Posted by Becky on 31st May 2012 - 0 Comments
Techware Labs have reviewed the ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Motherboard - here's a snippet:
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"From the word go, the installation process of this board was very smooth. There were no weird issues with cable placement, nor did I have to do any special voodoo to get the RAM working. Clearances were good all around, especially around the CPU socket. The included USB 3.0 bracket can change from a 3.5″ front bay mount to a rear expansion slot mount with just a couple of screws, and provides two ports with plenty of clearance around them in either configuration. Also helpful during the setup process was the debug LCD port, which displays POST status codes when the system is powered on. This helped me to spot and fix an improperly seated RAM module with barely a pause."
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You can read the full review here.
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Posted by Ian on 28th May 2012 - 0 Comments
Hardware Secrets check out the ASRock Z77E-ITX Mini-ITX motherboard from ASRock based on the Intel Z77 chipset, targeted to “Ivy Bridge” processors:
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The Intel Z77 is an upgraded version of the Z68 chipset with the same basic features (Intel Smart Response Technology and Virtu video switching technology), plus native support to four USB 3.0 ports. It also includes the addition of two new technologies: Smart Connect (allowing the computer to receive emails and refresh webpages while it is in sleep mode) and Rapid Start (faster boot times).
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Read the rest here.
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Posted by Becky on 25th May 2012 - 0 Comments
Diablo III has been out for over a week now - Hardware Heaven and Hot Hardware have taken a look, warts and all:
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"Diablo 3 is a dungeon crawler, allowing our hero to explore the dungeons and caverns of Sanctuary while working through the storyline. The games uses a custom 3D game engine that presents an overhead view to the player, like the isometric view used in previous games in the series. The game engine features destructible environments which allow us to use the world to our advantage during battle. For example, we can pull over a dungeon wall on a mob of enemies which makes taking them down that little bit easier.
There are five classes available to choose from, each class can be played as either a male or female avatar. The Barbarian is the only returning class from previous Diablo games, bringing the classic hack and slash melee combat. New to the Diablo series are the Witch Doctor, Wizard, Monk and Demon Hunter. Each class offers a different style of game play, from the ranged combat of the Wizard and Demon Hunter, to the up close melee style of the Barbarian. Magic features in both the Wizard and Witch Doctor classes and the Monk uses classic martial arts skills to cripple foes but also to self-heal."
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- Hardware Heaven
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"D3's gameplay is great. It retains all the addictive elements that made Diablo 2 so much fun, but streamlines and simplifies cuts down on the frantic clicking (my tendonitis thanks you). The new skill system works and scales well. Users who complain that the new flexible skill implementation results in everyone's Wizard or Witch Doctor being the same, are wearing a blinding pair of rose colored glasses. In Classic D2, poor skill implementation, death penalties, and an inflexible skill point system meant everyone used cookie cutter builds or risked being crippled by their own poor choices farther down the road.
There are disquieting signs of improper balance testing at higher difficulty levels, but the Normal and Nightmare modes are both quite a bit of fun. On a simple, visceral level, Diablo III remains a lot of fun -- when you can play. We'll discuss that shortly."
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- Hot Hardware
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Posted by Ian on 23rd May 2012 - 0 Comments
PureOverclock have published their latest review, the BitFenix Shinobi XL full tower case:
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The BitFenix Shinobi XL is a full tower case that appears to borrow the great ideas we saw on the Shinobi, while expanding them into a larger version, with a few tweaks. Mid-towers can only do so much for some people, and for those that need a full tower option, perhaps for a water cooling setup or expensive gear, the Shinobi XL looks to be a great option.
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Read the review here.
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Posted by Becky on 22nd May 2012 - 0 Comments
Frosty Tech have reviewed the Thermaltake Frio Extreme Heatsink - they look into whether size really does matter:
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"It's hard to believe that heatsinks for Intel and AMD microprocessors could get any bigger, but that's exactly what's happening. 2012 marks the year of "the really big heatsink" and Thermaltake's Frio Extreme is the latest example of this trend. The Frio Extreme is a large twin tower heatsink with two massive 140mm fans and a commanding foot print of 150mm square! Standing 161mm tall and weighing 1.23 kilograms, the Frio Extreme is destined for full tower gaming cases with plenty of room to spare.
As you might expect, the Frio Extreme's dual 140mm PWM fans are arranged in a push-pull configuration and scale in speed from 1800-to-1200RPM. Behind each fan is a 110mm tall aluminum fin tower connected by a row of six standard heatpipes to a nickel-plated copper base plate. The twin fans drive up to 106CFM of air each, so the heatsink is a bit loud when running at full clip. The fans are PWM, but the manufacturer also supplies a voltage regulating/PWM fan speed controller with which users can dial back both fans speeds simultaneously. The heatsink is built around 6mm diameter heatpipes and is rated for heat loads of up to 250W. Retail price for the Thermaltake Frio Extreme heatsink is pegged at $95USD/CDN. It installs onto Intel socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD socket AM3/AM2/FM1 processors."
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Read more here.
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Posted by Becky on 21st May 2012 - 0 Comments
Kit Guru have reviewed the Alpenfohn Matterhorn PURE CPU cooler - it may not be a name you have heard of before, but offers great value for money.
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"Today we are taking a look at the Alpenföhn Matterhorn PURE CPU cooler, a competitively priced mid range cooler for those who seek high performance at low cost. In enthusiast circles Alpenföhn have already earned a reputation for solid build quality and striking aesthetics.
There are many CPU coolers on the market today, and its increasingly difficult to distinguish the men from the boys in terms of price vs performance. Many follow a traditional design of a single tower with a solid base (Copper and Nickel seem to be a popular choice) and dense fin array, with anywhere between 2 and 8 copper heat pipes connecting to it all together.
Alpenföhn have a great selection of coolers on the market which vary from the lowest level cooler, the ‘Panorama’ to the big daddy of their selection, the ‘K2′. Each cooler varies in looks and performance, however the over engineered appearance is consistent throughout, along with a standard 120mm fan, which is also designed by Alpenföhn inhouse."
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You can read more here.
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Posted by Becky on 18th May 2012 - 0 Comments
eTeknix have reviewed the ECS Elitegroup Z77H2-AX Golden Board (Z77) Motherboard - and yes, that is actually gold plating:
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"The Z77H2-AX features as part of the Black Extreme Golden range, and what a fitting name this board has considering its not so subtle styling. Not only will you find golden heatsinks, but also a golden CPU socket and pins to match and this all relates to the build quality that goes on behind this board and others in its range.
The Golden Board series involve extreme testing under extreme circumstances including high temperatures and extensive military-grade testing in conjunction with the gold plated aspects of the board to give a longer life expectancy and to improve performance and stability.
This board certainly has a very unique market to appeal to and one that we are quite interested to see the size of the growth behind as we can’t honestly see consumers rushing to the shops to purchase a board that looks only fine enough for the Sultan of Brunei and Bill Gates.
The Golden Board series revolves around the Gold 4Ever stance with includes giving golden quality, stability, cooling and royalty meaning that we should see some fantastic results here today; at least in theory."
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You can read the full review here.
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Posted by Becky on 17th May 2012 - 0 Comments
Legit Reviews have recently taken a look at the overclocked Intel Core i7-3370K 'Ivy Bridge' - here's what they thought about it:
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"The Intel 'Ivy Bridge' system is clearly a strong platform. When we looked at the performance with our initial article it was clearly faster than the previous generation was. At the same time, there are clearly some... not sure if I would say flaws, but definitely some concerns for enthusiasts. It seems that the days of hitting 5.0GHz on air cooling are gone, at least for this generation of Intel LGA1155 processors. What isn't clear at this point, is if we are strictly being limited by temperature, or if the new 22nm die just isn't as overclocking friendly as it's predecessor.
Today we weren't able to bring our Intel Core i7 3770K 'Ivy Bridge' processor beyond 4.7GHz with complete stability. This is a little disappointing, but not the end of the world and we are still getting a massive overclock for 'free' so to speak. We also have to keep in mind that processor frequency isn't quite as important as it once was. A short time ago we took a look at performance scaling across several of the Intel 'Sandy Bridge' Processors and our AMD Radeon HD 7950. There truly wasn't as much of a difference as we had expected to see. That isn't saying that there is no difference, but if you're PC's primary concern is gaming, 100-300MHz isn't going to make or break the experience. Especially if you consider that when it comes to clock to clock performance, the Intel Core i7 3770K 'Ivy Bridge' processor is faster than the Intel Core i7 'Sandy Bridge' platform. We saw this in our launch article at default speeds with the Intel Core i7 2700K and again today with our Intel Core i7 2600K clocked at 4.7GHz!"
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You can read the full review here.
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WCG Stats Sunday 03 June 2012
