XFX WarPAD

titleWhen you’re looking at mouse pads you really only have to consider a few things. Do you want a hard or soft mouse pad? How big does it need to be? Thickness? Would you like a design on it? Let’s be honest: the mouse pad market is a little hard to be innovative in. Ether it’s a good pad or it’s not. Most of the manufactures have resorted to designing pads with designs from popular movies and video games. It’s very rare that we see anything come along with a new design that truly innovates in the mouse pad market. XFX’s new mouse pad the WarPAD may do just that. Its edgeless design is very intriguing, but is it just a gimmick? There’s only one way to find out.

Read more ...

Cooler Master Storm Xornet

titleAsk a room full of gamers what the most important piece of equipment is in their build and you're likely to end up with a long list of internal components. Video cards, processors, ram, SSD, etc. What you will likely never hear is that the mouse is the most important piece of equipment. Now, before you get all out of shape, I don't think the mouse is really the most important. But, it deserves a spot on the list of things that are somewhat important. After all, for nearly every moment that we spend gaming, we do so with our hand firmly attached to our mouse. The mouse is our direct line of input to our character on the screen. How our mouse performs affects how we perform in the game. Which is why, in recent years, there has been a bit of a deluge of new gaming mice to hit the market. The one we're looking at today is a budget gaming mouse from Cooler Master's Storm line called the Xornet.

Read more ...

Das Keyboard Model S Professional Silent

titleSome of you may remember my review of the DAS keyboard over a year ago. For almost 20 months we have had the keyboard in the office. For that same amount of time we have seen what a clicky keyboard can do to your coworker’s sanity when used regularly. Because of that I was ecstatic when DAS said they would send over their Silent model. But I was a little concerned that going silent would take away some of the features we loved the most about the DAS keyboard. We are going to put the DAS Model S Pro Silent through its paces, and while we are at it we may put the two keyboards head to head on video to compare their noise levels.

Read more ...

iRIP: Steve Jobs

frontjobsEarlier today, Apple announced the passing of Steve Jobs. If you visit Apple’s website or https://www.apple.com/stevejobs you will see Apple’s official statement on the incident.

This is a tragic day in the technology world. No one can argue the influence that Mr. Jobs has had on the technology industry, and the world would have been a much different place had he not existed. The man was a visionary.

Read more ...

SteelSeries MMO Mouse Legendary Edition

frontEven as early as the name, SteelSeries knows how to appeal to MMO addicts such as myself. Sure, 'Legendary' sounds desirable, but what attracts me is the color of the font. It's not a phenomena restricted to the massive-multi genre, either; anyone who has scrambled for a green set item in Diablo 2 shares the same rush that raiders do when they roll for legendary loot. SteelSeries has dropped a Legendary Edition MMO Gaming Mouse, let's roll to see if it's a Need, Greed, or Pass. Ether way you will find us testing it out in a game of Battlestar Galactica online.

Read more ...

Cooler Master Storm Trooper

frontCooler Master has added a new case to their CM Storm lineup.  The “Trooper” will be the fourth variant in this lineup, the first to support XL-ATX mainboards.  The features are quiet interesting, but the most noticeable one is the ultra-strong carrying handle – which supports up to 95lbs.  I had a positive experience when reviewing the CM Storm Enforcer, hopefully the Trooper can bring us similar results. Whatever you do make sure you don't call it the Storm Trooper, we wouldn't want George Lucas hunting us down. Oh crap.. better make this quick, I think I hear them coming!

Read more ...

DiabloTek Legend

frontDiabloTek is a company that is perhaps best recognized in the power supply industry, but their product extends into video, hard drives, optical drives, and as we'll see today, cases. Thus far the company has focused on manufacturing mid-tower ATX towers, and recently released the Legend ATX chassis. Today we take a look at the fifth entry to DiabloTek's case line-up.

Read more ...

EVGA GTX580 Classified 3072MB Air

titleNvidia’s GTX580 launched close to a year ago yet is still one of the top performing video cards on the market. When you are a manufacture like EVGA, where do you go after you have introduced a full product line around the GTX580? Apparently if left alone, EVGA’s engineers in collaboration with overclockers “k|ngp|n” and “TiN”) will turn the GTX580 a monster just begging to be overclocked. With a revamped VRM circuitry with solid-state chokes, dual BIOS’s, and power coming from two 8 pin’s AND a 6pin this could very well be the fastest GTX580 on the market when overclocked. Of course the only way to find out is to read farther into our review.

Read more ...

The Mouse is Dead! Long Live the Mouse!

LThe Mouse Is Dead!ate last week, Microsoft released the Windows Developer Preview, which is the first public release of anything relating to the project codenamed “Windows 8”.  This is the first look at what Microsoft really intends on doing with its next version of Windows.  It is designed to help application developers get their apps ready for the future of global computing.

This is a Mac user’s perspective…

Read more ...

Turning a DAS Keyboard into a gaming keyboard

titleThere is an influx of gaming-orientated mechanical keyboards hitting the market this year. It’s great to see that more people are finally enjoying gaming on mechanical switches as I have been for the past year and a half with our DAS Keyboard. With that in mind I was starting to get a little jealous of some of the other models with their backlighting and gaming specific features. In order to give our keyboard a small makeover we contacted DAS about their WASD Key Sets. Today I am going to show you how quick and easy it can be to give your DAS keyboard a little gaming style without breaking the bank.

Read more ...

Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 60Gb SSD

titleWe used to work closely with Mushkin as far back as our first few LAN parties but over the past few years that communication slowed down. This year at CES we had a chance to catch up and see what they have been up to, and we were happy to see that on top of staying in the RAM market they have also introduced a couple SSD’s. Their newest SSD is called the Callisto Deluxe, and we will be taking an in depth look at it today. Sporting the SandForce SF-1200 controller and promising read speeds of up to 285MB/s and write speeds of up to 275MB/s, it sounds like it’s a perfect match for the Mushkin name. Of course there is only one way to find out; let’s jump in.

Read more ...

SteelSeries 6Gv2 Mechanical keyboard

titleMechanical keyboards seem to be all the rage recently with almost every manufacture introducing them. SteelSeries has actually been in the mechanical keyboard market for a few years now with their 7G. To compete with all of the competition they did however introduce a model without a few of the 7G’s features like audio ports to lower the cost, which would be the 6Gv2. Priced a little more in line with the competition, SteelSeries’s 6Gv2 is hoping to show that you don’t need a keyboard that glows when the lights are out to game.

Read more ...

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D

titleIt wasn’t that long ago that I took an in depth look at Corsair's Special Edition white version of their 600T. I was extremely impressed with the entire case. Because of that I thought we would backtrack a little bit and take a look at what started it all, Corsair's 800D from the Obsidian Series of cases. Being their flagship model it’s clear that it still has a lot to offer, lets dig in (finally) and see what  all of the fuss is about.

Read more ...

SteelSeries Sensei

titleOne of, if not the best mouse to come through our doors was the SteelSeries Xai. Steel Series isn’t a company that normally just pumps out new products unless there is a need. But how do you follow up with a perfectly balanced, no frills gaming mouse with such a good reputation? For starters you try to keep it as close to the original while still improving it. When Steel Series sent out the PR for the Sensei last month I was a little skeptical but still excited to see how they could improve on the Xai. With it finally in my hands I can’t wait to dive into the details!

Read more ...

Cooler Master Notepal LapAir

frontCooler Master has presented us with another laptop cooling product.  In our previous review we talked about how some aim for cooling, comfort, portability or any combination of the three. The Cooler Master NotePal LapAir clearly aims more for the comfort range of the laptop cooling market.

Read more ...

Cooler Master Elite 371

frontIs there anyone left out there that's old enough to remember when buying a budget case meant buying a rectangular ivory box?  Well, I do.  If you wanted a custom box with any sort of styling, you were going to be out big money, or be really good with a skil saw, grinder, and can of spray paint.  Things are a little different now.  There's some variety in budget cases and they have some style.  With the Elite 371, Cooler Master is aiming at that market.  Let's take a look at it, and see how they did.

Read more ...

Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 & AMD A8-3800

frontIt has only been a few weeks since AMD introduced their Llano APU and things are finally starting to come together. Today Sapphire is joining the mix with an addition from their Pure line, the Pure Platinum A75. Sapphire has had a big push to become a name to be reckoned with in the motherboard market and their Pure line has thus far done a good job. Paired up with an AMD A8-3800, today we will be taking a look at both Sapphires new board and the A-Series platform as a whole.

Read more ...

Cooler Master Notepal U Stand

frontToday we are going to take a look at Cooler Masters new Notepal U Stand. It’s similar in design to a few of their previous models, but with the stand functionality paired up with the Notepal’s adjustability it has the potential to be great product. Rather than do the same-ol laptop cooler review, our new writer JD will be taking a look at the Notepal U Stand. JD will be covering the Notepal U Stand from a consumer point of view rather our typical technical perspective. Combined with the Notepal U Stand’s features it should make for a good read, click to find out how it turned out.

Read more ...

Cooler Master GeminII S524

front1_lanoc_watermarkCooling components is critical.  This is why when you buy a processor it comes with a CPU heatsink and fan.  Heat wears components out faster and reduces their reliability.  The first thing I do when working with a new machine is replace the stock heatsink with an aftermarket one.  They are more efficient and depending on the configuration, could even be quieter. Cooler Master has sent us a CPU cooler that caught my attention.  The GeminII S524 is a square shaped cooler that instead of sitting directly over the CPU itself extends over one side to cool additional components.  I have always been a big fan of aftermarket CPU coolers with two fans in a push/pull configuration.  Typically CPU coolers with a single fan don’t seem to work as well, and I am unsure of how the overhang will impact the general airflow in the case itself.

Read more ...

Cooler Master Centurion 5 II Limited Edition Red

titleCooler Master’s Centurion 5 II is known for being a basic PC case for a standard build, something you would normally use to build your parents PC. It’s also known for being a great value in the budget PC market. When Cooler Master told us they had received a few limited edition red Centurion 5 II’s from Japan, I was more than happen to take one off their hands for a closer look. Will a little extra style bump this up from a budget build case to something you would be proud to show off at LANs? Let’s find out.

Read more ...

We have 2137 guests and no members online

supportus