Mega-Labs.com - Your PC Hardware Review Source

Sandberg Powerbank 8000 - Gadgets
How many times have you cursed because you saw a low battery indication at your smartphone while on the go?
Read more...

Noctua NH-L12 - Coolers
Noctua has released a new cooler targeted at small factor PC's and we are checking to see if it is worth buying.
Read more...

Antec One - Cases
Antec One is a budget gaming case that comes with many design features for a painless system installation. Read today's review and see if it is worth the buying!
Read more...

Spire Sonex 6010-Cases
Spire offers a budget gaming chassis at a very affordable price. Is it worth the money?
Read more...

Gelid GC-Extreme-Cooling
It is always important to use a high-quality thermal paste when overclocking your system. Today we are testing Gelid's solution, the GC-Extreme thermal compound.
Read more...

Gelid Wing 12PL-Coolers
The options users have in the fan market are countless. How does Gelid's fan do in terms of performance and noise?
Read more...

Sandberg 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub Review @ NikkTech.com
Quote: "Each day that goes by more and more people i know either upgrade their systems with USB 3.0 compatible mainboards or choose the quite cheaper and easier path which is simply to install a PCIex USB 3.0 card. However it is because of that exact reason that many people keep asking me about which USB 3.0 hubs they should turn to in order to multiply their USB 3.0 ports without sacrificing speed. Now surprisingly enough most of the really popular and large manufacturers have yet to release USB 3.0 compatible hubs (for unknown reasons) however there are many such products in the market currently manufactured by smaller companies and the 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub we have here by Sandberg is one the those.
Sandberg A/S is a Danish company with a clear ideology: We want to make it easier to get hold of computer accessories. Everyone should be able to find the right accessories in the shop and get them to work once they've got them home without the need for specialist knowledge. The basic idea of Sandberg wanting to make things easier for both consumers and dealers has imbued the spirit of everything that Sandberg has done since 1985, when the company was founded by the two brothers Martin Hollerup and Erling Hoff Petersen.
Come to think of it i was actually asked the same question (which USB 3.0 hub is best) for the first time roughly 5 months ago and so shortly after i managed to get the two latest USB 3.0 hubs to hit the market by Syba and Rosewill and placed them against each other to see which was better. Differences between USB 3.0 hubs are not usually not significant but since todays review is also about a USB 3.0 hub i thought it would be appropriate to compare it with the previous two but to do that all 3 hubs needed to be tested on the latest primary X79 test rig since the last comparison was done on our now secondary X58 test rig. Yes it would be possible to perform this comparison with our secondary test rig but i thought it would be best for every review related with performance numbers to be done on the X79 platform. However my assessment wasn't right on the spot so read on if you want to see why that was."



In Win Mana 136 Mid-Tower Chassis Review @ eTeknix.com
Quote: "Over the last few months, a lot of manufacturers have been moving over to releasing cases that are white in colour, and whilst this is not a bad thing, in fact I love this transition, there is still the need to have a range of Black cases out there in the mix.
In Win alongside their other product lines have been making cases for a number of years, and the Mana 136 is one of their latest additions. Available in the all black edition like we have here today to look at or white and black, it slots into the ever growing sector of budget mid tower sized cases.
Even though the Mana 136 is in the budget pricing band at around the £40- £50 mark, this is not to mean that its lacking in features. In Win have managed to give the case a stylish design to the outside and inside the user is offered up a tool-free installation on virtually all the drive bays, a cable management solution, USB3.0 on the front panel, support for graphics cards upto 29cm in length and loads of space for fitting fans.
This is not to mean that they have skimped out on quality, In Win have a reputation for being one of the leading manufacturers out there with respect to quality and innovation and as we will see this has been passed right down through all of their products as though they were all top of the line."



Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) Review @ TechwareLabs.com
Quote: "The storage market isn’t known for flair, flashy or exciting product launches. It seems like every day a new drive is hitting the scene trying to distinguish itself from the competition, but in doing so just adds to the “noise” that consumers have to filter through in order to find the drive that will fit their individual needs.

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

Lian Li PC-V353A Aluminum Silent PC Case Review @ NikkTech.com
Quote: "Looking back less than 5 years ago i really can't remember of anyone who owned an HTPC system and i can't really say that i remember that many HTPC enclosure solutions either. Today things have obviously changed and so many people choose to have a single HTPC system to use both as a normal Desktop system and as a Hardware Media Player while at the same time skipping the cost of an LCD screen which would in most cases be a lot smaller than their main TV (naturally). Up until today i have to admit that although i do have an small HTPC system i never did like them much mainly because of the tiny interior space which doesn't really allow you to install large and many components. Lian Li has been amongst the very few PC Case manufacturers who have actually designed and manufactured medium-sized HTPC enclosures and their latest PC-V353A might just be one of their best ones to date."



Scythe Mugen 3 and Ninja 3 Review @ Hardware.info
Quote: "The Scythe Mugen 2 has long been the CPU cooler to beat with its exquisite balance between cooling performance, noise production and price. Until now other manufacturers have not been able to equal its performance for the same humble prices. The previously released Mugen 3 disappointed us when we tested it, the price was higher while the performance was worse. Recently Scythe introduced updated versions of both the Mugen 3 and the Ninja 3, hoping to recapture the glory days of the Mugen 2. Of course we submitted both coolers to our rigorous testing procedure to find out: Has Scythe finally created a worthy successor to the Mugen 2?"



Asus Essentio CM6870 Review @ TechReviewSource.com
Quote: "The Asus Essentio CM6870 ($999 direct) is a great entry-level gaming desktop whose potent combination of a dual-core 3.4GHz Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce GT 545 GPU packs plenty of Molotov into its cocktail while still maintaining affordability for those on a beer budget. Although it doesn't come in a flashy package like high-end gaming desktops, its ability to nimbly outperform others in its class in multimedia-creation tasks makes it an able competitor."

Xclio Touch 767 Review @ XSReviews.co.uk
Quote: "Xclio have one mission in life: Make high quality cooling equipment to the best of their abilities. They have a huge range of cases made for gamers and tech enthusiasts alike, and the Touch 767 is one of the most recent additions to their Full Tower range.
The Touch 767 and Touch 787 are Xclio’s latest case design, a far mark away from the design of their almost iconic A380 tower. It’s all set up for water cooling and there’s enough spare fan slots that anybody who can invest in this case is looking at some serious cooling power."





Phanteks PH-TC14CS CPU Cooler Review @ Vortez.net
Quote: "It’s not often that we see new start-up companies become immediately successful at what they do and even more unusual is for them to become market leaders in their domain. Phanteks can be considered one such company and ever since the debut of the almighty PH-TC14PE, the brand has become a household name amongst cooling enthusiasts. Not only did it top our charts, but it proved resoundingly superior to our ageing favourites, the Noctua NH-D14 and the Thermalright Silver Arrow. Fast forward to this month and Phanteks are back with a brand new cooler or 5 as the range of colours suggests. In a move resembling Noctua’s release of their NH-C14 following that of their NH-D14 , Phanteks are releasing the PH-TC14CS after having successfully establishing themselves in the cooling market with their flagship dual tower PH-TC14PE. As such, it comes as no surprise that the new PH-TC14CS follows a similar design scheme to the NH-C14 as a C-type single tower top-down cooler. Without delving too much into the politics of design copies (and we would hate to imply such a thing with the number of patented features Phanteks hold), this new top down cooler represents a great addition to the cooling market, especially to those seeking small, compact coolers for their HTPCs or LAN rigs. Competition can only be a good thing for the consumers anyway."



SilenX Effizio EFZ-80HA3 Review @ APHNetworks.com
Quote: "Confucius once said, "Silence is the true friend that never betrays." For those enthusiasts that crave silence and noise reduction in their rigs, this quote pretty much hits home. Hardware is not just about performance nowadays. Of course, there are those that spend countless thousands of dollars to achieve pure performance, but inevitably end up with a turbo engine in their home. We humble reviewers at APH Networks, however, tend to balance our performance and sound. Why? You might ask. Well, why not? With technology developing at such a fast rate, performance in hardware is painless to achieve (So long you're willing to spend the money). Silence, however, is unfortunately something much, much more arduous to attain. Recently, a hefty number of products came through our office from a renowned brand by the name of SilenX. And, as the name suggests, it is a manufacturer that focuses on quiet components. Fortunately, silence is not the only article that the brand focuses on. In fact, looking back at the SilenX Effizio EFX-12-15 cooling fans and the SilenX Effizio EFZ-120HA5 CPU heatsink reviewed by my fellow colleagues, it is safe to assume that SilenX has focused on price and performance as well. Today, we will be taking a detailed look at a smaller 80mm CPU cooler, the Effizio EFZ-80HA3. And of course, the question to be answered today is directed towards whether this small cooler -- designed for mITX setups -- can give us solid stable temperatures while living up to its brand name of silence."

Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge: Performance Preview and Overclocking @ APHNetworks.com
Quote: "While we get our fair share of evaluation products on NDA here at APH Networks, we don't usually do performance previews on the stuff we get -- either we get the review done on time, or, well, we release it at our own schedule, haha. But here's the deal: With Intel's latest Core i7-3770K "Ivy Bridge" processor sitting in our labs for the last little while, I am as excited to share our experience with you as much as you are interested in finding out how it performs in the benchmarks. Being the 'tick' part of Intel's 'tick-tock' release cycle, what does the 22nm die shrink bring to the table today? To find out, here is a set of quick and dirty benchmarks along with a preliminary overclocking result to go. We will have a full review ready in a few weeks from now (Having a series of Electrical Engineering exams in a row last week certainly did not help). But for now, let's not waste any more time, and move straight into the meat!"



Crucial Adrenaline Review @ PureOverclock.com
Quote: "Not so many years ago, the lightning fast speeds of solid state mass storage were once only the realm of the military and enterprise, or 'enthusiast', for whom money is often object when seeking top performance. Flash forward now past the end of the first quarter of 2012, and we are finally seeing prices drop to less than the '$1 per gig ' price point, making SSDs a much more of an affordable option, even as their performance increases to previously unheard of speeds. Though more affordable than ever, the SSDs of today are still not 'mass storage' enough for many. "



Cooler Master HAF XM Mid Tower Case Review @ HardwareCanucks.com
Quote: "Cooler Master’s original HAF series were genre defining products which incorporated everything an enthusiast could possibly want into a relatively compact mid tower enclosure. The 912, 922 and 932 didn’t cost all that much either which led to each becoming a highly successful chassis designs, regardless of stiff competition from Corsair, Antec and some others. This success was paralleled by the massive, feature rich full tower HAF X which incorporated many of its smaller sibling’s design ideas but Cooler Master upsized them and went one step further by adding in a few more interesting elements."




Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GByte SSD Review @ OCAholic.ch
Quote: "With the HyperX 3K 120 GByte SSD, Kingston has a Solid State Drive in its portfolio which is based on the latest SandForce SF-2281 series SSD processor and it also comes with a competitive price tag. The drive also features SATA-III support and Kingston claims that the drive can reach throughput rates of more than 500 Megabyte per second. Also for the IOPS the manufacturer promises sky-high numbers. When writing 4 KByte blocks the drive should be able to hit a whopoing 60'000 IOPS and more. "

ASUS Radeon HD 7870 DirectCU II Top Review @ OCAholic.ch
Quote: "With its HD 7870 Direct CU II Top, ASUS shows a factory overclocked version of AMD's most powerfull mid-range GPU. Additionally this card got ASUS' big DirectCUII cooler as well as an attractive design. Theoretically this card even has the potential to outperform a Radeon HD 6970. Amongst other things this is what we'll show in the following review.

On the following pages we will show you the strenghts and weaknesses of the ASUS Radeon HD 7870 DirectCU II Top. "



Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 2GB OC Edition Video Card Review @ TweakTown.com
Quote: "Over the last few weeks we've looked at some high-end video cards from both AMD and NVIDIA thanks to partners starting to release high-end variants of the HD 7900 series while NVIDIA of course launched the new GTX 680.

Today, though, we'll be stepping back a little to the mid-range market again as we check out the Sapphire HD 7870 2GB OC. This is one of a few HD 7800 series based video cards we've got here at the moment and over the next week or two you'll see a couple of variants from different companies.

Today though is all about the Sapphire version which hopefully stands out for all the right reasons. Over the last few months since the release of the HD 7000 series we've seen some awesome Sapphire cards that have offered awesome coolers that have not only ran extremely quiet, but have been able to keep GPU temperatures at amazingly low numbers."



MSI Z77A-GD65 ATX Motherboard Review With Sandy Bridge @ FutureLooks.com
Quote: "What is Z77 and what does it do? It’s Intel’s latest motherboard chipset (codenamed Panther Point) that supports Intel’s 2nd Generation Sandy Bridge processors, but was actually designed for their new Ivy Bridge LGA1155 3rd Generation parts, which we’ll touch on a bit later. For now, our focus is on MSI’s entry to the Z77 arena, the Z77A-GD65 Military Class III motherboard which sports a new UEFI BIOS and updated desktop software.

We previewed this board a few weeks ago to give you a quick taste of what big features MSI had coming. While we can’t show you any Ivy Bridge benchmarks as of yet, we are going to see if some of the new features like PCIE 3.0 as well as overclocking with Sandy Bridge Processors, will make this board a worthy upgrade for anyone still clutching a P67 based board."



OCZ Fatal1ty 1000w Power Supply Review @ DreamwareComputers.com
Quote: "Jonathan Wendel, aka legendary gamer 'Fatal1ty', has made a name for himself that extends far outside the professional gaming arena he's used to competing in. Jonathan has partnerships with five PC component and accessory manufacturers to release a variety of gaming oriented products under the 'Fatal1ty' branding. One of these companies is OCZ which has a line of signature Fatal1ty branded power supplies. I had an opportunity to test out the 750W Fatal1ty power supply a little over a year ago - a supply which left me very pleased with it's performance and functionality for the price. Recently, OCZ has expanded upon this series to add an even higher power model - the 1000W Fatal1ty supply which I have here today."

ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional Review @ Maximum-Tech.net
Quote: "ASRock is gaining popularity very rapidly. One of the major factors behind this is the number of features they offer at a price point as compared to their competition. This made them one of the big players in the motherboard business.
ASRock launched their Fatal1ty gaming motherboards back in P67 days at the start of 2011. These motherboards are designed in collaboration with Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel, the famous gamer. Fatal1ty motherboards are specifically designed for gamers. Recently, Intel released their latest Z77 chipset and ASRock prepared three Fatal1ty motherboards based on this chipset. To begin with, the Z77 Fatal1ty Performance is the cheapest one, then comes the m-ATX Z77 Fatal1ty Professional-M and Z77 Fatal1ty Professional is the last and most expensive one.
Today, we’ll be having a look at the best of these three, the Z77 Fatal1ty Professional. As the name tells, it’s based on the Intel’s latest Z77 chipset and boasts an LGA1155 socket. It’s compatible with all current Sandy Bridge LGA1155 CPUs and upcoming Ivy Bridge ones. Other features include the native USB 3.0 support which comes from the chipset and PCI Express 3.0 support which will come with the Ivy Bridge CPUs. Before we have a detailed look into the motherboard, let’s look at its specification and Intel Z77 chipset."



Gigabyte Z77ZX-UD3H Preview @ LanOC.org
Quote: "The second in a long list of Z77 previews we have for everyone is a board from our friends over at Gigabyte. Today we are taking a sneak peak at their Gigabyte z77x-ud3h, their entry level Z77 board. With similar features to the Intel board while keeping the price as low as possible there is a good chance this could be a great value for someone looking for good features at a great price."





ASUS GeForce GTX 680 ASUS DirectCU II TOP review @ Guru3D.net
Quote: "Big and beefy are the two keywords that describe any DirectCU II product from ASUS. Today they released their GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP. An all customized PCB, extra features, the fastest pre-clock we have seen to date on a GTX 680 and that massive three slot cooler are bound to make the Kepler GPU empowered ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP very interesting.

Kepler my friends is the codename for the architecture behind the GeForce series 600 graphics cards. The GeForce GTX 680 2 GB is a fact and selling in the stores as we speak. The all new product has some interesting new features which we'll happily discuss with you.

The end result is an impressive looking beast, the customized GTX 680 has a big two fan cooler applied to it. And it's not just two fans, the cooler makes the graphics card three slots wide -- eating away a good chunk of space inside your chassis.

The benefits of that big cooler are plentiful though, this is a product that you will not hear whilst retaining really good temperatures, yeah it works pretty darn well in both performance and silence really.

The card's base clock frequency is set higher at default for you, at 1137 MHz with a dynamic turbo that clocks up-to 1267 MHz. ASUS actually advertises 1201 Mhz on the packaging, but yeah 1267 MHz it is. The memory runs stock at 6000 MHz though."



NZXT Switch 810 Review @ APHNetworks.com
Quote: "While a product's success is ultimately determined by the product itself, it all starts off with one thing: The name. As I have discussed in my Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB review last year, what a product is called already
leaves a strong first impression. Being a person in electrical engineering living i
n the province of Alberta, the word "switch" can really be quite meaningful
at this time of the year. For one thing, we are having an election in a few days,
and unless something significant happens between now and April 23rd,
the Wildrose Party is expected to unseatthe Progressive Conservatives --
effectively eliminating its massive forty-one year reign in this province -- forming a new government. Secondly, with final exams rolling up the semester this week (Yes, I really should be studying right now), it is important to keep in mind that, at least for the digital electronics circuit class, transistors are essentially switches on a conceptual level. So whether we are thinking about switching out the government or using what are basically switches to crunch some ones and zeros, where does the NZXT Switch 810 fall into place? Is the not-so-hidden-message of "switch to this chassis to house all your expensive combinations of billions of switches" the right thing to do? Read on to find out!"

Prolimatech Panther CPU Cooler Review @ LegItReviews.com
Quote: "Prolimatech is mainly known for their CPU coolers, but they also make cooling products for almost anything in your PC. They are probably best known for their Megahalems and Super Mega coolers. We all know how well those performed, so we’re anxious to see how the Panther stacks up against other well-known coolers. With the cooler currently priced at $54.99, Prolimatech seems to be aiming this product more toward the enthusiast overclocker.

The Panther is a simple tower style cooler, which can be used with up to two 120mm fans. Although the Panther only comes with one cooling fan, it does come with extra fan clips in case you ever want to add a second. "



MLG Pro Xbox 360 Controller Review @ eTeknix.com
Quote: "Developed in collaboration with MLG Pro Circuit and MadCatz, the MLG Pro Circuit Controller has been designed to meet the ever changing needs of the competitive gamer, with superior build quality, unprecedented customisation options and uncompromising performance all being put into what has to be one of the finest tools of the trade for gamers, pro or not.
MLG gaming is serious business and has covered everything from Halo to Soul Calibur over the years, but this pad should appeal to every gamer and has clear hopes of improving your game no matter what you play, with improved analogue sticks for FPS gaming in titles like Halo, Battlefield and Call of Duty, a choice of improved D-Pads for fans of fighting games and extensive style and customisation options that even cater for the people that just want a cool looking controller.
The MLG Pro Controller was designed and developed through extensive play-testing with both the MLG staff and the MLG pro gamers, both of which have had a say in the final output of this product, ensuring gamers got exactly the controller they wanted, when they wanted it. So this week I have been gaming my little heart out with MLG Pro on both PC and Xbox to see just how much of a game changer this controller really is, lets take a look at how I got along with this £90 beast at my disposal, is it really worth over twice as much as a standard Xbox controller and does the performance match the over size price tag?"



Review of HIS Radeon HD 7850 2GB PCIE Video Card Review @ Testfreaks.com
Quote: Today I’ve got a rather large review for you with a lot to cover. Today for review I’ve got the HIS Radeon 7850 video card and I’ve put it through it’s paces thoroughly including gaming, Eyefinity and overclocking. HIS has also just came out with a new software program called iTurbo that can help you adjust many of your video card settings including the fan and overclocking. When all was said and done I have to say that I’m very much impressed with what this card can do and I think you will be as well. So read on…
The box for the HIS 7850 is very similar to that of the HIS 7770 that I just reviewed, it’s got the big sword on it with specs and features listed, but it’s a bigger box."



GeIL Black Dragon PC3-17000 2133MHz C10 16GB Memory Kit Review @ MadShrimps.be
Quote: "For years, the DDR2 Black Dragon gaming memory has been one of the most popular choice of memories when it comes to PC gaming and GeIL remains active in the gaming communities. Now GeIL is proud to announce the return of the Black Dragon Gaming Memory Series in DDR3 form. Like its' predecessor, the DDR3 Black Dragon utilize dynamically tested IC for performance, customized 8-layer Black Dragon PCB for low power noise and DBT (Die-hard Burn-in Technology) tested modules for maximum reliability, the DDR3 Black Dragon is the choice when it comes to hardcore PC gaming.

Spire Epoxi Rev 2 Full Tower Review @ Pro-Clockers.com
Quote: "It has been awhile since we last had a Spire product in the lab. In the past we have seen their CPU coolers and power supplies test pretty well. But now we are testing our first Spire case. The case is the Epoxi Rev 2.

The Epoxi is a full tower aimed at individuals wanting to stuff they PC with all the newest technology or wanting to cool their PC by the means of water-cooling. If you can afford to do both we aren’t mad at you. The Epoxi I can tell you is one sturdy case, very solid and very well built. Built using .8 SECC metal you can see tell why the case is heavy as it is. But is the weight and size enough to want to invest the money in it? We will put it on the bench and find out."



Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Plus Heatsink Review @ FrostyTech.com
Quote: "With the release of AMD's socket FM1 Fusion A8-3850 processors late last year there's been a growing need for inexpensive yet relatively quiet CPU coolers of moderate power. The 'Llano' processor only has a 100W TDP and costs just over $120 bucks, so expensive tower heatpipe coolers can be a little bit of an overkill. Arctic Cooling's Alpine 64 Plus heatsink is one economical option to consider; it's rated for 100W and stands 70mm tall so it fits in most media PC cases with ease.

The Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Plus is well suited towards mainstream CPUs that don't exceed 100W TDP provided it's fan is run at full speed. Frostytech pushed the test scenario a little further than that as our AMD synthetic test platform is applies a 125W heat load.

The Alpine 64 Plus is a mainstream extruded aluminum heatsink that features the companies signature lower noise fan. The heatsink is constructed from a simple aluminum extrusion and is compatible with socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/FM1 AMD processors. Intel processors are not supported at all. Because it lacks any copper, weight is a modest 430 grams. The PWM compliant 95mm fan can be adjusted from 2000RPM to 600RPM as thermal needs change. Standing 69mm tall, the Alpine 64 Plus is suitable for media PCs and other sub-tower computer formats where lower noise processor cooling is desired. The heatsink ships with a patch of good quality thermal compound pre-applied to the base and nothing else."



MSI Radeon HD 7770 Power Edition 1GB Overclocked Video Card Review @ TweakTown.com
Quote: "AMD's Radeon HD 7700 series hasn't been a series that we've welcomed with open arms. Priced highly against the Radeon HD 6800 series which continued to flood the market and performance that sat behind it meant that the HD 7700 series just never got us all that excited from a value for money point of view and that's a big deal.


It wasn't until we saw the Sapphire HD 7750 Ultimate that we found ourselves getting a little excited about the model thanks to the custom passive cooler that Sapphire had implemented. Outside of that model, though, the HD 7700 series wasn't doing much for us.

Today, though, we hope that is going to change with the MSI HD 7770 Power Edition video card. Straight away the HD 7770 Power Edition has two things going for it. The first is it is part of the Power Edition series, a series that brings with it added voltage options which in turn normally help boost overall overclocking performance by a fair margin."




Gigabyte HD 7950 WindForce & MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Review @ HardwareCanucks.com
Quote:"Since the HD 7950 was launched several months ago, we have seen AMD’s top to bottom HD 7000-series take shape and gradually morph into a great looking lineup that offers something for everyone. The most recent introduction was the HD 7870 and HD 7850 pairing which succeeded in hitting all of the high points in two very competitive prices. Unfortunately, the momentum was taken out of AMD’s sails when the GTX 680 launched at a lower than expected price,

The advent of Kepler left some of the board partners out in the cold since their custom HD 7950 cards tended to carry a premium on top of the already hefty $449 reference price. That has changed over the last week since the HD 7950 has received a cut from its somewhat lofty price tag to a more modest $399. Not only does this change make it all that much more affordable but any down-market movement could also put some pressure upon NVIDIA’s inevitable lineup additions.

In light of these changes, we thought it was a good time to look at a few more HD 7950 cards since they are now more affordable than ever. For this review, we’ve chosen the MSI Twin Frozr III version and Gigabyte’s Windforce 3X."

Fractal Design System Cases @ XBitLabs.com
Quote: "Fractal Design system cases seem to be targeted at gamers. They are large, have a lot of preinstalled fans and provide a lot of places to put more fans into. Today we’ll examine both seriously-looking products with a front door and conventional gaming solutions with a meshed façade. System cases of these kinds are widely available on the market and come in many shapes and colors to suite everyone’s taste, so it takes something special to stand out among competitors."



Apacer Performance RAM Roundup @ TBreak.com
Quote: "Apacer is a brand that’s been around for a while, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of them before. They’re a company focused solely on storage products, which encompasses memory modules (desktop and laptop), USB and flash storage as well as SSDs. Today, though, we’ll be looking at three of their memory modules recently introduced into the market."




Deepcool Gamer Storm Dracula Review @ PureOverclock.com
Quote: "Deepcool is a rather new company, specializing in cooling solutions for your system components, primarily air cooling with heasinks and fans. Looking to build upon their CPU heatsink lineup, they have the Dracula, an utter beast of a graphics card cooler, sporting a ton of fins, heatpipe technology, and a massive size. It's part of their Gamer Storm product line, geared to, you guessed it, gamers.
And the Dracula is certainly no exception, as it looks to offer big cooling. It's definitely a big heatsink, and comes with a rather big price tag as well, so it'll be interesting to see if the trend holds up in the performance department. "



HIS HD7770 iCooler 1GB Review @ OverclockersOnline.net
Quote: "HIS gave the iCooler treatment to the 7750, and now I have the 7770 iCooler GHz Edition in hand. Upping the stream processors to 640 from 512 and 40 texture units from 32 are just some of the differences between the two models. Read on as we take the 7770 iCooler GHz addition for a spin.

Packaging has the familiar sword dominating the front. It is clearly marked as a GHz edition which refers to the core clock running at 1000MHz on the 7770. Other specs and features round out the rest of the packaging."

BitFenix Raider Mid-Tower Case Review @ BCCHardware.com
Quote: "Today we have a mid-tower chassis from BitFenix. The Raider is their latest offering. BitFenix manufactures accessories (case fans and adapters), Premium modding (Alchemy Cables) and last but not least mid and full size computer cases. This is my first case from BitFenix; let's see how it stacks up.

BitFenix is focused on combining superior design with the latest technology. For more about BitFenix, click here.

As we get started, you can see that the Raider comes in the standard brown cardboard box with minimal graphics and is packed with the usual Styrofoam inserts. Once we get it out of the plastic bag we can check it out more thoroughly."



ASUS ZENBOOK UX31E Ultrabook Review @ LegitReviews.com
Quote: "What is an Ultrabook? The term is being heavily promoted right now by Intel and the company has made it the focus of their largest marketing campaign since 2003. We've certainly noticed more TV commercials focused on Ultrabooks, so we felt compelled to get our hands on one of these fancy new gizmos to see what it's all about. These Intel-inspired Ultrabook systems are said to be ushering in a new era of computing and making everything else seem like ancient history, so this aught to be real interesting."



Airlive N.Plug One Touch Wireless Repeater Review @ NikkTech.com
Quote: "Although I’ve always preferred wired connections over wireless ones (mainly because of security issues) i can't deny that i have used Wi-Fi wireless points numerous times while on the go with my smartphone mostly. However regardless of how much practical wireless networks are they do have certain drawbacks and so aside the already mentioned security ones which can prove quite bad for people working with sensitive data signal range and quality are also two issues that can't really be ignored. Many manufacturers have tried to partially correct that issue by adding more antennas onto their wireless modem/routers and there have also been quite a few improvements in wireless standards during the past decade (from 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, to the latest 802.11n) but unfortunately signal range is still an important issue. Repeaters (also known as extenders) like the N.Plug One Touch Wireless Repeater by Airlive which we have here with us today have been around for many years and aim to boost the signal strength (range) of any Wi-Fi enabled modem/router without much effort.

The manufacturer of AirLive products, OvisLink Corp. was founded in 1993 in Taiwan by a group of industrial experts who set out to provide the best combination of quality, service, technology and value in the industry. Today, OvisLink Corp. is an international corporation, total networking solution provider with over 200 products and with hundreds of distributors around the world. Their industry technology leadership is indisputable since OvisLink Corp. was the first company in Taiwan to introduce Fast-Ethernet NICs and Switches when IEEE 802.3u standard was established in 1996. Moreover, OvisLink Corp. entered the WLAN market in 2001 with the AirLive™ series and became the major provider of wireless solutions. In 2004, the WMU-9000VPN multimedia router won the Best of Computex award for its excellent multi-function capability. When you choose OvisLink Corp. as a partner, you can be sure that they will provide you with the latest innovative solutions. AirLive™ is a brand providing Innovation, Solutions, Reliability and Technology. AirLive’s R&D department continuously focuses its efforts on developing the right products including AirLive™ WISP and Outdoor solutions, AirLive™ SMB and Security solutions and AirLive™ Small Office and Home products. These products represent brilliant value for enterprises, business professionals, Internet Service Providers, small businesses and consumers because of their outstanding price/performance ratio."



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

Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro C1 Dual Tower CPU Cooler Review @ eTeknix.com
Quote: "Be Quiet! are making a large push in the cooling market by carrying over the experience that they have gained in other areas to unlock a pathway to success. We recently took a look at their premier fan series, the Silent Wings 2/Dark Wings series and were thoroughly impressed by them, especially the acoustic results. Can the pinnacle of their CPU cooler line-up, the Dark Rock Pro C1, live up to the high expectations set by their impressive fans?
Be Quiet! employ a dual tower heatsink with a pair of 120mm fans. 7 6mm copper heatpipes combine with a nickel-plated base to extract the heat produced by a CPU. Dark nickel plating is used for both the heatpipes and base giving them an enthusiast-black appearance. Heat-conduction voids are filled by the utilisation of Shin-Etsu’s high quality X-23-7762 thermal paste. A pair of Be Quiet!’s 120mm Silent Wings PWM fans which operate at 1,700 RPM provide airflow for the heat to be dissipated from the 44 aluminium fins in each tower. One of the more unique additions is the full-aluminium cover which connects both towers together providing them with extra stability. This removable cover also doubles up as an appearance-enhancing feature to an alreay attractive CPU cooler."



PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card Review @ CircuitRemix.com
Quote: "As many of you are probably already aware, AMD released their mainstream enthusiast GPU offering, Pitcairn, a little over a month ago. Better known as the Radeon HD 7800 series, the two models making up this mainstream class are the 7850 and 7870. By nature, qualities of the mainstream enthusiast class consist of a good balance between high image quality and value pricing. With Pitcairn, this translates generally translates to maxed out (or close to it) image quality in games at HD 1080p resolution, with a launch price tag between $250-350. Now that we're past the initial wow of the paper launch and products actually widely available to buy, we're taking a look at the cheapest Pitcairn offering we could find. That happens to be PowerColor's Radeon HD 7850 2GB video card.

It's a basic no frills 7850 that comes with AMD's reference cooler, stock clock speeds, and not much extra in the box. But its main selling point is its low price. Selling for $230, it's almost 10% cheaper than AMD's suggested retail price."



Sapphire Pure Black X79N Review @ NeoSeeker.com
Quote: "When it comes to motherboards (or any product, really) in the enthusiast market, the consumer expects only the best and don’t mind paying a premium to get it. This means the motherboards in this range must include a wide range of features, have best-in-class performance along with a host of overclocking functions and be built of the highest quality components. The latest motherboard to enter our labs is the Sapphire Pure Black X79N, which fits into the enthusiast market in both features and pricing.

The Sapphire Pure Black X79N is a $499 motherboard, making it one of the most expensive products based on the Intel X79 platform. However, to ensure the board is worth the premium Sapphire has packed this thing with features that include six PCIe x16 slots, Bluetooth support, dual Gigabit LAN ports, USB 3.0 and eight SATA ports, four of which utilize the SATA 6Gbs standard. In addition, the Sapphire Pure Black X79N is built exclusively with high quality components. Throughout the motherboard, Sapphire has included all solid Japanese Polymer capacitors, Diamond core chokes and 30µ gold plating for better contact."



OCZ Fatal1ty 1000W Review @ PureOverclock.com
Quote: "OCZ is a name synonymous with all memory products including SSDs, which says a great deal for the company considering it was only founded in 2002, and is still considered a fledgling amongst some of the other manufacturers. OCZ has been manufacturing more than just memory modules for quite some time now, as they have dabbled in many areas of the computer industry, from computer cooling solutions like water blocks, pumps, and thermal paste, right down to power supplies and keyboards.
Power supplies are one area that OCZ has continued with success, and today we're looking at the Fatal1ty 1000W unit. Named for the 12-time world champion Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, this power supply is of one of OCZ's latest namesake products. "

Gigabyte GA-7PESH1 Dual Socket LGA2011 Motherboard Preview @ OCAholic.ch
Quote: "Instead of an enthusiast motherboard, this time we will look at a workstation motherboard. Meanwhile it is not a entry level motherboard, Gigabyte provided us with their latest high end motherboard which features up to 128 GB of DDR3 memory running at 1600 MHz, two 8 core / 16 threads processor, a high end LSI SAS controller and more. Here we provide you a little preview before we put the full review online.

On the following pages we're going to introduce you to the latest dual socket motherboard from Gigabyte that supports the latest and fastests octocore Xeon E5-2600 series from Intel. "



Crucial m4 256 GB / Micron RealSSD C400 256 GB SATA3 2.5" SSD Review with Firmware 000F @ OCInside.de
Quote: "Most readers already know our review of the Crucial m4 SSD with the first firmware version, which we provided several months ago.
In the meantime Crucial and Micron worked hard to publish some firmware updates for their m4/C400 series, which is at present available with a capacity of 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, up to 512 GB.
Today we have tested the latest Crucial SSD firmware more detailed, in order to evaluate the Crucial m4 SSD again with at present most current firmware version 000F.
The firmware version 000F is published on 11th April 2012 and is interesting not only for new buyers of the Crucial m4 SSD, but of course also for all users, which already bought a Crucial m4 SSD for their PC or Mac.
We offer several benchmark comparisons of the new m4 firmware 000F with the previous firmware versions 0002 and 0309 in order to see, if the firmware update is worth for the current Crucial m4 64GB, 128GB, 256GB or 512GB SSD."



Corsair Carbide Series 300R Mid-Tower Case Review @ TweakTown.com
Quote: "One of the first parties we got to go to during the week of CES was with Corsair. At that party slash meeting before the libations started flowing, we all had an introduction from Robert and he handed over things to the new chassis Corsair has in the works for this year. There were a couple of chassis concepts that were almost ready for market, but still had a few minor things to work out with them before they went retail with the designs. That was until just recently when there was a pair of cases that arrived at my door. It seems Corsair is ready to deliver the chassis and I am more than willing to bring you yet another product from Corsair.

On one side of the coin for the designs of that pair was something I didn't think Corsair was going to do when the rush of cases came out in the Obsidian, Graphite and Carbide series of chassis designs. That was to strip it down of all the things that get in the way or caused headaches and deliver a Carbide series case that is very affordable for all of those who liked their designs, but weren't willing to fork over what a chassis like the 800D demands. At this point you are probably thinking what about the 400R and to that I will say this. The new design isn't as aggressive, doesn't have the bulge at the top and while being thought of a chassis that has only what you need to get the components into the chassis and deliver a clean looking build, this new submission has a style all its own and it's really not bad to look at."



Xigmatek Prime vs. Three Thermalright Coolers @ XBitLabs.com
Quote: "The Taiwan-headquartered Xigmatek doesn’t release new cooling systems too often and doesn’t offer any indisputable super-coolers at this time, although at some point its CPU coolers used to be close to the leading solutions, if not among them. Right now, Xigmatek supplies a wide range of products including system cases of different form-factors, various power supply units and peripherals and, fortunately, hasn’t abandoned the market it started its business from back in 2005. It keeps on producing coolers, fans and thermal interface materials.

The Colosseum, Venus and Prime seem to be the most interesting of its recent products. We’ve got the latter model for us to test and will compare it with as many as three coolers from Thermalright which are very similar to each other."

NZXT Havik 120 CPU Cooler Review @ Pro-Clockers.com
Quote: "Recently, we got a chance to test the NZXT Havik CPU cooler that did pretty well on our P67 test bench. The cooler was able to be fitted with either 140mm or 120mm cooling fans. Because of the dual fan configuration noise was kept at a minimum while performance was set to a higher standard.

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



Palit GeForce GTX 680 JetStream review @ Guru3D.com
Quote: "Recently NVIDIA released the GeForce GTX 680, their all new flagship graphics card. Meanwhile we have shown you the reference review, 2-way, heck even 3-way SLI articles and an overclocking tweaking guide just on this one product.
It's now April though and NVIDIA's partners have had some time to tailor the cards, that's right customize them. Today that honor goes to Palit, which has a new and rather sizable card armed with one spicy Kepler chip out in the stores.
Kepler my friends is the codename for the architecture behind the GeForce series 600 graphics cards. The GeForce GTX 680 2 GB is now a fact and selling in the stores as we speak. The all new product has some interesting new features which we'll happily discuss with you -- obviously the GeForce GTX 680 is positioned against AMD's Radeon HD 7970 so we'll pit them against each other.
So customized GeForce GTX 680 cards are already being released. Palit has a special offering for you to purchase as well, a JetStream edition graphics card. Basically they developed the PCB and started fine-tuning it compared to the reference design.
The end result is an impressive looking beast, the customized GTX 680 has a big three fan cooler attached to it. And it's not just three fans, it's also three slots wide -- eating away a good chunk of space inside the chassis.
The benefits of that big cooler are plentiful though, this is a card you will not hear whilst retaining really good temperatures, yeah it works pretty darn well in both performance and silence."



STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC PERIPHERALS Review @ Bjorn3D.com
Quote: "Way back in October of 2008, we read a feature in Game Informer Magazine on a new Bioware MMORPG entitled Star Wars: The Old Republic and have been absolutely hooked to the idea ever since. We followed every step of the very community-involved development cycle of the game and even attended a few trade shows that the game was being shown at such as PAX East 2011 and E3 2011.

E3 2011 was the first actual opportunity we had to play the game. Another interesting feature at E3 2011 was the Razer booth that had Star Wars: The Old Republic-branded peripherals under a glass case.

Today we'll be taking a look at three of the four Star Wars-branded Razer peripherals: the Naga-variant mouse, the double-sided mousepad, and the lightshow headset."



CM Storm Xornet Gaming Mouse Review @ TechReaction.net
Quote: "Gooooooood morning gamers! Once again we bring to you a review of another product from Cooler Master’s gaming division, CM Storm. Introducing the Xornet Gaming Mouse. Now if you have been a loyal follower of Techreaction.net you’d know that over the past few months we have reviewed quite a few products from CM Storm, and to date they have not disappointed.

The Xornet is being totted as a gaming mouse for pro FPS gamers. Below is an excerpt of the product description from CM Storm’s own site:

A Pure Gaming Experience
The Xornet gaming mouse is lightweight, ergonomically designed and forged with a reassuringly solid design. It is built for professional FPS gamers that prefer a claw grip. Engineered to execute precise in-game tactics, Xornet comes loaded with a high-performance 2000 DPI sensor that includes on-the-fly adjustment, an ultra-step wheel encoder – providing extremely accurate scrolling, and Japanese-made Omron micro-switches that are meant to endure up to five million clicks. Presented in a eye-catching crimson stealth black high-gloss finish, Xornet lends its truly breathtaking appeal as the focal point of a gamer’s setup.

Let’s see if CM Storm is on point with their claims, or the Xonet will be the first CM Storm product not to put a smile on our faces."

PRESS RELEASE - iPhone 4 accessory range from Sandberg
Sandberg has taken the plunge into the standard iPhone 4 accessories market and now presents frames, cases and a car holder.

It’s important to protect your iPhone. A back cover, whether in neutral or a more vibrant colour will protect your iPhone. If you think covering the back altogether is a bit too much, you might prefer a frame. And remember to secure your iPhone in the car. The ideal solution is Sandberg’s holder, which also allows you to twist your iPhone and keep it in whatever position you want.

Anders Partida Petersen, Product Manager at Sandberg A/S, says of the new products: “It’s a good idea to protect your belongings and our new products give you good quality protection at very reasonable prices. All Sandberg products include a five-year warranty, which is probably longer than it will take you before you upgrade your iPhone to the next model.”

ARCTIC Accelero S1 PLus + Turbo Module Review @ OCAholic.ch
Quote: "With the Accelero S1 Plus, ARCTIC has a passive cooler for graphics cards in their portfolio that features a big dissipation area and the possibility to cool a card fanless. Furthermore we didn't test it only in passive mode but also in active aircooling mode thanks to the upgrade kit, namely the S1 Plus Turbo Module.

On the following pages we will show you what the Accelero S1 Plus and the S1 Plus Turbo Module from ARCTIC are capable of."




VisionTek Ultimate Performance PC3-17000 Memory Review @ Neoseeker.com
Quote: "VisionTek has only been a player in the memory market for a short time, but in this brief period their products have racked up multiple awards, including Neoseeker's own Recommended award. That's because the products offered by VisionTek rival those from manufacturers who have been in the market for years by offering excellent performance and pricing, along with a full lifetime warranty.

The latest VisionTek product to enter our labs is a quad-channel kit of DDR3 memory. Unlike the other kits we looked at before which were part of the Black Label series, the kit we just received fits into their Red Label series. VisionTek’s Red Label memory modules are equipped with high efficiency extruded aluminum heatsinks, and premium grade memory chips making them ideal for workstations as well as high-end gaming rigs. Additionally, each VisionTek memory module goes through rigorous burn-in testing to ensure they are able to meet the demands of high-end users users and gamers alike."



OCZ Fatal1ty 1000W Modular PSU Review @ FunkyKit.com
Quote: "We're back with another Fatal1ty product! This one is a power supply rather than a motherboard of course, but it's the same guy that signed off on it!

Fatal1ty was one of the first gamers to take things to the next level and go pro. I'm not entirely certainly what he does beyond media appearances and signing PSUs and motherboards these days, but regardless of that the general idea is that the stuff he endorses are the best computer bits you can get. The last Fatal1ty part I tested was certainly good!"

NZXT Switch 810 Hybrid Full-Tower Case Review @ HiTechLegion.com
Quote: "The personal computer industry has come a long way from the old beige box. With great strides in hardware over the last twenty years, we have seen improvements in all facets of the computer industry. From the old 90nm single core processors and old, antiquated GPUs, we have seen a shift to faster, more power efficient products. This shift hasn't only been relegated to these certain types of hardware, but we have also seen a shift in the industry as whole, with companies like NZXT that make a large portion of third party products, like chassis, power cable accessories, fans, fan controllers and the list goes on. It's these products that have determined what is, or what is becoming, today's trends for the consumer. Third party products, such as cases, have become sort of like a fashion show, we see what all these different companies are offering and sit back in wonder and admire what is being walked down the runway."



Intel Z77 Express Chipset Review @ XBitLabs.com
Quote: "New seventh series chipsets can’t boast too many innovations, however, their launch is accompanied by the introduction of a number of interesting technologies: Rapid Start, Smart Connect and Lucid Logix MVP. To get a better idea of all the features and functionality of the new platform we tested one of the first Intel Z77 based mainboards – Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe.

There is a tick-tock rule in the CPU world: we get a new CPU microarchitecture and thinner tech process over a 2-year cycle, but not at the same moment. Intel has been following this rule, together with Moore's law, for the last few years. It’s no secret that, according to this rule, we'll get the new Ivy Bridge processor family in the near future. It will have the same microarchitecture as the previous family but implemented on 22nm production process."



ZOTAC ZBOX Nano XS AD11 Plus Review @ Vortez.net
Quote: "ZOTAC ZBOX's are tailor-made to provide consumers with small form-factor, low-noise and low power requirement systems. ZBOX's are available in both barebones - without memory and storage drive - and full systems (denoted as Plus variants) with either AMD, Intel or VIA chipsets for a range of applications. Whilst a common use has been as Home Theatre PCs dedicated to media playback, the increasing capabilities of small form factor systems has seen them propelled to the status of fully fledged general use PCs.

Reviewed today is the brand new ZBOX nano XS AD11 Plus, an evolution of the AD10 sporting a dual-core AMD E-450 APU running at 1.65GHz with HD6320 Graphics and supporting memory speeds of up-to DDR3-1333. The AD11 Plus is also the first of the ZOTAC nano series to include a 64GB SSD as standard, eliminating both HDD access speeds as a system bottleneck and mechanical HDD noise. Further augmenting the Plus package are 2GB DDR3-1333 RAM, WiFi and Infra Red Remote Control... have ZOTAC thought of everything?"



Enermax KW001 Briskie Keyboard mouse combo review @ Guru3D.com
Quote: "Keyboard kits come in all sizes, shapes and forms .. and that's next to a gazillion of manufacturers that offers them. Surprisingly enough a few weeks ago Enermax, the guys behind the best power supplies and the brightest fans also launched a keyboard/mouse combo.

Okay it's not 'that' new for them as we have tested their media-keyboards in the pas as well however the new Briskie series.

Briskie is all about value and as such for 25 USD/EUR you get a mouse and what we think is a very decent keyboard.

It's doesn't stop there Dave, for the “Briskie” bundle, you are not only receiving a keyboard, a mouse but also a mouse pad that can act as a screen protector and cleaning.

Yup, the mouse pad is made of a washable anti-bacterial micro fiber cloth with a non-skid natural rubber base (it has a value of $16 / 11.77 Euro) but is included complimentary. All amazing discovery puns aside, for the say 25 bucks you do get a 2.4 GHz wireless keyboard with mouse (with similar wireless receiver) as well. The keyboard comes with a two-level height adjustment, a palm rest and a 10 million keystroke lifespan, plus a spill-resistant construction."

NZXT Switch 810 Full Tower Case Review @ ThinkComputers.org
Quote: "We have seen so many full tower cases. This is to accommodate the larger XL-ATX motherboards that we have been seeing lately and just to have the extra room for large liquid cooling setups. One of the most impressive cases we saw this year at CES was the Switch 810 from NZXT. NZXT really took their time designing this case to give you so many different cooling options as well as adding features that are just not on other cases. The case comes equipped with four 140mm cooling fans, room for up to 7 hard drives, support for XL-ATX motherboards, USB 3.0 support and much more. So let’s just jump right in and take a look."





ASUS HD 7850 Direct CUII Review @ TBreak.com
Quote: "The ASUS HD 7800 series launched early last month, and the HD 7870 left us quiet impressed. Now it’s time to see if the little brother in the series has enough chops for big league. And so today I’ll be looking at the ASUS HD 7850 Direct CUII graphics card which comes with a bigger heatsink and higher clock speeds than reference AMD design.

The Direct CUII heatsink is a well known name amongst PC enthusiasts as it represents ASUS’s best and biggest heatsink for their graphics card. PCB designs are also custom; usually smaller than reference designs, so that the heatsink has the maximum possible effect on the entire card.

Now usually Direct CUII heatsinks are found on flagship cards, such as the HD 7900 series, where the heatsinks are so big that we usually end up with a 3-slot card instead of the usual 2-slots. In the case of the HD 7850, however, we have a simple 2-slot solution. The 28nm Pitcairn chipset runs fairly cool, so it stands to reason that we don’t need an extraordinarily large heatsink.



HP Folio 13 Ultrabook Review @ Techspot.com
Quote: "Announced last year as an effort to bolster notebook sales amidst tablet fever, Intel's ultrabook initiative is well underway with no less than a dozen machines vying to be your new companion -- some more effectively than others. Vendors such as LG have unveiled highly competent ultrathins that rival Apple's MacBook Air in terms of raw specs, but they also fail to meet one of Intel's guiding tenets by exceeding the sub-$1,000 price point.

There are only so many people willing to spend $1,300+ on a finger-thick machine, and many of them are already loyal Apple customers. The reality is, the average consumer wants to believe they're buying a premium product, but they don't necessarily want to pay premium prices. It's a tough nut to crack and most PC makers have failed when it comes to ultrathin notebooks, whether by charging too much or cutting too many corners.



BIOSTAR Launches TZ77XE3 Intel Z77 chipset for Ivy Bridge motherboard @ OCWorkbench.com
Quote: "BIOSTAR MICROTECH INT’L CORP., BIOSTAR Group, famous for high performance motherboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and computer peripherals, has launched the new TZ77XE3 motherboard based on the new Intel Z77 chipset. This motherboard supports Intel’s 3rd and 2nd generation Core i7 and Core i5 processors based on the socket 1155. It supports up to 32 GB of DDR3 memory in its four slots that features data transfer rates of DDR3 2000, the processor support 2 memory channels and setting the memory multiplier, allows selection of the channel speed. These clearly uplift the band width and boost the overall system performance. The board looks stylish with its black PCB and massive copper heatsinks with contrasting colour."

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

Focused on combining superior design with the latest advances in technology, BitFenix creates state-of-the-art computer hardware and peripherals that blur the line between man and machine. Users shouldn't have to adjust themselves to the way their hardware works. So, we strive to put the user in complete control of his hardware, so that it functions as an extension of his will, and not as another variable he has to compensate for. In the heat of battle, the user should not have to worry about the state of his equipment, which is why BitFenix products are engineered to perform under even the most extreme conditions. No matter how taxing the situation, users can rely on the strength of BitFenix products to perform as they are intended. Finally, BitFenix is about performance. In the top levels of competition, the difference between first and second place can be razor-thin, which means that every advantage counts. BitFenix is about making high-performing products that give users an edge. BitFenix is the result of the collaboration of several veterans in both the technology and gaming industries. From the same minds behind some of technology’s most venerable products, our goal is to create products that grant the user the utmost control, strength, and performance to complete their computing tasks. We understand that some of the most innovative and novel concepts come from the community itself, which is why we take great steps to listen to the needs of our users and develop optimal ways to integrate their ideas into our products. By working closely with the global community, BitFenix is able to engineer solutions that directly address the needs of our users. Combining a deep understanding of gaming and other high-demand computing applications with superior engineering and design know-how, the BitFenix team is dedicated to creating the go-to computing products and peripherals for those who refuse to quit.



Raidmax RX-600AF Power Supply Review @ DreamWareComputers.org
Quote: "Although Raidmax is best known for their edgy looking gaming cases, they also have a humble power supply lineup as well. Ranging from entry level models right up to 80PLUS Gold high efficiency models, their power supply lineup is sure to have a model to fit your needs without breaking the bank. Today I have one of their latest models, the RX-600AF, on my test bench to put through it's paces.
The RX-600AF is a 600W, non-modular power supply that will only cost you about $59.99 CDN. A price point like this puts the RX-600AF on a teetering point between being a high end entry level unit or a lower end mainstream unit. The RX-600AF may lack some features associated with higher end supplies, but for the PC builder on a budget or who doesn't want to pay for unnecessary features, this may end up being a great supply to consider."



Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti Graphics Card Review @ OCIA.net
Quote: "During the 2012 CES I started piecing together components for an X79 build to replace my P67/Z68 test rig. I say during because I picked up several components for the build while at the show thanks to some gracious sponsors and the luck of the draw during some party raffles. Once I settled in back at home, I gathered the remaining components needed for the build, save for a couple of items that played hard to get. Cooler Master agreed to send over their new Cosmos II chassis but it was the CPU that ultimately held up the entire process for several weeks. You see, Intel's Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E was a hot commodity up until just a few weeks ago and was sold out everywhere except eBay. I ended up biting the bullet and paying well over retail for the chip, but I couldn't afford to waste any more time waiting for it to come back in stock at retail.



The GeForce GTX 560 & Radeon HD 6870 at $150 @ CircuitRemix.com
Quote: In the current video card market, all eyes are on the Radeon HD 7000 series and the GeForce GTX 600 series. They are the latest and greatest series of GPUs from AMD and nVidia respectively. And they both have great offerings with the high end Radeon HD 7970 and the GeForce GTX 680. Right now, AMD has offerings from the Radeon HD 7000 series that extend from low to high price points, and the same thing will happen with nVidia in the near future. Now that new generations of GPUs have been released, it's out with the old.

During this time of transition between generations, there is a sweet spot in the mainstream video card market at around the $150 price point ...and it features cards based on the Radeon HD 6870 and the GeForce GTX 560. While I haven't reviewed AMD's current flagship mainstream offering, the Radeon HD 7770, I've been keeping track of articles and reviews on the websites of our colleagues. What I've generally found is that the 7770 is consistently slower than both the 6870 and GTX 560, and it's also a bit more expensive."

Cooler Master TPC 812 Vertical Vapor Chamber CPU Cooler Review @ Pro-Clockers.com
Quote: "It seems like the latest rash of CPU coolers we have reviewed wasn’t about out doing the competition to cool your CPU to its lowest level. But it was more to be quiet, more efficient, to be a smaller footprint or just cost cheaper. To many and me included believe that cooling performance can’t get much better.

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



NZXT HAVIK 120 Review @ APHNetworks.com
Quote: "When I read the name HAVIK, I find myself having a difficult time trusting it to keep my CPU cool. I mean, with a name like along those lines, you would think it is going to wreak havoc up your CPU. Fortunately, the NZXT HAVIK 140 proved to be a fairly respectable cooler, but the real question we are about to find out is if the younger brother, the HAVIK 120, is able to fill its brother's shoes -- even though it only has 120mm fans. Of course, it is always foolish to base a product's quality just because of the name, but at first glance, you can see it is not very different. Just an analogy in real life -- if you look at two brothers, you would probably be saying the same thing, haha. Now, I'm not trying to be sexist, so I guess you could call them sisters if you really want to go all feminist on me. However, for the sake of this review and simply because I am male, these are brothers in arms ready to help you wreak havoc upon your enemies in games. Now I don't know about you, but if you happen to be in my situation, that particular game would be League of Legend -- a game that seems to have been taking up more of my spare time than I would like to admit, but rest be assured, it helped with testing. Anyways, enough chatting about games, I think it is time to let us take a look at what kind of havoc we can wreak with the NZXT HAVIK 120."



Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 OC edition review @ Guru3D.com
Quote: "It has been a fairly short time ever since GeForce GTX 680 was released by NVIDIA. Meanwhile we have shown you the reference review, 2-way, heck even 3-way SLI articles and an overclocking tweaking guide just on this one product.

It's now half April though and NVIDIA's partners have had some time to pimp the cards, that's right customize them. Today that honor goes to Gigabyte.

Kepler my friends is the codename for the architecture behind the GeForce series 600 graphics cards. The GeForce GTX 680 2 GB is a fact and selling in the stores as we speak. The all new product has some interesting new features which we'll happily discuss with you -- obviously the GeForce GTX 680 is positioned against AMD's Radeon HD 7970 so we'll pit it against each other.

So the first real customized GeForce GTX 680 has been released. Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 680 OC (WindForce) edition comes with a custom made PCB that is armed with Gigabyte's durable component selection. Cooling will be based on the latest model of their three fan WindForce cooler, which I can say works pretty darn well in both performance and silence. you'll spot two power connectors consist out of a 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe PEG connector giving the card a little extra breathing room for overclocking.

The card's base clock frequency is set at 1071 MHz while the memory runs stock. Anyway, have a quick peek at the product after which we'll dive into the GPU architecture, photo shoot, benchmarks and on an on ... next page please."



Asus Maximus V Gene (Z77) Motherboard Sandy Bridge Review @ eTeknix.com
Quote: "As I’m sure you will know, we at eTeknix love Asus motherboards and that is why we use them for all our component testing purposes. Now that Z77 is here, they have a whole new lineup of motherboards with the new chipset to support the up and coming 3rd Generation processors from Intel. Unfortunately though we cannot release any information on these until a later date, however this is not to mean that we can’t test and release performance figures with the board based on the 2nd generation Sandy bridge processors.
Sandy Bridge has been around for a while now and when released, it took the processor market by storm and has become one of the most popular processors available on the market today.
As the technology moves on and at an incredible pace, everyone has been seeing and hearing about Intel’s new line of 3rd generation processors. But what is a new processor with out a new line of boards? Without these it would be nothing and when we can, we will get around to showing you exactly what is in store, but until then, you’ll have to keep checking back for more. Until then, Intel will be releasing thir new chipset which supports the new processors prior to then and what is key is that the boards will not only support the 3rd generation CPUs, but also the 2nd generation Sandy Bridge processors."

Silverstone KL04 Mid Tower Case Review @ DreamwareComputers.org
Quote: "Silverstone's Kublai series of cases first hit the market nearly five years ago in 2007. The aim of the Kublai series was to give the user a well built and great looking case at a price a little lower than Silverstone's flagship Temjin series. Back when it was first released, the Kublai series lacked little touches like thumbscrews or painted interiors, but still offered things like hot-swap drive bays and high quality aluminum bezels. I actually reviewed the KL01 case shortly after it's release - a case which later housed one of my personal systems for over two years. However, Silverstone has let the Kublai series collect dust for the last four years with no new releases since the KL03 came out in 2008.
Looking to breathe new life into this mid-end case series, Silverstone has recently released the KL04 case. The KL04 is actually based off the same chassis design as the more expensive TJ04-E - something we also saw them do with the TJ08-E and PS07 mATX cases. I have the KL04 here today and am excited to see what Silverstone has done with this series."



ARCTIC Freezer Extreme Rev. 2 CPU Cooler Review @ Vortez.net
Quote: "ARCTIC are no stranger to the world of cooling, being pioneers in the field and having served enthusiasts for more than 10 years. If the name hadn’t already implied their roots, their origin started with cooling but their recent diversification into new product lines, including peripherals and speakers, has seen ARCTIC COOLING become a subset under the ARCTIC brand umbrella. One would hope that such a move hasn’t changed their focus from what they do best and today we find out if that is the case or not. For review today, we have a cooler that is by no means new; the Freezer Extreme Rev.2. As the name suggests, the cooler has undergone various revisions, the latest being support for all the latest motherboards and CPUs such as LGA1155 on the Intel side, and AM3+ and FM1 on the AMD side. Most noteworthy is its support for LGA1366 processors. While this may not seem significant, and indeed LGA2011 support is currently lacking, I have to highlight at this point that like the recently reviewed Cooler Master TX3 EVO, the Freezer Extreme Rev. 2 is a lightweight cooler featuring no mounting back plates. So with that, let’s talk a bit more about the actual cooler."



Silencer Mk III PSU Review @ HardwareBistro.com
Quote: "Over the last 25 years, PC Power & Cooling has produced many innovative products including: the first CPU cooler, the first PC heat alarm, the first independently-regulated PC power supply, the first redundant power system, the first NVIDIA-certified SLI supply, the first One Kilowatt computer power supply, and the first power supply with its own certified test report (Turbo-Cool 1KW). PC Power & Cooling takes pride in its loyal and knowledgeable customer base, its ultra-reliable product line, its professional and friendly staff, and its financial strength."



OWC Mercury Enterprise Pro 6G 6Gbps SSD Review @ TheSSDReview.com
Quote: "OWC has jumped feet first into the Enterprise space with the new OWC Mercury Enterprise Pro 6G SSD.

Leveraging one of the fastest controllers on the planet, the LSI SF-2582 in tandem with Toshibas Enterprise Toggle Synchronous eMLC NAND, this SSD promises the absolute best in long term performance and endurance.

OWC is also throwing in an outstanding industry-leading 7 Year Warranty with this product.

The OWC Mercury Enterprise Pro 6G has all of the ingredients for ultimate performance and high endurance, which explains the high performance specifications of 550MB/s read and 525MB/s write speeds. With 60,000 IOPS in both read and write 4k randoms, this SSD promises excellent IOPS performance in long term scenarios."

Corsair Carbide 300R and Obsidian 550D Review @ HotHardware.com
Quote: "We’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen recently from Corsair, and we were glad that the company saw fit to send us a couple more mid-tower cases to pore over and test: the Corsair Carbide 300R compact gaming chassis and the Obsidian 550D quiet case. The two are dissimilar from one another in terms of design and purpose, but we’ve rolled them into a single review here for efficiency and your reading pleasure.

Now that we’ve had a chance to explore and test the Corsair Carbide 300R, we’ve become well acquainted with the whole Carbide family, and the little bro is just as impressive as the bigger siblings we reviewed not too long ago, the Carbide 400R and 500R.

The 300R is a compact case at just 17.7 x 19.1 x 8.3 inches (HxWxD); squeezing in everything a gamer would want was no doubt quite a design challenge (e.g. our big CPU cooler that barely fit), and although this chassis isn’t perfect, the gang over at Corsair deserves a tip of the hat for pulling it off as well as they did, given its intrinsic form factor restraints."



SilverStone Fortress FT03 Review @ Vortez.net
Quote: "Silverstone or SilverStoneTek as they are sometimes referred to have been around for almost a decade and came to prominence shortly after launching the TJ07 back in 2005. Since then they have had an onslaught of computer chassis that have rocked the enthusiast world and it is today that we reviewed our first SilverStone chassis taking from the Fortress Series – the FT03.

The FT03 redefines the way we look at case design. It has a unique layout that sets it apart from other brands with their traditional computer chassis and hopes to channel in to the imagination of the enthusiast by offering something diverse and exciting.

So let’s waste no further time and explore SilverStone’s Fortress FT03."



ASUS ROG Vulcan ANC Gaming Headset Review @ ProClockers.com
Quote: "We all know that ASUS makes some of the best motherboards and other PC components on the planet. But they seem to up the ante when a particular product is branded with the Republic of Gamers or R.O.G. logo. Under this brand you will see products like motherboards, video cards, desktops, notebooks and even a set of head phones.

That one set of head phones would be the Vulcan ANC, the ANC standing for Active Noise Canceling. The Vulcan head set like many sets on the market want to give the purchaser great noise quality and comfort which is hard to find sometimes. We will be taking a look at the Vulcan and revealing just what we think of them. Are they only good for gaming or can you enjoy them listening to your favorite genre of music? We will find out shortly.



Kingston Wi-Drive Review @ LanOC.org
Quote: "I remember, early last year, thinking to myself; "Self, it would be totally awesome if they made an external hard drive that was battery operated and could connect to a WiFi network. No more USB cables!" Well, that time has arrived with several new products that have recently hit the market. Today, I would like to take a look at the Kingston Wi-Drive 16GB unit and see how it works, and more importantly, is it worth the money."

CM Storm Trigger Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review @ HardwareHeaven.com
Quote: "Cooler Master have been a major player in the PC industry for around 20 years and in that time have been responsible for some stand out cases, PSUs and coolers. The Wavemaster and Cosmos are two examples which really stand out and both are cases which had great appeal for enthusiast gamers as pretty much any high end system of the time could be built in them.

Building on their gaming expertise Cooler Master launched the CM Storm range a few years ago, regularly releasing products which would appeal to enthusiast and pro gamers. One of the latest products to reach the market under this brand is the Trigger mechanical keyboard and that is the focus of our review today."



Corsair Vengeance M60 Gaming Mouse Review @ ThinkComputers.org
Quote: "Gaming mice as a peripheral aren’t typically an item that is too high up on the food chain for some of the biggest computer part manufacturers. The main reason behind this is that PC gamers are possibly the hardest group of gamers to please. How do I know this, because I am one? Think of the gaming mouse as the one and only sword an immortal uses to take another immortals head. You don’t use just any sword; you use “your” sword just like you’d use only your specific gaming mouse in fragging and bagging some fool in your game of choice.

Because of the specifics required for such a tool the market for gaming mice has been rather small ever since the inaugural “gaming mouse” came about. The main reason behind this is that a gamer will get a specific feel for a mouse and
never wants to deviate from that feel. A perfect example of this is the Logitech MX 510/518. These mice came out in 2003 and are still the standard for all gaming mice 9 years later. I know gamers that still buy these on a regular basis regardless of price and availability. Why, do you ask; because they love the specific feel and have no desire to adjust to the physical characteristics of a new mouse?"



Toshiba Satellite P755D-S5172 Review @ TechReviewSource.com
Quote: "The Toshiba Satellite P755D is a solid performing multimedia laptop that features a great-looking 15.6-inch widescreen HD display. It has an AMD Fusion A8 CPU, 6GB of RAM and a 640GB hard drive that gives plenty of room for media storage. It also has a Blu-ray disc player, which further lends itself to multimedia use.

Many shoppers today are looking for notebooks that they can use for both work and entertainment. This computer does provide decent 3D gaming capabilities but its main selling points are the Blu-ray player and a quality display for watching movies or streaming media.

While it's not the most appealing design, the all-plastic chassis is durable and gets the job done. The lid has a brushed metal finish to add a little design to it, but like we said, it all looks rather plain. At 5.4-pounds it certainly isn't the lightest laptop on the market, but it's not the heaviest either. Its dimensions measure 13.4 x 9.0 x 1.4-inches (wdh), so it's not overly large either.



Razer Chimaera Gaming Headset Review @ ThinkComputers.org
Quote: "Chances are if you’re a gamer, you own a Razer product or have at least thought about buying one. Mainly known for their mice, Razer products have an attractive look, and often outperform the competition. In this review we’ll be checking out a headset. More specifically, the stereo version of the Razer Chimaera. It has the good looks that every Razer product shares, and a fancy spec sheet. But how does it perform, and can it stand toe to toe with the similar Logitech Wireless Headset F540? Dive into the complete review to find out."

Enermax Fulmo Review @ TechReaction.net
Quote: "Today, we have the smaller brother of the Enermax Fulmo GT, the Fulmo. It comes packed with features for a mid-tower which Enermax hopes will put it up at the top of everyone’s buying lists. The vertical HDD mounting brackets seem like a genius idea to help free up space and allow for more airflow. The top I/O area sports a USB 3.0 and 2.0 connections, as well as a hot-swap dock for use with your 2.5? and 3.5? drives. They have also included a velcro strap for your PSU to help give you some added security if you plan on moving around your case. Let’s move on and see what this Fulmo can really do in our testing … Read on."



NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2-Way SLI Video Card Review @ LegitReviews.com
Quote: "Back on March 21st, we brought you our review on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 reference card. Earlier this week we followed that up with review of that card focused on 2D Surround gaming, so those of you that have a multi-monitor setup could get some performance numbers at an ultra HD resolution of 5760x1080. Today, we are back at it with a GeForce GTX 680 review featuring 2-way SLI! The only thing better than one GeForce GTX 680 is running two of them together right?

The focus of this article will be from the single monitor point of view, so we'll be bringing you performance numbers at 2560x1600, 1920x1080 and 1280x1024 to show you how this killer setup performs. We'll also be taking a look at the power consumption, noise levels and temperatures that will get form a GeForce GTX 680 2-Way SLI setup. "



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

Hitachi GST was formed in 2003 from the strategic merger of the storage technology businesses within IBM Corporation and Hitachi, Ltd. Since that time, the company has built on the heritage of both industry pioneers to grow profitably as a major contributor in the global storage industry. The company has worked to bring a customer-focused and full-service approach to its storage solutions. In doing so, the company has set a high standard for product and service excellence with world-class operations, substantial technical knowledge and a comprehensive customer support infrastructure."



G.Skill ARES 8GB Memory Kit Review @ TBreak.com
Quote: "G.Skill is a well known brand amongst PC enthusiasts as they’re known to make some of the best high performance memory for desktop computers. We have reviewed their Ripjaws X in the past with much fervor, and in fact use their 16GB Ripjaws Z memory kit as part of our new Z77 based testbed as well.

Now the G.Skill ARES is being launched as a memory kit targeted towards the new Intel Z77 chipset, but let’s not forget that the low profile of the memory makes this ideal for HTPC and other small form factor computers. Of course, for those with massive heatsinks, the ARES is a true blessing.

Corsair Vengeance M60 / M90 Gaming Mice Review @ EverythingUSB.com
Quote: "Over the last few years Corsair has been rapidly expanding their reach into the enthusiast PC market from their roots as a simple memory manufacturer, getting into everything from cases and cooling to power supplies and speakers. Now, Corsair is flexing its retail muscles once again to go after the bread and butter of industry heavyweights Logitech and Razer, attacking them head-on with a new line of Vengeance gaming peripherals.
I've already taken a look at Corsair's Vengeance 1500 headset and particularly enjoyed it, but how will their mice and keyboards stack up as first-generation products with fledgling drivers? To find out, I took an in-depth look at the Vengeance M60 and M90 mouse, two wildly different mice that cater to the FPS and MMO crowds with various differences and yet many similarities. Grab a soda and get comfortable; this review is rather long."



ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Professional: Special LGA 2011 Mainboard for Gamers and Enthusiasts @ XbitLabs.com
Quote: "It is quite logical that we started getting to know the new mainboards for LGA 2011 platform with the products from Asus, Gigabyte and Intel. The first two Taiwanese makers have been leaders in the mainboard market for a while. As for the Intel boards, things are a little bit more complex here, however, it was very interesting to check out the vision of an ideal mainboard in the eyes of the chipset and CPU maker. The next product we are going to talk about is a board from ASRock, which is truly unique in several different ways.

Unlike most computer companies, which were founded in the previous century, ASRock is relatively young, however, over a period of 10 years they managed to occupy their market niche and take some of the market share away from their competitors. I have to remind you that this company was established in that challenging time when we lost a lot of good brands: Abit, DFI, EPoX all became history and ASRock mainboards continue selling quite successfully ever since. In the beginning ASRock mainboards attracted attention due to some unusual engineering implementations. For example, there could be two different processor sockets on the same PCB. However, as time went on, there was less exotics like that, and ASRock mainboards won their fans by offering very appealing combination of functionality and price."



MSI Big Bang-XPower II Mainboard Review @ XbitLabs.com
Quote: "By now we have discussed several flagship mainboards on Intel X79 Express chipset from very difference makers. This list includes products from ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte and Intel, but it is still missing one very important name – Micro-Star. This Taiwanese mainboard maker offers several different product models for LGA 2011 processors, so we will most likely have to go back to them at some point. However, today we would like to start with the top-of-the-line flagship mainboard from MSI’s Big Bang series. I have to say that “Big Bang” series targeted for computer enthusiasts and gamers has undergone certain changes and has been split into several sub-groups. The upcoming mainboards from this series for AMD processors will be marketed under the “Conqueror” brand name. The Big Bang mainboards based on high-performance Intel processors are now called “Marshal”. For example, MSI Big Bang-Marshal (B3) based on Intel P67 Express chipset. Big Bang mainboards based on Intel Extreme Series chipsets remained under the “XPower” brand. Last year we have already reviewed MSI Big Bang-XPower mainboard, designed for LGA 1366 processors. its successor for the new LGA 2011 platform is the MSI Big Bang-XPower II, which will be the main hero of our today’s review."



Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Motherboard Preview @ Guru3D.com
Quote: "One of the more weird releases in the history of Intel has to be Ivy bridge and the accompanying Z77 chipset. It was bound to be launched then delayed, then delayed further, then pushed forward again, then the processor is delayed and the motherboards all of the sudden could be shown at CeBIT. Quite confusing really.

Though not officially introduced as are allowed to show you some pictures of their upcoming Z77 motherboards with dimmed down specs. Gigabyte of course will offer a good variety of products as well, today we preview the GA-Z77X-D3H.

The GA-Z77X-D3H is intended for Intels 22nm processors that will be coming out later this year based on Socket LGA1155 however the motherboard also supports Sandy bridge processors like the Core i7 2600K. While we are not allowed to publish any testing results whatsoever related to Ivy Bridge on this GA-Z77X-D3H, we are able to give you a closer look at the motherboard itself.

Have a peek at what is about to launch soon, this is the GA-Z77X-D3H 'Ivy Bridge' ready Motherboard."

MSI HD 7870 Twin Frozr III 2 GB Review @ TechPowerUp.com
Quote: "Earlier this month AMD launched their Radeon HD 7800 Series. The GPU, Pitcairn, is a downscale from the HD 7900 "Tahiti" silicon, which introduced AMD's new Graphics Core Next architecture. Targeting a wide price-range between $250-$350, the HD 7800 series falls into the market-segment both AMD and NVIDIA have known to refer to as the "sweetspot" segment. Apart from 1280 stream processors, Pitcairn has 80 Texture Memory Units (TMUs), 32 ROPs (Raster Operations), and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. "



Foxconn Nano PC nT-i1500 Barebone Review @ Madshrimps.be
Quote: "Foxconn has brought us to the table the latest generation of Intel Atom CPUs, by using the small Nano PC chassis which features about the same layout inside as the barebones we have tested from them in the past. The system power consumption is very low, temperatures are good in load and the noise generated is decent. Only thing that needs to be fixed to make this product fully functional is the VGA driver which in its current state offers low performance in both 2D and 3D environments, and Intel does not offer any support for x64 OSes."



Cyborg F.R.E.Q. 5 Gaming Headset Review @ HardwareHeaven.com
Quote: "Today on our test bench we have a new stereo gaming headset from the folks at Cyborg Gaming. The San Diego based gaming division of Mad Catz have been responsible for some of the most unusual and exceptional gaming mice we have seen recently. The R.A.T. range of mice is truly excellent, so much so that we are currently running a competition to win one of the new R.A.T. M.M.O 7 versions.

The F.R.E.Q. 5 stereo gaming headset is the first headset from the Cyborg studio, and as such we were really interested to see if they could take their innovative design standards from their mouse range, into the world of gaming audio."



Biostar TZ77XE4 T Overclocker Review @ OCAholic.ch
Quote: "Until we're going to see Intels upcoming CPUs it might still take some time. Never the less Biostar has already sent us a TZ77XE4 T Overclocker motherboard which builds upon Intels latest performance desktop chipset. In the past year Biostar has always been good for a surprise and for us this is reason enough to check this board out.

On the following pages we will show you what the Biostar TZ77XE TOverclocker is capable of. "

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

Since the beginning of Thermaltake in 1999, they have been at the forefront of creating new and exciting products at a time where most computer users were provided little to no choices for components that may seem irrelevant, but in reality crucial to the performance of a PC. Thermaltake Server Series solutions, with years of thermal experience and industry leadership, sets its goal on reforming total thermal management in server segment by formulating the perfect mixture of versatility, efficiency and thermal management with each respective server product category: Rackmount Chassis, Server Fixed & Redundant Power Supply and Server CPU Cooling Management Solutions. With its comprehensive line of products available, it enables Thermaltake's core customers to enjoy a one-stop-shop experience, reduce product design-in evaluation period and most important of all, flawless integration process. Each of Thermaltake's strengths enables its customer to focus on their core business while taking advantage of the skills and efficiency of a single thermal management solution partner."



ASUS Xonar Essence One DAC & Headphone Amplifier Review @ TechPowerUp.com
Quote: "ASUS has been putting a lot of effort into making some decent sound cards over the past years, but it still came as a surprise to many that they have gone into the DAC & headphone amplifier business. ASUS's bid to conquer the DAC & amplifier market is dubbed the Xonar Essence One which features 192 kHz playback capability, asynchronous USB, and a headphone amplifier section with swappable op-amps. It also has an upsampling feature which we will discuss further on in this review.

It is clear that ASUS aimed for the higher end market with this solution and as it stands now the retail price for the Essence One will be a somewhat high €420/$550. Compared to their line of quality integrated sound cards this is a rather high price premium, however, they are two completely different breeds.

The Essence One's design is quite nice and the implementation of both USB transport and DAC section seems top-notch. The headphone amplifier section is likewise of a quality that is in a different league compared to that featured on internal ASUS sound cards. This is of course due to the very different design envelope, being an external unit both the power source and size are pretty much unlimited which allows for a more ideal construction, mechanically as well as electronically."



Acer Timeline Ultra M3 & NVIDIA GT 640M Review @ HardwareCanucks.com
Quote: "Ultrabooks were originally introduced as a way for PC manufacturers to compete with Apple’s MacBook Air series and for the most part, they have struggled to find traction. Not only do traditional Ultrabooks concentrate upon form over functionality (a longtime issue with Apple’s wares as well) but due to their slim profile chassis necessitating the use of ultra low voltage processors, performance suffers as well. However, things are rapidly changing in the Ultrabook product space as companies come to grips with next generation technologies, allowing for some quick evolutionary changes. The first products to blur the imaginary line between these featherweight laptops and standard notebooks are the new Timeline Ultra series from Acer. "



Lenovo C325 Review @ TechReviewSource.com
Quote: "The Lenovo C325 ($499 list) is a basic all-in-one desktop PC for those that would rather have a bigger screen than portability. Its energy-saving processor is sufficient for Web surfing duties, and the system's utility is higher than the relatively modest price tag suggests. It is basic computing through and through, but it is certainly sufficient for regular users.

The C325 follows the bent arm and floating screen design for all-in-one PCs. The system is built into the screen, with a single hinge connected to the arm-shaped stand. The screen floats over the base of the stand, which gives the user a handy spot to stow the wired keyboard. The C325's color scheme is fairly neutral, glossy black plastic on the bezel, with a silver mesh below covering the front-firing speakers. The system' screen is a 20-inch model with a 1,600 by 900 resolution. 1,600 by 900 will display 720p HD (1,280 by 720), but not full 1080p (1,920 by 1,080). While this would be a problem in a sub $1,000 all-in-one, at the $500 price point it's merely an inconvenience. The system is certainly capable of YouTube HD videos at 720p native or 1080p scaled down."

Cougar Evolution Chassis Review @ OverclockersClub.com
Quote: "Now that the boring pictures and talk are out of the way, we can take a look at the case itself. Like it was shown on the box, there is a honeycomb structure patter on the bay slots and entire front portion of the case. It’s symmetrical and very clean in appearance, with a small COUGAR logo at the very top. Above that, you will see the fan controller knob sitting even in height with the top rails of the case. I expect this case to give lots of air flow from the front to back, especially as I can nearly see through the chassis from the bay slots.

The back of the case is about the same as what you’ll find on any other case. It has the rear 120 mm mounted COUGAR fan, 8 PCI-E slots, PSU bay, and the motherboard I/O plate holder. There is also a handle for the fan filter below the PSU bay, which we’ll take a little closer look at up ahead."



Phanteks PH-TC14CS CPU Cooler Review @ HiTechLegion.com
Quote: "It would be extremely difficult to substantiate who was the first person to say “let your actions do the talking”, or any variation thereof that vernacular of the time would have dictated, but the sentiment is profound. Ghandi put it into the simple term “action expresses priority”. Simply put for the topic of our discussion, many times a great deal of effort is put into making people believe a product is groundbreaking and top quality, when that effort would be far better spent actually making the product groundbreaking and top quality. How many times have we seen advertising onslaughts from new companies promising incredible results from their products? How many times in the technical world have we seen these technologies explained at length, usually accompanied by completely nonsensical supposed logic in an attempt to justify the virtues? In the end, a vast majority of the time we are completely let down by the actual performance of the product. Since CPU and GPU coolers are products that can be explained through physical diagrams, we see this quite a bit. I swear, if I see one more line drawing of a spinning helix vortex path that tries to convince me that a cooler obviously meant for show purposes has actual cooling merits, my head may explode."



Icy Box IB-PL500D Powerline Network Adapter Kit Review @ RBMods.com
Quote: "Powerline networking might be the future if the WIFI does not get any faster within a reasonable time period. Because of this manufacturers are pushing their powerline network adapter kits now at various speeds to compete with WIFI. We got a new kit from Icy Box that should perform up to 500Mbits /s , but as we know the speed varies depending on how new the electrical wiring is. Lets find out how this kit can perform!"



BIWIN S836 Elite SATA 3 120GB SSD Review @ TheSSDReview.com
Quote: "This report is an analysis of the newly released BIWIN S836 Elite SATA 3 120GB SSD and if you haven’t heard of BIWIN prior to this report, you wouldn’t be the first as we learned of them only a few weeks ago while at CeBIT 2012 in Germany.

In fact, we had every intention of introducing BIWIN to North America as the ‘new kid on the block’, at least up until we learned that BIWIN had already shipped over one hundred million (100,000,000) flash storage devices worldwide as of the date of this report.

For those that haven’t been to CeBIT, it is a bit different than CES Las Vegas as the language barrier can become prevalent when meeting many companies for the first time. In fact, we can probably attribute this review to just that as we had published a CeBIT update on BIWIN which stated that they were ‘considering’ a US presence."

NEXUS Prominent R Midi Tower Review @ NikkTech.com
Quote: "It's been far too long since i last reviewed a PC Case and since there has been quite a large number of new ones released in the market lately (many of which are already here) i think it's time i got back on track. Now as some of you know I’ve always liked full sized towers more than midi ones since installing lots of hardware in tight spaces is not really my thing, not to mention about other things such as airflow levels. However lately i have actually seen quite a few feature rich midi towers which i would actually consider using for my own test rigs (and i have if you are following our FB page) instead of full sized ones and the Prominent R by NEXUS which we have here today is such a midi tower PC Case.

Nexus Technology BV was established in 2000 by a group of experts on heat conductivity and noise reduction in the computer industry. Their expertise and in depth knowledge and experience on heat conductivity issues and thermal characteristics was gained by working closely with many of the larger pc manufacturers for several years. The idea that brought all of them together and made Nexus a reality was to create a full line of high quality computer components which could improve the working environment by reducing noise levels. Ever since the beginning Nexus is continuously developing products to reduce noise levels and consequentially improve heat conductivity and airflow and their sole goal is to build a strong and reliable trademark for silent computing."



Samsung 830 Series SATA 3 512GB SSD Review @ TheSSDReview.com
Quote: "Samsung’s experience with SSDs didn’t start with the 830 Series SSD. Samsung can rightfully claim to be one of the originators of solid state storage as it is currently known and the 830 is the culmination of that knowledge and experience.

Based around a lineup of 27nm Toggle NAND, 256MBs of low power DRAM, and a tri-core ARM controller, the 830 is very much a product of Samsung’s many disciplines.

Both Samsung and Toshiba have are primary providers of SSDs chosen by many OEMs. Until recently, the SSDs used by the likes of Dell and Apple were not fast, but they were reliable; and they have to be. When one of the largest system manufacturers in the world needs a SSD for one of their high-end products, it must be bullet-proof. Merely being trouble free is not enough anymore. Speed and reliability must go hand-in-hand, and that idea is the genesis of the PM830, aka the Samsung 830 SSD."



Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset Review @ TBreak.com
Quote: "The Logitech G930’s feature list reads as if a gamer’s wish-list for a headset- wireless, 7.1 surround, big, wireless, black, Dolby, lots of buttons, wireless, customizable, flexible, and wireless. Did I say wireless?
To be honest, I am a Logitech fan. In fact, most of my first gaming hardware was of Logitech’s making – the ‘MX’ series mouse, for example. I also had a G9 mouse, to which I have yet to find an equivalent in terms of performance and features. Sadly, it is now broken and rusting somewhere deep inside my cupboard; I haven’t had the heart to throw it yet. So naturally, with the G930, I had my expectations, and it certainly looks impressive on paper."



NZXT Premium Cables Starter Kit Review @ NinjaLane.com
Quote: "NZXT is a name that many of us associate with unique quality cases like the Tempest Series, one of my personal favorites. More recently the folks over at NZXT have branched out into case accessories and even gaming mice. Today we will be looking at their Premium Cables Starter Kit. The Premium Cables line provides DIY builders with an attractive alternative to customizing your cables manually all in a single package."