Daily Reviews Summary 04/19/10

Posted by Philipp Esselbach on: 04/19/2010 10:10 AM [ Print | 0 comment(s) ]

QNAP TS-459 Pro Turbo NAS Review
TestFreaks posted a review on the QNAP TS-459 Pro Turbo NAS

Today for review I've got another NAS or Network Attached Storage box from QNAP called the TS-459 Pro. This particular model can hold up to four hard drives and features an Intel Dual Core Atom D150 processor running at 1.66Ghz and it's got 1 gig of DDR2 ram as well. The TS-459 is truly a feature rich and powerful NAS box, you can do most anything with it from running a web server and FTP to sharing multi-media on your network, it can even be used in conjunction with IP cameras for a surveillance system. The TS-459 can also utilize QPackages that allow you to install all sorts of apps like Wordpress, Joomla and many other things for a variety of uses making it much more than just a vanilla NAS box.

QNAP TS-459 Pro Turbo NAS Review

WD Green: Green is Fashionable
InsideHW.com has compared 4 WD Green HDDs

As the title itself says, if you’ve followed the development of IT industry at all lately, you’ve certainly noticed that “green technologies” are gaining significant popularity. The conscience of constant Earth pollution is slowly seeping into all of our minds, perhaps a few hundred years too late, but better late than never. Components made of recyclable material, lower energy consumption, zero toxic materials in the production process, all of these are features which we are likely to see more and more on our products. This approach couldn’t have missed hard disks on the way, so we’ve received four “green” Western Digital hard disks for testing, in order to round up the story about AFT…

WD Green: Green is Fashionable

Gigabyte GA-MA890GPA-UD3H and GA-MA790X-UD3P Review
RB Mods posted a review on the Gigabyte GA-MA890GPA-UD3H GA-MA790X-UD3P motherboards

Today we will take a look at two motherboards manufactured by Gigabyte. First is GA-MA890GPA-UD3H which is based on new 890GX chipset and the other one is GA-MA790X-UD3P which is based on the old highend chipset 790X. We will compare these motherboards against each other and see if the new chipset performs better than the old flagship.

Gigabyte GA-MA890GPA-UD3H and GA-MA790X-UD3P Review

Griffin PowerDock 4 Charging Station Review
Virtual-Hideout posted a review on the Griffin PowerDock 4 Charging Station

Charging stations for iPods and iPhones have been few and far between. Now I'm not talking about the simple (and overpriced) apple single dock. That is virtually useless in my opinion. Many families have more than one device in the household and using the supplied USB cable and tying up a port and a computer can become inconvenient. Tying up multiple outlets can be cumbersome. So finding a solution to charging multiple devices at once is a niche that needed filled.

Griffin PowerDock 4 Charging Station Review

KINGMAX Super Stick mini USB Flash Drive Review
PCShopTalk posted a review on the KINGMAX Super Stick mini USB Flash Drive

The Super Stick mini USB Flash Drive from KINGMAX is very small, has only 31.5mm in length and features the PIP technology: this means that it is waterproof, pressure resistant and has high/low temperatures tolerance. The product also comes with a cute rubber doll protective case. Let's take a look more in detail to see what this flash drive has to bring to the table.

KINGMAX Super Stick mini USB Flash Drive Review

Corsair Voyager GTR 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Review
Legit Reviews takes a look at the Corsair Voyager GTR 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive

It's hard to get through a checkout line at even the grocery store nowadays without seeing some rendition of flash drive for sale. There are a dizzying array of sizes, colors and shapes with performance that generally runs from downright atrocious to decent. Corsair would like to sit a top of the performance end of things and are making a bid to do so with their line of Flash Voyager GTR thumb drives of which they sent us over a 32GB model (CMFVYA32GBGT2) to evaluate. Using quad-channel architecture, the Voyager GTR drive boasts impressive 34/MB/s reads and 28MB/s writes which certainly should make quick work of your file transfer duties...

Corsair Voyager GTR 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Review

Microsoft Kin Preview
Paul Thurrott posted a preview on the Kin Windows Phone

As noted above, there are two Kin devices, made by Sharp and imaginatively branded as Kin One and Kin Two. Kin One, formerly codenamed Turtle for obvious reasons, is a hockey puck-looking slide phone that is surprisingly small and light and fits in the palm of a hand. It features a 2.6 inch 320 x 240 QVGA (quarter VGA) screen, which seems pretty low-res but is surprisingly nice in person, 4 GB of storage, a 5 megapixel video-capable camera with LED flash and, on the pull-out slider, a full QWERTY keyboard.

Microsoft Kin Preview

CoolIT ECO A.L.C. CPU Cooler Review
DragonSteelMods posted a review on the CoolIT ECO A.L.C. CPU Cooler

Today for review I've got another CPU cooler, but this one is a bit special in that it's a liquid cooling system that's truly an all-in-one solution. It's called the ECO A.L.C. and it's from CoolIt. The ECO ALC is very small, and it's compatible with most every CPU out there. The pump is actually integrated into the water block that goes onto your CPU and the fan and radiator are attached to each other so all you've got to do is take a few minutes and install it like you would most other coolers out there. There's no fuss, no mess, no running tubing, it's ready to go out of the box, there's even thermal compound pre-applied so you don't even have to do that. I've put it up against a couple other air coolers for comparison so read on to see how it performs..

CoolIT ECO A.L.C. CPU Cooler Review

Cooler Master Silent Pro M 1000W Review
PureOverclock has published a review of the Cooler Master Silent Prom M 1000W power supply.

In the highly spirited world of power supplies, the Cooler Master Silent Pro M varies in power output from 500W right up to 1Kw units. Since the release of the Silent Pro M Series it has proven to be a illustrious seller and seems to be a testament to Cooler Master's goal of bringing consumers the best bang for their buck. Let's dive into this review to see what the Silent Pro M 1Kw unit has to offer us in terms of functionality.

Cooler Master Silent Pro M 1000W Review

ASUS Designo Series MS238H 23-in LCD Monitor Review
PC Perspective posted a review on the ASUS Designo Series MS238H 23-in LCD Monitor

On more of a technical aspect, the visual fidelity of this display is quite nice. The MS238H uses a lower-quality Twisted-Nematic (TN) LCD panel, the main drawback of which is limited viewing angles. However, with the design of the stand on the MS238H, and the limited angles that it can be set at, it becomes a non issue. The LED backlighting also helps to produce a more vibrant image.

ASUS Designo Series MS238H 23-in LCD Monitor Review

SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Gaming Mouse Review
Benchmark Reviews posted a review on the SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Gaming Mouse

In the past year numerous manufacturers have hopped onto the gaming peripheral bandwagon in an attempt to expand their businesses. Gaming mice have become incredibly fancy, with 6000DPI, 1200Hz polling rate, and anywhere from five to twenty buttons. As companies attempt to product differentiate, the visual design of gaming mice are becoming more exaggerated. Steelseries take a different approach this time for the minimalistic Kinzu optical mouse. Benchmark Reviews peaks under the covers of this ordinary looking mouse to see where it lies amidst the hundreds of gaming mice out on the market.

SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Gaming Mouse Review

NVIDIA Optimus Technology Review
Hardware Canucks posted a review of NVIDIA's Optimus Technology featuring the new Asus UL50VF Notebook.

Battery life has always been paramount in both netbooks and laptops but lengthening it usually comes at the expense of performance. NVIDIA claims their new Optimus technology offers the best of both worlds by seamlessly switching between an on-board dedicated graphics chip and an IGP. Does it work as well as NVIDIA wants us to believe? We find out in this review.

NVIDIA Optimus Technology Review

Diamond Radeon HD5770 XOC Review
OCC has published a review on the Diamond Radeon HD5770 XOC

The Diamond HD 5770 XOC graphics card is definitely one product that lives up to its name, by almost maxing out the core and memory with a factory overclock. This resulted in there only being around an additional 5% of overclocking headroom left, which doesn't sound like much, but isn't too shabby on Diamond's part, as most manufacturers only provide mild overclocks on their cards. As such, this card performed better than the other mid-range and entry level products we looked at, including the other HD 5770 card in most benches.

Diamond Radeon HD5770 XOC Review

Vantec NexStar 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Review
Hi Tech Legion posted a review on the Vantec NexStar 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure

The NexStar Super Speed enclosure allows you to use your existing SATA I/II drive in a portable environment and still maintain security and speed. With the Vantec USB 3.0 hard drive enclosure you get looks, security, speed and quality in one sleek mirror-finish package.

Vantec NexStar 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Review

Cooler Master GX 750W Power Supply Review
Tweaknews posted a review on the Cooler Master GX 750W Power Supply

Cooler Master's GX 750W has proven itself to be a very capable power supply. With impressive stability, quiet operation, compact design with plenty of connectors and sleeved cabling, this PSU brings a lot to the table and does so with a fairly modest price tag.

Cooler Master GX 750W Power Supply Review

Zalman VF3000N VGA cooler - Is it cool enough
The Guru of 3D checked out the Zalman VF3000N VGA cooler

It's no secret that hardware runs hot these days. And that created a gap in the graphics card market as the ODMs always will try and put an affective yet cheap cooler on top of your graphics card. A couple of names out there have perfectly interesting solution, Artic Cooling for example makes some really good VGA coolers. But then there's always Zalman, they recently released their VF3000 series graphics card coolers for both (VF3000A) ATI's latest 4000/5000 series graphics cards and the VF3000N cooler for the GeForce GTX 260,275,280 and 285.

Over the next few pages we'll startup a large photo-session where we'll guide you through the product, its installation and then of course temperature and sound-pressure measurements. Have a peek at the prepped and finished card which just had a majestic makeover as it is mounted with a Zalman VF3000N cooler.

Zalman VF3000N VGA cooler - Is it cool enough

Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 256GB Review
Techgage.com posted a review on the Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 256GB

The SSD market is littered with competitors, but up to now, few companies behind mechanical storage have entered the arena. Last month though, Western Digital scratched its name off the list, with the help of its SiliconEdge Blue models. We're taking a look at the 256GB variant here, so let's see how it fares against the competition!

[url=href="http://techgage.com/article/western_digital_siliconedge_blue_256gb/]Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 256GB Review[/url]

HIS Radeon HD 5830 1GB Turbo Video Card Review
TweakTown posted a review on the HIS Radeon HD 5830 1GB Turbo Video Card

Over the last few weeks we've had a look at some awesome Turbo cards from HIS. The first we looked at was based on the bad boy of HD 5800 series, the HD 5870; then we had a look at the more budget orientated HD 5850 which has become a favorite to people who want to save some bucks, but still get some serious performance.

Today we'll be looking at the final piece of the puzzle; the HD 5830 Turbo. The model didn't quite get as welcomed with open arms as previous models, but we've looked at a few different versions of the model including one from MSI that we overclocked and you can really begin to see some potential from the model.

HIS Radeon HD 5830 1GB Turbo Video Card Review

HIS Radeon 5850 Turbo Review
Viperlair posted a review on the HIS Radeon 5850 Turbo

he 5850 has gained a reputation for a being a great overclocker and great value for money. With DirectX 11 and Eyefinity support, as well blistering performance that won't overly tax your power supply, it certainly has a lot going for it. Of course, many high end ATI cards come with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and with the 5850's overclock ability, HIS thought it was time to put out a Turbo version of their 5850. The HIS 5850 Turbo comes clocked at faster speeds than a standard 5850, includes a free game and sports the excellent iCooler cooling setup.

HIS Radeon 5850 Turbo Review