Corsair Survivor 32GB Ultra Rugged USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Futurelooks have a review of the Corsair Survivor 32GB Ultra Rugged USB 2.0 Flash Drive, one of the largest capacity memory sticks on the market:
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| The Corsair Survivor 32GB Ultra Rugged USB 2.0 Flash Drive takes off where the Voyager leaves us, and gives us an even higher level of durability. The new casing is now manufacturered from CNC-milled, anodized aircraft-grade aluminum casing that is water resistant to 200M through the use of a EPDM waterproof seal. It is also protected from vibration or impact damage through the use of a molded shock dampening collar. The Survivor is available in sizes from 4GB - 32GB (as tested) and also comes in a GT version up to 16GB’s that supports faster transfer speeds than the vanilla Survivor. |
FutureLooks have a review of the new Foxconn 9600GT-512NOC graphics card, worth a look for mid-range gaming:
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| For a few generations now, the x600 series of each NVIDIA chipset has been the midrange workhorse. They generally provide moderate performance at an equally moderate price, and are the cornerstone of many a budget gaming box. The NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT graphics chip is no different; offering performance that should get you into most games and a price that allows you to upgrade to a full SLI rig later on. Eventually, as the product line matures, we’ll see new cards with different memory configurations and feature sets. For now it’s just the base model 9600 GT, with a slight overclocked twist courtesy of Foxconn. |
Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler Review
Dragon Steel Mods take a look at the Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler, which is apparently a US exclusive review:
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| Today for review I've got something special, something that no one on this side of the ocean has yet actually, the Noctua NH-C12P CPU cooler. Noctua has honored us with the privilege of being their US launch partner for their new CPU cooler. The C12P continues Noctua's tradition of striving for performance without sacrificing quality along the way. The C12P is like no other Noctua designed cooler to date, and not much like any other CPU cooler I've even seen actually. It incorporates six heatpipes into a short, fat style body that Noctua calls a 'C-Type' design with airflow gaps that allow cooling of the motherboard components as well. This design allows for a much higher compatibility with more motherboards and PC case configurations, where a tall CPU cooler won't fit the NH-C12P will fit easily. The NH-C12P uses Noctua's own NF-P12 120mm fan for cooling so you know it will be quiet as well. The Noctua NH-C12P is possibly the best cooler on the market today, from my testing and re-testing it beats all others I have for comparison, and that includes names like Thermalright, Scythe, Zalman, and OCZ. I was so surprised by the results of my testing that I re-did the testing all over again to be sure of my results, and they were the same, the NH-C12P is the new king of CPU coolers. |
Inside HW have a very interesting article, looking at the difference that a CPU and GPU play in the performance of your PC:
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| Your choice depends on the amount of money at disposal. The most complete solution is a combination of the new E8200 and a GeForce 9600GT (or its ATi counterpart, HD 3870), which would present a great solution at a reasonable price. For those with not as much money, an E2180 and an HD 3850 are also a winning couple at a significantly lower price, while an experienced overclocker will certainly make use of them 100%. The only thing to be avoided is the Celeron, simply because it makes no difference between a 70€ and a 270€ graphics card. |
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Processor
Hot Hardware take a look at the new Intel Q9300, aiming to take the value/performance crown from the Q6600:
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| Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q9300 has some rather large shoes to fill. This newly shipping, relatively low-cost (~$270) quad-core processor from Intel is a replacement for their long-standing price to performance champ, the Core 2 Quad Q6600. The Q6600 was the first quad-core in Intel’s arsenal which was actually affordable, and even today, it remains one of the best values on the market. Not only is the Core 2 Quad Q6600 inexpensive for a quad-core at around $230, but it is extremely overclockable and provides a significant amount of computing power for the dollar. Core 2 Quad Q6600’s are still in high-demand – a trend which is likely to continue until Intel physically removes from them from the market. |
Barry's Rigs 'n' Reviews take a look at the ASUS P5K PRO Motherboard, as well established board that might be worth considering if you can get a good deal:
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| Although the P5K PRO supports AMD’s Cross Fire, it’s not just the P35 chipset’s inherent limitation of lobotomizing the bandwidth on the secondary video card slot to an x4 transfer that almost makes teaming up two cards to maximize gaming performance, moot. It’s the fact that the layout of the SATA ports puts them directly in the path of a video card installed in that second slot, making, it practically impossible to connect drives to them. Depending on the size and layout of your case, if you’re still using a 3.5” 1.44MB floppy drive, With the P5K PRO’s almost-in-the-back location of the floppy port, it’s probably not a bad idea to have a nice, long rounded floppy cable handy—just in case. |
TK Arena have a new review of the Logitech G9 mouse, ideal for gamers if you are willing to pay a little more than usual:
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| Finding the right mouse, with all of the great features of the Logitech G9 Lazer mouse, does come at a price. Logitech took all of their customer feedback from previous mice and put them to work when they designed this one. This mouse is in a feature bracket all its own. I've never seen a mouse with so many customizations in not only the feel of it but the software as well. I can't think of an application where you would not be happy using the G9, whether you are a hardcore gamer or an office worker. If comfort and features are important to you and price is not an issue, the G9 is one of the best mice on the market today. And if you are looking for a great present for a gamer, look no further. The G9 is top notch. |
XS Reviews have a new article on the Scythe Zipang CPU cooler, which performs well but can be tricky to install:
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| The Scythe Zipang was an interesting product to review as it has some excellent pros, and some god awful cons. While it's temperatures are impressive and it has a silent fan, it's at the top end of what most people will pay for a CPU cooler, it's installation is irritating to say the least, and the fact that it bows your motherboard so much is definitely cause for concern. |
Big Bruin take a look at the Sapphire Radeon HD3870 X2 1GB graphics card, featuring two GPU's on a single board:
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| The Sapphire Radeon HD3870 X2 showed up some single processor HD3800 series cards during testing, and took game play to a new level of enjoyability. Even with the settings on high, there wasn't a game played where the frame rates dropped low enough to be noticeable. While the default settings should be more than enough to make any user happy, you can always overclock for an even greater boost. My experience was that 6% overclocks on both the memory and GPU were easy to accomplish, and that benchmarks and the frame rates achieved in actual games responded nicely to the extra speed. |
MikhailTech has a review of the Coolink GFXChilla, a huge graphics card cooler that may be of use to overclockers:
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| Many of us out there are not satisfied with the cooling performance on our video cards. Many video cards easily hit over 85C at full load, and sometimes we run into problems like overheating which results in artifacts or instability. This is not the only reason why we computer enthusiasts don’t like the stock coolers that come with the video cards. There are many people out there that are not satisfied with the performance of the video cards, and overclocking them would result in more heat. This is why overclockers buy new GPU coolers that will allow them to go to very high GPU clocks while staying in the safe temperature range. With the new Coolink GFX Chilla, this should not be the problem. Let’s take a look at how this GPU cooler will perform. |
