Reviews 52164 Published by

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review
TestFreaks posted a review on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is a Windows Mobile slider style phone that features a full keyboard along with something that Sony calls Xpanels. The Xpanels are essentially different home screens for your phone, they're customizable and you can get new ones as they are released. It features an 800 7480 resolution touchscreen with stylus for input, an optical mouse and even handwriting recognition. The phone itself is very well made, mostly metal, and is very aesthetically pleasing, a very sleek and stylish phone for sure.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review

Gamepad vs Keyboard: Which is better?
OCModShop compared Gamepad and Keyboard for PC Gaming

The mouse and keyboard seemed to feel so much more natural to me, and the maneuvers I could perform on a PC completely overshadowed the unholy mess I would make on a gamepad. As I write this I am fully capable of completing every portion of Left 4 Dead with sweet precision. I am the king of the headshot! But you stick me in front of this game with a gamepad and I guarantee you will be voting me off the campaign within the first minute.
Gamepad vs Keyboard: Which is better?



Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x Dual Layer SATA DVD Re-Writer Video Review
eTeknix posted a new video review on the Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x Dual Layer SATA DVD Re-Writer

As most of you know, the highest speed DVD±R media available to the consumer market is 16 speed, so Pioneer must be doing something special with their 20x DVD±R Re-Writer. According to Pioneer, if using 16x media, you should be able to see up to 25 per cent extra read and write speed.
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x Dual Layer SATA DVD Re-Writer Video Review

Thermolab Baram CPU Cooler Review
Legit Reviews posted a review on the Thermolab Baram CPU Cooler

The new Baram CPU tower heat pipe cooler from ThermoLab has been designed with optimal aerothermodynamics in mind, so the CPU stays nice and cool. With here area total of five ‘U’ shaped pipes this cooler has a total of ten vertical pipes for heat dissipation. Read on to see how the Baram does against more than a dozen LGA775 coolers!
Thermolab Baram CPU Cooler Review

Coolermaster Storm Sniper Gaming Chassis Review
Driverheaven posted a review on the Coolermaster Storm Sniper Gaming Chassis

Cooler Master is a name everyone in the computer industry knows well. After years in the business they are still going strong and are one the most well known and reputable manufacturers for their chassis, PSU and cooling products. Recently they have launched a new sub-brand, CM Storm and are working with some of the top teams in e-sports to create a new line of gaming enclosures.

Today we are looking at the first of those products, the CM Storm Sniper, a mid-tower case designed specifically for gamers.
Coolermaster Storm Sniper Gaming Chassis Review

Tritton AX Pro Precision Gaming Headset Review
HardwareLogic posted a review on the Tritton AX Pro Precision Gaming Headset

Today we take a look at Tritton's latest gaming headset, the AX Pro. Claimed by Tritton to be the 'most versatile gaming headset in the world,' the AX Pro boasts support for numerous platforms, including the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC. Utilizing Dolby Digital 5.1 technology, along with Dolby Surround Pro Logic, the AX Pro looks like a very promising unit. Will the Tritton AX Pro really deliver the gaming edge they promise, or is this just another headset that speaks for more than it can perform?
Tritton AX Pro Precision Gaming Headset Review

SuperTalent Godfather Series 16GB USB Drive Review
PC Stats posted a review on the SuperTalent Godfather Series 16GB USB Drive

Supertalent's 16GB USB drive is a standard memory stick with quick data access rates of about 30MB/s, or 200X, encased in a tough black-ruberized case. The only difference is that this USB drive promotes Paramount Pictures 1972 film classic, The Godfather.
SuperTalent Godfather Series 16GB USB Drive Review

Asus VH242H 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor Review
HotHardware.com posted a review on the Asus VH242H 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor

With Asus's recent Blitzkrieg of inexpensive Eee PC netbooks and nettops, it might be easy forget that Asus also manufactures a full bevy of components and peripherals from motherboards to graphics cards to networking products. Asus also makes LCD displays, ranging in size from 17-inches on up to 26-inches, which cover a wide swath of feature sets and needs from the budget user to the graphics professional.

One of Asus' recently released displays is the Asus VH242H 23.6-inch widescreen LCD Monitor. The "V" in the product name indicates that it is a "value" model--in other words, it is a budget display. But even with a budget price tag of $249 and using inexpensive thin-film-transistor twisted-nematic (TFT-TN) display technology, the VH242H offers features and performance that you would expect from more-expensive displays. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find many 24-inch or 23.6-inch LCD display at this price point.

Where the VH242H finds places to cut corners is with its lack of an integrated USB hub and a monitor stand that doesn't swivel or offer any height adjustments. But the monitor does include integrated, stereo speakers, as well as separate video inputs for DVI-D, VGA, and HDMI 1.1. Adding to its value, the HDMI input is HDCP compliant, so you can use the VH242H to display protected HD content. Come on by the site and check it out...
Asus VH242H 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor Review

Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 1 GB Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 1 GB

While NVIDIA's GTS 250 isn't really new technology, Galaxy has chosen to put an Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo cooler on their card. Even though it uses two fans, the card is extremely quiet making it an excellent choice for a media PC. The best is that it won't cost you anything extra. Galaxy is offering their cards at NVIDIA's reference design MSRP of $149.
Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 1 GB Review

Scythe Ninja Mini CPU Cooler Review
TheTechLounge posted a review on the Scythe Ninja Mini CPU Cooler

The Ninja had everything going for it: silence, performance, a low price, and, er, size. It's monolithic design was a concern, in that people really did need to be concerned that it might not fit in their computers. The Ninja Mini is less of a revision and more of a derivation: a much shorter, broader heatsink that's got titanic shoes to fill. Besides a simpler mounting system, lighter weight, and improved compatibility, has anything changed? That is to say, does it still perform (to continue the mixed metaphor) like a chainsaw at a water park?
Scythe Ninja Mini CPU Cooler Review

Tuniq Potency 550W PSU Review
Vortez Hardware takes a look at the Tuniq Potency 550W PSU

As we all know the PSU is one of the most important yet under-estimated components of the modern PC, it is pleasing to see that most of the nominal wattage is available for the 12V line as it should be with a modern PSU. The sharper amongst you may also have noted that the 150w from the 3.3V and 5V lines plus the 450w from the 12V lines doesn't add up to 550w so the ratings might be slightly on the conservative side which is no bad thing, I'm inclined to believe that the 12V lines have been slightly over-estimated in that both lines cannot produce 25A and still be only 450w. The only way to see how good it is is simply to test it now.
Tuniq Potency 550W PSU Review

Xigmatek NRP-HC1001 power supply Review
ocaholic.ch posted a review on the Xigmatek NRP-HC1001 power supply

Within the last years Xigmatek was able to establish in the cooling market. Since one year they've also been trying in the power supply market and with the NRP-HC1001 they present a multirail PSU with more than 1000 watts. Xigmatek also claims to hit an efficiency of 87 percent and a MTBF of 120'000 hours.
Xigmatek NRP-HC1001 power supply Review

Asus P6T Motherboard Review
Rbmods posted a review on the Asus P6T Motherboard

Today we take a look at a new socket 1366 motherboard from Asus. This new board seems to be the new Core i7 badboy from Asus, it is available in different versions that come in different prices. This seems to aim itself vs overclockers mainly and it also has a quite high pricetag of 270$. Lets see how this board will perform and we will also try to boost our Core i7 a bit to see what features this board can offer.
Asus P6T Motherboard Review

Toshiba Portege R600 Review
InsideHW.com has reviewed Toshiba Portege R600 notebook

Do you like the idea of notebook that is light and small so you can easily carry it all around? And you don't like that it has relatively slow CPU and no optical device? What do you say about a notebook that has 12.1 inch display, Core 2 Duo CPU, DVD writer and weighs only 1.1 kg? Well, notebook with these specs actually exists and its name is: Toshiba Portege R600. This little "masterpiece" will impress you the moment you take it into your hands. Toshiba claims that this is the lightest, fully functional notebook on the world and beside that, R600 has few more surprises up its sleeves that could make envy many notebooks out there.
Toshiba Portege R600 Review

Jetway NF76-1G5-LF ICS VIA C7 Motherboard Review
PCShopTalk posted a review on the Jetway NF76-1G5-LF ICS VIA C7 Motherboard

As the other motherboard, this VIA one has also a clean design. If we look briefly, we can see that this motherboard uses normal DIMMs, the chipset and the CPU are covered by aluminum passive heatsinks, but the CPU also has an active fan on it. We have a spare PCI slot for plugging in a TV tuner, a soundcard or a video card. We can also see 2 spare SATA ports, a IDE connector and the 20-pin PSU connector.
Jetway NF76-1G5-LF ICS VIA C7 Motherboard Review

Tagan SuperRock TG880-U33II 880 Watt Power Supply Review
TweakTown checked out the Tagan SuperRock TG880-U33II 880 Watt Power Supply

Tagan Technology Corporation is a division of Maxpoint GMBH in Germany with branch offices in the United Kingdom, France and Taiwan. Here in the U.S. the products are marketed under the Tagan brand, but to confuse things a little more, the products are also marketed under Nanopoint Technology, a company defined as a manufacturer of power supply units, mobile and data storage enclosures, PC accessories and peripherals.

Today, we take a look at a member of the Tagan SuperRock series of power supplies. Our sample is an 880 watt version, the TG880-U33II. Other capacities are available which range from a modest 400 Watts through 1200 Watts. These power supplies are non-modular units that make a number of claims regarding voltage stability, efficiency and high-end components. We look past the brochure and subject the power supply to our new PSU test regimen and then take it apart to see if the claims are all true.
Tagan SuperRock TG880-U33II 880 Watt Power Supply Review

Antec Sonata Elite Case Review
Hi Tech Legion posted a review on the Antec Sonata Elite Case

The Antec Sonata Elite will be music to your ears. The Sonata Elite by Antec features two layer steel sides with polycarbonate to dampen noise. The Sonata Elite also features two 120mm Fans with 3 speed control to help with cooling, and noise, as well. The Antec Sonata case has been around for a while and set the standard for quiet computing with an elegant design. Over the years, it has gone through a few revisions, but each time, the great looks and quiet operation has stayed. Enter the new member of the Sonata line, the Sonata Elite.
Antec Sonata Elite Case Review

Asus P6T Review
OCC has published a new review on the Asus P6T

But both the 920 and P6T put on a little show and came up big. The maximum baseclock I could achieve with stability was 222MHz. But this was pretty much bench stable. 220 was stable enough to be prime stable at 220x18, or 3.96 GHz, pretty sweet so far. To get there I needed just 1.38 volts on the CPU, a QPI voltage of 1.39v, IOH of 1.36v, CPU PLL voltage of 1.86 with the memory at 1.62 volts. Not a whole heck of a lot to do to bust out that kind of speed. But of course, 3.9 is not enough and I wanted to see if the little 920 was indeed a bona fide 4GHz chip without big volts. To push higher, I dropped the base clock down to 215MHz from 220MHz with a multiplier of 19 to get to 4.1GHz. I was expecting a fight to get there and was surprised at the fact that all it took to get this clock speed stable was an increase in the CPU voltage to 1.395volts with no other changes to the previous voltage settings. Now the one thing I found that you have to do though is keep air flowing over the X58 chip to keep it cool to maintain stability at the high baseclock levels I was playing at. Other than that, nothing really special was needed to push the clock speeds on the P6T. I have got to say that the board delivered the overclocking goods with an untested CPU.
Asus P6T Review

ASRock AOD790GX/128M AM2+ Motherboard Review
Benchmark Reviews posted a review on the ASRock AOD790GX/128M AM2+ Motherboard

Everybody knows that if you're number 2, you try harder, What if you're number 3 or 4, what do you do then? You look for Golden Opportunities to prove that you have first class products. ASRock did just that during the rise of the Core2Duo era, when overclocking nearly became a household word. ASRock built a stellar reputation with LGA775 motherboards that survived (and thrived) at the high Front Side Bus clock speeds that were required to get those Intel CPUs singing soprano. ASRock now has a new opportunity for market expansion, with the release of the AMD Phenom II CPUs; they once again have a chance to show the world that their products are second to none for supporting the latest and greatest CPUs, with an eye towards the enthusiast market.

With the new Phenom II chips, there are certainly some brand new reasons to start looking at AMD-based motherboards again. The new ASRock AOD790GX/128M motherboard uses all the latest support chips from AMD: the 790 series Northbridge and the SB750 Southbridge. The 790GX also provides integrated graphics processing with an ATI 3300 GPU inside. Follow along with Benchmark Reviews as we take a good look at what ASRock has brought to the latest AMD party, with their new AOD790GX/128M motherboard.
ASRock AOD790GX/128M AM2+ Motherboard Review

Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green Review: Bigger and Quieter!
PC Perspective published a review on the Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green

This week we take a break from the nosebleed speeds of Solid State and check out what spinning disk tech has to offer. We found there is still much life left in these beasts. If you are in the market for an insane amount of near-silent storage, this article is for you.
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green Review: Bigger and Quieter!

HAWX (PC) VGA graphics card performance Review
The Guru of 3D takes a look at the graphics card performance of UBI Soft's latest title, Tom Clancy HAWX

In this article we'll take a dozen of graphics cards and see how well they perform with UBISofts latest title, Tom Clancy HAWX. An amazingly looking fligh-simulator with an arcade element to it. Visually, the game's impressive, especially when flying in close to cities, which really shows off the building details. But it's when the game pulls into the third-person perspective while you dog-fight that the game flaunts its visuals and you really see much of the environment.

HAWX is probably not for everybody, but the idea behind the game is refreshing, it plays really well, and the graphics really are just amazing. We tested 12 graphics cards with this game.
HAWX (PC) VGA graphics card performance Review

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Headphone Amp Sound Card Review
Futurelooks checked out the ASUS Xonar Essence STX Headphone Amp Sound Card

Last year at COMPUTEX, I came across a product at the ASUS booth known as the “Stereo X“. My interest in this product led to an enthusiastic conversation with one of the project team members about how excited they were to have a chance to make things right for those of us interested only in using headphones with their systems.
ASUS Xonar Essence STX Headphone Amp Sound Card Review

Thermaltake Element S Chassis Review
Driverheaven posted a review on the Thermaltake Element S Chassis

We recently looked at the Thermaltake Spedo, a full tower gaming case which had a strong design base but was poorly executed in a few areas. Thermaltake have been around for a number of years now so we were a little disappointed to see a product from them that lacked the refined finish we expect.Today we are looking at another chassis from them, the Thermaltake Element S. This case is targeted at 'professionals' and hopefully will rate a little better than the Spedo.
Thermaltake Element S Chassis Review