Reviews 51945 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Xigmatek Elysium Super Tower Case Review, NZXT Tempest 410 Case Review, and Four 3 TB Hard Drives, Tested And Reviewed



Xigmatek Elysium Super Tower Case Review
Hi Tech Legion posted a review on the Xigmatek Elysium Super Tower Case

The Xigmatek Elysium is a Super-tower case capable of handling even the massive 13.5" x 15" HPTX form factor. The Xigmatek Elysium doesn't stop to impress there, it is also capable of dual power supply mounting and top or bottom triple 140mm water-cooling radiator support. Up to 10 PCI expansion slots, 12 5.25" external devices and 8 3.5" drives can be installed inside the Xigmatek Elysium as well as support for graphics cards up to 17" in length and CPU coolers 6.1" tall. The Elysium has a heavy steel frame but optional casters can be installed underneath for easy transportation while cooling is handled by a massive 235mm intake fan on the left side panel, aided by a pair of 120mm intake fans cooling the 3.5" drive bays and a 140mm exhaust fan in the rear. Never have issues with lack of storage space and work area inside a case again after you have experienced the Elysium.
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Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 Motherboard Review
TechSpot posted Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 Motherboard Review

Aswering to the demand of an enthusiast-grade LGA1155 motherboard, Gigabyte has unleashed the G1.Sniper2 based on the Z68 chipset. Like Asus' ROG motherboards, Gigabyte's G1.Killer series targets hardcore users by including additional hardware on-board such as a dedicated sound chip by Creative and a network controller from Bigfoot Networks.

Those niceties make the G1.Sniper2 one of the most expensive Z68 motherboards available, which begs the question: are you getting your money's worth?
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Antec High Current Gamer HCG-620 Power Supply Review
TweakTown posted a review on the Antec High Current Gamer HCG-620 Power Supply

Antec is certainly well known throughout the industry for their quality power supplies at an affordable price. The units that we've taken a look at in the past have proven to be no exception to this and we wanted to take a look at another unit from Antec to see what they had to offer for our readers. Antec kindly responded to our request and sent us over the HCG-620.

The HCG-620 doesn't feature the same bold looking enclosure that you find in the HCG-750 and HCG-900, but it does offer a lot of the same features. While the HCG-620 might not be packed with all of the latest and greatest protections and features, it does promise to bring some quality power to the table at a great price point.
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NZXT Sentry Mix Fan Controller Review
Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the NZXT Sentry Mix Fan Controller

Have you ever turned your computer off, and noticed suddenly, just how quiet the room became? It is pretty amazing how loud those fans are when you compare their humming to pure silence. Many cases these days are built with silence in mind, but some are not designed to attenuate the noise. And, in some cases, the enthusiast, has purposely placed additional fans inside the case in order to wring out every last ounce of air overclocking they can get. But eventually, the incessant whine of the fans begins to bother, yes, even annoy. It is at that point, when having a fan controller becomes particularly useful. NZXT has released the Sentry Mix Fan Controller.
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MSI Z68A-GD80-G3 (Intel Z68) Motherboard Review
TweakTown posted a review on the MSI Z68A-GD80-G3 (Intel Z68) Motherboard

The introduction of PCIe 3.0 has done almost what your normal new chipset would do when it comes to the motherboard market. We've seen companies start releasing a new flock of motherboards supporting PCIe 3.0. Unfortunately we're still yet to see anything really make use of it, but at least we're prepared for the next iteration of CPUs from Intel and GPUs from AMD who have hinted at PCIe 3.0, and hopefully NVIDIA too.

The first thing we'll do is get stuck into the package to see what MSI are offering us, then we'll take the time to have a closer look at the board itself before we get into the BIOS and check out the newly released ClickBIOS II. Once that's done, it's time to do some overclocking before we get into the performance side of things.
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Diamond HP200AV Powerline Networking Kit Review
DreamWare Computers posted a review on the Diamond HP200AV Powerline Networking Kit

Powerline networking is a great way to get an acceptably fast network connection from one part of your home to another without the need to drill holes and run new networking wires through your house, or risk an unreliable wireless network. Diamond Multimedia, the makers of the WR300N range extender reviewed not too long ago, have also just released their introductory powerline networking product as well. The HomePlug 200 AV is a 200Mbits powerline networking starter kit that has everything you need to get started with powerline networking!
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Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Power Supply Review
OCC has published a review on the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Power Supply

I couldn't recommend this power supply on a cost/performance basis alone, when you can have a Corsair AX1200 for a very similar price. It'll certainly get the job done and is capable of powering any high-end gaming rig with two or even three high-end graphics cards. and on that basis it's certainly deserves an OCC Bronze award - but it's hard to justify $279.00 for this level of performance. For that sort of money you need to be able to award it a Gold, but unfortunately it doesn't quite get there!
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NZXT Tempest 410 Case Review
Neoseeker checked out the NZXT Tempest 410 Case

NZXT's Tempest 410 is definitely a no-frills work horse of an enclosure, focusing on raw workhorse performance. The 410 boasts no flashy strips of LEDs, lights, or outlandish designs, but behind its simple looks lies raw usability.
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Crucial M4 256GB Update: The Power of Firmware
Hardware Canucks posted an article entitled Crucial M4 256GB Update: The Power of Firmware.

A short while ago we reviewed the Crucial M4 256GB SSD but we couldn't just leave things at that since a new (supposedly) performance increasing firmware was just released for it. In this quick article we look at the differences brought about by this new, much ballyhooed 0009 version. Has Crucial accomplished the impossible by releasing an easy to install update that breathes new life into their M4 family? We're about to find out.
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Corsair Force GT SSD 120 GB reviewed
Metku took a closer look at the Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler.

Not so long ago the SSD drives were out of reach for most consumers. Today the prices have come down but the price is only a single part of complex equation that deterimines what one should go out and buy. This time we take a closer look at a high end SSD unit - the Corsair Force GT.
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Four 3 TB Hard Drives, Tested And Reviewed
Tom's Hardware posted a round-up of four high-capacity disks compares products from Hitachi, Seagate, and Western Digital, then covers their caveats.

The latest 3.5” hard drives offer up to 3 TB of storage capacity. Western Digital was first with its Caviar Green WD30EZRS, and now Hitachi and Seagate have added competing products to their portfolios.

In this comparison, we put the Western Digital drive up against its 3 TB competitors: two drive from Hitachi (the Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3030ALA630 and Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723030ALA640), as well as Seagate's Barracuda XT ST33000651AS.
Four 3 TB Hard Drives, Tested And Reviewed

Galaxy GeForce GTX560 Ti MDT X5 Video Card Review
HardOCP posted a review on the Galaxy GeForce GTX560 Ti MDT X5 Video Card

With the new Galaxy GeForce GTX560Ti MDT X5 video card it is possible to output to 5 displays even though this is a single GPU video card. Enjoy NVIDIA multi-display spanned resolution gaming without the need for two cards! Can this GTX 560 Ti based video card stand up in the latest games when spanned across three displays We are surprised.
Galaxy GeForce GTX560 Ti MDT X5 Video Card Review

Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid-State Drive Review
ThinkComputers.org posted a review on the Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid-State Drive

It seems like it has been a while since we have reviewed a solid state drive, the last time we looked at one was back in June! Well today we are taking a look at a solid state drive this will not disappoint! The drive I am talking about is the Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SATA 6Gb/s drive. The Force Series GT’s are Corsairs highest solid state drive offering boasting read speeds of 555MB/s and write speeds of 515MB/s, on top of that they are saying speeds of up to 85,000 IOPS. Let’s check this beast out and get it on our test bench!
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