Not everyone can afford the latest and greatest heatsink on the market. Some users are stuck with the noisy stock coolers that are lacking in performance. What else can the user do? We take a look at a new entry level heatsink from Sunbeam called the Silent Whisper. At just $19.99, the budget-minded consumer might just have a reason to get rid of the stock heatsink.
The new AluBox series from A.C. Ryan covers all types of hard drive enclosures utilizing both IDE and SATA drives, with various connection options. We get to take a look at the AluBox LAN in its IDE flavor, which boasts USB 2.0 and Ethernet connectivity.
Cool Jag's new Falcon 92 Cu CPU cooler comes with wide compatibility for all current sockets. As the name suggests the cooler is made from Copper - a cheaper Aluminum version is available as well. During our testing we came to the conclusion that this extremely quiet cooler has no problems keeping up with the other heatsinks we tested so far.
The Sunbeam Tuniq tower is one of the largest heatsinks around, with a 120mm fan sandwiched between two rows of aluminum fins. The three U-shaped copper heatpipes carry away the heat from the copper base, and the included fan controller allows the user to dial in the fan speed and noise to their liking. The Tuniq Tower goes on the test bench to see what kind of performance this monster can give.
The newest addition to Thermaltake's Soprano line of cases is the Soprano RS 101, an entry-level mid-tower boasting a glossy piano-black finish to the front bezel. With tool-less PCI slots and drive bays, a full sized window with a myriad of fan options and plenty of style, Thermaltake scores a big win for the budget-minded consumer.
DDR3 P35 boards and the new memory standard were a big topic at CeBIT and all major memory manufacturers showed DDR3 up and running at Computex. One of these companies is Winchip with their DDR3 1600 MHz CL8-8-8-15 memory. We take a first look at the new memory to let you know, what it holds in store.
Danger Den has been making water cooling blocks for ages. Now the company has decided to expand its portfolio and has started offering cases. Danger Den offers acrylic cases, with optional UV panels. Today, we take a look at the Torture rack - a case that is supposed to let you stress components to the max, provide adequate cooling for them, and make it easy for you to change over stuff quickly and efficiently.
The Max Orb is Thermaltake's new "flagship" cooler, which consists of six heatpipes, a nickel-plated copper base and lightweight aluminum fins. This new cooler is compatible with many current CPU socket types, including Intel's Socket T (LGA775) and AMD's Sockets AM2, 939 and 754. The Max Orb definitely has a lot of good looks, but what about the performance?
Mushkin is well known for the solid memory kits they make. Today we have the Mushkin XP2-6400 2 GB on our test bench. These modules are specced to run at DDR2-800 at CL4. With a price of $150 for 2 GB this kit is sure not the cheapest, but it comes with Micron D9 memory chips. In our testing we saw very nice voltage scaling up to DDR2-1136 at CL5.
The Icemat 2nd Edition mouse pad utilizes actual glass as surface. Making this material usable for optical and laser mice is certainly no small feat. We take a look at the black pad, but Icemat offers it in many other different colors as well.
Matrox made some waves with their GXM (Graphics eXpansion Modules) when they where first released, starting with the DualHead2Go. This module enabled dual monitor use with a single output. Their newest addition is the DualHead2Go Digital, which uses DVI as output method to allow higher resolutions. We try the device in Windows XP and Mac OS X using two 19 inch DVI based LCD montors.
The Antec MX-1 is part of the new Veris brand and features a very unique design. You get eSATA and USB 2.0 connectiviy inside a solid plastic & aluminum enclosure. It is a bit larger than most enclosures, but features a very effective cooling design to keep the temperature of the installed SATA drive down to a minimum.
Are you looking to get into water cooling, but are not quite sure where to start, or want something a little more than a pre-built cooler? Well we may have a solution for that - The GIGABYTE 3D Galaxy II Water Cooler. Today we will take a look at GIGABYTE's new water kit and put it to the test.
The Antec Sonata III is continuing the line-up with new looks, interior layout and a very solid and highly efficient EarthWatts 500W power supply. All this for a mere $149 USD, so we take a real close look and fill it with some high end hardware to let you know how it holds up.
Winchip is a well known brand in Asia and is now entering the European market with their memory products. The company has a long history in the OEM sector, while the heatspreader of their PC2-9600 memory looks quite unigue. The 2 GB memory kit, which costs $199, can manage an impressive 1240 MHz at CL5-5-5-15 on our testbed.
Super Talent has taken their classic enclosure for USB 2.0 flash memory and stuffed it with a 200x device. This means it should be one of the fastest memory sticks out there with more than 30 MB/s. These benchmark results together with the sturdy aluminum casing make this a rock solid choice.
The AllInOne control panel from Akasa offers, just as the name implies, connectivity of all kinds. You will also get a small LCD display to control two fans and two temperature diodes. The unit itself is of high quality and the clean design should look great inside a case - even the red one.
The absolutely tiny A-DATA PD17 is not only the company's smallest, but lightest offering as well. The modern shape, coupled with the choice of three colors and great construction make for a very unique device. Even though it is so small, performance is very good and the PD17 is ReadyBoost capable as well.
Looking for a tough durable quick transfering memory stick? PQI's new Traveling Disk series might be a good place to start looking. Today we have the pleasure of reviewing a sample of the Traveling Disk series, and we'll see how well it stacks up compared to other drives.
ATI's new Radeon HD 2400 XT comes with the RV610 GPU which is built in 65nm. This means the GPU is cheap to make and consumes very little power. AMD has also added several new power savings features which makes this card one of the least power hungry on the market. For a price of only $79 you will be able to play back HD videos on almost any CPU using an HDMI + HDCP + Audio link with the UVD HD video acceleration hardware.
Powercolor's Radeon HD 2400 Pro uses AMD's new RV610 GPU with 256 MB of DDR2 memory. With its special video acceleration features and low-profile PCB design the card seems to be a good choice for small form factor media PC systems.
The HD 2600 XT is AMD's new midrange flagship card which is based on the RV630 GPU. This is the first time that a midrange card comes equipped with GDDR4 memory - 256 MB in our case. AMD's new card comes with features such as DirectX 10 support and full HD video acceleration by dedicated hardware called UVD. But is this enough to beat NVIDIA's new products?
Trends in waterblock design don't change often. Until recently, it was thought that jet-impingement was the best way to go for achieving the lowest temperature when cooling a processor. Then came along quad-core CPUs, and it became evident that we must look at other ways of cooling these beasts – their core surface is very large, so waterblock designers were forced to return to old-school, large surface area waterblocks. The Apogee GT is one of the first blocks that attempts to offer jet-impingement performance from a block relying on a simple array of copper pins – can it succeed?
Today we take a look at the Ballistix Tracer PC2-6400 2GB kit from Crucial Technology. For those who haven't heard of the Tracer range, these modules feature eye catching blue backlighting and activity LEDs, making this RAM an excellent choice for making your PC really stand out! With most modern games using more and more memory and at the same time needing loads of bandwidth, this memory would be great for high-end gaming systems.
Flash drives are a huge thing these days, and more and more companies are producing them. Today we'll take a look at PQI's new Intelligent Drive, which is the smallest flash drive in the world. Available in 1 GB to 4 GB capacities, it's sure to be a hit in the consumer product sector.
