by Stuart Davidson | 05/06/2013
To tie in with Computex which takes place in Taiwan this week AMD are following Intels launch of "Haswell" with their own refresh. That comes in the form of "Richland", a new range of APUs which look to enhance what we have seen from the current generation "Trinity" parts. Today we take two of AMDs new "Richland" APUs through a selection of platform and gaming tests which include media playback and conversion, Crysis 3, Grid 2 and even a peek at PCMark 8.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/06/2013
Today we take a look at two boards which look to offer a value option in the Z87 market while maintaining as many features as possible from high end products. First up is Gigabytes Z87-D3HP and then we have the MSI Z87-G45 Gaming. Both will be tested in a selection of synthetic and real world tests which include Crysis 3, Grid 2 and the brand new PCMark 8... all with the i7-4770K on board.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/06/2013
We will be taking a look at the new i7-4770K and combining it with Gigabytes new G1.Sniper 5 which is about as extreme a socket 1150 board as you will find at launch (including upgradable audio components on-board). These products will be put up against the previous generation i7-3770K, enthusiast X79 system and the fastest AMD has to offer too in a selection of platform and gaming tests which include Crysis 3, Grid 2 and even a peek at the soon to be released PCMark 8.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/05/2013
Now OCZ are bringing to market a new Vertex drive using more than a little tech from their Vector series of enthusiast SSDs. Today the Vertex 450 launches and we have the 256GB model in our test system to see where it fits into the current market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/05/2013
Now looking to mix the decent quality, low cost CX specification with the usually more expensive modular design Corsair have released the CX-m series of PSUs and today we look at one of the top models, the CX600M.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/05/2013
With the release of their Blackberry 10 OS we saw Blackberry move to a touch based smartphone, the Z10 and while it was a reasonably impressive handset it may not have appealed to the companys core audience who valued the physical keyboard. Enter the Q10 which brings the Blackberry range up to date in terms of specification and OS while integrating a physical keyboard with the touch and gesture based experience.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/05/2013
The ZOTAC ZBOX ID89 Plus contains the usual selection of 2.5in hard drive, wireless-n wi-fi and the like but manages to include support for dual channel memory and arrives kitted out with a Core i5 CPU. All in a chassis not much bigger than most external drive enclosures.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/05/2013
Today Synology are launching the latest of their Home/Small Office DiskStations, the DS213j. A 2 drive NAS it offers a balance of features and performance which should appeal to those looking for their first external storage device, or those looking to upgrade from an older model with more basic functionality.
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/04/2013
Today sees the release of a new GTX Titan from ZOTAC, the AMP! Edition. This is the highest clocked air cooled Titan we have seen so far and we will be putting it up against the 7990 as well as the GTX 690 in a selection of the latest games which include Bioshock: Infinite, Crysis 3 and Tomb Raider. Of course as always we will look at GPU Computing, Media Playback, power, thermal, and acoustics as well as overclocking.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/04/2013
Looking to diversify their business even more ZOTAC recently released the RAIDBOX, a compact USB 3.0 enclosure which allows us to install two mSATA hard drives then RAID them for enhanced performance/data protection. Today we have a sample on our test bench, along with two high spec 256GB mSATA drives from ADATA.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/03/2013
NVIDIA is looking to fill a bit of a gap in the middle of their product stack with a new model, the GeForce GTX 650Ti Boost and on our test bench we have an overclocked model. Well be putting it through a selection of the latest games, including Crysis 3, Tomb Raider and StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
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by Stuart Kerley | 25/03/2013
Released earlier this month the first StarCraft 2 expansion, Heart of the Swarm, focuses on the Zerg race. We follow the story of Sarah Kerrigan, picking up where the plot in Wings of Liberty left off. Wings of Liberty was of course the initial release of StarCraft 2 and focused on the Terran race or more specifically, Jim Raynor and this split race approach was well known in advance of launch as Blizzard announced that the story they had to tell was so epic that it could not be contained within a single game.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/03/2013
Designed to replace the 7850 1GB in the AMD 7000 series, so between 7770 and 7850 2GB, this new product is AMDs attempt to offer a mainstream GPU with exceptional price to performance ratio.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/03/2013
There are a large number of consumers out there looking for the best price performance ratio and OCZ feel that one of the best ways to satisfy those needs is to take the an older (but not necessarily outdated) range and tweak the model to minimise costs. Enter the Vertex 3.20...
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/03/2013
Today we are going to look at GPU reviews specifically (and may venture back into other categories in the future as motherboard reviews for example are also a mess in the review industry), taking a look at what WE feel makes for a quality review and why.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/03/2013
One new device from NETGEAR which looks to offer both traditional networking and some additional features is the NETGEAR Centria WNDR4700. Part wireless-n (dual band) router, part storage device it allows us to add our own hard drive and enable media/backup functionality on our home network without the need for separate devices. Today we have one to review...
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/03/2013
Not everyone has the budget, or need, for a 4-bay NAS and so Synology offer models such as the DS213 with two bays. Today we will be reviewing that model while also taking a look at their latest software, DiskStation Manager v4.2 (March 2013 release).
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/03/2013
Recently SteelSeries announced the APEX range of keyboards and the RAW Edition landed on our desk recently. With numerous extra buttons, backlighting and low profile keys it looks to find a balance between functionality and cost which will appeal to gamers on a budget.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/02/2013
Today we take the GTX Titan through a selection of real world gaming tests which include Crysis 3, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed 3, Hitman: Absolution, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Battlefield 3, Skyrim: Dragonborn, DOTA 2, SWTOR, Mass Effect 3, F1 2012 and Borderlands 2. Mix that with the latest 3DMark, Heaven Benchmark, GPU computing, Media playback and all the usual power/thermal and overclocking tests...
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/02/2013
The latest hardware and software is ready from Blackberry in the shape of the Z10 and Q10 handsets. Both run the new Blackberry 10 mobile operating system and we have the former to review today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/02/2013
Recently Razer released their Lamborghini inspired mouse, the Ouroboros. With multiple interchangeable parts, ambidextrous layout, wired and wireless operation, changeable shape and a distinctive design it looks to compete with some impressive gaming mice at the high end of the gaming market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/02/2013
Looking to bring the Windows Phone 8 experience to a lower price point than the Lumia 920 is Nokias new Lumia 620. With interchangeable covers, HD camera and expandable storage it may just fit the bill as a great midrange handset.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/02/2013
For those looking to build a mini-ITX system, maybe as a HTPC, server or just as a compact desktop Fractal Design recently released the Node 304. With support for standard PSUs, six hard drives and graphics cards up to 310mm in length this could make for a very flexible mini-ITX build...
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/02/2013
The Razer Blade (or New Razer Blade as we are now on a second revision) is a high end Ultrabook aimed at gamers. With a mobile i7 CPU, GeForce GTX 600 series graphics and a unique touch screen track pad it offers something that little bit different to the norm. Today we put it through a selection of real world tests including Crysis 3 and StarCraft 2 Heart of the Swarm.
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by Stuart Kerley | 04/02/2013
StartCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will be launched worldwide on 12th March 2013, and ahead of the game releases we decided to take a little look at what we can expect from this new expansion.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/01/2013
Sapphire recently released the AMD A8 based Edge VS8 mini-PC and now we get a chance to see what ZOTAC's latest generation of system can offer in comparison. The ZBOX ID83 Plus takes us into Ivy Bridge in a system which is comparable in size to a decent router, let's find out how it performs...
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by HardwareHeaven | 24/01/2013
At Heaven Media, what do we get up to when not covering hardware? One staff member works his way through 3500+ retro games and 100+ consoles one by one...(Including video walkround of the game collection)
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/01/2013
So we know the concept of a tablet with keyboard dock has potential but mobile operating systems are not necessarily the perfect solution. Well, until Windows 8 and Windows RT began offering a different experience with the release of the Microsoft Surface recently. Now Dell are looking to take on the Surface, and existing tablets with the XPS 10 running Windows RT and we have one to test today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/01/2013
We will be taking EVGAs latest GTX 670, the FTW Signature 2 Edition and putting it head to head with the ASUS 7970 DirectCU2 to find out how each performs in games such as Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed and Hitman Absolution. Of course this will all be real world gaming and the usual GPU computing, media and power/thermal testing will be thrown in too.
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by Stephanie Goody | 09/01/2013
Today we take our second look at Tahiti LE with the Sapphire 7870 XT (With Boost) and in this article will be maxing out its core and memory speed then checking how it performs in games like Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed 3 and Hitman Absolution against a max OC 660 Ti.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/12/2012
Sapphire are back with their latest generation of mini-PC, the EDGE VS8. Based around AMDs A8 APU we get quad core processing and DirectX 11 graphics, all in an ultra-compact chassis.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/12/2012
PowerColor are taking the Tahiti GPU, usually used in 7900 series cards, and pricing/configuring it at 7870 level. Call it Tahiti LE, 7950 Light... or 7870 Myst with PCS+ cooling. Today we take a look at how it performs in games like Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed 3 and Hitman Absolution.
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by Stuart Kerley | 15/12/2012
In the run up to Christmas and the holidays Sony has recently released a number of games under their publishing arm. Today we take a look at four of them to see what they offer for those looking at last minute gifts or something to pass the time.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/12/2012
MSI's latest foray into the gaming/enthusiast laptop marketplace is the GT70 Dragon Edition. With components including the latest Ivy Bridge i7 CPU, SSDs in RAID, GTX 675MX Graphics and 16GB of memory in a 17" chassis... and some great extra specifications, today we find out whether the system can play the likes of Far Cry 3 and Hitman: Absolution.
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by Craig Humphreys | 06/12/2012
The D6300 is essentially identical to the R6300 only this time NETGEAR have covered all bases with the inclusion of an ADSL2+ modem as well as the functionality to use any cable/fiber modem. The A6200 is NETGEAR's first USB Adapter to use the 802.11ac specification and enable users to connect to their ac equipment at above Wireless-N speeds.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/12/2012
Now a year on from the Lumia 800 launch Nokia have released the Lumia 920 with a bump in specifications and size. It also includes the latest mobile OS from Microsoft, Windows Phone 8... so does it have enough to compete in a market which has moved on significantly in the last 12 months?
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/11/2012
For all that the Kone[+] is a great gaming mouse the market has moved on since its release and newer, higher performance sensors have been released. This has prompted Roccat to refresh their Kone range and today we look at the new high end model, the Kone XTD with its 8000dpi+ technology.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/11/2012
Sony, like other manufacturers, look to cater for entry level consumers with devices such as the Xperia Miro, packing as much of the quality, features and performance into the device as is possible for minimal cost.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/11/2012
With a 17inch form factor, the latest i7 CPU, SSD and dual GPUs the P722 looks to pack as much performance in a desktop replacement system as possible. Today we will be putting one through its paces in a selection of synthetic and real world tests, including the Crysis 3 Alpha to find out if it is an attractive purchase.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/11/2012
Earlier this year Capcom released Street Fighter X Tekken on PS3 and 360, mashing together the two franchise in Capcom's game engine. (A follow-up Tekken X Street Fighter will be released which focuses on Tekken tech). Now Capcom are bringing SFXT to Vita and given the success of their last port we expect great things here...
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/11/2012
There is an argument that the 7” form factor tablets from the likes of Google and Amazon dont eat directly into the iPad sales but it clearly isnt a risk worth taking for Apple and so today sees the launch of the iPad Mini. Priced at a more affordable level than the full size model can it offer something to combat sales of similar sized Android devices? We have one to test and find out.
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by Craig Humphreys | 31/10/2012
Today we take a look at the N750 Premium Edition, one of the few models to suit just about everyone with its built in ADSL2+ modem for use with DSL connections and a RJ45 port to be used with cable or fibre connections.
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/10/2012
It takes seconds to master their control method and the ship battles are just fantastic, action packed segments of cat and mouse gameplay.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/10/2012
Now six months on from the Z77 launch manufacturers such as Gigabyte are launching their new generation of products based around the chipset. The top model in Gigabytes family is GA-Z77X-UP7 and we have one on our test bench today. It will be put through a selection of synthetic and real world tests to establish how it compares to a first generation Z77 product.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/10/2012
Now a year on from the FX-8150 launch AMD are back with a revision of their performance orientated CPUs. The new FX-8350 revises the cores used and bumps up the speed for a product which again is designed to maximise price and performance for those looking to spend about $199 on a chip. We will be taking a look at the new chip in a selection of real world and synthetic tests against the FX-8150 and i5-3570K along with a look at the benefits of AMDs recently launched 12.11 beta driver which promises much improved 7000 series performance.
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by Stuart Kerley | 18/10/2012
The Vulcan Pro is a follow up to the Vulcan ANC, the first active noise cancelling pro gaming headset from ASUS which we previously covered. With updated specifications including hardware sound processing in the form of RoG Spitfire, can it improve on the strong foundations of the original?
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/10/2012
With a completely new styling and specifications in excess of Wireless-N the new NETGEAR R6300 is one of the most advanced routers available. Today we review a pair of them giving us Wireless-ac (802.11ac) connectivity at either end of the transmission.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/10/2012
Now with Christmas approaching we are beginning to see the years main launch period kick in and a key title for the PS Vita is the latest LittleBigPlanet. Following the same concept as previous versions this is an all new game and makes full use of the PS Vita functionality such as touch, motion and camera. Today we find out if it is the latest game to be a must buy for PS Vita.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/10/2012
With Mists of Pandaria going live last week SteelSeries have released the official mouse, a wireless device and we have one of the first samples on our test bench.
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by Stuart Kerley | 03/10/2012
With the new football seasons well underway across Europe EA have released FIFA 13, or if you live in North America FIFA Soccer 13. Finally making its way out those troublesome teens, FIFA 13 is the twentieth edition of the football simulation game.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/10/2012
Can the new A10 series of APUs from AMD match, or even exceed Intels range of low/mid range CPUs? We find out now in a selection of real world gaming, multimedia, overclocking and productivity tests while also taking a look at how the APU can perform with a mid range GPU... and of course there are the standard memory, USB 3.0, SATA and PCIe tests to round things off.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/10/2012
Bringing the franchise back to its main storyline Capcom are ready to release Resident Evil 6, another third person action/horror based game. With multiple campaigns, co-op and challenge modes there is plenty on offer here, but is the quality there?
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/09/2012
It's the latest iPhone, it's landing on doorsteps and shop floors today and we have ours unboxed, photographed and reviewed... so let's get started on the latest and greatest from Apple...
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/09/2012
When we last looked at F1 2012 in the preview build it was shaping up well, but limited in its available modes. With the full game now in place and new game modes, new tracks and drive enhancements can Codemasters continue to enhance the F1 gaming franchise?
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/09/2012
With the release of the Vengeance C70 case we see for the first time the Corsair case designers getting to think outside the box. Employing a military theme the C70 gets a thorough look on our review bench today.
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by Stuart Kerley | 04/09/2012
On our test bench today we will be taking a look at Synology's newest four bay network storage device, the DS413j. We will also be having a quick look at some of the new features on the latest version of Synology's operating system DiskStation Manager (DSM) 4.1.
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/08/2012
With the 2012 edition of F1 we get new game modes, new tracks and drive enhancements to continue Codemasters quest for racing game perfection. Today we find out how it is shaping up in advance of next month's launch.
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/08/2012
Recently AMDs partners were given the ability to design and release their own 7990 products (or 7970 X2 if you like). This would see two 7900 series GPUs on one PCB and every design would be different, PCB layouts, power spec, outputs, coolers... the works. One of the first to market with a 7990 is PowerColor with their Devil 13 card. This is as Extreme as Radeons currently get and today we put it head to head with the GTX 690 to find out which is best in the latest games.
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by Stuart Kerley | 29/08/2012
We have known that a sequel to Guild Wars has been in the works since 2007. Now, it is finally here and on the 28th of August ArenaNet will release Guild Wars 2 worldwide. We have been playing the early access and today cover our initial thoughts on the latest (and greatest?) MMORPG.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/08/2012
Clearly the success of the Galaxy Note as a brand inspired Samsung and despite having a well-established Tab range (of Android Tablets) their latest device goes with the alternative title which helps identify its key feature, a high functionality stylus. Today we have the Galaxy Note 10.1 on our test bench and will establish whether it has what it takes to compete with the likes of ASUS Transformer Pad, the alternative productivity tablet.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/08/2012
One of the latest systems to be released in the Ultrabook category is Lenovo's U410 which has a hefty advertising campaign behind it and GeForce GPU inside. Today we have one on our test bench and will see how it compares to the last generation system to see what the Lenovo offers in real world use.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/08/2012
First up today is the Z77 FTW, a high end board for socket 1155 CPUs. With plenty of enthusiast features. We will also be taking a look at EVGA's factory overclocked GTX 670, two in fact, in the latest games including Max Payne 3 and Counter Strike Global Operations.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/08/2012
NVIDIA are ready to launch their latest 600 series GPU, the GTX 660 Ti and we have three factory overclocked models on our test bench today. First up is the EVGA SuperClocked, then the Palit JetStream and finally the Zotac AMP! We will put each up against overclocked versions of the GTX 670, 7950, 7870 and 560 Ti (448) in a selection of real world gaming tests including Max Payne 3 and Battlefield 3 to see where the GTX 660 Ti fits in.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/08/2012
One of the first manufacturers to get a 7970 GHz Edition to market is Sapphire and they haven't held back on their Toxic version. With 6GB of memory, custom cooler, redesigned PCB, improved build quality and a heavy overclock this is about as extreme as a 7970 gets.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/07/2012
In the next few months Enermax will be refreshing their offering in the mainstream / low end areas bringing the Triathlor to market. Today we have the 550w model on our test bench to find out what it offers for those on a limited budget.
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by Stuart Kerley | 13/07/2012
Today on our test bench we have the latest model in CM Storms Sentinel mouse range, the Sentinel Advance 2. We have reviewed both the original Sentinel Advance mouse (back in 2009) and the follow up released in 2011 called the Z3RO-G. We rated both highly and so we were very interested in getting our hands on the latest model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/06/2012
Since their first SSD Intel have taken a few approaches to building the devices. Initially they went with their own controllers within the drives and it is fair to say that those drives were some of the best in early generations. Since then we have seen them dabble with updated controllers under their own brand, try out Marvell and more recently release a Sandforce based drive in the form of the 520 series.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/06/2012
With a refined manufacturing process and a tweaked firmware/bios AMD are today launching a revised 7970 known as the GHz Edition, or XT2. We will be comparing that card to an overclocked, custom design GTX 680 and will dispense with the niceties, clocking our i7-3960X CPU at 5.0GHz and firing the resolution up as high as 5760x1080.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/06/2012
Capcom are back with the launch of Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor and rather than develop, or re-use a custom controller they are basing this game on the Xbox 360 Kinect functionality. With an interesting history in the franchise and developed by the team behind games such as Dark Souls can Heavy Armor take a place as the latest key Kinect title?
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/06/2012
Recently AMD announced their next generation of APUs with Trinity branding heavily featured. This new range of chips enhances performance and features and first to market is the mobile range, followed later in the year by desktop parts. Today we have AMDs reference mobile platform on our test bench to find out how the new A10 range performs in a selection of real world tests.
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by Stuart Kerley | 14/06/2012
We liked the Vengeance 1500 thanks to its its simple plug and play set up mixed with great value for money price point. Now Corsair have released a wireless version of the Vengeance and they have designated it the 2000. Today we'll be taking a look at the new Vengeance 2000 and looking to see if Corsair have managed to improve on the wired model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/05/2012
Following the success of the Prime ASUS have designed a new tablet which sits somewhere between the original Transformer and its follow up. Taking specifications from the newer model and a functionality from both that model is the Transformer Pad 300 andtoday we have it on our test bench.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/05/2012
In DiRT: Showdown we dispense with the normal time trials and rally gameplay associated with the franchise, moving to a much more arcade experience which focuses on destruction.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/05/2012
Can Razer's new Tiamat 7.1 headset... with true multi-channel sound meet our expectations or is this destined to disappoint offering a less desirable alternative than the virtual 7.1 headsets which are already on the market?
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/05/2012
It seems each manufacturer is going to take its own unique approach to building a card around the GTX 670 GPU with some going for compact models and others heading for larger PCBs with significant cooling solutions and overclocks. Inno3D fall into the second category and it is their custom GTX 670 which we have on our test bench today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/05/2012
Since the launch of the Vita things have been a little quiet on the release front but now we get one of the first big post release period games in the form of Mortal Kombat. Like MvsC this is an attempt to take an existing game for the home consoles and port it to Vita, with some added functionality so let's find out if it falls into the same camp as the excellent MvsC3 or is closer to the less than impressive Reality Fighters.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/05/2012
Today we see the first Vapor-X 7000 series card in the shape of a Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition. This enhanced version of the 7770 runs at significantly higher clock speeds than the reference model on both core and memory and combines this with a dual fan, vapour chamber cooler and we will be putting it head to head against the GTX 560 in a selection of real world gaming and multimedia tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/05/2012
The GTX 670 takes the features of the GTX 680 and tweaks the configuration to hit a lower price point while still being competitive. We have two custom, factory overclocked GTX 670 cards on our test bench and will be putting them up against overlocked versions of the GTX 680, GTX 570, 7970 and 7950 to find out how each enhanced model performs when paired with an i7 CPU at 5.0GHz.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/05/2012
Today we will be putting the MSI GTX 680 Twin Frozr through a selection of real world media, computing and gaming tests with titles such as Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim to see how it compares to an overclocked Radeon 7970.
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by Stuart Kerley | 04/05/2012
Dragon's Dogma is a new action role-playing game from Capcom that will be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on the 22nd of May in North America and the 25th in Europe. The game has been developed by the same team behind franchises such as Resident Evil and Devil May Cry and the demo was recently released so we took the opportunity to download it on our PlayStation 3 and gave it a quick whirl.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/05/2012
Today we get to look at the GTX 690, NVIDIAs dual GPU Kepler part, and will be putting it up against some of the best custom GTX 680 and Radeon 7970 cards along with CF and SLI configurations in the latest games such as Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim. GPU computing and HD playback will of course make an appearance and to top it off a card like this needs to run on a beefy CPU, so it's time to take the i7-3960X to 5.0GHz...
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/05/2012
Today we update the battle between the 680 and 7970 by taking two of the most impressive models, both custom factory overclocked, and put them head to head in real world gameplay which includes Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim as well as media playback and GPU computing... enter the PowerColor HD 7970 PCS+ (Vortex 2) and Gainward GTX 680 Phantom.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/04/2012
It is a brave developer who decides to release an adventure role playing game for the Wii. As soon as it is announced comparisons will be made with the Zelda franchise. Does it match up graphically, is the story too similar, or not similar enough... and then when people actually play it, how does it compare overall. An RPG on Wii can be impressive but fail to get close to Zelda and many will see it as a failure, not worth their time or money.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/04/2012
Today Intel launch their CPU range and we are combining the i7-3770K with Gigabytes rather impressive looking G1.Sniper 3 and G1.Sniper M3 to find out if these components can make the ultimate Ivy Bridge System. Testing will of course include synthetic and real world, with the likes of 3DMark 11 and Battlefield 3 making an appearance with the GeForce GTX 680.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/04/2012
Being released on the new Codemasters Racing label, fun is what the focus of today's preview is all about and in DiRT: Showdown we dispense with the normal time trials and rally gameplay associated with the franchise, moving to a much more arcade experience which focuses on destruction.
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by Stuart Kerley | 17/04/2012
With online gaming for consoles becoming more and more popular it is increasingly important that we equip ourselves with a good quality gaming headset, and since most people don't really want wires trailing across the floor a wireless model is a must have.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/04/2012
The original Witcher game never quite made it to consoles but its 2011 sequel, Assassins of Kings is just about to be released on Xbox 360. This is the enhanced edition which features content not in the original release and an interface suited to the platform but can it live up to the original PC version?
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/04/2012
In a move designed to refresh their image and product line Sony recently dropped the Ericsson brand from their handsets and are going it alone in the naming sense with a new range of Xperia phones which look to jump start their Android sales. Sharing a similar design they all have unique selling points such as the Xperia P's floating touch display were we simply hover over the screen to activate functions and sitting at the top of the product stack is the Xperia S.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/04/2012
Kinect Star Wars differs from most games from the same franchise in that it offers a wide variation of game styles within the package. This isn't just a case of running about being a Jedi in an action game as many might expect. That aspect is present but from the main menu, featuring interactive C-3PO and R2-D2 we also get to access to pod racing, duel, destruction and... dancing... modes.
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/04/2012
Today we have two of the new Vertex 4 drives on our test bench and will be comparing it in real world and synthetic test against drives based on the latest Sandforce, Marvell and Samsung controllers.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/04/2012
With the release of DMC: Devil May Cry, a reimagined take on the game universe, fast approaching Capcom are giving those unfamiliar with the series a chance to head back over a decade to the original, then through two sequels. With a HD makeover and bonus content as well as the special edition of DMC3: Dante's Awakening all on one disc, at a value price, this might just be the release to whittle away those Easter holiday hours.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/03/2012
The Palit GTX 680 JetStream is a factory overclocked 3 slot, triple fan cooled card which aims to show the competition how a GTX 680 should be done. We will be putting it through a selection of real world gaming tests including Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim as well as overclocking it to the limit...
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/03/2012
Capcom have been one of the big supporters of downloadable classics with games such as Street Fighter 3 Online Edition making their way to the home consoles. Now they are taking eight titles of varying styles and combining them on one disc, calling it the Capcom Digital Collection. Fancy a bit of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: HD Remix followed by Flock, or 1942 Joint Strike followed by Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2 for a value price... look no further.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/03/2012
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is upon us and as well as featuring The Masters, which takes place next month, the latest entry in the franchise also makes heavy use of Kinect functionality on Xbox 360 (for those who have it). The addition of motion controls doesn't guarantee a good experience though so today we find out if a game which should be well suited to Kinect actually succeeds in improving over the traditional pad gameplay.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/03/2012
We have already taken a look at single GPU performance and now it is time to update that article with a look at SLI, featuring ZOTAC's version of the GTX 680 in titles such as Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 with single screen and surround gaming as well as Stereoscopic 3D testing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/03/2012
Take one ASUS GTX 680 2GB, overclock it to its limit... add one MSI R7970 Lightning, the highest spec AMD card around and overclock it to breaking point. Thrown in comparisons at 1920x1080 and 5760x1080 mixing with the latest games such as Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3 and SW: The Old Republic. Check cards are piping hot before completion and you have todays review.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/03/2012
Today we take a detailed look at gaming performance of the GTX 680 in titles such as Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 with single screen and surround gaming as well as Stereoscopic 3D testing. Added to that is GPU computing and media playback performance along with thermal, power, noise and overclocking results. Want to see how the GTX 680 does against the 7970 at its maximum overclock, or the GTX 580 OC 3GB we have that sorted too...
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/03/2012
Sitting at the top of OCZ's recently announced Champ1on Series of Fatal1ty PSUs is the 80Plus Gold Certified 1000w model with modular cables and very distinct styling. We have that very version on our test bench today and will find out if gamers should be putting it at the top of their shopping list for new system builds... after all we all need a new system with AMD and NVIDIA throwing out new GPUs almost weekly.
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by Stuart Kerley | 20/03/2012
The first Twisted Metal game was originally released on the first PlayStation way back in 1995. Spin forward seven sequels and 17 years later and the latest version of the series, also just called Twisted Metal, was released last week in the EU.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/03/2012
Now with the most recent release in the franchise, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, which is co-developed by Capcom and Slant Six Games (of SOCOM: Confrontation fame) we have a new take on the RE universe as the game goes online Co-op and team combat heavy.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/03/2012
Today we will put two of the top models, Sapphires OC Edition and XFX's DD Black Edition head to head in order to find out what they offer mainstream gamers looking for top performance in the latest games... including Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3 and Skyrim.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/03/2012
Today we have the most extreme 7970 we have received yet, the MSI Radeon 7970 Lightning. On paper MSI have taken this GPU to a whole new level with extra PCB's, voltage read points, power phases and top of the line components so we are going to do the same. Rather than bench the card at its impressive factory overclock we are taking it to the limit, its maximum stable overclock to see how it compares to the reference design as well as an overclocked, 3GB GTX 580.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/03/2012
Today we have a Sapphire 7970 OverClock Edition card on our test bench and will be putting it through a selection of real world gaming tests, including Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 to find what Sapphire can do with their own design.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/03/2012
10 years on from the release of the original Jak and Daxter for PlayStation 2 we have a re-release of that classic along with Jak 2 and Jak 3, all packaged in a nice single disc package. This isn't just a straight port though this is the latest batch of titles to get a HD makeover and extra features.
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by Stuart Kerley | 13/03/2012
Today we will be taking a look at the single bay DS112j, which is the latest model in Synology's NAS range for home use, offering file storage, sharing and data protection. We will also take a look at Synology's latest operating system, the very recently released DiskStation Manager 4.0.
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by Niall Coleman | 13/03/2012
Shoot Many Robots is a download only title developed by Demiurge Studios and published by Ubisoft. It is the first original title to be released by Demiurge Studios who previously worked on titles such as Rock Band, BioShock and Mass Effect.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/03/2012
We have one of the first retail 7800 cards available to us in the form of Sapphires 7850 OverClock Edition. Today we will be putting it head to head with the GTX 560 Ti Overclock in order to find out which comes out on top. Tests include Battlefield 3, Skyrim and The Old Republic along with the usual media, GPU computing and power/temperature results.
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by Niall Coleman | 09/03/2012
All Zombies Must Die! is developed by Doublesix and Published by Square Enix. It is an arcade style RPG shooter with a self-consciously thin plot and a light hearted take on the zombie apocalypse scenario, this is a game focused on fun rather than story telling. Released this coming week the PC version is downloadable through Steam and comes with numerous fixes and improvements based on feedback from the console version.
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by Niall Coleman | 07/03/2012
When we first heard about the best name ever for a tablet PC, or possibly any component, we had visions of a robotic looking blue and red case... sadly, well kind of, this proved not to be and instead Asus released a sleek looking update to the original Transformer that we reviewed last year. The Prime is one of the world's first Android tablets with a quad-core processor and is running Android 4.0 and today we have one on our test bench for review.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/03/2012
Today AMD launch the 7800 series and allow us to look at their reference cards with partner availability to come later (around March 19th). With the same features as the 7900 series yet a significantly lower price today we find how well they compete with the 7950 and 6870 while looking in detail at the comparison with NVIDIAs GTX 560 Ti and GTX 570.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/03/2012
Capcom are back with a title which has the potential to be a classic, Street Fighter X Tekken which sees the characters from both franchises combine in a game which uses the highly praised Street Fighter 4 fighting engine, tweaked to suit both groups. Added to this are new power up items and game modes along with revised online code to streamline the competitive experience.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/03/2012
Today we take a look at the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, how to install it, what the basic OS experience is and how it performs, compared to Windows 7 on AMDs latest FX CPU and Radeon 7700 series GPU.
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by Stuart Kerley | 01/03/2012
Twelve years after the first SSX game was released EA have released a new version with the tagline of 'Defy Reality, Own the planet'. SSX will be available on both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 and we had the opportunity to play the PlayStation 3 version ahead of its UK and Europe release on the 2nd of March.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/02/2012
G.Skill have recently released their latest enthusiast modules in the form of RipjawsZ and today we have the 2133MHz, 16GB kit on our test bench. Let's take a look at them...
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by Niall Coleman | 29/02/2012
Syndicate is a re-imagination of the video game of the same name that was released in 1993 and followed up in 1996 by Syndicate Wars. The original games were published by Electronic Arts and developed by Bullfrog whereas the re-imagined version is developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Electronic Arts. This new take on a classic game stays quiet faithful to the general theme of a cyber punk dystopia but switches the game perspective creating a first person shooter.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/02/2012
SEGA are one of the first publishers to get behind the PS Vita and their launch week offering is Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition. With touch screen controls, online play and motion sensor functionality included in addition to the standard tennis modes it could offer something quite different to the average console experience.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/02/2012
In a game where we play a demonically possessed mob boss who is hell bent on avenging the death of his true love by any means necessary... eye gouging, impaling, ripping in half, decapitations... and with our source of energy being the consumption of human hearts it's clear that this isn't the average FPS game; but does it succeed in improving on the original and is it worth buying?
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/02/2012
On our test bench today we have the high end Alienware X51 configuration. It boasts an i7 CPU and GTX GPU in its specifications and we will be putting it through a selection of synthetic and real world tests, including Mass Effect 3, before taking a look at what the performance could be should the user upgrade to an SSD and Radeon 7900 card.
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by Niall Coleman | 21/02/2012
Asura's Wrath is a new type of game which seamlessly blends action and narrative in an episodic structure more akin to an anime TV drama. We are going to take a look at just what exactly makes this game so unique and whether or not this new approach is an enjoyable one.
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by Niall Coleman | 20/02/2012
Today we will find out if the Noontec A9 has what it takes to offer a decent upgrade to Smart TV (Android) functionality for those who don't want to move to the latest HDTV with the features built in.
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by Niall Coleman | 17/02/2012
Released recently Gotham City Imposters is a download-only multiplayer FPS developed by Monolith (F.E.A.R.) and published by WB Games. In this game, which rides in on the immense success of Batman Arkham City, we play as violent vigilantes dressed up like Batman against equally violent criminals dressed up like the Joker in open warfare on the streets of Gotham City.
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by Niall Coleman | 16/02/2012
HTC's Titan, powered by Windows Phone 7.5, was released at the end of 2011 and today we give it a once over to find out what it offers for those looking for something a little different to Android and iOS.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/02/2012
In this article we will look at Sapphire's 7770 Overclocked model which features a custom design and shall put it up against its direct competition from NVIDIA in the form of a GTX 560. As always we will be focusing on real world testing, including the latest games such as Battlefield 3 and some classics like World of Warcraft before moving on to media, power and thermal performance.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/02/2012
At the top of XFX's 7770 range is the "Jet Black" version of their usual Black Edition Overclocked model with this revision featuring heavily overclocked core and memory, well in excess of the AMD reference design. Today we have one on our test bench and will be putting it up against the GTX 560, also overclocked, in a selection of real world tests including Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/02/2012
Today we have the HIS Radeon HD 7750 on our test bench and will be putting it up against the GeForce GTX 550Ti in a selection of the latest games as well as media and GPU computing tasks. Is it the ideal solution for 1680x1080 gamers... or maybe even 1920x1080 users? Time to find out...
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by Stuart Kerley | 14/02/2012
Released on the 14th of February in North America, and the 17th of February in Europe, UFC Undisputed 3 features UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva on the front cover of the box after he won a fan vote to grace the cover of the new game. We will be taking a look at the newest release in the series, UFC Undisputed 3.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/02/2012
The true successor to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita, launches next week in Europe and the USA and today we will take a detailed look at our console covering the new hardware, operating system and a selection of launch day titles which include the latest Uncharted game, Golden Abyss along with WipeOut 2048 and a number of more casual games including Little Deviants which makes full use of the unique PS Vita touch controls.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/02/2012
Recently NVIDIA made the biggest change to their 3D Vision ecosystem, probably since launch, with the release of 3D Vision 2. A combination of the latest range of 3D displays with updated hardware and advances made in the driver enhance the experience.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/02/2012
The Soul series of games from Namco started back in the mid-90s as an arcade fighting game, later released for the PlayStation. By the time we saw a sequel SOULEDGE had changed to the now familiar SOULCALIBUR which was considered by many to be a classic, and one of the key Dreamcast titles.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/02/2012
Intel are today releasing the new 520 series based on SandForce technology. Today we have one of those new drives on our test bench and will be comparing it in real world and synthetic tests against drives based on the latest Sandforce, Indilinx, Marvell and Samsung controllers.
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by Niall Coleman | 01/02/2012
Archos are back with an updated "Gen 9" version of the 101 Android tablet. Featuring Android 3.2.1 and updated specifications can it offer something worthwhile in an ever more crowded market?
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/01/2012
Regardless of the reason for its "late" arrival the 7950 launches today and one of our launch day cards is Sapphires 7950 Overclock. With a custom PCB and cooler this factory overclocked card has two different BIOS profiles and is without doubt one of the more interesting models available. We will be putting it up against overclocked versions of the GTX 580 3GB, 7970 and 6970 to find out how each performs on Intel i7/X79 @ 5.0GHz.
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/01/2012
XFX are back with the 7950 Black Edition, another 7900 series product which features a custom design and factory overclock. We will be putting it up against the GTX 580, 7970 and 6970 in a selection of real world tests, including Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic to find out whether it impresses.
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/01/2012
To complete the set of 7950 articles for today we have a HIS system set up and configured on an i7/X79 build and will be looking at CrossFire performance of AMD's new card in a selection of games which include Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic at resolutions up to 5760x1080 (Eyefinity).
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/01/2012
The Core i7-3820 will be released soon and already available to buy is the i7-3930K. We will be taking a look at both to determine where they sit in comparison to the older i7-990X, AMD FX-8150 and Intel i7-2700k in a selection of real world and synthetic tests.
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by Stuart Kerley | 26/01/2012
Today we'll be taking a look at the most recent FIFA game release by Electronic Arts, FIFA 12. It's been a few months since FIFA 12 came out however in the January sales it may well be on the wish list for some with money burning a hole in their pocket.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/01/2012
Looking to capitalise on their ever growing experience with Android and the success of those older V3 and Pebl products Motorola announced the new Razr (or Droid Razr) towards the end of 2011. This new device in the Razr family features unique high quality styling with some impressive specifications and aims to sit at the top of the smartphone market. Today we take a look at one in detail to see if it can compete in that area.
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by Niall Coleman | 18/01/2012
In this article we have decided to make our selection based on the past performance of the developer, publisher and previous title in the series (where appropriate) but ultimately, the game is in the list if we think it looks cool. This is our 20 games for 2012 in no particular order (other than alphabetical)...
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/01/2012
A number of years ago FSP started producing retail power supplies for desktop PCs and during 2011 released their 80 Plus Gold Certified range of PSUs. There are two ranges available in the Aurum range, standard and semi-modular and today we have the 650w version of the modular PSU on our test bench.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/01/2012
The newest addition to Gelid's product range is their first case, the DarkForce. We have one of the first samples on our test bench today and will be finding out of Gelid's newest product has what it takes to compete.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/01/2012
First up on our test bench is the HIS Radeon HD 7970 3GB. We will be putting it up against the best of the last generation in a selection of real world tests which include Battlefield 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Skyrim… all at 5760x1080. In addition to this we will also look at GPU computing and media performance as well as power and thermal performance.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/01/2012
Today we are finally able to talk about partner cards and so have paired up PowerColor's hardware in our test system and have retested the latest games such as Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic with single and dual GPU's on the latest drivers and game patches. What does the PowerColor 7970 and CrossFire offer us? Let's find out...
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/01/2012
With the only 'launch day' 7970 that features an enhanced cooler and factory overclock in hand we decided to put it up against overclocked GTX 580 3GB and Radeon 6970 cards to see what the performance looked like...
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/01/2012
What better to do with Sapphires 7970 than round up single and dual results then add in some tri-7970 action in games like Star Wars: The Old Republic. That not enough? Then we also take a look at their new X79 board and even throw in an attempt at Quad-7970... would it work? Let's find out!
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/01/2012
Today Cooler Master return to the Cosmos family with the launch of the Cosmos 2. This ultra tower chassis features aspects which remind us of the original Cosmos from 2007 but Cooler Master have brought it right up to date with more advanced features and an evolved design. We have one on our test bench so let's see what the case has to offer.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/12/2011
With the release of the A8-3870K AMD have a processor which is aimed very much at those who love to tweak and overclock but can't quite afford the higher cost of AMD or Intel's other components. Today we take a look at the potential of the A8-3870K on its own and in dual graphics mode to see what it offers for Skyrim, StarCraft 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic players.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/12/2011
Today we take a detailed look at the Radeon HD 7970 in the latest games, including Star Wars: The Old Republic and Batman: Arkham City. Added to that is GPU computing performance as well as 1080p playback tests and power, thermal and noise testing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/12/2011
Not everyone can afford 1000w+ units, especially Platinum certified products which always come with a premium so to cater for the mainstream Enermax has just released their Revolution87+ 850w model and we have one on our test bench today. Can it impress us as much as their new enthusiast models?
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/12/2011
Launched recently the Lumia 800 is Nokia's first Windows based phone and one of the first handsets in a new wave of devices on the platform. With the latest OS, version 7.5 (Mango), we have been using the handset for a week now in day to day use, read on to find out our thoughts on the handset and OS.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/12/2011
Yesterday Sapphire launched their latest motherboard, the Pure Black 990FX which is based on the latest high end AMD chipset and Socket AM3+. Today we have one on our test bench and will be pairing it with an FX 8-core CPU and 16GB of memory to find out how it compares to one of the better competitors out there. In addition to that we will also take a look at Sapphires new 6450 Flex Edition which should be ideal for those looking to maximise their productivity.
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by Stuart Kerley | 12/12/2011
Star Wars: The Old Republic, or SWTOR, is probably one of the most anticipated game releases of 2011 and certainly the most anticipated massively multiplayer online role playing game release in some years. First announced at the end of 2008, SWTOR has been developed by BioWare and of course is based in the Star Wars universe.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/12/2011
Now updated to include Razer's new (and just released) Synapse 2.0 cloud based driver/panel (with SW:TOR skin) and in-game screenshots of the Razer weapon customisations.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/12/2011
One of the latest systems to be released by Cyberpower is the LAN Party Evo Commander, a compact system aimed at gamers and those who want decent productivity performance. We have one on our test bench today so let's take a look at what Cyberpower can offer.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/12/2011
For consumers who prefer a more understated mechanical keyboard design than the shiny finish or clicky keys of the original BlackWidow Razer now offer the Stealth Edition. With its matte soft touch coating and low noise buttons this version of the Ultimate should open up the product to a wider market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/12/2011
Today's review product comes from the high end of the performance spectrum and is a kit designed for Intels X79 platform, though it will also work on dual channel boards. With an advertised speed of 2400MHz we put the latest Kingston HyperX modules through a selection of real world and synthetic tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/11/2011
Today we are looking at the latest SSD range from Corsair, the Performance Pro. Using a Marvell controller rather than Sandforce the Performance Pro offers a different approach to the majority of drives on the market. We'll find out how it compares with models based on the latest Indilinx, Samsung and Sandforce products in this review.
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by Stuart Kerley | 28/11/2011
Today we will be taking a look at Tekken Hybrid for the PlayStation 3. Tekken Hybrid offers a value priced remastered version of the classic Tekken Tag Tournament as well as a sneak peak at the forthcoming Tekken Tag Tournament 2 via a demo. As an added bonus the disc also features the full length computer-animated film Tekken: Blood Vengeance.
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by Niall Coleman | 25/11/2011
Now nine months after the original MvC 3 Capcom are releasing a low cost standalone expansion which is titled Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. With new characters and new features where does it fit in for the average consumer and those who bought the first edition?
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by Niall Coleman | 25/11/2011
Batman: Arkham City, developed by Rocksteady Studios, is the tense sequel to the 2009 release Batman: Arkham Asylum. Set inside a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, which functions as a new maximum security prison for all of Gotham's criminals.
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by Niall Coleman | 23/11/2011
As a first for AC Ryan the Veolo uses Android 2.2 (Froyo) as the OS, bringing an enhanced experience for apps on a TV, including casual games and social media and we have one on our test bench today to find out if the Veolo lives up to the high standards of previous AC Ryan models.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/11/2011
OCZ are back with yet another model in their SSD family and this time we see the results of using a controller which is based on Indilinx technology, something which hasn't really been present in high end drives for some time now. We'll be putting the Octane SSD through a selection of tests including real world and synthetic to see how it compares to models using the latest Samsung, Marvell and Sandforce controllers.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/11/2011
The CM Storm Trooper, which is probably the best case name ever, features a number of enthusiast features and packs them into a significant chassis, priced at a sub $190/140 level. This is CM Storm taking on the likes of Corsair's 600 series and Xigmatek's Elysium.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/11/2011
Those who have played, and loved, previous Elder Scrolls titles will know that the games are huge. Taking Oblivion as an example it was possible to play through that and its expansions reasonably quickly but the completists would see themselves playing for hundreds upon hundreds of hours to finish all of the side quests and discover everything the games had to offer.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/11/2011
As this is the fourth major release in the franchise it comes as no surprise that the overall gameplay in Revelations is very similar to the previous games. We are Desmond, plugged into the Animus and play Altair and Ezio who featured in the previous three titles.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/11/2011
Updated: ASRock Extreme4 results added. Intel Core i7-3960X Processor and X79 Chipset featuring: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme, ASRock X79 Extreme4, MSI X79A-GD68 8D, ECS X79R-AX and Intel DX79SI Extreme Series Motherboards.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/11/2011
One manufacturer who is pushing the 6970 to new limits is PowerColor. Famous for their PCS++ range they are no strangers to enhancing Radeons but this new card, the Devil 13 edition, goes further than ever before. Today we will be putting the Devil 13 up against an overclocked GTX 570 in Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Human Revolution and F1 2011 to find out how they compare.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/11/2011
The DS212j is the latest model in Synology's 2-bay NAS range for home use, offering file storage, sharing and data protection while minimising power use and noise. Today we take a look at the DiskStation DS212j to see how it performs, as well as covering setup and the latest DiskStation Manager operating system build.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/11/2011
Today's review product is the latest to come from the ECS Black Series range and is their take on AMD's 990FX chipset. This AM3 board is ideal for use with the new FX (Bulldozer) range of 8-core CPUs and features some excellent functionality such as support for SATA3, USB 3.0, Crossfire and SLI.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/11/2011
So what do Sega have in store for the 20th Anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog? Sonic Generations is the answer and today we take a look at the PS3 version hoping that Sega learned from the 15th anniversary title and have created something worthy of the original game.
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by Niall Coleman | 02/11/2011
Today we are taking our first look, an overview, of OnLive which is an on-demand service that streams games to your computer, TV or tablet PC. Requiring no discs, no hard-drive space, no downloads and no high-end components.
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by Craig Humphreys | 31/10/2011
The original title The House of the Dead launched in arcades way back in 1997, debuting a year later on the Sega Saturn. It was a classic light-gun outing sharing many gameplay dynamics with the Virtua Cop franchise and sequels have arrived on various platforms including PC, Xbox, Wii and now PlayStation 3.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/10/2011
Updated: Battlefield 3 performance added.
Today we have a custom GTX 560 Ti on our test bench and this model from Palit aims to offer enhanced gaming and thermal/noise performance along with adding a little extra style to the system.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/10/2011
The Slider, like the Transformer, is an attempt by ASUS to offer an attractive tablet which offers something different to the competition. With a built-in, slide out keyboard, the Slider is clearly aimed at those who love their hardware keyboards on mobile phones bringing the technology to the tablet arena. We have one of the early samples on our test bench today to find out if it lives up to the quality of the Transformer.
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by Craig Humphreys | 14/10/2011
Today the wait is over as the iPhone 4S is in our hands so join us as we take a look at Apples latest device to establish whether enough has been done to make it a desirable alternative to the ever evolving Android models.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/10/2011
Today we get to see for the first time how the top model in AMDs new FX range of CPUs, previously known as Bulldozer, performs against the existing Intel equivalent as we put the two CPUs head to head. Not only that though we will test their entire platform, testing gaming, USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s and PCIe performance.
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by Stuart Kerley | 12/10/2011
Following a short teaser campaign that Blizzard ran on their hugely popular World of Warcraft site they announced at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational in Paris that Diablo 3 was under development and much cheering could be heard from the fans of the series across the world.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/10/2011
Today's review product see's OCZ attempt to find a middle ground between the capacity of a mechanical drive and the speed of an SSD. That product is the RevoDrive Hybrid a PCIe based model which is part flash memory and part 1TB 2.5" hard drive.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/10/2011
The H100 is the new high end model in Corsairs Hydro range of liquid coolers and today we put it head to head with the H80 and Antec 920 to see how each compare.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/10/2011
It is fair to say that since it was originally announced in 2007 Rage from id Software has had some high expectations to live up to. After all the developers are responsible for some classic games including Doom and Quake. Since that original announcement the game has trundled towards release, id favouring a "when its done" style of development but over the past few months we have seen previews and events where the game was playable and nearing release.
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/10/2011
The G74Sx is a 17.3" enthusiast machine featuring Core i7 CPU and GTX 500 Series graphics along with a long list of other impressive features. Today we have a sample on our test bench to find out whether ASUS can compete in this area of the market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/10/2011
Regardless of what we think of the quality level found in more recent movies in the Aliens movie saga, there is one thing which can be said about the franchise as a whole; generally the games have been good. This is something of a rarity in the world of games based on movies.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/09/2011
One of the major manufacturers offering a Sandforce based SSD is Patriot with their Wildfire range of drives and today we have one attached to our system, putting it head to head with Intel's 510 model and the recently released Samsung 830 Series.
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by Craig Humphreys | 26/09/2011
Today we have the Classic HD Collection - ICO & Shadow of Colossus. Both games featured on the PlayStation 2, ICO back in 2001 followed by Shadow of Colossus in 2005 with both titles produced by Team ICO a division of Sony Entertainment Japan.
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by Stuart Kerley | 23/09/2011
On our test bench today we have one of the latest mechanical gaming keyboards to hit the market.The Meka G1 from Tt eSPORTS aims to give a desirable alternative to models from the likes of Razer and SteelSeries, let's take a closer look and see what it has to offer.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/09/2011
The 830 Series SSDs use Samsungs latest performance architecture, bringing the products into SATA 3 territory and taking on Sandforce and Marvell for the enthusiast user market. Can they succeed? Let's find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/09/2011
The ZOTAC A75-ITX WiFi and ASUS F1A75-I Deluxe are both Mini-ITX motherboards that are packed with features as well as support for the latest A8/A6 range of desktop APUs from AMD. We will be putting these two boards head to head in order to find out what they offer.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/09/2011
Today we have a case from BitFenix on our test bench, the Shinobi. From a range which offers various models to suit different tastes this low cost model has a number of impressive features on paper. Let's find out if BitFenix can find that middle ground between low cost and functionality/performance.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/09/2011
Today on our test bench we have the TX750M, a new addition to the TX range of high performance PSUs from Corsair. Aesthetically it is similar to the rest of the TX range however this time round Corsair have reduced the number of hard wired cables and introduced modular sockets for wiring that may not be essential.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/09/2011
At the beginning of September we took a look at a preview build of F1 2011, covering some of the major changes which have taken place since last years release. Now we have access to a near final build which allows us to review the game so read on to find out what we thought of the experience.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/09/2011
Next week see's Microsoft Games and Epic release Gears of War 3, the concluding part in the Gears Saga and we have been playing through the campaign. Read on to find out if Epic have been able to deliver a fitting end to the Delta Squad story.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/09/2011
Thermaltake have continued to evolve their products and one of the latest released is the DH 202 Touch chassis. Designed for home theatre use the DH 202 Touch features some high class styling and combines it with a 7" touch screen on the front panel. Today we take a look at that case in detail.
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by Stuart Kerley | 14/09/2011
God of War Collection - Volume II, is a budget release for the PlayStation 3 and includes the last two PlayStation Portable God of War games remastered in high definition for the PlayStation 3. In addition to this the two titles, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, also feature Stereoscopic 3D (a first in the God of War series).
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/09/2011
As with any product though there is always room for an upgrade here, a tweak there and that is exactly what Enermax have done to create the Platimax range. Building on the excellent foundations of the MAXREVO design is a unit which is 80 Plus Platinum certified and today attached to our test rig we have the 1200w model.
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by Stuart Kerley | 12/09/2011
Synology offers a range of options that allow it to cross the divide between home and small business use and today we'll be taking a look at the DiskStation DS411, a four bay NAS offering. In addition to this we'll also be looking at their brand new operating system that has just been released, DiskStation Manager 3.2.
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by Niall Coleman | 12/09/2011
Last month we previewed Hard Reset for the PC and found it to be a romping, stomping, carnage filled chaotic FPS with enjoyable gameplay and an engrossing environment. It combines all of the best bits of classic shoot 'em' ups and sets it in a Blade Runner/Cyber Punk 2020 style universe. This coupled with between level cut scenes reminiscent of a Frank Miller comic made the game stylish and engaging throughout.
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by Craig Humphreys | 10/09/2011
Resistance 3 is set four years after the events of Resistance 2 and Nathan Hale has succumbed to the Chimera so our new protagonist and member of the resistance Joseph Capelli has taken to hiding in a rats nest of tunnels under a small town in Oklahoma. Capelli narrates a very beautifully animated opening sequence to cover what has happened so far...
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by Niall Coleman | 09/09/2011
The HANNSpad has many of the same features and specifications as the ASUS Transformer but at a bargain 150 price. Let's find out if it is a worthwhile purchase and whether it is a tablet which is open to user customisation (Honeycomb on a 150 device anyone???).
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by Niall Coleman | 07/09/2011
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the third instalment in the Deus Ex series and was developed by Eidos Montreal. Set in a seedy, cynical 2027 and therefore a prequel to the original game this cyber punk style dystopia is on the brink of a new era, an era of self controlled evolution. Cybernetic implants that blend man and machine have allowed "augmented" humans to run faster, think quicker and be more than they could have been without them.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/09/2011
Driver San Francisco is no ordinary car based game though, yes it still has its roots in the same gameplay mechanic as the other titles in the range but this version adds a unique twist which could make or break it. Today we take a look at the latest version to find out whether Reflections bold decision succeeds and whether it is worth your hard earned cash at a time when major gaming releases are hitting the shelves fast.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/09/2011
With F1 2009, and more importantly F1 2010 Codemasters proved that they were capable of taking their experience with the Colin McRae and Grid franchises and taking them to a more simulation like basis and later this month F1 2011 hits the shelves. We have had access to a preview built to find out what the latest update to the franchise adds to the impressive foundations set by the 2010 edition, so let's take a look.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/09/2011
In Bodycount we are an employee of The Network, a global organisation which answers to no-one, being above the law and looking to save the world by resolving conflicts across the globe. At the start of the game we are dropped into central Africa and tasked with finding out why a previously cold war has suddenly sparked into chaos between the two opposing sides of the conflict.
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by Stuart Kerley | 01/09/2011
Now SteelSeries have released their third generation of WoW mouse The Legendary Edition which ties itself into the game via the legendary tag. Legendary equipment in World of Warcraft is very rare and difficult to come by and those that possess it quite rightly have a very high level of satisfaction. So today we take a closer look to see if SteelSeries have been able to continue the good evolution of their WoW hardware.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/08/2011
A few weeks ago we covered the Corsair Force Series GT drive, a performance tuned model based on Sandforce technology. Today we have the Force Series 3 drive on our test bench, a drive that aims to target a lower price point while still offering excellent performance.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/08/2011
Today we have the XPS 8300 based on H67 and 2nd Generation Core CPUs (SandyBridge). With prices starting at 429/$699 the XPS 8300 is advertised as offering great multi-tasking performance and decent gaming/media features. Let's find out if Dell has achieved that.
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by Craig Humphreys | 10/08/2011
Today we're taking a look at a product designed to simplify and streamline our console experience. We're taking a look at Vogel's TwistDock for PS3, compatible with both Original and Slim models.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/08/2011
Today we have the higher specification RevoDrive model, the X2 attached to our test system and will be putting it through a selection of real world and synthetic tests to find out if OCZ can meet their claims of 1500MB/s speed and 230k IOPS.
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/07/2011
Yesterday the Heaven Media team was invited along to a Namco Bandai event in London to have a look at a handful of their latest titles that are currently still in production. Located at the Bargehouse situated on the Thames in London, Namco Bandai took over the whole building with a large free play area on the top floor and then 5 separate rooms throughout the building each displaying a new title.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/07/2011
Today we have the Fatality Z68 Professional Gen 3 which is a board which works with today's PCIe 2.0 based hardware but also includes all the components required to support future 1155 CPUs and PCIe 3.0. For anyone looking to buy a board that will last through their next few upgrades this could well be the product to go for so let's put it through our usual test suite...
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/07/2011
The GTX 580M is available in Alienware's M18x and M17x systems with the M17x also offering the option of a 3D enabled display. We took a look at the M17x R3 back in February and today we revisit it, equipped this time with the GTX 580M to find out in a selection of real world gameplay just how fast NVIDIA's GPU is...
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/07/2011
Our Fallout: New Vegas review has now been updated to include content from Lonesome Road, the latest DLC pack.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/07/2011
The latest range of SSD's from Samsung is the 470 Series with models available in 64, 128 and 256GB. Today we have the largest model attached to our main test PC and will compare it to models from Intel and OCZ in a selection of synthetic and real world tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/07/2011
Today we will be putting the M14x through a selection of real world tests which include media encoding and playback as well as gaming. We'll be putting this i7 based laptop up against an i5 model in a selection of those tests to find out how much extra performance we can get and whether the system can game satisfactorily a its native resolution.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/07/2011
Today we have the latest and greatest from Corsair and Antec connected to our test system as we put the H80 and Kuhler 920 head to head in order to find out which is best. Can Corsair (and CoolIT's) latest design beat the critically acclaimed Asetek/Antec model?
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/07/2011
At its core F.E.A.R 3 is a modern day first person shooter so all of the key ingredients are here, the ability to carry multiple weapons, including two of the same type for dual handed attacks, we can zoom to target and health regenerates when we seek cover. Day 1 have however retained some of the key aspects of the original title which ensure that this feels like a F.E.A.R title, the main thing being the ability to slow time while attacking which allows us to target and attack multiple enemies more successfully in dangerous situations.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/07/2011
HIS are bucking the trend for custom 6950s today with a new version of the 6970, the IceQ Mix. While it has a name which could make people think of a cold drink it is actually a rather interesting take on the 6970 featuring a large, low noise custom cooler and the first real attempt we have seen at implementing Lucids HydraLogix 200 controller on a graphics card.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/07/2011
Today we will be putting the 6950 PCS+ Vortex 2 and its unique cooler through a selection of real world gaming, multimedia and GPU computing tasks to see how it stacks up against some of the best competitor cards on the market.
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by Stuart Kerley | 12/07/2011
Recently Cooler Master expanded their HAF range further with the release of the HAF 932 Advanced, a refreshed version of the popular HAF 932 which has been around for a while now. Today we have the Advanced version of the HAF 932 on our test bench so let's find out whether it is a worthwhile evolution of the original.
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by Stuart Kerley | 11/07/2011
Now with a refreshed version of the Siberia V2 headset SteelSeries are expanding their range further to include PS3 compatibility on a product which also works with Xbox 360, PC and Mac. Could this be the best solution for those who game on multiple products? Let's find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/07/2011
With the British F1 Grand Prix taking place this weekend Codemasters have released a selection of screenshots which show off the visual quality of their upcoming F1 2011. Here they are...
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by Niall Coleman | 08/07/2011
Dungeon Siege 3 is the latest instalment in the Dungeon Siege series and is being released by Square ENIX and Obsidian. In it we return to the Kingdom of Ehb to find the 10th Legion destroyed by Jeyne Kassynder. The last surviving Legionnaire, The Venerable Odo (no relation to Star Trek), has protected the Legion's decedents for 30 years hoping that the time would become right to take back the Kingdom.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/07/2011
The Force GT is the latest in Corsair's range of SandForce based SSDs and features a tweaked architecture which should benefit reading and writing of music and video files (uncompressible data). Today we will be putting the 120GB model through a selection of synthetic and real world tests to find out how it compares to an alternative model which is also tuned for OS use rather than maximum IOPS.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/07/2011
Dell are back with the XPS 15z, a slimmer, higher specification model which combines an aluminium chassis with 2nd Generation Core CPU and GeForce GPU in a portable form factor which Dell states is the thinnest 15" PC available, anywhere. Today we have the XPS 15z on our test bench and will be putting it through a selection of real world and synthetic tests to find out if the great features and performance of the XPS 15 has been continued in this new model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/07/2011
Taking the foundations of their DirectCU II GTX 580 ASUS have further enhanced the design, aiming it at enthusiasts with the addition of voltage read points, on-board buttons for fan and power adjustments and making it part of the Republic of Gamers brand. So today we have the Matrix GTX 580 Platinum on our test bench and will be finding out in a selection of real world gaming tests, including Crysis 2 with DX11 and high res textures and GPU computing, whether this is now the ultimate GTX 580... or maybe even the best single GPU product ever released...
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/06/2011
The AMD Radeon 6950 is a card which has been available for nearly 7 months but that doesn't seem to be stopping manufacturers from tweaking the design to suit their needs and one of the latest to do so (again) is Sapphire. In the form of a custom PCB, custom cooler model with a bundle designed to please even the most demanding consumers we have the Sapphire Radeon 6950 DiRT 3 Edition.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/06/2011
Today we are looking at a drive which OCZ hope will find a slightly more value orientated place in the market, the Agility 3. Based on the same controller as the Vertex 3 range we still get the same great features however the other internal components have been tweaked slightly. We will be putting the drive through a selection of tests to find out how it compares to one of the main competitors, the Intel 510 Series.
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/06/2011
Originally designed by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the creator of Rez, Child of Eden has a similar concept to that 2001 game updated for a 2011 audience who of course have access to Kinect. Since launch we have been delving into Eden in both standard and Kinect mode in the hope that it would provide the first must have Kinect experience... read on to find out if it achieved that goal and why it is the first game we have ever decided not to rate.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/06/2011
Every so often though we like to take a look at what the major manufacturers have to offer, something which will be particularly relevant for those building a new system or wondering how they can get some extra zip from an existing build and today is one of those days. We'll be using our high end X58 build to look at kits which each have their own unique selling points to find out what Corsair, Crucial, G.Skill, Kingston and Patriot have to offer in the triple channel DDR3 market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/06/2011
To tie in with Valve's Midweek Madness on Steam we take a look back at Section 8: Prejudice, a game which impressed us greatly a few months ago. With 66% of the already fantastic $15/10 RRP it is now a must buy title.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/06/2011
It seems that these initial devices for platforms other than the PC have been a success for SteelSeries as we are now starting to see multiple products receive a refresh for alternate compatibility. The latest to hit the market is the revised version of the 7H headset, this time giving us full compatibility with iPod, iPad and iPhone as well as an improved experience with other portable devices.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/06/2011
Brink has a futuristic setting where Earth has flooded and a large chunk of civilisation has moved to a large floating city called The Ark. Designed initially as a sustainable living environment which was populated by great minds of the day as well as the rich it now finds itself surrounded by un-sailable ships and Container City, a slum which is the home of the Resistance a group of people with nowhere else to go and no access to even the basic standards of living.
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/05/2011
Today we will be taking a look at two AMD 990FX boards and comparing them to a similarly spec'd Z68 system to find out what the new boards offer in today's marketplace. As always we will be focusing on motherboard specific tests such as USB3, PCIe and SATA 6Gb/s tests with a few more general benchmarks thrown in for good measure.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/05/2011
Like any manufacturer Lian Li are always trying to evolve their product range and meet the needs of consumers and the latest high end chassis to be released by them is the PC-P80N, a HPTX compatible tower with 6 pre-installed fans, support for 39cm graphics cards, 11 expansion slots and much more. On paper the PC-P80N looks great, can it live up to these impressive first impressions.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/05/2011
Today on our test bench we have the GTX 560 iChill from their Freezer X Series. What does that mean? It means a triple slot cooler, custom PCB and factory overclock and we will look at how the card performs in some of the latest games, such as DiRT 3, The Witcher 2 and Portal 2. The tests don't stop there though as we will, as always, take a look at media playback, 3D Vision performance and GPU computing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/05/2011
Now Sapphire are expanding their 6670 range with the introduction of the (silent) Ultimate Edition and today we have that version of the card on our test bench. We will be running it through a selection of real world tests which include DiRT 3 and The Witcher 2 as well as HD playback with GPU computing rounding things off.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/05/2011
Today's review product is the 240GB Max IOPS edition of the Vertex 3 and we will be putting it up against Intel's 510 series and Crucials M4/C400 series SSDs with a similar capacity in a selection of real world and synthetic tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/05/2011
The first thing which Codemasters are keen to put across is that DiRT 3 is a huge game, their biggest ever and it features double the track content of v2 with three times the rally-specific content. The best cars from the last 5 decades are included (think Group B Audi Quattro) and we start our career as a full-fledged action sports driver with a top-flight career. The aim, to increase our global standing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/05/2011
Today we have a chance to look at the stereo Chimaera's big brother, the full 5.1 surround sound model and find out if the addition of Dolby technology has taken the Chimaera from excellent gaming headset to a high end high definition media peripheral.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/05/2011
For anyone looking to upgrade their system for 1080p gaming NVIDIA claim this GPU will deliver for less than $199(150)... let's find out if it does as we take a look at the Palit Sonic Platinum edition of the new GTX 560 in a selection of real world gaming tests mixed with some 3D playback, GPU computing and media tasks.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/05/2011
Today on our test bench we have the LG Optimus 2X (G2x for our American readers) which is the world's first dual core phone, containing NVIDIA Tegra 2 technology for advanced graphics with high end performance and features. Is it a leap forward in mobile communications or does it signal a switch to phones becoming "just a small tablet"...
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by Stuart Kerley | 10/05/2011
Today we will be looking at the CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G gaming mouse. The Z3RO-G is an upgrade to the original Sentinel gaming mouse which we reviewed back in 2009. Since then CM Storm have added to their mouse line with the Inferno and the Spawn, both of which we liked enormously so lets see what the now experienced design team have created this time...
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/04/2011
Today we have the PowerColor 6870 PCS++ which includes an enhanced PCB and cooler and overclocked specifications. What card should it go up against? Well that would be the latest Inno3D GTX 560 Ti with triple slot cooler and its own overclock. We will be putting both cards through a selection of real world gaming, media and GPU computing tasks to find out which consumers each suits.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/04/2011
Under the Tritton brand Mad Catz have a number of headsets which are designed to excel at their various price points. At the top of the range is the AX Pro 5.1, a true 5.1 headset which has features such as optical in and compatibility with PS3 and XBOX 360 as well as PC. Today we run the AX Pro through a selection of tests to find out if it is as impressive in the headset market as the R.A.T. 9 was for mice.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/04/2011
Today we have two of the new value orientated Radeons on our test bench, the Sapphire 6570 and 6670. These cards are more than just rebranded reference designs thanks to their Arctic Cooling coolers and redesigned PCB's so let's take a look at how they perform in some of the most popular games around, as well as GPU computing and media related tasks.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/04/2011
Today Alienware is launching a number of new machines including a new revision of the M11x the R3. We have one of the first samples on our test bench and will be putting it through a selection of real world gaming, media and productivity tests to find out if the latest model retains the high level of build quality and performance we saw in the last revision.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/04/2011
UPDATE: SLI Testing has now been added to our coverage.
The M18x as the name suggests is an 18" model and we have been putting one of the first samples through its paces over the last few days. Join us as we find out through a selection of real world tests what Alienware can do when they have an 18" chassis to play with.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/04/2011
With new 4 cards launched from 80 to 250 we have a bunch of products which are ideal for a roundup to see what we, the consumers, get at each price point. Which of the latest games can each play and are any of them suitable for gaming at 5760x1080. We will answer those questions today as well as looking at media playback and GPU computing performance.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/04/2011
Despite the reference designs impressive cooling solution there were consumers who demanded enhanced versions of the GTX 580 with enhanced cooler. One of the latest to deliver this is Inno3D with their custom GTX 580 HAWK Edition. As well as featuring an enhanced cooler and some tweaks on the style of the card it also has 3GB of memory rather than the standard 1.5GB. Lets see how it performs in a selection of real world tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/04/2011
Intel's recently released 310 Series SSDs take a different approach to the other models in their product catalogue. The 310 series is based on a mini-PCIe technology, is a similar size to a laptop Wi-Fi adapter but still claims desktop like performance. Today we take a look at the 80GB model to find out what it offers the market in a selection of real world and synthetic tests against a standard 5400rpm laptop drive.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/04/2011
Earlier in the week we took a look at AMD (and Sapphires) new midrange DirectX 11 GPU and commented at the time that the refresh of lower end parts from 5000 to 6000 series was taking some time. The 6790 filled the gap in the 6000 series at around 110 which left the sub 100 mark to populate and today we get a taste of one model that AMD has to offer in that area with a look at the 6450 which will hit retail in a couple of weeks time.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/04/2011
With the release of NVIDIAs GTX 550 Ti at $150 a few weeks ago the market changed slightly and AMD had a new product to consider, today we see their response in the form of the 6790, our first 6700 series product and on our test bench is Sapphires version. We will be putting it up against the 550 Ti (as well as a few other products) in a selection of the latest games, media playback and GPU computing tests to establish how good the new Radeon is.
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/04/2011
Today we have one of the B3 revision motherboards on our test bench, a mini-ITX model from Gigabyte, which packs a whole load of features into a tiny PCB. We'll be putting that model through its paces, along with the low energy 2100/2500T CPUs, in a selection of synthetic and real world tests to find out how they perform with a mini-ITX Fusion system included as a performance baseline.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/03/2011
Today we have their recently announced Kulo gaming headset connected to our test system. Can this product with a compact, lightweight on-ear design continue the trend of high quality devices from Roccat? Let's find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/03/2011
With the recent release of the Radeon 6990 AMD overtook the GTX 580 in framerate performance, giving them the chance to claim they had the fastest graphics card available. On launch day we all knew that this might not last for long though as it was clear that NVIDIA was readying their long awaited dual GPU upgrade. Today that product is released and it is called the GTX 590.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/03/2011
Today NVIDIA released their updated driver, 267.84 and we have taken that, 5 recently released games (including Crysis 2, BulletStorm and Shogun 2) and tested at 1920x1080 and 5760x1080 with the 6990 and GTX 590 overclocked to their limit. Read on to find out which is faster when both are pushed as far as they will go on a heavily overclocked Intel Core i7-990X.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/03/2011
Since this reviewer started testing components there has been little change in the way we connect external storage devices. USB, primarily 2.0 has been the main connection method with some manufacturers dabbling with eSATA, Firewire and even LAN connectors with varying success. Finally though it looks like we will be moving on from the 30MB/s cap of USB 2.0 as pretty much every device from low cost net tops to high end motherboards now come through our labs with USB 3.0 connectivity.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/03/2011
The GX660R is available in various flavours, including Core-i7 based builds and comes with the same high-end Dynaudio speakers that were used in the GT660 with the graphics also receiving an upgrade to AMD's DX11 enabled Mobility 5870... That "R" in the model name, that's for RAID. In theory that all sounds like a system with a high end price tag but MSI have decent spec builds starting at a little under 999 which seems too good to be true. Let's find out if it is...
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/03/2011
Over the last year or so one of the more popular models in the mainstream area has been the GeForce GTS 450, a card which many consumers saw as offering a good balance of features and performance for the price. As the NVIDIA product catalogue changed, seeing the release of the GTX 560, 570 and 580 this meant there was a reasonable gap between the GTS 450 and the 460/560 Ti and today we see the release of a product designed to improve on the GTS model while filling the space below the higher specification cards.
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by Stuart Davidson | 11/03/2011
Today we have a sample of Intel's new 510 series SSD connected to our test system. The latest range from Intel brings their SSD platform right up to date with high end specifications and today we will find out how it compares to models such as Crucials C300, Corsairs F240 and even the OCZ Vertex 3 in a selection of synthetic and real world tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/03/2011
The ZX Series 850W is the first model in OCZ's new range of Gold Certified PSUs, a fully modular unit it is designed for high efficiency and low noise operation. Let's see if OCZ can achieve these goals.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/03/2011
The Radeon 6990 has just launched and today we will be putting it up against the GTX 580 and 570 (with SLI) as well as the 5970 to find out how the new card from AMD compares. As well as the standard 1920x1080 tests we will also cover 5760x1080 on all products, 3D Blu-Ray, GPU computing, power, noise, temps and overclocking.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/03/2011
We have one of the first retail branded 6990s in our test system and have combined it with the reference 6990 model to look at performance when gaming on one and three screens. This includes Dragon Age 2, Crysis 2 and of course the customary run through 3DMark 2011.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/03/2011
Over the last month or so we have taken a look at a number of GTX 560 Ti models from various manufacturers and in the majority of cases we have been impressed. The stock GTX 560 Ti is a good card with great performance for the price and offers a nice entry into stereoscopic 3D and PhysX. That said the reference design does have some stiff competition from the Radeon 6870 and more recently the 6950 1GB.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/02/2011
Just about a year ago OCZ released their latest high performance SATA SSD, the Vertex 2 which was based on SandForce's latest controller. That drive was a huge success, surpassing the performance of its main competitor at the time, drives based on Indilinx controllers. Today we see the successor to that product launch, the Vertex 3 which runs on SandForce's latest controller and we have a 240GB sample on our test bench to find out how it compares to products currently on the market in a selection of real world and synthetic tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/02/2011
Today we will be looking at one of the first custom versions of the 6950 1GB, the XFX XXX and in the process we will take a detailed look at 1920x1080 performance as well as 5760x1080 (Eyefinity) and CrossFire. To spice things up a little we are adding in a detailed look at building an Eyefinity system for high end gaming, high end wheel and stick controllers... video of the system running... the works.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/02/2011
When Razer offered us their licenced TRON mouse and mat we were a little sceptical about the products, wary due to our experience with other licenced products but still hoping that with this particular set of items that Razer could reach their normal levels of quality. Read on to find out how they did.
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by Stuart Kerley | 10/02/2011
ROCCAT have released an updated version of the KOVA, the KOVA[+]. We first looked at the original KOVA in late 2009 and liked its overall performance so were keen to see if they could improve on it as they did with the previous [+] model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/02/2011
Gainward have covered all bases and brought the - Phantom branding to the mainstream cards. This means that we get an enhanced cooler, redesigned card and in theory, better performance than the reference model... all of the benefits of the high end card at a much more affordable price. Today we have the GTX 560 Ti Phantom 2 on our test bench and will be putting it up against a selection of cards in a similar price bracket to see how it compares in real world gaming, media and GPU computing tasks.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/02/2011
We will be running this enhanced version of the 6970 through a selection of real world tests to find out how it compares to the GTX 570 and will include maximum overclock results in each case... all on an i7 CPU running at 4.4GHz.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/02/2011
One of the more recent enhanced 6870 models to hit the market is Sapphires Vapor-X model. It features a custom PCB and enhanced cooler to make it stand out from the crowd and that, combined with Sapphires TriXX utility for overclocking and voltage increases means we have a very interesting product on our test bench today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/02/2011
Today on our test bench we have Gainward's 3GB GTX 580 Phantom3 and the massive Asus GTX 580 DirectCU 2. Tests will include real world gaming, 3DMark 11, media playback, and GPU computing. Then, for the first time on Hardware Heaven, all gaming tests will include stereoscopic 3D results.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/02/2011
Today we will be putting the M17x R3 with its Sandy Bridge components, 120Hz screen and 3D Vision kit through a selection of real world tests to find out how it compares to a desktop P67 system, the original 2009 model M17x and the R2 from 2010.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/01/2011
Today we have the HIS Radeon 6970 Turbo on our test bench and have paired it with an overclocked Core i7-980X to see how well it performs against the standard 6970 and GTX 570 in a selection of real world gaming tests, media playback, stereoscopic 3D and GPU computing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/01/2011
One of the more impressive looking enhanced 6950s is the PowerColor PCS++ model and today we have one of those on our test bench. With an enhanced cooler and significantly increased specifications over the standard 6950 we will be putting it up against the GTX 570 and Radeon 6970 to see if it can compete with those, more expensive models.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/01/2011
Over the past day we have taken a look in detail at NVIDIAs new GTX 560 TI. Aspects which have been covered include single card performance, SLI, stereoscopic 3D, Blu-Ray playback, GPU computing and PhysX amongst other things. As always though we like to end our launch coverage with a look in more detail at overclocked performance...
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/01/2011
In the first of our GTX 560 Ti launch articles we have the Palit GTX 560 Ti Sonic on our test bench and will be running it through a selection of real world tests to establish how well it performs against the current line-up from AMD and NVIDIA. Tests will include Black Ops, Crysis, F1 2010 and of course our usual selection of GPU computing and multimedia tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/01/2011
To cover SLI testing on the GTX 560 Ti we are using the ASUS Direct CU2 TOP Edition, a custom designed version of the product which is factory overclocked. We will be testing the card against the 6870 in CrossFire to see, in real world scenarios, which multi-GPU configuration offers the best experience. As always Surround gaming videos will be included, as will 5760x1080 screenshots.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/01/2011
Back in 2009 we reviewed the first of Razers Naga mice and found it to be a great item for MMO players. Then, just a few weeks ago we took a look at a refreshed model, the Naga Molten which added some design tweaks and once again the quality of the mouse shone through. Now Razer has released something we have been waiting a long time for, the Naga Epic mouse. This is the true successor to the original product and adds a number of new features; could this be the perfect MMO mouse? Let's find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/01/2011
The subjects of our review today are the H67H2-M Black Deluxe and H67H2-I which are two boards from the m-ATX and mini ITX product families at ECS. We will be running each through a selection of synthetic and real world tests, including Blu-Ray 3D and GPU computing to see how they compare to the reference Intel board.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/01/2011
On our test bench today we have an evolution of the Core architecture in the form of Intels Sandy Bridge components. These Include the P67 and H67 chipsets and two CPUs, one from the i5 range and the other from the i7.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/01/2011
Today on our test bench we have the latest product from Western Digital. The Caviar Green 3TB drive has the highest capacity of any desktop drive on the market at the moment and today we will look at how easy it is to set up along with the performance that can be achieved in single drive and RAID 0 modes.
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by Stuart Kerley | 30/12/2010
Now Razer has released a special edition Naga mouse, designed to tie into the new expansion for World of Warcraft. The Razer Naga Molten Special Edition has unique graphics which match the new Cataclysm expansion and today we have one connected to our test system. Read on to find out what we think of the latest addition to Razers range.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/12/2010
On our test bench today we have one of the first cards to tweak the GTX 570 design. Gainwards GTX 570 GLH Edition features their own cooler and a factory overclock to enhance the performance over reference cards. We will put it through a selection of real world tests which include Black Ops, stereoscopic 3D gaming, Blu-Ray 3D and GPU computing to see how it compares to the reference model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/12/2010
Today on our test bench we have the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, the latest high end soundcard from Creative which sets out to be the best audio card available for consumers. Aimed at audiophiles and featuring top of the range components with specifications such as the best signal to noise ratio Creative has ever achieved we will find out if this is the must have sound card of the moment.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/12/2010
UPDATED: Overclocking Analysis
The Radeon EAH6870 DirectCU is a factory overclocked model which claims to run cooler than the reference model and certainly looks different. We will be running it through a selection of real world tests to find out how it performs in gaming, multimedia and GPU computing tasks. These include Blu-Ray 3D, Stereoscopic 3D gaming and the latest releases such as Black Ops and H.A.W.X. 2.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/12/2010
On our test bench is a GTX 570 from Gigabyte and the Radeon 6970/6950 from Sapphire. We will be overclocking each of these and putting them head to head against each other and an overclocked Radeon 5870 to find out how the new cards compare in this scenario. As always real world gameplay will be used, including Black Ops and HAWX 2 and just for fun we will throw in 3DMark 2011 Professional.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/12/2010
Today the Radeon 6970 and 6950 hit the market and we have XFX branded models on our test bench. We will be putting the 6900 series through a selection of real world gaming, CPU computing and stereoscopic 3D tests against the GTX580 and 570 to see where these new products fit in the market. Added to that are 2-way and 3-way CrossFire testing and a look at the power, noise and thermal performance of the cards to ensure a thorough evaluation of the latest and greatest from AMD.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/12/2010
Today AMD are launching the latest version of their X6 CPU in the form of the Phenom 2 X6 1100T Black Edition. This new CPU is the fastest 6-core AMD chip to be released and comes in at a price which is almost identical to Intels quad core i7-950. For that reason we will be putting the two head to head in order to find out which performs best in a selection of tests from Gaming to media playback and encoding.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/12/2010
Not everyone can afford the highest specification, fastest graphics card though and for that reason, less than a month on, NVIDIA are launching the GTX 570. On our test bench we have a model from Inno3D which is factory overclocked and we will be putting it through its paces in a selection of real world tests which include Black Ops, Stereoscopic 3D gaming, GPU Computing, Blu-Ray 3D playback and we will even throw in a quick look at 3DMark 2011 Professional.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/12/2010
Today's review product is Dells new 15" XPS, the L501X which retails for just 549 in the UK at the moment and also has a $100 discount in the USA. We will be putting the system through a selection of real world tests which include Blu-Ray 3D playback, media encoding and gaming to find out whether this new system makes the ideal winter purchase.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/12/2010
In the next few days stock of the revised XFX Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition will be landing at a store near you and today we have one of the very first samples on our test bench. With a brand new dual fan cooler and factory overclock can it compete with a top of the range GTX 460? We will find out as it is put through a selection of real world tests which include Black Ops, F1 2010, Blu-Ray 3D and GPU computing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/12/2010
On our test bench today we have one of the latest products from ASUS, the P7H55-M/USB3. Based on Intel's Socket 1156 and the H55 chipset this Micro-ATX board includes the latest features such as SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0. We will be putting it through a selection of real world tests to find out how well it performs against a comparable H57 model when using the Core i5-655K.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/12/2010
UPDATE April 2011: Details of our experience with the new Essential Wireless Dongle available on page 7.
A.C. Ryan are back with the next model in the Playon!HD family, the Essential. With an all new Realtek processor, improved GUI and feature-set aimed at no-fuss operation can the Essential live up to the high standards of previous models?
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/11/2010
Today we have a custom-built performance system on our test bench; aimed at consumers who want a good base specification with potential for future upgrades the Fusion Challenger retails for 699 and features a Core i3 CPU at 4.0GHz and plenty of configuration options during the purchase process.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/11/2010
One of the latest chassis models released by NZXT is the Phantom, a case designed to provide excellent cooling potential with their usual stand-out design. We have the white model on our test bench today and will find out if it meets the needs of the enthusiast/gamer market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/11/2010
On our test bench today is one of the first samples of Dell's Inspiron One range. With a 23" multi-touch screen, Core i5 CPU, Radeon graphics and Blu-Ray we have an impressive system on paper. We will be putting the Inspiron One through a selection of real world tests which include touch screen gaming (StarCraft 2), media conversion and Blu-Ray playback. Videos of the system in action will of course also be available.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/11/2010
Cryo describe the Rapier as an entry level system and at first glance it could be with a Core i3 processor and P55 motherboard as some of its main components. When we consider that this i3 CPU is actually running at 4.48GHz things get a little more interesting though, so let's look at what Cryo can do for under 800.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/11/2010
In this article we have decided to take a look at how one of the more desirable 5770s on the market performs in 5 of the most recent games (Black Ops, Fallout New Vegas, Medal of Honor, Civilization V and F1 2010). Our aim is to see how it plays at the highest "normal" resolution of 1920x1080 with maximum in-game detail. Can the 5770 be the ideal solution for serious gamers on a budget?
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/11/2010
Sapphire rarely does anything half-heartedly though and the focus of today's review is their take on an enhanced 6850. This is more than just a new cooler and factory overclock though as they have completely changed the product to enhance its performance and overclocking potential.
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by Stuart Davidson | 11/11/2010
Today's comparison is the GTX 580, overclocked to the fastest speed we have seen advertised by a manufacturer on standard air cooling against the 6870 in Crossfire with the same highest overclock rule. In addition to that we will also add the 5970, in full. Each of the cards will be tested in a selection of the latest games including Call of Duty: Black Ops, F1 2010 (DX11 Patch) and Fallout: New Vegas with the latest patch.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/11/2010
Today we have not one, not two but three GTX 580's on our test bench and we will be running them through a huge amount of real world testing to show everyone reading the complete picture of GTX 580. It's all here in comparisons which include the GTX 480, Radeon 5870, 5870 Crossfire, 5970 and 6870.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/11/2010
On our test bench today we have two cards from the 150-165 price range which sit on either side of the NVIDIA and AMD divide. Those products are the Inno3D GTX 460 OC and PowerColor's Radeon HD 6850 and we will be putting each through a selection of real world tests to find out what their strengths and weaknesses are.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/11/2010
We will be putting the RevoDrive X2 up against the original and one of the top performing SSDs on the market, Crucial's SATA 6GB/s based C300 256GB to find out how they compare in a selection of synthetic and real world tests. By the end of the review you will know exactly how OCZ's latest product will affect your daily PC use and productivity.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/11/2010
Today we have one of the top end GTX 470's on our test bench, the Gigabyte GTX 470 Super Overclock. It features custom PCB, cooler and the fastest core we have seen on a GTX 470 to date. We will be putting it through a selection of tests including Medal of Honor, Fallout New Vegas (3D Vision), F1 2010 (DX11 Patch) and 3D Blu-Ray playback to find out how much Gigabyte have improved on the reference design.
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by Stuart Kerley | 01/11/2010
A.C. Ryan have just released the new Playon!DVR HD, an upgrade to the original Playon! HD with an integrated TV tuner and DVR. Not only that, they are powering through the firmware releases, fixing bugs and adding features regularly and with the most recent update available last week now seems like an ideal time to review the product.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/10/2010
Today we will put the Zino HD 410 through a selection of tests including Blu-Ray and MKV playback, encoding and even some gaming to find out whether this model meets the needs of consumers looking for a new mini-system.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/10/2010
Today we have a number of brand new AMD 6800 Series cards on our test bench and will be putting them through a selection of real world tests including standard gaming, Eyefinity gaming, Stereo 3D gaming using the latest Zalman 3D monitor, 3D Blu-Ray playback and GPU computing to see where they find themselves in the marketplace.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/10/2010
Once again the designers at Antec have been given the chance to attack the case market with a novel product and that goes by the name of the LanBoy Air. This new case from Antec sticks with a reasonably standard layout but the chassis itself is modular with massive airflow thanks to the majority of the chassis being perforated.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/10/2010
Today ASRock are back with their latest mini-PC, the Vision 3D. Based on Intel's H55 chipset and NVIDIA's Fermi based GT425M graphics this model gives consumers a simple way to add a Blu-Ray 3D based HTPC to their home cinema. Today we put that system through a selection of real world tests including Blu-Ray 3D playback, media encoding and gaming to establish if this system offers more than just 3D capability.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/10/2010
There is one significant headset which we haven't yet tested... and should have long before now. That product is Razer's Carcharias which is still their high end gaming product and today we have one plugged into our test system to see how it performs in an ever evolving marketplace.
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by Stuart Davidson | 11/10/2010
Today we have Zotac's GeForce GT 430 Zone Edition on our test bench and have run it through a selection of real world tests to establish where it sits in the current market. Tests include gaming, 3D Vision, PhysX, CUDA (GPU Computing) and 3D Blu-Ray playback so by the end of this article we will know exactly what NVIDIA's new budget GPU is capable of.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/10/2010
The Kone[+] is an evolution of the original model which retains many of the impressive features and adds to them some impressive upgrades and refinements.
Can it match or exceed our opinions on the G700? Let's find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/10/2010
We have two of PowerColor's Radeon 5870 PCS+ cards on our test bench. We will be running them through 1920x1080 and 5760x1080 tests in a number of the latest games, including Medal of Honor, Civilisation 5 and F1 2010 to see what the user experience is like (Eyefinity videos included). In addition to this we also look at GPU computing and HD playback to get a full overview of the PowerColor model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/10/2010
In addition to the ASRock Extreme6 we also have Intel's latest i7-970 CPU to test. So join us as we put some ultra-high end kit through its paces in real world testing which includes SATA3 and USB 3 performance, CrossFire Eyefinity and 3-Way SLI 3D Vision Surround gameplay in addition to our standard tests which include encoding and media playback.
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/09/2010
Today AMD are releasing their lastest batch of CPUs which include hex, quad and dual core models. We have one of each and have run them through a selection of real world tests including media playback, encoding, gaming and productivity tasks to find out where they sit in the current market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/09/2010
Today we take a look at how to set up a 3D Vision Surround system and then run it through a selection of real world gaming tests to find out the performance level we can achieve on the latest driver.
We will include a full selection of 5760x1080 screenshots, 5760x1080 gameplay videos and all of this running on three Asus VG236H screens with Zotac's GTX 480 AMP! Edition in SLI.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/09/2010
Today we will be putting three GTS 450s through their paces in a selection of real world gaming tests which include PhysX and 3D Vision. In addition to that we also take a look at the GPU Computing potential and fire up a Blu-Ray 3D title to check out the acceleration performance offered by the GTS 450.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/09/2010
Today on our test bench we have the GTX 460 Beast Edition which on paper exceeds any GTX 460 we have tested to date. We will be running it through a set of real world gameplay tests which include DirectX 9, 10 and 11 titles, PhysX, 3D Vision, 3D Blu-Ray and GPU Computing to establish just how good it is.
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/08/2010
Today we get the chance to put sample 0021 of the Black Edition Limited run through its paces. Tests will cover 5760x1080 Eyefinity gaming, GPU computing, HD playback and the usual selection of single screen gameplay... is this the most extreme 5970 ever? Can it play the latest games including Mafia 2 and StarCraft 2 at 5760x1080? Let's find out...
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/08/2010
There is one CPU from Intel which has remained at its price point without a refresh for some time now. That CPU is the Core i5-750 originally released in September 2009 it was long due a refresh and just a few weeks ago Intel made that move, releasing the Core i5-760. Today we have that very CPU on our test bench to find out how it compares with the older model and the direct competition from AMD at $200, the 1055T.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/08/2010
The 5850 PCS+ is a factory overclocked model with enhanced cooler and we will be putting it thorough a selection of real world tests, including StarCraft 2, to establish how it compares to the best 5830 on the market. In addition to this we will also take a look at how both cards perform in the recently released Mafia 2 and Lost Planet 2 benchmarks before concluding with some 3D Blu-Ray playback and GPU computing tasks.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/08/2010
Today Zotac are releasing their "AMP! Edition" of the GTX 460 and hope that its redesigned cooler and enhanced specifications will appeal to enthusiasts on a budget. Todaywe take a look at that card and find out in a selection of real world tests how it compares to the standard GTX 460 as well as a couple of Radeons in the same price range.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/08/2010
Today we have the XFX Radeon 5830 XXX Edition on our test bench and it will be put through its paces in a selection of real world gaming, multimedia and GPU computing tasks. As always these will feature DirectX 11 titles such as Alien Vs. Predator but we have also updated our test suite to include a first look at Mafia 2, Lost Planet 2 as well as StarCraft 2 and 3D Blu-Ray.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/08/2010
Today Seasonic release the next PSU in their X-Series range, the X-400FL which aims to bring the same exceptional quality and performance to a new market segment. We have one of the first samples on our test bench so let's find out if it meets our expectations.
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by Stuart Davidson | 11/08/2010
When Cooler Master offered us their latest high end chassis we jumped at the chance to test it.
So today on our test bench we have the HAF X, a model aimed at enthusiasts and gamers. Can it live up to Cooler Masters high standards?
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by Stuart Davidson | 11/08/2010
Today we have another 5770 on our test bench and while it uses an enhanced cooler that is not the cards main feature, Sapphires 5770 FleX Edition offers a refined Eyefinity experience. Read on to find out what they have changed and how it offers a significant improvement over other Radeon cards.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/08/2010
On our test bench today we have the H70 and we will be putting it through its paces against the H50, CoolIT Vantage and Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme to establish where Corsairs latest product sits in the marketplace. Have they improved on the H50 and more importantly can they give us a strong reason to choose the H70 over products such as the Tuniq Extreme and CoolIT Vantage?
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/08/2010
On our test bench today is Alienwares new M11x, an 11.6 inch laptop featuring Core i5 CPU and Nvidia Optimus technology. We will be putting it through a selection of real world tests including StarCraft 2, media transcoding and HD playback to establish how good it really is.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/08/2010
Today from PowerColor and Gigabyte come two Radeon 5750s which offer passive heatsinks and a few more twists. Will these make an ideal HTPC card; can they even game successfully without active cooling? Today we find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/08/2010
On our test bench today we have one of NZXTs new models, a micro ATX based case which is designed for high cooling performance, portability and can even fit in cards such as the Radeon 5970/5870 and GeForce GTX 480/470.
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by Stuart Davidson | 30/07/2010
Today we look at CoolITs new high end cooler, the Vantage A.L.C. In this review we will discover how it compares to the H50 in terms of performance and also look at it in detail to find out what features it has which could take processor cooling to a new level.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/07/2010
Today we get the chance to look at the OMNI A.L.C. for the first time and what better card to start with than the GeForce GTX 480, one which would very much benefit from aftermarket cooling. Can the Omni give us CoolIT's usual level of quality and provide performance that GTX 480 users have been looking for, let's find out...
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/07/2010
Today sees the launch of the GeForce GTX 460 despite a name which is close to the existing GTX 465 the GTX 460 is based on a new class of Fermi/GF100 GPU. Today we find out how it compares to the existing GTX 400 range, the GTX 200 series and its direct competition, the Radeon 5830.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/07/2010
We will be combining the ARES with a Core i7-980X overclocked to 4.25GHz and running it through a selection of real world tests including gaming and Blu-Ray 3D playback to find out how well it compares to the standard 5970 and 2x480 in SLI.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/07/2010
Today Cyberlink are adding the next big feature to PowerDVD 10 Ultra 3D in an update called Mark 2, free to existing v10 Ultra users, which adds support for the Blu-Ray 3D platform; the official standard for 3D optical media in the home.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/07/2010
In June 2009 Alienware/Dell launched the M17x, their first co-developed machine. On launch day we provided a world-exclusive preview of the new machine and today it is time to take a more in-depth look at the features and performance of the latest version of the M17x which contains Intel Core i7 technology.
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/06/2010
Today it is the turn of the 15" Inspiron to receive a refresh, moving to the Intel Core i3 / Core i5 platform and adding DirectX 11 support. Here at HardwareHeaven we have one of the first samples on our test bench and will run it through a selection of real word gaming, media and productivity tests to establish how well it performs.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/06/2010
Todays review includes SandForce, Indilinx and Toshiba based SSDs mixed in with the Seagate 6GB/s and VelociRaptor mechanical models then just for good measure a high spec 2.5" mechanical drive is added to ensure we have a complete picture of the real world performance available at each market segment.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/06/2010
On the ATI based side we have Sapphire's 5970 Toxic 4GB and the Asus Matrix 5870 Platinum. From NVIDIA partners we have Zotac GTX 480's, Gigabyte and Palit GTX 470's and Gainward GTX 465s which allow us to compare single GPU and SLI based setups. We will be covering real world gameplay, PhysX, 3D Vision, GPU computing, High Definition / 3D media playback and power/noise readings in this review to establish which products are worth purchasing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/06/2010
In 2009 GELID released GC-Extreme in an attempt to counter Arctic Cooling's MX-3 paste. Since then AC have changed their name to simply Arctic and today a box arrived from Arctic containing their new MX-4 paste. Today we hope to see where the crown lies.
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/05/2010
To tie in with Computex 2010 Nvidia is today launching the GTX 465 which brings the same GF100 architecture and features which were present in the GTX 480 and 470 to a new price point, sub $300/255. We will be running the new card through a number of real world tests including DX 9/10/11 gaming, 3D Vision, PhysX, CUDA and 3D movie Playback to establish how it fits into the current marketplace; including comparisons with cards such as the GTX 285, 470 and Radeon 5000 series.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/05/2010
Today Intel aims to satisfy the needs of enthusiasts on a budget with the release of the Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K, two processors on Socket 1156 which feature unlocked multipliers.
We will be running each through a selection of real world tests to establish how they compare to the latest offerings from AMD, and finding out how well they overclock using the unlocked multiplier.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/05/2010
Today we have Kingstons HyperX DDR3-2400 which give huge potential memory bandwidth.
Kingston dont just do extreme speed though, they also produce a very interesting product further down their catalogue. Their LoVo sticks offer some very competitive performance at settings far below the reference 1.65v.
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by Grace | 13/05/2010
NVIDIA's long awaited high end products have finally been released, satisfying the ever-craving performance enthusiasts. However the release of the high end cards does not mean that NVIDIA lost interest in the mainstream market where the majority of gamers and users wants to combine performance with value. Today we are going to test the performance of three NVIDIA GT 240 GFX cards, which even though they are all based on the same GT 215 core, are very different from each other.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/05/2010
Creative's core products have continued to be audio related, whether it be portable media players, soundcards or headphone and recently they released some World of Warcraft branded headsets. Today we have the wireless model on our test bench, join us as we find out what effect it has on our gaming experience.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/05/2010
Dell has recently released their refreshed Adamo XPS, a machine which follows a similar design ethic to the original but aims to increase performance to ensure it is competitive in the current market. Today we have an Adamo XPS on our test bench and will see, in a selection of real world tests, what the latest high end Dell machine can do.
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by Grace | 29/04/2010
Today we will have a look Thermaltake's latest addition to the Toughpower XT series, the TPX-775M 775W power supply to find out how it has evolved from the previous model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/04/2010
Today we will be taking a look at the AMD 890FX and Phenom II X6 1090T in a selection of real world tests to find out how it fits into the current marketplace. In addition to this we will also cover some additional 890GX products and a few boards which use the new budget 880G chipset to ensure readers have the full picture when it comes to AMD performance.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/04/2010
Today we find out how Sapphire's Radeon 5870 2GB TOXIC compares to the GTX 480 in a selection real world gaming, media and GPU computing tasks. In addition to this we will also cover noise levels, power use and overclocking to find out which enthusiast product is worth purchasing.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/03/2010
So today one of the most discussed graphics card launches of all time takes place; join us as we take a look at the real world performance of the GTX 480 covering DirectX 9, 10, 10.1 and 11 gaming, GPU Computing (CUDA), High Definition playback, PhysX, 3DVision, gaming with 32x anti-aliasing and even 3D-DVD playback. If thats not enough then how about internal and external temperature readings, power use then some overclocking?
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by Henry Butt | 23/03/2010
Today we are going to look at two pairs of earphones from Arctic Cooling's latest range; the Arctic Sound E361-WM and E352. They are both of the noise-isolating earbud variety and offer slightly different approaches in terms of features and specifications.
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by Grace | 22/03/2010
Today we take a look at the Modu87+ 600W unit which, as the name suggests, is a modular unit. Enthusiasts usually expect exceptional efficiency and the very best electrical performance from 80Plus Gold certified units. Is the Modu87+ 600W model capable of satisfying them? Read on to find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/03/2010
Today on our test bench we have the latest chipset from AMD which they hope will be attractive to consumers, offering many of the features present on the 785G and adding to this functionality such as SATA 6GB/s. We will be finding out how boards from Asus, Foxconn and Gigabyte perform in a selection of real world gaming, multimedia and productivity tasks to find out which is worth your hand earned cash.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/02/2010
Today we get to see the final (for now) piece of the puzzle in the Radeon 5000 range, the 5830. We will be running the card through a selection of real world gaming tests as well as GPU computing tasks and HD playback to find out how it compares to the 5770, 5850 and GTX 275.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/02/2010
Today we have a product on our test bench which aims to fill the SATA3/USB3 gap in AMDs high end product line. We will be running the Gigabyte GA-790FXTA-UD5 through a selection of real world tests to find out whether this is the board that AMD users with a need for the latest features have been waiting on.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/02/2010
On our test bench today we have a version of the Radeon HD 5850 which has received the Toxic treatment. We will demonstrate how it compares to the reference design 5850 and the GeForce GTX 285 in a selection of real world gaming, multimedia and GPU computing tests.
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/02/2010
Today we will be taking a look at Sapphires 5570 to see where the new GPU fits into the market in a selection of real world gaming tests, GPU computing tasks and high definition playback. In addition to this we will also take a look back at two other products in the value area, the XFX 5670 and HIS 5450...
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/02/2010
Today we will be running Sapphires version of the card through a selection of real world gaming scenarios as well as GPU computing tasks and media playback tests. Read on to find out how the card compares to the main competitor in the same price range.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/02/2010
Today we continue our trend of Alienware exclusives by reviewing one of the first M11x samples. With the M11x Alienware take advantage of the new GeForce GT 335M GPU with the intention of building the worlds first 11" gaming system.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/01/2010
Today we have one of the latest models released on our test bench, the ASRock ION 330HT-BD is one of the highest specification ION/ATOM systems we have seen to date. We will be running it through a selection of real world tests to find out if it can become the centre of a home theatre environment.
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/01/2010
Today we have two different models of the 5770 on our review bench. Each offers enhanced performance and aftermarket cooling and we will be running them through a selection of real world benchmarks in both gaming and GPU computing tasks.
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by Henry Butt | 20/01/2010
Today we are going to look at two premium Guitar Hero controllers from Logitech - the guitar and drum-kit.They are designed to improve game experience and provide superior quality and aesthetics over the standard Guitar Hero controllers.
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by Stuart Davidson | 14/01/2010
Today ATI/AMD are launching the first sub $100 (512MB) and $120 (1GB) DirectX 11 capable products in the shape of the Radeon 5670.
We will be running the latest addition to the Radeon range through a selection of real world gaming and media tests to find out how it fits into a very competitive marketplace which includes the GT 240, GTS 250 and Radeon 5750.
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by Grace | 29/12/2009
Today we are going to thoroughly test and review Akasa's latest GFX cooler which was released a couple of weeks ago, the Freedom Force. The Freedom Force is a bulky, high performance cooler designed to complement the most power hungry GFX cards.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/12/2009
Today we take a look at the latest in Alienware/Dells desktop range, the Aurora ALX and run it though a selection of real world tests including gaming at 2560x1600, Photoshop, media encoding and overclocking to find out if their impressive run of form continues.
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by Zardon | 05/12/2009
Our sister site Gamingheaven reviewed Dirt 2 a short while ago and today we have a look at the performance of the PC version in DX11 mode when paired up with the stunning new range of ATI Series 5 graphics cards. I have been playing the PC version of Dirt 2 for the last week or so and it really is a stunning racing game, with state of the art graphics combined with the same fantastic gameplay we experienced on the console version.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/12/2009
Back in September Intel released the Core i5-750 and i7-870 along with their latest midrange chipset, the P55. At launch we were very impressed by the excellent value for money offered by the i5-750, especially when Turbo Boost is enabled and there was no shortage of P55 boards to combine with it. Since then Gigabyte and Asus have been expanding their P55 range and between them they have now 36 different models for users to choose from.
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by Grace | 03/12/2009
Seasonic have released a brand new line-up of units, dubbed the X-Series. Boasting even higher performance than the M12D series, a full modular design and an 80Plus Gold certification, these might be the best performing power supply units money can currently buy. With this is mind we look at the 650w unit in their new range today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/11/2009
Today we have the latest model in the Sapphire Vapor-X family on our test bench, the 5750. We will be taking a look at how it compares to the reference model in areas such as thermal performance, overclocking, GPU computing and real world gameplay. Can the Vapor-X 5750 live up to the reputation of the previous models?
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by Aaron | 23/11/2009
Today we are going to have a look at one of the latest additions to the HX series, Corsairs high performance series of power supplies which are aimed towards demanding enthusiasts, the HX650W unit. The specifications of the HX650W are considerably superior to those of its 620W counterpart and it also comes with an 80Plus Bronze certification and a 7 year long warranty.
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by Zardon | 20/11/2009
Today we will be taking a look at the new HIS and Sapphire 5970's and as they sent us two of the cards apiece we felt it would be a good time to to cover Crossfire X configurations - for those of you rich enough to be able to afford two of these monster graphics cards. We also overclock our watercooled Core i7 processor to 4.1 ghz and the memory to 1800mhz to mirror a real life environment for a potential customer of two of these high end boards - we want CPU limiting at a minimum.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/11/2009
Today we will be taking a look at the Powercolor Radeon HD 5970 2GB and putting it through its paces in a selection of real world gaming tests, including the recently released Modern Warfare 2. In addition to this we will cover GPU computing and high definition playback as well as having a play with the surprise inclusion of an official voltage tweaking tool. This little application may well make this product a favourite with enthusiasts who want to get the most from their purchase.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/11/2009
The first XPC was released in 2001 and since then Shuttle have continually been upgrading the range to utilise as many desktop features as possible into a compact chassis. One of the latest models to be released is their Core-i7/X58 based system the SX58H7 and today we have one on our test bench to find out if Intels latest architecture is a viable option in a small form factor.
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/11/2009
Today we look at the new AMD processors - the revised Phenom II 965 Black Edition and the Athlon II X3 435. We also look at the DFI DK-790FXB-M3H5 and the stunning new Sapphire Vapor X 5870 and watercooled Powercolor 5870 LCS.
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by Zardon | 29/10/2009
Do you like small PC's but don't want to compromise? Then look no further because we have one of the finest systems in our labs today. How does a watercooled Core i7 with a 1.6ghz overclock inside a custom made carbon fibre Lian Li chassis sound?
Now we have you salivating .. make sure you check this out ...
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by Stuart Davidson | 26/10/2009
Today we have Gigabytes GTX 275 Super Overclock in our labs which takes nVidias GTX275 to a whole new level. To make things even more interesting we have paired this impressive card with Nvidias 3D Vision kit, today we see if the latest development in display technology is ready for the mainstream market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/10/2009
Today we have one of LanCools latest cases on our test bench, the PC-K62 which is manufactured in Taiwan and part of the Dragon Lord family.
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by Grace | 19/10/2009
Recently Ultra released an entirely new series of power supply units, the X4. As the name suggests, the X4 series is the successor to the very successful X3 series. It is the 1200W version of the new X4 series unit which we are going to thoroughly test and review today, seeing how much of an improvement it is over an X3 series unit and how competitive it can be in todays very demanding technology market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/10/2009
These two products are priced to target (and undercut) the GTS 250 and GTX 260. Can ATI take control of the mainstream graphics market? Read on to find out as we put all of these cards through their paces in a selection of the latest games as well as high definition media playback and GPU computing tasks.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/10/2009
Despite Nvidia having a strong product catalogue rumours have been rife in the last week or so about the future of their mid and high range products. It is business as usual in the budget range today however as we see the launch of a new card in the sub $79 price range. This isnt just a cut down version of a different card though; for once we have a budget model which brings something a little different to Nvidias product range.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/10/2009
A couple of weeks ago on launch day we looked at the Radeon 5870 and found it to be a very impressive card. Today we have a follow-up article where we will look at the 5870 offerings from a selection of ATIs partners as well as the 5850 to see which cards are worth your hard earned cash. In addition to this full CrossFire results for both cards will be provided as well as GPU computing and media playback performance figures.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/10/2009
Today we take a look at the AMD Athlon II X4 620, Gigabyte GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H, Gigabyte 4650 1GB OC, Gainward 4850 512MB Golden Sample and HIS 4890 1GB iCooler X4.
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by Henry Butt | 07/10/2009
Today we are going to look at the latest Moray+ earphones from Razer which have been designed to be completely compatible with both the Sony PSP and Nintendo DSi, whilst also being appropriate for PC gaming and MP3 players.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/10/2009
Somewhat surprisingly around the same time as the GC-2 launch Gelid also released another paste, GC-Extreme. Today we take a look at their latest thermal compound to find out how it compares to the GC-2 and market leading MX-3.
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by Grace | 28/09/2009
A few weeks ago Sapphire made another move into the PSU market. This time their move was much bolder, as the company released an entire new series consisting of four new products. Their new Pure series of units are designed to catch the attention of all kinds of technology enthusiasts.
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by Zardon | 24/09/2009
OCZ have just released their latest Agility EX drive which differs from anything we have reviewed in the past because it is the first SLC based SSD drive aimed at a price point to target the mass enthusiast market. While Single Level cell (SLC) and Multi Level Cell (MLC) are similar in design, MLC flash costs considerably less to produce and allow for higher storage density. The benefits with SLC flash drives are that they provide faster write performance and greater reliability ...
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/09/2009
In order to take full advantage of Microsofts latest DirectX we require hardware which supports features such as Shader Model 5 and today we bring you the launch of the worlds first publically available DX 11 hardware, the Radeon 5870.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/09/2009
Today we look at the new M15x from Alienware - they are one of the first companies to introduce Intels Core-i7 architecture in the mobile marketplace. Back that up with an impressive graphics processor from Nvidia and the new Intel PM55 chipset and we have a very interesting and theoretically capable product.
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by Grace | 22/09/2009
At the time of this review the Everest series consists of no less than 11 products, with their power output ranging from a modest 400W all the way up to 1010W. FSP is also the only company who has two products of the same series sharing the exact same power output and base design, but of different electrical efficiency.
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by Grace | 09/09/2009
XFX's first PSU, the Black Edition 850W boasts features and specifications that could easily make it one of the best possible choices around its power range. Today we will find out if XFX successfully enter a traditionally tricky market sector with a competitive and capable power supply for the discerning enthusiast user. Success or flop? you can be assured we will get the answers today ...
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/09/2009
Today Intel are releasing CPUs based on the Nehalem architecture but with prices and specifications designed to appeal to mainstream consumers. Today we will be putting two of these models through their paces and comparing them to existing i7 CPUs as well as AMDs top Phenom 2 model and the best Core 2 CPU. In addition to that we will cover various memory configurations and throw a handful of the more interesting P55 based motherboards into the mix with two aftermarket coolers.
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by Danny Moorhead | 08/09/2009
Alienware proudly released their TactX keyboard and mouse into the US with the UK to shortly follow. DriverHeaven received a production pair and obviously, the TactX name implies a focus on cunning ingenuity and precision, designed to appeal to serious gamers and others who realize it takes great peripherals in addition to a great computer to make an awesome gaming ecosystem.
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by Grace | 01/09/2009
FSP have released a great number of new consumer power supplies during recent months. We already reviewed some of their new products from their mainstream Epsilon series and the passively cooled Zen series a while ago. Today we are going to have a look at a product from their premium series, the Everest 800W 80Plus unit.
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by Zardon | 28/08/2009
Today we look at a higher price bracket for those who demand a little extra than our recent 4890 roundup and there is no better card to focus on than the massively successful, and extremely powerful 285 GTX from Nvidia. We have been noticing the prices of these cards dropping recently and rather than focus on a plethora of 1gb versions we thought it would be interesting to focus on possibly the cheapest 2gb 285 GTX available from lesser known manufacturer Sparkle.
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by Danny Moorhead | 25/08/2009
Today, we have a personal media player with a difference on review, the S9 from Cowon, the US division of Cowon Systems Inc. of Korea, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Seoul. The company manufactures digital devices while providing digital content and solutions, highly aware that the devices, content and uses are dependent upon one another to work well.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/08/2009
Alienware was formed in 1996 and in the first 10-years of their existence the company created a name for themselves in the enthusiast market. It did not matter if a consumer was looking for a high performance desktop, notebook or HTPC system because Alienware had something capable to offer. When combined with futuristic and distinctive styling they have always appealed to discerning users.
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by Zardon | 21/08/2009
Today not only are we testing three of the hottest new overclocked 4890 ATI graphics cards but we are building a high performance system with the focus on value for money. We base the system around the powerful, yet extremely affordable Phenom II 965 Black Edition and the very capable Asus Crosshair III Formula motherboard.
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by Zardon | 19/08/2009
It is quite incredible how many models QNAP release and how often they are updated but this is due to the relatively cheap prices of large mechanical hard drives and end user demand for ever growing storage space. QNAP were established in Taiwan in 2004 and are well known for their build quality and sophisicated software packages. The QNAP TS-639 Pro is based on the same platform as the TS 509 Pro which we reviewed a while ago and as such now supports iSCSI integration as standard.
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by Zardon | 14/08/2009
The drive we are looking at today is the long awaited Intel replacement which is built on the 34 nanometer manufacturing process - this has the long term benefit of helping to reduce the costs to manufacture therefore meaning less cost to the consumer - well thats the theory anyway.
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by Stuart Davidson | 13/08/2009
Today is AMD day! We take a look at the new 965 BE which replaces the fantastic 955BE. We also look at a plethora of AMD based motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, ASRock and ECS as well as the brilliant Sapphire 2GB 4890 graphics card which is aimed at enthusiast users who need a lot of memory for high resolution gaming. Are you looking for a new system? then be sure to check out this review.
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by Zardon | 08/08/2009
Does the combination of high end AMD X4 955 Processor with Coolit Domino, fast OCZ DDR3 memory and ATI 4890 graphics get you excited? If not, then check you have a pulse.
Today we will find out if the Slayer Elemental really is a kick ass gaming machine or if it is just another run of the mill system build hiding behind an attractive flash web site.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/08/2009
A few months down the line and two further companies have brought to market drives based on Samsung and Indilinx controllers. Today we take a look at those products to see what Corsair and Crucial offer us. Also included in this review is an updated SSD from OCZ which takes their excellent Indilinx based Vertex range and enhances the performance to create the Vertex Turbo.
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by Zardon | 02/08/2009
Many enthusiast users snigger at the mention of Dell, however at Driverheaven we know there are a percentage of users who either don't have the skillset to build their own computer or who just don't have the time. It is also worth mentioning that with this particular system Dell offer a 3-4 year in home service in the case of any major issues occuring.
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/07/2009
Today we have one product from each of the mainstream and high-end GeForce families on our test bench to see what performance each offers for its price point. Read on to find out what can be achieved through a simple upgrade as we test each in a selection of the latest games and GPU computing applications.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/07/2009
As well as looking at the usual aspects such as build quality, features and thermal performance we will also be taking a look at how fast we can make a system in this chassis. Are two high spec graphics cards and the Core-I7 useable? Read on to find out.
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by Grace | 20/07/2009
Today we will take a look at the (currently) least powerful Enermax product, the Eco 80+ 350W. The units of the Eco 80+ series are designed to offer great overall quality and performance for regular home and office users.
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by Zardon | 20/07/2009
Ok I admit it, I am a media junkie. There is nothing else i would rather do in my free time than lounge on the sofa and fire up my computer to watch the latest downloaded films and tv shows - the shape of my body is almost burned into the leather recliner as if to verify the point. Phantom are set to answer the call of many a media fan with the release of their Phantom Lapboard which combines a rather unusally styled keyboard with a laser mouse that can be used on 'a lap' with a home theater PC.
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by Nathan Marks | 02/07/2009
Today were going to be taking a look at the Lenovo ThinkPad T500, a laptop which is said to withhold the qualities the industry has come to expect from the ThinkPad series.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/06/2009
Since then GC-1 and MX-2 have been competing for our hard earned money but things are about to get a little more interesting as both manufacturers are refreshing their product line. Gelid have GC-2 heading to stores across the world now and we have an exclusive preview of Arctic Coolings MX-3 which aims to be the best performing compound available.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/06/2009
Today we have a selection of hot and sexy SSD drives featuring models with various new controllers from Indilinx and Samsung as well as Intels award winning X25-M. Just to make things a little more interesting there is even a model which features a customised version of the old JMicron 602 controller.
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by Grace | 18/06/2009
Today we will review the larger and more promising of the two newly released models - the HX850W, a product loaded with features and boasting some very strict specifications.
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by Stuart Davidson | 03/06/2009
Nehalem EP used the same D0 core as that found in the new 920 which left the top performing 965 processor on the older C0 revision. Rather than change the CPU to bring it up to date Intel are once again pushing the market forward with the release of the Core-i7 975 Extreme Edition and we will be putting it through its paces in a selection of mainly real world tests to establish how much of an improvement it is over the existing models in the range.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/06/2009
Today, for the first time, Alienware are allowing an exclusive preview of a new product (only at Driverheaven) prior to it being available for consumers. Is this the laptop of your dreams? - read our preview to read all the juicy details.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/06/2009
Since the Phenom CPUs were launched we have seen a number of models become available with performance regularly increasing and more recently the addition of support for DDR3 but there was no sign of energy efficient versions. That changes today with the launch of the Phenom 2 X3 705e and Phenom 2 X4 905e. Also we have our first look at a dual core Phenom 2 and secondly there is the new Athlon 2 model which brings DDR3 support to the older family of CPUs.
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by Grace | 01/06/2009
Being an aggressive company BFG have now released a very high performance 1.2kW+ unit aimed at the most hardcore of enthusiasts. Today we will thoroughly test it and see what kind of performance it can deliver to this demanding segment of the market.
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by Stuart Davidson | 22/05/2009
Since the release of Core-i7 there has been a steady release of performance motherboards which allow consumers the opportunity to create a great high specification system. In the past getting the best performance always meant using ATX boards even though technology in just about every other area has been getting more compact.
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by Zardon | 20/05/2009
Recently we reviewed the dual CPU Nehalem EP platform and when we heard that Coolit had a system planned we gave them a call. Today we have a review of the 'WS 240' which is based on the Domino A.L.C. - abeit with some important changes. Is this another killer product from Coolit?
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by Grace | 19/05/2009
OCZ have targeted the SSD market in a more aggressive manner than any other manufacturer in the last 12 months, they also halved the retail prices with the release of the Core series, followed by the release of the Core V2 series which utilized a second revision JMicron controller a month later.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/05/2009
The Corsair Cooling ICE T30 is the most extreme memory cooler available, but just how high will it allow us to push modules? today we find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/05/2009
There has been a steady stream of processor releases from AMD in recent times. Whether it is revisions of triple and quad core models or the addition of DDR3 parts to the product line there has always been something new to look at regularly. Two weeks ago we took a look at the latest high end Phenom 2, the 955 and now AMD have another release for us to cover. The Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition.
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by Grace | 30/04/2009
Today we will review one of their higher end products, the M12D 750W PSU. The M12D 750W boasts some very impressive specifications, but at the same time its retail price requires it to compete against the best products of its class. We will soon find out if it can take on some of the finest PSUs released in the retail market to this date.
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by Grace | 24/04/2009
Today at DriverHeaven we have one of Enermax's latest mainstream products, the Liberty Eco 500W unit. The Liberty Eco is a modular PSU, designed to offer good overall performance and superior reliability at a competitive price.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/04/2009
Antec are very well known for their high end PC cases and have an impressive selection of PSUs that are so reliable they carry a 5-Year warranty. Enthusiasts and gamers are not their only target market however as the product catalogue also features a range of HTPC cases. Today we have one of the higher specification models on our test bench, the Fusion Remote Max which is designed to house a HTPC system with no need to cut corners on the component specifications.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/04/2009
Today AMD release the latest AM3 processor, the 955 Black Edition, the first to have a real chance of competing with the 940 in that all important enthusiast market. Combined with a high specification 790FX based motherboard and ATI GPU it creates what could be AMDs most powerful system ever. Today we take a look at the latest performance figures from the AM3 (Dragon) platform using the 955, MSIs new 790FX-GD70 and XFXs 4870 X2. Is it finally time for AMD users to make the switch to DDR3?
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/04/2009
Today we take a look at several of the cards based on the GT200 core as well as a GTS 250 to see which offer the best value for gaming and GPU computing tasks. For anyone considering the purchase of a GeForce product in the next few months this article is essential reading.
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by Nathan Marks | 09/04/2009
Today we are going to look at the CyberPower Gamer Ultra Perseus, an AM3 Phenom II 720 powered rig complete with DDR3 RAM and the powerful ATI HD4870. Featuring their advanced watercooling system.
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by Grace | 06/04/2009
Just a few weeks ago (and several years after the first TruePower units were released) Antec introduced the new TruePower series. The new TruePower units are based on an entirely different design and boast superior performance and a lot of new features.
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by Zardon | 05/04/2009
Today we look at Intel's new highest specification W5580 processors running on the new S5520SC motherboard. Just how smoking fast is this platform and are we about to break a bunch of records in our testing today?
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/04/2009
Today we will be putting a selection of 4890s up against the GTX 275 in the latest games at resolutions up to 2560x1600. We will also run each of the cards through a selection of GPU computing tasks as well as completing our test suite with some CrossFire tests and overclocking/thermal performance.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/03/2009
In October last year Intel released processors based on the socket 1366 architecture and with these came a requirement for redesigned heatsink install methods. Essentially the distance between corners of the heatsink increased (as did the processor footprint) and existing high end coolers were no longer compatible with new motherboards.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/03/2009
Today Sapphire becomes the first GPU manufacturer to attach 2 GB of DDR5 to their Radeon 4870 making it one of the most impressive models available in terms of paper specifications. They have their own PCB design and a cooler based on the Vapor-X technology which we have seen on a few of their previous cards. We are lucky enough to have one of these new cards on our test bench and have run it through a number of real world tests so be sure to read our review !
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by Nathan Marks | 19/03/2009
Today were going to look at the Razer Mamba, the first wireless mouse truly designed for the hardcore gamer offering 1ms response and up to 5,600 DPI. Razer have taken years to bring this product to market and promises that it is the real deal.
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by Nathan Marks | 11/03/2009
We recently looked at the Thermaltake Spedo, a full tower gaming case which had a strong design base but was poorly executed in a few areas. Thermaltake have been around for a number of years now so we were a little disappointed to see a product from them that lacked the refined finish we expect. Today we are looking at another chassis from them, the Thermaltake Element S. This case is targeted at professionals and hopefully will rate a little better than the Spedo.
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by Nathan Marks | 09/03/2009
As our readers already know, XFX are new to the ATI game however we have already had the chance to look at a range of their new products and today we are going to take a look at their 4830 and 4350 alongside Sapphires 4670 Ultimate.
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by Zardon | 06/03/2009
Today we will take a look at a set of In ear headphones which have been receiving critical acclaim since they were released. Are these rather expensive phones set to redefine expectations of in ear entertainment?
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/03/2009
Over the last week or two there has been heated debate online regarding the latest graphics card from Nvidia. This kind of discussion is usually reserved for the latest high end product but in this case it is a mainstream model, the GTS 250.
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by Nathan Marks | 18/02/2009
Towards the latter half of 2008 we took a look at two high performance laptops from Alienware, the m15x and m17x. Both laptops offered phenomenal performance in an attractive package. Today we are going to look at the Alienware M17, a laptop which slips in next to the m17x, ditching Nvidias SLI for Crossfire and bringing quad core processing to the table on an updated platform.
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by Nathan Marks | 17/02/2009
Today we are going to look at a 75 offering from Sapphire, the HD 4670. We looked at a similar model a few months ago from Sapphire and at the time we were impressed by the value it offered to the mainstream customer. Sapphire has completely revisited the card, adding GDDR4 memory and a brand new cooler to this mid-range card.
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by Grace | 13/02/2009
The most aggressive company in the SSD market most likely is OCZ, who released no less than six new series of SSD drives during the past seven months. Today we will have a look at one of their mainstream series SSD models, the Apex 120GB. We are going to see how well the latest mainstream MLC SSD drive from OCZ can perform in this review.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/02/2009
Not content with being known for great Nvidia based products XFX recently announced a range of Radeon graphics cards and Intel motherboards, all of which are designed to take on the best products in their marketplace. Today we have the first of their cards on our test bench, the Radeon HD 4870 1 GB XXX which is a factory overclocked model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10/02/2009
In the second of todays XFX articles we take a look at the Radeon HD 4650. Those reading who have already seen our 4870 XXX article will know that XFX have already made a good impression with that product in their new ATI range. We will find out if this winning streak continues as we run the card through a selection of tests including gaming, Overclocking and Blu-Ray playback.
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by Stuart Davidson | 28/01/2009
During CES 2009 Nvidia launched the latest cards in their GeForce range, the GTX 285 and 295. The 285 is essentially a refresh of the existing GTX 280 with a reduction in the core size and reduced power requirements. The GTX 295 is their latest dual GPU design, the first card since the 9800 GX2 to support Quad SLI. Rather than rush out a half assed review to meet Nvidias tight timescales for this launch, we opted to delay our article and ensure it was as informative as we could make it.
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by Grace | 27/01/2009
Throughout 2008 Corsair released a great range of power supplies which quickly earned them a strong reputation as a quality provider in the market. Today we will take a look at Corsair's tenth power supply product, the TX850 850W PSU. The TX850 is a newer, upgraded version of the very popular TX750 which we reviewed a few months ago.
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by Grace | 26/01/2009
Akasa have released a very large number of PSUs during the past few months, taking a piece of the pie from every market category. We have also received a large number of their PSUs to review, ranging from low-priced products aiming for the best possible value to efficient and silent mid-range PSUs to expensive enthusiast-oriented units featuring a monstrous output.
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by Nathan Marks | 21/01/2009
The Radeon HD 4870 was ATIs answer to the powerful GTX260, so after the release of the MaxCore GTX260 ATIs partners got to work on overclocked versions of their 1gb 4870s to compete in the market. Weve already looked at the Gainward and Sapphire overclocked variations and today were going to look at an offering from HIS, the HD4870 IceQ 4+ Turbo.
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by Grace | 19/01/2009
Today we will have a look at another R series case, the R-4 Bulldozer. The R-4 Bulldozer is a tower case designed to house a full gaming ATX system, but with the minimum possible dimensions. We will examine its advantages and downsides in the following review.
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by Grace | 15/01/2009
Today we will have a look at their latest PowerBird 1100W PSU, a high performance modular unit. The PowerBird 1100W is designed to compete in the most demanding category of the computer industry market and appeal to the most hardcore of enthusiasts. The big question remains however, is it able to compete with other high end offerings such as the Corsair HX1000W?
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by Grace | 13/01/2009
FSP (also known as Fortron-Source) are one of the most experienced computer PSU manufacturers on the planet. Even though they usually keep a low profile and aren't particularly aggressive in the retail market, FSP recently released a very wide range of self-branded retail products. Today we will have a look at one of the most interesting products they released, the Zen 400W Passive PSU.
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by Grace | 12/01/2009
Arctic Cooling owes their good reputation almost entirely to high performance cooling products, but they are making concentrated efforts to diversify their product range. Today we will have a look at a new product from them, the Fusion 550R PSU. Carrying an interesting name and boasting high performance and many features, it is the one and only PSU Arctic Cooling released. Is it worth being on a shortlist in such a competitive section of the market?
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by Stuart Davidson | 09/01/2009
Last month we took a look at a selection of boards which were released around i7 launch time, some of which were very impressive. Today we have four more X58 based boards from MSI, ECS and Foxconn and we will run each of the boards through a selection of real world tests including media encoding, Photoshop and gaming as well as some overclocking. By the end of this review you should be in no doubt which board best suits your needs when building a new Core i7 system.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/01/2009
Today we will be taking a look at the latest processor in the Phenom family, the Phenom 2 X4 940 Black Edition. This CPU will be AMDs highest performing processor until the DDR3 variants reach the market later this year. Through a selection of benchmarks including media encoding, Photoshop and gaming we will establish how good the Phenom 2 is, and whether it is worth the upgrade for existing Phenom users.
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by Nathan Marks | 07/01/2009
Today were looking at a new offering from Sapphire based on the original 4870 Toxic. This edition now brings 1GB of memory to the table to combine with the pre-overclocked frequencies.
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by Grace | 02/01/2009
Today we have the opportunity to review another product from NorthQ, a Danish company who have been aggressively expanding the last several months. Not long ago we had a look at the Siberian Tiger, a compact water cooling solution designed to narrow the chasm between air coolers and more complex DIY water cooling solutions. It was a pre-assembled, easy to install and maintenance free water cooling product.
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by Nathan Marks | 30/12/2008
Zotac was established as a Nvidia partner in 2006 and have been producing quality VGA and motherboard solutions since then. Today we're going to look at the Zotac Nitro, an overclocking tool unlike anything we've seen before. This USB device allows you to overclock your video card on the fly, setup profiles and monitor fan speed and temperature. Overclocking is very much an enthusiast hobby, but Zotac hope the Nitro will encourage more users to try and get the most out of their graphics cards.
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by Grace | 23/12/2008
During the past few months FSP have released many new retail products and replaced many of their existing series with newer, upgraded versions. Today we are going to have a look at the Epsilon 600W PSU, a quality mainstream product. The Epsilon series was released well over a year ago, but according to their specifications they still can easily compete in today's market. The 600W unit is based on a recent design and it is an 80 Plus approved PSU.
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by Grace | 22/12/2008
In Win were established back in 1986 and they never tried to diversify beyond designing and building computer cases. Merely a few months ago the company released a long line of high performance PSUs, the Commander series. Today we take a look at the high end 1200w model.
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by Nathan Marks | 21/12/2008
Today we're going to look at the Cyberpower Gamer Infinity i7 Poseidon, a pre-overclocked, watercooled i7 system. With a promising spec sheet this system looks like it will pack an impressive punch. If you like the system after reading our review then we have a special offer, just for DriverHeaven members!
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by Grace | 16/12/2008
While Lian Li focus heavily with chassis they have slowly began to design and manufacture other products as well in the last couple of years. These products have been mostly accessories and usually were better suited for their own cases.
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by Nathan Marks | 14/12/2008
SteelSeries are a company that every gamer has heard of - creating some of the best accessories in the business from headsets and keyboards to gaming gloves. Today were going to look at a brand new product from them, the SteelSeries WoW gaming mouse. Designed in conjunction with Blizzard, this is a mouse designed specifically for use in World of Warcraft.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/12/2008
We have to admit to being a little surprised a few weeks ago when AMD emailed us to say our review sample of the new high-end Athlon CPU was on its way. 2006 was the last time we had such an email and since then the Phenom line of processors has been AMDs focus, with a limited number of Sempron models released into the budget marketplace. Today we are looking at the 7750 Black Edition, quite a jump from the current highest model, the 6400+.
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by Grace | 03/12/2008
Hiper have just released a very promising product, the M1000. Hiper claims that the M1000 is a very high performance 1kW unit regardless of the relatively low price of the product. Let us see how well the latest and most powerful Hiper PSU will perform.
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by Grace | 01/12/2008
G.Skill are a renowned memory manufacturer and they have released many high performance products during the past months. That said, they haven't forgotten about the mainstream market and they just released several new DDR2 kits for the mainstream market as well. Today we will have a look at a Pi Black series PC2-6400 4GB kit, which can operate at 800MHz while needing only 1.8-1.9V.
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by Nathan Marks | 28/11/2008
Today were going to take a look at the ATC S 840, a full tower case that Coolermaster hopes will break into the high end market when it is released next month. With many components growing in size and the demand for water cooling support increasing, they have constructed a huge full tower case designed to accommodate the modern demands of enthusiasts.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/11/2008
In the Radeon HD 4870 family there have been numerous overclocked models released in the last few months but few go to the extreme shown by todays review product, the PowerColor Liquid Cooling Solution HD4870.
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/11/2008
Unless someone wants to spend considerable money there are really only two options for gaming enthusiasts, two cards which provide performance high enough to play the latest games at high detail without requiring a bank loan, the GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870 1Gb. The question is, which is the fastest now that many driver revisions have passed since release?
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by Nathan Marks | 19/11/2008
The Skeleton utilises a completely open air design, radically different from a traditional case. Antec has created something more akin to a test bench, attempting to bring the concept to a more mainstream audience. Hopefully the innovative Skeleton can live up to Antecs reputation and prove to be a viable option for enthusiasts and overclockers.
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by Zardon | 17/11/2008
The model on test today is possibly the best model they produce today, it has a large 160GB hard drive (twice the 80gb model released earlier), a 10inch screen with 1024x600 display and an almost full sized keyboard (around 92%). To top all this, we have bluetooth, wifi, 3 USB ports and VGA out. Combine this with 5 hour+ battery life and we have a winner.
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by Grace | 10/11/2008
Recently Antec have released a new PSU series dubbed Signature which don't come cheap, however Antec claims that they are implementing cutting-edge technology and quality currently available for consumer PSUs. We will examine if these claims are true in this review as we will be pushing the Signature 850W unit to its limits.
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by Nathan Marks | 03/11/2008
Today we are looking at a hot new graphics card from Sapphire. This is an impressive design comprising two fans on a very attractive blue PCB. How does it perform against the single core 4850 as well as GTX 260 and GTX 280 hardware from Nvidia? Read on to find out ...
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/11/2008
Join us for our review as we cover why the Core i7 is such a great improvement over Core 2 as we put it though numerous tests against the best of the socket 775 CPUs, the X9770. In addition to this we will also look at the best motherboard you are likely to see in some time and if that is not enough, how about some overclocking of the new platform thrown in for fun, can we hit 4ghz on air? Time to find out...
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/10/2008
Just over a week ago ATI launched the Radeon HD 4830 which is the latest card in the 4800 series range and hits the market at around 99/$130. Unfortunately, due to a BIOS issue on the first batch of review sample cards (reference models and some retail branded) the full number of unified shaders was not available and performance was therefore negatively impacted (some reviews you have already read on other publications are actually wrong).
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by Zardon | 30/10/2008
XFX are bundling Far Cry 2 with a wide range of their hardware so when we approached them for this article they sent us over a great cross section of hardware for our analysis. We also compare against leading hardware from ATI to see which will give you the best gaming experience for your money.
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by Nathan Marks | 28/10/2008
With overclocking becoming more popular than ever before among PC users the need for cases with optimal airflow is a must, and full towers are the obvious choice when building a high end system. Today were going to take a look at the SilverStone TJ10B-WNV, a full tower case based on the TJ09. Hopefully after our disappointing encounter with the NZXT Khaos chassis recently SilverStone can raise the bar.
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by Grace | 28/10/2008
Today we will have a look at the TX750, a high output PSU designed to offer great electrical performance at the best possible price to performance ratio. Corsair released the TX750 several months ago but it still is considered to be one of the best choices anywhere close to its retail price. We will stress it to its limits in this review.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/10/2008
Enlight are a Taiwanese company who produce some unique all in one systems as well as Power Supplies and PC chassis. In this review we will be focusing on one of the latter, a recently released model which goes by the name of EN-2413. Enlight market this case in the 50 range and claim it is designed to house cool high specification processors and components so as well as looking at the product in detail we will also test the thermal performance as part of this review.
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by Nathan Marks | 21/10/2008
Today were going to look at the MSI Wind U100 Series, a smart looking subnotebook aimed directly at the successful EEE PC market.
After Asus revealed the Eee PC back in 2007, there were bound to be some who would follow suit and release their own ultra portable notebooks. With hotspots appearing throughout cities all over the world the market is becoming ripe for cheap, ultraportable, easy to use computers to perform basic tasks.
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by Grace | 09/10/2008
Today we're testing another AXP PSU, the 1000W model of the Supernova series. The 800W and 1000W models are much alike and share the same base design, but AXP tuned the newer 1000W version further and improved several of its key performance points.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/10/2008
On our test bench today is Gainwards Golden Sample version of the latest high end video card to be released by ATI, the Radeon HD 4870 1GB. Rumours and news about this particular model have been around since before the 512MB version made it to launch but it has taken some time for the 1GB model to reach the marketplace and it enters into a slightly more crowded segment than it would have three months ago.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/10/2008
Today's review subject, the Radeon HD 4550, which sits nicely between the 3450 and 4650 in ATIs product catalogue and competes directly against the GeForce 9400 GT. In this review we will be comparing those two cards in a selection of the latest games as well as seeing how each fairs in some high definition playback tests.
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by Grace | 26/09/2008
Today we will have a look at one of their latest and better PSUs, the Supernova 800W unit. The Supernova units are made to deliver good performance as well as a unique design at a competitive price.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/09/2008
The new GeForce GTX 260 increases the number of shader processors and should provide a very competitive alternative to the Radeon 4870. Today we will be finding out how well it compares in a selection of the latest games, including Crysis Warhead as well as demonstrating how well it handles Blu-Ray acceleration and PhysX processing.
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by Asmoday | 24/09/2008
Almost two years ago we had a look at the 900 Ultimate gamer case which we liked very much. But things have changed a lot since December -06 and more powerful hardware has been released, emitting more heat than ever before. The 900 was called the Ultimate gamers case back then and now the 1200 is here to replace that mantle.
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by Grace | 23/09/2008
Today we will have a look at the NRP-MC851, a very high performance product with a maximum power output of 850W. This "No Rules Power" series PSU boasts some remarkable specifications which should easily catch the attention of any enthusiast browsing for a good product. We will see if the MC851 unit can perform as well as Xigmatek claims it does in this review.
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by Grace | 18/09/2008
Today we will have a look at one of their best units, the Real Power Pro 1250W PSU. The Real Power Pro is primarily designed to offer the best possible electrical performance over low noise or good aesthetics ... it is aimed at the most demanding users of all; hardcore overclockers.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/09/2008
So what do R&D guys do to unwind and what do they get up to in those rare times when they do not have deadlines to meet? Well, they have some fun creating new products which are not necessarily aimed at being launched, just a test of what can be done... and that brings us to todays product.
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by Zardon | 06/09/2008
Today we are taking a look at the new Asus 4870 X2 which is set to push the performance boundaries even further, these preoverclocked cards are lovingly referred to by Asus as the "TOP" versions. This card has enhanced clocks with the cores increased from 750 to 790mhz and the GDDR5 modules increased from 3600 to 3660mhz (900 to 915).
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/09/2008
Today we have the GTX 280 OCX on our test bench and will be comparing it to a reference model in a selection of the latest games as well as running it through some high definition playback tests, we will even throw in a few compares to the GTX 260 for those having trouble deciding which card best suits them.
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by Grace | 04/09/2008
Today we will take a look at a unit from their latest series, the Silent Pro M. This product range consists of high quality, modular units with down to earth wattage outputs and very low noise figures. There are three models ranging from 500W to 700W and they appear as if they are the perfect choice for the mainstream users who are after a high performance but silent power supply.
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by Zardon | 24/08/2008
It is not often we review a Macintosh product on DriverHeaven and although we are late to the table we felt it would be an interesting novelty for our readers to have a look at probably the sexiest laptop ever made, the MacBook Air.
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by Stuart Davidson | 21/08/2008
Today we will be comparing eight motherboards for Intel processors and showing how each performs as well as looking at the features they have to offer. Tests include gaming, media playback, image manipulation and more, so by the end of the article we should be a bit better placed to know which chipset or board is ideal for consumers using Intel processors.
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by Zardon | 17/08/2008
Even though comparisons will be made, our intention is not to directly compare ATI against Nvidia in this article, but more to see how both leading ultimate solutions will run on a system which should in theory be less CPU bound than most. To further downplay the side effects of the two Quad processors affecting the results, we have watercooled both CPU's and overclocked them to 4.4ghz (400x11). This will let both graphics solutions stretch their legs at the highest resolutions.
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by Grace | 14/08/2008
Lian-Li's reputation in the world of computer enthusiasts is legendary and their products are considered to be some of the best quality cases available. Today we will take a look at one of their larger ATX midi tower cases the V1010B. The V1010B is a very spacious midi tower case which can easily be mistaken for a full tower and it is loaded with features ... the end result is something quite special indeed.
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by Stuart Davidson | 02/08/2008
XFX offered us the opportunity to review a number of their value segment motherboards with onboard graphics, they told us that their products were capable of taking on the best AMD and Intel had to offer. This is quite a claim so after tracking down some impressive AM2/Socket 775 boards we put XFX to their word.
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by Grace | 31/07/2008
A couple of years ago we had a look at several gaming and illuminated desktop peripherals from Revoltec, including the first version of Lightmouse as well as the Fightboard and the Fightmouse of their gaming series. Revoltec have expanded their gaming series with the FightPad Advanced which is a mini-keyboard designed for FPS games and released three new versions of the Lightmouse. These are the very products we are checking out today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/07/2008
The Lycosa is the latest keyboard to be released by the California based company and on first glance it appears to have at least a few improvements over the Tarantula.
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by Grace | 18/07/2008
DDR3 RAM sales are slowly but steadily increasing, mainly of the aggressive price drops in the past few months but also because of the inability of DDR2 RAM to evolve much further. Despite that, DDR2 RAM modules are still very popular as they are still the most cost effective solution.
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by Grace | 16/07/2008
There is a lot of competition in the power supply market today, especially in the enthusiast segment where every manufacturer has released at least one 1kW+ performance unit to cope with ever increasing demands from the high end sector. Even though Akasa are better known for their cooling solutions, we have reviewed several of their PSUs in the past and found them to be very capable products, able to compete against any other brand in their league.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/07/2008
Today we have factory overclocked cards from each of these manufacturers and we will be putting them head to head in a variety of tests including gaming at 2560x1600, high definition playback and ‘PhysX calculations. In addition to this we will also take a look at how each of the cards compares to various other products which are available on the market, including the Geforce GTX 260, and Radeon 4870.
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by Grace | 30/06/2008
Today we will review one of the higher end new OCZ units, the EliteXstream 800W supply. The EliteXstream is a high performance PSU, designed to appeal to hardware enthusiasts who above all else value top electrical performance. How good is it? Lets find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 25/06/2008
Today we will be running the two new products through a selection of the latest games at resolutions up to 2560x1600 as well as delving into some Blu-Ray playback testing and overclocking in order to establish how well they perform.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/06/2008
When most manufacturers design an enhanced specification graphics card they tend to increase the core and memory speed, others might do this and add a fancy cooler. Visiontek have on the other hand gone above and beyond this by doing both as well as completely redesigning the PCB to improve the size of the product and the features available to their customers. Today we are looking at the Visiontek Radeon HD 3870 X2 Overclocked Edition.
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by Grace | 18/06/2008
BFG, a company renowned as a VGA card manufacturer have recently released several PSU products, mostly aimed towards enthusiasts and power users. Today we will review one of their higher end units, the ES series 800W power supply.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/06/2008
We have two of the hot new Nvidia products in our test labs today ... The first is Zotac's 280 GTX AMP! Edition, a factory overclocked sample of the high end model and the other is a reference design 260 GTX. We will be testing with a selection of the latest games at resolutions up to 2560x1600 as well as delving into some Blu-Ray playback and card overclocking in order to establish how much of an improvement they are, if any, over the last generation of Nvidia hardware.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/06/2008
The Geforce 9800 GTX has been around for some time now and the maturing of the product brings with it a selection of cards which look to improve on the reference specification or design. We have one such card on our test bench today, XFXs 9800 GTX Black Edition from a handpicked range of cards which feature enhanced core and memory speeds for exceptional performance and stability.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/06/2008
Everglide are a California based company who have been specialising in gamer hardware since 1997. Initially their product catalogue focused on mouse pads (with many winning awards throughout the press) but in 2005 Everglide began branching out into other peripherals such as headphones, mice and keyboards.
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by Grace | 02/06/2008
The new NorthQ CPU cooler is dubbed The Siberian Tiger and it is not a simple air cooler but a compact water cooling solution designed to narrow the chasm between simple air coolers and complex water cooling solutions, a rather intriguing idea.
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by Grace | 30/05/2008
Enermax has been long known among PC enthusiasts as one of the most reliable and proficient computer PSU manufacturers, in fact for every kind of computer PSU, Enermax units are considered to be some of the best money can buy.
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by Grace | 28/05/2008
Corsairs Voyager GT flash drives are one of the most respected high speed USB storage solutions, for years they have been considered by many enthusiasts as class leading. That said, as flash drive technology has been advancing other manufacturers have been able to catch up. Corsair recently cancelled most of their Voyager GT drives and a few days later began to offer only an updated, single 16GB version of the Voyager GT.
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by Grace | 23/05/2008
PC Power & Cooling is one of the most reputable high performance PSU manufacturers, if not the most reputable. This good reputation is no doubt helped by them not offering budget products, only mainstream and high end models.
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by Vikingod | 21/05/2008
While we are still a few years from being plugged into a chair and given the ability to be taught virtually the ways of 17th century Shaolin monks, there are products out there which are attempting to bring the VR experience to the everyday gamer. Enter the Vuzix iWear VR920
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by Grace | 20/05/2008
Cooler Master are a company that is very well known for cooling solutions however in the last couple of years they have developed a very competitive line of PSU products. The Real Power M700 is perhaps the most important unit in Cooler Masters current range as it is aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers who usually require a unit within the 600-800W output range.
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by Grace | 16/05/2008
Enermax is one of the worlds most reputable switching PSU manufacturers and their products are considered to be some of the best that money can buy. Recently they released two new product lines, the Pro 82+ and Modu 82+ series.
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by Grace | 17/04/2008
It was many months ago that ThermalTake released their first PSUs, these were good enough for them to start gaining a strong reputation in this highly competitive market. Today we will take a look at their affordable, mid-range PSU, the ToughPower 500W. The ToughPower 500W is a modular and silent PSU, but is it good enough to compete in the wide spanning but budget minded mid-range market?
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/04/2008
Every time a new graphics card is released we hear great claims about how the new video enhancements will improve our viewing experience or that the hardware is as perfect as it can get in the High Definition HQV Benchmark. Unfortunately, for many reasons most end users have to pretty much accept these claims as it is not really possible for the average consumer to set up two identical systems, side by side and see what the differences are. Well we have and the results are fascinating !
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by Grace | 10/04/2008
Nearly two years ago NorthQ released the 3310BL UFO which we reviewed and it was a good cooler at the time, a design which they continuously evolved (and enlarged) for two years in order to keep up with the growing demand for better CPU coolers.
The 3340WLA Extreme however is an entirely new design instead of an oversized version of the old 3310BL and today we will find out if it as capable as their past efforts.
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by Grace | 02/04/2008
One of the most challenging aspects of assembling a system is to hide the cables, making it look as clean and tidy as possible. Every enthusiast likes to have a good looking system and for modders this is considered a necessity. Ultra have always tried to satisfy modders, after all they are the company who first released modular PSUs. The m998 chassis we are looking at today is named after an old army vehicle and it is loaded with features, some of which are very useful.
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by Stuart Davidson | 31/03/2008
No, its not an April's fools joke, today we have yet another launch from Nvidia, the new 9800 GTX which is set to replace the 8800 GTX of old. Not content with just reviewing the new GTX however we have several new GX2's as well as a kick ass new Asus 3870 X2 in our test labs today.
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by Grace | 25/03/2008
Zalman have released several high end units lately and today we will examine the most expensive unit they currently produce, the ZM1000-HP. There are a few things about the ZM1000-HP which make it unique but the most important of them is the cooling system. Zalman have used their expertise with cooling to create a heatpipe system able to keep the powerful 1000w power supply cool and silent at the same time.
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by Asmoday | 21/03/2008
Noctua has developed an entirely new fan: the NF-P12, which uses nine fan blades, two more than a standard fan. Additionally, it has notches which Noctua have trademarked, called "Vortex-Control Notches" these help in reducing the noise emitted by the fan. Below are some text and graphs explaining the technique supplied by Noctua.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17/03/2008
Today is the launch of two high end Nvidia products. The 790i motherboard which supports DDR3 right up to 2000mhz and the 9800 GX2 the latest in the G9x range of GPU's.
Are they worth your hard earned cash? read our 29 page indepth analysis to find out.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/03/2008
In our final Cebit roundup for 2008 we will be taking a look at the Asus, Corsair, and Razer stands as well as some other products we missed on previous days. Let's get started.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/03/2008
Driver Heaven has been out and about at Cebit 08, here are some of the highlights from our wanderings on Day 1. Drop by our forums to let us know what you think looks great or even what you think looks completely pointless!
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/03/2008
The latest 17 model to be released by Alienware is the Area-51 m9750. This particular model features the latest Core2 parts with excellent hard drive options and continues an initiative that Alienware first introduced in 2006, mobile SLI.
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by Grace | 27/02/2008
Introduction
USB flash drives are the most popular and the fastest advancing gadget in the technology market and the rate at which they are progressing is remarkable. Early USB flash drives were bulky and their capacity was often in the 32-64MB range. Today we have 4-8GB flash drives which are about the size of a cell phone SIM card and many companies are releasing 32GB flash drives already! Such is the progress that within a period of six months prices have dropped around 50%. Today we will take a look at no less than 19 different USB flash drives from 10 different companies.
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by Zardon | 11/02/2008
Skulltrail. Even the name sounds mean. If you haven't heard the codename before now then we have a treat in store for you today. Skulltrail is a high end desktop PC platform based on Xeon class workstation processors. How does Dual Cpu, 8 Cores, four graphics card slots, dual 1600mhz front side buses with a total of 25.6 GB/s of bandwidth grab you?
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by Grace | 20/01/2008
Attempts to diversify are common among PC component manufacturers, but these are not always marked by success. One of the most successful diversification attempts was made by Corsair nearly a year ago. Corsair, being a highly reputable RAM manufacturer at the time, released a small range of high class PSUs aimed towards enthusiasts, with the "HX series" moniker. We reviewed the HX620W unit back then which we found an excellent choice for enthusiasts and a year later the HX620W is still one of the best choices for performance systems. Because of the great success of the HX series, Corsair launched the VX series back in August and the TX series shortly after that. The VX series units are aimed towards the value-conscious PC users, however our review of one of the first VX450W units was a surprise because of its remarkable performance.
The TX series consists of high output units but without unnecessary features or aesthetic add-ons, aimed towards enthusiasts who are seeking to get the best value out of their purchase.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18/01/2008
Asus Maximus Extreme
Asus Maximus Formula
MSI P35 Platinum Combo
Asus P5E3 Deluxe
MSI X48 Platinum
For anyone buying a socket 775 motherboard the choice is now quite bewildering. For a while the number one choice was the 975X chipset but more recently the G33, P35, X38 and X48 have all been released with each targeting a specific market segment. Today we will be looking at the mainstream and enthusiast models to identify which boards offer the best value, performance and features.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/12/2007
Intel certainly haven't been resting on their laurels. The extremely successful Core 2 launch was quickly met with quad core refreshes and recently they followed this up with the release of 1333 front side bus processors. Intel, yet again pushed the envelope and recently released a refresh of the Core 2 quad using a new core with enhanced specifications. Quite surprisingly for us before we could even get a review of the new QX9650 ready for publication the QX9770 sample arrived in our labs.
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by Grace | 06/12/2007
Hiper were first known within enthusiast cycles for their Type-R PSU series released back in early 2005. We reviewed two of these units a few weeks ago and found them to be good products. That said, the Type-R units were marketed firmly at enthusiasts and could not compete against aggressively priced units in the value conscious sector. To address this Hiper introduced the Type-M series back in early 2007. We have a Hiper Type-M 630W unit for review today.
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by Grace | 18/11/2007
Hiper were first known within enthusiast cycles for their Type-R PSU series released back in early 2005. Its many features, good looks and relatively competitive price made it a very reasonable choice of unit for a powerful system of the time. Three years have passed and Hiper have decided to completely redesign and revive the Type-R series, announcing the Type-R MKII units. These MKII units are entirely different than their predecessors, both in terms of features and appearance. Today we will thoroughly examine two Type-R MKII units, the HPU-5K880 and the HPU-5B680.
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by Grace | 05/11/2007
Watercooling, while not quite yet adopted by the mainstream enthusiast community is continually increasing in popularity as more people truly understand the benefits, especially as hardware keeps getting faster and hotter.
The first watercooling kits found their way onto the market back in the Pentium 3 days; an era when 120mm fans and heatpipe air cooling designs were within the realms of fantasy. While watercooling systems have certainly evolved over the last few years, their relatively low demand ensured that they couldn’t evolve at the explosive rate air coolers have. The weakest points of the watercooling systems were always the high price, the difficulty of installation and the size of the kits. Swiftech, one of the most established PC watercooling manufacturers have released a new kit, the H2O-120, designed to counter these three major watercooling drawbacks. Will that be enough to compete against the high end air coolers available today? We will find out shortly.
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by Grace | 16/10/2007
We reviewed several very powerful units during the past few months from various companies. Today we will take a look at another very powerful 1kW PSU designed and built by Akasa, the PowerMax 1000W. The PowerMax 1000W is the first 1kW+ unit Akasa have released and there is also a 850W model.
The PowerMax 1000W unit promises high power output, low noise operation and high efficiency in one unit.
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by Stuart Davidson | 01/10/2007
ne of the latest graphics cards to be released by Visiontek is a Radeon 2600XT model. Bored already? then fear not........ this is no ordinary XT, this video card features one gigabyte of DDR2 memory and two GPUs on a single PCB.
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by Stuart Davidson | 07/08/2007
AMD's 690G chipset has proven to be very successful with a wide array of microATX boards currently available covering various price points and feature sets. At the time of our original review we found the 690G products to be impressive performers when compared to the Nvidia based GeForce 6050 and nForce 430 chipsets. However since then Nvidia have released an updated motherboard solution which features updated onboard graphics and Southbridge.
Today we are taking a look at a high specification 690G motherboard from EQS and comparing it to Abits new AN-M2HD which utilizes the Nvidia 7050PV/NF630a feature set.
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by Dyre Straits | 02/08/2007
It’s very likely that many of our readers are already familiar with SilverStone products of one kind or another. With a reputation for outstanding quality, I was quite eager to check out a recently released product the SilverStone MFP51. This product is a media center that installs in a vacant 5- inch drive bay on any PC case.
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by Grace | 31/07/2007
OCZ has released a great number of power supply units lately, each targeting a particular market. We had the chance to test several powerful units from their line-up here at DriverHeaven, most of which were top of the line products. Today we will take a look at a more versatile unit, the ModXstream 780W. It offers a little bit of everything; high efficiency and power output combined with good aesthetics and low noise operation. So in theory, the ModXstream unit is the perfect unit for everybody. Sounds a bit too good to be true, doesnt it?
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by Grace | 20/07/2007
The world of the PC enthusiast as we all know, is a fast moving place. It was not a month ago that we reviewed the then fastest DDR-3 kit of Supertalent's line-up, a kit rated at 1333MHz with 9-9-9 timings. This is now already "slow" compared to what we have in store for you today. The latest and fastest DDR-3 kit from SuperTalent is not only rated for operation at 1600MHz, but they also operate with 7-7-7 timings at that speed. Despite the current low demand for DDR-3 RAM, SuperTalent has just released the fastest 2GB RAM kit available.
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by WhO_KnOwS | 16/07/2007
It is time to see how the newly released HD2600XT can compete against manufacturer improved versions of the GT and GTS 8600 cards. Judging from what we saw in the HD2400/8400 roundup this could end up to be a bloody battle with no survivors left behind.
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by Grace | 10/07/2007
The introduction of the Intel P35 chipset a few weeks ago marked the beginning of a new era for RAM manufacturers, allowing the production of DDR3 modules, although they do not have the approval of JEDEC yet. There are already a few DDR3 motherboards available, some of which can only work with DDR3 RAM and some which have slots for both DDR2 and DDR3 RAM (remember the numerous Intel 915 based motherboards during the DDR to DDR2 transition?). But before we could even see the first 1066MHz DDR3 modules available for sale, SuperTalent released high speed DDR3 1333MHz modules for overclockers and enthusiasts.
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by Grace | 18/06/2007
As computers become more and more versatile and advanced, home theater PCs are getting more popular by the day. We have been tracking the evolution of HTPCs ever since desktop cases morphed into their latest manifestation computers which are easy to use with only a remote control and feature small TFT touch screens on the faceplate. By the looks of it the evolution wont stop any time soon. GMC recently released a HTPC case, the AVC-S1, which packs a load of features but it is designed to suit narrow spaces, mainly matching mini-HiFi system. GMC managed to surprise us with several innovative and quality products in the past. Let us see if the Korean manufacturer managed to impress us again with this small desktop case.
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by Zardon | 24/05/2007
With over clocking becoming a widely accepted mainstream hobby, memory companies are releasing more extreme solutions every year. This year has seen a rapid increase in the "funky" cooling sector (no, I just made that up, its not really a sector). It wouldn't be like OCZ to miss the party, so today we are looking at a 2 GB overclocking kit they released, called "The Reaper".
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by Grace | 03/05/2007
Here at Driver Heaven we strive to provide you with useful and thorough reviews and for that we have built a custom power supply testing station which allows us to efficiently analyse any consumer and industrial AC to DC power supply unit available.
"High Performance Group, most commonly referred to as Hiper, is a newly found UK based company which has became well known for their high performance power supply units. Hiper acquired most of their fame for the Type-R series which was released a few years ago. The Type-R series were high performance modular units but a lot of attention was given on their aesthetics factor. Today we will take a look at another approach from Hiper, the Type-M series. The Type-M series are not modular and look quite simple, but they are considerably cheaper than the Type-R series and apparently perform just as well or even better. We will soon see if they are worth your time and money."
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by Dyre Straits | 27/04/2007
ULTRA is really working hard these days to produce and provide quality components for the PC enthusiast. From Power Supply Units (PSU) to CPU coolers, RAM, and all the way up to full PC cases, ULTRA wants to be an overall supplier for the computer hobbyist. We’ve recently reviewed some really nice PSUs from ULTRA and given them some high awards here at Driver Heaven.
Today, we want to look at a newly released PC Case. It’s called the GRID. It’s an ATX Mid-Tower PC Case and comes packed with a wallop and loads of features. Included with the case is a 700W modular PSU. We’ll look first at the case and then consider the PSU.
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by Stuart Davidson | 12/04/2007
A few months back we took a look at the first real generation of Core2 boards which were based on the Intel 975x chipset. At the time it was arguably the best chipset available for the Core2, however in recent times both AMD and Nvidia have taken a stab at stealing the performance crown with their 680i and 690 chipsets respectively. Our first look at the 680i was hugely disappointing with the early reference designs being plagued with problems, ranging from PS2 keyboard compatibility issues to quad core bugs. That said, some manufacturers took a little more time to bring their products to market and so with this in mind we revisit the chipset in the form of Abit's IN9 32X-MAX. The recently released Fatality F-I90HD is the second product on test today, based on the brand new AMD 690 chipset it is a more budget conscious board with great potential to compete with the more expensive models. Finally we have Intel's D975XBX2, an updated version of the original XBX which is the best Intel board we have used to date.
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by Zardon | 03/04/2007
With the recent release of games such as Supreme Commander which make use of more than two processing cores many of our readers may be contemplating a move to a Quad core CPU. It is fair to say they are still expensive especially when you look at the 650 QX6700. Attempting in someway to address this Intel have released the Q6600 which is meant to be targeted at a slightly lower end market. Don't be jumping for joy just yet, they still retail in excess of 500. The Q6600 offers 1066mhz FSB and 2x4MB of level 2 cache abeit at a lower clock speed of 2.4ghz (266x9) compared to the 2.66ghz its “extreme” edition brother offers. The Q6600 is also multipler locked (above 9x).
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by Grace | 18/03/2007
Revoltec is a company based in Germany, well known throughout Europe for their line-up of many gaming and modding products. Revoltec products are competitively priced, which is their main selling point in today’s computer market. Today we will have a look at a new series of Revoltec products, input devices which are designed with the gamer in mind. The Fightboard Advanced is a keyboard designed to aid the hardcore FPS gamer, while the Fightmouse Advanced is a high precision gaming mouse with adjustable sensitivity. Revoltec have also released three new mouse pads, which we will also have a look at today.
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by Grace | 06/03/2007
Home theater personal computers have faced an explosive growth during the past few years, at a faster rate than most other consumer electronics. The most common equipment for a modern living room is not a 32” plasma TV, a projector or a 1000W Hi-If system, but a computer to control everything. The introduction of media center computers has seen the return of the desktop case and now can include new technology such as wireless, dedicated home theater operating systems and remote controls to improve the whole experience. For the gamers amongst us sometimes smaller cases commonly used for theater PC’s do not cater for high end components or do not have room for expansion and so a larger chassis is required.
An answer to these problems comes from Korea and GMC, who released the first tower home theater case, the Muse K1. Loaded with more features than most desktop PC cases and able to house even the most powerful systems while remaining stylish enough to match other high-tech equipment, it arrives on the scene to cover the gap between a desktop HTPC case and enthusiast’s tower case. Many might think that GMC is a new company, but actually is one of the oldest case manufacturers in Korea, founded back in 1996. GMC specializes only in computer enclosures and power supply units, and their products lineup includes many fine desktop and tower cases. The Muse AVC-K1 was released only recently and is one of the best cases GMC has to offer.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/03/2007
Nvidia’s 8800GTX has been a great success since it was released and currently holds the high end performance crown while we wait for ATI to unleash their forthcoming DX10 card. That said, the 8800GTX is sold around the 375/$500 mark putting it clearly out of the price range of many enthusiast users. There is therefore a need to release a product which will appeal to a more widespread market - those users who want great speed and features but at a more affordable price. That is where today's review product from Foxconn fits in. Retailing at 230/$300 with a feature set matching the higher priced GTS and GTX models, the Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC or “8800GTS 320Mb Overclocked” looks, on paper, to be a very attractive purchase.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/02/2007
Razer are based in San Diego California and have a long history of producing fantastic gaming mice such as the Razer Boomslang, which was a revolutionary product when it was released.
In the years since then Razer have been producing mice which are more than a match for their competitors and the latest in the range is the DeathAdder, their first to feature a 3rd Generation optical lens. Razer don't just make mice however and in recent times they have branched out into audio products, one of which we have been able to get our hands on. The Barracuda headset features true 5.1 capability and (more than a few) impressive specifications. Let us see how the DeathAdder and Barracuda impact our PC experience...
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/02/2007
Razer are based in San Diego California and have a long history of producing fantastic gaming mice such as the Razer Boomslang, which was a revolutionary product when it was released.
In the years since then Razer have been producing mice which are more than a match for their competitors and the latest in the range is the DeathAdder, their first to feature a 3rd Generation optical lens. Razer don't just make mice however and in recent times they have branched out into audio products, one of which we have been able to get our hands on. The Barracuda headset features true 5.1 capability and (more than a few) impressive specifications. Let us see how the DeathAdder and Barracuda impact our PC experience...
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by Grace | 01/02/2007
NZXT is most probably well known to our readers, although the company was established only 2 years ago. Every single case they have released since then became quickly popular because of their distinctive appearance and high quality. NZXT cases can be quite distinctive like the Nemesis or exceptionally elegant, like the Lexa. The Zero is marketed as the ‘perfect cooling solution’ by NZXT and is a simple but attractive case with a total of 8 fans pre-installed inside it with 7 of those fans being 120mm fans!
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by Grace | 16/01/2007
Since the release of the AM2 socket, NVIDIA has been enjoying the largest share of the motherboard chipset market. The nForce 5 series chipsets dominate not only at the high end but also at the value motherboard production lines. Today we will take a look at a motherboard made by the company which created the reference nForce 590i motherboards, Foxconn. Foxconn entered the retail market only recently, but they are old in the industrial and OEM business. They must have felt confident about their work on the reference nForce 590i motherboard, because they released it nearly unchanged to the retail market. If most reference motherboards of other companies ever made it to the retail market, it would be nothing more than trouble, but we feel confident about NVIDIA’s and Foxconn’s combined effort. The name of the motherboard is C51XEM2AA, which is certainly not the easiest model number to memorise.
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by Stuart Davidson | 06/12/2006
In the last few months we have seen some insanely fast memory released with some heavy competition between manufacturers such as Corsair and OCZ. This performance comes at a premium and really only the most avid enthusiast would consider these products. As with all sections of the industry, by choosing a slightly lower specified product it is possible to save money and still achieve some excellent performance. Today we have two products in for review which aim to do exactly that, let’s take a look at Super Talent and Geil’s take on DDR2-1000.
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by Grace | 21/09/2006
Titan is one of the oldest companies specializing in computer cooling equipment. During the past few years, their production capacity and R&D capabilities have increased many times over, and this year they have released many new products, striking at many of the cooling market sectors. The product which we have here today is the NK34TZ, a heatpipe cooler aimed at those wanting good performance on a budget.
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by Grace | 11/09/2006
NZXT while being rather new on the scene have released many fantastically designed chassis. The Nemesis and Nemesis Elite were fine examples of good looking gamer cases, the Trinity an excellent budget case and finally the Lexa, which we reviewed earlier this year and found it to be an excellent designer case. NZXT just recently released a case which is meant to continue this success, the Apollo, a mid range gamer case. Despite its good price, the Apollo is designed to easily accommodate a powerful system, while being of high build quality with appealing aesthetics.
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by Stuart Davidson | 05/08/2006
It has been some time since Nvidia's 7900 GTX made its way to retail and whilst newer and faster products have been released, this means prices of the older cards drop. Obviously the lower the prices fall the more attractive the card becomes and so today we are going to take a look at two of the best 7900 GTX packages to see how well they perform with the latest games.
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by Stuart Davidson | 11/07/2006
Over the past year or so the introduction of DDR2 on the Intel platform has allowed memory manufacturers to push their sticks to massive speeds whilst keeping timings low. From an initial speed of DDR2-400 we recently saw products released which were capable of 1066 MHz when combined with the right motherboard.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19/06/2006
Sometimes products are released which are variations on a theme, these products can usually be looked at in a few days and then our opinions passed on to you. On other occasions products are released which are unique and interesting enough to warrant much more in-depth testing and analysis. The Geforce 7950 GX2 is one such product. A graphics card unlike any other available to gaming enthusiasts, the GX2 combines two 7950 cores on two separate PCBs with 1Gb of video memory in an attempt to make the fastest graphics card available on a single PCIe slot.
In this review Driver Heaven will be taking a look at how well the product performs in all of the usual gaming titles. In addition to this there will be in-depth testing at widescreen and ultra high resolutions, including advanced AA and AF settings and if that isnt enough to answer any performance questions we will then take a look at the cards video playback performance of high definition content when compared to competitor parts. Finally we will throw in a little overclocking to ensure that the benefits and downsides of the card are fully explored.
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by Grace | 28/05/2006
There are tens of companies making thousands of computer fans today. There are simple fans, powerful fans, colored fans, lighted fans, aluminum fans ... the list never ends. We could also say that there is nothing really innovative anymore in this market sector. Revoltec however, a German based company specialising in "modding" products recently released something entirely different; cooling fans which can project whole images and text on their fins. Sounds pretty cool? well how about if we told you that the fans can even read the temperature of the air moving through them and project the information direct to their fins!
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by Chaos | 20/05/2006
To follow up on the success of the Real Power 450W PSU, Cooler Master has released the new Real Power 550W SLI. It complies with both the Intel standard ATX 12V V 2.01 and SSI standard EPS 12V V2.1. They recommend the Real Power 550W as a viable solution for high end workstations and gaming rigs that contain those power hungry dual graphic card solutions based on SLI or Crossfire technology. The Real Power 550W PSU has dual output connectors for PCI Express VGA cards and has intelligent fan speed control and “real power" capacity that will help to maintain the stability and reliability of your computer system even at the most demanding moments.
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by Grace | 27/02/2006
"AMD will present the AM2 socket this summer, which supports DDR2 PC6400 RAM. Intel based motherboards can already use such RAM and so we have most manufacturers entering a memory war, with every RAM manufacturer trying to design and release high speed DDR2 modules while offering good value as well. This memory war seems to get interesting as Super Talent, a less known company among the enthusiast circles, released the (for the time being) fastest PC-6400 2GB kit currently available. The T800UX2GC4 kit consists of two 1GB modules, rated to run at 800MHz DDR and 4/3/4/8 timings."
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by Zardon | 13/11/2005
Today I will review two new products, comprising an essentially new type of mousepad, the Razer Mantis Speed and the Everglide Titan mouse surfaces/cloths. Both companies, Razer and Everglide, have a long history of creating great, if not the best mouse pads and mice.
Both products were released this month and I was surprised to hear that both are made out of a fabric and not some type of plastic, alloy, metal or glass.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/10/2005
A few months back we took a look at a couple of AMD's X2 CPU's in the form
of the 4800+ and the 4400+. Both provided excellent
performance in all tasks however they did come at quite a hefty price.
Since publishing those articles AMD released the 3800+ which
provides AMD users with all of the benefits of Dual Core computing -
however at a much lower cost. Aimed to compete directly with the
Pentium D 820 in terms of price and performance we were very interested to
see just how well the new chip would compete with our previous
Gold Award winner.
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by Zardon | 18/10/2005
The PS2 has received a plethora of driving games ranging from the rigorous realism of driving simulators to the fast paced action of high speed arcade races. Regardless of the type of driving game you prefer, sometimes the dual analog stick setup just isn’t enough for gamers looking to go beyond the meager default setup. Luckily, Logitech released the Driving Force Pro to create an unparalleled driving experience, no matter what type of racer you are.
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by Zardon | 04/09/2005
Although the PSP’s main purpose is to serve as a handheld gaming system, it also holds the capacity to play UMDs (Universal Media Disk) and an array of music and video files. But due to a diminutive amount of games being released, most people have resorted to using their PSPs for these secondary features. This has led to the discovery of two minor, but yet bothersome flaws of Sony’s handheld ; durability and battery life. To the rescue, Nyko has released a tidy product meant to overcome these issues.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/06/2005
We really cant fault AMD for their activity of late, theyve been hard at work refining the Athlon64 core with the release of Venice which provided improved memory performance and the availability of more settings on the memory configuration side of things. In addition to this they also released the X2 range of CPUs recently which are without doubt the best performing dual core desktop CPUs on the market. Theres nothing wrong though with increasing the speed and specifications of your current single core performance brand and thats why were here today. AMDs launch of the Athlon64 FX-57.
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by Stuart Davidson | 27/06/2005
The MSI 945P Neo Platinum, as the name suggests uses Intels non-onboard gfx 945 chipset and mixes it with MSIs own feaures such as the DOT3 overclocking. To aid all of you pondering your next upgrade on the socket 775 platform we will include comparison results from Abits AA8XE Fatal1ty board and the recently released P5ND2-SLI Deluxe board from Asus which is based on the Nforce 4 chipset...
... Our synthetic tests show really interesting figures, in every single test the 945 based MSI board is faster than the 925XE and Nforce4 based boards. Considering how fast the NF4 chipset actually is this is a real achievement for MSI/Intel and as far as synthetic tests go the MSI 945P Neo Platinum is the fastest board we have tested to date.
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by Stuart Davidson | 23/04/2005
For a while now the 6800 Ultra and X800 XTPE have been batting it out for the performance crown at the top of the AGP card market, until now neither ATI or Nvidia have released a product to move their AGP lines forward and due to this users of PCI Express have found their performance is slightly higher than those using AGP parts. With the development of Rialto, ATIs PCI express to AGP conversion technology ATI began moving lower spec PCI Express products to AGP a few months ago. Today we have a look at their first move to convert a high end productthe highest infact, the X850 XTPE.
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by Stuart Davidson | 08/04/2005
Those of you with good memories may recall a picture from CeBit of a new ATI based motherboard on the Asus stand aimed at the Intel platform. Boards from that family are nearing completion at Asus and today we have a preview of the first to be released, the P5RD1-V Deluxe. This board is very interesting for many reasons though the two most important are that its based on the excellent Radeon Xpress chipset (with integrated DX9 graphics) and that the board is the first available in the world to come with an integrated TV tuner.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16/03/2005
Until ATI released the X800XL the Geforce 6800 GT was unchallenged as the best bang buck for buck card available. With a 16 pipeline design the GT only differs from the Ultra model in clock speeds. When you consider that many of the GTs on the market will overclock to Ultra specifications and beyond its clear why its sold in huge volumes. Asus are a company who always impress us with their releases and so we were more than happy to accept their 6800GT as a review productso much so in fact we accepted two
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by Stuart Davidson | 15/02/2005
When ATI launched the X800 series of graphics cards it consisted of the X800 Pro, X800XT and X800 XTPE. Back in November ATI released some updates to that range, those being the X800XL and X800 standard. We had our first look at the X800XL a couple of weeks back and were very impressed and now weve received our first retail X800 sample in for review. The X800 (175) is priced in between the X700Pro (140) and X800XL (220) Radeons so its those cards we are testing against today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/01/2005
Nearly two months ago ATI released their Radeon Xpress chipset for AMD cpus, it was one of the first boards to be with reviewers which featured PCI Express for the AMD platform. The Xpress chipset has yet to make it to market however the NForce 4 boards are beginning to trickle through; one of the first boards to do so is the Asus A8N-SLI. Its no secret that we love Asus products here at Driverheaven, over the last 2 years every product we have received from them has been first class in terms of performance and build quality, so going into the review we hoped for the same from the A8N-SLI.
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by Zardon | 14/08/2004
ATI have had a great history with mobility graphics cards and today ill be looking at their newest model recently released, the Mobility Radeon 9800 GPU. Currently DELL are supplying this card with their Inspiron series of laptops with more manufacturers to follow.
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by Zardon | 14/08/2004
ATI have had a great history with mobility graphics cards and today ill be looking at their newest model recently released, the Mobility Radeon 9800 GPU. Currently DELL are supplying this card with their Inspiron series of laptops with more manufacturers to follow.
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by Stuart Davidson | 04/04/2004
The Geforce-FX 5900XT is arguably the best value card on the market at the moment. When we looked at our last 5900XT model we were more than impressed by its performance both at stock speeds and when overclocked. As with all Geforce models Gainward have released their take on the 5900XT. Today we take a look at that card and see if Gainward can further improve on the product.
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by Zardon | 09/02/2004
It has been said in the coming years when the technology matures we can be looking forward to data transfer rates of 300mb/s-600mb/s. If this happens then there is a clear winner, but in the meantime Western digital have released several 10,000RPM sata drives, a 74gb version and a 36.7gb version, we will be looking at the latter today.
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by Stuart Davidson | 20/12/2003
Back in October when we had our first look at the 9800 XT its competition was the 5900 Ultra. 2 months down the line Nvidia have released their refresh to the 5900 Ultra design, the higher clocked differently cooled 5950 Ultra. Read on to find out how it fares in our benchmarks and also to find out how Sapphires take on the 9800 XT scores.
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by Zardon | 28/11/2003
The 9800 XT is ATI's current jewel in the crown and Visiontek have released their Xtasy 9800 XT.
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by Stuart Davidson | 24/10/2003
Our series of fall refresh parts continues today as we have a review of the Nvidia Geforce FX 5700 Ultra 128mb formerly known as the NV36. The 5700U is being released to be the top card in Nvidias mainstream range and comes with support for DX9/OGL 1.5. We will be putting the 5700U up against its direct competitor the ATI Radeon 9600XT in a range of custom benchmarks and preset benchmarks available to the public. Can Nvidia reclaim the mainstream performance crown?
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by Stuart Davidson | 29/09/2003
Earlier this year we were sent our first 9800 Pro based card, it was a 128mb card and at the time thoroughly beat every card on the market in games, benchmarks and Image Quality. As the months moved on the 256mb variants were released to give the range that extra speed to convincingly outscore the Geforce FX 5900 Ultra. As with all technology things have continued to move on at an astounding rate and today we have the opportunity to tell you about ATIs latest card, the ATI RADEON 9800 XT 256mb.
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by Zardon | 11/06/2003
Teac have just released this external USB2 CD-RW drive, offering very fast 52x24x52 speeds, together with a very impressive innovation list.
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