Kingston SSDNOW V310 960GB

Solid Sate Drive

Still, if 960GB of flash storage is what you want, then Kingston will provide it. The SSDNow v310 ‘range’ isn’t so much a range as just this one drive, lording it over the 480GB maximum size that the SSDNow v300 range hit. The unit packs a Phison 3108 controller alongside nearly 1TB of storage all into a 7mm chassis, and it’s available to buy alone or in an upgrade pack complete with cables and a caddy for your old drive.

Published: By: Unknown - November 18, 2015

Logitech G19s

Keyboard

Logitech pioneered the keyboard screen in its G15 keyboards, and the feature was quickly picked up by the homebrew crowd, who designed their own bespoke apps for it.You might be a little confused by the fact that this is by far the most expensive keyboard in this little test, and that it’s also the only lowly membrane switch device we’ve included. But looky here, there’s an LED screen sitting above the function keys.

Published: By: Unknown - November 17, 2015

Aorus X7 v2

Gaming Laptop

The Aorus, a Gigabyte by any other name, crams a lot into a case that measures 22.9mm thick and weighs 3kg – less than the average mass of another hot thing that purrs loudly on your lap.

The pair of GeForce 860M GPUs (Kepler, not Maxwellgeneration chips) in SLI configuration have 4GB of memory each, and there’s a further 16GB of system RAM for the i7-4860HQ. There are also three 120GB SSDs in a striped RAID 0 set up for more storage performance. The new 802.11ac variant of Wi-Fi is nice to see, as is the ‘killer’ LAN interface that claims 0 per cent packet loss. The inbuilt speakers are decent too, with woofers that give sound a thick, meaty quality.

Published: By: Unknown - November 13, 2015

AOC U2868PQU

Monitor

Now, you could argue that it’s hardly surprising this AOC is competitive with the other 28-inch 4K monitors on offer. A screen is only as good as its LCD panel and, as far as we know, there may only be one 28-inch TN 4K panel being made right now. That means there’s a chance all three 28-inch models on test this month use the same panel.

Published: By: Unknown - November 10, 2015

MSI X99S Gaming 7

Motherboard

Motherboard, and a better feature set than you’ll find in the lowest end of the X99 range. That’s especially important if you’re looking at the overclocking performance of the six-core CPU SKUs. We haven’t had a chance to check out how well the i7 5820K overclocks, but MSI’s X99 Gaming 7 is only 50MHz shy of the top clock we managed on our engineering sample i7 5960X. That bodes well for how it will perform with the cheaper chip, and makes us excited about the powerful machines we’ll be able to put together with this new range, without breaking the bank.

Published: By: Unknown - November 08, 2015

Aria Gladiator Hellion 1000

Gaming PC

As nice as those numbers are though, they don’t tell thewhole story. As ever, it’s all about the graphics card Aria has decided to pair with the Intel silicon, and in this case it’s opted for an AMD GPU. That’s a rare choice, which is a shame as AMD is making some fantastic graphics cards at the moment. In fact, the R9 280X is probably one of the best value cards around right now.

Published: By: Unknown - November 04, 2015

ZOTAC GTX 750

Graphics Card

Silencing the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 750 ZONE Edition is an exclusive dual slot fanless heatsink that ensures the card operates at optimal temperatures for long gaming sessions. The heatsink consists of copper heat-pipes and aluminum fins to leverage the heat transfer qualities of copper and the heat dissipation abilities of aluminum. ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics cards, has silenced the powerful ZOTAC GeForce GTX 750 graphics card with a new passive cooled ZONE Edition. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 750 ZONE Edition graphics card combines the gaming prowess of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 GPU with a zero noise cooling system to deliver a quiet PC gaming experience with class-leading features.

Published: By: Unknown - November 03, 2015

HP TF C10

Memory Cards

The HP TF Micro SDHC and SDXC class 10 significantly improves a consumer’s digital lifestyle with breakthrough performance in speed and capacity, its fast data transfer speed make it an ideal storage media. PNY Technologies has officially announce the release of the HP TF Class 10 memory cards. Today the need for more data storage has become more important than ever.

Published: By: Unknown - November 02, 2015

Philips 288P6LJEB

Monitor

The Philips Brilliance 288P6LJEB bisects the AOC and Asus models pretty precisely on price. Now, if you’ve read the reviews of the other two, you’ll know that neither quite nails it. The AOC was well above expectations in many regards – it edges the Asus for static image quality and it’s about £100 cheaper – but it suffers from some input lag that sees the Asus suddenly back in the running.

Published: By: Unknown - November 01, 2015

ADATA Premier SP610 SSD

Storage

The SSD supports SATA III (6Gb/s) interface and comes with SMI controller that ensures stable performance with high read/write speeds. In our tests, we got read speeds up to 520MB/s and write speeds up to 240MB/s, which is pretty good. ADATA Premier SP610 retails for a price of around Rs. 9,000 on online stores and coupled with good performance, the SP610 gives little reason to disappoint.

Published: By: Unknown - November 01, 2015

Seagate Backup Plus Slim

Hard Drive

Seagate also bundles the drive with the Seagate Dashboard software that enables a one-click backup solution. Unlike most backup software, Seagate Dashboard can backup data from social media accounts, including Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. The software also allows uploading content to the aforementioned social media sites and scheduling of backups with a backup plan. Seagate Backup Plus Slim is a tiny drive but with a decent amount of storage and the Dashboard backup software, the Backup Plus Slim is a compelling buy.  

Published: By: Unknown - October 29, 2015

Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury

Mouse

          The reason this gaming rodent is so pacey is because of the Fusion Engine sensor at its heart. It’s called a hybrid sensor because it’s not simply relying on optical sensors to track the movement of the mouse across a given surface, it’s also using a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope.

Published: By: Unknown - October 29, 2015

ASUS Maximus VII Formula

Motherboard

In fairness, a ￡250 LGA1150 board was always going to be a non-starter as a value proposition. That Haswell-E comparison is a little unfair too, especially when you consider the erratic pricing of DDR4 memory right now. Until that normalises, any properlyconfigured Haswell-E rig is going to be pretty pricey.

Published: By: Unknown - October 29, 2015

Corsair Vengeance DDR4 16GB

RAM

        Such ennui probably has something to do with the fact that your choice of memory module won’t make a huge difference to the overall PC experience, either. That’s going to be the tough ask for manufacturers of highperformance DDR4 memory modules in this new frontier of RAM: when even the cheap stuff has to match the new Intel platform’s 2,133MHz starting point, across four modules for the true quadchannel experience, you’re already talking about some seriously quick memory.

Published: By: Unknown - October 28, 2015

ASUS X99

Motherboard 

The brand new Haswell-E range is the first to bring a fully-fledged octo-core Intel processor into the consumer market. Through the magic of Hyper-Threading, that means 16 threads of processing that should be capable of chewing through any multi-core optimized application faster than you can say, er, multi-core optimized application (pithy - Ed).

Published: By: Unknown - October 27, 2015

Corsair Vengeance K70

Keyboards Gaming

The red glow emanating from beneath the black keys and gleaming from the black brushed aluminium makes this a very eye-catching board.The rolling volume control, additional media, lighting and Win key controls are all welcome additions too, as is the pass-through USB connection on the rear of the keyboard.

Corsair’s Vengeance K70 has been around for some time now, but it remains our favourite mechanical switch keyboard in terms of both functionality and aesthetics. The original K60 brought the somewhat industrial, brushed aluminium design to the party, but the more advanced K70 added mechanical switches on every key, individual LED lighting and full N-key rollover.

Corsair has recentl yreleased the RGB version of this board, which allows the user to change the colours, but we’re still taken by the red tinge of this original. And the added bonus is that it costs a good deal less than the more recent, rainbow-coloured design.

Aesthetics aside, the K70 is also an incredibly responsive keyboard that’s just as good for gaming as it is to spend your days typing on.The build quality matches that high-end aesthetic, too. Where the first K60 wasn’t the most reliable of boards, we’ve been using the K70 has on a daily basis without ever encountering a problem with it.

Published: By: Unknown - October 27, 2015

HyperX Its High Speed USB

        HyperX FURY USB is the latest addition to the FURY entry-level family which also includes Memory Modules and SSDs.HyperX  a division of Kingston Technology has announced HyperX FURY USB Flash drive, an entry-level storage device for budget-conscious gamers and enthusiasts.

                                                                  

A 5-year warranty, free technical support and legendary HyperX reliability. For more information visit the HyperX home page. HyperX is the high-performance product division of Kingston Technology encompassing high-speed DDR3 memory, SSDs, USB Flash drives, and headsets. Targeted at gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts, HyperX is known throughout the world for quality, performance and innovation. HyperX is committed to eSports as it sponsors over 20 teams globally and is the main sponsor of Intel Extreme Masters. HyperX can be found at many shows including China Joy, PAX, Davao Cyber Expo, and TGS & Big Fes.

            HyperX FURY USB has an aggressive case design with colored aluminum accents to stand out from other USB Flash drives while complementing PCs and consoles1. It will be available in 16GB (red), 32GB (blue) and 64GB (black) capacities and is ideal for storing games, music, photos, videos and files. HyperX FURY USB keeps data moving with USB 3.0 performance (90MB/s read, 30MB/s write) and is also compatible with USB 2.0.

Published: By: Unknown - October 22, 2015

Bitfenix Colossus Mini

PC Chassis 

     Colossus Mini ,but its imposing size does allow it to offer quite a lot of flexibility when it comes to storage and cooling option, if oxymoronic name for this Bitfenix case. It’s quite big for a chassis that only supports a mini ITX motherboard.

     If case lighting is your thing then the Colossus Mini ITX might tempt you. It has a light strip that runs up the side of the case, across the front and down the other side, and can display blue, green or red light. It shows as a white strip when the lighting is switched off.

     Storage handling in the Colossus Mini is neatly done and things are a little different from what at first glance they appear to be. There are two drive cages, one on top of the other; the top one supports five drives, the bottom one two. One can be fitted to the base under where the cages sat, while two more can be mounted vertically on the side of the PSU cage – ingenious! The drive trays are tool-free for 3.5in drives but 2.5 drives have to be held in place by screws. The 5.25in bay can also be adapted to hold a normal drive if needed. Both cages are removable, the top one by means of latches top and bottom, the bottom one by removing six screws in the base of the case. Now the clever bit: if you’re planning to use just 2.5in drives then you can ditch both these cages to allow for better air circulation, as there are a couple of other places to mount the drives.

     As for cooling, the case comes with a couple of 120mm fans, one in the front and one in the rear. There are mounts for another 120-200mm fan to be added to the front, while two more 120mm fans can be fitted into the roof of the case. Fitting them is made easier by the fact that the top grille can be easily removed. Published: By: Unknown - October 18, 2015

Cooltek Antiphon

PC Chassis

     Cooltek may be a new name to some,built around a quoted 1.35kg of insulation material that’s used inside it, but this German company has been in the casemaking business since 2003. The Antiphon has been designed as an ultra-quiet case.

      There are three of Cooltek’s own CT-120 120mm fans installed, two behind the front bezel and one on the rear panel, and there is a mount for a fourth in the base of the case. A dual-speed fan controller is fitted which can control three fans, but annoyingly this is fitted to the base of the front bezel so you have to keep opening the front door to operate it.

        Cooltek provides the Antiphon with separate drive cages for 3.5in and 2.5in drives, each cage holding up to four drives, with the cage for the smaller drives sitting above the larger one. Both cages are firmly fixed in the case, which is the reason there is a 320mm limit on the length of graphics card that can used with the case. The cages don’t have removable trays but instead the drives are held in place using plastic slides – not quite as secure as a tray, but still better than having to ge the screwdriver out.

     This is all designed to keep any panel vibration down to a minimum – and with the case being made of steel there might well be a lot of vibration to dampen. This soundabsorbing material is applied to both side panels, the inside of the front door and the roof of the case. Also helping to reduce any vibration noise are the four decoupled feet that the case uses, and the four rubber pads the PSU sits on. Cooltek has even gone so far as to put padding around the opening for the PSU, to prevent any vibrations from the power supply going directly into the case.

Published: By: Unknown - October 18, 2015

Desktop PC Protect

Keep OS Patched
Could real people actually be as clueless as some of those characters we see in movies? sadly, you need no more evidence of that cliché than the average computer user. Even though he or she knows that an OS update is as critical as, say, nailing boards over your windows in a zombie apocalypse, many choose to ignore the updates until something crawls in and eats their brains. The most basic security step PC users should take—regardless of OS—is to install the latest updates. Yes, we know, it can be teeth-gritting—especially when the updates are larger than the original OS—but it’s necessary for patching holes being used by attackers to squeeze into your PC.

Keep Applications Patched
Even Microsoft haters have to admit the company has done an admirable job patching its operating systems in a reasonable amount of time. Because of this, many of the weak spots on a PC aren’t even the OS anymore, but rather the third-party applications. While Microsoft will patch its own products in Windows Update, it doesn’t do squat about anything else. With literally dozens of apps to check for updates every week,you can see where the problem lies. That’s why we run Secunia’s PSI Scanner. The free app runs in the background and checks your installed apps and plugins for available updates and then gives you a link of where to download the patch. The latest beta version will actually install some of the updates for you. The company also offers an online scanner but we don’t recommend it because it runs in Java.

Lose Windows XP
Windows XP was a great operating system but it’s now over 10 years old and it’s a popular target for attacks. Why? It’s not as secure as its replacements. It’s also where the money is—literally—with 51 percent of computers on the planet running it. Many attacks specifically target XP and ignore Windows Windows 7 and 8 completely. Unless you like to wrench on your OS all day, we recommend that you give XP the retirement it has earned.

Use a Virtualized Browser
Since the vast majority of attacks are coming from the browser, one of the safest ways to surf the web is from a virtualized browser or a virtual machine. One of the simplest ways to accomplish this task is to build a virtual machine using either virtual PC 2007 or VM Ware Player. Both are free, and both Microsoft and VM Ware offer free images that include browsers. Microsoft offers Vista and XP with IE8 installed and VM Ware offers Ubuntu with Firefox installed. Of the three options, VM ware’s is the most solid but folks not used tolinux might be thrown for a loop. Microsoft’s
images time out after three months, so you’ll have to download it again.

Restrict PC Access
for Others so, you’ve created this incredibly secure moat, ringed with razor wire, claymores, and mines. And then you let your 14-yearold nephew play some Flash games or “check email.” Right. The best solution is
to have visitors use a separate, secured guest PC. But if they must use your machine, make sure you have the guest account activated. Another option is to have them use a virtual machine. Once they’re done, simply shut down the VM and erase any trace of their activities. Or have them use your HTPC, where they’re working in the open instead of being left alone in your office. Published: By: Unknown - October 17, 2015