Wow we are already into February! It seems that we were just celebrating the new year! You should check out our review of the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I Full Tower Case! Here is a little tease video showing you what the case looks like when you have it turned on!
Now for some affiliate news!
Powerbag Backpack Review @ TechwareLabs “Ever wish you could charge your gadgets on the go? Wall outlets too far apart to satisfy your gadget lust? Powerbag shows us their new solution for charging on the go.”
Deepcool Gamer Storm Dracula VGA Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews “Today we take at the flagship GPU cooler from Deepcool, the Dracula. The Dracula is part of Deepcool’s Gamer Storm line and is designed for those that want some serious cooling performance. This GPU cooler is massive and takes up four PCI slots when installed. Join us today we put the Dracula on the notoriously hot running NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 to see how it handles the heat compared to another aftermarket cooler.”ASUS RT-N56U Dual-Band Wireless-N600 Gigabit Router Review @ Bigbruin.com “For those that have the need for highly reliable, high speed LAN connections, as well as high speed WAN connections, the ASUS RT-N56U is your kind of router. The wired LAN connections are all capable of Gigabit speed transfers, while the wireless capabilities are equally impressive, featuring dual-band 5GHz and 2.4GHz speeds that can allow for up to 300Mbps concurrently.”Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC Graphics Card Video Review @ eTeknix.com “With 7950 graphics cards being released into the market, we take a look at what Sapphire have to offer with a dual fan and 100MHz overclock.”Asus Xonar Essence One Review (w/ Raysonic CD228 & Audeze LCD2) @ KitGuru “Today we are looking at the latest ‘audiophile’ grade Asus Xonar Essence One external soundcard and digital to analogue converter. The Essence series of products have targeted the enthusiast and audiophile user now for some time, using high grade components such as BurrBrown DAC chips. Today we analyse the latest Xonar Essence One from ASUS in a very challenging environment, paired up with a flagship, limited edition Valve/Tube CD player and award winning Audeze LCD2 headphones.”Most Anticipated PC Games of 2012 @ TechSpot “Like a rollercoaster, 2011 was full of transient highs and enduring lows — mostly the latter for PC gamers. The year began with a promising lineup, but title after title fell flat. Some were incredibly buggy, others had console-esque interfaces and far too many shipped without DirectX 11 support. We’ll spare you of a list because you surely recall their names, but for reference, even the excellent and well deserving game of the year, Skyrim, somehow fits in all of the above.”PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 600W Review @ APH Networks “Stealth and sneak is the way to be, as a sniper sits behind a nearby tree. Oh the many things he may yet to see, but only one target is the key. Seasons come and seasons go, but the time came when the ground is covered with snow. PC Power & Cooling drops by to say ‘hello’, only to say that the target is blended in with the snow below. A white power supply is what we see, but a Silencer Mk III 600W is its true identity. Before you slowly move towards the little ‘X’ at the corner of your browser, let me inform you that this power supply we have here at our APH labs is truly unique.”Gigabyte X79-UD5 @ PureOverclock “We’ve seen Gigabyte make great strides in their latest X79 lineup, including the new BIOS and auto features designed with the enthusiast in mind. So let’s take a closer look to see if the X79-UD5 board can continue that successful trend.”GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD5 AM3+ ATX Motherboard Review @ Futurelooks “It was a busy end of the year with all the new product releases and announcements. We saw the release of the new AMD FX processor lineup which did not fair well overall, but still serves me well in my personal rig. However, a CPU is only as great as the motherboard to which you pair it. While many sites used the AMD issued ASUS Crossfire V 990FX boards for their initial reviews (a great board I might add) we were able to use something different for our tests. The GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD5 we found to be a very competent board, but let’s take a closer look to find out what else this motherboard brings to the table.”Rasurbo Vort-X U3 Case Review @ Technic3D “The Rasurbo Vort-X U3 is the next PC-Case in the Technic3D Editorship. The Vort-X supports ATX, Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX motherboards and have place for four 120mm Cooling-Fans. We will check this and many more in the following Review.”Cooler Master GeminII M4 Review @ XSReviews.co.uk “My latest CPU cooler reviews is the Cooler Master GeminII M4, a new low profile cooler. It’s a squat, copper heatpipe sporting, many aluminium finned heatsink fan combo that thanks to its unique shape could cause clearance issues; it’s going to be an interesting review.”Kingston SSDNow V+200 120GB Upgrade Kit Review @ Real World Labs “Offering very good data transfer speeds, one of the most complete bundles I’ve ever seen and an exceptional price/capacity ratio the brand new V+200 120GB is a worthy addition to the SSDNow business line of solid state drives by Kingston.”Thermaltake Commander MS-I Mid Tower @ Pro-Clockers “The new Commander MS-I is a new case aimed at the budget-minded DIYer. The case is priced at the lower price spectrum, retailing for about $40-$60. The pricing depends on where it is purchased from as well as if it comes with fans or out. But what do you get for this incredible low price? We will tell you, read on.”Thermaltake Dr. Power II ATX Power Supply Tester Review @ Tweaknews “Thermaltake’s Dr. Power II works as advertised, is relatively accurate and has an easily used and intuitive interface. Two testing modes allow the user to make a quick pass or zero in on a suspect connector or rail. It’s compact, lightweight and the large LCD screen is easy to read.”XFX DD R7950 Review @ Vortez “The R7950 retains the standard clock speed of the HD7950 but what makes the card different from the ‘stock’ HD7950 at first glance is the cooler. The GHOST cooler really is a thing of beauty and while I do not wish to pre-empt it’s ability, if looks are anything to go by, this card will be one seriously cool customer. Looks however can be deceiving and none were this more so than with the XFX R7950. While the clock speeds may remain the same, the card is far from being a reference design. The PCB as we will see is very different from the stock design as it features XFX’s ‘X’ features of both power management, cooling and on-board components which make this card truly ‘custom’.”XFX & Sapphire HD 7950 3GB Review @ OCC “At stock speeds it offers predictable performance that is well ahead of previous generation parts and in just about every game ahead of NVIDIA’s current high end parts. As an upgrade, the current pricing puts it in line with the GTX 580 which it of course beats hands down. Add in Eyefinity capabilities with a single card and the HD 7950 is a card that is a perfect upgrade path for those looking for top end performance but have a hard time shelling out $600 for the top line product. Even just less than $500 the HD 7950 is not a value proposition. Performance at stock and overclocked speeds make the XFX Black Edition Double Dissipation and Sapphire Overclocked Edition HD 7950 video card as potent upgrades to enjoy the latest games. Good looks, Custom cooling and PCB, Awesome performance, and more are good enough reasons to move to the HD 7900 series from Sapphire or XFX.”Sapphire HD 7950 OC Graphics Card @ Modders-Inc “With the HD 7970 already claiming the King of the Hill title, you know that the title comes a tall price tag. So if you are like me and know you can get some of that awesome speed and features for less money then you need to look at the SAPPHIRE HD 7950 OC.”Danger Den DD-M6 Waterblock Review @ Ninjalane “One of the biggest names in watercooling is Danger Den and not because they offer a ton of different products but rather their years of service to the watercooling enthusiast and providing them what they need at just the right time.”+Continue Reading
Well we are starting another week here at ThinkComputers! Expect some great reviews and unboxing videos throughout the week! So how is your Monday going? Surprisingly I do not have a case of the Monday’s! Make sure you check out our unboxing video of the Le Pan II TC979 Tablet!
Now let’s check out whats going on around the web….
Pittco Gamer Interview – Fatal1ty “This gentlemen was gracious enough to take time out of his busy day of training to enter the den of the wolf and be grilled on his life in and around gaming. This is one of the best interviews we’ve ever had on the Pittco site especially from an editing prospective. For a Pro Gamer I think some of the things about his gaming past might we quite a shock to you listeners so open your ears because…”
SteelSeries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse Review – Legendary Edition @ Legit Reviews “After playing many hours of World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic with the SteelSeries MMO Mouse: Legendary Edition, we were very happy with the thought and effort Blizzard Entertainment and SteelSeries put into this product. The performance was better than any other gaming mouse we have used before. The ability to configure the mouse to our desired specifications was very easy and intuitive…”Thermaltake Smart Series 730W Power Supply @ Pro-Clockers “Thermaltake is claiming that the new Smart series power supply is just that. The Smart series is only offered in a non-modular version for now. But the power range within the spectrum of anybody building a system from basic web browsing to gaming that reason is 430 to 730 watts.”QPAD MK-85 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ techPowerUp “QPAD’s keyboard line-up is expanding rapidly. Today we are taking the MK-85 high-end keyboard for a spin. This new keyboard from QPAD features Cherry MX Red linear key mechanisms. Besides that QPAD have developed a brand new driver suite and a few other new features.”MSI Nighthawk Case Review @ TechwareLabs “Here at TechwareLabs, we’re much more used to seeing MSI’s logo on parts inside the case than on the case itself. That said, they make whole PCs, so why not cases too? Today we’ll be looking at the Nighthawk, one of two cases MSI is launching its enclosure line with. Does this bird fly? Keep reading to find out!”ASRock Z68M-ITX/HT Mini-ITX Motherboard Review @ KitGuru “Today we are going to look at a motherboard from the other end of the ASRock range, the Z68M-ITX/HT motherboard, which occupies the increasingly popular Mini-ITX form factor. This makes it ideal for use in environments where space is restricted, mainly in small form factor and home theatre PC systems.”NZXT Havik 120 Review @ OCC “I cannot say I am unhappy with the results that came out of this cooler, especially considering it can be purchased for around $50 and is basically a miniature version of the NZXT Havik 140. The performance is spot-on, there are no features that I feel are lacking or wasted, and it’s simply more of a space-saver compared to the NZXT Havik 140. The Havik 140 is definitely a tall cooler, and I have heard of several situations where the user could not install the side panel since the heatsink stuck out too far. With the Havik 120, you still get very similar performance as the Havik 140 but at a smaller cost to both your wallet and case real estate.”The Internet Stratification: Tales of an Unequal Web @ Techgage “Think that the Web is equal for all? Not quite. While countries with great access to the Internet move towards creating content-heavy websites and services that require ever faster connections, there exists even more countries that would simply like a stable and reliable Internet connection to begin with. Read on to explore this digital divide.”NZXT Source 220 Computer Case Review @ APH Networks “I am always amazed at how the political and economic system works in the United States. While I am not suggesting Canada is leaps and bounds better, it is interesting how the United States government would even consider the SOPA and PIPA bills. On the technology side, blackouts were the main method of protesting, and in the end, it proved to be highly influential. Not only did it draw tons of support, but most importantly, it made many people aware of the issues and reduce the likelihood of similar future incidents from happening. With that in mind, probably completely unintentional, the NZXT Source 220 is like the blacked out version of the NZXT Source 210 Elite. Having a completely black theme without the option for a white variation, I guess the value budget consumer will have to lose out on customization. By having no other options, you might get the feeling of being forced to accept the chassis as it is; however, I am pretty certain that there will be significantly less controversy over the Source 220 than the previously mentioned bills. Today, I am not here to talk about either the SOPA or PIPA bills. Instead, we have ourselves a revision of the NZXT Source 210 Elite to discuss. Now of course, just like I would hope with any revisions to SOPA or PIPA, there should be some significant improvements over the previous version. One last note, I do not support SOPA or PIPA, and I am very thankful for the turn of events related to those bills.”AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano 3.0 GHz Quad Core APU Review @ Hi Tech Legion “The A8-3870K APU is the latest release from AMD. The A8-3870K offers quad core performance with 3.0GHz speed. This Llano APU comes with a 100MHz speed bump over the A8-3850, so the stock performance won’t differ tremendously. The key difference, however, is the unlocked multiplier. The unlocked multiplier offers easier overclocking as seen with AMD’s other “Black Edition” processors. All prior Llano APUs have locked multipliers, therefore overclocking requires more trouble. All of the same features seen on the A8-3850 are seen on the A8-3870K. The Radeon 6550D has been integrated, which offers 400 shader units and runs at 600MHz. This is the best Radeon that can be attained on a Llano APU. There is still support for dual graphics as well as memory up to 1866MHz.”NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case Review @ Real World Labs “By retaining its original set of features the latest revision of the Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case by NZXT is not only beautiful in terms of design, offers superior airflow and has a spacious interior capable of housing even the largest possible hardware components but it now also features top I/O USB 3.0 connectivity.”Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 850W PSU @ Hardwareoverclock.com “Hardwareoverclock.com has just posted another review. Last week we have taken a look at the Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 850W PSU. The Plus series includes the world’s first interactive PSU control panel with fan speed control which also provides critical PSU data such as efficiency, wattage, Voltage, current, fan RPM and PSU internal temperature.”UEBO M400 WiFi Media Player @ BCC Hardware “This media player looks to be a radical transformation of most normal media players by adding many new features that most media players don’t have. The M400 does support USB 3.0 and 2.0 connections, a 3 TB HDD (sold separately), support for all media files, and True 1080p resolution and HD surround sound. The new and radical features that have been added are; Bit Torrent for torrent downloads, FTP, NAS for network storage ability, and DLNA support…”Cooler Master QuickFire Keyboard @ LanOC Reviews “Everyone and their mom have jumped into the mechanical keyboard party over the past year. Typically each of the keyboards has a fairly standard layout with a few small differences to help them stand out. When we saw Cooler Master’s new offering I was excited to see something a little different. If you have ever seen a Filco keyboard this may look familiar. The new Cooler Master QuickFire is a compact keyboard without a number fad for those looking for something that doesn’t take up very much room on your desk. Sounds like a perfect keyboard for going to LAN’s doesn’t it? We thought so, let’s take a look.”Swiftech Apogee HD Water Block Review @ OCIA.net “Today we have for review Swiftech’s absolute latest in blocks, the Apogee HD. Superseding the venerable Apogee XT as their flagship product, the HD offers improvements in all areas: increased performance, reduced flow restriction and a new innovative feature known as multi-port connectivity. By paralleling the outputs to other components like the VGA, RAM and VRM, flow restriction is reduced and the need for a second pump in long, daisy-chain setups is eliminated.”+Continue Reading
Well it is Wednesday, that means the week is almost over and the weekend is getting closer! How about an Unboxing video to keep you occupied? Today we are unboxing 2 DDR3 memory kits from Kingston, HyperX Limited Edition (KHX1600C7D3X1K2/4GX) and the HyperX Genesis (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX). We just want to show you the difference in the 2 memory kits and the Genesis memory up close.
Now let’s see what’s going on around the web!
MSI Nighthawk Case Review @ Hardware Secrets “MSI is a tier one motherboard manufacturer, and they decided to enter the PC case market, initially with two mid-tower models. Let’s see if the Nighthawk is a good product.”
HTC Explorer Android Smartphone Review @ HardwareHeaven.com “The Explorer is HTC’s new entry level smartphone aimed at those customers looking for a smartphone but turned off by the large, feature rich and costly offering that is the HTC Sensation and its ilk.”ECS X79R-AX Black Series Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews “For the most part the ECS X79R-AX Intel X79 motherboard performed on par with our other Intel X79 systems. In most of our tests it was just below the performance level of the GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7. In all fairness though, we are talking very small margins of maybe 1%-2% total, well within any margin of error in the benchmarks that we used today. The downside to that statement is that it was consistently on the bottom of the charts…”AMD Llano A8-3870K APU Review @ TechwareLabs “With AMDs’ Llano and Bulldozer line releasing within 8 months of each other it was only a matter of time before we saw them merge. The main complaint about Llano was the inability to overclock anything. Well now we see 2 unlocked versions come into the market: the A8-3870k and the A6-3670k. With AMDs rich heritage in overclocking and GPUs what kind of performance can we expect out of these? Lets first take a look at the new line desktop Llano APUs.”Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6614 Review @ TechReviewSource.com “The Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG-6614 is a bit steep in price, but don’t dismiss it. The 15.6-inch Aspire is loaded with everything from Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) to a discrete Nvidia graphics adapter that actually passed our gaming tests at medium resolution and detail settings”Fractal Design – Define R3 Computer Case Review @ HCW “We review the Define R3 mid-tower ATX case by Fractal Design. If you are looking for a gorgeous case that doesn’t sacrifice features, you might want to read this review!”Thermaltake Tt eSport Battle Dragon LAN Bag Review @ eTeknix.com “Go to regular LAN gaming events? Then the Tt eSports Battle Dragon LAN Bag could be exactly what you need.”Zero Infinity Free Flow+ CPU Cooler Review @ Vortez “The recently established Zero Infinity are looking to take on the CPU Cooling market by storm with their flagship dual tower cooler, the Free Flow+. Following the lead of our favourite CPU Coolers; the Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow, Phanteks PH-TC14PE and Alpenföhn K2, Zero Infinity have already set their sights on the cream of the crop which is one excellent way of getting our undivided attention.”Antec P280 Case Review @ KitGuru “Today we are looking at the latest offering in the Antec Performance One lineup … the P280 chassis. We have reviewed many Antec cases in the past and have generally been impressed with their combination of cooling efficiency, build quality and wide ranging component support.”Arctic Accelero XTREME Plus II VGA cooler Review @ XtremeComputing “Today I will be reviewing the Arctic Accelero XTREME Plus II. This is a Graphics Card heatsink-cooler designed to cool even the hottest of cards – including my own Inno3D GTX580 OC, whilst remaining reasonably quiet.”Antec Three Hundred Two Mid-Tower Case Review @ Hi Tech Legion “The Antec Three Hundred Two is a new design with added features that include a wider chassis, great cable management, easy access side doors, USB 3.0, and improved air flow, with 6 spots for fans in strategic positions throughout the chassis. The Three Hundred Two, from Antec, has preinstalled 120mm rear exhaust and 140mm top exhaust, and brings you the option to control fan speeds with the flip of a switch. With high and low setting built into the back of the chassis, it’s easy to control air flow. The front mesh design of the Antec Three Hundred Two, with built in easy to remove washable filters, offers you not only good looks with its Tower design, but also gives you added airflow over your hard drive cage, CPU, and GPU.”Antec High Current Gamer 620W Power Supply Review @ OCC “When you look at other power supplies in its class the Antec High Current Gamer 620W is very competitively priced. It’s not a high end power and certainly doesn’t claim to be but it works well at a good price. If you’re after a power supply to run your latest gaming PC with a single powerful graphics card and you don’t mind a captive cable set then it’s certainly worthy of your consideration. I have no hesitation in recommending the Antec HCG-620, it’s price/performance ratio is very good and certainly worthy of the OCC Bronze award.”CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Gaming Keyboard Review @ Techgage “CM’s QuickFire Rapid gaming keyboard is unlike any other. It’s not flashy, it doesn’t have a bunch of bright LEDs, it has no macro support and… it has no numpad. So what is it that sets it apart? Its sturdy design and use of CHERRY MX blue mechanical key switches. Let’s see if those features make up for what’s lacking.”ASUS Sabertooth X79 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks “In mid November we saw the launch of the enthusiast-based Sandy Bridge Extreme platform along with the X79 (code name Patsburg) chipsets and since then we have brought you reviews of the i7-3960X CPU and the Rampage IV Extreme motherboard. Today we continue our walk down the LGA2011 road and bring you another highly anticipated board from ASUS: the Sabertooth X79.”Super Flower Golden King 1000 W @ techPowerUp “Despite the name, the Super Flower Golden King PSUs are 80 Plus Platinum certified. Today we will test the 1000 W flagship model to find out if it has the potential to claim the throne for the best, high capacity, Platinum PSU and put the excellent Seasonic SS-1000XP in second place.”+Continue Reading
Wow finally back to posting affiliate news! The past 2 weeks have been pretty insane with our CES 2012 coverage! As many of you know we did all video this year so we have a ton of video content, actually well over 4 hours of interviews and product overviews from CES! Check out our CES 2012 video playlist below!
Now time for some affiliate news!
CES 2012 – GIGABYTE Displays New Tablets, Laptops and More! @ FutureLooks “We stopped by the Gigabyte suite at CES 2012 to see what new hotness they are bringing to North America, confirming that they have certainly come a long way since those earlier convertible tablets. They’ve got everything from gaming laptops to enteprise class tablet PCs.”
Corsair Individual Sleeved Modular PSU Cables @ Legit Reviews “Corsair usually makes a ton of noise when they launch new products, but for some reason the company silently launched a new product line on Facebook yesterday that went unnoticed by most tech sites. Corsair has announced individually sleeved modular cables! We bumped into Corsair at the FX GamExperience down in Dallas, Texas today and got a chance to check out the cables in person. Read on to check them out!”2012 CES: Cooler Master @ OCIA.net “We visited with Cooler Master at the Bellagio after they hosted one heck of a party the night before. Cooler Master is celebrating their 20 year anniversary with a plethora of new products for 2012. The PR team first showed us their upcoming heatsink known as the TPC-812 which utilizes a new technology called Vertical Vapor Chamber. We were told that Cooler Master is one of only two companies in the world that are capable of producing this technology.”CES 2012 – ASUS Shows Off PadFone, Transformer Prime 700 Series, and New 7-Inch MeMo Tablets @ FutureLooks “Asus has been keeping pretty busy on the mobile front, so we decided to check in with Gary Key and the rest of the Asus team at CES 2012.”Enermax Briskie Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo Review @ HardwareHeaven.com “One of the most recent additions to Enermax’s peripherals range is the Briskie wireless keyboard and mouse bundle, a low cost product which is aimed at mainstream users.”ASUS P9X79 Motherboard Roundup @ PureOverclock “ASUS is known for producing a wide range of motherboards to suit just about any preference, need, or budget, and today we have three motherboards from their new X79 lineup for review. Each of these boards share many similarities but also some distinct differences, and rather than splitting them up into separate reviews, we’ve decided to compile them all into one big roundup. It’s a one-stop shop for some of the high-end ASUS X79 motherboards.”XFX ProSeries 1250 W @ techPowerUp “XFX is well known for their graphic cards but for quite some time they are also into the PSU market with two series called classic and Pro. Today we will test the flagship unit of the Pro series which with 1250W capacity will easily power even the most demanding systems.”Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Heatsink Review @ APH Networks “Today’s review unit, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler is just that. What does “EVO” stand for? Evolution, which allows us to assume that it evolved from something. That’s right, this heatsink succeeds the older Hyper 212 Plus. And again, the word “Plus” gives us another assumption that it was added — pun intended, of course — onto its original name from an even older heatsink, the Hyper 212. So how does this heatsink compare? Without further adieu, let’s jump in!”NZXT Switch 810 Tower Case Review @ OCIA.net “At CES 2012, NZXT launched a new full tower case they’ve dubbed the Switch 810. NZXT is calling this a “hybrid” tower design, suitable for extreme air cooling or complex liquid cooling setups, and offering users a choice between maximum airflow or noise reduction. With up to ten 120/140mm fans, top 360/420mm and bottom 140/240mm radiator support, pivoting internal fan mounts and removable dust filters, NZXT is definitely taking the cooling aspect of this case seriously.”Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler at Modders-Inc “Noctua’s brain trust has unleashed upon the masses, a CPU cooler that looks to appeal to several different user markets. Reshaping the heatpipe orientation into a “C” orientation, and placing the fins parallel to the motherboard… has Noctua caught lightening in a bottle again? Let’s look on and find out.”Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced USB 3.0 @ ocaholic “With the CM690II Cooler Master shows a steel midi-tower that comes with a lot of useful features as well as a decent design. The mostly black outside is being decorated by two small, chromed bars. Also the manufacturing quality is on a good level and the CM690 II Advanced USB 3.0 even comes with a feature you wont find anywhere else, the external SATA X-dock (HDD dock). About this and a lot of other things we will write on the following pages.”Lian Li PC-90 Case/Chassis Review @ TechwareLabs “So once again Lian Li has changed up the computer case design while leaving the exterior of the case unchanged. Just when you think there isn’t much else you can do with a computer case, Lian Li comes in and WOW’s you once again. Check out why we feel the PC-90 should be on your watch list for a new case for its features and game changing design.”Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650 W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets “The EarthWatts Platinum is the latest power supply series from Antec, and will be available in 450 W, 550 W, and 650 W versions, coming with the 80 Plus Platinum certification. This new series will reach the North American market next month; we were able to get a sample before its official release. Let’s see if the 650 W model is a good option.”KFA2 MDT X4 – GTX580 1538MB GDDR5 Review @ Kitguru “While Nvidia prepare to release their next series of cards we are looking at a custom GTX 580 board from KFA2 which can support up to four screens via a single card, with the promise of excellent gaming performance across three screens. It ships in an overclocked state and incorporates 3 fans for improved cooling efficiency. Today we will test across a single and three screens. Is it worth the money?”CES 2012 Coverage @ OCC Finally Finished! “After internet issues, staff getting sick, we have finally finished our article. 41 pages for your viewing pleasure, videos are included on some pages, and of course never to be missed the lovely booth babes.”+Continue Reading
It is that time of year again! Playoff’s for the Steelers! Being from Pittsburgh you know we are Steelers fans and we wish them the best of luck against the Denver Broncos! Who do you think will win the game?
Also starting tomorrow we will be in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics show! If you didn’t check out our blog post on CES make sure you do! Also check out our first CES Behind the scenes video blog!
Now what is going on around the web?
TechwareLabs Top Ten 2012 CES Predictions “With CES literally only days away we wanted to voice our expectations for the top tech at this years show. As one of the largest tech shows in the world what is found on the show floor as well as what isn’t found on the show floor has a lot to say about tech in the coming year. This is our TechwareLabs Top Ten 2012 CES Predictions.”
Eminent EM 7280 RT3 HD media player 320GB Review @ XSReviews.co.uk “While Microsoft and Nintendo might be hoping that their next generation of home consols will ultimately become our HTPC, media centres of the future, for now the trend is for media players like the one I’m looking at today. The Eminent RT3 is an HD video, music and image player with built in web functionality.”
Nero 11 Platinum Software Review @ Hi Tech Legion “Nero 11 Platinum combines 11 multimedia applications in one suite, working seamlessly and synchronizes the workflow of every project. Nero 11 Platinum is powerful yet easy to use, making the task of sorting, editing and sharing your multimedia as convenient and straightforward as clicking the mouse. Forget the headaches brought on by incompatible file formats and incomplete import tools, Nero 11 is an all-in-one multimedia solution fit for the modern lifestyle.”
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 AMP2! Edition 3 GB GDDR5 Review @ Hardware-Mag.de “We have just released a Review of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 AMP²! Edition graphics card with Zalman VF3000F and 3 GB GDDR5, including lots of Benchmarks in different Presets, power consumption, loudness, temperatures and many more details.”
GeiL Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 800W PSU Review @ Technic3D “The Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 800W PSU arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review from Technic3D the next PSU with a Display, one +12V rail (65A), a 135mm Fan, 6x SATA hard disk connectors and 4x PCI-e 6+2-Pin.”
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB PCI-E Storage Solution Review @ Real World Labs “Aimed mostly towards professionals and enthusiasts the latest RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB PCI Express Storage Solution by OCZ combines the breathtaking read/write speeds of the RevoDrive3 PCI-E SandForce based SSD with the large capacity of a 1TB 2.5inch hard disk drive, all in one very convenient package.”
PowerColor JustSling @ techPowerUp “With more and more possibilities to store and playback media to and from different devices the limiting factor tends to be how you can lay down a cable to connect these. PowerColor aims to break that bond with their JustSling, a WHDI solution allowing for wireless, 1080p HDMI to be beamed to your TV without the need of any cables. We take the JustSling for a spin to see if it can sling all our favorite media from end end of the home to the other successfully or if it falls short.”
SilverStone Grandia DG06 HTPC Chassis Review @ MissingRemote “Silverstone Technology was founded in 2003 and has been building cases specifically for the home theater PC (HTPC) market since almost the very beginning. Today, Silverstone produces HTPC cases across four different lines, including the “mainstream” Grandia line. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the most recent addition to the Grandia lineup, the GD06. With room for a micro-atx motherboard, a full-size graphics card, and up to 5 hard drives, the Grandia GD06 is intended to be flexible enough to house a standard HTPC, a gaming PC, or even a media server.”
SteelSeries Simraceway SRW-S1 Steering Wheel Review @ Legit Reviews “I have a been a real-world racing fan for all of my life, growing up in earshot distance from a famous dirt racetrack in Southern California. I’ve always enjoyed NASCAR and more recently have come to love Formula 1 and World Rally Championships so when SteelSeries announced a new peripheral – their first ever racing wheel – I was more than a little skeptical. A racing controller without pedals for less than $120?!? What does SteelSeries, a manufacturer who is best known for headsets and professional mice know about racing? At this point I was thinking that a good comparison for the SRW-S1 might be my kid’s Mario Kart Wii wheel…”
Remember if you want your news posted send it to news at thinkcomputers.org.
Asus Transformer TF101 Android Tablet Review @ TechwareLabs “Much like the netbook market, tablets have come of age and everyone seems to want one. Also similar to netbooks it seems that the market is saturated by tablets from many different manufacturers. Asus can be credited for making the netbook market a reality and for offering some of the finest netbooks made. Today we take a look at the Asus Transformer tablet to see if Asus has kept the tradition of offering an excellent product in the tablet market.”
Patriot Pyro SE SATA III Solid State Drive Review @ HotHardware “We have evaluated a handful of Patriot’s SSDs recently, all of which proved to be solid (no pun intended) offerings in their respective categories. The high-end Patriot Wildfire SSD hung right alongside the best of the SandForce-based drives with synchronous NAND we’ve tested and the lower-priced Pyro was also competitive with its asynchronous NAND-equipped counterparts.”
In Win BUC 101 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets “In Win has just released a new version of their BUC mid-tower case, dubbed BUC 101. (By the way, the correct pronunciation is “buck,” not “bee-you-see” – which would be kind of funny.) This new case comes with several unique features. Let’s take a look at them.”
MSI Z68A-GD80 G3 Z68 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks “MSI has been fighting an uphill battle against the likes of Gigabyte and ASUS for the last few years but their new Z68A-GD80 G3 looks to even the playing field. It features a long 5 year warranty, PCI-E 3.0 slots, user friendly auto overclocking options, a great layout and an intuitive BIOS which in many ways surpasses the competition’s offerings. But can MSI complete this near-perfect equation with stability? We find out in this review.”
Corsair Force GT & Performance Pro SATA III SSD Roundup @ Legit Reviews “So, what have we learned from this little round up? First off, you can’t go wrong with any of the drives here. All feature very fast SATA III performance and come with a standard three year warranty. The Force GT drives promise read and write specifications of up to 555MB/s reads and 525MB/s writes. This is something we observed on the ATTO benchmark where highly compressible data was used. On other benchmarks, the scores were a fair bit lower as the SandForce controllers rely on real time compression of data to optimize performance and the referenced benchmarks used already compressed data. The 240GB fared a little better than the 180GB drive as higher density NAND tends to be a little faster along with slightly different architecture…”
Enermax ETS-T40-TA CPU Cooler Review @ Vortez “Despite appearing as a standard tower heatsink on first impressions, the ETS-T40 is home to numerous technologies to differentiate it from other coolers. These include Heat Pipe Direct Touch, Stack Effect Flow (SEF), Vortex Generated Flow (VGF), and Vacuum Effect Flow (VEF), to improve airflow and thermal transfer efficiency. The ETS-T40’s main competitor based on design alone is Cooler Master’s notorious 212+ but priced a good £15 higher; the Enermax will have to demonstrate superior cooling capabilities which its patented features aim to satisfy.”
Corsair Vengeance 1300 Analog Gaming Headset Review @ OCC “If it wasn’t for the severe lack of bass, then these headphones would be at the top of my list for their price range. While the comfort and build quality are definitely there, the audio performance averages out to just decent. The clarity of the range of sound that the Vengeance 1300 is capable of producing is without a question very good; if gaming is your only concern then this $80 headset just might fit your bill.”
MEGATech Showcase: The Other Best Video Games of 2011 “It’s the end of the year and the Internet has been flooded with countless “best of” lists. And frankly, I’m here to bring you more. As a frequent player of videogames (who isn’t crazy about the term “gamer”), I’ve already read several lists of what people consider to be the best games of 2011. Not surprisingly, Skyrim tops them all. As someone who’s only a minor fan of Oblivion, I agree that Skyrim is far and wide the best game of 2011. I’ve also seen Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Uncharted 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword on many lists, and they’re all great games. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a single game listed that I thought didn’t deserve to be recognized.”
NZXT HALE82 650W Power Supply Review @ OCIA.net “NZXT has traditionally been better known for their offerings in the low to middle end market where the bulk of consumers shop for their gear, and the HALE90 is maybe just a tad out of that price range. Not surprisingly then, NZXT has released a new HALE82 line of power supplies, in 650W, 750W and 850W ratings, that come in at a 20%-30% savings over their HALE90 counterparts. The HALE82 features a similar design, with semi-modular construction, single +12V rail and 80Plus Bronze certification.”
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler Review @ Technic3D “The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Heatsink arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review the Evo with one 120mm PWM Fan and four 6mm Heatpipes compared with many other Cooler on a Intel Core i5 2500k CPU.”
Raidmax Seiran Chassis Review @ Rage3D.com “Today we take a look at Raidmax’s new Seiran midtower chassis. Will it surprise and dazzle us with well priced quality or attempt to stab us with sharp, jagged edges? Find out inside!”
Kingston 64GB Data Traveler HyperX 3.0 @ Inside Industry News “I recently met up with the Shuttle people regarding CES 2012 and they were kind enough to provide us with not only some info on what is next but also a review sample of Kingston’s new USB 3.0 flash drive – the Data Traveler HyperX 3.0. This is not their first USB 3.0 flash drive but as expected its fast as well as a bit on the big side. According to Kingston the reason for the size is its USB controller.”
HD 7970: Bulldozer vs. Sandy Bridge vs. Nehalem @ techPowerUp “In our CPU scaling article we investigate gaming performance of AMD’s latest Radeon HD 7970 flagship. The processors in our test group have been selected to match popular CPUs used by gamers and enthusiasts: AMD FX-8150 Bulldozer, Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge and Intel Core i7-920 Nehalem.”
Zalman CNPS11X Cpu Cooler @ Rbmods “Zalman are well known for their high performing cpu coolers, today we have their CNPS11X on the test bench. We are going to compare it vs both a Noctua cpu cooler and also a watercooler to see if this unit is worth a buy.”
Gigabyte X79 G1.Assassin 2 @ PureOverclock “With their G1.Assassin 2 from their “Gamer” series, Gigabyte hopes to deliver a board which exceeds anything else in the mainstream market and we will be putting this motherboard to the test, both in real-world and some synthetic tests to see if this board can live up to the claims.”
Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro 750GB Portable Hard Drive Review @ Legit Reviews “Hitachi sent us the 750GB version of the updated Touro Mobile Pro external backup drive that provides both local storage and includes 3GB of free cloud storage just by installing their backup software that is pre-installed on the drive itself. The Pro model upgrades the drive speed from the Touro Mobile from 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM and is only offered with a USB 3.0 interface for maximum performance…”
Enermax Fulmo Advanced Mid-tower Case Review @ Hi Tech Legion “The Enermax Fulmo mid-tower case comes in two variants: basic and advanced. The Enermax Fulmo Advanced differs from the basic version with the use of Enermax Vegas LED fans as well as additional 180mm side and 120mm top fans. The Enermax Fulmo Advanced also has a built-in fan controller for up to three 3-pin case fans and an extra USB 3.0 port on the front panel I/O. Using a unique vertical HDD mounting design, the Enermax Fulmo mid-tower case can house up to six HDDs while minimizing airflow obstruction. The 180mm side fan on the advanced version of the Enermax Fulmo mid-tower case also provides additional intake cooling which aids in multi-GPU air-cooling. Since the Enermax Fulmo mid-tower case has 8 PCI-E expansion slots, users can use up to three video cards in SLI or CrossfireX configuration.”
Super Flower GOLDEN GREEN 1000W Power Supply Review @ rwlabs “If you can’t afford to jump onto the 80Plus Platinum wagon and purchase one of the few power supplies with that certification currently in the market then you should really consider taking a look at the Golden Green 1000W 80Plus Gold certified power supply by Super Flower since it really combines excellent performance at a very attractive price point.”
HornetTek Fantasy @ LanOC Reviews “Naming a product after the subject of a Ludacris song definitely garners up images of fast cars, hot women, and wealth. Does the Fantasy from HornetTek live up to my fantasies of a personal media player, and is it something you should consider adding to your already crowded home entertainment system? Read on to find out!”
SilverStone TS07 SATA3 Enclosure @ Phoronix “After recently testing the SilverStone RVS02 2.5-inch SATA enclosure, here is a look at the SilverSton TS07 3.5-inch SATA 3.0 SATA external enclosure.”
Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1050 W @ techPowerUp “Today we test the middle member of Coolermaster’s fresh Silent Pro Hybrid series, which with its 1050W will easily power even the most power hungry systems and at the same time will save you some money from electricity bills, thanks to its Gold efficiency. This PSU will be loved by all silence fans out there since it goes fanless at low loads and on top of that you can control its fan speed.”
Corepad Keira mouse mat Review @ XSReviews.co.uk “A great gaming mouse is nothing without a great gaming mouse mat, which is why it’s important to buy a good one to match that fancy gaming mouse you just bought. You need a high quality gaming surface to make sure a high quality mouse lives up to its legacy. Corepad aim to please with a wide range of mouse mats and mouse accessories which they’ve been developing for the last eight years. Exclusively marketing at gamers has also given them a great feel for exactly what it is a gamer needs out of a mouse mat, an integral part to any competitive gamers ability.”
NZXT HAVIK 120 CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets “The NZXT HAVIK 120 is a smaller version of the HAVIK 140, which we tested some time ago, and reached a good performance level. The HAVIK 120 has four 8 mm heatpipes and two 120 mm fans. Let’s find out if it is also a good performer.”
Everki 18.4” Advance Laptop Bag @ LanOC Reviews “When I picked up an 18.4 inch laptop I knew that I would deal with problems while traveling due to its size. What I didn’t expect was to have as much trouble finding laptop bags. While at CES last year I was visiting a company we had seen the year before called Everki and noticed that they had a whole selection of 18.4 inch laptop bags. With CES coming up soon I finally set aside the time to get in touch and give one a try. Maybe their Advance Laptop Bag for 18.4 inch laptops would make traveling a little more convenient for me in the future.”
GeForce GTX 580 Showdown: ASUS Matrix vs.EVGA Classified @ Legit Reviews “After spending several weeks with the ASUS MATRIX GeForce GTX580 Platinum and the EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Classified 3072MB we quickly discovered that both video cards are outstanding examples of what the engineers at each company can do. Both designs differ greatly from the reference NVIDIA design and that was fine with us as we didn’t miss any features of the reference card…”
Mushkin Chronos 60GB Review @ OCC “The Mushkin Chronos 60GB SSD still does offer good read and write performance for its price, especially when compared to mechanical drives. The drive also utilizes the SATA III 6Gb/s interface as well as a Sandforce 2281 controller. For those still using the SATA II 3Gb/s interface the drive is backwards compatible, although you will take a performance it. In the end I’d say that the Mushkin Chronos is a decent SSD, and well worth its cost.”
Rosewill Mechanical Keyboard @ PureOverclock “We’ve got the latest mechanical keyboard from manufacturer Rosewill, and it’s called the Mechanical Keyboard. It’s geared to gamers, and features the vaunted Cherry switches. At a price of $100, the Mechanical Keyboard is one of the more affordable mechanical gaming keyboards on the market.”
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion “The ASUS Sabertooth 990FX is another solid board offered from ASUS. The Sabertooth 990FX offers all of the same TUF features, but on the AMD platform. The chipset comprises of the AMD 990FX/SB950 with the newest AM3+ CPU socket. This will support all of the newest CPUs up to 8 cores and 140W. Memory support is up to 32GB and 1866Mhz DDR3 DRAM. The term TUF means “The Ultimate Force” and ASUS uses that to label a model of boards that goes that extra step to ensure total reliability and stability. All of the capacitors, MOSFETs, and chokes are comprised of a special alloy and are certified to meet military standards. In addition, this model includes a CeraM!X heatsink coating that allows 50% larger area for heat dissipation. Another feature of the Sabertooth is the thermal radar. Temperature zones can be set and fan speeds adjusted for total thermal control. Overall, the Sabertooth is built to last under any condition.”
PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 600W Power Supply Review @ Real World Labs “The latest Silencer MK III 600W Power Supply by PC Power & Cooling is certain to win you over, if not thanks to its rock solid rails, white/black body and 80Plus Bronze Certification then certainly because of its very attractive price tag.”
Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 @ LanOC Reviews “Just a few weeks ago I had the chance to tell everyone about the Noctua heatsink that we have been running on our LGA 1155 test bench for almost a year. Because of how happy we have been with it we decided to give another Noctua heatsink a chance for our new LGA 2011 test bench. We went with the NH-D14 for the ultimate performance. We have actually taken a look at that same heatsink before in the past HERE, but with the special edition we decided to go over the new brackets and compare the NH-D14 to Intel’s water cooling. Will the monster air cooling outperform water cooling? Let’s find out. “
