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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.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/intel-core-i7-4770k-haswell-processor-review/
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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.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/xspc-ax-radiator-desk-stand-review/
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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!
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/win-a-nzxt-phantom-630-case/
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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.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/case-mod-friday-reactormod/
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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.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/enermax-triathlor-fc-550w-power-supply-review/
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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.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/silverstone-arm22sc-arm-two-dual-lcd-monitor-mount-review/
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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!
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/win-a-pivos-xios-ds-media-player/
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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.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/case-mod-friday-black-and-white/
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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.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/the-history-of-the-hard-drive/
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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!
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/lenovo-ideapad-yoga-11-review/

Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Review

A Look Inside
Getting inside the PC-TU200 is very simple, just pull the level on the back of the case to release the side panel.  Once you remove the side panel you can see how it works.  There are 8 points on the backside of the side panel that go into holes on the case.  These in turn lock the side panel in place until you use the level to release them.  I really like this system and I haven’t really seen something like this on a case.  It is much better than the 6 small screws on the side panel that we saw on the PC-V352.

Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case

Taking a look inside you can see things are a little cramped, but you have to expect that for such a small case.  On thing to mention is that every edge inside the case has rounded edges, this means you are not going to cut yourself when you are installing your hardware.  The front panel connections on the front give you internal USB 3.0 and eSATA connections which is a plus.


Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case

Looking towards the back of the case you can see that it is for the most part ventilated.  This will help keep your motherboard and expansion cards cool.  At the front there is the single 5.25-inch drive bay.  Like all Lian Li cases you are not going to see a tool-less system here.

Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case

Moving down to the hard drive cage you can fit four 3.5-inch hard drives or two 2.5-inch hard drives.  Taking a closer look you can see that this hard drive cage is equipped with hot-swap backplane.  This means you can swap drives without having to change cables, which is very convenient.  The drive cage can be removed from the case by removing 4 thumbscrews and sliding it out.  Once removed we can see the blackplane, it takes 2 molex connections for power and of course has the 4 SATA data connectors.

Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case

With the hard drive cage removed you can get a real good look inside the case and you can see the large 140mm intake fan.  Removing the second side panel you can get a look again at the hard drive backplane.

Lian Li PC-TU200 Case Lian Li PC-TU200 Case

Also inside the case you will find the box of goodies which has your mounting hardware, hard drive rails, speaker and USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 internal connector.

Lian Li PC-TU200 Case

Corsair Obsidian 650D System CabinetStoreRatingPrice$211.81$211.26$189.99SeaBoom.com$236.76$179.99Offers by PriceGrabber.com
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  • Ray Price
    I built a gaming computer in this case mid-December 2011. 

    Here’s what’s in the box…
    Zotac Z68ITX-A-E mobo
    Core i7 2600K
    Mushkin Enhanced Redline (2x4GB) DDR3 2133
    Cooler Master GX Series RS650
    Pioneer Blu-ray BDR-206DBKS
    EVGA GTX 560 Ti 448 Core FTW
    OCZ Agility 3 240GB
    Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000
    Themaltake Slim X2 CPU Cooler

    I originally tried a Zalman CNPS 8000A CPU Cooler, based on someone’s blog post.  While the cooler fit heightwise, it was too big left to right and could not be mounted without interfering with the video card. That’s why I settled on the Thermaltake.

     After taking the hard drive cage in and out, in and out, over and over, I finally realized that it would be possible to mount my 3.5 rotating drive in the top of case holes used to mount the entire drive cage.  Since my SSD mounted on the floor of the case in the 2.5 mounting spot provided., I was able to just leave the hard drive cage out.  All that empty space, has made me consider putting in a liquid CPU cooler. ( A project for later this month).

    My video card was not a full length card, but it was quite clear to me that a single full length card would not be a problem in this case.  None the less, even with my shortened card, the video card slices the case into 2 cooling zones.  1 for the mobo, power supply and any hard drives not mounted on the floor of the case.  The other zone is the video card and the SSD.   The first zone (the 1 with the mobo) uses the case’s front mounted 140mm fan to blow air into the case.  I have the PSU mounted so that it’s fan (which blows air out of the case) is just above the CPU cooler fan.

    However, the second zone has only the video card fan(s) for air circulation.  Holes in the bottom of the cage supply all the air for this second zone. Therefore if you place the case on carpeting you may find your video card over heating very quickly.   A smooth hardish surface between the case and the carpet – say a piece of poster board eliminates the problem. (It only had to crash Skyrim once for me to learn this lesson)

    The cable the case provided for the case power LED used a three pin connector that did not match my motherboard.  A lot of cases know this can be a problem so they don’t group the 2 LED wires into a single multi-pin connector, instead they provide each LED wire with its own 1 pin connector.  I wish Lian had done that for my case.  As it was, I had to re-pin the connector using a safety pin to carefully remove the crimped on contacts from the plastic housing.  Finally, re-inserting the contacts into a the same connector but in a configuration that allowed 1 of the 3 pins to hang over the edge of the mobo pins.  FYI, the power light and disk light are very attractive and worth the trouble.

    I got the black case.  But fit and finish is not perfect.  As a result, I think the aluminum finish might actually look better, since you would never notice a little sliver of silver showing in a gap between the case and removable panels.  These tiny little imperfections shine out like a laser on the black finish case.

    If you want to e-mail about my build experience with this case, write me at ray@raypricecomedy.com

  • tom
    help,

    I’ve purchased this case, using it for gaming i5 3570k and gtx 680. What cpu cooler would you recommend?