A lot of folks think in order to be mainstream, that they need to buy the best of the best PC hardware. They worry they’ll have to fork out quite a bit of money just to enjoy the benefits the latest computers have to offer. Thankfully, this isn’t always the case especially if you keep checking back here often. We always seem to find alternative ways to keep upgrading costs down. Take ASRock’s H55DE3 Motherboard for example.

Futurelooks News Flash - ASRock H55DE3 LGA1156 ATX Motherboard Review

The Arctic Cooling Mobile USB Charger with Solar Panel and 4440mWh Lithium-Ion battery is a very nice device to have around. If you travel or just going to the river for the day you don’t have to worry about your cell-phone or mp3 player dying. All you have to do is plug up the Arctic Cooling Solar Panel Charger and your good to go in about 2 hours with or without sunlight - thanks to the Lithium-Ion battery. . .

Arctic Cooling C1 Mobile Solar Charger - BCCHardware

The Zotac GeForce GTX-480 is based on the same reference design that debuted on 26 March 2010, but this retail kit (ZT-40101-10P) differs in all of the ways that matter most: power consumption is lower, resulting in reduced heat output and silenced fan noise. Priced at $499, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 empowers DirectX-11 video games to deliver unmatched geometric realism. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests 3D frame rate performance on the improved retail-version Zotac GeForce GTX-480 in single-card and SLI-modes, and compares results against some of the most powerful graphics products on the market.

Zotac GeForce GTX-480 Fermi Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews

The Club 3D GTX480 has 480 cores and has a GPU operating at 700MHz. It also has 1401 shaders and 1536MB of GDDR5 memory running at 3696MHz and is paired up with a 384-bit memory interface. The GTX470 version is only a little bit slower but not by much. The 470 has 448 cores and the same reference clocks as the rest of the GTX 470 cards that are currently up on the market today. It has a core clock speed of 607MHz, 1215MHz for the shaders, and a speed of 3348MHz for the 1280MB of GDDR5 memory which is nicely paired up with a 320-bit memory interface

Club 3D to the rescue! @ eTeknix.com

It is time again! We have teamed up with the NZXT crew to give away a Tempest Evo case

NZXT Contest @ Rbmods

"HIS Radeon HD 5570 1024MB is an excellent product in its class, offering nice installation flexibility. Just note that it will only become popular, if it's cheaper than rivals. At least cheaper than NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 DDR3 and priced similarly to NVIDIA GeForce GT 220."

iXBT Labs Review: HIS Radeon HD 5570 Graphics Card

Today we have the pleasure of having the new Zaward Vapor 120 on the test bench to review.  This seems to be a massive cooler with some decent specifications. We are going to see how well it performs and how loud it actually is.

Zaward Vapor 120 Cpu cooler @ Rbmods

Much attention has been paid of late to AMD’s new 6-core desktop CPU, the Phenom II X6 1090T. While its performance is certainly impressive, its price—over $300 at time of publication—can be off-putting to many system builders. For those whose wallets run a bit leaner these days, AMD has brought us the Athlon II X4 640. This quad-core CPU promises good performance at a low price. Let’s take a closer look, and see how it stacks up.

AMD Athlon II X4 640 @ TechwareLabs

Today we are looking at the Kingston HyperX KHX11000D3K2/4G Dual Channel DDR3 Memory.

This particlar set of memory consists of 2×2gb memory modules operating at a speed of 1375MHz with timings of 9-9-9-24 at 1. 6v. It is made by one of the biggest companies in the market and comes with a lifetime warranty.

Kingston HyperX KHX11000D3K2/4G Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Video Review @ eTeknix.com

Otterbox is well known for making cases for your personal electronics, valuables, and more. They are known for their waterproof and crushproof cases like the 3500 Series, but have recently blown into the phone case market with the release of the Defender Series case. With the Defender for the iPhone 3G/3GS coming in under $32 we show you why this is a must have item for protecting this expensive phone. See why we gave it our Awesome Hardware Award.

OtterBox Defender Series Phone Case – iPhone 3G/3GS @ TechwareLabs

In this review I will test a video card from AXLE, which sports the latest low end GPU from Nvidia, the GeForce 210. In the tests it will go against a RADEON HD 4550 and will see which one wins in terms of overall performance.

AXLE GeForce 210 Video Card Review @ Madshrimps

Tablet PCs aren't anything new, but with the launch of the iPad the buzz is definitely strong these days. Camangi offers a tablet PC that first made its debut late in 2009, and after a bit of refinement was relaunched in the spring of 2010. This review is going to take a look at the "new and improved" Camangi WebStation 7" Android based tablet PC.

Camangi WebStation Android Tablet PC Review @ Bigbruin.com

11 May 2010, Keelung, Taiwan – Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd. announces the TYR PC-X2000F chassis. The TYR line is designed to stand out in your living room in unmistakable Lian Li style. Taking the original concept of low profile and slim designs and turning it completely around; there is no need to hide TYR line cases with their sleek Anodized Aluminum Finishes, giving them the resemblance of multimedia speakers. The new TYR PC-X2000F is set to build on the line's success and become the most unique HTPC/gaming chassis on the market today. Allowing unprecedentedly high performance components to be encompassed into the home theater environment without compromising looks or appeal, the new TYR PC-X2000F is definitely worthy of the Lian Li label.

"Watercooling the GTX480 is a night and day difference in temperatures. Load temperatures are dropped 36oC (!) degrees and idle temperatures are dropped 22oC. The watercooled card is only 5 degrees warmer under full load than the stock cooler managed to keep the card at idle!"

Inno3D Watercooled GTX480 iChill Black Series Review @ XtremeComputing

Back in October of last year, Athlon introduced its first Athlon II X3 triple-core processors, the 425 and 435. Working with the less than perfect yields from the Deneb and Propus dies, the Rana die was born. As yields improve, the processors can become more stable at higher clock speeds. In January 2010, the Athlon-II X3-440 was released; a 100MHz speed bump on the X3-435 processor. Now AMD is bumping the speed up by another 100MHz with the release of the X3-445 and the X3-450 is slated to come out later on this year. In this article Benchmark Reviews is closely examining the Athlon-II X3-445 ADX445WFK32GM to see what kind of power can be harnessed from this low-priced, triple-core, potentially unlockable 3.1GHz processor, especially when paired with AMDs newest 890G chipset.

AMD Athlon-II X3-445 AM3 Processor @ Benchmark Reviews

2.5" Solid State Drives / SAS / MLC or SLC / Enterprise Series

Right after release the High IOPS SATAII interface solution at Cebit in March, RunCore announced that they will release the Kylin II SAS Series of Solid State Drives in May. The Kylin II SAS are designed specifically to address the demanding performance and reliability requirements of Enterprise Class storage and computing applications.

The Kylin II Solid State Drives are optimized to deliver more IOPS (Input/Output per second) resulting in superior performance and an improved total cost of ownership, smaller space,lower power consumption over traditional rotational based hard disk drives.

Available in capacities of 50GB (64) 100GB (128) 200GB (256) and 400GB (256)capacities, KylinII SSDs offers ample room for all your data and comes backed with an industry leading 3 Year Warranty and RunCore's CARE(Caring,Awareness,Expertise,Relationship) service and support.

 

Features
Max Sustainable Speed	Read? 270MB/s; Write?260MB/s
4K Random IOPS	Read: 30000 IOPS; Write:25000 IOPS
Supported Flash	MLC,EMLC or SLC NAND
Size	3.5inch or 2.5inch
Weight	76g
Operating Temp	0C ~ 70C
Power Consumption	2.6W operation
Shock Resistant	1500G
Available Capacities	50GB (64) 100GB (128) 200GB (256) and 400GB (256)
MTBF	>1 million hours
RAID Support
Reliablity	ECC ,Power-down protection, Onboard Temperature sensor
Warranty	3 year
OS Compatibility	Windows XP 32/64, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64, Mac OS X 10,Vxwork,Linux
Product Number	RCK-II-S2550-XX RCK-II-S2510-XX RCK-II-S2520-XX RCK-II-S2540-XX

If you think you've seen everything that an SSD has to offer, you may wish to take a look at OCZ's Vertex 2. Like many other SSDs, it features a SandForce SF-1200 controller, but with a careful helping of OCZ's special spices to deliver unbelievable performance. While we're working on the full article, you can enjoy this small preview.

OCZ Vertex 2 100GB Performance Preview @ Techgage.com

When we reviewed the 890GX platform, we called it the most versatile and bang for the buck platform from AMD yet. However, with the launch of the new Phenom II “Thuban” X6 CPUs, AMD needed more than just a chipset with an integrated GPU solution to please all those hardcore enthusiasts out there. So with the launch of the X6, they launched the new 890FX chipset.

Futurelooks News Flash - GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD7 (Rev 2.0) AM3 Motherboard Review

Shattering the mould for typical cases, the Banchetto 101 shines as an open air chassis or tech station. Its performance is nothing short of stellar, and has been exquisitely crafted. Upon delivery, I knew that this case would be stunning.

News - Microcool Banchetto 101 Review at Overclockers Online

Today we are looking at the AMD Athlon II X2 255 Dual Core AM3 Processor.

This particlar processor uses AMD's latest 45nm technology, has a low wattage rating of 65watts and operates using a dual core setup running at 3.1GHz. It falls under the Athlon II X2 set of CPU's and is amazing value for money.

AMD Athlon II X2 255 Dual Core AM3 Processor Video Review @ eTeknix.com