Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Silicon Power Velox V30 60 GB SSD Review, Sapphire Vapor-X HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card Review, and Corsair Performance Pro 256GB SSD Review



Silicon Power Velox V30 60 GB SSD Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the Silicon Power Velox V30 60 GB SSD

The Silicon Power Velox V30 60 GB SSD is built around Sandforce's successful SF-2281 flash controller which promises outstanding performance and full support for the SATA 6 Gbps interface. After a closer look we noticed that the drive uses only half the flash channels available, will this turn out to be a dealbreaker?

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Dell Inspiron 14z Notebook Review: A Portable Workhorse
PC Perspective posted a review on the Dell Inspiron 14z Notebook

Part of the reason for this popularity is price, and that means Inspirons are often competent, but can also be a bit dull. There’s always exceptions to the rules, however, and Dell has decided to spice up the brand with the new Inspiron 14z. Starting at $599, this “thin and powerful” laptop could be appealing consumers who want to get on the slim-and-sexy train for cheap, but trying to cram a lot of hardware in a small chassis with an inexpensive price can sometimes result in compromises. Did Dell have to cut corners to make this possible?

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G.Skill RipjawsZ PC3-14900 16GB Kit Review
TweakTown posted G.Skill RipjawsZ PC3-14900 16GB Kit Review

I really liked the new G.Skil RipjawsZ PC3-17000 16GB Kit we looked at during the launch of the new X79 platform from Intel. Priced at $179.99 US, it also hits at a pretty good price point, if you're looking at trying to keep it under the $150 US mark, though, and you figure that you don't need RAM that goes into the 2000MHz+ DDR realm, we might have the G.Skill kit for you today.

Moving in, you can see we're dealing with a PC3-14900 kit which as you can see below, the model number translates to 1866MHz DDR. Next to that we can see the timings come in at 9-10-9-28-1T using the lower voltage option of 1.5v. As for the amount of RAM we're dealing with, you can also see on the same sticker that the Quad Channel kit consists of four 4GB modules to give us a grand total of 16GB.

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Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W PSU Review
Vortez posted a review on the Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W PSU

Today we will be taking a look at Thortech's Thunderbolt Plus Series. The Plus series has a subtle difference under the hood - having a single +12v as opposed to a quad +12v rail on the non-plus versions. The Plus series also comes accompanied with the iPower Meter, an LCD screen that connects directly to the PSU to provide critical statistics and information. The Thunderbolt Plus is available in 800W, 850W, 1000W and 1200W variants, we will be taking a look at the latter - the 1200W.

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MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC Video Card Review
Legit Reviews posted MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC Video Card Review

MSI's R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC graphics card might only have 1GB of memory, but it's factory overclocked and is equipped with the latest Twin Frozr III dual fan GPU cooler. We put the MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC to the test on our Intel Sandy Bridge-E test system to see how it performs against several NVIDIA GeForce 500 series video cards. We also overclock it to the max and see what it can do!

After spending some time with the MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC video card we found the card to be very well built and it performed as expected. The build quality and features that MSI have placed on this card are superior and it looks good to boot. When it comes to performance the MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC video card is competitive with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti series cards, which is critical as they priced in the same category...

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Synology DS212 NAS Review
Tech-Reviews.co.uk posted Synology DS212 NAS Review

With the amount of computers in households rising at an extreme rate, an easier way of sharing files between computers is definitely needed. Normally you'd have to go about setting up shared folders across the network, which, as some of you probably know, is not the most reliable system. Well, today we have the Synology DS212 NAS to review which will definitely make your lives easier if you're looking for a simple way to share files across your home network.

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Sapphire Vapor-X HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card Review
iXBT Labs posted a review on the Sapphire Vapor-X HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card

Today we shall review a Radeon HD 6850 graphics card from Sapphire that belongs to the Vapor-X series thanks to the custom cooler it has. Let's see how efficient this solution is.

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Nikon Coolpix P7100 Review
TechReviewSource.com posted a review on the Nikon Coolpix P7100

The Nikon Coolpix P7100 is big on image quality and manual controls, although it comes at the cost of size and weight. The camera will appeal to you if you are an enthusiast who doesn't always want to lug a D-SLR around, but is a tough sell if you're looking for a compact and sleek point-and-shoot.

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Thermal Compound Roundup - December 2011
Hardware Secrets posted their Thermal Compound Roundup for December 2011

Following up on our Thermal Compound Roundup – November 2011 review, we are adding five more thermal compounds to our roundup, for a total of 55 different models from Akasa, Antec, Arctic Cooling, Arctic Silver, Biostar, Coollaboratory, Cooler Master, Coolink, Deepcool, Dow Corning, Enermax, Evercool, EVGA, Gelid, Glacialstars, Innovation Cooling, Masscool, Nanoxia, Nexus, Noctua, Phobya, Prolimatech, Scythe, Shin-Etsu, Spire, StarTech, Revoltec, Rosewill, Thermalright, Thermaltake, TIM Consultants, Titan, Tuniq, Xigmatek, Zalman, and ZEROtherm. In this review, we will determine if certain products are superior to others. We will also try another "bread topping" thermal compound to see if it works.

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Samsung PN59D8000 59 Inch 3D Plasma TV Review
Tweaknews posted Samsung PN59D8000 59 Inch 3D Plasma TV Review

Samsung's PN59D8000 Plasma Smart TV is targeted towards the consumer who who wants to use their livingroom display for than watching TV and movies. With this one purchase, you essentially get a TV and a functional Home Theater PC in one attractive package.

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Corsair Performance Pro 256GB SSD Review
The Guru of 3D posted Corsair Performance Pro 256GB SSD review

Corsair made a wise decision as well, they will not stick to just one SSD based controller, and as such they just launched the Performance Pro series SSDs. In 128GB and 256GB capacities these drives will be unleashed just before the Christmas season is starting.

This SATA3 version as such will deliver speeds of up to 515MB/s of bandwidth in read performance and a very nice 440 MB/sec in write performance (sequential).

Honestly, after I managed to do the first series of tests I was still a little flabbergasted, this SSD is incredible. Read the full article here

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Zotac A75-ITX WiFi Review
OCC has published a review on the Zotac A75-ITX WiFi

While you can get the same performance as the Zotac A75-ITX WiFi for less money, the board's features help to make up for the extra cost. For instance you'll be able to utilize a total of six USB 3.0 ports and each of the board's four SATA connectors are SATA 3 6Gb/s. The board is also equipped with dual 10/100/1000Mbps LAN connectors, as well as integrated IEEE 802.11n WiFi networking. This by itself makes the board an ideal HTPC motherboard because you can easily place it anywhere in your home.

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Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB Dual Fan Review
Neoseeker posted a review on the Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB Dual Fan

This upgraded HD 6970 effectively replaces the high-end reference design in Sapphire's lineup, without the high-end markup. Sapphire's HD 6970 comes with 2GB GDDR5 memory, and even a little overclocking switch of sorts you can flick if you can unlock the card and get it all primed for tweaking. Hit our review to see how just how much we can push this top-end single GPU card.

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NZXT Tempest 410 Elite Review
PureOverclock has published a review of the NZXT Tempest 410 Elite mid-tower case.

With a boatload of cooling options, NZXT is looking to push airflow in the Tempest 410 Elite case, similar to the storm of its namesake. Also adding the ability to house a 240mm radiator, water is the second ingredient for this Tempest. Toss in some other convenience features and this mid-tower case looks to garner attention in a crowded market. So is the Tempest 410 Elite a force to be reckoned with, or just a load of hot air? Let's take a closer look and find out.

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G-Technology G-DRIVE Mobile HDD Review
TweakTown posted G-Technology G-DRIVE Mobile HDD Review

Hitachi is making a big push with their G-Technology brand of portable storage drives. Just a few weeks ago I was at a San Jose Sharks hockey game and during one of the breaks a commercial aired on the display above the rink. The G-DRIVE Mobile was the focus of the commercial. I thought it was kind of cool to see a storage product featured so prominently to mainstream users.

In a sense you can think of G-Technology as Hitachi's MAC wing. Most of their products feature FireWire 800 interfaces, are designed to look MAC sheik and many are capable of handling the stress of heavy A/V editing. The G-DRIVE Mobile falls into the first two categories. With its piano black cover and silver aluminium casing for protection, the Mobile will look right at home next to your MAC or new Ultrabook.

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Antec SOLO II Mid-Tower Chassis Review
Techgage posted a look at Antec's SOLO II silent mid-tower chassis.

Antec is known for making a variety of quality cases to suit different needs, with its Sonata family aiming to deliver clean styling, functionality and silence all in one. The SOLO II becomes the latest entry to that family, and in some ways, it's very different than ther
silent cases on the market. It's time to find out if that's a good thing.

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Thermaltake Tough Power Grand TPG-1200M ATX Power Supply Review
Futurelooks checks out one of Thermaltake's "Grander" power supplies

When it comes to high end gaming systems flaunting two or more video cards, your system’s stability really depends on the power supply. First, you don’t want to have substandard power getting to your magical video cards. Second, if not enough power is getting there, you risk unintentional circuit damage. This is often why going NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossfireX can separate the good from the bad in power supplies. Let’s take a look at a power supply Thermaltake guarantees will handle your best 3-way graphics/hex-core gaming system. It’s 80PLUS Gold certified, flexes 1200 watts of muscle and is from their Tough Power Grand series.

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Hanns.G HL231 Monitor Review
Tech-Reviews.co.uk posted a review on the Hanns.G HL231 Monitor

If you're on a budget and are stuck for ideas on what to buy, the Hanns.G HL231 monitor could be exactly what you're looking for. Retailing at only £110, the 23-inch LED-based monitor provides a range of different features including a slimline design, 1920 x 1080 resolution, an Eco mode and weighs in at only 3.3kg. Let's take a look and see what the HL231 has to offer...

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TechSpot Laptop Buying Guide: Holiday 2011 Update
TechSpot updated their Laptop Buying Guide

With the holiday shopping season in full swing it's time we give our Laptop Buying Guide one last pass before the year is over to make sure it's packing enough punch. Netbooks have lost their lure to simply become smaller, entry-level notebooks, while other categories are only seeing minor spec bumps. But if you are looking into the ultraportable market, a new breed of devices has emerged. Intel is pushing the Ultrabooks as thin and light systems with plenty of power, for now we're seeing a first generation of devices, with plenty more to come.

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