"The inexpensive Gigabyte H55M-UD2H may become a good foundation for a home theater or just for a simple home PC. This compact motherboard has reasonable layout and offers the complete basic functionality supplemented with FireWire and eSATA. Its key feature, however, is the full-fledged implementation of Intel HD Graphics, HDMI and DisplayPort included."

iXBT Labs Review: Gigabyte H55M-UD2H Motherboard

"While the G9T is certainly serviceable around the home environment, I'm a bit troubled by Titans choice of materials and some of the design features. Starting with the cooling pad itself, the thin aluminum veneer doesn't do much to strengthen the plastic construction, and the thin metal clips, designed to stiffen the unit when deployed, don't inspire much confidence."

Titan G9T 3-IN-1 Laptop Cooler Review @ Tweaknews

One lucky winner will walk away with a great barebones system put together with parts from EVGA and Thermaltake. Contest Starts on April 9th 2010 and runs until May 9th 2010 @ 12 Noon MST. Entering is easy and the only prerequisite is that you be a member of the Ninjalane Message Forum.

Win a complete EVGA P55 barebones system @ Ninjalane

Not every computer needs to have a four million hertz processor and the world's best video card. Just like power tools, some jobs require raw power while other jobs require more finesse. When the job at hand involves video, web applications, light gaming or light office work it doesn't make sense to use a supercomputer or even a high-performance machine. This idea has become mainstream through the recent marketing of netbooks (internet notebooks) and video sharing devices, but even those platforms do not suit all light application needs. In this article Benchmark Reviews will test a nettop (internet desktop) from MSI; Wind Box model 6667BB-004US. This barebones PC kit is like an older, more capable sibling to the netbook. But how does it measure up against other alternatives?

MSI WindBox Barebones-PC Kit @ Benchmark Reviews

“There are well over 4 billion mobile phones in the world. Now imagine how many of those phones are stuck to the ear of someone driving a car. Annoying isn't it? And dangerous! And illegal in many places! However that's not stopping anyone now is it? Sure there are many different types of hands-free "kits" on the market to make using your mobile phone while driving much safer, but most of them are either too expensive, too complex or simply too bulky for most people. Griffin Technology has come to the rescue with an innovative way to enjoy your smart phone, in this case my iPhone 3GS, while driving. It's called the Hands-Free Mic + AUX Cable and it's ingeniously simply and effective.”

[News] Griffin Hands-Free Mic + AUX Cable Review @ Virtual-Hideout

Seagate has decided to try their hand at digital media distribution through a partnership with Paramount Pictures. Including a hit movie like 2009's Star Trek with the purchase of a 500GB FreeAgent Go drive is pretty cool, and being able to expand your digital collection with even more movies through Seagate may appeal to some.

Seagate FreeAgent Go 500GB Drive with Paramount Movies Review @ Bigbruin.com

It has been quite some time since we looked at a Razer product last. Today we are taking a look at their imperator mouse with features such as a moving thumb button, and 5600DPI according to the specifications. We are going to compare this mouse vs some high end mice on the market so lets take a closer look.

Razer Imperator Gaming Mouse @ Rbmods

Today we have on our testbench two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 accelerators. Just the graphics cards alone will cost you $1000. Is this something that can be justified? Performance aside, what's going on with power and heat when running two of these cards?

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 SLI @ techPowerUp

With the price and availability of ITX systems coming down, the A330ION motherboard from ASRock is a decent choice for a quiet, Home Theatre PC or web-connected computer.  The A330ION board supports four SATA devices internally as well as two eSATA devices, a bunch of USB ports and HDMI, DVI-D and even a VGA port.  If you have some extra DDR3 and a hard drive lying around, it makes a cheap system that can get a lot of little jobs done. . .

ASRock A330ION ITX Mini-Motherboard - BCCHardware.com

Today I will be reviewing an external HDD enclosure from Icy Box called “IB-318STU3-B” (wonderful name). It has a USB 3.0 interface which should boost the data transfer speeds significantly, at least according to the specs. Only months ago, the third revision of the USB standard appeared. I’ve seen it called both “USB 3.0” and “USB SuperSpeed”.

 

What is clear is that the new version includes several improvements compared to USB 2.0. The most important update is of course the increase of the data transfer speed (theoretical) to 4.8Gbps (600MB/s) compared to USB 2.0’s 480Mbps (35MB/s). This is really a huge difference.

 

Another important change is the maximum power output of USB 3.0 of 900mA (500mA in USB 2.0), which will allow USB 3.0 ports to power a number of devices and accessories to laptops. In real world, this means fewer AC adapters to accessories like external harddrives, notebook cooling pads etc…

Review of Icy Box IB-318STU3-B USB3 HDD enclosure

"Danamics assures us that Cyberdyne Systems had no part in the liquid metal technology used in the LMX, but the Sodium Potassium Alloy used within the cooler is still pretty exciting stuff. As you’d expect the liquid metal is extremely effective at transferring heat, and unlike water doesn’t require any moving parts to circulate. We compare it today to the Corsair H50, the CoolIT Domino and Thermalright's IFX-14 heat sink."

Danamics LMX and LMX Superleggera Liquid Metal CPU Cooler Review @ ITShootOut.com

NZXT has been making quality computer cases since 2004. They have become a popular brand among computer enthusiests, and for good reason. NZXT cares about style and functionality. Here at Benchmark Reviews, we also care about style and functionality, and when NZXT agreed to let us review its new Hades (HADE-001BK) mid-tower Chassis, we happily agreed. The Hades boasts such features as up to nine 5.25" bays, or five 5.25" and four 3.5" bays. It touts room for up to 5 cooling fans and large video cards, and it also features a cable management system; all for around $100. Will the Hades live up to the NZXT reputation of quality? Stay tuned to find out!

NZXT Hades Computer Case HADE-001BK @ Benchmark Reviews

Latest Chassis Pushes Sonata Line's Celebrated Features Forward With Distinct Style

FREMONT, CA--(Marketwire - April 7, 2010) - Antec, Inc., the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, today announced the Sonata Proto, the newest addition to Antec's critically acclaimed Sonata line of Quiet Computing™ enclosures. Based on the worldwide best-selling Sonata III 500, the Sonata Proto combines improved noise reduction and powerful cooling with a modernized aesthetic and affordable price.

Nowadays it rarely seems that anyone use anything but onboard audio. Sure the sound is good and you get some of the effects you may want, but I can tell you there is still nothing like a good add-on sound cards.

ASUS Xonar DX Dolby Gaming Sound Card

With different jobs comes different needs. I am not an professional photo enthusiast or am I video studio producer but I do know the pain when it comes to storage. We write a lot of articles and go trough a lot of video footage and images. Having them in one place is the best way to manage and manipulate. Finding the right storage for the job could be a big pain since there are hundreds of enclosures. Some offer a hard drive with in and some don't. Today we are going to take a look at FreeAgent XTreme by Seagate.

UMLan Article Release: Seagate FreeAgent Xtreme - Review

There comes a time in the lap top life time when you will be looking to replace that hard drive of yours. Overtime the hard drive could wear out and you will start experiencing problems like crashing and blue screens. Let me tell you, no one wants to go trough the aggravation of recovering a lost hard drive as it is a painful and long process. It is highly recommended to change your hard drives every two to three years or at least reload your OS for a quicker response from opening and operating programs.

UMLan Article Release: Seagate Momentus - Review

As the technologies change so does the demand for storage. With more applications comes a greater need to store information. There are many different types of media available out there for the average user but not all of them might seem to worth a buck sort of speak. The Solid State Drives are pretty pricey and USB sticks just don't provide enough storage now a days. The biggest USB stick storage available on the market today is 128 GB stick. This goes roughly for 300$ and very expensive if you ask me.

UMLan Article Release: Seagate Barracuda - Review

As we have seen the HD 5570 is no gaming barn burner but it is certainly bringing more gaming power to entry level graphics. Combine this with all of the latest ATI features such as DX11, 7.1 audio, native HDMI, ATI Stream and ATI CrossfireX the HIS HD 5570 brings a lot to the table.

News - HIS HD 5570 Fan 1GB Review at Overclockers Online

I really like the LiteON eHAU424. It's very easy to use and the USB interface literally makes it plug-and-play. The read and write performances are great and exactly as advertised. The device as a whole seems solidly built, just as I'd expect from any Lite-On product. The only thing I didn't like about the drive is that it is somewhat large and features an external power brick that you have to haul around. However, the drive's elegant looks make up for it.

News - Lite-On eHAU424 External DVD Writer Review at CCE Reviews

Today we are unboxing the Patriot Viper Series DDR3 6GB Triple Channel 1600MHz Low Latency Memory Modules.

This set of memory is aimed at Core i7 users in mind, with tight timings and lightning fast speed and is manufactured by a very well known brand in the memory business. It comes with stylish blue heatspreaders and is perfect for x58 based systems too.

Patriot Viper Series DDR3 6GB Triple Channel 1600MHz Memory Modules Unboxing Video @ eTeknix.com