Here today's reviews and articles, including How to Restore Old Computers to Their Original Color, Rosewill Tachyon 650W Power Supply Review, ASRock FM2A85X Extreme6 for AMD Socket FM2 APUs, Creative Sound Blaster Z Sound Card Review, and Rig of the Month - January 2013



How to Restore Old Computers to Their Original Color @ Hardware Secrets

Plastic parts of older computers become yellow or brown over time, so you end up with a computer that looks yellow or brown instead of white or gray. In this tutorial, we will show you how to restore old plastic parts to their original color by using a homemade peroxide-based solution called Retr0bright.

Read more: How to Restore Old Computers to Their Original Color @ Hardware Secrets

Rosewill Tachyon 650W Power Supply Review @ Legit Reviews

The overall performance of the Tachyon 650W power supply is very good. We could even dare saying that it was much better than we initially expected, considering that Rosewill is an infant when it comes to high performance products aiming towards hardcore enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the Tachyon 650W unit displayed excellent electrical performance, maintaining a tight voltage regulation and offering very good ripple suppression. Furthermore, the efficiency of the Tachyon 650W does meet the 80Plus Platinum certification levels just like Rosewill advertises, even if only barely...

Read more: Rosewill Tachyon 650W Power Supply Review @ Legit Reviews

ASRock FM2A85X Extreme6 for AMD Socket FM2 APUs @ techPowerUp

Looking at overclocking your new AMD FM2 APU to the max? Just want to build a light-budget gaming rig with a ton of features? The ASRock FM2A85X Extreme6 is ready for both. It is ASRock's top AMD A85 chipset offering, packed full of features, including one or two no other FM2 board provides.

Read more: ASRock FM2A85X Extreme6 for AMD Socket FM2 APUs @ techPowerUp

Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2 Computer Case @ Modders-Inc.com

In early 2009, Cooler Master started up its CM Storm division with its debut of the full tower CM Storm Sniper and mid tower Scout case. Now, some 3 years later Cooler Masters CM storm division has released the long awaited successor to the Scout, the Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2.

Read more: Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2 Computer Case @ Modders-Inc.com

Silverstonetek Grandia GD07 HTPC Enclosure reviewed @ Metku.net

In last spring Silverstone published two HTPC cases to Grandia series. The cases' model names are GD07 and GD08 and their most important features are extensibility, cooling perfonrmance and silence. All in all, the cases' features are very similar, and the biggest differences are in the front panels. Both cases' price is about 150 euros. This time we are about to take a closer look at the GD07 model.

Read more: Silverstonetek Grandia GD07 HTPC Enclosure reviewed @ Metku.net

Fractal Design Newton R3 600W Power Supply Review @ ThinkComputers.org

We mainly know Fractal Design for their cases, but did you know they make power supplies as well? Over the past couple of years the really high-end power supplies all had 80PLUS Gold certifications, but now we are seeing 80PLUS Platinum certifications. 80PLUS Platinum certification means that the power supply runs 92% efficient at 50% load and 89% efficient at 100% load. Today we are taking a look at Fractal Designs Newton R3 600W power supply that not only has the 80PLUS Platinum certification it features a semi-modular design, single 12V rail, semi-passive fan, and is CrossFireX certified. Is this this next power supply for your system? Read on as we take a look...

Read more: Fractal Design Newton R3 600W Power Supply Review @ ThinkComputers.org

SteelSeries Flux Luxury Edition Gaming Headset Review @ Madshrimps

The new Flux Luxury Edition Gaming Headset from SteelSeries was built for mobility in mind, comes with two separate connectivity cables, a carry pouch and interchangeable covers. The Flux is easy to adjust thanks to the FluidFIT headband and produces a high quality sound even in movies or games, even if it is marketed mainly for gaming purposes.

Read more: SteelSeries Flux Luxury Edition Gaming Headset Review @ Madshrimps

Creative Sound Blaster Z Sound Card Review @ KitGuru

The Creative Sound Blaster Z Sound card is part of the new flagship series of Sound Blaster and features the multi-core Sound Core3D audio processor and beamforming microphone. There are three models in the Sound Blaster Z range; the Z, the Zx and the ZxR.

Read more: Creative Sound Blaster Z Sound Card Review @ KitGuru

Rig of the Month - January 2013 @ Guru3D

We just adore hardware. And sometimes some you guys really make a PC that really stands out. We ask you to answer a few simple questions and send in photo's of your rig. Each month we'll have a look at the entries and perhaps pick you and post your PC with photo's and everything here at Guru3D.com Here you can find out what you need to do and win a great prize brought to you with the courtesy of OCZ Technology.

Read more: Rig of the Month - January 2013 @ Guru3D

Arctic Accelero Hybrid VGA Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion

In order for an all-in-one liquid cooling video card kit to be useful, it must be compatible with more than a single video card series. Users who are looking to purchase units like these are also hopeful that the design is flexible enough to be useable in case they upgrade to a higher-end or newer model. Arctic, as one of the world’s leading DIY cooling experts has answered the call and is offering a self-contained liquid cooling solution at a $179 USD price tag.

The Arctic Accelero Hybrid VGA cooler is compatible with a wide range of video cards from both AMD and NVIDIA. Arctic’s Accelero Hybrid’s all-in-one design includes the tube, a 120mm radiator, and a copper cold plate with built-in pump as well as a custom shroud actively cooled by an 80mm fan. A 120mm F12 PWM fan is also included with the Accelero Hybrid kit along with many different types of aluminum heatsinks for the memory and voltage regulation components. Inside a typical mid-tower case, the Arctic Accelero Hybrid VGA cooler can be mounted in different four different positions and is compatible with up to 16 different NVIDIA GeForce and 15 different AMD Radeon video cards spanning up to four generations old.

Read more: Arctic Accelero Hybrid VGA Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion

Arctic USB Charger PRO 4 Rev.2 @ Benchmark Reviews

USB has made it convenient to charge mobile devices, since most people also have access to a computer with an available port. But as the devices add up, those ports become scarce. This is ideal during extended travel, when battery power for items like the Apple iPad or iPhone runs low after a movie. Keeping fully charged is a challenge while traveling, since most people leave their bulky systems at home. This is where a portable USB charge adapter comes in very handy. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the travel-sized Arctic USB Charger PRO 4 Rev 2, model PSAEQ-AC01301-BL.

People love their portable electronics, and can't get escape without their phone, tablet, and digital multimedia devices in tow. We take our ebook readers with us everywhere, carry a Bluetooth wireless headset for calls on the road, and occasionally find time to take pictures with the digital camera. All of these devices require power, and when you're away from home it's hard to keep batteries charged during long trips or after prolonged use. Airports, hotels, and RVs all have power receptacles available, but most lack USB ports. Arctic Cooling offers the USB Charger PRO 4 Rev.2 (model PSAEQ-AC01301-BL) to keep your devices working while on the road, with four powered-USB ports and the ability to fast-charge at up to 2.1 amps of power.

Read more: Arctic USB Charger PRO 4 Rev.2 @ Benchmark Reviews

Plextor M5 Pro Extreme SSD Review (256GB) - 100,000 IOPS and Excellent Performance @ SSD Review

It seems that our relationship with Plextor has had a shot of Adrenaline since our meet at CES Las Vegas 2013 and ‘first up’ analysis of the new Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme SSD is the result. We did have a bit of a heads up when Plextor asked us to review the M5 Pro in this meeting, but definitely never expected the M5 Pro to beat us back to home base, and not two weeks before this Xtreme we just finished testing!

The Pro and the Extreme should be virtually identical, considering both contain the same controller, the same cache, same firmware and even 19nm NAND flash memory. The difference is that the Xtreme contains 16 modules of NAND flash memory vice the 8 of our M5 Pro review, the Xtreme also promising IOPS of 100,000. But wait…. didn’t we get that from the M5 Pro as well?

Read more: Plextor M5 Pro Extreme SSD Review (256GB) - 100,000 IOPS and Excellent Performance @ SSD Review

Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low Profile cpu cooler @ Rbmods

People tend to make HTPC setups these days for their TV’s and something that all HTPC cases have in common is that they are small and have very little space. Because of this you need a low profile cpu cooler that is way smaller than a standard cooler yet will still be able to cool a HTPC. Phanteks sent us their latest PH-TC90LS Low profile cooler that we are going to take a look at today.

Read more: Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low Profile cpu cooler @ Rbmods

RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-RD2121StS 2x2.5" to 3.5" HDD/SSD RAID Converter Review @ NikKTech

When solid state drives finally made it to the consumer market roughly 5 years ago no one could deny that they offered superior data transfer speeds compared to regular mechanical drives without at the same time producing noise and heat. However no one also could deny that such solutions had but two large drawbacks and that were their prices (for most people) and limited storage space. So the solution was quite simple for some and so back then Seagate immediately started working on a hybrid drive by marrying a standard 2.5" mechanical drive with a rather large storage capacity and a rather small 2.5" SSD. The idea was to use the HDD section to store everything you threw at the drive and the SSD section to cache the things you used mostly on your daily activities and thus provide you with increased speeds. The result was the Momentus (and later on the updated Momentus XT) hybrid drive which actually did quite well in the end and did produce better results than regular mechanical drives. Other manufacturers also decided to marry a regular HDD with an SSD but they followed a whole different path and so some did so with dual 2.5" internal enclosures (for example RAIDON), others by introducing cache SSDs and Hybrid PCIex models (OCZ) and a few by following the old RAID 0 solution which basically divides all your data evenly on two or more disks for increased performance. RaidSonic just recently jumped on that last wagon with their ICY BOX IB-RD2121StS 2x2.5" to 3.5" HDD/SSD RAID Converter and naturally we just had to check it out.

Read more: RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-RD2121StS 2x2.5" to 3.5" HDD/SSD RAID Converter Review @ NikKTech