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Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell Processor Review
Just a year ago Intel launched their Ivy Bridge processors and now a year later we have another platform launch from Intel. The 4th Generation Core Haswell processors are the “tock” to Intel’s “tick” and “tock” release schedule. A “tock” represents a new architecture and a “tick” represents a process refinement. So Haswell brings with it a new architecture, but is still built on the same 22nm process as Ivy Bridge. Intel has introduced a new LGA1150 socket with Haswell and a new chipset so you will not be able to throw this processor in an older motherboard, you will have to buy a new one. Today we are taking a look at the top of the line Haswell desktop chip the Core i7-4770K. Of course the “K” denotes that it is an unlocked processor. This is a quad-core processor that has a default clock speed of 3.5 GHz and a turbo frequency that goes all the way up to 3.9 GHz.
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XSPC AX Radiator Desk Stand Review
One of the biggest limiting factors in what you can do with watercooling is how much room you have in your case. With so much equipment to pack in for watercooling alone, space ends up being one of the chief concerns for builders and modders. And the single biggest limiting factor: how much radiator one can fit. Radiators are large, bulky, and inflexible in how they need to be installed. This can easily lead to the builder having to sacrifice cooling surface for space. There is a solution to this problem though; external radiator stands. And if you have chosen to use XSPC’s AX series of radiators, then you’re in luck. Today we will be looking at the AX Radiator Desk Stand from XSPC.
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Win a NZXT Phantom 630 Case!
It is summer time and it is the perfect time to give you, our readers some free hardware! We have teamed up with our friends at NZXT to give away a brand new NZXT Phantom 630 Case! This Ultra Tower not only looks good it has room for quite a lot inside like long graphics cards, XL-ATX Motherboards, 8 hard drives and a lot of watercooling! Like many of our contests we will be running this one on Facebook and it is extremely easy to enter!
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Case Mod Friday: ReactorMod
Welcome to another Case Mod Friday showcase! This week we have a builders ReactorMod build. Here is what he had to say about it: It's a modded Chieftec BX-03 case. I wanted to make it look like it's quite old and kinda shabby. I was thinking about this build for quite a long time, so I managed to collect some cool stuff that I've found on a nearby scrap yard (e.g. switch or steel sheet that I used to make the radiator cover). I also used some spare parts that I had lying around.
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Enermax Triathlor FC 550W Power Supply Review
Enermax is a brand whose strong product is their power supplies, especially when it comes to the high-end spectrum. Their Platimax and MAXREVO units are some of the best out there. But these units are not cheap in terms of cost. Enermax knows not everyone has a ton of cash to throw at a new power supply so they have created the Triathlor series of power supplies. There are actually the Triathlor and Triathlor FC units. The Triathlor units are lower wattage and non-modular and the Triathlor FC units are higher wattage and are modular. Today we are checking out the Triathlor FC 550W unit which is 80PLUS Bronze certified and offers quiet operation.
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SilverStone ARM22SC ARM Two Dual LCD Monitor Mount Review
We mainly know SilverStone for their cases and for good reason, they are high quality and look great. What if SilverStone took that same quality and put it into a LCD monitor mount? Then you would have what we are reviewing today which is the ARM Two ARM22SC dual LCD Monitor Mount from SilverStone. LCD arms are a great addition to any computer setup, especially if you are using a multi-monitor system. The ARM22SC is constructed with robust aluminum alloy and steel so this is a heavy duty piece of hardware. It will support two displays with VESA mounts. Read on as we get this installed and see how it transforms our desk.
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Win a Pivos XIOS DS Media Player!
Pivos is a company we have been working with lately and they make some pretty cool little media players. We have already reviewed their XIOS DS media player and it is a very unique device. Pivos was nice enough to give us one to give away to our readers! Just like all of our contests this one is very easy to enter and we will be running it on Facebook? So what are you doing get out there and get your entry in!
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Case Mod Friday: Black and White
Welcome to another Case Mod Friday showcase! This week we have Christian Black and White build. Here is what he had to say about it: Well this is the first time I do something like this, and it really is interesting the world of case modding the project is BLACK AND WHITE and really was a design chosen because I began to paint the cabinet only and one thing leads to another as in all cases and was thinking of some ideas for covers.
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The History Of The Hard Drive
In 1953, engineers in IBM's California-based laboratory invented the very first hard drive. Since that first disk drive, technological advances have been made at an astonishing rate, with data capacity increasing and size and price decreasing exponentially, year on year. 60 years on, the hard drives of today are unrecognizable from the first models, which took up an entire room. Hard drives today are measured in terms of gigabytes and terabytes, rather than megabytes-an amount of data that would have been almost unimaginable in the early history of computers. Here we take a look back at the evolution of the hard drive as it grew from 5MB to 4TB.
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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 Review
Lenovo has been making headlines with their IdeaPad Yoga. It is a tablet convertible that can be used as a laptop as well. There are 11-inch and 13-inch models. While the larger 13-inch model has the choice of Intel Core processors, the 11-inch does not and is rather powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 3 platform. Today we will be taking a look at that unit which does offer a very sleek and slim design, responsive 11.6-inch touchscreen, Lenovo’s patent-pending hinge design that allows the screen to flip completely over and it is running Windows RT. Let’s check it out!

Archive for December, 2009

Kodak EasyShare M420 10-Megapixel Digital Camera Review

Kodak EasyShare M420 10-Megapixel Digital Camera Review

Digital cameras keep on going down in price and you can easily get a great point and shoot digital camera for around $150 these days. With many digital cameras being almost the same, what do you really look for in a camera? The things that I really look at are how many megapixels the camera has, the zoom on the lens, and how big the LCD is. Well today we are looking at a 10-megapixel camera that has a 4x optical zoom and a nice large 3-inch LCD display. The camera I’m talking about is the Kodak EasyShare M420. Geeks.com was nice enough to provide us with the Kodak M420 for review. Geeks.com is a great place to find cheap digital cameras.

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ASRock ION 330HT Nettop Review

ASRock ION 330HT Nettop Review

Home Theatre PC’s or HTPC’s have been around for a few years now and are very popular. Most people use their old PC for a HTPC. The problem with that is that they are loud, not that powerful, and take up a lot of space. Well ASRock has got your HTPC needs covered with the ION 330HT Nettop that is capable of full 1080p high definition video playback and true-fidelity 7.1 surround sound audio. This system is powered by a Dual Core Intel Atom 330 (1.6GHz) processor, NVIDIA ION Graphics Processor, 2GB DDR2-800 memory, 320GB hard drive, DVD player and even WiFi!

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The Weekend News 12-27-09

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday, here is the news for the weekend!

Cooling
Aero Cool V12 Touch-screen Fan Controller Review @ DriverHeaven.net
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme CPU Cooler Review @ Tweaknews
Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme GTX Pro @ Hardwareoverclock.com

Full Systems
Verizon HP Mini 311-1037NR Netbook @ TestFreaks
ASRock ION 330HT-BD @ techPowerUp

Memory
Patriot DDR3 Viper Series Tri-Channel Kit @ LanOC Reviews
Team Group Xtreem 2000 MHz CL7 6GB Kit @ techPowerUp

Motherboards
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6 Motherboard Review @ Benchmark Reviews
ASUS Maximus III Formula @ PureOverclock

Power Supplies
9-Way 850W Power Supply Roundup @ Hardware Canucks
Nexus RX-6300 PSU @ Rbmods
XFX 850W Black Edition Power Supply Review @ Legit Reviews

Storage
ioSafe Solo Disaster-Proof External HDD @ Techgage.com
Western Digital WD TV Live HD Media Player Review @ FutureLooks
Asus O!Play HDP-R1 Digital Media Player @ HotHardware.com
SanDisk 8GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Review @ TechwareLabs

Video
Sapphire HD 5770 Vapor-X Overclock Edition Review @ OCC
XFX and GIGABYTE RADEON HD 5970 CrossfireX Review @ Motherboards.org

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NZXT Gamma Mid Tower Case Review

NZXT Gamma Mid Tower Case Review

Today we have the opportunity to take a look at the NZXT Gamma Mid Tower Case. This chassis supports up to six fans, has a complete black interior, and has plenty of higher end features packed into a small case. In the past couple years more and more cases are packing more features at a cheaper price; the NZXT Gamma is no exception. Read on further to see what else this case has to offer.

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

From all of us here at ThinkComputers we want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas! We hope everyone got what they wanted this year! Wonder what we wanted this year? Check out our 2009 Wish List! We hope everyone enjoys the holiday and all of the good food and presents! Stay tuned for some really awesome reviews next week!

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Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Modular Power Supply Review

Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Modular Power Supply Review

Not everyone needs a particularly flashy or super powerful power supply unit. The Thermaltake TR2 series caters to users who need functionality, but have no need for bells and whistles beyond modular cabling and 80PLUS certification. The TR2 RX subseries delivers the modular cable management savvy users expect these days. ThinkComputers checks out the TR2 RX 750W in this review.

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A Christmas Gift from ASUS

A Christmas Gift from ASUS

The other day I received a package in the mail from ASUS. It contained the packages you see above. ASUS was nice enough to send us a Christmas gift this year to show their appreciation for our support of their products. I really was not sure what was inside the boxes, but when I went to open them I was surprised with cookies and candy! These treats are from Cheryl&Co. and are very good, ASUS picked a good set that has something everyone will like. Special thanks to ASUS for all their support throughout the year and we wish them a very safe and happy holiday.

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QNAP TS-439U-RP Rackmount NAS Review

QNAP TS-439U-RP Rackmount NAS Review

QNAP’s network attached storage devices are known for stability, versatile features, and great support from the few-year-old Taiwanese company. This time around, we’re reviewing TS-439U-RP, a 1U rackmount, dual power supply, dual NIC, dual OS, and four bay NAS aimed at the small business and corporate sector. It can serve up files via SMB, AFP, NFS, FTP, and a variety of other alphabet-soup protocols. It can stream audio and video to gaming consoles, backup to cloud services, and so much more. ThinkComputers has the review.

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Masscool MP-1371RS Media Player Review

Masscool MP-1371RS Media Player Review

Television-connected media players from pretty much any company outside a Fortune 500 technology player are hit and miss some get popularized via hype and excellent marketing campaigns, while others are half-assed devices which get the job done but are beyond frustrating to use. The Masscool MP-1371RS Media Player may have a very generic name, and look like it probably falls into the half-assed category, but I assure you, it does not. ThinkComputers reviews this sleeper contender and gives it rave reviews.

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Monday’s News 12-21-09

Monday’s are always crazy days here at ThinkComputers, so here is the news for today…

Cases
NZXT Gamma Mid-Tower Case @ Rbmods
Silverstone Raven 2 Enclosure Review @ Metku.net
NZXT Panzerbox Aluminum Case Review @ Tweaknews
Cooler Master AMD Limited Edition HAF 932 Review @ OCIA.net

Motherboards
Gigabyte P55-UD6 LGA1156 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks
ECS A785GM-M Motherboard Review @ OCC
ECS, eVGA, Gigabyte, MSI P55 Motherboard Roundup @ Legit Reviews
Asus M4A79XTD EVO Motherboard @ OC3D

Power Supplies
Antec Truepower Quattro 1200W Power Supply Review @ JonnyGURU.com
Cougar CM Power 700 Watt @ ocaholic

Storage
Network Attached Storage Comparison – 8 Tested and Compared @ TestFreaks
Crucial M225 2.5” 256GB Solid-State Drive Review @ Motherboards.org
Seagate Barracuda XT 6Gb/s 2TB SATA III Hard Drive Review @ TechwareLabs

Video
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X 1GB Video Card @ TweakTown
XFX Radeon HD5850 Video Card Review @ Benchmark Reviews

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