Reviews 51924 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

- Thermaltake TTeSports CONKOR and DASHER Mouse Pads Review
- MSI GeForce GTX 580 1536MB Lightning Overclocked Video Card Review
- Samsung Series 9 Review
- ASUS GeForce GTX580 DirectCU II: The Ultimate Choice
- Patriot Supersonic 32GB USB 3.0 Review
- Asus PA246Q ProArt 24-Inch LCD Monitor Review
- Cyberpower Gamer Xtreme 4000 Sandy Bridge System Review
- Sapphire HD5830 Xtreme and HD5850 Xtreme Review
- Antec Kuehler H2O 920 Liquid Cooler Review
- Gigabyte P67A-UD7-B3 Sandy Bridge Motherboard Review
- The State of Overclocking on Intel Motherboards
- Crucial Ballistix Finned DDR3 1866 MHz CL9 4 GB Review
- KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 EX OC 1024MB, Gigabyte GV-N560SO-1GI Graphics Cards Review
- Cubitek HPTX Tank Review
- Club3D GeForce GTX 550 Ti CoolStream OC Edition Review
- Nexus Real Silent Case Fan Basic Series Review
- Inno3D GeForce GTX 580 HAWK Edition Graphics Card Review
- XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB Black Edition Video Card Review
- Sapphire HD5830 & HD5850 Xtreme Edition Review



Thermaltake TTeSports CONKOR and DASHER Mouse Pads Review
Madshrimps posted a review on the Thermaltake TTeSports CONKOR and DASHER Mouse Pads

Both TTeSports Conkor and Dasher mouse pads from Thermaltake come with simple but modern designs, and are built from high quality materials. The included carry pouches are a plus for people that go frequently at LAN Parties, but also protect them from dust accumulation.
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MSI GeForce GTX 580 1536MB Lightning Overclocked Video Card Review
TweakTown posted a review on the MSI GeForce GTX 580 1536MB Lightning Overclocked Video Card

If you, like us were impressed with what the MSI HD 6970 Lightning offered which we looked at just the other day here, yet you're happy to spend some more to jump on the fastest single GPU card on the market, then we might just have the card for you.

Kicking it up a notch in price and performance, the MSI GTX 580 Lightning could well be the card for you, being of course based on the high end GTX 580 GPU. The Lightning series is all about overclocking, though, so we want to find out just what this series can do for the GTX 580.
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Samsung Series 9 Review
TechReviewSource.com posted a review on the Samsung Series 9

The Samsung Series 9 laptop is an Apple Macbook Air competitor due to its slim size at only 0.7-inches thick and less than three pounds. It has a 13.3-inch LED display with a 720p HD resolution, the new Intel "Sandy Bridge" Intel CPU and 4GB of RAM. While the specs are very attractive, they don't come without a high price
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ASUS GeForce GTX580 DirectCU II: The Ultimate Choice
InsideHW.com has reviewed ASUS GeForce GTX580 1536MB DirectCU II graphics card

ASUS is a company reputed for going all the way through with its ideas; once they've decided to create a special product (or product series, for that matter) and present it to the market, they achieve what they had in mind. This is the case with their own rendition of GeForce GTX580 DirectCU II, which has been redesigned in every way, all with the goal of separating the card from competitors in mind, with both low temperatures and overclock capabilities. Even the world-famous overclocker Shamino managed to set a record on this card; you can read more about this in a separate box. This card is aimed at users who don't restrain from paying good money for quality and now exactly what quality means. ASUS has done their part of the job flawlessly and we really can't say that we have anything to reproach to this card...
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Patriot Supersonic 32GB USB 3.0 Review
XSReviews has a new review of the Patriot Supersonic 32GB USB 3.0 drive.

Supersonic is the name and... probably, going fast and stuff, its it's... Anyway, here's a review of another Patriot flash drive. It's got a 32GB capacity, USB 3.0 functionality and its Quad Channel. Read on to find out how it performs.
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Asus PA246Q ProArt 24-Inch LCD Monitor Review
HotHardware.com takes a look at the Asus PA246Q ProArt 24-Inch LCD Monitor

When we heard Asus was coming out with a P-IPS display, we were a bit taken aback at the thought of Asus getting into the high end monitor game. But as the old cliche goes, there's a first time for everything, and the PA246Q ProArt 24-inch LCD monitor is Asus' first foray into the professional display market.

Every other monitor Asus has come out with has been of the TN variety, some of them very good, but there's a clear divide between what you get with an IPS panel and a TN display. The former boasts better viewing angles, much improved color accuracy, and in recent times have even proved up to the task of gaming...
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Cyberpower Gamer Xtreme 4000 Sandy Bridge System Review
Legit Reviews posted a review on the Cyberpower Gamer Xtreme 4000 Sandy Bridge System

CyberPower PC is on the forefront of the custom PC market. Today we have one of CyberPower's latest systems. The CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 4000 features the latest Intel Core i7 2600K and an EVGA GeForce GTX 570. This combination should prove to be a lethal combination! How will the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 4000 against our Intel X58 System featuring an Intel core i7 950? Read on to find out!

What can be said about a full system that does exactly what we expected it to do? More specifically, what can't we say! In short, this system pretty much rocked the socks off of everything I am currently using in my main system. Time for an upgrade. Well, first I'll have to convince the wife that a shiny new CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 4000 is worth skipping a few meals. I'm not saying that the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 4000 is expensive; quite the contrary. If you were to purchase all of the parts to build a comparable system at Newegg.com, you may just be surprised...
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Sapphire HD5830 Xtreme and HD5850 Xtreme Review
OCC has published a review on the Sapphire HD5830 Xtreme and HD5850 Xtreme

Overclocking of the cards was pretty decent. Both of the cards were able to increase both the GPU Core and Memory clocks by about 20% over the stock speeds, which is no small feat. The pricing on both of the cards is quite competitive. However, with the price only being $20 apart from each other, I would suggest the Sapphire HD5850 Xtreme over the Sapphire HD5830 Xtreme. You are going to see better results. About a 20% higher score in 3DMark 11 at the 2560 x 1600 resolution at stock speeds.
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Antec Kuehler H2O 920 Liquid Cooler Review
Benchmark Review checked out the Antec Kuehler H2O 920 Liquid Cooler

Since Corsair popularized their version of Asetec's "LCLC" (low cost liquid cooling) system back in 2009, it seems that every time you look, another variation on the theme appears. Other manufacturers have leapt into the fray, and Antec's initial entry into the market, the Kuehler620, impressed us with its amazing performance. Now Antec's introduced a new product, the Kuehler 920. At first glance it seems very similar to Corsair's Hydro H70 product, but Antec distinguishes their offering with exceptional performance and features.
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Gigabyte P67A-UD7-B3 Sandy Bridge Motherboard Review
Hardware Canucks posted a review of the new Gigabyte P67A-UD7-B3 Sandy Bridge motherboard.

Earlier this year, Intel's new Sandy Bridge architecture went on a bit of a hiatus as a recall swept the market clean of supporting motherboards. Now all-new "B3" models have started hitting retailers' shelves and one of the premier boards is Gigabyte's P67A-UD7. It boasts a remarkably full feature set, some great overclocking potential and the B3 refresh also brings some much-needed refinements to the table as well.
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The State of Overclocking on Intel Motherboards
Techgage posted an article on the state of overclocking on Intel Motherboards

I'd like to think that I'm the kind of person who doesn't hold a grudge, but after bouts of unsuccessful overclocking runs with Intel motherboards in the past, I just about gave up. Until I decided to investigate further to see where things stood today. Have my opinions changed after overclocking with Intel's DP67BG this past weekend?
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Crucial Ballistix Finned DDR3 1866 MHz CL9 4 GB Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the Crucial Ballistix Finned DDR3 1866 MHz CL9 4 GB

The Crucial Ballistix Finned memory does not only look cool, but they also pack an on-board sensor so that you can actually make sure they stay cool during use and extreme overclocking. We take the 1866 MHz kit for a spin to check if it manages to make an impression or barely ding our armor.
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KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 EX OC 1024MB, Gigabyte GV-N560SO-1GI Graphics Cards Review
iXBT Labs has released a review on the KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 EX OC 1024MB, Gigabyte GV-N560SO-1GI Graphics Cards

This time we got two GeForce GTX 560 Ti products for review. One is made by KFA2, the other, by Gigabyte. Both solutions are custom-made, and the Gigabyte's card is also extremely factory-overclocked, so it should be very fast.
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Cubitek HPTX Tank Review
Vortez posted a review on the Cubitek HPTX Tank

The Tank series features 3 different designs, we will be taking a look at the biggest of the 3 today - HPTX Tank. As with all the cases in this series, the HPTX Tank is fully aluminium. It is wide, allowing up to 190mm tall CPU coolers to be installed and can house XL-ATX motherboards such as GIGABYTE's G1 Assassin and EVGA's SR-2. Being able to house such big hardware also means long graphics cards can also be installed within the HPTX Tank, in fact up to 340mm of clearance is available! With lots of cooling, lots of space and lots of features I'm expecting some good results from this case, Lian Li ought to be very afraid.
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Club3D GeForce GTX 550 Ti CoolStream OC Edition Review
Metku took a closer look at the Club3D GeForce GTX 550 Ti CoolStream OC Edition.

The fight on the mid-range gaming graphics market is really heating up, AMD got there first with the launch of the HD68-series Barts-cards, but since then Nvidia has introduced their new GTX 560 Ti and GTX 550 Ti series cards. Let us start with the GTX 550 Ti.
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Nexus Real Silent Case Fan Basic Series Review
eTeknix.com posted Nexus Real Silent Case Fan Basic Series Review

Case fans are one of those things that are essential but rarely discussed. It is much more important to have a good CPU cooler than good case fans. That in itself is not quite strictly true. Ok yes without a CPU cooler your processor will overheat within seconds but without a case fan you will struggle to remove any heat removed from the CPU and of course then no more heat can be removed. More simply put, it is essential to have good airflow through the case to remove the heat build-up else the CPU cooler won't be able to operate.

Case fans are also seen as something that comes with a case that you buy, if you buy a decent gaming case you would expect it to come with several high-powered case fans and if you bought a case for audio work you would expect it to have ultra quiet case fans. They are rarely classed as an extra and to most people they are just part of the case. That said there are some of us out there who are aiming to improve our desktop PC's in all aspects and that most certainly includes cooling and airflow. Further to this, a few years ago cases only tended to have 1 case fan space at the back of the case just below the PSU which was designed to only remove the hot air and hope that colder air would take its place. This has dramatically changed and now my case, for instance, has space for a maximum of 5 fans and that is quite standard.

Nexus are as they put it an authentic manufacturer of the quietest case fans in the world and that this 120mm fan is a perfect example of true silence combined with great performance. They are clearly very confident in their fans and have over the years proven this statement quite conclusively. We just hope it continues.
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Inno3D GeForce GTX 580 HAWK Edition Graphics Card Review
HardwareHeaven.com takes a look at the Inno3D GeForce GTX 580 HAWK Edition Graphics Card

Despite the reference designs impressive cooling solution there were consumers who demanded enhanced versions of the GTX 580 with enhanced cooler. One of the latest to deliver this is Inno3D with their custom GTX 580 HAWK Edition. As well as featuring an enhanced cooler and some tweaks on the style of the card it also has 3GB of memory rather than the standard 1.5GB. Lets see how it performs in a selection of real world tests.
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XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB Black Edition Video Card Review
TweakTown posted a review on the XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB Black Edition Video Card

Who would've thought we'd ever be looking at XFX cards based on an AMD GPU? It's been a long time since we've looked at something from XFX. Going through our content archive, it was August of 2007 and the victim was the 9800 GTX+.

So much has happened since then, though, and in that time we've seen the Black Edition series created from the company; a series that has had some of the best looking cards around. I say best looking as I haven't had the chance to look at one until today. Today we see if the Black Edition is all bark and no bite, or if its bark is just the entrée to a menacing bite for main.
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Sapphire HD5830 & HD5850 Xtreme Edition Review
KitGuru posted Sapphire HD5830 & HD5850 Xtreme Edition Review

Sapphire have decided to re-release two of AMD’s last generation range of cards – the HD5830 and HD5850, but this time around they are offering them with a modified cooler and heavily reduced pricing. When we say heavily reduced, we really do mean it. The HD5850 ‘Xtreme’ has been reduced from an original price of £250 to £99 inc vat and the HD5830 ‘Xtreme’ from £200 to £80 inc vat.
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