by Lonewolf on Thursday 10 December 2009 - 13:55:16
NZXT Panzerbox Computer Case @ APH Networks
Ingenuity and great designs have revolutionized the world. Time and time again -- from the very first computer, to the first tanks that were rolled out during the First World War. Speaking of tanks, one of the most famous tanks of the Second World War was the German built Panzer IV. The Panzer IV revolutionized tank designs of many countries with certain elements that are found even in today's modern tanks. The Panzer IV simply bulldozed over the opposition when it was first introduced; as it was simply more than the opposing forces could handle from these powerful mechanical bulls. While it was far from the best tank of the war, it was a very valuable contender that led to much better and reliable designs later on. It's a fact that early Panzer IVs were unreliable, and had quite a load of problems. Even with all that, they managed to inspire a whole new approach to both interior and exterior tank engineering and design. At this point, you are probably wondering why there is such a huge history lesson in our latest review today. Well, the answer is actually quite simple. We have a new product that takes on the bold title of the Panzerbox. One thing that we appreciate is the naming of this product, is that it just simply evokes a feeling of dominance and a sensation of having a product that could make all other of the same category seem silly. With such a great name, also comes a great deal of expectation. Any case that can hold such a dominant sounding name should not only be a great source of ingenuity and new ideas, but also should crush the competition. Well, we hope so at least -- just like the early Panzer IV, there could always be room for improvement for progress of the overall product. Anyway, the product that we received was manufactured by NZXT, which has already been known for good budget cases like the NZXT Beta we have previously reviewed. Today, we will see how much the NZXT Panzerbox can live up to its bold name, and if they really trample over its competition and leave them in the dust.
Thermaltake BlacX Duet HDD Docking Station @ APH Networks
When we reviewed the original Thermaltake BlacX back in April 2008, we commended Thermaltake for marketing such an innovative and convenient product, but we complained about its lack of essential features such as eSATA. The idea of allowing users to quickly swap internal hard drives on an external interface on-the-fly is undoubtedly excellent, but execution could definitely use some improvement. A few different variations of Thermaltake's BlacX were made since then -- a nearly identical station with added eSATA support, as well as the SE version that provides four USB ports in front. Sounds great, right? Well, how the heck do you make it better? Fear not. As far as Thermaltake is concerned, there is only one way to make the BlacX product line twice as good as it is already: Combine two of them, and make them into one unit, and then call it the 'BlacX Duet'. The end product? Thermaltake's latest hard drive docking station! As its name suggest, it is designed to combine elements of its excellent prior 2.5" and 3.5 serial ATA hard drive compatibility, added eSATA support from the second iteration, as well as the tried and true USB support for maximum compatibility since the first edition -- the Duet now features bays for accommodation of up to two desktop and/or laptop hard disk drives too! How's that for a change? We cracked one open for you to see how it works out in real life.
It's actually a lot of fun to own a Lenovo Thinkpad. Besides the impeccable build quality, unsurpassed reliability, a keyboard feel that's not repeated in any other brands, and not to mention its incredible battery life -- there's always those questions from friends and strangers alike that command a level of hilarity. "What Pentium do you have?" is actually a question that I've been asked many times in the past year or so, referring to my T400. "Pentium II", I would reply jokingly, poking fun at those who completely missed my Centrino 2 vPro sticker on the left palm rest, and my screen showing an operating system interface no other than the one of Windows Vista (Or Windows 7 later on). But I don't blame them. Thinkpads have retained the same basic design since the 1990s; but it is the progressive refinement, subtle beauty, pride, and tradition that brings the brand loyalists together. Plus, I am a big fan of building the ultimate 'sleeper' device in places where I can be seen with them, whether it be cars or computers. Additionally, I can assure you Macbook Pros are stolen quite a bit around here at the university. Thinkpads? Less of a chance, to say the least! To be honest, there aren't a lot of components that are upgradeable in a laptop. But of those parts that can be upgraded, RAM is probably by far the most popular, thanks to its ease of implementation and important role in computer performance. Currently, the largest amount of RAM you can possibly fit in a typical laptop is 2x4GB, for an 8GB total. That's a truckload of memory -- unfortunately it could cost upwards of $700 USD retail for DDR3 SODIMMs at press time. That said, there's one company that has it affordable. G.SKILL's F3-8500CL7D-8GBSQ 2x4GB costs a hair under $400 for DDR3 with 7-7-7-20 timings at press time, and while we are at it, G.SKILL is a reputable, quality manufacturer to performance enthusiasts. So whether you are looking to enlarge your e-peen today (Raises hand), or requires a big boost in system memory on your laptop (That too), we have this review here for you today!
Prolimatech Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition LGA 1156 Ready CPU Cooler Review @ OCIA.net
"Prolimatech has also released a new version of the Megahalems. It is a Megahalems that has been covered with a beautiful black nickel plate and sports LGA 1156 hardware so it will fit every enthusiast Intel CPU built in the past five years or so. But under that shiny black nickel finish, it still is a Megahalems at heart. Today I will be looking at this cooler, the Prolimatech Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition. Will it keep my LGA 1156 i7 870 nice and cool? Read on to see!"
"The EAH5970 is obviously a monster card. It uses two of ATI's most powerful GPUs, so it should do no less than crush the competition. This is of course what it did."
While there is a lot to like with the Zalman MS1000-HS2, there are a couple of things that bug me a little bit with this case. As previously mentioned, the lack of fan on the second HDD module makes drives installed in that bay a little too warm for my liking. Granted, many users will not use more than three drives, but for the cost of a single fan, I believe Zalman should have stepped up and provided one with this case. . .
"Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be one of the few people to see 3D Blu-ray in action and I must say, I was very impressed. If you have seen any of the recent 3D movies in theaters over the past year, you know how far 3D has come in the past decade. No more blue-and-red glasses. No more throwing things out at you just for the sake of 3D."
Kingston MobileLite G2 USB Card Reader with 8GB SDHC Card Review @ ThinkComputers.org
“Back in March we took a look at Kingston’s MobileLite 9-in-1 card reader. It was a great and very useful product. Well Kingston has redesigned the MobileLite, calling the new version the G2. The MobileLite G2 is a very compact USB card reader that supports SD/SDHC, microSD/SDHC, MSPD, MS Pro HG Duo and M2 cards. Since it is so small you can take it with you anywhere and it has the USB connection right on it so no extra cables to carry with you, let’s take a look."
G.Skill Pi PC3-17600 4GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit @ TweakTown
"What's important about this is that it's easier to get two modules to work together at a higher speed than it is to get three. For this reason we're seeing dual channel kits of memory offer us some serious speed and very quickly after the release of the P55 chipset. Since PC3-16000 is being offered by most performance memory manufacturers, it's time for companies to begin to mix it up even more.
Today we'll be looking at a PC3-17600 kit from G.Skill. How many MHz is that? Well, we're not going to give that away just yet. Before we look at the MHz of the kit we'll have a quick look at the package and also a closer look at the modules and any extras on offer."
Seagate FreeAgent Go ST910004FAA2E1-RK @ Benchmark Reviews
Mobile storage of music, videos, pictures, files, and pretty much anything else you can think of is rapidly becoming more and more popular. Even the recent release of Windows 7 has seen unheard of amounts of people wanting to install the operating system using external storage devices such as flash drives rather than a DVD. Many workstations in offices don't include any sort of optical or other removable media devices other than USB drives. Seagate has always been a name well associated with storage and their most recent external hard drive series is another push forward helping people with all kinds of storage needs. Benchmark Reviews is taking a look at the Seagate FreeAgent Go 640 GB USB 2.0 External Drive, which is loaded with features, and even software, to make your life easier.
While popular among storage-hungry PC enthusiasts, network-attached storage has proven to be particularly useful in office environments, where sharing large amounts of data between several desktop PCs can become quite problematic. With the availability of 2TB hard drives, a majority of users will be satisfied with a 2 or 4-bay NAS solution. However, as data accumulates over time there are those who might require even more than that.
Performance and feature set are two things you'll definitely want to keep in mind. From our experience in testing a range of devices we can assure you there can be huge differences from one offering to another. Some will provide you with transfer speeds of around 10-20MB/s, while other more serious models will deliver considerably better performance, but most still struggle to max out a Gigabit Ethernet connection.
Our quest for bigger and better alternatives led us to one place: the QNAP TS-809 Pro Turbo NAS. Not only can this product accommodate more hard drives than we've seen before, supporting a total of eight, but it possesses power that is unmatched by any NAS device we have come across to date.
AcoustiPack Ultimate and Extra Soundproofing Materials for PC @ [OC]ModShop
One of the ultimate goals of a Home Theater PC enthusiast is to achieve a completely silent appliance. There are several ways to achieve this by using low-power motherboards, solid-state drives, and cards that only require passive cooling. Although the components you choose in your system plays a significant part of its silence, the next level of noise reduction is reached when you apply sound dampening material inside your computer.
A lot of testing and research has been done by many companies to come up with acoustic material to silence your PC or home theater rig. One of the high-end materials comes from Acousti Products, who asked us to test their AcoustiPack Ultimate material, along with their AcoustiPack Extra foam.
In the ram market there isn't any one manufacture who is top dog, but there are a few that stand out. One of the few manufactures that targets enthusiasts and benchmarkers is OCZ. They entered the memory market in August of 2000 hoping to make the best high performance memory; over nine years later they have grown to be one of the most successful enthusiast ram manufactures on the market. Recently they have been known for their SSD's but their memory is what started it all. Today I have the chance to take a look at one of their 1600Mhz Triple channel kits for the i7 platform. Read on to see how it performed.
Patriot Memory NAS GearBox Mini Adapter Video Review @ TweakTown
"What happened, though, when the folks over at Patriot Memory asked if we wanted to do a review of their new NAS GearBox? We knew from the pictures in the press release we weren’t expecting a full-on NAS of the normal variety costing well into the four figures, no… we were expecting a tiny little NAS device that could easily sit in the palm of our hands, weigh under one hundred grams and cost around $50 USD.
Patriot Memory’s NAS GearBox is a tiny little NAS gadget with 10/100 Ethernet LAN support and it comes with two powered USB 2.0 ports for easily adding and sharing media and files over your network. We were a little skeptical about this device, as we are now starting to see more and more routers come with a USB 2.0 port for simple adding of storage to your network. Some even come with some extra features such as built-in torrent downloaders, for instance."
"This modestly priced ($22.88) headset features Neodymium speakers, a unidirectional microphone, 3.5 mm jack and a USB connection. The dual input system allows the FREETALK Everyman to be used with either a computer or connect to a portable media player. It is designed to work with either Mac OS X or Windows. "
Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD Media Player Review @ Legit Reviews
"Seagate’s FreeAgent Theater+ is one of the most versatile media players on the market. Based on the Realtek 1073 chipset, the guts of the Theater+ are technically the same as the Patriot Box Office. Doing a side-by-side comparison, however, shows the Seagate to be a tad quicker when navigating around menus and playing files. The operating systems for devices featuring the Realtek processor are notoriously clunky or bland. Not so for the Seagate. The OS is actually quite sleek – almost minimalist. Everything you need is there and is easily accessible. In fact, my 5 year old was able to pick up the remote and navigate successfully to The Clone Wars TV Series Blu-ray-rips that I stored locally on the FreeAgent hard drive..."
Virgin Media Freedom Netbook Video Review @ eTeknix.com
"Today we are looking at the Virgin Media Freedom netbook. This particular netbook comes free when you sign up to a Virgin Media broadband package and comes supplied with an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1gb ddr2, 120gb hard drive and integrated sound and graphics. It’s perfect for travelling with but be warned it’s quite small."
RAM is one of those things that can be easily overlooked. It can be confusing picking out what kind and how much you need. However RAM is one of the most important pieces of your machine, and can be a serious bottleneck if you don't have the optimum RAM speed and amount. With more RAM you can do more things at once. Multitaskers rejoice, because here's the Crucial Ballistix Tracer 6GB Kit.
Bang For Your Buck: Six Gaming PCs Explored @ HotHardware.com
You're stuffed full of turkey, you somehow managed to erect a Christmas tree (or not), and you're still recovering from Black Friday. Without a doubt, you've had one whirlwind of a holiday. But before you get too comfortable in that chair of yours, we should probably remind you that the gift giving day(s) you've all been waiting for is only a few weeks away. If you've been thinking of replacing that aging gaming rig of yours with something a bit more powerful as a gift to yourself (so to speak), we've rounded up a few solid options in varying price ranges that just might fit the bill. Oh, and you don't even have to get off of that sofa you're planted on to assemble these.
"Companies are now becoming wise to the fact that revising an existing product is often an all together better choice than starting from scratch to try and create something intrinsically different.
In this instance, Tuniq, a subsidiary of Sunbeamtech, have attempted to improve upon the Tower 120 design. Now christened the Tower 120 Extreme, this CPU cooler has been beefed up a little to make it more compatible with the newer Intel Nehalem architectures through a series of improvements designed to uprate the cooling capabilities. Let’s take a better look at the product in question."
"The test results indicate that GeForce GT 240 significantly outperforms cheaper RADEON HD 4670, but loses as much to more advanced RADEON HD 5750. In other words, it completely corresponds to its MSRP of $99."
Thermaltake Contac 29 CPU Cooler Review @ Tweaknews
"All in all the Thermaltake Contac 29 CPU Cooler can hold its own and the proof is there. When a sub $40 cooler can keep a blistering 140w AMD Phenom II X4 965 overclocked to 3.6GHz with 1.4v under 60 degrees Celsius, you know you have value!."
I have the game installed, but due to time, I haven't been able to load it up (and it's killing me), so to hold me over until I can finally get some time to play, how about we do a little contest? We have three copies of the game to give out, and entering couldn't be more simple. Simply sign up on our forums if not already and post in the comments thread for this news post. That's it.
