SilentiumPC has of late been focusing on value for money. Enter the Grandis 2 XE1436. This dual tower, dual fan CPU cooler uses a popular tried-and-true design. Size isn't always indicative of performance, however, so let's see just what the Grandis 2 has to offer!
Here's something we've all been waiting for: HyperX finally made a wireless gaming headset! It's called the Cloud Flight and aims to not only continue the legacy of its excellent wired brethren, but to also be the best wireless gaming headset on the market. Does it deliver? In more ways than one!
Ducky has given their One series of keyboards a makeover with the new One 2 series. Coming in three options of a customized case and multi-toned keycap sets out of the box, we take a look at the One 2 Skyline that offers a well-built, fairly unique-looking keyboard with extensive onboard functionality at a good price.
Crucial's MX500 is one of the most successful SSDs on the market due to its great performance at an amazing price point. At launch, only 2.5" SATA models were available, but now, the M.2 form factor drives are shipping, too - with no price increase.
Swiftech has updated their Maelstrom reservoir series in nearly every single manner. With the use of thick glass in a rectangular form factor for the reservoir and integrated RGB lighting, it offers color options via LEDs or a coolant of your choice. Adding to this is their new MCP655-PWM pump that offers increased compatibility with PWM controllers, while retaining the reliability, performance, and quiet nature we have come to know and love from the Laing D5.
We try out one of Arozzi's top gaming chair models. The Vernazza offers good comfort and support for users who weigh up to 145 kg. It is no larger than your average chair, but has wide seating and backrest areas even though it adheres to a classic bucket seat design.
GAMDIAS is entering the optical keyboard market with their Hermes P2 RGB keyboard. It features great software and onboard customization, a choice of four optical switches with dust and spill resistance and, of course, a strong RGB backlighting game.
ROCCAT introduced their amazing Living Light system for three of their products at CES 2018, and the Kone AIMO is one of them. Of course, lighting alone can't make a good mouse, but when it's wired up with a high-end optical sensor, 50 million click-rated Omron gaming switches, and an extremely good build quality, it can surely turn out great.
The Ryzen 5 2600 is AMD's most affordable 12 nm processor you can buy, and fills the shoes of the popular Ryzen 5 1600. Thanks to its twelve threads, it will breeze through multi-threaded workloads, and its gaming performance has been improved a lot too, beating last generation's Ryzen 7 1800X flagship.
Intel's $200 Core i5-8500 is part of the second wave of Coffee Lake CPUs, released earlier this year. The processor comes with six cores and six threads and will boost up to 4.1 GHz. Our testing shows that even at higher thread counts, it won't ever go below 3.9 GHz, which will make life difficult for the Ryzen 5 2600 - its main competitor.
One of ASRock's H370-based motherboards has hit our test lab, ready for general compute use for Intel's latest mainstream Coffee Lake CPUs. The H370 chipset does not support overclocking, so we take a foray into stock settings and usage with the ASRock H370M-ITX/ac, which is just $100.
Ballistix has finally released their long-anticipated DDR4 Tracer memory, a line-up of high-performance LED-lit memory that has years upon years of history within enthusiast circles. We see if this latest iteration of Ballistix Tactical Tracer memory lives up to expectations.
The Ryzen 7 2700 is the cheaper, sub-$300 sibling of the flagship 2700X, and has nothing disabled on-die. It even comes with an unlocked multiplier and nearly half the TDP rating, which makes it the most energy-efficient processor we ever tested in multi-threaded workloads.
The Sennheiser GSP 600 is the company's new top-of-the-line gaming headset. It's essentially a simple analog headset with no RGB LEDs or similar gimmicks. Does it offer enough in terms of sound and microphone quality, as well as wearing comfort, to justify the $250/€249 price tag?
ACGAM is a new company aiming to make a big name for itself with the AG6X keyboard, a small 60% form factor keyboard. Featuring well-thought-out programming, onboard customization for controls and backlighting, a software driver that adds to the user experience, and excellent value for money, this is a keyboard you should definitely check out.
Alphacool looks to strengthen their position in the liquid-cooling market with the all new Eisbaer LT series. Offering the convenience of a closed loop with the option of expansion, it features an all-copper design with sleek looks and industry standard parts.
The AG-850M is made by Solytech and belongs to Apextechusa's new Apexgaming PSU line. It has a capacity of 850W, a fully modular cable design, and is backed by a ten-year warranty. On paper, everything looks good; however, in real life, things are not always at their best.
Intel's recently-released Core i5-8600 comes with an identical boost frequency as the i5-8600K, for a lesser price that happens to match that of the Ryzen 5 2600X. While base frequency might look low with 3.1 GHz, in reality, out of the box, the processor runs above 4 GHz all the time.
Tesoro adds another set of unique switches to their growing portfolio, and the new GRAM XS keyboard uses ultra-slim mechanical switches in linear or tactile/clicky versions. Combine this with chiclet-style thin keycaps and a low profile case, and we have a keyboard that looks like an OEM keyboard at ~23 mm in height while offering the features of a modern high-end mechanical keyboard.
MSI is offering a more affordable option for high-refresh-rate gaming on the go with the GE63VR 7RF Raider. Thanks to is 120 Hz display, Intel Core i7-7700HQ, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, it packs a punch for the price. The question remains though whether that is enough in such a competitive market.
AMD's new second-generation Ryzen processors are here. We run the Ryzen 7 2700X flagship through our completely revamped test suite, which features the latest BIOS, OS, and software updates, as well as new tests and games. Results are very impressive and considerably reduce the gap to Intel's offerings.
Priced at an affordable $230, AMD's Ryzen 5 2600X is targeted at a larger market than the Ryzen 7 2700X. The processor still comes with 6 cores and 12 threads, matching the best Intel has to offer. In our testing, we see the new processor neck-to-neck with the Ryzen 7 1700X and beating the Intel Core i5-8600K.
The ASUS ROG Gladius II Origin comes with a number of amazing features. Aura Sync RGB lighting, top-of-the-line optical sensor, socket-switch design, detachable cable - and I did not mention it all. ASUS really did set the standards high this time, but the price tag turned out to be quite spicy.
EIZO's FlexScan EV2785 is an excellent 27" office monitor. It is equipped with a high-quality 4K IPS panel that has been carefully factory-calibrated and a USB-C port, which turns it into an attractive proposition for everyone who owns a USB-C laptop since the monitor can be used not to only expand the desktop, but to conveniently charge the battery and connect peripherals.
The i-Rocks K70E is a high-end keyboard with a feature set boasting configurable capacitive switches and per-key RGB backlighting, with software support backing onboard controls. At the same time, it retains the fun factor by using a transparent top plate and accessory paper skins for a high degree of customization.
