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Crucial Ballistix Tracer Blue 3×2Gb DDR3
March 6th, 2009
With it being tax time and computer upgrade season we have been seeing a lot of our members upgrading to new i7 setups. I was even lucky enough to win a setup while in Vegas thanks to our friends at Coolermaster. With DDR3 ram becoming more prevalent, especially when run in Tri Channel with the new i7 setups its no surprise that every ram manufacture is bringing out their new kits. While at CES we did get to take a look at Crucial’s new Ballistix Tracer color series. Well knows for their led lighting that flashes to the speed of ram access, I was really happy to see they are producing a line using only one color to help match today’s high end rigs. Today I will be taking a look at a Blue set of TriChannel 3 x 2 GB RAM from Crucial with a color matched LED, heatspreader, and PCB running at 1600Mhz.
Choiix Mini Air-Through Notebook Cooling Pad
March 4th, 2009
At CES this past January and more recently at CeBit right now we have seen a growing trend. Companies like Cooler Master have been introducing designer brands with a focus on style. Cooler Master introduced Choiix (it’s said “choice”) this past June, we had the opportunity to take a closer look at their whole line this past January at CES. Today we have a chance to get a closer look at their Mini Air-Through Notebook Cooling Pad. Without the models here to distract me, I can really check it out.
Shuttle SP45H7
February 10th, 2009
In the PC gaming world it seems like everything just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Recently we looked at the Coolermaster 840, at over 22 inches tall it’s a very large case. What if you could pack your whole rig into something no taller than a DVD case. This is where Shuttle comes in; they have been designing barebone setups for 19 years that defy what most people say should fit into a small form factor case. In fact, they were the first company to produce a SFF system. Barebones of course means you get a case, power supply, and motherboard; leaving you to only get your HD, disc drive, CPU, Ram, and video card. Today we are going to look at their SP45H7 barebone, with a Intel P45 chipset and a SFF case I suspect this has the possibility to be a great lan party setup.
Razer Moray
February 3rd, 2009
Recently Razer has jumped into the Audio market in full force with a variety of headsets, speaker systems, and even a sound card (ok this has been out for a while but still). Obviously all of their products are geared towards the PC gaming community. One of their new products that stands out in the Moray, “Designed for gamers, the Razer Moray delivers immersive gaming audio or music on the go in a sleek, compact package.” The Moray could be a more compact replacement for my Razer pro|tone m250’s. If you’re playing games while on the go or even looking to bring razer style along with you and your mp3 player make sure to check out how they performed for us.
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?
Razer Lycosa Mirror Edition
January 26th, 2009
As much of a fan of Razer products that I have been I have yet to own one of their keyboards. When they brought out the Tarantula keyboard I seriously considered picking one up. But after testing one out I decided to go with the 2nd generation G15 that I still use. Because of this I was really excited when our friends at Razer asked if we wanted to take a look at their new keyboard (ok so I may have begged a little). Today I am going to tell you my experiences with this new keyboard, will it live up to the hype of all of the other Razer products?
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.
Dudethingcreations Guitar Stand
January 16th, 2009
Between our unhealthy obsession for Guitar Hero and Rock Band games and the need for equipment for the LanOC events we have a few too many guitars lying around. Because of this we began to have a nest of guitars and wires. Considering the popularity of the games I’m sure we are not the only one with this problem. Because of this there have been a variety of company and people who have many creative ideas on how to deal with this problem. A couple of guys in Texas had our same problem and designed a stand to hold 4 guitars and one microphone. After “selling like hotcakes” on Ebay they decided to step it up with a new website and some additional help, and that’s how Dude thing Creations came about. Today I will be taking a closer look at their Gaming Guitar Stand. This will hopefully help clean up the mess in our living room.
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.
QPAD CT mouse pad Grin Design
December 22nd, 2008
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Last week I looked at a mouse pad from a company that at the time was unknown to us. After spending time with the pad, I found that the QPad XT-R was the first mouse pad that has had the style and performance to draw me away from my tried and true Destructor mouse pad. Coming off of that high note I had to put the XT-R aside and try out another one of QPad’s products, the CT. Christer Körnbäck, the CEO of QPAD sent the CT in the Grin along with the XT-R because it is one of his favorite designs. We know they can produce a great mouse pad, but can lighting strike twice?
In Win ‘Na Hard Drive Enclosure
December 18th, 2008
We have reviewed in the past 8 months a variety of hard drive enclosures. They have come in different shapes, sizes, with and without fans, even some which look like they came from the future. Never anything that looks like something handed down through generations. In Win, has provided us with their newest hard drive enclosure called the ‘Na. The name is short and simple, and the style shows off Chinese culture. The ‘Na was even recognized at the Taiwan Excellence Awards for the innovative design.
QPAD XT-R mousepad
December 16th, 2008
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For a long time now, I have been a self-proclaimed mouse and mouse pad snob. I am very meticulous about my mouse pad and use only the best. Recently I have been using the Razer Destructor because I favor hard mouse pads. Recently I encountered a company called QPAD that produces a variety of different mouse pads. QPAD is a Swedish company that “built its success on a grassroots commitment to the gaming community. Like you, we thrive in the madness of competition and embrace the free spirit of gaming”. Sounds like our type of people! They provided us with two mouse pads to review, today I will be talking about the QPAD XT-R. The XT-R is QPAD’s op of the line model as of right now. I am going to review the quality to see if it meets my high standards.
Xilence 120mm Red Wing Fan
December 11th, 2008
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If it is one thing that I’ve learned in the past 10 months of reviewing is to not count a company out just because you haven’t heard of them. New or relatively unknown companies have surprised me countless times and I think I have finally learned my lesson. Today we are going to look at a 120mm fan from Xilence. Xilence may not be a huge name in the industry, but they have been around since 2003. There range of products consists of cases, power supply units, case fans, notebook coolers, and a wide range of heatsinks. Expect to see more of their products on here in the near future.
VIZO Armada II ram cooler
December 10th, 2008
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We have seen VIZO products come through here many times; they have even been involved with our Lan Partys in the past. I’m sure you have noticed they make a wide variety of items ranging from lighting to laptop accessories. Today I am going to take a look at their new Armada II ram cooler. I’ve been known to push things on my computer to the limit and heat is always a concern. The Armada II is designed to cool down your ram to be able to get a little more out of your overclock. I plan to see how it performs in my personal computer and seeing if the kit adds a little more style to my rig.
In Win Commander 850 Watt power supply
December 5th, 2008
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We have seen In Win both on here and at our lanpartys. We have seen that they produce interesting and different PC cases. Apparently, they have decided to branch out into the power supply market. Considering their involvement in the gaming community, I am excited to see what they can do in the power supply market. In Win provided us with their Commander 850 Watt power supply. We are going to install the power supply into our HTPC build to see how well the modular cable setup performs in a tight fit.
Coolermaster Cosmos S
December 3rd, 2008
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When Coolermaster announced their Cosmos chassis around a year or a year and a half ago I was amazed. For the first time I wanted to buy a case the day it came out. I was looking for an upgrade from my Antec SuperLanBoy and the Cosmos 1000 fit the bill, well minus the front door and the lack of a window. When the case came out, I read about lots of problems with heat, considering how much I tend to push the limits with overclocking I decided to pass on the case. Coolermaster realized the problems and set out to perfect the Cosmos chassis. They released the Cosmos S to much fan fare; we now get a chance to take a look ourselves. We are going to find out if the cooling is better and if this really is the perfect gamer case.
Razer Galiatius Soft mouse pad
December 2nd, 2008
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Yesterday we took a closer look at the Razer Lachesis gaming mouse. Every good mouse needs a good mouse pad. So today we are going to check out Razer’s newest mouse pad the Goliathus. This is Razer’s first full soft mouse pad. The pad comes in both a Speed and Control version. Due to my preference’s we are going to be reviewing the speed version today.
Razer Lachesis Mouse
December 1st, 2008
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When gamers are looking for mice there are only a few company’s you think of. One of the big names in gaming mice is Razer. Razer made a name for themselves by making high DPI mice at a time that 400dpi was main stream. Razer’s latest high DPI mouse is the Lachesis (‘lak- -s s), with 4000 Dpi it’s a far cry from the old days. Today we are going to test out the Lachesis and find out how it performs.
Thermaltake Big Water 760i
November 20th, 2008
For most people the thought of running water through a box full of electronics sounds crazy. If you can get over that, it’s most likely intimidating enough that you may never consider the option. Thermaltake designed a few water-cooling kits that are designed to be easy to install and good performing. One of those kits is their Big Water 760i kit. Thermaltake sent us one of the 760i’s for us to compare it to all of the heatsinks we have tested up until now, and to find out if they succeeded at making an easy to use Water Cooling kit to get you started with H2O.
Silverstone Raven Mouse
November 17th, 2008
Most people would be amazed at the difference in performance that a good mouse and mouse pad can give you. It might seem like something stupid, and I understand why you would feel that way. You have been using that same basic mouse for years without any issues. When you finally decide to step up to a gaming mouse normally your options are limited to Logitech and Razer, they are both great options. Recently Silverstone has brought out a mouse of their own call the Raven. With a long list of features along with the eye-catching blue thumb scroll wheel and the carbon fiber, it’s sure to get your attention. We spent a few weeks living with the mouse to see how it compares to some of its competitors.
Thermalright TRUE Black 120
November 13th, 2008
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We have tested CPU heatsinks in many different shapes and sizes. Some are ugly and sin but perform amazingly. Others have lights and other features to get your attention but at the end of the day do not outperform comparable heatsinks without all of the flash. Thermalright, a well-known and respected heatsink manufacture has produced a stylized black version of one of their best performing models the TRUE 120. Today we are going to find out how it compares against the other heatsinks that we have tested in the past. If looks are anything to go by (and we have found in the past that they are not) the TRUE Black 120 from Thermalright should blow everyone out of the water.
Rock Pedal Kick Pedal
November 12th, 2008
So how many times have you broke a Rock Band kick pedal while playing “Run to the Hills” on expert? None? Me either. Drums are too damn hard. I have, however, managed to break two while playing savagely through the medium career. All this serves to prove is that the Rock Band peripherals are terrible. Not that this is news to anyone at this point. It’s a good thing that some people have taken up a proactive solution to this problem. The visionaries at Rock Pedal have formulated an answer to kick pedal woes: the Rock Pedal. Coincidence, or company name based off the product? You be the judge. Silly comments aside, they were kind enough to send us not one rock pedal, but two in preparation for the LanOC v3 Drum-off. Since then, we’ve had the opportunity to test the product proper, and this is what we thought….
Thermaltake M9 VI1000 Case
October 30th, 2008
Thermaltake is known for making a variety of quality parts. We have tested more than a few examples ourselves even. Today we will be taking a closer look at their M9 VI1000 mid tower case. We will find out if it is a good improvement over that beige case, and if it is going to keep everything cool and quite. If our past experiences with Thermaltake are anything to go by, I expect this to be a quality case with some interesting styling. But we aren’t here to guess, keep reading to find out how it really performed.
