"Even with Intel's new processors hitting shelves, the Core 2 lineup is far from dead. The best all round chipset for the Core 2 is the Intel P45 and today we have the latest P45 based offering from ECS in our hands."

"Intel not only knows how to push its own technologies, but also how to push the market forward; this with the exception of the RDRAM debacle, but let’s not dwell on that now. For the last five years Intel has not only managed to get its feet back on the ground with the Core micro architecture, but they’ve also managed to steer the course of memory technology as they’d originally hoped.

Many companies have already jumped in with triple channel kits for Core i7 and so far we have reviewed about five different kits. Today we are adding another to the list of oncoming tri-channel kits. Kingston, a long time partner in memory has shot us their latest memory kit comprising of three DDR3 1333MHz memory modules with 2GB density per module; a total of 6GB. We will today pit it against our Corsair 6GB benchmark modules to see just how well Kingston’s memory fairs."

"You may have assumed to gather my opinion of this from the cynicism
I've erupted all over the pages of this article, but I do still want one. After all, I completely agree with AMD's targeting and positioning of this product - I simply debate the execution. AMD needs to get the breadth of industry support, because HP alone can't cut it (even if it is the largest OEM).

AMD has to work hard to get partners to deliver cheap Yukon-based products to market faster than April, because that is far too late for this product. By that time, we are edging into Q2 and shouldn't we already be expecting the Congo dual core/780G part at that time? Why would we buy the HP? We just can't see a reason when there is a better featured version just around the corner.

AMD does basic low power very well indeed, so in theory this platform should be close to a walk in the park. What's more, it has all the hardware it needs to make a kick ass alternative to the Atom powered netbooks dominating the market at the moment, but Yukon based products need to be here sooner than April. If that doesn't happen, we believe AMD will be left behind with a great idea and no market because it has moved on by the time product arrives."

"We love the fact Hiper has tried to do something different - an actually useful box, a different cable routing style, a unique look, a USB hub with some ports and a different airflow dynamic: all of which deserve credit, even if we don't agree with every decision made.

This would probably suit many systems our readers build: something like an overclocked dual or even quad core, single graphics card and a couple of hard drives, then this PSU should fit perfectly - you'll easily be hitting 50 percent load matching its peak efficiency and very quiet running. We have seen "more" in terms of other 600-700W models - in full load efficiency and with more PCI-Express cables (and modular options), but the Hiper Type R II 680W is still a pretty damn solid buy.

You've got to love the bling to buy it though and that will undoubtedly turn some of you off. It's a shame Hiper insists on the LEDs in the black model too, because a choice or even just the option to turn them off would have been nice! In our opinion, forget the blue one - it's way to expensive for essentially just a paint job - and grab the black one instead if you're tempted by it."

"Sapphire continues to be innovative and brings new cards to the open market for consumers to pick. Expanding the Toxic family is the 4870 1GB DDR5 card, utilizing 3 heatpipes as part of the advanced Vapor-X cooler. The card from factory overclocked to 780/1000, 30 Mhz faster for the core and 100 Mhz faster on the memory. With recent price drop announcement on the 4870 family by ATi, this card becomes very attractive."

"The Baram CPU cooler made a strong first impression for ThermoLab and what they are capable of... I hope to see more products from them in the future. The cooler performed quite well during testing, and for those interested in running their system in near silence, the Baram will cooperate with temperatures that may be better than on some more popular (and louder) coolers."

"We have looked at other GTR games before in the past and conclusions state that Simbin are one of the greatest developers of racing games on the PC platform. Combined with the RACE series they have proven to be class leading titles and today we are taking a look at the latest expansion to RACE 08, GTR Evolution."

"Today for review I've got the ATP ProMax II 4gb SD/SDHC memory Card, it's one of the fastest on the market today with a class rating of 6, with a claim of 22.8MB/s transfer rate. Is it that fast? Well that's what we aim to find out."

"We have Gigabyte's GA-EX58-EXTREME Core i7 motherboard to put through its paces today. Gigabyte have kindly sent us a pre production sample (Rev 1.0), which we are told is identical to the mass production units apart from the colours of the various slots and sockets.

As the board isn't a full retail kit, there are no accessories or extras to look at, it's just a bare board, extreme cooling system and an SLI/Crossfire bridge.

Over the last few months we have seen a variety of propaganda from the big board manufacturers with each of them listing the other's shortcomings. Competition appears to have driven up the various board specs, but at the same time, prices have rocketed, with some retailers selling certain boards for up to £340 and Core i7 CPUs starting at around £270 - Factor in a triple channel kit and you are looking at not much change from a grand, so is the upgrade worth the money? How do Core i7 and X58 perform? Read on to find out..."

"PC Gaming is a serious business. Maybe it's because PC gamers are constantly upgrading their hardware and are usually on the cutting edge (if not bleeding edge) of the latest PC technology. PC gamers not only require their hardware to be fast, but look cool at the same time. There is a degree of one-upmanship amongst PC gamers, and the green-eyed monster usually sparks an interest at LAN parties. I know when I go to a LAN party I find lots of new hardware I just have to have in order to feel like the technology guru I know I am.

Unfortunately, the hardware specifically targeted towards gamers is also very expensive. An elite PC Gaming Case (chassis or enclosure) has many more features than your standard office PC. For one, many include built-in support for watercooling, and others provide easy access to USB and audio ports.... and of course should have a window to show off all of your LEDs, VFDs, CCFDs, and all the other acronymns you have inside."

"The ECS A780GM-A motherboard is an affordable media center platform based on the mainstream AMD 780G chipset. This spunky little integrated graphics chipset is ideal for home theatre PC/media applications, or budget-friendly workstation PC's because of its built in Radeon HD 3200-class videocard. The AMD 780G brings several new technologies to the table when paired with AMD's Phenom AM2+ processors, without abandoning support for socket AM2 Athlon64/X2/FX CPUs."

"Our flat screens keep growing in size all the time and today a 22 inch monitor is almost standard for the normal user while the hardcore gamers are even higher up at 24 inch. Todays review will be on a 24 inch monitor from Asus. This new VK246H seems to be a good monitor on the paper with HDMI and 2 ms response time. It also has a built in webcam on the top and to finish the package it has a nice glossy black color. The question is though, how will it perform and will it have any back bleed?"

"PC Gaming is a serious business. Maybe it's because PC gamers are constantly upgrading their hardware and are usually on the cutting edge (if not bleeding edge) of the latest PC technology. PC gamers not only require their hardware to be fast, but look cool at the same time. There is a degree of one-upmanship amongst PC gamers, and the green-eyed monster usually sparks an interest at LAN parties. I know when I go to a LAN party I find lots of new hardware I just have to have in order to feel like the technology guru I know I am.

Unfortunately, the hardware specifically targeted towards gamers is also very expensive. An elite PC Gaming Case (chassis or enclosure) has many more features than your standard office PC. For one, many include built-in support for watercooling, and others provide easy access to USB and audio ports.... and of course should have a window to show off all of your LEDs, VFDs, CCFDs, and all the other acronymns you have inside."

"The latest 9800 GTX+ offering to make its way into our testbed comes from Leadtek and today we’ll take the time to see if the card manages to do anything for us. It’s been a while since we’ve looked at one and some newer drivers have been released for both ATI and NVIDIA cards since then.

Recently ATI has also released a new mid-range card called the HD 4830; we will take the time to see how the 9800 GTX+ fairs against that. While everyone is beginning to get a bit giddy over the new GTX 295 due out from NVIDIA, not everyone can afford the big price tag that these new cards carry. So before we check out the performance of the 9800 GTX+, let’s have a quick look at the package and card for the people who don’t want to blow a month’s pay on a graphics card."

"Solid State Drives are rapidly changing the computing landscape, and many enthusiasts are using SSD technology in their primary systems to help boost performance. Benchmark Reviews has tested nearly all of the products available to the retail market in this sector, and several do well while others fall flat. It used to be that performance was the largest hurdle for mass storage NAND Solid State Drives, followed by stability, and later price. In this article, we benchmark test the linear bandwidth performance of the Mtron MOBI 3500 3.5-Inch SSD MSD-SATA3535-064 and compares it against the top competition."

"Hot off the heels of their recently successful nForce 790i SLI FTW Digital, the announcement that EVGA - an industry leader in customer service - would be jumping the NVIDIA ship and offering an Intel X58 motherboard; sent the enthusiast forums into a frenzy. It makes perfect sense since NVIDIA has licensed SLI for use on the Intel X58 chipset, but we were still all so thrilled to hear the good news as nothing was certain on the EVGA motherboard future up to that point."

"The latest 9800 GTX+ offering to make its way into our testbed comes from Leadtek and today we’ll take the time to see if the card manages to do anything for us. It’s been a while since we’ve looked at one and some newer drivers have been released for both ATI and NVIDIA cards since then.

Recently ATI has also released a new mid-range card called the HD 4830; we will take the time to see how the 9800 GTX+ fairs against that. While everyone is beginning to get a bit giddy over the new GTX 295 due out from NVIDIA, not everyone can afford the big price tag that these new cards carry. So before we check out the performance of the 9800 GTX+, let’s have a quick look at the package and card for the people who don’t want to blow a month’s pay on a graphics card."

"The IN WIN Commander 1200W performed very well during testing and I have no problems to report. The DC rail voltages all held up very well even under full load and the AC ripple/noise levels were acceptable but did however get quite close to the ATX12V V2.2 limits. The requirements for 80 Plus certification were met with a maximum efficiency of 86% and although not quite meeting the 88% claimed it is still to be commended."

"It has been a while since we have reviewed a Enermax power supply. Our previous reviews of Enermax's power supplies have left us quite satisfied with their performance and build quality. Today, we are going to take a look at the 'Modu 82+' series of power supplies. The Modu 82+ series comes in three different wattages, the 425 watt, 525 watt, and 625 watt units (seemingly in one hundred watt increments). Enermax gave us the 625 watt version to look at. This power supply is SLi Ready, Energy Star 4.0 compliant and 80Plus certified."

"On the whole, I'm pretty impressed with In Win's Matrix tiny-tower chassis. It has a distinctive look and sports some very nice features for a case of this size. The pearl white/black color scheme is refreshing and the multiple doors maintain a uniform look while providing easy access to the external drives and ports. I'm also impressed with the cooling scheme In Win uses here. It's no mean feat to cool a chassis this small and crowded, but the Matrix does a good job in this respect, all the while keeping noise to a minimum."

"If you game at ultra-high resolutions and want to know where the best bang for the buck can be found in graphics cards, look no further than Sapphire's dual-GPU HD 4850 X2. At $300, it's priced-right and offers incredible performance regardless of whether you prefer high anti-aliasing settings or resolutions."