Good NAS servers don't have to cost an arm and a leg. Case in point is Thecus' fresh N2310 for use at home. It is equipped with an 800 MHz SoC processor and 512 MB of DDR3 RAM and can take up to two HDDs. Not here to break performance records, its very high price/performance ratio is simply amazing.
We continue our foray into mITX motherboards by taking a look at an high-end enthusiast option from ASUS, the P87I-PRO. Featuring a huge 12+2 VRM design, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, plus all Intel Z87 features, the ASUS P87I-PRO also carries the standard high-level ASUS experience we've all come to expect.
The Dragonfly 4 by Titan has proven to be unique. Near silent when in use, this slim tower design with a slim fan delivers unrivaled clearance around the CPU socket. Featuring a solid list of features and an affordable price, it still packs a punch with the ability to cool up to 160W.
The MSI GTX 760 Mini-ITX Gaming should definitely be on your short list if you are looking to build a SFF gaming PC or compact Steam Box. It runs quieter than any other compact graphics card we ever tested, yet still has enough power to play all the latest titles at full HD, with maximized settings.
Intel managed to turn some heads with the NUC, but with its active cooling solution, it leaves things to be desired in terms of noise. A few manufacturers have stepped up to offer passive cooling platforms, one of which is the Akasa Newton. Competitively priced and with a good feature set, it has all the right ingredients to make for an excellent silent solution.
Func's first ever gaming headset gets put to the test. The HS-260s is Func's attempt at creating a good mid-end closed-back gaming headset. Func ships this headset with two different types of ear pads, which allows you to tailor their performance somewhat.
Feenix is a new brand in the high-end gaming gear scene. Today, we will be taking a look at the Nascita gaming mouse featuring the well-performing Avago ADNS-9800 sensor and some pretty interesting features.
BitFenix has taken the frame of the Prodigy M and now offers its genes in the Phenom Micro-ATX chassis aiming to offer a clean, understated, but compact option to those who need storage drives and the ability to include potent hardware.
The ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC is R9 290X done right. It is overclocked out of the box, but doesn't suffer from the throttling issues of AMD's reference design. The card is also quieter, even in performance mode, and you can activate the second, quiet BIOS for a very low noise experience.
Silverstone has a rich portfolio of PSU offerings and recently released a new line, the Strider Gold S series, which includes the world’s smallest fully modular ATX PSUs. We will take a look at the ST75F-GS unit, having Gold efficiency and Silverstone's great look.
MP4Nation has been manufacturing quality budget in-ears for a while, and they hope to take a good chunk of the mid-fi earphone market with the $60 S1s. The S1s use a 10mm driver in a well-designed housing and come with a flat cable, which is neat for people on the go.
The Deep Silence 4 is Nanoxia's mATX offering for silent fans out there. Offering the ability to control up to six fans within the chassis while encapsulating the sound from within, this should be an interesting option for those wanting a compact system with as little noise as possible.
EVGA's GTX 780 Ti Classified is the fastest GTX 780 Ti we ever tested. It comes with a large overclock out of the box that makes it run above 1175 MHz most of the time. The dual-fan ACX heatsink also provides good cooling, resulting in low temperatures and a stable operation at all times.
Super Flower raised the bar even higher than before with their new Platinum and Gold Leadex PSUs. We will take a look at their strongest PSU offering, the Leadex Gold 1300 W. This unit features a fully modular cabling design with LED lit connectors, a single +12V rail, and a selectable semi-passive operation for completely silent operation at low loads.
The latest trend in NAS devices is to reproduce multimedia content, which home users appreciate since it provides them with the ability to also use their NAS as a media player. Synology adheres to this trend with the DS214play we are testing today - this unit's media server features allow it to transcode 1080p Full HD video on the fly.
MSI's GeForce GTX 780 Ti is the best graphics card I've reviewed in a long time. It is very fast because of its overclock out of the box, but doesn't run hot at all. Its powerful TwinFrozr cooler also enables MSI to run the card at fantastic noise levels that are quieter than most other graphics cards on the market.
CM Storm's new Havoc gaming mouse features the 8200 DPI Avago ADNS-9800 sensor which has proven to be one of the most consistent, high-performance laser sensors out there. That, coupled with plenty of buttons, should make for an interesting combination.
The Ashura is breathing new life into Scythe's CPU cooler lineup. Featuring an offset single tower design, this heatsink offers enough clearance even for the tallest modules in all four memory slots. With a price below $50, it is also quite affordable, while providing decent noise levels and good cooling.
Today, we will test the strongest member of be quiet!’s latest series, the Power Zone line. With 1000 W capacity and six PCIe connectors, it will easily handle a high-end gaming system. The PSU can even power and thermally control up to three case fans, which contributes to the quiet operation of your entire system.
Whether you want to build a new Haswell-based HTPC or fully-fledged gaming box, like Valve's STEAMBox, ASRock's Z87E-ITX is ready to meet your needs at a decent price. We take a look at the ASRock Z87E-ITX and perhaps discover why Valve chose the ASRock Z87E-ITX board for their own STEAMBox.
The new ASUS GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC offers amazing performance out of the box that is 6% higher than the already fast GTX 780 Ti reference design. ASUS is also using their large dual-fan DirectCU II heatsink to ensure that the card runs cool enough for maximized performance.
Corsair recently added another line, the CS-M, to their rich portfolio. Today, we will evaluate the CS650M: it features compact dimensions and a semi-modular cabling design. The PSU is also 80 Plus Gold certified and has a single +12V rail that can deliver up to 51 A of current.
MSI's R9 270X GAMING provides the lowest noise levels of any card in its performance class thanks to its dual-fan TwinFrozr cooler. It is also overclocked out of the box, giving it a 3% performance advantage, which matches HD 7950 performance.
The EVGA Hadron Air comes with a high quality 80Plus Gold 500W PSU and provides enough room for a potent graphics card. This compact case offers everything you need to build a tiny, powerful gaming system. But did EVGA achieve what others are only dreaming of, without sacrificing anything?
Like a mad rush of level 60 rogues, the ECS GANK MACHINE launches its assault on the Intel Haswell platform in a way no other would even attempt, going straight for the kill. Built with gaming in mind, and a bit of overclocking, too, the ECS GANK MACHINE not only surprised me, but left me feeling helpless, and under-skilled.
