Hardware

By David Yee @ Legit Reviews

ASUS has brought forward a gaming mouse that complements the Republic of Gamers product family that’s sure to grab your attention with its fierce appearance, high end features, and a strangely familiar ergonomic design. The ROG Gladius is named after the signature handheld weapon of Ancient Roman generals to complement the Maximus motherboard named after the title given to highly respected generals. This neat tidbit is printed on the inner side of the front flap on the box. It’s rare to see ASUS produce gaming peripherals, but the ROG Gladius is hardly their first gaming mouse and ASUS has more than proven their design and production capabilities in several computer hardware categories.

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Author: Paul Johnson @ HardOCP

EVGA has a bit of a rocky road with HardOCP when it comes to PSU reviews. Today we give EVGA the opportunity to redeem itself with its 1300 watt powerhouse touting “exceptional efficiency” and a fully modular design that is “silent and optimized for the enthusiast.” All this with a 10 year warranty? It must be a badass.

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By Kristian Vättö @ AnandTech

G.Skill hasn’t been a very visible SSD OEM lately. Like many DRAM module companies, G.Skill entered the market early around 2009 when the market was very immature and profits were high, but lately the company has more or less been on a hiatus from the market. Even though G.Skill has had an SF-2281 based Phoenix III in the lineup for quite some time, it never really did anything to push the product and a Google search yields zero reviews for that drive (at least from any major tech review outlet). However, back at Computex this year G.Skill showcased a prototype of its next generation SSD: the Phoenix Blade. Unlike most SSDs on the market, the Phoenix Blade utilizes a PCIe 2.0 x8 interface, but unfortunately it is not the native PCIe drive many of you have been waiting for. It is driven by four SandForce SF-2281 controllers in a RAID 0 configuration. It makes sense for G.Skill to pursue the ultra high-end niche because the SATA SSD market is currently extremely populated. It ends up being close to impossible for the smaller OEMs to compete against giants like Samsung, SanDisk and Crucial/Micron while being profitable, since ultimately the NAND manufacturers that are vertically integrated will always have a cost advantage.

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Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

• Spire Announces Curvature Ergonomic Keyboard
• DeepCool Intros Quanta DQ650 EVO Power Supply
• Razer Debuts Seirēn Digital Microphone with Studio-Grade Recording Quality
• Ozone Launches Argon Ocelote World Gaming Mouse
• COUGAR Announces 500K Gaming Keyboard
• GIGABYTE Secret OC Session Unlocks 9 World Records
• Toshiba Canvio AeroCast Wireless Hard Drive Now Available
• X99 Chipset Problems Force Intel to Pull a Driver, Orders Partners to Do the Same
• PNY Launches HP v231w “Goat” Flash Drive
• Digital Storm Eclipse SFF Gaming PC Unveiled – Slim Gaming Tower – VIDEO

By Parm Mann @ HEXUS

Fractal Design‘s venture into the world of liquid cooling has been common knowledge for a number of months – we brought you a sneak-peek way back in March – and said coolers are now ready to make their retail debut.

Three ‘Kelvin’ models are officially launched today. The Kelvin T12, featuring a 120mm radiator, is priced at £75 and represents Fractal’s entry-level solution. The Kelvin S24 includes a 240mm radiator at a cost of £90, while the range-topping Kelvin S36 offers a triple-fan 360mm radiator for £105.

Fractal has a good selection of price points covered, and it’s the middle-of-the-pack S24 that’s first under the review spotlight.

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The latest major release of our drivers are available as a free upgrade for AMD customers. In addition to releasing new versions of the system software at regular intervals, AMD has released an AMD Catalyst™ Omega special edition software update that will include enhancements to enrich the user experience.

Why? Today’s hardware and software have become highly interconnected and interdependent dynamically interacting to shape a cohesive computing unit. This symbiotic relationship between hardware and software is vital to the ongoing evolution of future computing devices. New software becomes incorporated into an existing generation of hardware, enabling faster, more capable, and more reliable performance.

Get more information about the AMD Catalyst Omega special edition software HERE.

Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

• Fractal Design Intros Expandable T12, S24, and S36 Water Coolers
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 with GM206 GPU in January
• EK Introduces Water Blocks for GIGABYTE X99 Series Motherboards
• EK Releases ASUS GTX 970 Strix Full-Cover Water Block
• ADATA Clicks Off a Stylish New UC340 USB 3.0 Flash Drive
• Samsung Announces SSD 850 EVO Series Featuring 3-bit V-NAND
• Marvell Announces DRAM-less NVMe SSD Controller

Author: Sebastian Peak @ PC Perspective

In the last few years NZXT has emerged as a popular choice for computer builds with stylish cases for a variety of needs. The newest member of the H series, the H440, promises quiet performance and offers a clean look by eliminating optical drive bays entirely from the design. While this might be a deal-breaker for some, the days of the ODD seem to be numbered as more enclosures are making the move away from the 5.25″ bay. But we aren’t looking at just any H440 today, as NZXT has sent along a completely custom version designed in alliance with gaming accessory maker Razer to be “the ultimate gamer’s chassis”. In this review we’ll look at just what makes this H440 different, and test out a complete build while we’re at it. Performance will be as big a metric as appearance here since the H440 is after all an enclosure designed for silence, with noise dampening an integral part of NZXT’s construction of the case.

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By Josh Jackson @ PureOC

Noctua is a name synonymous with the idea of a nearly perfect fan. Some would say they are too pricey, but most people who have owned one usually deem the cost worth the quality of the product. In fact, the only quibble I’ve seen consistently stick with Noctua fans is the color scheme. While beige and brown provide a unique aesthetic that clearly defines the brand, it hardly fits in most color schemes that builders decide on for their rigs. Just when all hope was lost that we would ever see anything different, Noctua decided to give us two new colors in their arsenal of fans; a grey scheme for the Redux line and a black/brown scheme for their Industrial line. Before we dive into the fans, let’s learn a little bit about the company behind the magic.

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Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

• ASUS Announces GeForce GTX 980 ROG Matrix Platinum
• Xigmatek Announces TYR-SD962 CPU Cooler
• Antec Launches GX300 Entry-level Chassis
• Raijintek Releases Morpheus Core Edition VGA Cooler – VIDEO
• COUGAR Launches 600K Gaming Keyboard
• ASUS Announces PB279Q: 10-bit, 4K Monitor With 100% sRGB Color Gamut
• TRENDnet Ships Home Smart Switch with Wireless Extender
• Amped Wireless Releases Next Gen Wi-Fi Power & Range with AC1750 Router
• Sceptre Announces Availability of 27-inch E275W-1920 LED 1080P Monitor