Nine reviews landed today highlighting value picks across categories: the GEEKOM A5 mini PC offers genuine upgradeability at $369 to $419, while MSI's CoreLiquid A13 240 AIO earned a value win at $48 to $69 despite using proprietary fans. Thermal Grizzly's Delta Mate MPII 1851 water block impressed at $409.38, igor'sLAB praised the GEEKTC GX-300 graphene pad in lab testing, and the Govee TV Backlight 3 Pro delivered near-Hue ambience for a fraction of the cost. Fractal's Refine 2 chair fixed the original's locking-armrest flaw, be quiet! scored a Golden Award with its silent TKL keyboard, and the Lian Li Edge Platinum V2 1350 W brought a novel L-shaped layout to the PSU market. The ADATA SD820 2TB portable SSD rounds out the batch with strong burst speeds but notable sustained-write throttling and a 10 Gbps ceiling on Macs.
Hardware Reviews: Budget Mini PCs, a Value AIO, and a $410 Water Block
Nine hardware reviews landed in today's roundup. They covered more ground than usual. You've got budget mini PCs, liquid coolers, a $640 gaming chair, a silent keyboard, a flagship power supply, a portable SSD and a camera-backed TV light strip. Here's what stuck.
The obvious story is the mini PC revival. The GEEKOM A5 makes a decent case for itself. It's an upgradeable little box on the AMD Ryzen 5 7430U, a six-core Zen 3 chip that's proven rather than new. Guru3D's Hilbert Hagedoorn says it launched at about $369 for the 512 GB model or $419 for 1 TB, and it ships with Windows 11 Pro.
The good news is what you can actually change. Both DDR4 SO-DIMM slots are replaceable, and there's an extra M.2 slot plus a 2.5-inch bay with a ribbon cable that makes upgrades approachable. Don't expect to add a module without swapping the one already in there, though. 16 GB is a starting line, not a finish line. It gets heavy multitaskers only so far.
The Guru of 3D: Geekom A5 Mini PC Review (Ryzen 7 7730U)
The GEEKOM A5 2026 Edition packs an AMD Ryzen 5 7430U processor and Radeon Vega 7 graphics into a compact, well-built mini PC. With 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory and a 512GB SSD, it handles everyday computing, media playback and light gaming, while its upgradeable memory and storage add welcome flexibility.
It's a nice touch given how DRAM prices have lurched around lately. Buying the stick yourself and dropping it in costs a lot less than paying for an upgrade after the fact.
Cooling: a value pick and a pricey flagship
Cooling had a real value story this week. PC Inquisitor's Thomas Soderstrom named MSI's MAG CoreLiquid A13 240mm a winner at $48 to $69, with web pricing near $70. It ranked third of six coolers against a Ryzen 9 7900X, sitting behind pricier Cooler Master and Corsair units. The trick? It was quieter than both, which makes it a cooling-per-dollar standout.
If you need a cooler that won't scream, that's the pick. One snag: the fans use a proprietary link, so a single failure gets you both.
PC Inquisitor: MSI MAG CoreLiquid A13 240mm CPU Cooler Review
With prices ranging from $48 to $69, could MSI's MAG CoreLiquid A13 240 become our new value champion?
Thermal Grizzly runs the opposite direction. The Delta Mate MPII 1851 water block costs $409.38, which is a lot for a cold plate. EnosTech didn't blink. It awarded the block both Silent Cooling and Best Overall while pushing an Intel Core Ultra 7 265k at 250 W. It fits LGA1851 and AM5, with backward support for LGA1700. Mind the 901 grams and the two offset G1/4 ports that won't take two 90-degree fittings at once.
EnosTech.com: Thermal Grizzly Delta Mate CPU Block - MPII 1851 Review. Beast at its best
In our last take, we got to test the Mycro Pro CPU Water Block from Thermal Grizzly. This time we are testing DeltaMate MPII which is at present the flagship cooling solution from the brand for CPU cooling. It is available for AMD AM5 and Intel LGA1851 sockets, separately. We have got the Intel variant which is a different route since my test data is from AM5 socket.
Thermal Grizzly Delta Mate CPU Block - MPII 1851 Review. Beast at its best - EnosTech.com
On the TIM front, igor'sLAB went full lab-grade on the GEEKTC GX-300 graphene pad. Thermal resistance fell from 19.4 to 9.6 mm²·K/W across a pressure ramp, a 50.7 percent improvement. The pad copes with uneven surfaces better than paste, but igor'sLAB cautions it's not universally better than a thin, high-quality one. Keep in mind that this version conducts electricity rather than insulating, and the 130 W/(m·K) figure is a packaging claim, not something measured.
IgorsLAB: GEEKTC GX-300 Review: Graphene Pad for CPU and GPU
In the TIMA5 test, the GEEKTC GX-300 reduces thermal resistance by 50.7 percent under pressure and remains thermally stable during the 134.9-hour high-load test.
Beyond cooling
Fractal Design's Refine 2 gaming chair ($639.99) fixes the one thing people actually complained about in the original, which was that the armrests wouldn't lock. The first version scored 9 out of 10, and ThinkComputers' Bob Buskirk calls this one a favorite being refined. Three versions exist, fabric, mesh and hybrid, all with lockable 4D armrests, dual lumbar pads and a 135 kg weight rating. Mechanical parts carry a five-year warranty.
ThinkComputers.org: Fractal Design Refine 2 Gaming Chair Review
The Fractal Design Refine 2 introduces lockable 4D armrests, a new flexible dual-pad lumbar support system, improved seat cushioning, smoother steel-bearing casters, refined controls, and a higher 135 kg weight capacity. Fractal has also updated the available fabric and mesh materials while adding a new Hybrid version that combines a padded fabric seat with a breathable mesh backrest.
Fractal Design Refine 2 Gaming Chair Review | ThinkComputers.org
be quiet! scored a Golden Award with the Light Mount TKL Silent keyboard at $97.03, or roughly €124.94 on Amazon.de. It's the tenkeyless half of the Light Mount family, built around factory-lubricated silent V2 switches and three layers of dampening. Aluminum top plate, hot-swappable switches, PBT caps, three macro keys and a media wheel round it out. Build quality and quiet typing are excellent, though some listeners may find the switch feedback too soft.
NikKTech: be quiet! Light Mount TKL Silent Mechanical Keyboard Review
With the Light Mount TKL, be quiet! expands its keyboard lineup with a space-saving model that combines silent mechanical switches, premium materials, and advanced customization options.
Lian Li's Edge Platinum V2 1350 W is a flagship with a genuinely novel layout. The L-shaped dual-chamber design faces its modular sockets outward, which tidies up cable routing. TechPowerUp's results came back clean on ripple and voltage regulation, and it stays quiet up to about 40 percent load. The wrinkle? It's Platinum at 115 volts but effectively Gold at the reviewer's 230-volt bench. Price wasn't listed at the time of writing.
TechPowerUp: Lian Li Edge Platinum V2 1350 W Review
Lian Li gives its dual-chamber PSU line a serious upgrade with the Lian Li Edge EG1350P V2. The 1350 W unit adds a smarter magnetic expansion hub, real-time 12V-2x6 thermal monitoring, and a space-saving L-shaped layout that should appeal to high-end builders.
The ADATA SD820 2TB portable SSD is the cheapest 20 Gbps drive Hardware Busters tested, at $299.99, and also absurdly compact at 26.5 grams. It earned a 7.8 out of 10, which feels fair given what comes next. Bursty performance looks impressive, near the rated 2,000 MB/s. Sustained writes tell a different tale. After a roughly 400 GB SLC cache, speeds fall to about 115 to 120 MB/s, and it throttles on heat. There's a catch too: Windows won't send TRIM to exFAT volumes, so the cache can shrink to about 64 GB until you reformat. Skip it for Macs, which max out at 10 Gbps anyway.
Hardware Busters: ADATA SD820 2TB Portable SSD Review
ADATA SD820 2TB review: a rugged 26.5 g, 20 Gbps portable SSD with a 400 GB cache. We filled it, measured its power and found where it throttles.
Govee's TV Backlight 3 Pro is a camera-based ambient light for 55- to 65-inch TVs, and TweakTown's Jak Connor handed it 95 percent and an Editor's Award. It's pitched as a budget alternative to HDMI-sync kits, and it mostly keeps its word. Compare it to a Philips Hue Play Gradient setup, which lands near $750 once you add the sync box and bridge. Govee starts at $179.99 at launch, though Amazon US pricing currently sits around $249.99. The camera module is a fair chunk of an eyesore, and camera matching trails HDMI capture for accuracy.
TweakTown: Govee TV Backlight 3 Pro Light Strip Review: Camera-based ambient lighting for TVs
Govee's TV Backlight 3 Pro delivers accurate ambient TV lighting, broad compatibility and strong app controls at a lower cost than Philips Hue.
Govee TV Backlight 3 Pro Light Strip Review: Camera-based ambient lighting for TVs
