March 8, 2012
Computer Speakers, Featured Tech Reviews
Microlab is a dedicated acoustics and computer peripherals producer, and since its formation in 1998 they have solely concentrated on producing high quality speakers. Peter Larsen is their designer and chief consultant. We have high hopes the FC360 will perform well, especially after our positive experiences last year. Previously we …
Read More »
March 7, 2012
Graphics, Highlights-new
In February I reviewed several HD7750 and HD7770 graphics cards and was ultimately left with mixed feelings. I appreciated the commendable power consumption and modest heat output, but I felt that it was a sideways step for AMD. They seemed more focused on announcing that they had released the first …
Read More »
March 7, 2012
Featured Announcement, Power Supplies
Today we are looking at a power supply from Cooler Master called the ‘Silent Pro Hybrid'. This is based around the Silent Pro Gold Model, but it features a high grade cooling fan with hydraulic bearings … this stops rotating completely when the loads are below 200W. Cooler Master have …
Read More »
March 6, 2012
Featured Tech Reviews, Power Supplies
When shopping for a quality power supply Enermax are always one of the companies to place at the top of a shortlist. Last October we looked at their Platimax 1200W power supply and today we are reviewing the 850W version. Like the bigger brother, this product is 80 Plus Platinum …
Read More »
March 5, 2012
Graphics, Highlights-new
AMD launch the ‘Pitcairn' series of graphics cards today, completing their Trinity of new Direct X 11 discrete solutions. In previous months we analysed the ‘Tahiti' series HD7970 /HD7950 and the ‘Cape Verde' HD7770 and HD7750, targeting the ultra high and lower end price points respectively. The HD7870 and HD7850 …
Read More »
March 4, 2012
Cooling, Featured Tech Reviews
Aftermarket cooling products is a massive market with numerous companies fighting for enthusiast money. Akasa is one of the companies fighting for position in this overcrowded market. Back in October of 2010 we looked at their original Venom cooler and today we are going to check out the new Akasa …
Read More »
March 2, 2012
Cooling, Highlights-new
We have looked at a number of products from Be Quiet! in the past and have been impressed with both their design and performance. The most impressive one was the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro which featured a high performance twin-tower design and an attractive black finish. So we were …
Read More »
March 1, 2012
Featured Announcement, Gaming PC
It has been a while since we looked at a prebuilt system designed for the enthusiast gamer who has little time, or interest in building a new kick ass system. With this in mind PC Specialist sent over their Vortex XT-270FB system which on paper looks very impressive. Is a …
Read More »
February 29, 2012
Cases, Featured Tech Reviews
After the success of the original Cooler Master CM 690 II it is no great surprise that they have released a new and improved version. The reason for the success of the 690 II is that Cooler Master were able to fit full tower features into a mid tower chassis …
Read More »
February 28, 2012
Highlights-new, SSD Drives
OCZ are without a doubt the leaders of the Solid State revolution, and today we look at the Octane 512GB which is based around a unique Indilinx Everest controller. Hang on a minute, haven't we done this already I hear you ask? Well yes, we have …. however OCZ have …
Read More »
February 28, 2012
Featured Announcement, Peripheral
Thermaltake are well known for their extensive range of PC cases and power supplies but they also produce an extensive range of gaming peripherals under the Tt eSPORTS brand. We have looked at a number of Tt eSPORTS headsets in the past such as the impressive Shock Spin HD headset …
Read More »
February 27, 2012
Cases, Featured Tech Reviews
Today we have a newcomer on our test bench, the Anidees Al 6 Mid Tower. This is the first offering from Anidees … a very stylish chassis with a brushed aluminum finish and plenty of features to capture the attention. Anidees is a small independent company with staff in Europe, …
Read More »
February 26, 2012
Featured Announcement, Mouse
Corsair have been making a name for themselves in the gaming peripheral market. It all started with the HS1 headset which offered an excellent balance between sound quality and price. More recently, they have been expanding their range and we recently looked at their two latest gaming keyboards, the Vengeance …
Read More »
February 24, 2012
Graphics, Highlights-new
On February 15th AMD released their new HD7750 and HD7770 graphics cards targeting the mainstream enthusiast audience. On launch day we reviewed HD7770 and HD7750 cards from partners such as VTX3D, HIS and Sapphire. Our XFX sample was originally misplaced in the mail so we held fire until today to …
Read More »
February 23, 2012
Featured Tech Reviews, Laptop / Mobile
The IBM Thinkpad is an iconic machine well known for the ‘boxy' design, class leading keyboards and chassis rigidity to deal with the toughest of working environments. Lenovo took over the IBM personal computer division in 2005 and have released a wide range of impressive systems since then. We reviewed …
Read More »
February 22, 2012
Component, Cooling, Featured Announcement
Competition is fierce in the high-end air cooling market as there are a plethora of performance CPU coolers available from numerous brands. The highest performance air cooler to date is still the Noctua NH-D14. It still hasn't been matched by any other model in our tests, letting us achieve some …
Read More »
February 21, 2012
Cases, Featured Announcement
The Media PC market has been thriving in the last year with leading manufacturers such as Lian Li releasing a raft of capable, attractive chassis designs specifically for this audience. Today we are looking at the Silverstone Grandia Series GD06 Chassis which builds on the GD04 and GD05 heritage. Silverstone …
Read More »
February 21, 2012
Featured Tech Reviews, PC
We review many high end, power sapping systems destined to power through a variety of intensive Direct X 11 games at super high resolutions. They also cause a huge dent with your electricity bill. Not everyone wants or needs such a high powered system however and today we have the …
Read More »
February 20, 2012
Cases, Featured Announcement
BitFenix have taken the market by storm over the previous 18 months and after a somewhat rocky launch period, we have seen their quality control and construction materials consistently improve. Today we look at their Merc Alpha Chassis, which is set to offer high value for money with strong cooling …
Read More »
February 17, 2012
CPU, Featured Tech Reviews, Motherboard
The latest Intel Core i7 processors are class leading performers and we have already reviewed the i7-3820 and flagship i7-3960X Extreme Edition. Today we are looking at the 3930K which should offer much of the 3960X performance, at almost half the price. To power the system today we thought it …
Read More »
February 16, 2012
Featured Tech Reviews, Keyboards, Mouse
Kitguru spends a lot of time looking at the latest and greatest gaming peripherals on the market and seeing how they can improve our gaming experience. We do however spend less time looking at more ‘mainstream' products which appeal to a wider audience and fall within the budget constraints of …
Read More »
February 15, 2012
Graphics, Highlights-new
Today AMD release their new HD7750 and HD7770 series graphics cards targeting the mainstream enthusiast audience. In this review we analyse the Sapphire HD7770 1GHZ Overclock Edition which is supplied resplendent with custom cooling solution. Sapphire are AMD's largest partner and over the last year they have been releasing some …
Read More »
February 15, 2012
Featured Announcement, Graphics
AMD have had great success so far with their HD7970 and HD7950 high end graphics solutions, however the cost of both models has been prohibitive for many people. The reviews today will appeal to a wider audience who have a budget of around £150 or less to spend on a …
Read More »
February 15, 2012
Featured Tech Reviews, Graphics
Our other editorials today focus on the new AMD HD7770 1GHZ graphics card, which is the higher end model in the 77xx range. In this review however we look at the HIS HD7750, a card which aims to target the budget aware gaming audience. HIS haven't quite yet earned the …
Read More »
February 13, 2012
Cooling, Featured Tech Reviews
Today we are looking at a GPU cooler from Arctic. We recently looked at their Accelero Xtreme 7970 which is an extremely impressive solution. The cooler we are focusing our attention on today is the Accelero S1 Plus. The S1 Plus is a passive cooling solution that is compatible with …
Read More »
February 12, 2012
APU, CPU, Graphics, Highlights-new, Motherboard
AMD met with a positive reception for their Llano based A series APU's – targeting customers working on a relatively tight budget who want an ‘all in one' chip design for a media center PC or low cost workhorse machine. We are looking at the latest flagship A8-3870K Black Edition …
Read More »
February 10, 2012
Cases, Highlights-new
Today we will be focusing on a new Mid Tower chassis from Xigmatek, the MidGard II. This is the second case released in the MidGard series, following up on the popular original MidGard model. Can the new MidGard II match the success of it's predecessor? One of the main talking …
Read More »
February 9, 2012
Featured Announcement, SSD Drives
A few days ago we looked at the latest Solid State Drive from Intel – the 520 series, codenamed ‘Cherryville'. The drive is built around ‘compute quality' 25 nanometer NAND flash memory and offers a claimed maximum sequential read speed of 550 MB/s. It claimed our top award earlier this …
Read More »
February 8, 2012
Cooling, Featured Tech Reviews
If you are fortunate enough to have bought a new AMD graphics card, then today's review will be of particular interest. Arctic have just released a cooling solution which is compatible with the new range of AMD graphics cards, including the latest award winning HD7970 and HD7950. The idea is …
Read More »
February 7, 2012
Featured Tech Reviews, Mouse
Corsair have been steadily enhancing their product portfolio in the last few years, expanding into a number of different markets while continuing to produce a large range of quality memory products. We have recently been looking at some products from Corsair's latest Vengeance gaming peripheral range including the fantastic K90 …
Read More »