"The Define R2 from Fractal Design manages to still turn some heads in the crowded sub 100 Euro case market. It may not look like much at first sight, but Fractal Design manages to stuff it full of useful features, which are simply not present in cases from the competitors."

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"Earlier this week AMD announced the Phenom II X6 processors that are designed to offer"

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"Toss out your old analog video recorder as that is no longer useful in this digital age. If you, like me, have a huge collection of digital media files in various formats, then you know that finding a good player that can stream this content to your TV could be a challenge."

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"As the Spain enters its EU Presidency term, 800 people came together in Madrid to share their views of the future. We were also there to promote modding and sharing ideas. This is my report from the event."

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"As the PC gaming market expands, peripherals are becoming an essential part of any gamers' inventory all around the world. The most typical among all gear: the mice. For those slightly more serious, a good gaming surface is the best upgrade for any mice. Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the SteelSeries 4HD hard surface gaming mat to see how well it performs when used with gaming mice."

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"I had a blast working with the ASRock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard. If you look only at performance numbers the ASRock 890GX Extreme3 outperformed the MSI 785GM-E65 in the majority of the tests. Though there is much more to the ASRock 890GX Extreme3. The features that the ASRock 890GX Extreme3 offers, are key points that should be taken into consideration as well. The True Blu-ray when using the integrated Radeon HD 4290 will play back your Blu-ray movies in full 1080p with 24bit/192KHz sampling in 7.1 surround sound. The True 333 capabilities of the ASRock 890GX Extreme3 almost speaks for itself. Having the ability to run your graphics, USB 3.0, and your SATA 3 at full bandwidth at the same time is a beautiful thing!"

More information can be found here.

"Leave it to Asus to come out strong with the GTX-470, while other vendors settled for hitting the streets with regular GTX-470 that just wasn't good enough for Asus. They brought the Asus ENGTX-470 Voltage Tweak Edition to the table. It's almost unheard of for Asus to field the Voltage Tweak Edition before the Non-Voltage Tweak Edition but they did it this time."

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"This handy offering from Kingwin showcases one of the easiest and fastest ways to access a hard drive. Just pop the drive into the dock, attach the USB cable and power cord, and turn it on."

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"SandForce is the hot ticket in SSD controller technology for 2010, offering outstanding bandwidth speed and operational performance. SandForce RAISE technology provides redundant protection for single SSD computer systems, while data is automatically secured with AES-128 encryption. The SandForce SF-1200 controller has already found its way into many of the fastest SSDs available, and now RunCore utilizes the SandForce SF-1222TA3-SBH processor in their Pro-V prosumer MLC SSD series. Benchmark Reviews tests the 200GB RunCore Pro-V SSD, model RCP-V-S2520-MCN, against some of the most popular storage devices available and demonstrates that 4K IOPS performance is more important than speed."

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"Microcool, typically known for their heatsinks, recently dove head first into computer chassis with their Banchetto 101 bench station design. With the option to mount your choice of water cooling hardware, this bench station stands out from the rest. Today we take a closer look to see how functional the Banchetto's design is."

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"G.Skill's ECO series is quite the kit when you consider what it is able to accomplish with what it is given. DDR3-1600 with only 1.35vdimm may become commonplace in the future but for now it is a nice surprise. Our testing showed that using this memory kit reduced power usage at the wall when compared to other kits that use the standard 1.65vdimm setting. Priced at $124.99 plus $2.99 for shipping, the G.Skill ECO DDR-1600 2x2GB are priced $15 above the lowest priced 4GB DDR3 1600MHz dual-channel memory kit, but it is priced among the majority of other DDR3-1600 C7 kits..."

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"A lot of people believe that you have to have an enormous amount of lighting when taking pictures. Well, in all reality we really don't need 1500 Watt bulbs. Granted, having an enormous amount of light does help out, but with today's Digital Cameras, (DSLR specifically) we can use very little amounts of light to get picture perfect results. Sometimes, even a non-DSLR setup with proper shutter settings can give you equal or very similar results than the very light sensitive sensors new DSLR cameras come with."

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"The stock cooler included with retail-packaged CPUs represents the manufacturer's best efforts to provide a cooler that will keep the processor within its temperature limits at stock clock speeds, all for the lowest cost. But if you want to overclock your system, you're going to need an aftermarket cooler. The ideal cooler would be inexpensive, quiet, easy to install, and keep your CPU icy cold under all loads and conditions. But of course, in the real world it's always a balancing act among these various parameters. CoolIT Systems' new ECO A.L.C. ECO-R120 CPU cooler aims to balance these requirements by offering an easy-to-install sealed liquid cooling system for your CPU. Using both stock and high-speed fans, Benchmark Reviews compares it to the top air coolers and the Corsair H50 liquid cooling system on an overclocked and overvolted Intel Core i7-920 processor."

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"The DH-202 succeeds the DH-102, with new looks and a couple of new features. It also costs around 90 Euros more than the aging predecessor. We take this 7" LCD display HTPC case for a speed to see if it gives us a bit of a deja vu or manages to impress with the new look and feel."

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"As can be seen in many Phoronix articles and in the memory reviews themselves, OCZ memory is quite common to Phoronix. While OCZ Technology is only eight years old, they have done a phenomenal job at building a terrific brand that is highly regarded among enthusiasts, gamers, and professionals. OCZ has expanded over the years from just being a system memory producer to a vendor of interesting flash drives and high-performance SSDs, among other products, but in this review we have caught ourselves looking at another OCZ DDR3 memory kit. The OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Black Edition kit is specifically designed for use with AMD's latest processors and chipsets."

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"AMD's Turbo CORE technology is now available in 'Thuban' Phenom-II AM3 desktop processors, beginning with the 2.8GHz X6-1055T and 3.2GHz X6-1090T CPUs. Turbo CORE senses when three of the six processor cores are not in use, and automatically boosts the clock speed up to 500MHz. Paired with the AMD 890FX chipset found on ASUS' Crosshair-IV Formula ROG motherboard, the AMD Phenom-II X6-1090T Black Edition CPU can reach 4.0GHz on all six cores with an additional 4.3GHz Turbo CORE. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the AMD X6-1090T against the Intel Core i7-920 and i7-890X processors in gaming, computing, and overclocking performance."

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"HIS' Turbo Edition Radeon HD 5830 is a great option to consider if the HD 5830 is in your price range. With excellent cooling, build quality and the added bonus of including a full Direct11 game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, for only US$289, it could be considered quite a bargain."

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"The new AMD Phenom II X6 processors, AMD 8-series chipsets and ATI Radeon HD 5800 series cards make up what is called the 'Leo' platform and is said to be the ultimate AMD platform for power users. Today, our focus will be on the new AMD Phenom II X6 processors as we have the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor in-house and have been pounding away on it for the past several days. We were able to reach just shy of 4.2GHz by lowering the HT multiplier again and increasing the CPU Voltage to +0.150V..."

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"With top end GPU's running in the $500 price range, stepped down models that offer great performance are popular. The PNY GTX-470 retails for around $350 and features a Limited Lifetime Warranty yet offers most of the performance of the GTX-480 so for price conscious enthusiasts might be a better choice."

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"For this review I will be looking at another product from one of Xtreme Computing's long time friends, Akasa the product under review is the Freedom Xone midi pc chassis. As ever coming from Akasa I am expecting a quality product."

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"The Camangi WebStation is a compact tablet WiFi or 3G-connected PC that utilizes the Google Android Operating System. Similar to the Apple iPad, the Camangi WebStation adds all of the features an Android smartphone offers and combines them with tablet size and functionality. Weighing a mere 13 ounces, the Camangi WebStation tablet can double as an eBook reader with the installed Aldiko or Google Books applications. Internet phone calls can be made using Fring, and the 3G Wizard adds connectivity when WiFi is unavailable. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the Camangi WebStation Google Android Tablet PC in a combination of everyday uses to see how well it can replace other compact computer devices."

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"Earlier this month we reviewed the brand new ATI FirePro V8800 graphics card, which was AMD's first workstation graphics card based upon the Evergreen GPU refresh (derived from the consumer-grade Radeon HD 5000 series ASICs), and it was a magnificent performer. The FirePro V8800 played well with AMD's proprietary Linux driver and the OpenGL performance was terrific with sizable gains compared to AMD's previous ultra high-end workstation graphics card, the FirePro V8750, that was launched last year. The FirePro V8800 also introduced Eyefinity support and other features to the AMD workstation world. This morning AMD is expanding their selection of new FirePro products based upon the Evergreen architecture with the introduction of the FirePro V3800 and FirePro V5800, which are to address the entry-level and mid-range workstation segments, respectively. We have been testing out these new AMD FirePro graphics cards over the past week and have the Linux benchmarks to share."

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"The Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H motherboard has much improved efficiency at an idle state when running beta BIOS F7B as you can see from the chart above. The system used 13W less power at idle, which is a 15% power savings! Not a bad improvement for just updating the BIOS and doing nothing else to save power! If you keep your computer on 24/7 that power savings can add up over the course of a year. For example, using the national average for KWH (currently $0.10120 per KWH) this BIOS update could save you up to ~$11.50 a year. If you own your PC for a number of years you can see how this power savings could add up!"

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"The ASUS GeForce ENGTX470 graphics card proved to be a slightly better performing graphics card than the reference designed Radeon HD 5850 graphics card that we tested it against. When compared to the factory overclocked Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 Toxic Edition, the ASUS GeForce GTX 470 traded blows in a benchmark battle too close to call. Since a Radeon HD 5850 can be purchased for $299.99 shipped without rebates, the ASUS GeForce GTX 470, priced at $349.99 plus $8 shipping has it work cut out for it, however, NVIDIA has always had a loyal customer base..."

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"While SilverStone has long been revered for their range of uniquely high-end computer enclosures like the Fortress FT02, Temjin TJ10, and Sugo SG04 all with original designs, occasionally they have dabbled with other products outside of their computer enclosure and power supply expertise. We previously have reviewed such products like the SilverStone Raven mouse and an RFID-secured SSD/HDD enclosure, but their newest peripheral in this area is by far the most unique product that we have encountered from SilverStone. The SST-HDDBOOST product allows you to connect a solid-state drive and a traditional hard-drive via their custom PCB to experience the benefits of both types of storage."

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"The Lamptron FC5 is the company's high-end model to control fans, display their information as well as monitor the temperature within your chassis. The front of each FC5 is milled out of a single block of aluminum and the unit can power up to 4 fans with 30W draw each - all attributes of an excellent quality."

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"Asus' Xonar Essence STX may be pricey, but for audiophiles or those with the money to spend on an excellent sound card, this is the one to get. It looks good and performs even better. It's made with high quality components throughout, right down to the capacitors and EMI shield and this attention to detail becomes evident right from the first listen."

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"SuperSpeed USB-3.0 delivers a very dramatic improvement over the older USB-2 protocol. Bandwidth speed has increased from 480 Mb/s to 5000 Mb/s, and file transfer rates as fast as 400 MB/s are now possible; making SuperSpeed USB-3.0 very competitive with the Serial-ATA interface. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the Super Talent RAIDDrive ST3U64SRK SuperSpeed USB-3.0 flash drive, a product with up to 128GB of capacity which utilizes two SSD controllers in a RAID-0 array. The Super Talent USB-3.0 RAIDDrive is capable of 320 MB/s according to specifications, making it the fastest USB flash drive on the market."

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"The HIS HD 5850 iCooler V Turbo is a fully customized HD 5870 that uses a non-reference PCB and heatsink. Instead of the standard clocks it comes at frequencies of 765 MHz core and 1125 MHz memory. Another highlight is the included Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game which is clearly one of the top games of the last months."

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"Cyberpower is known for their custom built PC’s, but now their sister company Xtreme Gear is selling components as well as complete custom systems. Today we are taking a look at Xtreme Gear’s HP-1216B CPU cooler. It’s a 5 pipe Heatpipe Direct Touch cooler that will mount up to all of the Intel LGA sockets and the AMD 754/939/940 and the newer AM2 and AM3. The HP-1216B also sports a blue LED 120mm fan to give it a little flare and it can be yours for $29..."

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"The biggest mistake PC hardware enthusiast make with SSDs is grading them by their speed. File transfer speed is important, but only so long as the operational IOPS performance can sustain that bandwidth under load. Based on the high-performance SandForce SF-1200 SSD Processor, Corsair's Force F100 solid state drive is in an excellent position to take the entire market. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the 100GB Corsair Force SSD CSSD-F100GB2 against some of the most popular storage devices available and demonstrates that 4K IOPS performance is more important than speed."

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"We have our hands on the bash launcher used by Valve's Steam client for Mac OS X that was recently announced -- along with the Source Engine for OS X -- and is currently in closed beta. While such scripts are usually insignificant, there is something interesting within it and that is explicit support for Linux."

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"Today we have the opportunity to look at a new motherboard from ASRock. Established in 2002, ASRock is a company that is still a bit on the small side when compared to some of the big guns out there. Despite being on the small side I am confident they are planning on making some big waves with the center piece of today's article, the ASRock X58 Extreme3. The ASRock X58 Extreme3 aims to be a top notch board with a rock bottom price. Coming in at only $199.99 it is currently the only motherboard below the $200 price barrier that offers the most current features. Features such as USB 3.0, SATA 3, and E-SATA3 are going to set the ASRock X58 Extreme3 apart from its low cost brethren!"

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"PowerColor's HD 5570 is a small compact card that consumes very little power, yet should offer decent performance for most gaming up to 1280x1024. Another possible use is in a media PC, which is supported by the native HDMI output."

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"JEDEC standards state that DDR3 memory has to be able to run at 1066MHz, 9-9-9-24 2T timings with only 1.55 volts. When DDR3 was first introduced a couple of years ago, it was suppoosed to use less volts then its predecessor, DDR2. DDR2 memory needed on average 1.85-2.0 volts and above to properly operate at its optimum frequency. DDR3 memory came in starting at 1.55volts, but because of the limitation of the socket 775 CPU's (needing to use an MCP) the only true way of getting any serious performance out of DDR3 memory, people and companies alike were cranking the volts of their DDR3 memory modules past the 2.0 voltage mark, which kinda defeated the whole purpose of upgrading from DDR2 to DDR3. The required amount of voltage and the minor performance gain did not justify the added cost of this newer memory standard."

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"Good functionality, a sleek design, and a low budget are the things Thermaltake had in mind while designing the Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Case VL80001W2Z. With the typical cases designed for a higher-end systems we usually see from Thermaltake, the V3 Black Edition is a breath of fresh air. Thermaltake has taken a different direction with this chassis; it focuses on providing a wide range of functionality for a great price. Thinking about purchasing a new case but don't want to burn a hole in your wallet? Join Benchmark Reviews as we take a look at the Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Case, model VL80001W2Z."

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"GMC might have started in this review as being a relatively unknown brand (it's the first of their products we've reviewed here at LR), but to me they've come away with a great first impression. The construction of the case is one of quality, the whole case feels very sturdy, and there was practically no give when I tested the rigidity of the side panels. GMC's slogan is"

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"While Jetway is not one of the most popular brands of motherboards among enthusiasts, they do offer a nice variety of mini ITX motherboards, such as the NC92 IPC and NC96-510-LF motherboards that we have reviewed at Phoronix. Both of these petite motherboards have been built around the Intel Atom processor, but for those looking to find a mini ITX motherboard that can harness a bit more power, there is the Jetway NC84. The Jetway NC84 is what we are testing out today under Linux, which is a mini ITX motherboard that can handle up an AMD Phenom processor, sports an ATI Radeon HD 4200 IGP, and four Serial ATA 2.0 ports capable of RAID 0/1/5/10."

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"The V3 Black is one of the most affordable cases from Thermaltake. It aims straight for the likes of Xigmatek Asgard, which sells for a similar price, trying to walk the thin line between usability and ultimate affordability. We take the V3 Black apart, to see if it manages to go the distance or falls short in the required categories."

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"The PowerColor PCS+ AX5870 1GBD5-PPDHG2 graphics card is one of several new HD 5800-series video cards released by ATI AIB partners in the last couple months that follow a new design pattern. Advances in power-semiconductor packaging have allowed for a simpler VRM implementation that consumes much less real estate on the board. At the same time, the use of a down-flow HSF arrangement eliminates the dead spots found below and behind the blower wheel on the reference design. The combination makes for a smaller, more efficient, and more reliable card that's less costly to produce. I call that progress, but there are others who bemoan the process of removing cost from a design. I can understand the angst if functions and features are being removed, but finding a cheaper way to deliver the same performance is a good thing. Benchmark Reviews has tested some ATI Radeon HD 5870 video cards already, so the performance and features of the GPU are hardly news, but we thought it was time to sample one of the new 2nd generation cards and see how the design has matured. Please follow along as we give you a detailed look at one of the latest high-end Radeons from PowerColor."

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"NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 470 was announced a few weeks back - now we got the first production sample of the card from ASUS. Compared to the GTX 480 we saw much more reasonable power consumption numbers as well as fan noise and heat."

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"The QNAP NMP-1000 is actually one of the better media players we have tested here at Legit Reviews. Never before have we seen a player on the market that has as many features and functions that is packed in this QNAP media player. After using the unit for a few weeks, we can see why QNAP chose the name NMP – or “Network Multimedia Player”. If you only want a media player that can communicate with your home network, then you will probably gag at the price of the QNAP NMP-1000. At over $400, it is far and away the most costly player we have seen. The thing is, if you want a box that completely integrates into your home theater AND your home network with full-fledged network sharing capabilities, then there is no other player out there that is more functional than the NMP-1000..."

More information can be found here.

"With quad core processors and dual video cards becoming the norm in hardcore enthusiasts computers, it's not uncommon to see those components water cooled. Heat removal is a never ending battle with powerful hardware and Swiftech is a company that is well aware of this. Known for their water blocks, water pumps, and radiators, Swiftech is one of the few names you will hear of when looking into water cooling your computer. To accommodate Intel's quad core Socket 1366 and 1156 processors, Swiftech created the Apogee XT water block."

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"Cooler Master's GX 750W has proven itself to be a very capable power supply. With impressive stability, quiet operation, compact design with plenty of connectors and sleeved cabling, this PSU brings a lot to the table and does so with a fairly modest price tag."

More information can be found here.

"In the past year numerous manufacturers have hopped onto the gaming peripheral bandwagon in an attempt to expand their businesses. Gaming mice have become incredibly fancy, with 6000DPI, 1200Hz polling rate, and anywhere from five to twenty buttons. As companies attempt to product differentiate, the visual design of gaming mice are becoming more exaggerated. Steelseries take a different approach this time for the minimalistic Kinzu optical mouse. Benchmark Reviews peaks under the covers of this ordinary looking mouse to see where it lies amidst the hundreds of gaming mice out on the market."

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"It's hard to get through a checkout line at even the grocery store nowadays without seeing some rendition of flash drive for sale. There are a dizzying array of sizes, colors and shapes with performance that generally runs from downright atrocious to decent. Corsair would like to sit a top of the performance end of things and are making a bid to do so with their line of Flash Voyager GTR thumb drives of which they sent us over a 32GB model (CMFVYA32GBGT2) to evaluate. Using quad-channel architecture, the Voyager GTR drive boasts impressive 34/MB/s reads and 28MB/s writes which certainly should make quick work of your file transfer duties..."

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"While we haven't looked at many power supplies lately at Phoronix since it's not exactly an area that has any relation to Linux hardware support, every once in a while we do review them when an interesting review unit comes along. Case in point, what we are reviewing today is the SilverStone Strider Essential 500W. The SilverStone SST-ST50F-ES is a 500 Watt power supply that offers a single 34 Amp +12V rail, a near-silent 120mm fan, ATX 12V 2.3 support, and is backed by Active PFC, but this power supply goes for an incredibly low price."

More information can be found here.

"Today we are looking at a new cooler from Thermaltake designed specifically for overclocking and high powered CPUs. Thermaltake claim that it can dissipate up to 220W of heat, so it should be able to keep even an overclocked i7 running smoothly."

More information can be found here.

"Overall, the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 is an excellent premium 1080p monitor for the consumer wanting to pay more to get a top of the line product. The picture quality, color reproduction and contrast alone makes up for the difference in cost and after a weeks worth of use, the money will be deemed a good investment."

More information can be found here.

"The Super Talent RAIDDrive is one of the most interesting products that we have come across in some time. It's not every day you see a USB 3.0 Flash Drive, let alone a monster drive like this that is running a pair of SATA controllers in a RAID configuration. It's super fast and is ideal for those that want the ultimate USB Flash drive. When using the Super Talent 64GB RAIDDrive we found insane drive performance on the benchmarks, but our real world use showed that the drive improved file transfer speeds roughly 2.5X over USB 2.0 performance. There is nothing slow about this drive as we were hitting 280MB/s write and 128MB/s read, which is amazing for any portable USB device..."

More information can be found here.

"GlacialPower is fairly new to the computer power supply industry and was founded in 2006. They are comprised of a team that has an average of 12 years of experience per member and have designed for some of the top names in the industry. Companies like Acer, Asus, Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Gateway, HPQ, IBM, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Wistron. With a list of vendors so distinguished you know GlacialPower has talent and designs top of the line power supplies."

More information can be found here.

"In a recent Benchmark Reviews technical article, SSD performance was tested in AHCI and IDE mode using only the HD-Tune software to produce results. It wasn't intentional, but our test results were flawed by this single-threaded benchmark tool, and our conclusion did not properly illustrate IOPS performance. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the latest JMicron, Indilinx, and SandForce SSDs using a combination of tools to illustrate the true difference between SATA IDE and AHCI-mode, and demonstrates how one SATA mode is better suited than the other."

More information can be found here.

"So, as you get ready to look at making your upgrade from the card that cost you $100 two years ago to a card that costs you $100 today, what kind of performance increase can we see? Actually, for the investment of $109.99 plus shipping, the Gigabyte Radeon HD 5670 is a pretty nice upgrade. It is certainly a faster card that allowed us to see some decent gains in frame rate, but it also was an upgrade that brought in some new features with being DX11 compatible. Other features like 1GB of GDDR5 memory, being able to run three panels, HDMI out and DirectCompute help make this a card that is just a step above many of the other offerings in this price range, and it certainly is a big upgrade from the previous generation $100 card that we tested against..."

More information can be found here.

"64-Bit Operating Systems allow PCs to utilize more than 4GB of system memory, which is great news for multimedia professionals who need the extra RAM. Intel's X58-Express platform delivers triple-channel DDR3 performance, giving PC hardware enthusiasts and power-users the opportunity to choose between 3, 6, or 12GB system memory kits. In this article, Benchmark Reviews compares 12GB DDR3 memory kits against various 6GB versions. The 12GB Corsair Dominator CMD12GX3M6A1600C8 1600MHz CL8-8-8-24 DDR3 memory kit will be at the center of our attention as we discover exactly where that extra RAM is most helpful on our six-core Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition 'super-computer'."

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"NZXT seems to have adopted the all-black case look for most of their new cases, having a black painted interior which all enthusiasts admire upon sight; I know I sure don't want a case painted any other way. The top of the Hades offers space for two 140 or 120mm fans and a dual radiator for all the water cooling junkies out there, with one 140mm fan pre-installed. The shape on the sides of the Hades is mirrored and is identical to the motherboard tray side door found on the NZXT Tempest EVO with the addition of a small mesh vent. The front of the door is where you will find the three temperature displays, status lights and hidden power button (simply looks like part of the styling). The side and front fans are both a monstrous 200mm in diameter..."

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"Some days you wake up knowing exactly what you are going to do. Some days you wake up intending one thing and end up doing another. Today was one of those days. Often we get motherboards or GPU's with early BIOS and as testing drones on you get updates. After a while it gets old yanking the one working floppy drive we have left out and booting to it to flash BIOS on GPU's and motherboards. Well floppy disks haven't been the greatest quality of late and it's better to boot to a known good USB Drive than an iffy floppy that may have been on the shelf for years."

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"While the G9T is certainly serviceable around the home environment, I'm a bit troubled by Titans choice of materials and some of the design features. Starting with the cooling pad itself, the thin aluminum veneer doesn't do much to strengthen the plastic construction, and the thin metal clips, designed to stiffen the unit when deployed, don't inspire much confidence."

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"Not every computer needs to have a four million hertz processor and the world's best video card. Just like power tools, some jobs require raw power while other jobs require more finesse. When the job at hand involves video, web applications, light gaming or light office work it doesn't make sense to use a supercomputer or even a high-performance machine. This idea has become mainstream through the recent marketing of netbooks (internet notebooks) and video sharing devices, but even those platforms do not suit all light application needs. In this article Benchmark Reviews will test a nettop (internet desktop) from MSI; Wind Box model 6667BB-004US. This barebones PC kit is like an older, more capable sibling to the netbook. But how does it measure up against other alternatives?"

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"Last week we shared that we were benchmarking Ubuntu's current and past LTS releases and began by running graphics benchmarks looking at how the proprietary drivers from the past compare to open-source drivers from the present, but now we have our assortment of system benchmarks to publish from the Long-Term Support releases of Ubuntu 6.06.1, Ubuntu 8.04.4, and an Ubuntu 10.04 development snapshot. In this article, we are looking at how Ubuntu's performance has evolved over the past four years."

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"Today we have on our testbench two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 accelerators. Just the graphics cards alone will cost you $1000. Is this something that can be justified? Performance aside, what's going on with power and heat when running two of these cards?"

More information can be found here.

"If you are of a certain age, the name Nova conjures up visions of the beauty from the original Planet of the Apes. That's probably not what the marketing folks at Corsair had in mind when they gave their new Indilinx 'Barefoot' controller-based series its moniker; although she too, was barefoot in the movie. Ramblings aside, the folks over at Corsair have been busy serving up SSD's as of late and we recently took a look at the 100GB version (part number CSSDV128GB2BRKT) of their Force series SSD line which performed extremely well in most of our tests. Today we'll be giving the Nova Series V128 its turn on the test bench to see how well it fares..."

More information can be found here.

"Overclocking must be the computer equivalent of Formular One or Nascar for cars. The goal is the same: push the car/computer to its absolute maximum and then a bit more. Just as in racing a lot of companies that create components for the cars, or in this case computers, want to be associated with the people involved and thus it is not strange to see companies like ASUS, Intel, AMD and Gigabyte spending lots of time and money on overclocking events."

More information can be found here.

"NZXT has been making quality computer cases since 2004. They have become a popular brand among computer enthusiests, and for good reason. NZXT cares about style and functionality. Here at Benchmark Reviews, we also care about style and functionality, and when NZXT agreed to let us review its new Hades (HADE-001BK) mid-tower Chassis, we happily agreed. The Hades boasts such features as up to nine 5.25" bays, or five 5.25" and four 3.5" bays. It touts room for up to 5 cooling fans and large video cards, and it also features a cable management system; all for around $100. Will the Hades live up to the NZXT reputation of quality? Stay tuned to find out!"

More information can be found here.

"Overall, the MSI Wind U230 is a great netbook with a solid construction feel that we like to see in any notebook. The adoption to 12.1"

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"With ATI's great lineup of 5xxx GPUs, companies like Asus have decided to release a 2nd wave of cards featuring improved cooling, voltage options and much more. These added features make the already great line of 5xxx GPUs even better. Today we will be looking at the Asus EAH5850 TOP card. Asus has implemented many upgrades to the reference 5850, including aftermarket cooler, 6pin and 8pin, voltage options, and all of their featured software. With all these added features this looks to be a great card targeted at people building a higher end gaming rig. This card will be for the guy who wants a GPU with options for future performance boosts with overclocking, and for it to run cool and quiet. All in all this card is looking very promising. Lets move on to the benchmarks."

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"HIS sends their HD 5870 iCooler V Turbo into the race for the best custom designed HD 5870. In addition to the new iCooler V heatsink you get improved clock speeds over the AMD reference design and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as game bundle."

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"Solid State Drive technology is unfamiliar to many consumers, and so long as there are different ways an SSD can operate there always be questions that need answering. Benchmark Reviews offers various SSD tests, but proving performance speeds and matching manufacturer claims is only part of the story. Each SSD processor has unique behaviors, with some working well with TRIM and offering improved performance in AHCI mode, while others include Garbage Collection (GC) and work best in IDE mode. In this article Benchmark Reviews demonstrates how SSDs are tested by the manufacturer, and illustrates how real-world performance is different for end-users."

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"After taking Vantec's NexStar 3 USB 3.0 external HDD enclosure for a test run, I'm left completely sold. There's no way I'd want to go back to using a USB 2.0 enclosure for file storage if I can avoid it. The increase in speed is incredible, and the best part is that there's no learning curve – if you know how to use any USB device (and who doesn't these days), you already know how to use USB 3.0."

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"Last week AMD launched the FirePro V8800, which is their first workstation graphics card derived from an ATI Evergreen graphics processor and designed to be a step-up from the previously reviewed FirePro V8700 and FirePro V8750. The AMD FirePro V8800 features 2GB of GDDR5 video memory with 147.2 GB/s of bandwidth, 1600 Stream processors, four DisplayPort outputs, ATI Eyefinity support, DirectX 11.0 / OpenGL 4.0 support, OpenCL 1.0 capable, a full 30-bit display pipeline, Multi-View display support, and much. We have now carried out our Linux testing of this new ultra high-end workstation graphics card and have the results to share this morning."

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"Portable flash drives come in all shapes and sizes now and there is hardly a form factor that isn’t available these days. OnTop Technologies, which was founded in 2007, offers a wide variety and asked us to have a look at their TurboJet line of flash drives. They have lines of products for both corporate and consumer customers. The particular model they sent us is a"

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"The Coolink Corator DS is new in the sense that it also features a new type of cooling method. The feature Coolink calls its Gapless Direct Touch (GDT) technology is a new concept and with the help of a gap induced design, allows for an all copper contact area."

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"MSI's HD 5830 Twin Frozr II uses a shiny metal heatsink that comes with two fans to keep the card cool. In our testing we see nice overclocking potential of around 20% which can easily bring the card to new performance levels."

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"Today I have quite the treat, Kingston's fastest set of DDR3, their brand spanking new HyperX DDR3-2400C9. In the press release they claim it to be the fastest Intel-certified memory in the world. What this means is that Intel has certified this kit to run on their P55 platform at the rated speeds. In short this is as close to an overclocking guarantee as it gets. The Intel document with Core i7 XMP certified modules can be found here. Keep in mind that these sticks are rated to run on LGA1156 Core i7 processors like the Core i7 860 and 870.."

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"With GPU's gobbling power at unheard rates, it's important to choose your power supply carefully. You may save a few dollars on a bargain power supply but usually in the end, you pay more on the electric bill than you saved. It makes sense opt for a high quality, high performing power supply that might cost a few dollars more but shaves a few bucks off the electric bill each month. At low draw conditions, the OCZ Z 850W power supply hits about 81% efficiency but as load increases it becomes more efficient hittings as high as 91 - 92% efficiency."

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"We have recently taken a look at the QNAP TS-809 Pro NAS. It was one of the most expensive and features packed NAS we have looked at with its 8 unit storage space, Core 2 Duo processor, and 2GB of RAM. Unfortunately, these features come with a premium pricing. Thus, not everyone is able to afford such a unit. If you are looking to have a NAS with similar features but at significantly lower cost, then the TS-439 Pro may just be the unit for you."

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"HIS recently released its entry-level Radeon HD 5450 silent, low-profile graphics card targeted at those looking for a simple step-up from integrated graphics, packing all the essentials of this generation's GPUs. The model we're looking at has double the onboard memory at 1GB, native HDMI with 7.1 audio, and examining what it brings to the table with its added costs."

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"It's always fun to have a peek at the guts and we are more than happy to crack open the Corsair Force Series 100GB SSD so you don't have to. Peeking inside, the Sandforce SF-1200 controller lies more or less in the middle of the PCB flanked by the Micron MLC-NAND flash chips. Notably absent is the DRAM cache which is unneeded due to Sandforce's DuraClass technology. The cost of the controller is partially offset by the lack of dedicated DRAM which is good because Sandforce controllers are not cheap. We'll see if the absence of this has an impact on performance but this is the reason for the 100GB capacity rather than the 128GB physically on the drive. The layout is the same as other Sandforce-based SSD's we have seen recently but if you look closely, visible is the Corsair brand along the PCB's edge..."

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"Overclockers around the world use Corsair memory kits for their high-speed performance. Similarly, Corsair SSD storage products have continued this tradition. The Corsair Nova V128 CSSD-V128GB2-BRKT is an Indilinx-ECO Solid State Drive kit that designed to deliver 270 MB/s maximum read speeds and offer 195 MB/s writer performance. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests ACHI speeds for the Corsair Nova-series V128 SSD against the fastest SSDs available."

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"After watching the Masters for a couple of hours today in 3D, I have to say that I am impressed. I don't wear glasses, and wearing the 3D glasses takes a bit to get used to, but the user experience is well worth wearing the glasses. The bunkers and water look amazing in 3D as you can really make out the topography of the course like never before. In face you can make out subtle undulations on the green that you can't see without 3D! You really need to try it out for yourself!"

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"When building a new computer many people overlook cases. A great case design can not only help in the building of the computer, but it can also help with the cooling. Airflow is very important in a case since it can lower the temperatures of the case, and thus allow your components to run cooler. It is a proven fact that when you lower your component temperatures the lifespan of the parts go up. This will allow your computer to have a much longer life."

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"Overclockers and PC hardware enthusiasts understand that system memory performs best with low latency and fast speeds, but both seldom come in the same package. Corsair offers the exception. Available with XMP eXtreme Memory Profile support, the Corsair Dominator-GT DDR3 memory kit can deliver 2000 MHz at CL7. Sold in dual- and triple-channel kits, Benchmark Reviews tests the CMG6GX3M3A2000C7 set against a wide range of modules in our RAM tests using the six-core Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor."

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"I just returned to the United States after being in Ukraine the past five days over Easter weekend. The purpose of this trip was to explore the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and surrounding areas -- Kyiv, Pripyat, the Red Forest, etc. Contrary to some initial beliefs, it was not an April Fools' Joke. Due to the great interest in Chernobyl among those interested in science and technology whether it be due to the fascination with nuclear power or finding Chernobyl popularized by video games, documentaries, and the like, I have published my collection of these photographs of Chernobyl showing what the area looks like in 2010 -- just days prior to the 24th anniversary of this catastrophic disaster -- along with some of my thoughts and information collected from this journey."

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"Zalman's new ZM-MFC1 Combo fan controller is a must-have device for the control freaks among us. With a beautiful front panel and a rich feature set, this product is a real winner. The device exudes quality and provides both wide functionality and intuitive controls to give the consumer a positive experience right out of the box."

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"This time we take a look at Microsoft's new Sidewinder X4 gaming keyboard. Earlier we've reviewed Microsoft's Sidewinder X6 keyboard, and this one is supposed to be a bit simplified and cheaper version, with some of the X6's features dropped."

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"The term Utgard stems from the Norse mythology and means "land of the giants", ruled by Utgard-Loki. The Xigmatek Utgard offers you a unique and useful set of features, wrapped into a sturdy, tall and good looking chassis. We dive into the story to find out if the case will be forgotten or live on just as the legend has."

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"The Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB hard drive (WD6000HLHX) has been rumored for many months now and it is great to finally see the drive come to market. The drive doesn't bring many new features other than SATA 6Gbps and the larger 32MB cache to the table, but WD has double the capacity of this 10,000 RPM drive series and did manage to boost performance as advertised. In fact we noticed more than a 15% performance increase in some benchmarks, which was great to see. It was also interesting to see how large the performance gap has come between hard drives and solid-state drives. The VelociRaptor series is an enthusiast class product and is ideal for those PC users who don't want to jump into the SSD market right now. The new 450GB and 600GB VelociRaptors would also make for great secondary storage drives to those that have an SSD as their primary storage drive..."

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"For this review I am going to be looking at a product from a company that is relatively new to me, whilst I have heard of them I have never actually used any of their products. The company is CoolIT Systems and the product I will be looking at is their ECO A.L.C pre assembled liquid cooling system."

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"With this particular HD5830 Game Edition from Sapphire, the better cooler allows for an excellent overclocking experience and the inclusion of the game only makes this an excellent overall card for a consumer wanting a fast videocard, but not wanting or needing to slam down over US$300 just to play Call of Duty.."

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"Last year ASUS introduced the 785G chipset, one of their latest chipset with integrated graphics. This comes on the back of other recently successful chipsets with integrated graphics such as the 780G and 790GX. In true AMD fashion, we can tell a lot about the chipset by its numbering. The 785G is an upgraded version of the 780G and keeps a lot of the same features. Many motherboard manufacturers have been making products with the new chipset and, of course, ASUS is one of the top names. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will be examining the ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO Micro-ATX AM3 Motherboard. We will be specifically looking at the differences between this board, with the 785G chipset, and the similar 780G and 790GX chipsets. The ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO is being marketed as great combination for the Athlon-II line of processors because of its budget price-point. For this reason, Benchmark Reviews will be testing the ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO against older equipment in order to provide an idea of the upgradeability offered by this motherboard."

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"I would suspect the Maximus III Extreme to sit somewhere between $300 and $350, tending closer to $350. Just a quick search of Newegg yields only 3 likely candidates for competition: the MSI P55 Big Bang series and the EVGA P55 Classified 200. In a feature shoot-out the Maximus III Extreme has them beat with USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gbps, 4-way CrossFire PCIe slots, and ROG Connect right out of the box. In the land of overbuilt LGA1156 boards it would appear the Maximus III Extreme will reign supreme..."

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"A few weeks ago, we have taken a look at Seagate's Cheetah NS.2 SAS hard drives, which were standard 3.5' form factor 6Gb/s 10,000RPM 600GB Serial Attached SCSI hard drives. This time Seagate was kind enough to let us test out their latest Serial Attached SCSI drives, their Savvio 10K.4 hard drives. These drives come in different capacities including 450GB and 600GB, but what makes them so special is that they are 2.5' form factor, which is what you would use in laptop based system. This is the first time we see a 6Gb/s 10,000RPM 600GB SAS hard drive at such small form factor at this capacity. In my opinion, it is just unbelievable how far we got over the past few years. This means that we are now able to store more data in smaller compartments. Many businesses run into problems where they would need larger server rooms in order to have the capacity they need for their business requirements as well as to make sure that all the data is also backed up. By lowering the size of !"

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"While more and more computer peripherals and gadgets these days are running Linux internally, not many vendors are matching their internal Linux support with external Linux customer support. For the Pogoplug though, which is made by CloudEngines, this is not the case. The Pogoplug is a network attached storage device that is far more than a basic NAS like the Icy Box NAS4220, but the Pogoplug can integrate with social networks like Twitter along with providing a rich web 2.0 interface for accessing the device from anywhere in the world. The Pogoplug device runs Linux and is built upon popular open-source packages, but Pogoplug does not hide this fact and they actually encourage community developers to work on the Pogoplug with complete support for SSH-ing into these devices and making modifications. CloudEngines also offers a 32-bit/64-bit Linux program for interacting with the Pogoplug."

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"The SandForce SF-1200 SATA-3GBps controller is new to the industry, yet many manufacturers are already hailing it as the replacement for Indilinx's industry-leading Barefoot SSD processor. SandForce adds DuraClass technology to their SF-1200 processor, a new technology which claims to provide best-in-class endurance, performance, and lower power consumption. DuraWrite technology extends the endurance of MLC-NAND memory by providing at least five-year lifecycles measured with 3000-5000 cycle MLC flash. Additionally, SandForce RAISE technology provides RAID-like protection for single SSD computer systems, and data is secured with AES-128 automatic encryption. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the SandForce SF-1200 Solid State Drive processor used in the ADATA S599 SSD."

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"Early this morning, I got up and went to pickup my 16gb iPad WiFi. Before I got carried away playing with it and discovering the fun little touches that go along with it being an Apple product, I wanted share with you some pictures and my first impressions. [...] Opening the box, the first thing you see is the iPad with the power adapter and cable sitting just underneath. That is about all there is to it. The only things I noticed were not included were a cleaning cloth, like the ones that come with iPhones, and headphones. I think that these would be nice to have included..."

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"Vantec has successfully come up with a low cost, easy to implement solution for adding two high-speed USB 3.0 ports to your system. This little PCI-e card takes only a few minutes to install and provides a hefty increase in performance over the old USB 2.0.Vantec has successfully come up with a low cost, easy to implement solution for adding two high-speed USB 3.0 ports to your system. This little PCI-e card takes only a few minutes to install and provides a hefty increase in performance over the old USB 2.0."

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"The In Win alpha 360 may have gone under in the masses of cases available on the market, but the Allure manages to rise and be noticed due to the fancy floral pattern and added bling of Swarovski crystals. While it shines on the outside, it manages to screw a few smiles with the inner attributes as well, as we open the Allure up and take a peek inside."

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"Cases have been a source of questions for many system builders. Typically it is a question of which case I should get. While I can give you my thoughts on the appearance of the NZXT Tempest EVO all day long, it is primarily going to come down to what you like and will it do what you need it to? I can tell you that the NZXT Tempest EVO is a solid choice for a mid-tower case. When it comes to function the Tempest EVO does a great job. The only item I would have liked to have seen when it comes to function would have been a firewire port on the front panel. Aside from that non deal breaking issue, I had an enjoyable time with the NZXT Tempest EVO..."

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"Most of the time at Phoronix we focus on looking at the Linux graphics performance of the software drivers and hardware, since traditionally that has been one of the most troubling areas of Linux hardware support. Tides though have turned as AMD continues to back their own open-source strategy with providing documentation and pushing out code that enables open-source hardware support from 3D acceleration to power management, while Intel continues to back their fully open-source model too. Another area of hardware support that has caused much grief for users has been with printer support. Printers are not nearly as complex as a modern-day graphics processor, but the different vendors have not been quick to offer up any Linux support -- and binary-only drivers frequently back the ones that do. There is one printer manufacturer though that as of last year has begun supporting Linux from top to bottom with their entire line-up of printers. Not only are they providing CUPS drivers, but also they are even printing Tux in the corner of every box they ship right besides the Windows and Apple logos. Do you know who we are talking about? Probably not, but it's Lexmark. After months of wrangling within the company, Lexmark has stepped up to become a Linux and open-source friendly company. We are seeing how far this Linux support extends as we try out the Lexmark Pro905 Platinum multi-function printer."

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"Overclockers and PC hardware enthusiasts understand that system memory performs best with low latency and fast speeds, but both seldom come in the same package. Kingston offers the exception. Available with two XMP eXtreme Memory Profiles, the Kingston HyperX DDR3 memory kit can deliver either 1867MHz CL7, or 2002MHz at CL8. Sold in dual- and triple-channel kits, Benchmark Reviews tests the KHX2000C8D3T1FK3/6GX set against a wide range of modules in our RAM tests using the six-core Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor."

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"Noctua is well known for their line of excellent CPU coolers and silent fans. With the ever growing heat levels of modern processors, the company created the new "twin towers" design. Today we see if the NH-D14 can handle the heat while still living up to Noctua's promise of quiet CPU cooling."

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"GTX-480 and 470 are a different creature when it comes to overclocking. The folks over at EVGA have it down pat with EVGA Precision 1.6.2 and we thought since they took the time to build Precision we'd take toe time to OC GF100 with it and show you how to OC GF100 and Precision at the same time."

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"Antec is well respected in the industry for their chassis (and other products), and as well they should. They are rapidly approaching their 25th anniversary so they have been around long enough to know what their customers want and how to deliver on that expectation. Case in point (no pun intended), their P193 mid tower chassis. The successor of the P190 released in 2007, Antec has made several changes with the P193 which should make this iteration a better all-around case for the enthusiast. Found online for $175 (without a PSU), it's roughly $100 cheaper than the P190 was but this isn't exactly a budget case so we'll bear that in mind during our evaluation..."

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"When we think of water blocks and of water cooling in general, we think of names like Danger Den, Koolance, EK, Heatkiller and D-Tek. At the bottom of our list is Coolermaster, Corsair and finally ThermalTake. These companies have been only been known for water blocks that barely cut the grade, a quick intro to water cooling, cheap easy to set up water cooling, and in most cases a good aircooler would out perform these types of water cooling."

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