Daily Reviews Summary 07/02/10

We test and review the F120 SSD from Corsair, and SSD with read and write performance close to 280~285 MB/sec. The SandForce based products by all means are not little wonders and miracles in each and every segment, but in some segments they make a distinct difference oppose to JMicron and Indilinx products. So today the turn goes to Corsair.

ASUS Decided to start making sound cards since the soundcard market was being dominated by creative and their X-FI line. With the new ASUS line of PCI-E soundcards, it makes it a good market for ASUS to start to dominate in, since there is little competition. With the ASUS D2X is being marketed as a Home Theater sound card along with its gaming flavor. In this review of the ASUS D2X we will put it to the test with gaming to Home Theater use.

The past few months, Thermaltake has been launching more of the products we saw at CES 2010. At the event, we saw a demonstration that involved the Frio versus a Zalman CNPS9900A which is a very common, performance cooler still in use by many enthusiasts. With the Core i7 screaming at 4.4 GHz on a pair of ASUS motherboards, the system with the 9900A eventually blue screened due to very high temps, whereas the Thermaltake Frio kept things cool enough to run for the length of the entire demo.

When we last tested an ASRock HTPC, it was the ION 330 AMCP7A HTPC armed with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU. Now equipped with Intel's Core i3-330M 2.13GHz dual-core mobile processor and Intel GMA HD integrated graphics on an ASRock HM55-HT mini-ITX HM55-Express motherboard with 4GB of DDR3, Benchmark Reviews tests high-definition video playback and gaming performance for the ASRock Core 100HT HTPC system. The latest updates add SuperSpeed USB-3.0 functionality for attached storage devices, and THX TruStudio PRO technology to deliver a realistic audio experience. Other additions come in the shape of a wireless media center remote control, and uncompressed digital HDMI audio/video output.

The Diamond ATI TV Wonder HD750 is a small USB unit that promises to bring all of the advantages of broadcast and cable HDTV to your PC. In addition, the Diamond ATI TV Wonder HD750 has multiple input and software recording capabilities to allow you to bring your old analog media to new digital life. The Diamond HD750 is a digital tuner with a USB interface. Inputs for S-Video, Component Video and stereo audio allows connection of almost any conceivable video device. An included remote control allows for viewing and editing from any comfortable spot you choose, and the included compact antenna allows you to set up for HD TV viewing just about anywhere.

The Axle Radeon HD 5450 is targeted for a very specific audience - inexpensive performance, low profile systems, low power, and home theater audiences. Gaming is not this card's specialty, but then again it is not supposed to be. For better results I would suggest the 5550 line or if low profile form factors are not needed, then the 5570 or higher would be far better choices on purely the gaming aspect of the market, especially when both the 5450 and 5550 are within the same price range.

Are you Phenom II users looking for some extra special RAM? Perhaps these might do it for you...

Noctua are one of our favourite companies when it comes to high end cooling and it would be accurate to say that their NH D14 ‘Austrian Sandwich’ shattered all our preconceptions of just what can be achieved on air. Today we are looking at a model further down their range, called the Noctua NH C12P SE14. Many people reading this may have already seen reviews of the plain NH C12P version – so what has changed?