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ASUS GTX580 DirectCU II SLI review
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 They call it the GTX 580 DirectCU-II and it is one big momma ! ASUS shortly ago released a new version in the flagship series of NVIDIA graphics card, the GeForce GTX 580.
They customized the graphics card itself, overclocked it, allow even more tweaking and to top it off, they placed a three slot wide cooling solution on it. heck let's test two of these in an SLI setup. You can check out the entire article right here.
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GIGABYTE G1 Assassin (Intel X58 Express) Motherboard Preview
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"Back during CES we were given the chance to see the launch of a very exciting product. This was the G1 Killer series. From the beginning of the event you could pretty much tell this was going to be something a little different from the norm. Whether it was the pretend military dress or the little leaks about the product that I had heard, I was really looking forward to see this one.
Now a month or so later, we actually have one of these boards in the lab. It is an impressive sight to see and one that we are happy to give you a little teaser on. This is the G1 Assassin, an X58 based monster with multiple USB 3.0 ports, SATA 3.0 ports, a true audio card by Creative built right onto the board and a Killer Nic to add to the fun."
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OCZ Vertex 3 240GB Solid State Drive Review
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“Only a little while ago we visited OCZ at CES and they showed us some of their upcoming solid state drives. These new drives feature the SandForce SF-2200 controller and boast blistering fast speeds. OCZ has been at the forefront of SSD technology and this year they are going to be releasing a ton of new drives. One of the first drives based on the new SandForce SF-2200 controller is the Vertex 3. This drive has a max read of 550MB/s and max write of 525MB/s! Those are some of the fastest advertised speeds we have seen in a consumer drive! OCZ was nice enough to send us an engineering sample ver sion of the drive with BETA firmware on it, so let’s take a look!"
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Bulletstorm GPU & CPU Performance In-depth
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First-person shooter Bulletstorm has been out for a week and we must say the generally positive reviews and commentary from critics remind us of the simplistic and old-fashioned shooter Serious Sam. That, plus a generous amount of profanity that is meant to give a flashy spin to the genre.
Marketing for the game has followed a similar pattern. Last January a viral video for Bulletstorm was released spoofing Halo 3's "Believe" campaign. Then a month later they followed up by mocking the Call of Duty series with a free downloadable PC game named "Duty Calls". That's not to say it's all been genius on EA's part considering that they refused PC gamers a demo that consoles did receive ahead of release.
As usual our focus with this performance review will be on how Bulletstorm will run on your PC. After struggling with the game's configuration settings, we were able to run all the necessary tests using a large array of GPUs as well as a number of different processors.
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Antec LanBoy Air ATX Case Review
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Antec has earned a reputation for extraordinary case designs such as the Skeleton, Dark Fleet, Hundred and ISK series, but late last year they unveiled what's arguably their most unique and striking case yet, the LanBoy Air.
At first glance you can tell this is an enthusiast and gamer-oriented product. Antec touts the LanBoy Air for its highly customizable and modular design. Weighing 20.3 lbs (9.2 kg), the case can be outfitted with an insane fifteen 120mm fans -- so you know the "Air" moniker belongs in its name. Perhaps more intriguing, nearly every part of the case is modular, even the motherboard and PSU mounts.
It also comes as good news that the LanBoy Air starts at $150, which is not a bad price point for a unique case offering these days. Let's check out in better detail what Antec has got in store for us...
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OCZ Vertex 3 240GB review
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It was only a week ago when we tested the OCZ Vertex 3 PRO, the somewhat business and enterprise oriented SSD. But what about the enthusiast consumers you might wonder ? Well for you guys OCZ will release a cheaper regular Vertex 3 SSD. It's as fast as that PRO version you guys.
Quite frankly from what you'll see today is that this SSD might be roughly as fast as the PRO model, so what are the differences then ? Well, Let's find out and check this review.
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ASRock P67 Profess1onal Fatal1ty
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With the P67 Profess1onal Fatal1ty, ASRock has a high-end Sandy
Bridge motherboard in its portfolio which especially targets the
gaming market. Next to a very attractive design the board also
features three PCI-Express x16 slots and ten SATA-Ports.
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Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer PC3-12800 4GB Kit Review
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"I didn't think we'd ever see anything too fancy from the company, though, but over the years we've seen the Ballistix series which has grown to include a few different series' within that. The latest is the Smart Tracer modules that carry that LED Tracer lighting, but in a smart way. We say 'smart way' as the company has introduced the new Memory Overview Display software (or M.O.D). We'll get into this soon, but let's first have a closer look at the actual kit of RAM we're dealing with.
Externally the Ballistix Smart Tracer doesn't look any different to the normal Tracer stuff. We've again got two modules for our P67 platform that comes in at 2GB each. Timing wise, we've got an 8-8-8-24-1T @ 1.65v setup at 1600MHz DDR (or PC3-12800). These run at the same speed as the Patriot 8GB kit we recently looked at, except they're slightly more aggressive on the timings front. With the speed being quite low compared to some other kits we've looked at, we knew getting to the default timings wouldn't be an issue."
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Challenger Pro Gaming Keyboard review
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The world of gaming, especially that of PC gaming, has become more than a simple hobby for a lot of us. In fact, gaming has grown and shaped itself, becoming part of people's lifestyle. Tournaments, from the World Cyber Games (WCG) to the famous GSL tournaments, have made gaming a fascination to viewers, fans, and gamers alike. I myself have devoted countless hours to this world of gaming, and by no means do I consider this time wasted. It becomes more than a hobby, and slowly, it transforms into a passion that can be greatly admired by other gaming enthusiasts. When I was asked to review the official keyboard of the WCG tournament of 2010 -- Tt eSPORTS Challenger Pro -- I could not help but feel my passion burn with excitement. Being the first keyboard to come out with a cooling fan, chills were sent down my back at the pure creativity of Thermaltake's long standing tradition of keeping things cool. Spending my sweet week and a half with one of the newest and most compelling of all gamer keyboards has allowed me to view the world of gaming in an entirely new fashion. That is right, ladies and gentle-readers. This single gaming peripheral has changed my perspective of PC gaming and brought something much more to be either praised or condemned. Itching to find out what became of my thoughts? Read on to find out!
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Intel Core i5-2500K Processor Review
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We have a little song we sing here at APH Networks. It goes along with the tune of Taio Cruz's Dynamite radio hit that plays every five minutes on every North American popular music station. "I put my foot down to the floor sometimes / Saying VTEC / Just kicked in yo. / I want to mount my laser jammers on / Saying VTEC / Just kicked in yo." (Which replaces the chorus, "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...") I put my foot down to the floor sometimes. If you look at the products Intel has been spewing out to the mainstream and enthusiast markets in the past five years or so, "foot to the floor" is a pretty good description with regards to the incredible performance you are getting for the money, as compared to computer equipment in general, say, just ten years ago. When we reviewed the Intel Core i5-750 quad core desktop processor last year, its performance easily eclipsed the king of the hill $1000 Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 released just a couple of years before. For $200. More than a year after the release of Lynnfield Core i5 and i7 processors, Intel is back again with their latest release of code named "Sandy Bridge" processors. The bad news is that the traditional overclocking method by raising the processor's base clock does not work with second generation Core CPUs, because the new CPUs use a single clock generator controlling the speed of all electrical buses. The good news is, if you are willing to pay an extra $10 and give up business oriented features such as Intel TXT and Intel VT-d, the company will happily sell you a K edition processor with an unlocked multiplier up to 57x. With your mom, your uncle, your next door neighbor and just about everyone else hitting at least 4.5GHz for some Core i7-980X smoking performance (Well, and two less cores, but how many do you really need anyway?) at a fraction of the price, my advice to you is to get your credit card out and ready right about... now. Possibly your car keys, if you are going retail. Still not convinced? That's okay. We have eleven pages of geek talk coming up for you next. Actually, just a slight update since I wrote everything before this sentence prior January 31st, you might just need to wait a bit on Intel's now infamous P67 bug, since you can't buy any LGA 1155 boards right now.
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Meka G1 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review
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I have reviewed the Gigabyte Aivia K8100 keyboard, and gosh, does time ever fly! As time continues to roll, many events in our lives change how we live, especially in such a technology driven world. However, some concepts and ideas remain the same, and Thermaltake has proof for you today. Thinking back into the days when mechanical keyboards came out, those were the times of innovation, and it has been quite fascinating to see how much keyboards have changed over the years. Keyboards became more ergonomic and sleek, and many new variants of the good old QWERTY keyboard are made and sold every day. Thermaltake's very own brand of computer gaming peripherals, Tt eSPORTS, has a pretty slick offering under its belt today. The Meka G1 is really a traditional mechanical keyboard, yet it can also be found under the gaming section of peripherals. What is so special that places the Meka G1 in two different peripheral categories at the same time? Is it possible that Thermaltake has revolutionized the traditional mechanical keyboard? Keep reading to find out!
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SilverStone Strider Gold ST75F-G 750W report
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It's hard to believe it is already February -- it feels like it wasn't too long ago since it was the holidays filled with food, comfort, and in some cases, lots of snow. Of course, in various parts of the world, there is still snow, but at this point, I doubt we wish to see anymore around here in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Either way, it wasn't too far back when we last took a look at a power supply. In fact, it happened to be the last article written in 2010, with none other than the NZXT HALE90 750W report. To start off the month of February, we decided to report on yet another power supply; at the same time, the first one of 2011 as well. The SilverStone Strider Gold ST75F-G 750W we will be taking a look at today is not exactly as unique as the HALE90 in terms of looks, but it is more of a follow-up to the SilverStone Strider Plus ST75F-P 750W with a 80 Plus Gold rating to boot. SilverStone is renowned for their quality products in the computer sector with products such as cases, fans, power supplies, and much more. This will be their first power supply with the Gold rating, and to reuse our slightly dated joke, their first 'stride', so to speak. (Man, is that ever getting old, guess I haven't quite gotten over 2010 yet either.) With that aside, without further delay, let us jump right into today's report and see if it is more than simply swapping out the "Plus" for a "Gold".
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Dell 1250c LED Printer
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“The Dell 1250c Color LED Printer is a definitively personal printer, designed primarily for one person's use in any size office. The personal focus shows in its small size, relatively low paper capacity, and lack of wired or wireless network support. However, there's no compromise in speed or output quality, which is enough to make the 1250c a strong product.”
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ECS H67H2-M Black Edition Motherboard Review
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"The ECS H67H2-M Black Deluxe motherboard is a very solid board all the way through. Its performance rivaled that of the Intel P67 Burrage motherboard and at times outperformed it. We expected performance to suffer a bit while the on-board graphics were being used but that was not the case. Intel and ECS have done a brilliant job of sorting out the usability of this system...."
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ECS H57H-MUS (V1.0A) LGA1156 Motherboard Review
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Designed to support latest Intel CPUs with integrated graphics and built around Intel's H57 chipset, the H57H-MUS board from ECS also features a complete bundle composed of a USB 3.0 and SATA 6G expansion card, which makes the board a future-proof powerful computing platform, in a mATX board format
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| The best Guides by the best writers on the internet; PCstats Beginners Guides explain computers, software, and all those other wonderful things that cause you frustration.
Learn how to use your computer better, master the internet while protecting yourself, and know what to do when your hard drive kicks the bucket.
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"Get the 'Stats and Stay Informed!"
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Beginners Guides
