Reviews 51950 Published by

Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles:

- Antec Lanboy Air Open-Frame Case Review
- Ozone Spark and Attack Headset Review
- Speedlink CUE Multitouch Mouse reviewed
- Asus O!Play HD2 HD Media Player Review
- FaceVsion TouchCam N1 720P HD Webcam Review
- Mach Xtreme FX USB 3.0 Flash Drive 64 GB Review
- Verizon Pantech UML290 4G USB Modem Review
- Zalman CNPS9900 MAX Review
- Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS Challenger Pro Gaming Keyboard Review
- OCZ Technology 4GB PC3-12800 Reaper ULV Dual Channel Kit Review
- AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Review
- Beginner's Guide to Home Theater PC (HTPC)
- Acer Aspire 5551G-4591 15.6-in AMD Turion II Notebook Review
- ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme Motherboard Preview
- Zalman S Series 128GB SSD Review
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 1546MB Graphics Card Review
- PhoneGuard Anti-Texting While Driving Software Review
- IcyDock MB973SP-B Tray-less 3-Bay SATA Hard Drive Bay Module Review
- Sapphire HD 6850 1GB Review
- HP Photosmart eStation C510 Review
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Sound Card Review
- Corsair HS1 and Sharkoon XStatic SP headphones tested
- Seagate BlackArmor NAS 420 Review
- Das Keyboard Model S Professional Review
- Deepcool Ice Matrix 400 Review
- MSI Radeon 6850 Cyclone Power Review
- Zalman CNPS9900 Max Heatsink Review
- ASUS Rampage III Formula Review
- SilverStone SG05-450 SFF Chassis Review
- Intel LGA 1156 Motherboard 6-Way Roundup
- Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 40GB SSD Single & RAID Review
- MP4Nation Brainwavz M2 In-ears Review
- Denon AH-D510R Over-Ear Headphones Review
- Eminent EM7080 hdMEDIA RT & EM7095 DVB-T Review
- Gainward GeForce GTX 570 GLH Golden Sample Graphics Card Review
- Titan Hati TTC-NC15TZ/KU(RB) CPU Cooler
- Asus N53JF-XE1 Review
- Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1866 Review
- Dell Vostro V130 Review
- MSI P67A-GD65 Sandy bridge mobo preview



Antec Lanboy Air Open-Frame Case Review
Benchmark Reviews posted a review on the Antec Lanboy Air Open-Frame Case

The Lanboy Air case is the most recent in a long line of enclosures from Antec. Cases from Antec generally score high points among computer enthusiasts not only for their looks, but also for their ability to keep air moving inside the case. An overclocked PC requires a good case with a lot of air flow in order to keep all the important components safe from overheating. While a low-end PC used mainly for internet or word processing might be fine tucked away in the drawer of a desk and enclosed in the least expensive case you can find, the same is not true of any gaming or enthusiast computer. In this article, Benchmark Reviews takes you on a detailed tour inside and out of Antec's newest case, the Lanboy Air.
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Ozone Spark and Attack Headset Review
OCC has published a review on the Ozone Spark and Attack Headset

The Spark's sound is very honky and muffled, as though you're wearing earmuffs. The microphone specifications look better on paper but it really produces no discernable differences from the Attack. The Attack on the other hand, is very musical, clear, nowhere near as fatiguing and is cheaper. Although Ozone's questionable quality control makes it hard to recommend either of these headsets, it's an easy choice for me to recommend the Attack.
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Speedlink CUE Multitouch Mouse reviewed
Metku.net took a closer look at Speedlink's CUE Multitouch Mouse

CUE is a new multitouch mouse from Speedlink. Let us see how well this tool performs and can it replace your old rodent located under your palm.
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Asus O!Play HD2 HD Media Player Review
Futurelooks posted a review of a fancy new media player from ASUS ...

Why would you watch your favorite videos on your computer monitor when you can get a full 5.1 surround sound HDTV experience in your living room? This is partly why the whole idea of a media player has really caught on in recent years. Many folks don’t want to bother with the time, complexity and expense of a HTPC, but these little media-playing set top boxes are so convenient and inexpensive.

One of the latest to join the pack is the Asus O! Play HD2 HD media player. This is far from a virgin effort on the part of Asus to enter this market, so it comes with some definite improvements over its predecessors. Is this enough to warrant an upgrade?
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FaceVsion TouchCam N1 720P HD Webcam Review
KitGuru posted FaceVsion TouchCam N1 720P HD Webcam Review

Over the past few years, high definition video has become much more widely adopted in the market with the introduction and popularisation of HDTV and Blu-Ray. But we have only recently seen the high definition standard expand into video calling with the release of a few HD webcams. Today we are going to look at the TouchCam N1 HD webcam from HD Webcam which is designed to be used with Skype’s HD video calling service.
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Mach Xtreme FX USB 3.0 Flash Drive 64 GB Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the Mach Xtreme FX USB 3.0 Flash Drive 64 GB

Mach Xtreme has managed to bring a USB 3.0 flash drive to market with some very interesting performance numbers coupled with a very affordable price. We push the stick through our benchmarks to see if it manages to stay Xtreme or just fizzles into oblivion.
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Verizon Pantech UML290 4G USB Modem Review
TestFreaks posted a review on the Verizon Pantech UML290 4G USB Modem

There are many choices for wireless broadband out there, but none, at the moment, as fast as the new 4G service that Verizon Wireless is now offering. Today for review I’ve got the new Pantech UML290 4G USB Modem and it’s fast, seriously fast, it gives you the speeds you want when and where you want them. The UML290 though is a bit on the large side, but you might forgive the size for the speeds you’ll get.
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Zalman CNPS9900 MAX Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the Zalman CNPS9900 MAX

Zalman and its unique fin-ring type heatsinks ruled the roost once upon a time, but things changed with the advent of tower-type coolers. Zalman continued to innovate with a redesigned CNPS9900 MAX, even after going tower-design with the CNPS 10 series. Exactly what made Zalman go back to its traditional design?
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Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS Challenger Pro Gaming Keyboard Review
ThinkComputers.org posted a review on the Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS Challenger Pro Gaming Keyboard

The Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS line of gaming products is new to the market. It includes a variety of products including mice, keyboards, headsets and mousepads. Today we have the opportunity to review our first Tt eSPORTS product, the Challenger Pro Keyboard. This keyboard features an adjustable red back light illumination, two onboard USB 2.0 ports, as well as a personal cooling fan. Read on further to see what else this keyboard has in store.
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OCZ Technology 4GB PC3-12800 Reaper ULV Dual Channel Kit Review
Bigbruin.com has published a review on the OCZ Technology 4GB PC3-12800 Reaper ULV Dual Channel Kit

We were pretty darn happy when OCZ Technology let us know they were sending their 4GB PC3-12800 Reaper ULV dual channel kit to us for review. This DDR3 kit is an updated version of their Reaper HPC series, and this time around they have dropped the required voltage requirement from 1.65V to 1.5V, so it can now carry the moniker "Ultra Low Voltage".
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AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Review
Hardwareoverclock.com posted a review on the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition

After the AMD Phenom II X6 1100T release we have taken a look at the cheaper version 1090T. This is the same processor, with the same features, an open multiplicator, only 100 mhz more clock. This little performance improvement you can also set manually on a 1090T, at no additional cost.
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Beginner's Guide to Home Theater PC (HTPC)
Missingremote.com posted a Beginner's Guide to Home Theater PC (HTPC)

I was speaking with a friend of mine who's new to the Home Theater PC space and he brought up a great point--after saying how much he loved the new site design, he admitted to being a bit overwhelmed by some of the content that basically assumes you know some of the standard knowledge about this world of HTPC. I agreed, and thus this beginner's guide was born. For the sake of your sanity, we will break these guides up into small categories to hopefully make it easier to digest as well as continue to evolve.
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Acer Aspire 5551G-4591 15.6-in AMD Turion II Notebook Review
PC Perspective posted a review on the Acer Aspire 5551G-4591 15.6-in AMD Turion II Notebook

The Acer Aspire 5551G-4591 doesn’t pack any surprises. It is the definition of a mainstream 15.6” laptop, which means that it will probably appeal to many readers. However, the laptop steps into a market that contains fierce competition. Does the Acer Aspire 5551G-4591 find a way to stand out from the crowd? Well, have a look for yourself.
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ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme Motherboard Preview
Legit Reviews posted ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme Motherboard Preview

Today we have the opportunity for you to take a sneak peak at one of the new Intel P67 motherboards. All of the P67 motherboards will be hitting the shelves of stores near you soon, but we wanted to give you a peak at the ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme. We aren't going to give you any performance numbers on the ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme, Yet! Check back often for more of these previews to come, and ultimately the performance numbers!

One of the first features that stands out on the ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme is the memory support. It will support dual channel memory up to 2133MHz. The ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme will support 16Gb of memory in a 4Gb x 4 DIMM configuration. Along the right edge of the ECS P67H2-A Black Extreme we can find a series of LED's that will indicate how many power phases that the CPU is utilizing. Immediately to the right of the four DIMM slots are a series of six easy measure points. These allow you to check the voltages that the system is actually pumping through your components. The Voltages that you can check here are the; vCore, DIMM, IMC (integrated memory controller), PCH (south bridge), PLL voltage, and of course we have a grounding point...
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Zalman S Series 128GB SSD Review
OCC has published a review on the Zalman S Series 128GB SSD

By carefully picking and choosing what you want on your laptop, you can fit your life on to this super-fast drive. And it's really worth it. I cannot explain to you how nice it is to have my laptop instantly come back from sleep, and not only be back, but be instantly usable. The difference is huge. The entire system just feels snappier and don't get me started on boot times; they are much improved as well.
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ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 1546MB Graphics Card Review
Futurelooks posted a review of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 1546MB Graphics Card

At the beginning of the year, the long awaited and somewhat over due Fermi GPU arrived from NVIDIA in the form of the GTX 470 and 480 video cards. Scrutineers poked at GPU’s performance, noise, and apparent thermal challenges. To summarize, the two video cards were hot tamales, but it did have performance to earn a top spot in NVIDIA’s arsenal. Naturally, improvements to the FERMI architecture rolled out. First it was the nVidia GTX 460, which won gamers back with a sweet spot price of $200. Now we’re heading to the other side of the price/performance spectrum with the ZOTAC Geforce GTX 580. Let’s see what the new nVidia performance king as in store for us!
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PhoneGuard Anti-Texting While Driving Software Review
Hi Tech Legion posted PhoneGuard Anti-Texting While Driving Software Review

PhoneGuard Anti-Texting While Driving Software looks to help in the fight against bad driving. PhoneGuard is programmed to work with almost every smartphone OS currently on the market. The main feature of the software is to disallow texting and general phone usage while driving. Other included features are general texting blocking through scheduled timers and speeding monitoring with alerts.
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IcyDock MB973SP-B Tray-less 3-Bay SATA Hard Drive Bay Module Review
PC Stats posted a review on the IcyDock MB973SP-B Tray-less 3-Bay SATA Hard Drive Bay Module

Icydock's tool and rail free backplane module is called the MB973SP-B. It stores three 3.5" SATA hard drives in the space of two 5.25" drive bays. No hard drive rails or tools are needed, just open one of the three bays and slide a SATA hard drive in right side up, then close the door. On top of that, forced cooling is built in to prevent excessive heat build up, something that isn't always available (or plugged in) within the PC chassis.
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Sapphire HD 6850 1GB Review
XSReviews has posted a review on the Sapphire HD 6850 1GB Review

With each new generation of GPUs comes a slew of reviews as writers and analysts around the world scramble to see what those few extra frames per second will look like; god damn we're nerds arn't we? Still, here we are once again taking a peak at the latest offerings from AMD, the 6 series. Due to a naming convention change ala nVidia, AMD have chosen to name this card the 6850, despite it really having 67xx performance; or at least that's what we're expecting.

While this is a bit of a pain, in reality we know better. This is the new generation of 57xx cards, so what better to compare it to than it's last generation counterpart?
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HP Photosmart eStation C510 Review
TechReviewSource.com posted a review on the HP Photosmart eStation C510

The HP Photosmart eStation C510 is one of HP's newest Internet-connected ePrint printers. This model has a detachable 7-inch Google Android-powered tablet that lets you browse the Internet and much more. Print quality is quite good and the wireless Web printing makes this model a reasonable competitor.
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Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Sound Card Review
HardwareHeaven.com posted a review on the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Sound Card

Today on our test bench we have the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, the latest high end soundcard from Creative which sets out to be the best audio card available for consumers. Aimed at audiophiles and featuring top of the range components with specifications such as the best signal to noise ratio Creative has ever achieved we will find out if this is the must have sound card of the moment.
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Corsair HS1 and Sharkoon XStatic SP headphones tested
The Guru of 3D posted a review on the Corsair HS1 and Sharkoon XStatic SP headphones

Almost a necessity these days, a good headset can mean the difference between a win and a lose. Today we test a pair of headsets from Corsair and Sharkoon, the HS1 and the Xtatic SP.

The Sharkoon are aimed at console players, nicely plush and padded, they kick out some serious bass. The HS1, however, are the best headset we've tested, plush and comfortable, they did everything a headset is supposed to do, and they did it very well.
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Seagate BlackArmor NAS 420 Review
TweakTown posted a review on the Seagate BlackArmor NAS 420

We all know Seagate's consumer and enterprise products, but Seagate also has a growing list of end user storage products. For the last couple of years we've pretty much ignored these consumer and entry level enterprise products, since we tend to focus on raw hard drives; but that is about to change.

Today we are looking at Seagate's BlackArmor 400 Series of network storage products. On paper the BlackArmor 400, 420 and 440 look like solid contenders to the Thecus and QNAP NAS servers we write about on a regular basis. The one area on paper that has us excited is pricing; the BlackArmor 400 Series has a total cost that is less than what the two giants in the NAS server market deliver.
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Das Keyboard Model S Professional Review
reviewstash.com posted a review on Das Keyboard Model S Professional

One of the most important modern tools (in terms of input / output), the computer keyboard, is oft-overlooked when consumers purchase new, or upgrade their existing computer hardware and peripherals. This is rather unfortunate, because when most individuals spend the majority of their day using said tool, for either work, education, or even entertainment, they relegate themselves to a sub-par typing experience; one rife with mushy, imprecise key actuations. Fortunately, there is a viable and superior alternative; one that finds its roots in yesteryear's IBM Model M buckling spring keyboard (an item that is still coveted amongst "switch-thusiasts"). That alternative technology, the mechanical, non-dome switch keyboard has seen a miraculous resurgence in usage during the past few years; in hacking, programming, and even gaming circles. And, at the forefront of that movement is Das Keyboard, a company that began in 2005 as a blank keyboard manufacturer, who in 2008 wanted to create the ultimate keyboard, with n-key rollover and incredibly high-quality Cherry switches. Yet, with almost every mainstream keyboard on the market using dome switches and most individuals having zero experience with a mechanical keyboard (let alone knowing what "n-key rollover" means), is the monetary investment worth the potential return? Read on to find out if Das Keyboard's Model S Professional is not only a touch-typist's dream keyboard, but also has enough appeal and usability to break through to the mainstream consumer.
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Deepcool Ice Matrix 400 Review
OCC has published a review on the Deepcool Ice Matrix 400

The Deepcool Ice Matrix 400 is a solid contender compared to other heatsinks in its price range. Under stock situations, it closes in on the Noctua NH-D14 and the recently tested Zalman CNPS9900, which are currently at the top of the market. However, when having to deal with even a mild overclock, it cannot compensate as easily for this extra heat output as the higher end heatsinks.
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MSI Radeon 6850 Cyclone Power Review
The Guru of 3D posted a review on the MSI Radeon 6850 Cyclone Power video card

The MSI R6850 Cyclone Power Edition is based on MSI's military class component selection including the new SFC (Super Ferrite) chokes. The card looks robust and well built. It has 6 phases available on the GPU area and another phase for its full Gigabyte of memory.

The card comes factory clocked for you at a nice 860 MHz on the core and 4400 MHz on the memory (affective data rate). Now, perhaps you guys can remember it, early reports have shown that this card was able to achieve 1000 MHz on the core frequency, based on a core voltage tweak of course. Sitting on top of the GPU is the known Cyclone cooler.

And yeah, we did pass 1 GHz on the core on air cooling ...
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Zalman CNPS9900 Max Heatsink Review
FrostyTech posted Zalman CNPS9900 Max Heatsink Review

Zalman's CNPS9900 Max is built with better heat conducting 'composite heatpipes,' a more robust mounting system, a larger copper base plate that is machined flat and a 130mm diameter fan. The face lift and design revisions aren't cosmetic, the CNPS9900 Max heatsink performs much better than its forerunner and offers very good low noise cooling too. Like most Zalman heatsinks, the CNPS9900 Max is based off entirely original design concepts; two radial fin arrays surrounding an inset 130mm PWM fan that draws air past one set of cooling fins before exhausting it through the second.
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ASUS Rampage III Formula Review
OCC has published a review on the ASUS Rampage III Formula

As an ROG series board the expectation is that this motherboard is going to deliver great overclocking results. In this case, the motherboard did meet and exceed that expectation with an overclock of 4269MHz. To reach this overclock, the base clock was bumped up to 203MHz and the multiplier to 21. This was a little easier on the voltages needed than running at 215MHz x 20. While the CPU I have is a decent clocking DO stepping, it does need some voltage to get above 4.2GHz. Something the Rampage III Formula is only too happy to apply.
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SilverStone SG05-450 SFF Chassis Review
OCIA.net has posted their review of the SilverStone SG05-450 SFF Chassis

Of course, a full tower system isn't always desired for a number of reasons. Perhaps you are working in a limited space, need a system that is lightweight / portable or you simply don't need many expansion options. If you fall into this latter category, there are desktop options available that fit the bill. Today we are looking at one such option, the SilverStone SG05-450 Small Form Factor Chassis.
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Intel LGA 1156 Motherboard 6-Way Roundup
Neoseeker posted an Intel LGA 1156 Motherboard 6-Way Roundup

2010 was a good year for Intel socket 1156 motherboards, thanks to its desirable chipsets which supported many Intel Core CPUs from both spectrums of the market. We've launched a retrospective roundup of sorts, testing and comparing some of the more notable socket 1156 motherboard releases over the past year that really caught our eye! Maybe you'll find something to suit your needs and budget too. :-w:

The motherboards that we were able to include in this roundup come from various companies, include many different feature sets and have a suggested retail price that positions them into a certain segment of the market. The motherboard brands under the spotlight today include Gigabyte, ASUS and ECS, while the chipsets in the roundup include P55, H55 and H57 offerings.
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Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 40GB SSD Single & RAID Review
Hardware Canucks posted a review of the new Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 40GB SSD in single and RAID configurations

While SSDs have been gradually coming down in price, they are stilled considered to be luxury items by many. Mushkin's new Callisto Deluxe line is aiming to change that perception. The 40GB version is less than $100 and promises high performance in a frugal package but can it deliver?
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MP4Nation Brainwavz M2 In-ears Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the MP4Nation Brainwavz M2 In-ears

MP4Nations Brainwavz M2 is the slightly odd name for a set of mid-end in-ears. Despite the name, the in-ears boast a wealth of small innovations that makes them very competitive at their respective price point.
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Denon AH-D510R Over-Ear Headphones Review
TestFreaks posted a review on the Denon AH-D510R Over-Ear Headphones

Today for review I’ve got another Denon product, another set of headphones only this time it’s their AH-D510R Over-Ear Headphones. Normally these aren’t my style, I much prefer in-ear ear buds but regular headphones like these have their place especially for gaming. These headphones though sound amazing, and they have very comfortable ear pads. I think you’ll be impressed with the sound quality surely, I know I am.
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Eminent EM7080 hdMEDIA RT & EM7095 DVB-T Review
KitGuru posted a review on the Eminent EM7080 hdMEDIA RT & EM7095 DVB-T

In a living room or bedroom the pleasures of high definition entertainment are becoming adopted by a wider audience.

A large percentage of users however don’t want a full sized computer chassis taking up precious space next to their television. KitGuru has reviewed many products from A.C. Ryan but today we are looking at several products from another big player in this field.

Dutch company Eminent sent us two of their units for review today. The EM7080 hdMEDIA RT and the EM7095 DVB-T.
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Gainward GeForce GTX 570 GLH Golden Sample Graphics Card Review
HardwareHeaven.com checked out the Gainward GeForce GTX 570 GLH Golden Sample Graphics Card

On our test bench today we have one of the first cards to tweak the GTX 570 design. Gainwards GTX 570 GLH Edition features their own cooler and a factory overclock to enhance the performance over reference cards. We will put it through a selection of real world tests which include Black Ops, stereoscopic 3D gaming, Blu-Ray 3D and GPU computing to see how it compares to the reference model.
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Titan Hati TTC-NC15TZ/KU(RB) CPU Cooler
TweakTown posted a review on the Titan Hati TTC-NC15TZ/KU(RB) CPU Cooler

At this point the Fenrir Series of coolers from Titan have made a name for themselves and have had good results so far with this line of CPU coolers. My first look was at the Fenrir, then there was the black and gold Fenrir Evo, both of which did ok in testing and put Titan in contention for a share of the market. As with most successful cooler designs, evolutions of that main idea are bound to develop as time goes by, and we are going to be looking at just that today.

Keeping pretty much just the series name of Fenrir, this new cooler takes on a different shape and uses one less heat pipe than the two previous coolers with that naming. Essentially this cooler is using three heat pipes to do the work of the four of the initial design, but keeps the direct contact to the processor we are used to from Titan. As we get deeper into the review I will be sure to point out the differences and similarities of these coolers.
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Asus N53JF-XE1 Review
TechReviewSource.com posted a review on the Asus N53JF-XE1

The 15-inch widescreen Asus N53JF-XE1 is a desktop replacement notebook that has an Intel Core i5-460M CPU and a really strong nVidia graphics processor. It has a sleek design that'll please anyone and has a maximum display resolution of 1080p high-definition.
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Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1866 Review
XSReviews have posted a review of the Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1866 Kit

Lately we've been producing quite a few RAM reviews. Today it's time for another kit, the Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1866 CL9 to take the challenge. Will it perform on a decent price-performance ratio? Should you buy it? Let's find out!
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Dell Vostro V130 Review
Business Computing World published a review of Dell's Dell Vostro V130 laptop

The Vostro V130 is bit of a mixed bag. It looks good, sports a reasonable range of features and doesn't break the bank¯unless you spec it up, when it then loses its value appeal. Its lightweight and robust design is ideal for frequent travellers, but the lack of built-in security extras such as fingerprint readers and TPM chips won't wash with corporates. The biggest problem is that there's really nothing that distinguishes it, especially compared to a ThinkPad or MacBook Air. And then there's the unacceptable battery life. The Vostro V130 might suit the individual, but it's not well-rounded enough for enterprises.
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MSI P67A-GD65 Sandy bridge mobo preview
The Guru of 3D posted MSI P67A-GD65 Sandy bridge mobo preview

MSI recently as well submitted their P67 based motherboard for a preview, and once launched a review. Powered by Intel's P67 chipset, the motherboards come with two PCIe slots with NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire support, featuring what MSI now calls a Military Class II design that makes use of a six phase power SFC choke setup.
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