negative impact on your electricity bill.

The Alienware X51 is a jack of all trades. It would be ideal as a small office work machine, it can handle 3d encoding and video editing duties. When you get some downtime then you can rest assured it has enough horsepower to play many games at high definition."

Alienware does build quality systems and this is another great example that good performance can come in a small package.

Click here to read the full review.

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DMS Celerity 6G Plus 120GB Solid State Drive Review

May 18, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have reviewed the DMS Celerity 6G Plus, a SATA 6Gb/s solid state drive based on the SandForce SF-2281 controller and featuring 550MB/s read and 515MB/s write speeds.

Let's see what they had to say:

"When it comes to performance, the drive is a beast. A big part of that comes from the new 3.3.4 firmware, but the choice of flash also plays a role. The 6G Plus is also very stable, another credit to the firmware. This is the kind of SSD that you buy and use for several years. Sure, there are newer drives with new 24nm flash, but DMS hasn't jumped on that bandwagon and is keeping the 6G Plus reliable.

All things considered the DMS Celerity 6G Plus is a good release, but I think the price is going to hold most of you back from ordering. It's too bad we didn't test this drive when the SF-2281 era started because the price would have fit with the mainstream SSD makers. The additional exposure might have given DMS the opportunity to battle it out in the low cost arena. "

This another in a long line of very high performance SandForce-based SSDs. For about the same price you can have the Intel 520 Series 120GB model, which has a longer warranty and the Intel Toolbox for improved degraded state performance.

Click here to read the full review.

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Corsair Accelerator 60GB Solid State Drive Review

May 18, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Hardware Canucks have reviewed the budget friendly Corsair Accelerator 60GB Caching SSD, a companion solid state drive which is optimized for caching applications in conjunction with a standard HDD.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Admittedly, consumers who are seriously considering a software-based hybrid storage solution are typically not going to be enthusiasts with cutting-edge computer systems. Rather, theyre are going to be on a tight budget and simply looking for a relatively painless way to boost the responsiveness of their aging systems. From this perspective, the Corsair Accelerator is a decent solution.

By and large, any computer purchased more than a year or two ago does not have SATA 3 ports, so SATA 2 is still the de-facto standard. This makes using a SATA 3-based SSD overkill at best and a waste of resources at worst. Instead of wasting limited resources on an SF-2281 controller, Corsair opted for the less costlyand slower performingSF-2181 controller."

This seems like another a good addition to Corsairs existing line of SandForce based drives. Though for about the same you can get an OCZ Synapse which uses a faster SATA 3 SSD with greater over-provisioning.

Click here to read the full review.

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Inno3D GeForce GTX 670 iChill Graphics Card Review

May 17, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Tweak Town have reviewed the new Inno3D GeForce GTX 670 iChill, which features a custom cooler and overclocked specifications.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Outside of the cooler, though, thanks to the strong overclock, which sees a core and memory clock come in higher than the GTX 680, on average we see performance that is ahead of a reference clocked GTX 680.

Outside of the performance of the video card, though, we've also got the bundle which manages to also stand out for all the right reasons. While we've got those normal bits and pieces present, we've got nice little extras like the mouse pad and the 3DMark 11 key.

Inno3D has really put together the whole package here with a great performing video card, a cooler that looks great and works fantastically well and finally a bundle that is above and better than what we see most companies offer these days"

While the large cooler and factory overclock are impressive, both the Gigabyte 670 OC and Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II Top have just as impressive coolers, come with higher factory overclocks and will be easier to find.

Click here to read the full review.

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Corsair Vengeance 1500 Gaming Headset Review

May 17, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Metku have reviewed the Cooler Master Vengeance 1500 Gaming Headset.

Let's see what they had to say:

"Corsair Vengeance 1500 is a very felicitous product. Gaming headsets have been suffering from an unaccurate frequency response with overemphasized bass. Vengeance 1500 manages to avoid these traps by having a very neutral sound. It is difficult to recommend headphones or speakers, because preferences are very subjective. Some may want to have a brain-melting bass, whereas others can't stand to sound like that. Usually I listen with AKG K 701, which are known as very neutral headphones. Vengeance 1500 has a lot of same characters in its sound, so the sound of 1500 is pretty pleasant for me.

Vengeance 1500's price is very tempting being about 100 euros. In that price category it is a very good purchase, even though there are some minor drawbacks in the usage comfort."

If you are in the market for a new gaming headset, this model is definitely worth a serious look.

Click here to read the full review.

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Thermaltake MEKA Mechanical Keyboard Review

May 17, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

Think Computers have reviewed the Thermaltake MEKA mechanical keyboard, which is a lower cost variant of the original MEKA G1.

Let's see what they had to say:

"In conclusion I think this keyboard is a step in the right direction for Themaltakes Tt-eSPORTS line. The MEKA has good things about it, but would I recommend this unit over something like the Corsair Vengeance K60 Mechanical Keyboard? The answer is, no. Thermaltake took a gamble with the form-factor of this keyboard and I think they lost. Most people (even gamers) prefer a normal keyboard and there is little to no reason to deviate from that formula.

Since the release of this keyboard was over a year ago Thermaltake has listened to the masses and released the MEKA-G1. The MEKA-G1 is an updated fuller version the MEKA and resolves many of the issues listed in this review."

Although this might not be a terrific mechanical keyboard, there are thankfully many of them on the market right now, like the Cooler Master Storm Trigger.

Click here to read the full review.

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ASUS G75V 17-inch Gaming Notebook Review

May 17, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

PC Perspective have reviewed the ASUS G75V gaming notebook, which features a 17.3-inch 1920x1080 display, quad-core/eight-thread 2.6-3.6Ghz processor, 16GB of RAM, 120GB SSD, 750GB 7200RPM HDD and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M 2GB GPU.

Let's see what they had to say:

"While the new G75V is a bit thinner than previous incarnations, it is also quieter and cooler, a rare combination of traits made possible by both a CPU and GPU designed with efficiency in mind. This laptop has the ability to perform like Superman, but it never steps in a phone booth to change clothes. It instead remains mild in manner which translates to a better user experience.

The ASUS G75 replaces the G74 as my go-to recommendation among pre-built gaming laptops. Other competitors can match ASUS on performance, but theres more to this system than that. This is a winning combination of design, performance and price that will sure to appeal to gamers that dont have over two grand to spend."

MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA1155 Motherboard Review

May 17, 2012 - Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

eTeknix have reviewed the mid-range MSI Z77A-GD65 Motherboard, which is designed for the 22nm 'Ivy Bridge' processors, but is also compatible with current Sandy Bridge chips.

Let's see what they had to say:

"For now, the Z77A-GD65 really stands out, as it offers some nice features, with a lot that are unique to MSI, and the majority of this comes down to the quality, with their Military Class III components, coupled with key performance features, such as OC Genie II and Click BIOS II and THX authorized sound. These are all aspects that will appeal to the mass market, and ends up ticking some of the right boxes for our own criteria.

For me, the Z77A-GD65 really does offer amazing bang for buck, but on the same hand, is an extreme performer, and offers innovation at its finest, while being an overclockers dream. Gamers are sure to love its capabilities too and thats why we can only offer it the best award around; the Editors Choice Award."

This looks like a feature packed motherboard at a great price, check it out!

Click here to read the full review.

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