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Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:50:42

When it comes to motherboards, they really do come in every shape and size. With high performance gaming motherboards, generally you have to get a full ATX motherboard to get a wide selection of features. Micro ATX is a little smaller but not small enough for true portability. That’s where Mini-ITX comes into play. Most of the Mini-ITX boards on the market use the older 775 socket and have a limited number of features. Today we have the opportunity to take a look at Gigabytes H55N-USB3, their first Mini-ITX board. With my recent obsession with small form factor gaming rigs, you will have to forgive my excitement to check this out.

Mushkin Ridgeback PC3-12800 4GB DDR3 Memory Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:49:44

The sub-$150 memory market is thick with products from the likes of Corsair, OCZ, G.Skill, Patriot and so many others. Mushkin is now adding their name to the list with their new Ridgeback series. In this review we take a look at their PC3-12800 4GB kit. Does it have the chops to compete with numerous products which have already entrenched themselves in the market?

ASUS AT3IONT-I Deluxe Mini-ITX Motherboard Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:48:08

After spending several weeks playing with the ASUS AT3IONT-I Deluxe Mini-ITX motherboard all I can say is - WOW! This motherboard is very impressive. With integrated Bluetooth, WiFi, a multimedia remote control, and even a power supply built in, you're well on your way to getting your media center up and running without buying much else.

MSI GTX 460 HAWK 1 GB

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:46:51

MSI's GTX 460 HAWK is the flagship GeForce GTX 460 from MSI. It comes with a quiet Twin Frozr II cooler, 1 GB of memory and 781 MHz core clock out of the box. MSI has also expanded on the voltmodding capability of the card which supports software control for three voltages.

Jetway NC98-525-LF mITX Motherboard review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:45:37

Today, we will be taking a look at another product from Jetway, a company renowned for their mITX products that has become ever so popular among system builders and enthusiasts. The Jetway NC98-525-LF mini-ITX motherboard features the newest Atom D525 dual core processor and NVIDIA Proton graphics to take it to a promising new level of performance. Let us take a look at just how much better the Jetway NC98-525-LF in conjunction with NVIDIA Proton graphics compares against its predecessors.

Patriot Gauntlet PCGT25S USB 3.0 2.5

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:43:50

Inside of the box we find a USB 3.0 cable, a USB power adapter, instruction manual, software, and the enclosure itself. The Gauntlet features a very nice black aluminum finish. It has a bit of a heft to it, but it really feels solid in the hand. I suspect it could take quite a beating and still protect the drive inside - well, more so with a solid state drive than a traditional spinning disk. The top of the enclosure displays the Gauntlet logo with the Patriot logo on the front.

Apple iMac 27-inch (Core i5) Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:42:26

Few brands can hope to even come close to the iconic iMac in brand recognition. The ubiquitous glass-and-aluminum slab has become a fixture in dorm rooms, offices and living rooms, and with its 2010 refresh, Apple manages to keep the same familiar face, but inject even more power into the tiny chassis by adopting Intel's Core series processors and full-power desktop graphics cards from AMD. While it may not qualify as a "must upgrade" for existing iMac owners, gamers and other users should be pleasantly surprised by the very real performance boost the new hardware delivers.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Reviewed

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:40:30

It's been over 12 years since Starcraft launched, and expectations for the sequel have been quite high*. Well, the highly anticipated sequel, Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, is here and we've taken the time to play through the campaign, test various difficulty levels, and tackle both human and the computer's AI in multiplayer. The single-player experience in SC2 is quite a bit different than the multiplayer game; we'll examine the two separately.

Tuniq TX-4 - Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:38:29

When building a new computer, you have to keep in mind numerous things like ram speed, bus speed, video card speed and so on.

Keeping these components cool is very crucial and so planning ahead for the cooling is always a plus. Cooling starts by using a simple fans and proper heat sinks in the places of need. What everyone seems to forget is the thermal compounds that provide a better heat transfer between components and the cooling equipment. Where it is a cpu or gpu or a chipset chips they all can benefit from using a thermal compound.

Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H and 870A-UD3 Motherboards Tested

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:36:21

In this review we take a closer look at two budget friendly AMD motherboards from Gigabyte; 880GMA-UD2H with integrated GPU and the 870A-UD3. Do they stand a chance against high end AMD boards? Time to find out.

ASUS 1215N: A Netbook With Dual Graphics

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:35:16

The new ASUS netbook, namely the 12" 1215N model, is one of the most powerful Eee PCs to have appeared thus far. First of all, ASUS has installed Intel's Atom D525, the new dual-core hyperthreading-enabled

1.8 GHz CPU, first presented at this year's Computex fair. D525 is actually the heir to the well-known D510 Atom CPU working at 1.66 GHz, but now also contains both DDR2 and DDR3 memory support...

Mad Catz Eclipse Wireless Litetouch Keyboard With Trackball Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:33:18

The Eclipse Wireless Litetouch keyboard from Mad Catz comes with an interesting 3-in-1 LCD touch panel and functions can be assigned to each key like shortcuts to our preferred programs or up to a maximum of three individual websites, all of which will open at the same time and all at the touch of just one button.

ioSafe SoloPRO USB 3.0 Hard Drive Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:32:05

While most external storage customers don't mind the fact their data is more vulnerable than if it was inside because of the added convenience / portability it offers; there is a group of people who want MORE protection than simply sticking the drive inside a case. For this group, ioSafe has many makes and models. One such model is the SoloPRO USB 3.0 model, which boasts not only tank like amour chassis, but water- AND fire-proof abilities! Lets see how good this tank really is!

Cooler Master V6 GT CPU Cooler

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:30:35

In the market for the best CPU cooler for the buck? Cooler Master's V6 GT is the one to look out for. It features a great design that's both appealing to look at and efficient in doing its job, and despite it taking up less room over all compared to other mega-coolers out there, it offers exceptional cooling ability.

Corsair A50 Performance CPU Cooler Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-02 08:29:26

Today we have the opportunity to checkout Corsair’s new line of CPU coolers. Corsair has two different series of CPU coolers: the Air Series and the Hydro Series. We have a chance to check out the Air Series A50, which is mainly designed to out beat entry-level and stock CPU coolers. This is the first ever CPU cooler from Corsair that we’ve reviewed here at ThinkComputers, so let’s take a look further into Corsairs’ investments into CPU Cooling.

ThermalTake Frio CLP0564 CPU Cooler Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-01 10:30:27

From the onset when I saw ‘Designed for Overclocking’ on the box it was clear the Frio was meant to perform, and with that statement on the box it better. On this front the Frio delivered as it matched the performance of other top air coolers. Combined with compatibility for all of the newest CPU sockets, two fans and built in fan speed controllers the Frio is certainly an attractive option to keep your CPU cool.

SilenX EFZ-80HA2 Low Profile Heatsink Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-01 10:29:10

Equipped with an 80mm 'SilenX Effizio Series Quiet Fan', the SilenX EFZ-80HA2 heatsink makes for one compact little cooler, a heatsink small enough to use in a Media PC or compact computer enclosure. The heatsink is all but tiny compared to many of today's tower heatsinks, which is good because there aren't that many small CPU coolers to choose from anymore. Most remarkably though, the EFZ-80HA2 uses only two 6mm diameter copper heatpipes!

Buffalo TeraStation WSS

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-01 10:27:48

The TeraStation is far from being the cheapest way to add up to 4TB of storage space to a network, but it’s built for business with business features. As a result it’s a solid NAS for dedicated file and print server duties. Based on Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 Express Edition, it integrates effortlessly with existing Windows infrastructures and supports heterogeneous file serving as well as backup and replication of stored data. The TeraStation WSS is also a good solution for consolidating multiple file servers into a single solution that enables cost reduction and policy-based management of storage resources. The only real criticisms are price and build quality.

ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series GDDR5 Review

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-01 10:26:27

A few weeks back, AMD quietly released a couple of new graphics cards in the Radeon HD 5500 series. For a while there, starting with the Radeon HD 5870 in late September of last year, it seemed like AMD was releasing a new series of graphics cards aimed at different price points, practically every few weeks. Things slowed down a bit once the company had a complete top-to-bottom line-up of DX11 and Eyefinity capable cards from prices ranging from about $49 to $600, but obviously AMD wasn’t quite done beefing up the Radeon HD 5000 series.

The recently released Radeon HD 5500 series cards differed from their predecessors in only one meaningful way—they were equipped with GDDR5 memory. The original 5500 series cards sported GDDR3 or GDDR2 memory. The move to GDDR5 allowed AMD to crank the memory clock speed up a bit, which would have a positive impact on overall performance..

BitFenix Colossus Case

Posted by Tazz — 2010-09-01 10:24:52

BitFenix may be a new brand but their first product has landed. The Colossus case is so large that you simply cannot miss it. It is packed to the rim with new and unique features, which make you wonder what we did without them before. We take an in-depth look at the retail version of this massive EATX case that goes for a very affordable 159 Euros.