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 .:Latest Topics |
:: PC Perspective . Case and Cooling
Corsair TX950W Power Supply ReviewCase and Cooling - Nov 17, 2009 | 12:00 AM The new TX950W is targeted towards value conscious users who want a quiet, high-capacity power supply that provides stable outputs and high efficiency. Once again, Corsair delivers! 
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 910 Power Supply ReviewCase and Cooling - Oct 19, 2009 | 11:00 AM PC Power & Cooling's latest Silencer PSU delivers over 900W of clean, stable power with excellent efficiency at an affordable price. However, don't let the name fool you; this PSU is far from silent. 
Enermax Staray Mid Tower ATX Case ReviewCase and Cooling - Oct 15, 2009 | 11:00 AM Enermax has released a mid-tower ATX case called the Staray for those budget users looking for a bit of flare and awesome cooling. This case features three 120mm "apollish" fans that have two different types of LED lighting patterns as well as glossy red fan blades that can be removed for cleaning. They claim these fans will shine up to four times brighter than traditional LED fans so it will be interesting to see them in action.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Register | Subject: Case and Cooling
Skip the Intel X-25 Extreme, those in need of pure storage satisfaction should talk to ViON who have produced a 100TB DRAM SSD. Think 100TB of storage that provides five million IOPS and speeds along with 60GB/sec of bandwidth.
Not impressed yet? It uses ECC DRAM, so no bits will be flipping on you and it is set up as a RAID so your data redunadncy is covered. How much would that run you to pick up is a bit of a mystery as no price tag was included, but as The Register puts it "six figures of IOPS capability often involves six figures of cash". Save up those pennies!
"ViON have produced a 100TB DRAM solid state drive, which they claim to be the largest flash memory-based storage box in the world. The HyperStor-6200 uses both Hitachi Data Systems and Texas Memory Systems technology - think RamSan 6200 - and provides five million I/Os per second (IOPS) with 60GB/sec bandwidth. It is a monster of an SSD." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Case and Cooling
When a single graphics card beats 10,000 points on the Extreme 3DMark Vantage and refuses to dip below 100fps on every game Ryan tested, even at 2650 x 1600 with every single feature turned up to 11, you know you have unprecedented performance. Even a triple SLI rig would have trouble keeping up, and if it did then there is no reason you can't toss a second HD5970 into your system, apart from the $599 entrance fee. Join Ryan as he shatters benchmarks and sees games in a way never seen before.
"The new AMD Radeon HD 5970 graphics card takes PC gaming performance to a completely new level by combining a pair of Evergreen-based GPUs on a single PCB, 2GB of GDDR5 memory and plenty of headroom for overclocking. For a single card system, the performance that the HD 5970 provides is simply unmatched but that does not mean the card is without its slight misgivings." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: GIGABYTE Technology | Subject: Case and Cooling
City of Industry, CA, November 18, 2009 – GIGABYTE Technology CO., LTD., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is pleased to launch their latest flagship motherboard, the GA-X58A-UD7. Based on the Intel X58 chipset, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 delivers all the killer next generation features that gaming enthusiasts and power users have been waiting for including GIGABYTE’s 333 Onboard Acceleration features with support for USB 3.0, Serial-ATA Revision 3.0 (6Gbps) and a 3x USB Power Boost, as well as multi-GPU support for NVIDIA 3-Way SLI and ATI CrossFireX and support for Intel’s upcoming 32nm high performance processors. “GIGABYTE is once again raising the standard by which all other motherboards are judged with our latest flagship GA-X58A-UD7,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. “Featuring next generation storage capabilities including USB 3.0 and SATA 3, as well as GIGABYTE’s own unique 3x USB Power Boost, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 truly epitomizes everything that a highest performance, highest feature set motherboard is all about.” Continuing GIGABYTE’s technology leadership, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 features the revolutionary GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 design, with 2 ounces of copper for both the Power and Ground layers to enable dramatically lower system temperature, improved energy efficiency and enhanced stability for overclocking. The GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 also features the GIGABYTE Smart 6 technology, offering a combination of 6 innovative software utilities that provides an easier and smarter way for managing your system, including improved system performance, faster boot-up time, secure platform management as well as easy to enable system recovery with a click of mouse button. The GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 supports the latest Intel Core i7 processors for the LGA 1366 socket as well as Intel’s next generation 32nm processors, offering a high level of future CPU headroom for users wanting to maintain cutting-edge levels of performance. With the memory controller integrated directly into the processor die, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 also supports triple channel DDR3 memory for blazing fast memory performance. USB 3.0 Support
SATA 6 Gbps Support
3x USB Power Boost
For additional information about the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard, please visit the GIGABYTE website at: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_OverView.aspx?ProductID=3251 
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: DriverHeaven | Subject: Case and Cooling
There are many rules to Star Trek, such as only watch the even numbered movies or you cannot make a good Star Trek game, unless you were very very lucky and worked on the 1992 Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
game. For the most part they ranged from the electronic equivalent of a root canal to slightly better than just quietly watching a turned off monitor. Now thanks to Cryptic Studios, we will soon have a Star Trek MMORPG set in the J.J. Abrams version of the Trek universe. Ship combat is the major focus but there will be hand to hand included as well. It is hard to say which end of the spectrum this game will fall on, but the brave can get a preview at Gaming Heaven.
"The Star Trek franchise is still massively popular and developer Cryptic Studios are hoping that by involving such a rich and diverse fantasy world they will get a huge portion of the game playing public interested in their new virtual Sci-Fi based MMO universe." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Case and Cooling
The Enermax ECO80+ 620W
PSU can be yours for about $100 and with its 80+ rating it does indeed deserve to have ECO as part of its name. [H]ard|OCP has become quite familiar with Enermax PSUs in this power range and compared it to a few of those previous models as well as testing it on its own. The standard load testing results beat Liberty Eco 620W but on the Transient Load Testing it fared worse, DC Output Quality was the same. You have a number of choices in the 600-700W segment, make sure you are fully informed before you go and pick one up.
"Enermax produces some of the best computer power supplies in the world and has a great reputation for doing just that. We take a look at what Enermax does when it gets green and drops the price point for those of us on an enthusiast system building budget with the ECO80+ at 620 watts." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Bjorn3D | Subject: Case and Cooling
Thanks in part to self contained watercooling products like the Corsair H5O, watercooled PCs are becoming much more common. While the all in one solutions are easy to use, they lack the customization possibilities of self built cooling loops and the choice of pumps and radiators available to those willing to make the leap. The major problem with trying to utilize a self built watercooling system is the possibility of leaks; a problem which is often dealt with by picking up a non-conductive liquid to fill the system with. Most reviews of non-conductive liquid involve measuring resistance with a multimeter but Bjorn3D felt that doing so was too wimpy for them. Read on to see an active fan controller powering fans get dunked. "For this review, we are going to pay attention to the fluid portion of a water cooling setup. Today we have Feser One's Non Conductive fluid to look at. Feser also has 10 different colors of fluid for users to really customize the look of their water cooling setups even more. We are going to do a comparison to our ever faithful winterized washer fluid, and compare the Feser One fluid to distilled water. Finally, the mad scientist in me will push things to the absolute limit. We are going to verify if the Feser One fluid is actually non-conductive." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Frosty Tech | Subject: Case and Cooling
FrostyTech has just finished updating their Top 5 charts for heatsinks, the top performers as well as the quietest, split into AMD and Intel. Many new names appear like Prolimatech and 3Rsystem at the very top of the charts and some familiar names failed to make it on at all. If you are looking for the short list of heatsinks to choose from for your next build, all you have to do is click.
"Freshly updated Frostytech Top 5 Heatsink Charts! The Top 5 Heatsinks Charts rank the best coolers out of the hundreds we've tested to date by lowest temperature, lowest noise and by height as well. Don't go heatsink shopping without first looking at the Top 5 charts. Only heatsinks that Frostytech has tested in its labs are included in these Top 5 lists" Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: InsideHW | Subject: Case and Cooling
The backlight on an LED based display can be rather annoying, with light bleeding in at the edge of the screen and dark areas looking more grey thanks to light bleeding through. In gaming it is less bothersome than when watching a horror movie but it is still there. InsideHW has found the LG W2486L, which is the first display they've come across that has no backlight bleeding through to dark areas at all. There are also other things to like about this monitor, so take a look at their full review.
“For an average user, question of monitor backlight is, in most cases, a trivial one. Most users simply don’t like to see too much backlight breach along edges along with bright or smudgy black areas. And that’s it, for an average user. In case you do need good display, and do pay attention to small details, you expect much more from your monitor’s backlight. LED (Light Emitting Diode) backlight is often mentioned as better and more energy efficient solution, but only in case RGB LED technology is correctly implemented. Changing neon backlight for an LED does sound like a simple task in theory, but this can also present some new problems. Since LG W2486L does have LED backlight, and we will check out how LG did its homework…” Here are some more Display articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Case and Cooling
Just a bit under $200, the Kingwin LAZER 1000W doesn't come with an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, instead it sports a Universal Power Modulator. Its modular cabling all bears the same mini-fit JR style connector and the PSU decides what to provide based on which cable is plugged in. Unfortunately they chose a very odd implementation of their 12V rail, which [H]ard|OCP felt could be improved. Even with that fault, the PSU performed very well in their testing and managed to do it relatively quietly. "No matter how you look at it, 1 kilowatt, or 1000 watts, it is a lot of power that most computer enthusiasts will never need. Rest assured though, some of us do need all that power and we are generally very picky about that much power gets delivered to our enthusiast computer builds. Kingwin's LZ-1000 is up to that job?" Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Frosty Tech | Subject: Case and Cooling
FrostyTech apparently requests the sacrifice of the occasional heat pipe based CPU cooler in the interests of curiosity, a
benefit of which is that they have shared what they have learned. It turns out there are a variety of wicks to be found inside; Metal Sintered Powder, Grooved and Metal Mesh (felt) with each wick type having its own benefits and drawbacks. Some are cheaper to produce and work better in certain orientations, others are a little less discerning but cost more. Check out the dissection by following the link.
"It's impossible to tell what type of wick a heatpipe uses in your favourite heatsink just by looking at it from the outside. The heatpipe would need to be cut open to find out the answer to that question, and doing so obviously destroy the thermal solution in the process. Instead we offer a rare look at behind the scenes technology which greatly influences thermal performance of modern CPU heatsinks - the heatpipe wick structure." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Techware Labs | Subject: Case and Cooling
The AXUS FiT 500 RAID box can hold up to 5 drives and allow you to set up a variety of different RAID configurations depending on your needs. It can be attached via either USB 2.0 or eSATA, choosing eSATA will help your transfer rates significantly, to the point where it almost equals an internal connection. Whether you are considering an external RAID because of space concerns in your system or like the extra portability that the box offers, either way you should be quite happy with AXUS' RAID box. You can see how it behaves in Techware Labs review.
"RAID is a very useful and inexpensive way to increase performance on your machine. RAID is also a very useful and inexpensive way to increase performance with your external data. The AXUS FiT 500 is a great product to do just that with easy RAID management and configuration, and using eSATA it's almost just as fast as an internal RAID. Check out the AXUS FiT 500, you wont regret it." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PureOverclock | Subject: Case and Cooling
The Titan Skalli
is a little smaller than your average third party cooler; taking advantage of the lower heat generated by LGA1156 CPUs. A fairly quiet 100mm fan cools a 5" x 3.7" X 5.8" heatsink whose heatpipes touch the CPU directly.
Even so, this cooler will never become beloved by the overclocking community as it lacks the power required for a good overclock. PureOverclock is convinced it will find its niche with the users who want a small case and low noise without sacrificing too much in the way of temperatures.
"Today we're testing the Titan Skalli CPU cooler that offers Heatpipe Direct Touch (HDT) technology in a smallform 100mm fan setup. We've seen the big boy Titan Fenrir cooler perform very well in our extensive LGA1366 air cooler testing, so it will be interesting to see if they can continue the winning streak with a decidedly smaller product for the LGA1156 socket." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hardware Secrets | Subject: Case and Cooling
The fact that ASUS makes motherboards, along with rebranded graphics cards, audio card and some other hardware is well known; the fact that they also make power supplies is not as well known. Hardware Secrets got a hold of a ASUS U-75HA 750W PSU, a fairly simple PSU with sleeved non-modular cabling but with enough connectors to power a system with a multiple GPUs. The voltage it provided was rock solid; even if it does lack in features it is a quality choice for a budget build.
"ASUS is the number on motherboard manufacturer in the world and they've been expanding to other business for several years, recently reaching the power supply market. Though ASUS power supplies are not sold in the US, this didn't prevent us from getting our hands on their 750 W product, which is sold throughout the world. Like the 500 W (P-50GA) and 650 W (U-65GA), models that we've already reviewed, this unit is manufactured by Delta Electronics. Does this power supply carry ASUS high-quality standards? Let's see." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Tweaknews | Subject: Case and Cooling
Corsair's HX750W Professional PSU comes with a rather nice nylon bag. It holds the large array of modular cabling, cable ties, screws and even a badge. That's not all, it is an 80+ Gold rated PSU and delivers serious amperage on the 12V line to keep your GPUs happy and well fed. Tweaknews handed it a Top Rank Award and you will see why it deserves such an accolade if you read the full review.
"Corsair's new HX750W ATX modular power supply certainly doesn't disappoint. With excellent performance, quiet operation, and a very innovative feature set, this PSU could easily find a home in the most demanding systems." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Case and Cooling
On paper the PEX PLX8613 PCIe bridge chip, which allows the Marvell 9123 SATA controller to use a single PCIe 2.0 x1 lane to connect to a SATA 6G drive for a maximum bandwidth of 500 MB/s, looks like a great idea. It doesn't allow for the full 600MB/s that the SATA 6G specs allow for but certainly sounds faster than the previous 300GB/s maximum. As listeners of the live Podcast last night heard, the reality is not as nice. Using system RAM as a cache, along with no actual indications of increased transfer rates has disappointed Ryan sorely. See the full details in his preview. "SATA 6G technology is being paraded around by motherboard manufacturers as one of the main reasons to upgrade your motherboard in the coming months but do the advantages really make the upgrade worthwhile? And how do these current SATA 6G implementations actually work? We look at the ASUS P7P55D Premium and an early sample of a Seagate SATA 6.0 Gb/s hard drive to see how the hype stands up." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Frosty Tech | Subject: Case and Cooling
3Rsystem's Iceage 120 Boss II Dimpled-Fin heatsink takes advantage of several unique features to put it at the top of the Top 5 list of recommended coolers from FrostyTech. The first is the crossing heatpipes, they do not travel along the edges but instead cross in the middle of the cooler as well as the middle of the airflow thus enhancing its ability to dump heat. The second is that the fins of the heatsink are not smooth, instead they are dimpled to increase air turbulence within the heatsink. Altogether it is the best cooler that FrostyTech has seen for both AMD and Intel. The bad news is that it is very rare outside of EMEA.
"Let's get right to the point, 3Rsystem's Iceage 120 Boss II heatsink is currently one of the Top 5 heatsinks tested on Frostytech. Key to the success of this Korean-made heatsink on both AMD and Intel synthetic test platforms are five 8mm diameter exposed base heatpipes and a unique "X" pattern that places the heatpipes in the path of high velocity air from the coolers' 120mm fan. On top of that, the Iceage 120 Boss II heatsink utilizes dimpled surface fins which are intended to disrupt boundary layer laminar airflow." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Think Computers | Subject: Case and Cooling
If you pick up the NZXT M59 case, you won't need to pick up any extra adapters for SSDs, there is a cage designed to hold a pair of 2.5" drives. That won't impact your total storage capacity to badly as there are 5 more 3.5" internal bays and even 4 external ones. Your cooling can come from water thanks to its built in holes, or from air as the case can manage up to five 120mm fans. All that can be yours for $60; if you aren't already convinced then the full review at Think Computers probably will.
"NZXT has added another case to their Classic Series of cases, it's called the M59 and it is quite inexpensive at under $60. You would think a case with that price tag would be really cheap, but the M59 has features like 2 included fans, 2.5-inch SSD bays, a side panel window, all black interior, a wire management system, and an eSATA port. A lot of these features cannot even be found on more expensive cases. Let's see if NZXT has a winner in the M59." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Legit Reviews | Subject: Case and Cooling
When you are dealing with SSDs, size matters in two very important ways. It has an effect on performance and it has an impact on the price. In this review, the drive in question is the Kingston 256GB SSDNow V+ a rather large size for an SSD and a rather large price.
16 Samsung MLC flash chips provide its storage space and the Samsung S3C29RBB01-YK40 controller
handles the speed with the help of 128MB of DDR memory. The Samsung controller does not handle Windows 7's TRIM function; on the other hand it is twice as fast as Samsung's previous SSD, as you can see at Legit Reviews.
"The Kingston SSDNow V+ Series of SSDs performed nearly twice as fast as the original Kingston SSDNow V series and also happens to be available in larger capacities, which is key for the advancement of SSDs in the market. The Kingston SSDNow V+ was said to have sequential read speeds of up to 220MB/sec. and write speeds of up to 180MB/sec. We were able to come very close to those read speeds and were actually able to get slightly faster write speeds in some of the benchmarks. This is clearly a quick drive and performed on par with the Corsair P256 and OCZ Summit 120GB as both of those competitors' drives feature the same internal components..." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Think Computers | Subject: Case and Cooling
The Seasonic S12D 850W Power Supply
isn't much to look at, a basic black box with a lot of permanent cabling dome out of one end. Looks are not how this PSU received such a high score from Think Computers, that came from the stability of the power provided. There is a fair amount, 70A on the 12V line in fact, and it will not cost too terribly much to run as it qualified for an 80+ Silver ranking. For $180, this PSU is certainly worth a look.
"Seasonic has been around for a long time-since 1975. It is more well-known for its OEM line of power supply units, but it sells some models retail, as well. It touts the S12D 850W power supply unit as being certified 80PLUS Silver, proving that the unit is at least 85% efficient. Seasonic claims that the unit can achieve 90% efficiency! Add that with a five year warranty and a nearly silent fan and this is one unit worth seriously considering. ThinkComputers has the review." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Legit Reviews | Subject: Case and Cooling
If you want the most out of your memory subsystem, a shroud and three tiny fans aren't going to cut it, you need the Corsair Cooling Ice T30 TEC Memory Cooler. It claims to be able to offer you temperatures 20C below ambient and has enough intelligence to keep your memory above the dew point so you need not worry about shorts. Legit Reviews took it out for a try and reached hefty enough overclocks that the Xeon w3570
was having trouble keeping up.
"When testing the T30 I kept kicking myself for not having a single-stage phase change system or liquid nitrogen so I could kick up the CPU's uncore and push the CAS7 and CAS8 frequencies. Now keeping that thought in mind, where does the T30 fit in with the myriad of other cooling devices on the market? For use within the typical system the T30 would define overkill. The H30 makes a lot more sense, especially for those individuals who already have their case watercooled. But the T30 isn't about making sense, it is about pushing the boundaries and for those select few people who are willing, the T30 is there to give them that extra edge. This is definitely a product geared towards the small group of competitive benchmarkers at the tip top of the horde of computer enthusiasts..." Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
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