Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including EVGA Z68 FTW Motherboard Review, 4-Way Aftermarket CPU Cooler Roundup, and Gigabyte E350N-USB3 Fusion Mini ITX Motherboard Review



EVGA Z68 FTW Motherboard Review
Legit Reviews posted EVGA Z68 FTW Motherboard Review

EVGA may have been a little late to the game with their Intel Socket 1155 motherboards. By no means does that mean they aren't making a splash with them. The EVGA Z68 FTW is a damn fine looking motherboard. Looks won't get you the frame rates we all desire though! Does it live up to the expectations that accompany the EVGA name? Or is it all show and no go? Join us as we take a look at the performance of the EVGA Z68 FTW and compare it to a handful of systems!

One area that we had a pleasure playing with was our overclocking experience with the EVGA Z68 FTW. With only a few minor tweaks in the UEFI BIOS of the EVGA Z68 FTW we were able to bring the Intel Core i7 2600K to a solid 4.8GHz overclock. That's a solid 1.4 GHz over the stock clock speed of 3.4GHz that the Intel Core i7 2600K comes out of the box with. We were able to boot into Windows 7 64bit at 4.9GHz on the EVGA Z68 FTW but we started pushing the thermal limits on air cooling under full load...

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Samsung NX200 Review
Tech-Reviews.co.uk posted Samsung NX200 Review

Samsung's latest entry in to the camera market is the very retro-styled Samsung NX200. Featuring a very sleek and attractive slimline design, as well as some fantastic features, the Samsung NX200 could prove to be one hell of a camera. However, with a retail price of over £500, do the features out-weigh the rather high price tag. Let's take a closer look and find out...

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G.Skill RipjawsZ PC3-19200 16GB Kit Review
TweakTown posted G.Skill RipjawsZ PC3-19200 16GB Kit Review

The PC3-19200 kit we've got here from G.Skill kind of completes the circle of RAM from the company. Originally at launch we found ourselves looking at a 16GB PC3-17000 kit , after that we checked out something a little lower end and cheaper in the form of a 16GB PC3-14900 kit. Today we kick it up a couple of notches with the PC3-19200 RipjawsZ kit from G.Skill and before we get into the kit, I want to check out the new package that's present that we're seeing with some of the higher end G.Skill kits.

Looking closer again, we can see exactly what's going on with the kit. As we've already mentioned a few times, we're dealing with a PC3-19200 kit which translates into a massive 2400MHz DDR which continues to be the highest out of the box speed we're seeing from companies at the moment for Quad Channel kits. On the timings side of things, they're pretty relaxed at 11-11-11-31-1T @ 1.65v which is currently the most relaxed 2400MHz DDR kit we've seen to date with the other kits we've looked at coming in at CL10.

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ROCCAT Kova [+] Gaming Mouse Review
OCC has published a review on the ROCCAT Kova [+] Gaming Mouse

The Kova[+] is one of the more comfortable mice I've used in awhile. I've always been a big fan of my Razer DeathAdder just because of its size and the way it sits in my little hand. I used to love the old MX-510 from Logitech until I realized there are mice out there that don't require my hand to sit off my desk to use them. I found the Kova[+] to fit just right in my hand. The forward and back buttons were easy to access for melee and internet browsing. The only thing that really seemed to be an issue as far as comfort goes would have to be the extra set of side buttons for the left handed user. My hand doesn't really find use for these as they are a bit awkward to handle and are easily bumped for unnecessary clicks. Personally at this point I feel there should be a left hand and right hand version developed separately. Good economic design, poor user feel.

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Antec Eleven Hundred Mid Tower Gaming Case Review
ThinkComputers.org posted Antec Eleven Hundred Mid Tower Gaming Case Review

Today we get to check out Antec’s latest gaming case, the Eleven Hundred. The Eleven Hundred fits right in between the Twelve Hundred and Nine-Hundred in terms of price. It’s full of features including two USB 3.0 ports, 9 expansion slots, fan power hub, optional 120mm fan behind the motherboard tray, and plenty of cable management options. Read on further to see if it will keep up to par with the other high end Antec cases.

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Raidmax Seiran Mid-Tower Computer Case Review
Benchmark Reviews posted a review on the Raidmax Seiran Mid-Tower Computer Case

In October, I wrote a review of the Raidmax Blade mid tower ultra budget case. Although it was a functional case and quite inexpensive, there were things left to desire, which is just the nature of ultra budget cases. Today at Benchmark Reviews, we have another offering in the Raidmax mid tower line-up, the Seiran. The Seiran is Raidmax's newest mid tower entry, and pricewise, clearly not a budget case. I'm interested in seeing what Raidmax's higher end mid tower case has to offer that budget mid tower's don't, and how it stacks up against other mid towers in its price range. So with that short intro, let's get started!

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Sandisk Ultra 240GB SATA II Solid State Drive Review
eTeknix.com posted Sandisk Ultra 240GB SATA II Solid State Drive Review

No matter who you are, you should be more than aware of SanDisk, whether you have a camera or a mobile phone that takes a memory card, you would have most likely used a SanDisk memory card at some point. What you may not know is that SanDisk were one of the first to release an SSD to the general market with the U5000 32GB SSD back in 2007.

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4-Way Aftermarket CPU Cooler Roundup
TechSpot posted 4-Way Aftermarket CPU Cooler Roundup

Without question one of the most affordable and thus commonly upgraded components by PC builders and enthusiasts alike is the CPU cooler. While things have definitely improved in the past few years, upgrading the stock cooler that comes with AMD or Intel processors still grant you a number of improvements. Generally the main goal is to lower operating temperatures, but aftermarket coolers can also reduce operating volumes and provide a greater overclocking headroom.

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Dell XPS 14z Notebook Review
Hardware Canucks posted a review of the new Dell XPS 14z Notebook.

Dell –once deemed the Bastion of Beige- is at forefront of the battle against people’s perception that Windows-based notebooks are a thing of the past. From ultra thin mobile powerhouses to entry level notebooks, they have it all and the new XPS 14z seems to encompass everything someone could possibly want in a package that’s infinitely portable.

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Icy Dock MB662USEB-2S-1 3.5" SATA Dual Bay Raid HDD Enclosure Review
Hi Tech Legion posted Icy Dock MB662USEB-2S-1 3.5" SATA Dual Bay Raid HDD Enclosure Review

The Icy Dock MB662USEB-2S-1 is just one of their hard drive enclosures that not only can house two hard drives, but it can set your drives up in a RAID for some added peace of mind. The MB662USEB-2S-1 isn't much larger than a 3 ½" hard drive, so it can be considered portable as well. Icy Dock's MB662USEB-2S-1 features 1394b fire wire, e-SATA and USB 2.0 connectivity, and it supports up to 3TB HDD for a total of 6 Terabytes of storage on the go. The MB662USEB-2S-1 is constructed of solid aluminum for added portability, strength, and protection.

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CyberPower Xplorer X6-9200 Gaming Notebook Review
Neoseeker posted a review on the CyberPower Xplorer X6-9200 Gaming Notebook

Featuring an Intel 2970QM processor and NVIDIA GTS450M graphics, the Xplorer X6-9200 has impressive specifications for a laptop while remaining quite affordable for its caliber at just under $900 USD. Find out if it can compete against similar gaming notebooks in our latest notebook review.

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ASUS Rampage III Extreme Black Edition X58 LGA1366 ATX Motherboard Review
Futurelooks checked out the ASUS Rampage III Extreme Black Edition X58 LGA1366 ATX Motherboard

Everyone should understand by now that ROG (Republic of Gamers) series products cater to two types of enthusiasts which includes extreme overclockers and hardcore gamers who want the fastest, best tuned ASUS products money can buy. Not only does the series offer the most robust features, they also offer their best in terms of software when you get right down to it. The ASUS Rampage III Extreme Black Edition motherboard is no exception. This is not an entry level motherboard with a pretty face. What you will find is a highly tuned Swan Song to the X58 platform boasting a BIOS overclocking enthusiasts demand along with full speed quad-PCI Express that supports the most power hungry video cards on the planet. Entry level users, beware. This board may both amaze and intimidate you! Allow me show you what we’re talking about.

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REVIEW: Patriot Pyro SE 240GB Review
PureOverclock has published a review on the Patriot Pyro SE 240GB

Today we're looking at a mid-range drive from Patriot, the Pyro SE 240GB SATA 3. This drive falls between Patriot's top drive, the Wildfire (with toggle NAND), and their original Pyro, which features more cost effective asynchronous NAND internals. Specifications list the 240GB as having 550MB/s read and 520MB/s write with 85,000 IOPS at 4k random write aligned disk access. The Patriot Pyro SE is TRIM-compatible, as well as backward compatible to SATA 2. It also comes with a respectable 3 year warranty, so it looks very competitive on paper. Let's jump in and see how the Patriot Pyro SE performs.

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NZXT Tempest 210 Review
techPowerUp posted a review on the NZXT Tempest 210

The NZXT Tempest 210 is the entry level chassis for the current Tempest family. While costing a bit more than the Source line-up, it shares a lot of functional similarities. We take the case for a spin to find out if it is all a more expensive deja vu or if the Tempest 210 offers more than just higher price tag when compared to the Source variants.

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Razer Imperator Battlefield 3 Edition Gaming Mouse Review
Rbmods posted a review on the Razer Imperator Battlefield 3 Edition Gaming Mouse

With the release of both Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 a variety of accessories for the computers have came up on the market with these 2 games as themes.
Razer sent us a bunch of their products, and today we take a look at the Imperator gaming mouse with a Battlefield 3 theme. Previously we’ve tested both the Razer Onza and the Scarab gaming pad; so lets find out if this product works as good as the others.

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Antec Kuhler 620 WC kit Review
XSReviews has a new review of the Antec Kuhler 620 water cooling kit.

The second in my series of Antec reviews is the Kühler H²O 620, another self-contained liquid cooling unit for your CPU. The Kühler H²O 620 is a more basic, simple and cheaper version of the Kühler H²O 920. Although lacking some of the features of its bigger brother, we will see if the 620 wins in the value for money department.

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Gigabyte E350N-USB3 Fusion Mini ITX Motherboard Review
PC Perspective posted a review on the Gigabyte E350N-USB3 Fusion Mini ITX Motherboard

AMD's Fusion technology has worked out well for the company in 2011 and many vendors have reaped the benefits by including this platform in their mini ITX motherboards and netbook offerings. Gigabyte found room in their product line to feature this chipset in its GA-E350N-USB3. We received one of these boards for review to see how it stacks up against other E-350 mini ITX boards available today.

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Getting Educated on the Status of PCI-E 3.0
Hardware Secrets explains the current implementation of the PCI Express 3.0 standard

Recently, motherboard manufacturers have been fighting their hardest to differentiate their products from one another in an effort to re-invigorate the stagnant PC business. A lot of this messaging has taken a very aggressive turn, where companies have blatantly called out or attacked competing products for not being the real deal or being up-to-speed.

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