ASUS manufactures many sound cards but only a few great USB solutions. In order to correct that, they launched a wide variety of USB-powered products, and we will now take a close look at the U7, a 7.1 sound card powered via USB only, keeping cable clutter at an absolute minimum.
Raijintek, being a newcomer to the PC DIY market, seeks to flex its cooling muscles with the launch of the Ereboss CPU cooler. It features a massive single tower design with six 6 mm heatpipes and a 140 mm x 13 mm fan. Add it all up and you get a design that will turn more than a few heads.
QNAP recently released a major upgrade of their operating system, the QTS 4.0, and they were kind enough to send us a 4-bay NAS for testing, the TS-421, which comes with their latest operating system pre-installed. The TS-421 is a mid-level NAS best suited to home and SOHO environments.
Mionix's biggest breakthrough came with the Naos 5000 mouse launched three years ago. The Naos model has been beefed up and now features the newest 8200 DPI sensor from Avago. That, combined with market-leading ergonomics, could make this mouse the best from Mionix yet.
X2 is the newly established brand from Spire, geared specifically at the gamer. One of the brand's first chassis, the 6019B, may not look like anything out of the ordinary at first, but it does bear a few very pleasant surprises, making it a really viable choice to the market's big players.
The Zalman CNPS14X continues Zalman's trend of offering unique and varied products. The dual-tower design makes use of six 6 mm heatpipes and offers support for up to three fans, but is that truly enough to take on the competition?
We had a nice long chat with Christoph Katzer, a well-known figure to PSU enthusiasts and in the industry. We spoke about his over 18-month experience of working with be quiet!, makers of silent air-cooling and PSUs.
Today, we will have the chance to test a High Power retail product for the first time. The Astro GD 750 W utilizes both analog and digital components to deliver very good performance and is also equipped with a power meter.
The CM Storm Scout 2 Advanced comes with no visible changes when compared to the basic variant, but has a total of three pre-installed fans instead of one. Will this be enough for the Advanced version to stand out?
G.Skill's F3-2933C12D-8GTXDG kit is a weapon for the seasoned overclocker and Haswell-based systems. Clad in black and red, it is a complex kit that, once quenched and hardened, proves to be valuable to any serious overclocker.
We previously evaluated the Antec HCG-750M, and it left us with a good impression. We will now review its bigger brother, the HCG-850M. Sharing the same features with the aforementioned unit and having been made by the same OEM, Seasonic, we have pretty high expectations, too.
The Antec GX700 is the first of the new series aiming to offer a stylish chassis with a few very cool visual- and functional details at an affordable price point. Clearly going for a military theme, we will see if this chassis can defend itself in the $50 case category or if it shoots nothing but blanks at the competition.
New to the ASUS ROG line-up, the ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO is for those looking to get that high-end ROG "GENE" experience in a full ATX format, but does stretching the GENE also stretch the HERO's ability too thin, or has the ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO come to save the day?
Sunrise Audio's newest DAC / amp gets put to the test. The Ray DA-P1 is built with Android devices in mind and works with devices that feature USB Audio in the kernel. It is also a very capable small form factor DAC / amp that won't give you any problems with Windows.
EVGA decided to dive deeper into the PSU market by recently releasing some new models, including the Super NOVA G2 1000W, which we will test today. The SuperNOVA G2 1000 W can easily be classified as a high-end unit, and considering its features, its price also looks very good.
Crucial expanded their line-up a short while ago at Computex by introducing the Ballistix Sport XT product for mainstream users and those who know how to tweak their memory. We take a look at the high-end 1866 MHz C10 model, which carry a few surprises.
The Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 is the second generation of the water-cooling friendly Arc series, and it brings many more or less obvious improvements along for the ride. Will these be enough to make an even better impression than the original?
The NZXT Respire T40 packs a punch with four 8 mm heatpipes and 48 aluminum cooling fins. As an "easy to install" and "easy on the wallet" option, it could be a force to be reckoned with in the budget cooling arena.
MSI's GeForce GTX 780 GAMING is a factory overclocked custom design of the GTX 780. It is the quietest GTX 780 we tested so far, making it a great choice for gamers who want low noise levels. With a price of $650, it is just $10 more expensive than the reference design, a reasonable price increase.
Be Quiet! recently revamped their Pure Power line with several new additions. They released six new non-modular units, and we will test the new 500W unit today. It promises a high price/performance ratio along with ultra-quiet and reliable operation.
The Intel DC3217IYE Next Unit Computing is quite the beast, with the ability to connect two HDMI screens at the same time and the power of an Intel Core i3 and QS77 Express Chipset all in a tiny package. Just add memory and SSD and take this tiny system for a ride - we sure did!
Seagate is trying to establish a strong presence in the SSD market using their new 600 and 600 Pro SSDs, which are based on a Link-A-Media controller. Clocking in at $400 for the 480 GB version, our testing shows good price/performance, at affordable storage cost.
Hatched at the same time as MSI's other GAMING Dragon, the Z87-G45 GAMING comes from the same brood as its bigger brother. The genes may be the same, but the abilities offered are different, including the hole the MSI Z87-G45 GAMING is going to burn into your wallet; being smaller sometimes has its benefits.
UE BOOM is a brand new Bluetooth speaker with a lot of neat functions. It plays for roughly 15 hours, is very small, and light. It might just be the ideal companion for a day on the beach or as a wireless speaker for small rooms. With a huge range of colors and a good-looking design, it could be a major hit!
The Corsair Carbide Air 540 is the company's first cube chassis; it aims to offer the perfect base for a compact water-cooling system. Don't be fooled by the name as it can swallow up to two 280 mm radiators without issue. While everything looks great on paper, we check to see how it stacks up against the competition.
