The Thermalright HR-03 Plus performance VGA card cooler has been on the market for a while now, but is it still the king of the VGA coolers if you believe some people. In this review we put it up against the newest offering from Zalman and see which is the best cooler for your GeForce 8800 Series card at the moment.
The Cooler Master RC-690 is their newest mainstream case. It combines the benefits of great aircooling, screwless design and compatiblilty with large graphic cards with solid steel construction. All this comes at a very affordable price point. The case can be had with or without a window.
ECS has released the ECS G31T-M as affordable Core 2 Duo motherboard which supports the latest Quad-Core and 1333 FSB CPUs at an affordable price of less than $75. In our testing we saw that performance is on par with much more expensive high-end motherboards. The integrated Intel VGA is also a nice addition because you don't have to buy a video card for your office machine or can use it to play back video in a Media PC.
The UFO Acrylic Cube case from Sunbeam has a lot of unique features for a clear plastic case. The cube design is unlike other clear cases I've seen, and its compact size makes it great for smaller systems or users with space restrictions. There is a large amount of "WOW-factor" that comes with a case like this, and it is sure to turn some heads.
BFG is one of two companies offering the Ageia PhysX card in form of a retail product. The PPU - physics proccesing unit - is an additioal processor to the GPU and CPU. It enables real life physics and interactivity within supporting games. While the first games and a high price tag upon launch did not live up to expectations, the brand new Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and a very affordable 120 USD price tag makes this a great addition nowadays.
3D Mercury is the name of GIGABYTE's first ever case with an integrated water cooling system. The case is aimed at first time water cooling buyers and is extremely easy to setup and maintain. Is this case worth the money or is it just another overpriced attempt to fuse a water cooling system and a chassis?
Akasa's new PowerMax Family of power supplies offers power for demanding gamers and enthusiasts. We test the 1000W version today which has a large number of connectors on extremely long cables in an ATX standard sized case. The unit boasts a high efficiency of over 82% which may even help you save some money on your electricity bill.
After a long wait the Razer Diamondback Mouse is back on the market. The new version is dubbed Diamondback 3G and features Razer's famous 3G infrared sensor for bargain price of $49.99. Other than the sensor there are only a few changes to the design, so can it live up to the expectations?
Thermaltake's new BigWater 760i watercooling kit is an affordable and compact solution to users who are are afraid of the cost or the complexity of a full kit. It is easy to install, so even less experienced people can get their feet wet with watercooling.
The Pro|Click Mobile is Razer's first go at designing a cordless laptop mouse. Being cordless and a laptop mouse seems to be some feat, but has Razer been able to make a good performing mouse that avoids all of the obvious pitfalls associated with cordless laptop mice?
Zalman's new ZM850-HP PSU uses two heatpipes to transfer heat away from the hot components on the PCB to the rear of the unit. The hot air is then exhaust by a slow running 140 mm fan. This design allows Zalman to run their fan much slower than the competition. In the end this results in one of the quietest PSUs we have ever used, especially if you consider the 850W maximum load.
Matrox has made some waves with their recent release of the DualHead2Go Digital GXM module, but the TripleHead2Go Analog has one great feature which the dual display variant lacks: Surround Gaming. We fire up a classic and a brand new game, to show you what you could be gaming on with the TripleHead2Go GXM module.
Spire has just released their new interpretation of a sleek looking hard drive enclosure namely the all new MegaPOD III IDE. With the MegaPOD III Spire wishes to conquer the mid-range enclosure market, but can this enclosure keep up with rest, or has the sleek design prohibited performance?
Biostar is the first manufacturer to put 512 MB of fast GDDR3 memory on a GeForce 8600 GTS card, which usually comes with 256 MB. Since GDDR3 memory is expensive, the card retails for around $50 more than the regular variant. Are 256 MB additional video memory worth the price difference?
When building an HTPC system, one of the main problems is finding a decent keyboard and mouse that won't take up too much room. Often a good keyboard is just a standard full sized desktop keyboard in a wireless version. Then there is the issue of cursor control. A mouse often gets misplaced, and remote control units are awkward at best. VidaBox's new Premium Wireless Keyboard features a built-in optical trackball, and the size is as compact as a laptop keyboard.
Corsair's brand new VX450W power supply comes with a maximum load of 450W. While this may not sound much it is absolutely sufficient to power most of today's systems. The PSU has a very high efficiency of over 83% which allows the fan to run slower because there is not so much excess heat to get rid of. In our fan noise testing this extremely silent unit leads by a large margin over all other PSUs tested so far.
A-DATA is joining the band wagon of 1200 MHz memory with their Extreme Edition memory. Many manufacturers have displayed memory at these speeds at Computex this year. The kits are available in 1 or 2 GB variants and come with the new, cleaner heatspreader. This Extreme Edition memory is the first to manage 1200 MHz at default voltage with no problems at all.
PC Power and Cooling is without doubt one of the best power supply manufacturers out there. Recently they have been bought by OCZ and we are now seeing the first products which are geared for the masses. The Silencer 750W Quad CF comes with an ATI CrossFire certification and boasts four PCI-E power connectors. In our testing we saw excellent regulation qualities and very high efficiency of up to 82%.
The P3 is a large mousepad made from cloth with a soft and very fine surface. The orange logo on the edge looks very nice and the overall feel is great. If you are in the market for an XL pad, this may just be for you. The great price makes this pad a very affordable choice for low-sensitivity gamers who need a large gaming surface.
Before the next generation of GPUs is released, we must deal with NVIDIA's flag-ship card, the 8800 Ultra, and the massive amounts of heat it produces. There are several air cooling options available, but enthusiasts will surely select water cooling. The D-Tek Fuzion GPU block offers versatility, and coupled with the Uni-Sink it should be a great solution for cooling 8800 Ultra and GTX cards. Is it the same in practice as in theory?
The Cooler Master Cosmos is the company's newest high-end offering designed to be a follow up on the highly successful Stacker Series. The case did not only grow in dimension & weight but also offers a long list of new and unique features. You will find seperate hard drive drawers, four fans and foam covered side panels among many other details.
Most users these days know to at least protect their PCs with a surge protector, but in truth, that is not nearly enough. Surge protectors do not protect against blackouts, brownouts or "dirty" power, but an interruptible power supply can. Today we takes a look at the Smart1000LCD UPS from Tripp Lite. It is a 1000VA / 500W unit with a blue backlit LCD display that provides real-time power status.
The Zykon M1 is a very cool looking mouse, featuring red LED lighting and a scroll wheel that can be seen from the bottom of the mouse. It is smaller and lighter than most gaming mice these days, which makes it great for low sensitivity gamers, especially with large cloth mouse pads.
After a long wait the Zalman VF1000 LED VGA cooler has finally arrived. It is a special cooler designed to meet the cooling requirements of today's high-end cards like the GeForce 8800 Series. The additional RHS88 heatsink plate is required for proper cooling of other components on the board like voltage regulation circuitry. This all copper beauty sure does look nice, but can it live up to the expectations?
Tuniq launches a new thermal compound that should be available September 10, 2007. We put it to the test against Arctic Silver 5 and the older TX-1 compound to see how easy it is to work with, how easy it cleans up and how well it performs.
