Lian Li is entering the media PC enclosure market with their PC-C30 series. With more and more media system components available and enthusiasts looking for the perfect balance of form and functionality the PC-C30 series is a perfect choice. Many enclosures limit builders and enthusiasts to certain components where as the PC-C30 allows them to use whatever they need to fit their demands.
The Razer Barracuda HP-1 is a unique headset which offers true surround sound. A number of small speakers in the headphone are placed at different positions and are driven by a small amplifier included with the headphones. Now you can enjoy positional sound effects while using a headset. In our testing we found out that this makes quite a difference in games like Counter-Strike or Battlefield, where you can locate enemies based on the sounds they make.
Apevia is the new company name of Aspire. The Apevia X-Cruiser sports three gauges with blue light as well as a window for a small price tag. While the inside is quite simple and does not feature anything out of the ordinary, the outside look of the case did bring a smile to our face, especially considering the price tag and multiple color choices available.
The PC-A10 is a fantastic case. All the little things that Lian Li does over and over again make this case stand out from the crowd. The anti-vibration mounts for the fans, drives and side panels, the removable motherboard tray, PSU tray and drive cages, as well as the tool-less design make this case a pleasure to work with.
Crucial has always been highly thought of by all serious overclockers. They have catered well for the enthusiast market with their Ballistix and Ballistix Tracer range of memory. Today we take a look at the Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 2 GB kit, which has given us some stunning benchmark results! Reaching speeds of over 1 GHz, and breaking the 10,000 MB/s barrier in Everest Read.
The Scythe Karma Meter is a drive bay device to monitor the temperature inside your case with 4 separate diodes, control the fan speed of up to four fans and set the master volume of the PC. The Kama Meter shines with perfect build quality as well as 8 different back light modes. We take a close look to see if its features are useful and temperatures are accurate.
No.Identity Pads is a rather new mouse pad maker, but they listened to what gamers and professionals wanted. The NOIDpad gaming surface is a high-quality hybrid cloth mat that offers exceptional precision and tracking performance. For a small premium you can print your own logo onto the mat in an incredible quality. All this comes at a modest price of EUR 20, your custom logo adds EUR 5 to the price.
The be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 750W is a PSU of the next generation. It has four independant 12V rails which can supply 20 Amps each. You can connect up to four PCI-E video card connectors which makes this a great PSU for a GeForce 8800 GTX SLI rig. The power supply uses a modular concept which is a great way to keep the cable mess in your case at a minimum level. With over 30 connectors available this PSU will be able to power all peripherals you may have.
NVIDIA's new G80 GPU is the first to implement DirectX 10 support and Shader Model 4.0. Palit is one of NVIDIA's board partners who is selling the GeForce 8800 GTX. The card comes with 768 MB of video memory and can will run whatever you throw at it at highest resolutions with maximized settings. We test the card against the ATI Radeon X1950 XTX, X1900 Crossfire and the Geforce 7900 GTX.
The Scythe Kama-Thermo is a very simple, blue backlit temperature LCD display with a connected diode. The cheap price tag makes it very appealing to most case modders. It is quite small, but has large enough digits and a very good contrast so that the temperatures can be read from further away. The Kama-Thermo combines simplicity and functionality to form a great little device.
The SteelSound 5H v2 is a headset designed with gamers in mind. SteelSeries' first headset was called the SteelSound 5H, today we test the second version. The new version features even better padding than the old one, to make it more comfortable. Besides that the internal connections were reworked for increased durability, which was a problem with the old version.
If you are looking for a cheap video card that will keep you running until Windows Vista and DirectX 10 are out you may want to look at the Sapphire X1650 Pro. The card will run most games on high details at 1024x768 without taking a sweat. It comes equipped with fast GDDR3 memory and the fan is temperature controlled to keep the noise levels down.
OCZ's Roadster is a tiny little USB stick that uses an ingenious folding concept. With only 3 cm in length and 0.5 cm in height, this is probably the smallest USB key on the market. Its 1 GB of storage should be plenty for all your data transportation needs. With a price of around $25 for the 1 GB version it is also very affordable.
The OCZ EvoStream 600W is a powerful PSU that comes with modular connectors to help you reduce the cable mess in your case. On top of that you get four independent 12V rails that can supply all the power your video cards may ever need. In our testing on a Crossfire system the 12V line was exceptionally stable, making this unit a great choice for overclockers.
Passive cooling without fans is the holy grail of cooling because it does not add annoying fan noise to your system. While this is almost impossible using air cooling, Thermaltake has engineered an external watercooling solution that can keep a modern CPU cool without any fans. Thermaltake's Orchestra is very easy to install, even for novices, and comes with everything included to get you up and running.
Wicked Lasers is very well known in the enthusiast laser community for making high-quality products that perform well. We test the 125 mW Fusion laser which emits a high-powered green beam that is visible for several miles without losing much of intensity. Also we test protective goggles which are designed to make sure you don't hurt your precious eyes when playing with lasers.
Some people would love to get into a water cooled setup, but aren't quite sure where to start, or don't really want to get into anything too complex. Thermaltake has a solution for this - The Silent Water II. Coming pre-built and ready to go, it's just a matter of mounting this cooler to reap the benefits of watercooling without the hassle of setting up pipes, leak testing, and the other aspects of building a water cooled system.
Func Industries manufactures gaming surfaces by gamers for gamers. Their product range includes a pad for everybody from low sensitivity, to ultra-large surface area. In this review we will be testing three pads: the Func surface1030, the 1030 Archetype and the F30.R. Also on the testbench we have the Func Antifriction Liquid which is supposed to reduce the gliding resistance of your gaming surface even more.
The Ultron Speecision is a 2in1 mouse pad, sporting a rough precision side and a fine speed side. The build quality of the pad is incredibly solid, due to the aluminum used. Since there is no cloth in use, the pad is resistant to any spilled liquids. We take our mice for a spin on both surfaces and test how each side fares.
The Thermaltake TMG AT2 is a cooler for ATI's Radeon X1800, X1900 and X1950 Series. It uses a combination of copper and aluminum to optimize the cooling. We compared the cooler to the Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 and the Zalman FC-ZV9 Fatal1ty. The temperature results were among the best of the tested coolers. Not only performance is great, but the installation is also very easy to perform, in just a couple of minutes.
Today NVIDIA released their highly anticipated GeForce 8800 Series based on their all-new G80 GPU. The first two cards will be the GeForce 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX. We take you through the changes in the GPU design and what's new and great on these cards.
The Akasa Integral P2 LAN is just one of many hard drive enclosures from Akasa. It looks quite sleek and solid, holds the hard drive well and comes with everything needed. Setting up the drive may not be as easy as other variants, but the software is bug free and easy to use. You can even use up to eight of these units to build a RAID setup.
The Ultron G1-Clawpad has an interesting look to it. As soon as you see it, you will notice what it is for: having all the needed keys for a game within reach of the left hand. It does not only look good, but feels great as well. The buttons are responsive and comfortable. Gaming with the G1-Clawpad is very nice once the hand has gotten used to its new weapon of choice.
Abit has a long history of producing top notch motherboards for overclockers and enthusiasts. Their new AW9D-MAX is designed for Intel's Core 2 platform using the i975X chipset. On the feature list there is everybody you could find useful: Dual Gigabit Ethernet, 8x SATA-II, Firewire and two PCI-Express x16 slots for your video cards. To make your life easier this board includes abit's proprietary UGuru technology. We test the board thoroughly to see if it can live up to the hype, especially when it comes to overclocking.
