Banner

Our Most Recent Reviews

image image image image image image image image image image image image
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.

Back-to-Front Cooling Scheme on All-New PC-A05FN Mid-Tower Chassis From Lian Li

“Our Tradition is to Innovate”

21 June 2011, Keelung, Taiwan  – Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd, maker of high-end, all-aluminum computer chassis since 1983, today releases an all-aluminum, high-end, mid-tower PC case available in silver or black called the PC-A05FN. With their commitment to optimizing instead of merely following convention, Lian Li's designers have positioned the PSU mount behind  the front-panel at the base of the case, directly below the HDD cage. This unique design characteristic is complimented by a reversal of Lian Li's traditional front-to-back cooling scheme in order to achieve an increase in heat-dissipation within the PC-A05FN while reducing chassis size. With its chic and clean design, this computer case proudly bears all the markings of Lian Li's high-quality products and fits nicely into their list of outstanding 2011 releases.


Thermal Excellence
In most of Lian Li's PC chassis front-panel fans are for intake and back-panel fans are for exhaust, but in the PC-A05FN this is reversed. At the top of the back-panel, a 120mm intake fan pulls cool air into the chassis. Hot air is expelled with the help of a front-panel, 120mm exhaust fan positioned directly in front of the HDD cage with the air escaping through venting along the side edges of the front-panel. For users who want to increase airflow, Lian Li has included a 140mm top-panel fan mount (fan not included). Additionally, designers have included a vent directly beneath the PSU mount, protected by a washable air-filter. Two rubber-lined holes on the back-panel enable LCS and venting along the back-panel also helps to keep temperatures cool, even when components have been overclocked. Also included is a fan speed control-switch mount (switch not included).

Tool-less and Anti-vibration Features
Internally, three 3.5” and two 2.5” HDDs mount using thumb-screws with rubber-suspension. Two 5.25” ODDs mount with Lian Li's tool-less design at the top of the front-panel. Directly beneath them, an external 3.5” HDD mount has been included as well. Additionally, there are eight, tool-less PCI brackets on the back-panel that can mount VGA cards as long as 280mm. Lian Li has made the PC-A05FN compatible with ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX motherboards. The power switch is located along the right edge of the front-panel right above one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, and HD Audio ports.

The all-aluminum, PC-A05FN weighs in at 4.4kg. Its dimensions are 210mm x 385mm x 500mm (W, H, D). This exceptionally designed computer chassis is sure to be a hit with users who like to be on the front lines of innovation without sacrificing quality or style.


Product photos and detailed specs are available at:

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=578&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=f


Traditional Durability

The essence of Lian Li is the craftsmanship of the engineering. Intrinsic to the workmanship and quality of Lian Li's products is their customization capabilities, which include a whole host of optional extras that can be added to an already feature rich product. For more details on features and extras available for the PC-A05FN, please go to the Lian Li website: www.Lian-Li.com


About Lian Li

Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd is an Aluminum Chassis and Chassis peripheral manufacturer and provider of industrial wholesale as well as OEM & ODM services for the PC industry as required. With over 20 years of service excellence, ISO 9001 certification and a team of professional staff willing to do the utmost to deliver durable, superior quality products, all backed by a *2 year guarantee; your satisfaction is guaranteed.(*conditions apply)

 Be sure to add/follow us on your favorite social networks

facebook80Image_1_2Image_1Steam_Logopoj  playfire_logo

We have 497 guests and 5 members online
  • vialdragon
  • draymac
  • chadkirchner
  • garfi3ld
LanOC V11.0 Status
119 Participants
24 Have paid
0 Are pending
95 Places available