The competition among Solid State Drive manufacturers is reminiscent of the video card wars between AMD and NVIDIA a few years ago. The invention of new controller technology has slowed somewhat, while each company races to combine high-speed NAND with custom firmware tweaks to produce the fastest SSD speeds possible. The Indilinx Barefoot controller has exploited a dominant hold over the consumer SSD market during the past several months, and 'overclocked' Solid State Drive products are beginning to replace 'new' product designs. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the fastest MLC SSD we've discovered to-date: the 256GB eXtreme-edition Corsair X256 CMFSSD-256D1..

Corsair X256 CMFSSD-256D1 MLC SSD @ Benchmark Reviews

In my opinion, the new Lynnfield Core i7 processors are a very good step in the right direction. Through testing and benchmarking, when compared to a Nehalem system, the new Intel i7-870 packs a lot of punch for the dollar.

Intel I7-870 Socket 1156 Lynnfield Processor Review @ Tweaknews

Have you been paying $5 a month to record the shows you want with that flimsy DVR? Wish you could get a real Home Theater PC, but are reluctant to dish out the money? Western Digital knows your pain, and aims to fix it with the Western Digital TV HD Media Player. Will this be the ultimate HTPC replacement or just another attempt at a re-branded TiVo? Join Matt to find out...

TechwareLabs Reviews the Western Digital TV HD Media Player

The Chieftec BL-01B Bravo L-Type case with VESA monitor mount surprised me. I was expecting it to be just another gimmick to try to get attention. While the design of the case is not for everybody, I can see many places where this would be perfect; a college dorm, a small apartment, virtually any place that you are restricted by space.

Chieftec BL-01B Bravo L-Type Case with VESA Monitor Mount Review @ Bigbruin.com

A quality mouse pad is an absolute necessity if you want to be successful with your FPS gaming. Today I will be taking a closer look at the "Ground Level S" mouse pad from Ozone, a new manufacturer of gaming gear, at least to me. The first day of what was supposed to be my vacation, I received a press note from Computer science Atlas, in which they announced the imminent arrival of a new manufacturer, Ozone, to its catalog. In the press release they presented the mouse "Smog", the "Oxid" headphones and the mouse pad "Ground Level", which I will take a closer look at in this review...

Ozone Ground Level S mousepad @ TestSeek.com

When it launched last year, the Core i7 platform redefined Intel's high-end processor segment. Unfortunately, the platform was also accompanied by high-end prices. As such, it has seen only a minimal share of the desktop market. However, Intel has released a new platform that it claims will bring the performance of Nehalem to mainstream price points. Referred to as Lynnfield, the new platform shares its core microarchitecture with the i7-900 series, but introduces a completely new chipset and socket design. This means that not only will we see new processors, but new motherboards as well. Benchmark Reviews has been testing several of these new items and will be covering the launch in detail over the next few days. In this article, we examine the Intel Core i7-870 Quad Core Processor model BX80605I7870.

Intel Core i7-870 Processor Review  @ Benchmark Reviews

With the growing Blu-ray movie market, Plextor has definitely taken a right step in capitalizing on the market. The Plextor PX-B320SA performs flawlessly - not a single hiccup after whipping out about 50 discs. Anyone looking to do a new build and or a diehard movie watcher should take the plunge and pick up the PX-B320SA.

Plextor PX-B320SA 8X Blu-ray Disc Combo Review at CCE Reviews

In this day and age, technology and computers consume our lives. Its only natural that with time, people will realize that the puny, limited DVR (digital video recorder) that the Cable Company makes you pay for is a waste of space and money, and the longer you have it the more of a waste of money it becomes. With the ability to surf the web, check your email, watch HD movies, record television, and much more, the real question is: “Why wouldn’t you get a HTPC?”

Thermaltake DH-202 HTPC (Media PC) Chassis Review at TechwareLabs

When it launched last year, the Core i7 platform redefined Intel's high-end processor segment. Unfortunately, the platform was also accompanied by high-end prices and, as such, has seen only a minimal share of the desktop market. Today, however, Intel is releasing a new platform that it claims will bring the performance of Nehalem to mainstream price points. Referred to as Lynnfield, the new platform shares its core microarchitecture with the i7-900 series, but introduces a completely new chipset and socket design. This means that not only will we see new processors, but new motherboards as well. Benchmark Reviews has been testing several of these new items and will be covering the launch in detail over the next few days. In this article, we examine the Intel Core i5-750 Quad Core Processor.

Intel Core i5-750 LGA1156 Processor Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Gigabyte is not only a manufacturer of mainboards and graphics cards, they also manufacture some nifty computer accessories, which I will be taking a closer look at today. We have previously only reviewed graphics cards from Gigabyte. This time we will be taking a look at a rather exclusive product, a stylish mouse called "Gigabyte GM-M7800S Swarovski Crystal Mouse". By the name and looks of it, we can be sure that Gigabyte is aiming this product towards people who are sensitive to fashion and trends...

Review of Gigabyte GM-M7800S Swarovski Crystal Mouse

Last week a group of enthusiast overclockers met in Beijng for the world Finals of the MSI Overclocking ChampionShip of 2009. Our very own Massman was able to squeeze himself into a spare seat to watch the action from the front lines. This is his report of the events.

MSI MOA 2009 Grand Final: European domination

Nothing about Pirates is remarkable. It doesn’t have a lot of lasting appeal, and while the gameplay does provide some entertainment, it gets dull fairly quick thanks to extreme monotony. This is the result of the game operating on the same level throughout its progress. Thestory lacks highs and lows, is missing moments of tension and trouble, and requires no reasoning or tactical application – it’s just a flat title.

Pirates: Duels on the High Seas – Nintendo DS @ TestFreaks

With times getting tight and the economy shrinking, the computer tweaking community is again in full swing trying to find out how to save money, but still have a good overall computing and gaming experience. Money is tight, yet people still want to freshen up their rig to make it as up to date as their budget will allow.

XFX HD4770 Videocard Review @ Tweaknews

We take an inside look at world's most ambitious overclocking competition, sponsored by the largest enthusiast companies and performed by the best overclockers the community has to offer. Free flowing LN2 and exclusive none-released hardware are pushed beyond imaginary limits to breach new world records. Read on to find out who took the lead in the 1st round...

F1 Overclocking Competition Takes Off! @ Madshrimps

It's OK to arrive fashionably late to a party, as long as you have something to add. ASUS has been offering their MATRIX branded video cards to the public well after the initial buzz has died down, for each GPU launch. The 9800GT and 4870 MATRIXcards were released in 2008, followed by the GTX260 MATRIX in early 2009. ASUS now releases the GTX285 MATRIX featuring the fastest single GPU available, supplied by NVIDIA. Benchmark Reviews looked at the ASUS ENGTX285 TOP back in January, which drew heavily from the NVIDIA reference design. Let's take a closer look at how they've stretched the limits on their latest offering, which is anything BUT a standard design.

ASUS GeForce GTX 285 Matrix Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Tacens sent us a really compact notebook cooler this time. After having reviewed the Tacens Fero I was eager to test something more portable, which could fit in my notebook bag. This first attempt at a portable notebook cooler by Tacens, does however leave me wanting more...

Review of Tacens Trio notebook cooler @ TestSeek.com

Based on the testing, the WBR-6001 was considerably slower than using the ethernet card on my laptop. This was confounding because the ethernet is only 100 Mbps while 802.11n should be 300 Mbps. Although I could only connect at 144 Mbps, it should still be faster than the ethernet connection or at least just as fast (since the desktop was connected to the LAN) which was not the case. While there could be a number of reasons for the slow performance, there is no denying that the WBR-6001 is very easy to set up. The web-based configuration is great and all the features are explained with the extensive help function.

LevelOne WBR-6001 N_Max Wireless Router Review at CCE Reviews

The ioSafe Solo is designed to allow the hard drive inside to withstand a single disaster, fire or water. This does not mean you can drop it in the ocean for a day then connect the ioSafe Solo to your PC like nothing happened. What it does mean is that the enclosure will take the damage while keeping the hard drive itself safe.  With that said I am left with two choices; I can either drop the ioSafe in water or make a fire. Hmm, no competition there... When in doubt make a fire! Words to live by.

ioSafe Solo 500GB Rugged USB External Hard Drive

"With times getting tight and the economy shrinking, the computer tweaking community is again in full swing trying to find out how to save money, but still have a good overall computing and gaming experience. Money is tight, yet people still want to freshen up their rig to make it as up to date as their budget will allow."

XFX HD4770 Videocard Review @ Tweaknews

Zalman has stepped away from the cooler design it is well known for and has done a pretty good job. With this step away from the flower design, they also open up a little bit and give you the ability to swap fans. Cooling performance of the CNPS10X Extreme matches their previous top end cooler the CNPS9900LED. They also bring back a new version of the PWM Mate with more options than previous iterations. With a black nickel plate finish the CNPS10X Extreme is sure to compliment almost any setup.

Zalman CNPS10X Extreme Review at Overclockers Online