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Asus Z77 Roundup
When doing all of our Ivy Bridge launch prep we spent a LOT of time benchmarking and testing a whole collection of boards. You guys have seen our reviews of the Intel and Gigabyte boards. When it came time to write about the four different Asus Z77 boards I realized that most of you are not going to want to read through a lot of information that we would cover over and over on each review. We decided to roundup all four of the boards and cover them together. This way we can get to the point a little quicker, saving you time, as well as giving us a chance to talk more about the differences between the variety of boards that we tested.
ASUS P8 Z68-V/GEN3
Perhaps one of the most daunting tasks after making the decision that you do not wish to purchase an off-the-shelf computer is attempting to figure out which components go in the machine. There are fun aspects, like the graphics card and processor, and then there are the not-so-fun aspects, like the motherboard (at least in my opinion). Why do I think it is a whole lot of not fun? There are so many out there to choose from, with all sorts of features. When shopping you will likely come across the ASUS board that I am going to review today. Arguably, it is one of the better all-around boards out there, with features like good integrated graphics and killer sound. But to a gamer that generally does not mean squat. Does the ASUS P8 Z68-V/GEN3 board have what it takes to function as a serious gaming component? Read on to find out!
XFX R7750 Black Edition DD
Not everyone is looking to spend $500 on their video card, in some cases that is the total budget for a build. When you are up against a wall trying to pack the best performance you can get into a budget build you still want to get the most performance you can out of your video card. That’s where cards like the XFX R7750 Black Edition Double Dissipation come into play. XFX has taken the styling and cooling from their high end cards and combined it with the price of budget cards like the HD 7750. Today we are going to take a look at how those two things do combined in XFX’s R7750 Black Edition Double Dissipation.
Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X
Earlier this year when AMD introduced the HD 7770 we took a look at cards from both Sapphire and XFX. Although we were impressed with the cards performance it was a little ill-timed due to AMD still clearing out discounted back stock. Three months later we are able to revisit the situation with today’s release of Sapphires new HD 7770 Vapor-X. With Sapphires Vapor chamber cooling technology along with a nice overclock over the reference design, the Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X could be a great option for a gamer on a limited budget. Let’s take a look.
Motherboard Sizing
When we got in a few oddly sized dual CPU motherboards from EVGA and Asus I posted up a few pictures on our forums and on Facebook. The problem was that even though they looked large there wasn’t any prospective. So we tossed in a couple other boards to give everyone a little perspective. This lead us to digging out even more motherboards to put together all of the standard motherboard sizes all together for everyone to be able to see the differences. Along with the picture we also have a breakdown on the dimensions of each size standard; I hope this helps everyone as some point. Sometimes it can be hard to understand all of the different motherboard sizes and how they all relate.
Android to the Maxx, DROID Razr Maxx
The list of different Android based phones available at any time is both overwhelming and frustrating. It’s almost impossible to get good feedback from friends who have the same phone because of this. So it’s rare than you have any one phone that manages to stand out. Doing something different is the only way to do this normally, but most times this ends off coming off as gimmicky or just lame. When Motorola introduced the Droid Razr Maxx it caught my attention right away. This was just before our trip out to San Francisco for the GTX 680 Editors day, what a better way to put the Maxx’s proposed batter life to the test!
Lian Li PC 100 “The Hammer”
We have had a few different Lian Li chassis come through the LanOC Offices and there hasn’t been a time that we haven’t been impressed with the new and interesting features Lian Li always seems to slip in. When they wanted to ship over their new case “The Hammer” PC 100, we signed up right away. We had seen the case previewed from a few shows prior and this time around Lian Li took a new perspective with its design, I was very interested to see how their changes worked out. Let’s jump in and see what it’s all about!
Nvidia GTX 670
When Nvidia launched Kepler with the GTX 680 I was impressed with the launch price of the card but even at such a great value it is still out of reach for some people. Just because you can’t afford the top card doesn’t mean you don’t want to experience Kepler’s performance. Of course it was only a matter of time before we saw Nvidia filling in the gaps in their product line, starting first with the GTX 690 then going to the next step down from the GTX 680, the GTX 670. Today we get to have a look to see how the performance compares to both the GTX 680 as well as AMD’s offerings. We are also very curious how it compares to the GTX 580, a card that has found its way into most of our office PC’s.
ioSafe Rugged Portable
So you do the smart thing, you backup your data from your laptop and your home PC to an external or network drive and go on with life feeling confident that you have gone well and above what most people do. For the most part, you did. What about when you’re traveling, have you seen how much abuse a device can take when on the go? For some people, and I know I’m one of them, some of the data you carry with you while traveling is more important than the laptop or device that you actually carry it on. In that situation you need a way to not have to worry about your data, no matter the situation, and to have a guarantee to back it up as well. The folks over at ioSafe focus specifically on this crowd. Not only do they offer products that are according to them build to handle almost anything, but they back it up with data recovery if something does happen. Today we are going to take a look at that Rugged Portable hard drive to see what all of the fuss is about, without any more buildup, let’s dig in.
Cooler Master Storm Trigger
Just two years ago the only mechanical keyboards you would find were from companies like DAS keyboard trying to create a nitch market. Over the past two years things have really exploded with every manufacture you can think of introducing their own mechanical keyboards. Cooler Master has been especially aggressive with multiple unique designs like their Quickfire series. What they did lack was a full featured mechanical keyboard with full backlighting, until now. Today they officially introduce their Storm Trigger, although it you look around the board was available Globally before now. With full backlighting it falls into a small category of Mechanical Keyboards with very little competition. I am excited to see how it performs.
Cooler Master HAF XM
The topic of cleaning your computer out came up last week on our forums and it got me thinking about how often I really need to clean out my computer. As it turns out it’s not very often anymore. All because of improvements in case design like fan filters. You don’t really see them on low end cases yet but they have been slowly trickling down. At CES this year we had a chance to get our hands on one of Cooler Master’s upcoming chassis, the HAF XM. A mid-range case packed with the features we have come to love from their high end HAF line. Today we are going to dig into the final product and see how it came out.
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
Z77 boards come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and prices. Just about every manufacture has a whole lineup of boards covering the whole range to make sure you can find what you are looking for. Gigabyte is no different; they have a whole selection of boards that will fit your needs. Today we are taking a look at their Z77X-UD3H, one of their budget boards. It may not be a high end board but it is still packed with features. I am curious how it will perform now that the cat is out of the bag with Ivy Bridge. Let’s jump in and see what it’s all about.
Highlights for Lian Li's PC-V1020 (A/B/R) & PC-V2120 (A/B/X)
PC-V1020 Mid-Tower Chassis
PC-V2120 Full-Tower Chassis
PC-V1020 Mid-Tower Chassis
- Support ATX/Micro-ATX motherboards
- Motherboard tray sliding out on back
- 5.25" standard optical drive x3
- 5.25" to 3.5" converter optical drive x1
- 3.5" HDD x7 and 2.5" HDD x1
- 8 PCI slots for VGA cards up to 305mm length
- Two 140mm blue/red LED fans at front
- One 140mm fan at top
- One 120mm fan at rear
- USB3.0 x 4 / e-SATA x 1 / HD Audio I/O ports
- Availability: Arriving at local distributors end of September
- MSRP for PC-V1020 (VAT not included): US$289 for PC-V1020A/B (silver/black); US$349 for PC-V1020R (red)
PC-V2120 Full-Tower Chassis
- Support ATX/Micro-ATX/HPTX motherboards
- Motherboard tray sliding out on back
- 5.25" standard optical drive x5
- 3.5" HDD x10 and 5.25" HDD x3
- 11 PCI slots for VGA cards up to 335mm length
- Three 140mm fans + one 120mm fan at front
- Three 120mm fan holes at top
- One 120mm fan at rear
- USB3.0 x 4 / e-SATA x 1 / HD Audio I/O ports
- Availability: Arriving at local distributors end of September
- MSRP for PC-V2120 (VAT not included): US$459 for PC-V2120A/B; US$539 for PC-V2120X (all black)
Lian Li Adds Two New Models to Its V-Series –
PC-V1020 Mid-Tower & PC-2120 Full-Tower Chassis
Fresh style & new structure for professional PC users
16 September 2010, Keelung, Taiwan – Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd. today announces two additional V-series – PC-V1020 mid-tower chassis & PC-V2120 full-tower chassis for the professional PC users. Continuously following the layout from the previous V-series models, Lian Li also upgrades functionality to the latest requirements of performance computing. Huge internal space for the largest graphics cards, support for 8 or 11 PCI slots, enough space for the gigantic HPTX motherboard, easily removable motherboard tray, front door for security and quality...plus the front grill design with holes are all the advanced features of this series. No matter if it's for professional workstation, server or high-end system, gamers or pro-users, the all aluminum alloy with simple and yet stylish look of Lian Li's PC-V1020 & PC-V2120 are made for users looking for absolute choices.
The Lian Li PC-V1020 Mid-Tower Chassis
Dimensioned at 220x562x505mm(W.H.D.), weights only at 9.15kg, stunning front grill design with holes, and available in three colors of black, silver and red. The PC-V1020 features 5.25" standard optical drive x3; 5.25" to 3.5" converter optical drive x1; 3.5" HDD x7; 2.5" HDD x1. It supports ATX/Micro-ATX motherboards mounted on a motherboard bay that slides out on the back easily. Equipped with 8 PCI slots which can hold three or more graphics cards up to 305mm length supporting Crossfire™ and SLI™, this case allows full graphics power.The Lian Li PC-V1020 is designed for an outstanding supply of cool air, offering two 140mm blue/red LED fans at the front, special cage for a 140mm at the top and one 120mm fan at the rear to draw the hot air out. Last but not least, an air filter is available to cover the vent underneath the mounted power supply unit at the bottom of the PC-V1020.
It is worth to mention that there is a set of wheels at the base of PC-V1020, for users to move the case around and lock the wheels in position. Other friendly package of Lian Li's PC-V1020 includes all I/O ports on the top cover for easy access; a PCI bracket connecting USB3.0 cable from I/O ports to the motherboard; the removable motherboard trays and thumb screw; tool-less optical drive mounting with rubber padding as well as tool-less HDD cage; an opening hole for cables as well as patented cable management clamp; and finally, an optional PCI Cooling Kit with 140mm fan for direct cooling of the expansion cards.
The Lian Li PC-V2120 Full-Tower HPTX Chassis
Dimensioned at 235x635x630mm(W.H.D.), it is designed to handle even the largest motherboard on the market for power users. Despite the enormous size and echoing internal space it only weights 14.4kg. The Lian Li PC-V2120 has a huge internal space that supports HPTX motherboards as well as 11 PCI slots for graphics cards up to 335mm long, and still enough room to fit five 5.25" standard optical drives and 13 hard drives. The motherboard tray slides out on the back of the chassis, making it easy to set up the system despite of the size of the components. Access to the front bays is secured with lockable door with noise reduction foam, while the side panels can be secured with locks. The door opening direction can be easily changed from left to right swing.For air flow the PC-V2120 has three 140mm cooling fans in the front, one 120mm fan on the back, plus three pre-cut 120mm fan mounting holes on the top cover for more fans or watercooling radiators. A tray is separating the motherboard compartment from the PSU and storage space on the bottom of the case. Besides having openings for cable management it also offers mounting holes for two 2.5” drives for an easy access compared to the narrow confines of the 3.5” bays. On the front there is a fan controller for users to adjust the fan speed and get the best balance between silent and cooling. Just like the PC-V1020, there is an optional PCI Cooling Kit with 140mm fan for direct cooling of the expansion cards, vents on the PCI brackets, plus fire protected vents below the power supply unit with an air filter for dust protection.
The wheels design enables easy moving of the heavy system. Other details like the USB 3.0, easy I/O ports access, noise reduction on side panels, cable management clamp, motherboard thumb screws and etc. make the PC-V2120 most ideal for professional workstations, small server and the ultimate gaming rig.
For more details on features and extras availabilities, please check out Lian Li PC-V1020 and Lian Li PC-V2120.
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