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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 category: Video Cards

Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 OC Edition Video Card Review

Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 OC Edition Video Card Review

Today we are taking a look at a brand new video card from Sapphire. We have been hearing about the Radeon 7790 over the past few weeks and earlier this year AMD said we would see an HD 8000 series towards the end of the year and they would be refreshing their HD 7000 lineup with new chips. The HD 7790 is the first card that is part of this refresh, based on the brand new “Bonaire” 28nm graphics processor. The Bonaire graphics processor is based off of AMD’s graphics core next (GCN) architecture and features 896 stream processors. We are looking at Sapphire’s version, which is the HD 7790 OC with Dual-X. The Dual-X is for Sapphire’s own unique cooling system on the card. This card features a 1075MHz core clock, 1GB of GDDR5 memory and has dual DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort connections. This card is setup to compete directly with Nvidia’s GTX 650 Ti. Read on as we take a look…

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ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC Edition Video Card Review

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC Edition Video Card Review

Back in August NVIDIA released the GTX 660 Ti, which came in around the $300 price range.  Performance on the card was great, but not everyone has $300 to spend on a video card.  So NVIDIA released the GTX 660, which hits your wallet around $200-$250, but still offers great performance and lower power consumption.  Today we are checking out one of ASUS’s GTX 660 variants, the GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC Edition.  This card features ASUS’s DirectCU II cooling, which ASUS says provides 20% better cooling performance than a stock cooler.  This is also the Overclocked (OC) edition of the card.  That means the GPU clock is set to 1020 MHz (1085 MHz boost clock) over the stock settings of 980 MHz.  You also get ASUS’s DIGI+VRM power delivery design which enhances power efficiency by 15% and minimizes power noise by 30%.  Are you in the market for a GTX 660?  Is this the one for you?  Read on to find out!

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ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II Video Card Review

ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II Video Card Review

Ah I am back to reviewing video cards, it has actually been a little while since I’ve taken a look at a current generation card, but over the past couple of weeks I have caught back up and today I am taking a look at an awesome card from ASUS.  Many of ASUS’s non-reference cards feature their DirectCU II cooling system and so does this card, but this card also features a 12-phase VRM that has super alloy caps and chokes, ASUS’s VGA hotwire that allows you to easily check voltages on the card and this single card can drive up to six screens!  The card we are taking a look at today is the 28nm ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II 3GB!  Read on as we take a look at this impressive card!

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ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP Video Card Review

ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP Video Card Review

ASUS has already made a name for themselves as the top motherboard manufacturer for quite some time now, but they are really making a name for themselves in the graphics card market as well.  Their specialized cards use quality components, come with better cooling than the reference design and even sometimes are overclocked.  The card we are looking at today is no different.  ASUS’s GeForce GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP comes factory overclocked up to 900MHz, uses ASUS’s own DirectCU II cooler and features a super alloy design on the power components.  Let’s take a look at this card and see what it can do!

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Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 680 Black Series Accelero Hybrid 4GB Video Card Review

Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 680 Black Series Accelero Hybrid 4GB Video Card Review

Getting put through its paces today is the Inno3d iChiLL Black Edition GTX 680, with 4GB of GDDR5 memory. It is factory overclocked to 1120 Mhz, and has an aftermarket hybrid liquid / air cooler attached. The cooler itself is manufactured by Asetek, branded by Arctic, and then partnered with the inno3d card. Claiming to be virtually silent whilst many times more efficient than the reference cooler. If all goes well this card should be quite the performer. Follow us through the review as we benchmark, overclock, and generally beat the card into submission to reach our conclusion.

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Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 OC Edition 2GB Video Card Review

Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 OC Edition 2GB Video Card Review

AMD’s 7000 series is made up of 3 segments.  Starting with the flagship 7900 which are the high-end cards.  Then we have the 7700 series which has budget gamers in mind.  Finally we have the 7800 series which sits right in the middle to hit the sweet spot between cost and performance.  The 7800 series has 2 cards the 7850 and the 7870, today we are taking a look at the 7850.  Not just any 7850 though, the 7850 Overclocked Edition from Sapphire.  This card really makes the sweet spot even sweeter with a factory overclock moving the core up to 920MHz and the memory up to 1250MHz.  Sapphire has also added their popular Dual-X cooler for better cooling performance.  Read on to see what this card is all about.

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Sapphire Radeon HD6450 FleX Edition 1GB Video Card Review

Sapphire Radeon HD6450 FleX Edition 1GB Video Card Review

AMD’s Eyefinity Technology, have you heard of it? I’m sure you have, it’s what powers those multi-display setups that you’ve seen before.  These multi-display setups give you massive desktop work-spaces and immersive gaming environments.  The thing about getting Eyefinity setup is it can be difficult and confusing, especially if you don’t have the right displays off the bat.  To make things easier Sapphire has come out with the FleX series of cards.  Each FleX card allows you to plug in and run 3 monitors simultaneously from a single card.  Today we will be taking a look at their low-cost solution the Radeon HD6450 FleX Edition.

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Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 Dirt 3 Edition 2GB Video Card Review

Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 Dirt 3 Edition 2GB Video Card Review

With the recent release of DiRT 3 AMD announced that it would be packing the game with select video cards.  Of course Sapphire’s Radeon HD 6950 was one of those cards.  From a technical standpoint the Radeon HD 6950 is basically the same card as the original card we reviewed back in December, except Sapphire has improved the cooling solution.  They have increased the size of the cooling surface, added 5 copper heatpipes, and finally added a second fan.  All of this plus the free game makes this the definite choice when it comes to deciding which Radeon HD 6950 to get.  Read on to check out our review!

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Sapphire Radeon HD 6750 1GB Video Card Review

Sapphire Radeon HD 6750 1GB Video Card Review

Today we will be taking a look at a $100 video card that sits between the Barts and Turks chipsets from AMD.  This of course fills the gap between the two and makes for a good lower to mid-range card that will get you in to the DirectX 11 game and provide you with some great features.  The card I am talking about is the Radeon HD 6750.  The card we received from Sapphire is identical to the reference AMD version so it has a core clock of 700 MHz, memory clock of 1150 MHz, 720 stream processors, and support for up to 5 displays.  Let’s check it out!

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ASUS Geforce GTS 450 DirectCU OC 1GB Video Card Review

ASUS Geforce GTS 450 DirectCU OC 1GB Video Card Review

The GeForce GTS 450 has been around for quite sometime and many people don’t even think about it when they are purchasing a new video card.  You have to think though, it does offer substantial performance for little investment, so you can spend most of your cash on other items in your build.  Yes of course there are reference GTS 450 cards, but we are more interested in what comes a few months after launch.  ASUS has sent us their ENGTS450 DirectCU OC card, which has ASUS’s custom heatsink and is overclocked up to 850 MHz.  Let’s take a look…

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