Monday Reviews

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You are probably like most people when they go on vacation and use a digital camera with a few memory cards. It would be great if you didn't need a computer all the time to constantly backup your photos. The MS1U from Sans Digital is billed as a digital photo bank and it does just that. It takes a laptop (IDE) hard drive and converts it into portable storage for your memory cards.

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ASE Labs prides itself on giving you fair and honest reviews for all types of computer products. This is one of the reasons that ASE Labs has been around for over seven years and keeps going strong. Today ASE Labs has the Eagle Tech N-Series Pro Serial ATA to USB2 Hard Drive Enclosure on the review bench. The fair and brutally honest review follows.

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Logitech is a company that should be well known to the readers of ASE Labs. The company specializes in computer peripherals which include their line of mice and keyboards all the way to webcams. The focus of the review is the newest webcam from Logitech, the Quickcam Vision Pro which is billed to be Mac ready with ease. In reality, it works on every operating system.

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As readers of ASE Labs, you know that I have always said that it is very important to have proper backups and have redundant storage. While we have seen the MS2UTN+ from Sans Digital, this new model contains a LCD screen to easily setup and manage the unit. It is really amazing what a two line LCD can give you in terms of piece of mind.

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Quote: The Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS full tower chassis will not frustrate, and will not disappoint. There are plenty of tool-less features included to simplify the installation process, and the only components that required a screwdriver were the motherboard and power supply. The design of the case is slick and attractive, but doesn't go over the top. The simple external styling is complemented by a spacious, well laid out interior that will show through the large side panel window when fully assembled.

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* When it comes time for an enthusiast to upgrade his or her processor, it's usually quite a momentous occasion. Lots of planning goes into the perfect choice of hardware, and it's not uncommon for a cooler upgrade too; as faster usually means hotter. Therefore they usually go for something something much beefier than before -- not one which looks similar to the stock Intel model. It's odd saying that as today, we've got a Spire CoolFlow for review, which does, look remarkably similar to the stock Intel heat-sink and fan. Let's just hope it gives a boost in performance.

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When AMD launched the HD4850 and HD4870 earlier this year they continued with the strategy that they had started with the HD3000-series. Instead of trying to create a really fast, and expensive, GPU and then scale it down over the following 6-12 months for other segments, AMD decided to create the best GPU for the $200-$300 enthusiast segment and then either scale it down for the entry level segment or combine more than one GPU for the hard core gamers. The reception of the HD4850 and the HD4870 has been very good and these GPU's even got NVIDIA to lower their prices quite a lot just to be able to compete.

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Lian-Li is pulling out all the stops with the new Tyr case series. On our testbench is the X2000, which is not only the tallest case we have ever tested, but is packed with SATA backplates for six hard drives, three 140 mm fans and a long list of other features, too numerous to mention.

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* The ASUS P5Q-E motherboard aims to do just that by featuring Intel's new hotness, the P45 Express chipset that has everyone buzzing. Among its many highlights, the P5Q-E delivers native 1600 FSB CPU support, CrossFireX capable, eSATA, RoHS certified and recognizes up to 16GB of DDR2-1200 memory. Wow. Considering this all comes at an affordable price point, I couldn't wait to get it in the lab and on the test bench. If you're in the market for a new motherboard, you'll definitely want to check this review out. Read on as HardwareLogic unleashes its entire benchmarking suite on this board to find out if its worthy of being the foundation of your next build.

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Corsair is one of those companies no matter what they venture into it will be a success. Not only are they one of the most successful memory manufacturers but last month we took a look at their Voyager 32GB flash drive and it too was a big hit. Corsair has of lately broaden their range of products to include power supplies. The HX received great awards from around the web. based on the same tech that made the HX a hit the TX series is sure to be a benchmark in the world of power supplies. The unit that we will be taking a look at today is the 750 watt model. According to Corsair the TX is designed to give you maximum amount of power with the maximum of protection but at a minimum amount of money spent.

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The Raidmax Iceberg impressed us with its sturdy and quality construction. We were definitely not expecting an aluminum case to be so strong, but the thick aluminum of the Iceberg makes it one of the strongest cases we've seen. The design of the case also makes it one of the easiest to disassemble, from the nice side panels to the easy-to-remove front panel. Cooling options provided were also very decent, with four fans out of the case.

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Today I am looking at the Asus P5Q-E, one of Asus' three budget-minded P45 motherboards, this one supporting CrossfireX, with two x 8 slots, and one x 4 slot (the primary PCI-E slot is x 16 when a single video card is used). It also sports heatpipe chipset cooling, and other features we'd expect only on Asus boards costing much more, all with an energy-saving theme. How will this board stand up to the requirements of enthusiasts? Read on to see.

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* *Both the GTX 260 and the GTX 280 were launched a little over a month ago and while the higher end 280 was available immediately at launch, the less expensive 260 was greeted with a paper launch. Since that time, Nvidia seemed to have been surprised by ATI's launch of the HD4800-series of cards which turned out to be extremely successful and performed above what many expected them to. In order to combat these lower-priced cards, Nvidia has sent the prices of the GTX 280 and GTX 260 into freefall. Once retailing for a bit over $400, GTX 260 cards can now be had for a shade under $300 after rebates here in Canada in some rare cases. Say it with me again: competition is good.*

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The Lian-Li V1010 is the successor of the very popular V1000. It now incorporates some of the new and unique features, which you will find in the X2000 or X500, at a much lower price point.

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Today for review I've got a new entry into the thermal compound competition, it's from Coolink and it's called Chillaramic. The '-ramic' part of the name denotes that it is a ceramic based compound, something that is sort of rare when it comes to thermal compounds these days, most are metallic based compounds as they've been shown to have the best thermal conductive properties, but many newer ones have no metal particles at all in them.

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When I choose a computer case, I am often drawn towards a couple of things: good looks and cool features that will make building and using the computer enjoyable. Thermaltake, makers of a wide variety of computer products, sent us a sample of one of their new cases, the Thermaltake M9D mid-tower computer case, which from the package seems to combine stylish looks with a sophisticated design. Can their case live up to these lofty goals? Let's find out in this case review.

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With nVidia done with its high-end product launches for this generation, it was obviously time for AMD to fire back. Now most of you would remember that AMD's previous generation of GPUs were less than stellar and about the only product that got anyone excited was the X2. Now since the new RV770 is based on the same R600 roots, we wondered what AMD was able to do to the core to turn it around.

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We're not quite sure what makes this 9600 GSO so Extreme, but we intend to find out today. Not unlike its 8800 GS twin brother, the 9600 GSO hasn't really had much attention due to AMD offering two new cards, the 9600GT already being excellent value and of course NVIDIA offering two new high-end models as well. There are a lot of people on a tight budget though, and the 9600 GSO might come in at a price point that's most attractive to them. We'll have a look at the Extreme version from Leadtek today and see if it's worth buying or if should you save a few more dollars and just buy the better known 9600GT.

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Today for review I've got the FZ120 CPU Cooler from Zerotherm and it's a beast, in terms of both size and performance. The FZ120 takes the top spot in most of our cooling tests while remaining virtually silent at the same time. Since the FZ120 is so large it does pose a challenge when installing, and it just downright won't fit in smaller cases like SFF or even most HTPC cases, but if you're looking for great quality, silence and excellent performance the FZ120 deserves a closer look...

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All things considered, I was impressed with the Kingston DataTraveler BlackBox. It performed admirably well even though it has to deal with on-the-fly 256-bit AES encryption. Also, the security process is relatively transparent in that all you have to do is put in your password and subsequently, the drive acts just like a normal USB flash drive. The build quality is excellent unlike some older DataTravelers I've owned; I soaked the drive in a cup of water for several minutes and it still worked.

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Every now and then, ThinkComputers gets the opportunity to review a piece of hardware which we'd consider dream hardware. Sometimes it's attainable, but it's excess to most of us. The CineRaid Quad-bay SAS RAID device is one of these. It's an external RAID device: it connects via a PCI-Express Serial Attached Storage card and adds extremely fast and failure-tolerant storage to a system. It's meant primarily for professional graphic artists, but we gamers can drool and perhaps even purchase one of our own if we have a burning need for speed. ThinkComputers reviews it.

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If you haven't guessed by now this unit is an 800 watt model. This much power should be enough to power a decent multi-GPU rig. The PP800 has the greatest amount of power output in Performance Power as the other models are 500 and 600 watts. Like most power supplies today the PP800 boast four 12 volt rails totaling up to 78 amps. A lot of power, a lot of ampere and an SLI certification is enough to warrant a good run on the old test bench.

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AMD/ATI has released two new high-end graphics chips recently, Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon HD 4850, known by the codenames RV770 XT and RV770 PRO, respectively. As you can guess by the numbers, HD 4870 provides a higher performance compared to HD 4850 and currently is the fastest GPU provided by AMD/ATI - until Radeon HD 4870 X2, a video card featuring two HD 4870, is launched. In this review we will benchmark HD 4870 from Sapphire and compare it to its main competitors from nVidia. Is this video card a good buy? Check it out.

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We found an alternative to the 'Tote Around' syndrome in the Tagan Icy Box IB-285StU-B 2 1/2 inch Sata Drive enclosure. It's all-inclusive, wallet-type design is a breath of fresh air in the world of portable storage; and it manages to store large amounts of data and does it while providing a stylishness that you seldom see in carry along storage solutions.

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We all know OCZ as the company that never stops. It seems like every day I am receiving some kind of press release from them. Just recently there was a P.R. notice to introduce a new line of ram kits under the Fata1ty branding. Yet another line to add to their vast array of memory. That is good news for some as you can continue that black and red theme you have going on. Our test subject today is from a more familiar line know by OCZ fans, which is the Reaper series. The Reapers are known by its trademark black heat spreaders and copper heat pipes. Today we will take the Reaper PC3 12800 for a ride on our test bench and see what kind of potential they have.

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The main participants are AMD Phenom X3 8450/8750 and Phenom X4 9550/9850 on one hand, and Core 2 Duo 4300/4400/4500/4600/4700 (the entire E4x00 family) as well as the new Core 2 Duo E7200 on the other hand. No deep analytical conclusions this time. This article is to help users make a choice.

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As we roll towards the end of the month, I have to admit we were a little worried when we hadn't seen the latest Catalyst release. No doubt AMD have been extremely busy working on the latest HD 4870 incarnation; the X2. There are some decent looking performance improvements mentioned in the release notes this time around, so let's see how they go in our tests today.

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Razer and THX have teamed up together to design the Razer Mako 2.1 THX Certified Multimedia System. This sound system offers OmniDirectional speakers which fill the entire room with surround sound. The Mako comes equipped with an all-in-one touch sensitive control pod which allows you have the controls right at your fingertips. The control pod also provides 3.5mm headphone jack for quiet listening and a 3.5mm auxiliary input jack for those looking to hookup their iPod or MP3 player. This system certainly beats others out there in sound quality, even those Bose MP3 player systems you might have.

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The 9600 GSO has been out for a while now, but we haven't really seen many of them around. The first one we saw was from Palit and carried with it a large 768MB of memory with quite a hefty overclock to boot. At the same time, it did have some issues in our test bed. While we loved the card, we probably didn't really get to have as close a look as we normally would. We all know that the 9600 GSO is nothing more than an 8800 GS with a new name, but how does the card sit in the current market? Is it something worth considering or should we just opt for the slightly more expensive 9600GT?

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Exercise-oriented video games aren't new, but Wii Fit is certainly the most technically advanced one yet. Fun games like snowboarding, Hula Hoop, and tightrope keep it from being tedious. The ingenious Balance Board tracks your center of gravity, and although we're skeptical about its fitness evaluation criteria, a few weeks of use has noticeably improved our balance. We wish you could save your own workout routines, and we advise against taking it too seriously as a fitness tool, but overall we're impressed with Wii Fit, and the Balance Board has lots of potential as a controller.

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Quote: Kingwin's EL-35EU-SBL Elite USB 2.0 and eSATA drive enclosure is a sharp looking product that could simply use some better software. If you want an eSATA drive enclosure and only need basic back up capabilities, already have back up software, or don't intend to use the back up capabilities, I could recommend this enclosure. If are looking for a back up system that offers configuration flexibility, this may not be a good choice for you.