Here an overview of today's reviews and articles:

- StarCraft II - Wings of Liberty (PC) Review
- IDAPT I3 Universal Desktop Charger Review
- Run Firefox 3.6 and Firefox 4 Beta Simultaneously
- Spire TherMax Eclipse II Cooler Review
- ASUS CineVibe Rumble Feedback USB Gaming Headset Review
- Rosewill RK-800G Gaming Keyboard Review
- Samsung Gravity 3 SGH-t479 Review
- NZXT Phantom Case Review
- AMD 2010 Processor Series in Tests, Part 1
- OCZ StealthXStream 2 600 W Power Supply Review
- Patriot Inferno 100 GB SSD Review
- Moneaul Crystal Pen Drive Review
- Sharkoon Silent Eagle SE 120mm & 80mm Fans Review
- NZXT Phantom Full Tower ATX Case Review
- Performance Quick-Take: WD's 7200 RPM Scorpio Black 500GB Notebook Hard Drive
- OCZ RevoDrive 120GB PCI-Express SSD Review
- DeepCool Ice Warrior Heatsink Review
- Guru3D Rig of the Month - July 2010
- Gelid Solutions Tranquillo Review
- Intel Core i5-655K Processor BX80616I5655K Review
- MSI GTX 460 cyclone 768MB Review
- PowerColor PCS+ HD 5770 Vortex Review
- MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB OC Review
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty GPU & CPU Performance
- Powercolor HD5770 Vortex 1GB Review
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty GPU & CPU Performance
- Powercolor HD5770 Vortex 1GB Review
- MSI 890FXA-GD70 AMD 890FX Motherboard Review
- Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Review
- StarCraft 2 (PC) Review
- FileMaker Pro 11 Review
- OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W power supply review



StarCraft II - Wings of Liberty (PC) Review
GamingHeaven.com posted a review on StarCraft II - Wings of Liberty for the PC

'Hell, it's about time' growls Tychus Findlay in the opening cinematic. The poster-boy for bad-ass pretty much echoes the sentiments of every real time strategy fan the world over.

Finally, the sequel to 1998's game of the year has arrived and promises to bring all the glory and all the horror but it is fair to say it has a huge weight of expectation resting on it.

Read more

IDAPT I3 Universal Desktop Charger Review
ThinkComputers.org posted a review on the IDAPT I3 Universal Desktop Charger

If you are anything like me you have quite a few gadgets lying around, most with their own chargers. This means you have a bunch of different cords to plug in, which takes up most of your power strip and just makes a mess of wires and connectors. While there is nothing we can do about all of the chargers that come with these devices there is something you can do about the mess. This is where the IDAPT I3 Universal Desktop charger comes in. It is a simple device that has 1 power connection and allows you to charge up to 3 devices at the same time! Let’s take a look…

Read more

Run Firefox 3.6 and Firefox 4 Beta Simultaneously
TechSpot posted a guide about running Firefox 3.6 and Firefox 4 Beta simultaneously

It's been a few weeks since Mozilla released the first beta of Firefox 4, a major overhaul of the world's second-most used web browser. While we're pleased to report that the performance issues plaguing earlier versions seem to be gone, the latest build isn't flawless – but what software is, let alone in beta stage?

You will find that a handful of sites and many extensions don't work properly yet, and although that's mostly a non-issue, you'll undoubtedly need a working browser at some point. Sadly, you won't be able to use your preexisting version of Firefox without closing the beta first, and that can be annoying.

Of course, you could just hop on Internet Explorer, but what orange-blooded Firefox advocate would stoop to such a level? Chrome and Opera are other obvious ways to go, but if you must have Firefox fortunately there's a very basic workaround that will allow you to run multiple instances and versions of Mozilla's browser simultaneously. We are using v3.6.8 and the newly released Firefox 4 Beta 2 for testing.

Read more

Spire TherMax Eclipse II Cooler Review
KitGuru posted a review on the Spire TherMax Eclipse II Cooler

High performance coolers are much loved by the KitGuru audience and today we are going to review a cooler from Spire, a European manufacturer. This is a product we believe our readers will find rather intriguing. After all, the company claims that “this towering cooler is built to deliver the best thermal performance – guaranteed”!

Read more

ASUS CineVibe Rumble Feedback USB Gaming Headset Review
Vortez.co.uk posted a review on the ASUS CineVibe Rumble Feedback USB Gaming Headset

The world of audio headsets is an extremely competitive market. There are some 20+ brands that I can think of right away, and so, for a brand to enter such a domain is a rather brave journey. We've seen the likes of ARCTIC recently tackle the audio market with confidence and conviction, and there is no reason why a successful brand like ASUS cannot compete against the rivalry. They are a world-wide corporation that delights in delivering quality goods in an awful lot of genres.

This week I've been lucky enough to be reviewing an exciting new ASUS product to be launched under the gaming headset market, the CineVibe headset. This new audio peripheral makes use of 'Rumble Feedback'. Used enhance the listening experience in a multitude of environments - games, movies and music.

Read more

Rosewill RK-800G Gaming Keyboard Review
BURNED iN posted Rosewill RK-800G Gaming Keyboard Review

It appears Rosewill is out to redefine what a 'gaming keyboard' is all about. Rosewill's RK-800g doesn't come equipped with macro keys, media keys, or gaming profiles. It does't have any onboard memory, integrated LCD displays, or even a USB connector. Nope, you'll find nothing of the sort on Rosewill's version of a 'gaming' keyboard. So what's so special about the RK-800g that earns it the gaming moniker? Good question, and if you're hoping we'll answer it for you, well, you're better off wasting the next few minutes surfing hilarious YouTube videos. But hey, every click counts, so keep reading anyway, we'll make it worthwhile.

Read more

Samsung Gravity 3 SGH-t479 Review
TestFreaks posted a review on the Samsung Gravity 3 SGH-t479

Up on the review block today I’ve got another phone from Samsung called the Gravity 3 and it’s a phone that is a messaging phone at heart, but it’s got decent email functionality and of course you can browse the internet and the social scene too. The Gravity 3 is a large sized phone, it’s a slider with a nice large full qwerty keyboard that is just great to type on. Overall I like it but it does have some shortcomings…

Read more

NZXT Phantom Case Review
TechwareLabs posted a first look and review of the NZXT Phantom

Today we bring you a first look at NZXT's eagerly awaited Phantom case. This is the beauty we first showed you during Computex which has just now arrived at our door. The Phantom is simply an amazing case packed with features and all fit into a highly polished exterior. If you must have the nicest case out there then you should consider the Phantom.

Read more

AMD 2010 Processor Series in Tests, Part 1
iXBT Labs posted part 1 of their AMD 2010 processor series review

Today we shall try to answer the following question. What's better: a triple-core CPU with 512KB L2 per core or a dual-core CPU with 1024KB L2 per core? On the one hand, the former has an additional core. On the other hand, each core of the latter has twice as much cache available. This isn't as obvious as it may seem.

Read more

OCZ StealthXStream 2 600 W Power Supply Review
Hardware Secrets posted OCZ StealthXStream 2 600 W Power Supply Review

OCZ has just released a new incarnation of their mainstream StealthXStream series, with models ranging from 400 W to 700 W. Today we are going to review the 600 W version and see what are the differences to the original StealthXStream 600 W.

Read more

Patriot Inferno 100 GB SSD Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the Patriot Inferno 100 GB SSD

Patriot's 100 GB Inferno SSD drive uses the Sandforce SF-1222 controller which is the company's latest and has found its way into many SSDs from major manufacturers on the market. Patriot is offering a unique five year warranty with their drive that uses a massive 28 GB overprovisioning to keep performance high at all times.

Read more

Moneaul Crystal Pen Drive Review
XSReviews has written a review of the Moneaul Crystal Pen Drive

One thing that has pleased many a hardware nerd in the past few years is that geek culture has received a bit more recognition in main steam society; it's no longer hugely uncool to be a bit more technologically inclined. Because of this, there's certain nerdy
fashions that are beginning to cross over; one of these is the pen drive round the neck. However finding one that appeals to women was always going to be a bit harder to do, however Moneaul Swarovksi have a solution: crystal.

Read more

Sharkoon Silent Eagle SE 120mm & 80mm Fans Review
HardwareLogic checked out the Sharkoon Silent Eagle SE 120mm & 80mm Fans

It isn't often that you see innovation in PC fans. Other than the occasional oddball sizes, fans are generally standardized in design. Seemingly answering the call, Sharkoon has created the Silent Eagle series of PC fans. Sharkoon has applied some clever ideas to their fans in hopes to differentiate them from the others on the market as well as increase performance. Today, HardwareLogic has the Silent Eagle 80mm and 120mm models up for review in order to determine if the innovation equals improvement.

Read more

NZXT Phantom Full Tower ATX Case Review
PC Perspective posted a review on the NZXT Phantom Full Tower ATX Case

The Phantom is well priced at $139.99 and comes in black, red, and white colors. It includes many high-end cooling features like a built-in fan controller and 7 fan cooling options with dual 200mm, single 230/200mm, triple 120mm, and front 140mm fans. Will it exceed the gaming community's expectations?

Read more

Performance Quick-Take: WD's 7200 RPM Scorpio Black 500GB Notebook Hard Drive
HotHardware takes a look at the WD 7200 RPM Scorpio Black 500GB Notebook Hard Drive

Not long ago we took a look at Seagate's Momentus XT notebook drive. This little speed demon combines both 4GB of solid state storage along with 500GB of traditional rotational media into the industry's first "hybrid" SSD-infused hard drive. It offered great performance, especially after the drive's caching algorithms optimized data usage models but its cost was also about 2X of traditional notebook hard drives of similar capacities. So, as usual, there were trade-offs.

Recently, WD took the time to send us in their fastest 7200 RPM 500GB notebook drive. I decided to take the opportunity to do a quick little A/B comparison in performance, over in the HotHardware Blog section. The new WD Scorpio Black 500GB 2.5-inch notebook hard drive weighs in at half the price ($76 at Amazon) of the Momentus XT, and as you'll see, does a fairly good job of hanging with it, from a performance standpoint as well.

Read more

OCZ RevoDrive 120GB PCI-Express SSD Review
Legit Reviews posted OCZ RevoDrive 120GB PCI-Express SSD Review

OCZ has been on the cutting edge of SSD's since they hit the consumer market and are on the pioneer trail once again with their most affordable PCI-Express based SSD yet - the RevoDrive. As implied, this isn't their first PCI-E drive but it is the first that carries a price tag that rivals that of the more traditional SATA port based SSD's. Will the price and performance be enough to compete with traditional SATA SSD's?

OCZ has been on the cutting edge of SSDs since they hit the consumer market and are on the pioneer trail once again with their most affordable PCI-Express based SSD yet - the RevoDrive. As implied, this isn't their first PCI-E drive but it is the first that carries a price tag that rivals that of the more traditional SATA port based SSDs. At an MSRP of $349 for the 120GB version (part number OCZSSDPX-1RVD0120), they aren't what you would consider inexpensive for storage devices in general, but considering the performance, hardware onboard and pricing of similar capacity SSDs, the price point is rather impressive. The RevoDrive features a pair of Sandforce SF-1200 controllers in a RAID 0 configuration - all on one card. Think of it like the NVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire cards with dual GPU's on one card. You get all the benefits of a traditional RAID 0 configuration without the hassle and expense of multiple drives and add-in RAID controller cards. We've seen the performance of just one Sandforce based drive begin to hit the SATA II bandwidth ceiling, and moving to a higher bandwidth interface will really allow the RevoDrive to stretch its legs...

Read more

DeepCool Ice Warrior Heatsink Review
FrostyTech posted DeepCool Ice Warrior Heatsink Review

In this review Frostytech is testing a novel heatsink from Beijing-based DeepCool Industries Co. called the Ice Warrior. Victorious names aside, the Ice Warrior heatsink is a 155mm tall tower heatsink that utilizes six 6mm diameter copper heatpipes and a fairly hefty copper base plate. The novel bit about this heatsink is the rubber over moulded fan it ships with.

Read more

Guru3D Rig of the Month - July 2010
The Guru of 3D posted their Guru3D Rig of the Month for July 2010

Meet Kyle Brocke , a mechanical engineer working for NASA. He made his PC his own Fish tank based PC. He claims that it has way better cooling then most extreme air or water cooled machines. We just go by the looks and think that is an awesome design !

Kyle Brocke is the winner of Rig of The Month July 2010. Meet this man at the age of 24 with his rather wet PC, a fish tank !

Read more

Gelid Solutions Tranquillo Review
OCC has published a review on the Gelid Solutions Tranquillo

As part of Gelid Solutions Silent line-up, the implication is that the Tranquillo will be silent. In that respect, the expectation has been met and exceeded. One of the compliments I can bestow on this cooler, is that my son walked into the room and asked what was broken since it was so quiet in the room. Kind of an eye-opener once the white noise of high CFM fans used in air cooling are no longer there. Performance enhancements for the Tranquillo will be limited to adding a higher CFM fan to increase the cooling capacity of this cooler, since running a second fan on the back side is not supported due to its 'v'-shaped design. But then you step away from the concept of the Tranquillo.

Read more

Intel Core i5-655K Processor BX80616I5655K Review
Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the Intel Core i5-655K Processor BX80616I5655K

Many years ago, overclocking was not limited by Intel/AMD like nowadays. As it is usual, when they see they can make extra money from the consumers by limiting their features to those who pay more, they don't hesitate to take advantage of that. In the last years, the Intel made it a little bit "impossible" for those who want to buy a CPU with unlocked multiplier. Intel was limiting that feature to the Extreme Edition CPUs. AMD took this as an opportunity to approach consumers with a feature their competition wouldn't give and so the AMD Black Edition CPUs appeared. AMD has been kindly enough to offer Black Edition products for each segment in the market, and that means you can find a BE (Black Edition) CPU for less than $100. Intel is striking back with a pair of new processors which feature an unlocked multiplier without the $999 tag. Today, Benchmark Reviews will analyze the Intel Core i5 655K Unlocked CPU which basically is a Clarkdale based 2-cores/4-threads processor with Intel HD graphics and specially aimed at overclockers. Is the unlocked multiplier good enough to pay that little extra or isn't it worth it? Is it better to overclock with multiplier or should I to raise the BCLK? Those answers and more will be covered as Benchmark Reviews tests the Intel Core i5-655K Clarksdale processor, model BX80616I5655K.

Read more

MSI GTX 460 cyclone 768MB Review
PureOverclock has published a review of the MSI GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB graphics card

The MSI GTX 460 Cyclone sports a custom heatsink to offer lower temperatures and noise levels, along with some excellent overclocking potential through their MSI Afterburner software. The card we're looking at today also comes with a factory overclock for those who might be hesitant to overclock their GPU, and it is also the 768MB variety as well.

Read more

PowerColor PCS+ HD 5770 Vortex Review
Neoseeker posted a review on the PowerColor PCS+ HD 5770 Vortex video card

Neoseeker has another graphics card review lined up for your reading pleasure. Today we're covering the PowerColor PCS+ Vortex edition of ATI's HD 5770. The Vortex features a manually adjustable GPU fan that promises improved cooling by up to 15 percent, but does it really make any difference? What about the performance of the card itself?

This model comes clocked 50MHz beyond stock and also has a improved cooling solution. However, what really makes this card unique is the manually adjustable Vortex fan. According to PowerColor the simple act of adjust the height of the fan can reduce back pressure, improving the efficiency and reducing the noise level.

Read more

MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB OC Review
Hardware Canucks posted a review of the new MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB OC video card

Another day, another GTX 460 review. This time we take a look at MSI's overclocked, custom cooled Cyclone OC edition. Not only does this GTX 460 have one of the largest heatsinks we have seen in a while but it also retails for a mere $10 more than the reference version. Could this be a match made in heaven?

Read more


StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty GPU & CPU Performance
TechSpot takes a look at the performance of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

It's been more than a decade since the original StarCraft was released, but unlike a wide majority of the titles released in this time frame, the game never really faded away and throughout the years remained the benchmark of what a well-conceived real-time strategy game should be.

For that reason StarCraft II needs no introduction. This sequel has been in the making for what seems like forever, although it was only officially announced in 2007. One way or another, the delays do not seem to have discouraged anyone from wanting to play the game, and if anything, it has made us more desperate to get a taste of it.

On usual TechSpot fashion, now with the game out in stores we are taking an in-depth look at how your gaming system will handle StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. We have tested a huge range of graphics cards using three different resolutions and an equal number of visual quality presets. In addition, we have evaluated CPU scaling testing AMD and Intel CPUs of current and previous generations.

Read more

Powercolor HD5770 Vortex 1GB Review
KitGuru posted a review on the PowerColor HD5770 Vortex 1GB video card

If you have been following the news and reviews lately you will have assuredly seen mention of nVidia’s stellar new ‘mass market’ Fermi card the GTX460 – KitGuru reviewed the overclocked eVGA version and it walked away with very high praise indeed. While it is capable of delivering a fantastic gaming experience it only costs around £175 and the upside of this is that ATI have been forced to reduce some of their own prices to help keep the market competitive.

This means that if you are in the market for a new graphics card and can’t stretch to the GTX460 asking price then the card on review today might very well tickle your tastebuds. With the reference HD5770 on offer now for £130, there has never been a more affordable time to get into DX11 gaming.

Read more

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty GPU & CPU Performance
TechSpot takes a look at the performance of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

It's been more than a decade since the original StarCraft was released, but unlike a wide majority of the titles released in this time frame, the game never really faded away and throughout the years remained the benchmark of what a well-conceived real-time strategy game should be.

For that reason StarCraft II needs no introduction. This sequel has been in the making for what seems like forever, although it was only officially announced in 2007. One way or another, the delays do not seem to have discouraged anyone from wanting to play the game, and if anything, it has made us more desperate to get a taste of it.

On usual TechSpot fashion, now with the game out in stores we are taking an in-depth look at how your gaming system will handle StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. We have tested a huge range of graphics cards using three different resolutions and an equal number of visual quality presets. In addition, we have evaluated CPU scaling testing AMD and Intel CPUs of current and previous generations.

Read more

Powercolor HD5770 Vortex 1GB Review
KitGuru posted a review on the PowerColor HD5770 Vortex 1GB video card

If you have been following the news and reviews lately you will have assuredly seen mention of nVidia’s stellar new ‘mass market’ Fermi card the GTX460 – KitGuru reviewed the overclocked eVGA version and it walked away with very high praise indeed. While it is capable of delivering a fantastic gaming experience it only costs around £175 and the upside of this is that ATI have been forced to reduce some of their own prices to help keep the market competitive.

This means that if you are in the market for a new graphics card and can’t stretch to the GTX460 asking price then the card on review today might very well tickle your tastebuds. With the reference HD5770 on offer now for £130, there has never been a more affordable time to get into DX11 gaming.

Read more

MSI 890FXA-GD70 AMD 890FX Motherboard Review
Legit Reviews posted a review on the MSI 890FXA-GD70 AMD 890FX Motherboard

MSI's 890FXA-GD70 motherboard is based on the AMD 890FX and SB850 chipsets. These are the latest and greatest chipsets from AMD, so that means this ATX board is designed to run socket AM3 Phenom II, Athlon II and Sempron 100 Series processors. With MSIs DrMOS and OC Genie, this motherboard should be overclocking friendly and even have some power saving features!

Overall I am thoroughly impressed with the MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboard. Why you may ask. It does exactly what it is supposed to do with out complaining. Sure the performance was slightly behind that of the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula, but it isn't the kind of performance difference you will notice on a day to day basis. What you may notice on a day to day basis, is the price difference. At the time of this writing the MSI 890FXA-GD70 is $179.99 after rebate. That puts the MSI 890FXA-GD70 thirty bucks below the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula. That's an extra thirty bucks you can invest into a better graphics card or processor...

Read more

Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Review
TechwareLabs reviews the Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB SSD

Slow secondary storage has been the biggest persistent gripe about PC gaming for quite a while now. While CPUs, RAM, graphics cards and system busses have all been improving at a steady rate; hard drives have stayed more or less stagnant for the past decade. Enter the solid state drive. At its most basic level, a SSD has the same basic structure as a USB flash drive: a bunch of NAND flash memory chips, a controller to tie them together, and an interface that talks to the outside world. Where a SSD pulls ahead is, naturally enough, in the performance of those three components. Today we'll be looking at the RealSSD C300 256GB SSD from Crucial. Taking advantage of the still-uncommon SATA 6.0 GBps interface, this drive promises to deliver blisteringly fast performance.

Read more

StarCraft 2 (PC) Review
Kitguru Gaming posted a review on StarCraft 2 (PC)

Living up to the critical acclaim of StarCraft is going to be some task and while many other strategy games have tried to ‘redefine’ the Real Time Strategy genre, Blizzard have opted to keep it as pure and simple as possible. When I first fired the game up to play, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had managed to capture the ‘feel’ of the original while updating the graphics to meet modern day gamer demands.

Read more

FileMaker Pro 11 Review
Business Computing World published a review of FileMaker Pro 11 for Windows

As an application development tool FileMaker Pro 11 has a lot going for it, with the principal market small businesses looking for a simple to use tool to develop their own in-house applications. Those with little in-house expertise will find it much easier than alternatives such as Access, while with its ability to scale and add extra developer tools it's also worth looking at for larger projects. Lastly it's worth noting the availability of off-the-shelf commercial applications developed using FileMaker, together with numerous plug-ins to work with the package and a ready supply of FileMaker professionals to help make it work.

Read more

OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W power supply review
Elite Bastards posted OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W power supply review

The ModXStream Pro 500W features six connectors for its modular power cables, with the two red outputs available for PCI Express for graphics power connectors, while the other four black outputs are available for other power requirements such as Molex, Serial ATA power and so on.

As you might expect, the main required ATX power connectors are attached directly to the PSU despite the modular nature of the rest of the unit, giving us the usual assortment of a 24-pin connector together with one eight-pin and two four-pin ATX +12V connectors.

Read more