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Coolermaster Hyper N520
January 28th, 2009
With our trip to CES this year I had a rare opportunity to get a closer look at Coolermaster’s current and upcoming heatsinks. They showed off their “Top Dog” the v10 mostly, and because of that coverage and enthusiasm the new Hyper N520 was slightly overshadowed. Targeted at the budget crowd who is looking to get the best performance for their money I don’t expect it to break any records. But we have been surprised before, will the Hyper N520 out perform its competitors?
First Look! Shuttle SX58H7
January 24th, 2009
Picture with me a high end gaming rig with an i7-965 Extreme CPU, a X58 Chipset capable of Crossfire or SLI, 7.1 channel Audio, and one or two of today’s high end video cards. If you’re like me you would be picturing one of today’s large high end cases holding it all together. Now most of you have heard of Shuttle Computer Group with their compact form factor PC’s that have been perfect for businesses, low power pc builds, and HTPC’s. Shuttle is getting ready to release their new X58 chipset barebones called the SX58H7. The SX58H7 promises to be a great platform to build your high end gaming rig packed into a case that is literally the size of a breadbox.
Spire Torq Laptop Backpack
January 22nd, 2009
For the past year I have been using a messenger style laptop bag to carry around my laptop. I’ve made a few trips but nothing major up until the beginning of this year. Our trip to CES this year required a lot of planning and packing. I was going to need a secure way to carry around my laptop at the show that I could also take onto the plane with me. I came in contact with a bag manufacture by the name of Spire; they have a great selection of high quality laptop bags including backpacks. Spire was nice enough to send out their new backpack called the Torq for me to be able to try out while I was at CES.
Measure Twice Products Guitar Stand and Wall Mount
January 21st, 2009
I recently reviewed the Guitar stand from Dudethingcreations. As it turns out, they aren’t alone in the market for Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitar stands. A company by the name of Measure Twice Products also produces a 4-guitar stand with a drastically different design. They also produce a Wall mountable hanger available in two different designs. Today we will be looking at both; I plan to figure out if their stand will stand up to our abuse.
Coolermaster ATCS 840
January 20th, 2009
Before Coolermaster released the original Stacker case back in 2004 (has it really been 5 years?) they had a line of cases called the ATCS (Advanced Thermal Cooling Solution). ATCS cases where all aluminum cases that at the time was a major change from the steel cases made by many of the other manufactures. With pc case styling going to the bigger is better look, the ATCS’s went away in favor of cases like the Stacker. Recently they went back to their old designs and came up with the idea of bringing the ATCS back, but with updated features to compete with modern cases and a serious focus on making the case simple to use. They called the new case the ATCS 840; the 840 caught my attention as soon as I saw pictures giving me reason to contact Coolermaster about working with them on reviews. Because of that, I now have a chance to check it out, so let’s get to it.
In Win Matrix
January 15th, 2009
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Not every case needs to be some large gaming case. Sometimes you need something small and simple. In Win sent out their new Matrix case for me to check out with this in mind. As far as I know it’s nothing like the movie, but we will find out for sure.
Soul Calibur 4
August 20th, 2008
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When I first started playing Soul Calibur 4, I was convinced it was going to be simply an upgraded version of the previous titles. The main menu screen presented several familiar options- single player, versus, character creator, and the museum. Anxious to see how the new installment ran, I jumped straight into the classic Arcade mode. Like everyone who bought SC4, Star Wars fan or not, I was curious to see how the new guest characters performed. Since I had the 360 version, my special character was Yoda, a fighter whose height often gives him an advantage parallel to that of Oddjob. While in the previous SC games one could select from several costumes and weapons, the only customization available was between two appearances. So I chose one at random and began my first match. The screen that reveals which two characters will be matched up has been upgraded; a black background with the character striking some battle poses now introduces each side. And, of course, the on-stage character intro that allows for some trash talking and taunts still exists, and even seems to posses a higher CG quality than the actual gameplay, similar to a cut scene. Read more…
Nicholas Depalmer – An interview with a Pro Gamer
August 18th, 2008
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When given the chance to interview Nicholas Depalmer a professional gamer from Team Pandemic we jumped at the chance. Considering how many people play games and how few manage to find a way to make a living from it I thought it would be interesting to see how he did it. It turns out his back story was very interesting. If you would like to read even more about Nicholas you can also check out his website at propeekay.com. Read more…
Seasonic M12 700 Watt Power Supply
August 12th, 2008
One of the most important PC components is the power supply. Without a good quality power supply putting out enough clean power to power your high end video card and quad core CPU, you would be stuck with a pile of useless parts. Today’s power supply’s have a lot of shoes to fill. They must put out enough power to meet any demand you will be able to throw at it, now and with future upgrades. All of the power must be clean and stable power, you wouldn’t want something to fry because you didn’t give it clean enough power. Then most recently people have been concerned about noise and aesthetics, the fans on power supply’s keep getting larger and quieter and you see things like windows and racing stripes on “gaming” power supply’s. This has also lead to the popularity or modular cabling, to me one of the best ideas to come to power supplies in years! Seasonic, one of our lans sponsors has provided us with their M12 700 watt power supply to check out.
Thermaltake BlacX
August 1st, 2008
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The ability to hot swap hard drives has been around for a long time in the business market. You don’t see it as often in the home or even enthusiast market. Thermaltake came out with their BlacX recently, giving people the ability to hot swap hard drives into a small box on your desk. This gives you the ability to use hard drives the same way that tape drives and zip drives have done in the past. With 750 gig hard drives breaking under the hundred dollar mark you can backup and swap hard drives freely without worrying about running out of space. We are going to take a closer look at the USB2.0 model number N0028USU. We are going to see how it performs compared to other hard drive enclosures that we have looked at to date, along with how a product like this can change the way people backup and transfer files. Click to read more.
TRITTON USB Sharenet
July 31st, 2008
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The widespread use of laptops in today’s on the go lifestyle has accelerated the use of external storage due to the smaller hard drive space in laptops. With a lot of homes having more than one computer, you now have people looking for easy ways to share there files between computers. Most of the time this means you are unplugging your external and plugging it into other computers. TRITTON has produced the USB Sharenet for people who have this problem. Considering in our household we have 4 people online and sharing files at any given time this product is perfect for us, if it works the way its described. Click to find out how it worked for us.
Coolink GFXChilla
July 24th, 2008
Considering the performance and sound of stock video card coolers it’s amazing that more people don’t buy aftermarket coolers. As we have found out in the past one of the big hurdles is how intimidating and difficult to install they can be. Coolink a Kolink company decided to put there spin on the situation with their GFXChilla. We are going to see how it performs compared to the stock cooler along with the Thermalright HR-03 GT that we tested about a month ago. Considering that we found Coolink because they shared a book with our friends over at Noctua we have high expectations of their products. Click to see how they performed. Read more…
VIZO Milano Media Enclosure
July 22nd, 2008
Just a few days ago I was considering building a media pc. It just so happens that VIZO provided us there Milano to review. It is described as a media hard drive enclosure. Can it prove to be an alternative to a media pc? Read on to find out… Read more…
Noctua HT-H1 Thermal Paste
July 16th, 2008
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Continuing on our testing from last week, today we are checking out another thermal paste. This time is from our friends in Austria at Noctua. They have provided us with some of their NT-H1 thermal paste. We are going to put it against some of the best thermal pastes in the business along with stock thermal paste to see how it compares. I’m very excited to find out how it compares, we have had great luck with Noctua’s other products. Click to find out. Read more…
GELID Solutions GC1 Thermal Paste *updated*
July 9th, 2008
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When it comes to starting a new business, a PC Cooling business wouldn’t be on the top of my list. This is simply because of the amount of competition there is out there. So when you hear about a new company pops up, after you finish telling them they are crazy, you find out what there angle is. Gelid Solutions is focusing on “virtually silent, high- performance and top quality thermal solutions” sounds like something we might be interested in isn’t it? After reading a little more about their company I also noticed that it is founded by Gebhard SCHERRER and VC TRAN, both of them have been in the PC Cooling industry for a number of years. They knew what they were getting into; ether they are crazy or they know what they are doing, I’m hoping that it’s the latter. While they are working on their first heatsink release they have released there thermal paste the GELID Solutions GC1. Today we are going to check it out. Click to read more. Read more…
Kensington Si670m bluetooth mouse and Micro USB Adapter
July 9th, 2008
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With Bluetooth becoming so widespread it’s not a big surprise that it is popular with the mobile computing crowd. In fact a lot of the midrange to high end notebooks are equipped with Bluetooth from the start. People with integrated Bluetooth can pick up a nice mouse like Kensington’s Si670m and not have to worry about a large USB dongle for their wireless mouse. Unfortunately my laptop doesn’t have integrated Bluetooth, but Kensington didn’t forget people like me. There USB Micro Bluetooth Adapter is made small enough to stay plugged in all of the time. Today we are going to check out the two items together. Click to read more. Read more…
VIZO UFO 4 port USB Hub
July 4th, 2008
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Having been looking for a powered USB hug to replace the junk one that came with our rock band kit I’ve learned two things. One, it’s hard to find any one hub that people can recommend. It seems the quality of almost every hub is hit or miss at best. Two it’s hard to find one that stands out. VIZO has been kind enough to send one of their “UFO” USB hubs along with a power kit. Let’s find out how they perform. Read more…
Noctua NF-B9 92mm Fan
July 3rd, 2008
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When we realized we would be doing a test on the Thermaltake HR-03 GT GPU heatsink we were very exited until we realized we didn’t have a 92mm fan to fit it. After a few emails Noctua was kind enough to send out one of their NF-B9’s. After finishing up testing on the NF-P12 120mm fan I already had high hopes for this 92mm. Would the NF-B9 perform up to the standard set by its big brother the NF-P12? Those are big shoes to fill, find out by clicking to read more. Read more…
LapLogic Aerogel Lapdesks
July 2nd, 2008
The word laptop is a very deceptive term. The general construction of it implies that such a device would be comfortable on a person’s lap. More often than not, however, this is not the case. They tend to heat up and nearly catch you aflame or are just plain uncomfortable. Personally, I have never used a laptop that proved comfortable after a few hours of use. Laplogic offers their own unique approach to this solution with their Aerogel Lapdesk . We had the privilege of trying their new G800 and W800 Aerogel Extreme lapdesks to see how they solve our heat and comfort woes. Read more…
Crackheads candy on “The Big Idea”
July 1st, 2008
You may remember our Crackheads candy review. Check out this video from John the inventor on “Minutes to Millions segment of Donnie Deutsch’s, “The Big Idea”, panelists included Kevin Nealon and others.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
July 1st, 2008
The vast majority of individuals who put their MGS4 disc into their system had been waiting for it since Hideo Kojima announced it as the final chapter of Solid Snake. Being the first in the series to be on the current next-gen systems, expectations were all the more elevated. There are few sequels that actually deliver on such prospects, especially when carrying on a storyline that has spanned over seven titles. Guns of the Patriots is really nothing new; same Snake, same stealth action, same particularly loud sound blip to let you know that yes, they’ve seen you. Which is one of the most impressive aspects of the game: its still an unbelievable experience. In an era of sequels, developers attempt to pull gamers back to a series by introducing some new aspect of gameplay, which usually ends up second-rate. MGS4 may not revolutionary, but fans of the series didn’t necessarily want something new. Besides, the series has already established itself as leader in the stealth genre. The only two features that have seen some adjustment are the camera view (Guns of the Patriots takes a more first-person view) and, of course, the graphics.
Click to read more
Nyko 360 Charge Station
June 29th, 2008
There isn’t anything like being in the middle of a game and having to stop to change batteries. Let’s hope you have fresh batteries someplace in the house. If not its going to mean you’re going to have to make a quick trip to the store to pick up few AA batteries. This is where Nyko comes in with their Charge Station for the Xbox 360. Check out what we thought of it.
Steel Series 3H
June 25th, 2008
Its news to me, but a headset is apparently very important to Gaming. All of those years I thought you could just yell at the screen. It turns out you needed a headset for everyone to hear you. Steel Series apparently knew I was having this problem and sent me one of their 3H headsets. This is the same headset that we gave away at our last lanparty also. If it’s anything like our experiences with steel series in the past we should be happy. Click to find out
Launch of GELID Solutions
June 20th, 2008
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GELID Solutions designs and manufactures innovative, virtually silent & high-performance CPU coolers, case fans, thermal compound and other computer hardware for both gamers and silent enthusiasts. They provide computer hardware distributors, retailers and system integrators with top quality one-stop thermal solutions – from bearings to thermal compound, from design to shipping, from the molding of the fan to the print on the box – with state-of-the-art machines and experienced staff. Expect to see more of them around very soon; in fact we will be taking a first look at their thermal compound over the next week. Take a look at there website to see what they are all about! www.gelidsolutions.com
Thermalright HR-03 GT
June 18th, 2008
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As we have talked about before keeping your pc cool is very important. Considering the cost of video cards this is especially important. Not to mention that if you’re looking to get a little extra performance out of your setup you will be looking at overclocking your video card. That’s where company’s like Thermalright come into play. They are known for their top quality heatsinks. Today we will be looking at their HR-03 GT VGA Cooler. This is a redesign of one of their normal video card heat sinks made to fit some of the newer video cards. Click to read more about it.
