Daily Reviews Summary 09/20/08

Ive really enjoyed my time building and using the LQ1000, and its very much reaffirmed my interest in water-cooling after previous unsuccessful experiences. Zalman has produced a case of simply phenomenal build quality, and the full integration of the water-cooling system into the design just about justifies the monster price.

Perhaps our only beefs lie with the rather puny pump and reservoir included with the LQ1000. Rated to 300 l/h, according to the cases own flow meter the pump isnt pushing anywhere near this, with the display indicating a flow rate of 1.5 litres per minute at full speed and just 0.6 Litres per minute at low. The reservoir also seems rather small with a maximum capacity of just 300ml, although the meaty 240mm radiator seems more than up to the task of keeping your coolant cool, and the rest of the case is very difficult to criticise.

The LQ1000 offers an admittedly expensive, but fantastically well executed, stylish and easy route into the wonderful world of water cooling. It wont be for everyone, but then neither is chocolate sauce and chips, but for the few who are willing to drop G400 on a new premium case and water-cooling setup, the LQ1000 is a very high quality bit of kit that's well worth considering.

On the review block today is the Epson WorkForce 600 All-in-One Printer, and as soon as you open the box you'll be impressed by this printer. My wife, who normally couldn't care about the stuff I get for review, was thoroughly impressed by this printer, so that's saying something right there. Anyway, the WorkForce 600 just looks great, even without powering it on you can just see that this thing means business, but yet look stylish enough to fit in your home. After all, the WorkForce 600 is meant for small and home businesses, so it's made to be a work horse and that it is. The 600 includes some great features like WiFi capabilities, laser quality printing, fast printing speeds, built-in memory card reader, and even an LCD to preview your pictures and operate the 600 easily.

Today for review I've got the Thermaltake Xaser VI MX PC Case and it's got quite a few features that most anyone would appreciate in a PC case. The Xaser looks great with it's red and black color scheme and side window, inside you'll find tool-less drive bays for both 5.25" devices and your hard drives making installing your system very easy.

My personal opinion on casemodding is not so much that is has died, more that it has slowed down. This could be that the older kinds of modders (me included) didn't have all the luxurious items that are available today. We used to make our own LED-fans and CCFLs. We bought those things at specialty electronics stores; back in the day when the blue LEDs were brand new (and sold for 8 dollars). Blue was THE color back then. Although things might have slowed down in that way, the big modding forums still reign supreme and will laugh at my comments here although Im guilty I too am still on those forums lurking getting ever to hungry to mod on my own again.

As with all new product ranges as time progresses the technology trickles down into the lower end parts and that is why we are here today, the launch of an R700 based budget product, the Radeon HD 4670. This card retails for 60/$80 and so should be well within the price range of most consumers, but is it worth buying if you are a gamer? It is our job today to find out, and we will also test them in Crossfire to see the possible gains if you upgraded at a later date.

Want to get the most out of your game? Check out the Wolf King Trooper MVP Gaming Mouse. With an available 2,200 DPI, the trooper MVP can handle even the most intense gamer. But can the gamer handle this mouse?

When it comes to buying a new cooler you can be almost certain that most people will overlook water-cooling as an option. There used to be many reasons for this, such as the mammoth costs of a entry level water-cooling kit and the paranoia that accompanies the knowledge that the system could leak all over your precious rig . But recently the cost of water-cooling has fallen and although some still consider it a risky option, I think the tide is beginning to turn; so to speak. Today I have with me a funky looking kit from a relatively unknown firm, AMA Precision Inc and it's called the Serac 770. Let's check it out.

ASUS thought it was time to expand the Eee name and bring out something for your desktop; thus, the EeeBox was born. The overall purpose of this product is very similar to the EeePC; it’s got to be cheap and perform well in the tasks it’s suited for.

We wonder, though, can an Intel Atom processor with 1GB of RAM really do much for us? There’s really only one way to find out and that is to take the time to use and examine the product ourselves. What we’re going to do is have a look at the package and the EeeBox itself and then talk about our experience using it. I’ve taken the time to poke and prod my way around Windows XP and I will give you a rundown of my thoughts on it.

A new high end heatsink comes to the market, this direct touch heatpipe from Sunbeamtech is equipped with a 120mm fan and aims to deliver excellent price/performance balance. Let=C2=B4s put it through our load test

A couple days ago the great and powerful forces over at NVIDIA launched a new graphics card called the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. This new graphics card was launched to fill the gap between the GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce GTX 280. What gap might this be? It would be the gap where the ATI Radeon HD 4870 would be performing at. Read on to see how this new graphics card does in the benchmarks and we also overclock it and run F@H on it to top things off!

Zalman ZM600-HP is a 600 W power supply featuring a big 120-mm fan, an internal heatsink with a heat-pipe and modular cabling system. This unit is internally identical to OCZ GameXstream 700 W (the only difference between the two is the use of a heatsink with a heat-pipe and a modular cabling system on Zalman's model. Let's take an in-depth look on this power supply and see if it can really deliver 600 W or even 700 W.

A cool and quiet computer is an efficient one. The same adage applies to the contents of the computer. A power supply's function is to provide ripple free voltage to each of the other components in the computer. One of the biggest improvements that manufacturers can do to make their power supplies more competitive than others is making them run cooler and quieter. Therefore, high efficiency is very important. GlacialPower, a division of GlacialTech, introduces the 80 plus certified GP-AL series.

It's a far nicer improvement over previous generation HTPC motherboards thanks to the newer processors and 800 MHz DDR2 support. You can find the DG35EC bundled with a Core 2 Duo E8400 processor for $270.00 at places like Tigerdirect. The Intel DG35EC m-ATX Motherboard has been seen around for about $85 or less. Either way, it's finally money very, well spent. So, if your current HTPC has been burdened by some pretty big processes and seems slower than normal, it's probably time to consider the Intel DG35EC Motherboard.

Having previously reviewed the K1 case from GMC I was excited to get hold of their next model; the K2. In my opinion they have made the case even more attractive and the buttons on the front of the case easier to use. On the K1 I didn’t like how the bottom USB (etc) cover wasn’t spring loaded to lock shut, but on the K2 GMC have sorted that out with a much better cover system.