Here the first reviews roundup of today with 16 new articles, including Crucial Ballistix 8GB DDR3 2000MHz CL9 Memory Kit Review, AMD A75 3-way Motherboard Shootout, and Inside the Intel Ivy Bridge Microarchitecture



Crucial Ballistix 8GB DDR3 2000MHz CL9 Memory Kit Review
Legit Reviews posted Crucial Ballistix 8GB DDR3 2000MHz CL9 Memory Kit Review

With an integrated temperature sensor, aggressive heat spreaders, fast clock speed and decent timings, this 2x4GB DDR3 memory has a lot to offer. Crucial designed this 8GB 2000MHz DDR3 CL9 Ballistix kit with enthusiasts who need a lot of fast RAM in mind. Find how how they perform, how they overclock, and how well Crucial's temperature sensor works in our review!

After using the Crucial BallistiX DDR3 DDR3-2000 8GB kit in my primary PC for a couple, I quickly became spoiled by having an extra 4GB of RAM available compared to the 4GB kit I had been using previously. Even having a few standard applications like an internet browser, photo editor, media player, and office applications open resulted in system RAM usage of 4GB in Windows. So, I am officially convinced that I need more than 4GB of RAM for daily use...

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Head-Direct HiFiMAN HE-300 Headphones Review
Tech-Reviews.co.uk posted a review on the Head-Direct HiFiMAN HE-300 Headphones

Head-Direct have been manufacturing high quality headphones and personal audio products since 2006. They pride themselves in delivering the highest quality possible for all of their products, and the Head-Direct HiFiMAN HE-300 headphones are no different. The HE-300s are Head-Direct's lowest headphones to drive and can be used with any device that sports a 3.5mm jack.

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HP TouchSmart 520xt Review
TechReviewSource.com posted a review on the HP TouchSmart 520xt

The HP TouchSmart 520xt is a 23-inch all-in-one touch PC that offers lots of multimedia features, including an HDMI input and USB 3.0 connectivity. It comes in many configurations to fit your budget, but our review unit had an Intel Core i7 CPU and 8GB of RAM that provided a decent experience, although not the fastest on the market.

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AMD A75 3-way Motherboard Shootout
TechSpot published an AMD A75 3-way Motherboard Shootout

AMD's integrated graphics received a new lease on life when the company unleashed its 32nm "Llano" desktop processors earlier this year. Sporting an on-die Radeon HD 6550D graphics processor, the AMD A8-3850 APU rendered many low-end discrete graphics cards obsolete and made Intel's HD Graphics 3000 engine look foolish in the process.

AMD is clearly targeting -- and in our opinion, commanding -- the budget market. We check out three of the most attractive AMD A75 boards from Asus, Asrock and Gigabyte.

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Gigabyte GA-A55M-DS2 Motherboard Review
Hi Tech Legion posted a review on the Gigabyte GA-A55M-DS2 Motherboard

The GA-A55M-DS2 was designed for budget multimedia computing. The GA-A55M-DS2 features the A55 FCH which is the little brother to the A75. This means that there is no USB 3.0 or SATA 3.0 support. However, there are 8 USB 2.0/1.1 and 4 SATA 3Gb/s ports inside. This supports up to 32GB of 1.5V DDR3 memory with speeds up to 1866MHz. Sound is controlled with a Realtek/VIA HD codec and there is a Atheros GbE LAN chip onboard. AMD Dual graphics is supported with the A55 FCH. This means the APU can be paired with a discreet GPU in Crossfire for boosted graphics performance. Gigabyte also features their "Ultra Durable 4" technology which offers humidity, electrostatic, heat, and power failure protection.

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Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition Case Review
Benchmark Reviews posted a review on the Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition Case

In 2010, Thermaltake won the Red Dot Design Award for Product Design for their collaborative work with BMW DesignworksUSA. That product was called the Thermaltake Level 10 case. The Level 10 was an aesthetic innovation that broke many of the traditional "rules" of the computer chassis industry. The problem? It's original cost was $850. That's a little on the expensive side. In 2011, Thermaltake was at it again, reusing the general design of the Level 10 in order to create another case that won the Red Dot Design Award for Product Design, the Thermaltake Level 10 GT. By cutting the cost of such an innovative style of case by more than half, the Level 10 GT began to appeal to a much wider audience. Now Thermaltake has brought us another look in the Level 10 lineup. In this article, Benchmark Reviews brings you an in-depth look at the Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition Case.

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V-Moda Faders Ear Plugs Review
TestFreaks posted a review on the V-Moda Faders Ear Plugs

I’ve got something different for review today, but it’s from a company that you’ve most likely heard of, V-Moda. The product is ear plugs, yes actual ear plugs like those you use to protect your ears from loud noises. They are called Faders and I have to say they work very well. I have many pairs of ear plugs floating around as I do a lot of work on my home, using a circular saw or other tools that make loud noises require the use of ear plugs or you’ll end up with your ears ringing. Ringing in the ears is not a good thing as I’m sure you know, the same thing can happen at a concert as well with the loud music. These ear plugs from V-Moda are the nicest set I’ve ever owned and I know they work as I had the chance to put them to use over the weekend.

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OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid PCIe SSD/HDD Review
HardwareHeaven.com posted a review on the OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid PCIe SSD/HDD

Today's review product see's OCZ attempt to find a middle ground between the capacity of a mechanical drive and the speed of an SSD. That product is the RevoDrive Hybrid a PCIe based model which is part flash memory and part 1TB 2.5" hard drive.

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Synology DS411 Rundown
XSReviews has a new rundown of the Synology DS411 NAS.

Storing data away from your main PC is important, we've well established that by this point. It's one step in data protection that everyone should be taking to make sure that no matter what happens you don't lose your all important files.

Synology are one of the companies producing NAS drives, network attached storage options that offer up a variety of features -- and some pretty decent software -- to help your data stay protected. Today I'm looking at another Disk Station from the firm, the DS411.

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Mobile GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 12.0
TechARP posted their Mobile GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 12.0.

These days, there are so many mobile GPU models that it has become quite impossible to keep up with the different configurations. Therefore, we decided to compile this guide to provide an easy reference for those who are interested in comparing the specifications of the various mobile GPUs in the market as well as those already obsolescent or obsolete.

Currently covering 308 mobile GPUs, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare 20 different specifications for each and every GPU. We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly so do check back for the latest updates.

Here are the latest updates:

- Added a new OpenGL Support specification for all AMD/ATI mobile GPUs.
- Added the AMD FirePro M8900.

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Inside the Intel Ivy Bridge Microarchitecture
Hardware Secrets take a look at the Ivy Bridge microarchitecture, which will be used by in the third-generation Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs, to be released in 2012.

The Ivy Bridge microarchitecture will be used in the third-generation Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs, to be released in 2012. It brings minor modifications to the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture used in the second-generation Core i processors, but with a completely new graphics engine, a PCI Express 3.0 controller, and a new manufacturing process. Let's see what is new.

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GIGABYTE ECO600 Long-Life Wireless Laser Mouse Review
TweakTown posted a review on the GIGABYTE ECO600 Long-Life Wireless Laser Mouse

GIGABYTE, a company known predominantly for their motherboards have really branched out lately into different areas of the market including Notebooks, Slates, Mobile Phones and even Peripherals for PCs. I've previously reviewed their gaming mouse, the Aivia M8600, which was a great mouse. Today we're looking at the more mainstream, ECO600 Long-Life Wireless Laser Mouse.

Enter the GIGABYTE ECO600 Long-Life Wireless Laser Mouse, after it having quite possibly the longest name ever and reminding me of long-life milk or orange juice for some reason. Let's get down to business. I opened the ECO600 packaging to find a strange looking, yet appealing mouse. The packaging was quite contained and included was the mouse itself, 2 x AAA batteries required for the mouse and the snap-in receiver.

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Sleeved Cabling Head-to-Head: Bitfenix vs. ModRight vs. NZXT
TweakTown posted Sleeved Cabling Head-to-Head: Bitfenix vs. ModRight vs. NZXT

For those of you that closely follow what I write about, you will likely remember the BitFenix Alchemy Cables we took a look at in early September. When I took at look at pretty much one of every cable extension they offer, my findings then were that I really liked the coverings choice with the blend of cloth fibers versus the plastic braided offerings available to DIY types or even in other pre-assembles cables. Factoring in the pricing and considering I shelled out $40 for a 6" custom 24-pin alone, BitFenix had the total package and I didn't even cover the seven color choices in the covering to go with any sort of color scheme.

BitFenix seems to have liked what I wrote. In a conversation with BitFenix we got on the topic that since I liked the BitFenix and made claims that they are the best option on the market right now, I was sent a few cables from NZXT and ModRight to show objectively why I made the comments I did. To be fair, NZXT and ModRight have no idea that this is even being written. I was delivered a package with four cables from both of the competing manufacturers cables and I am about to bring you my findings.

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OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid Review
The Guru of 3D posted a review on the OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid

We review the RevoDrive Hybrid. The idea behind the device hints very much towards Intel's Rapid Storage technology where a HDD is being cached by a Nand flash storage unit. Being OCZ they are making it an enthusiast class performance product.

The product we test today for example comes with a 1TB HDD, and a really large 100GB cache partition running over SF2281 controllers. OCZ then applies a mix of their VCA 2.0 technology

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A Comparison of Two PC Game Distribution Platforms
Futurelooks compares EA's "Origin" to the established Valve "Steam" game distribution platform

EA’s Origin Vs. Valve’s Steam – A Comparison of Two PC Game Distribution Platforms

A few months ago, EA released news they were setting up their own digital distribution service call Origin. Unlike GameStop’s Impulse or Direct2Drive which are site based, Origin is a software client similar to Steam that you install to manage your games. While its true there is nothing stopping you from using both, the obvious similarities and contrasts between Origin and Steam beg to be compared. Being big game fans, we explore how well Origin stacks up to Valve’s Steam.

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Enermax NAXN 850W Modular Power Supply Review
eTeknix.com posted a review on the Enermax NAXN 850W Modular Power Supply

When you think of quality power supplies, a few names always spring to mind- Antec, Corsair and of course, Enermax. They are one of the more established companies, being around since 1990, and have made a reputation by consistently producing some of the finest power supplies on the market such as the Modu87+ we reviewed previously.

The NAXN series, however, comes with a twist- Enermax is one of the few top manufacturers that make their own PSUs rather than rebranding OEM units. The NAXN series caters for the more budget-orientated enthusiast, so to keep costs down, Enermax has opted to use an OEM by the name of Sirfa which is a company from whom we have not yet seen produce any PSUs, although until recently they produced units as a part of Sirtec which are one of the most established manufacturers in the business. We have seen Enermax take this approach in the past with their other budget units, which have all kept up Enermax's quality reputation.

Despite using an OEM to produce this unit, the NAXN is far from a budget power supply. It targets itself at the high end of the power supply market and being marketed as an ideal choice for gamers. However, at such a price point the NAXN will really have to prove itself in terms of performance and quality to remain a practical choice for gamers- competing with units such as the cheaper Corsar TX850 and XFX Pro 850W. Whether the NAXN pulls this off or not, we shall see later.

The unit we will be taking a look at is the Enermax Naxn 850W which seems to be the replacement for their old Pro 82+ PSUs with similar features but with more up to date wattages and all sorts of internal changes. Like the Pro 82+ units, this caters for the high-end gamer looking for a top quality PSU for a fair price.

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