Daily Reviews Summary 07/06/10

This platform supports all of today’s latest HD formats as well like 720p, 1080i, and 1080p, which makes it a great upgrade for home theater PC builders. MSI built the H55M-ED55 around this chipset, but added more overclocking capabilities through their OCGenie technology that allows one-click overclocking through a nifty button located right on the motherboard. This board also supports overclocked DDR3-2133 memory, two PCIe 2.0 graphics cards, and 8.1 high definition audio.

In September 2009, AMD unleashed a torrent of personal computing potential by introducing the market to the first sub-$100 quad-core processor, the Athlon-II X4-620 Since then, like it has with the entire Athlon-II series, AMD has been releasing newer versions of their inexpensive quad-core CPUs In this article, Benchmark Reviews takes a look at AMDs latest release in the Athlon-II X4 line, the Athlon-II X4-640 ADX640WFK42GM AM3 Processor Built on the Propus die, the Athlon-II X4 series cuts costs by eliminating any L3 cache and limiting the L2 cache to 512KB per core In looking at the performance of the Athlon-II X4-640, we will compare it to other recent AMD offerings in a similar price range, the Athlon-II X2-260 and the Athlon-II X3-445.

Cases these days come in a lot of different varieties and usually aim for either aesthetics or superior thermal properties. The PS05 midtower case from SilverStone is their new budget model. This model seems to be aimed at the entry level enthusiast on a budget looking for flexibility in how they put together a build. It is a midtower case with a bottom-mounted PSU. The PS05 is part of their Precision Series which brings thoughtful details from high-end chassis designs that are usually left out of entry level models. Items such as the all black interior, cable tie-down spots and vibration dampening hard drive mounts are all part of this model's selling points.

Try as I might, there's really nothing negative to say about Super Talent's USB 3.0 Express Drive . It's the same convenient, portable USB flash storage that we've all become accustomed to, but with the added benefit of performing up to ten times faster thanks to SuperSpeed compatibility.

Cooler Master has a new flagship chassis in their popular HAF (High Air Flow) line: the HAF-X. This chassis is able to house today's latest and hottest CPUs, motherboards, graphics cards and is even compatible with USB 3.0 devices. With specialized support and cooling for graphic cards, massive airflow with the help of up to four gigantic fans and easy access to installed components, this is as close as it gets to a system builder's 'dream case'.

The NZXT Vulcan is considered to be a gaming Chassis, so NZXT gave you some room to work with while installing a video card. As long as your GPU is under 350mm long it should be able to fit inside the case. While we're on the subject of things fitting inside the case, you'll have about 165mm of clearance for a heatsink.