Those wanting to build the ultimate performance system will naturally turn to Intel’s new LGA2011 platform which recently made its debut with the Sandy Bridge-E processors. This highly refined architecture takes the original Sandy Bridge design and pumps it full of steroids, while adding a few new things. Moreover, the platform is expected to support enthusiast-level Ivy Bridge processors that are slated for release by the end of 2012, adding to the platform's longevity...

Although I wouldn’t go as far as to say you shouldn’t bother with quad-channel memory, it is fair to say you don’t need it. Based on our findings the Sandy Bridge-E processors perform just as well when using dual-channel memory as they do with quad.

Today we are revisiting the Crucial m4 Solid-State Disk using the latest firmware, to see how it compares to the competition in terms of value and performance. This time we have the premium 512GB model on hand, so we are keen to see how half a terabyte of m4 handles itself...

Today the Crucial m4 is even better as firmware updates have fine-tuned the performance, allowing it to better compete with the speedy SF-2281 drives. The 512GB version of the m4 that we reviewed was exceptionally fast, providing rapid Windows 7 boot times and lightning fast multitasking performance.

Today we are taking a look at OCZ’s new affordable performance power supply series, known as the ZT range. These modestly priced units are 80-Plus Bronze Certified for up to 85% efficiency. The series features three fully modular units rated at 750w, 650w and 550w, making them ideal for a wide range of users. Read on as we find which one best suits you...

The OCZ ZT Series is very well priced and we were surprised to find the 550w model online for as little as $90. As tempting as that is, potential buyers could be even more tempted by the higher capacity units which are only a fraction more expensive. The 650w version for example costs just $10 more, while the 750w version is another $10 again.

Today we are checking out the new AMD Radeon HD 7970 graphics card that is targeting the $549 price range. AMD hopes to take down the Nvidia GeForce GTX 580, which is currently the fastest single-GPU graphics card money can buy. In order to do so they have designed a new architecture which uses the 28nm design process...

First let’s talk about the numbers, as we saw some pretty compelling frame rates from the Radeon HD 7970. In the dozen games we tested with, the Radeon HD 7970 was on average 42% faster than the Radeon HD 6970. That’s a mind blowing result when you consider that the Radeon HD 6970 was just 24% faster than the Radeon HD 5870.

Today we are checking out how the new Patriot Pyro SE drives perform when placing two of them in a RAID array. The Pyro SE is the latest SSD range from Patriot and it is their answer to the Vertex 3 as well as numerous other SandForce SF-2281 based SSDs...

In fact it was the file copy tests that really benefited from the use of RAID, as we found the Patriot Pyro SE 120GB drives were over 40% faster than a 240GB SandForce SF-2281 drive. In all three of our copy tests the Pyro SE 120GB RAID0 configuration delivered over 200MB/s and this kind of performance certainly helps justify the $410 investment.

Today we are checking out the latest Mini PC from Asrock known as the Vision 3D 252B. This second generation Vision 3D series adopts the Intel Sandy Bridge architecture while it also provides a few other noteworthy enhancements. There are a huge range of features on offer, making this one of the most impressive HTPCs to date...

However, before we even found out what was hiding inside, the Vision 3D 252B already impressed us with its aesthetically pleasing design. The Asrock Vision 3D 252B comes in either black or silver and would have no problem fitting into any home entertainment setting. Alternatively, it has enough power to serve as a desktop PC for standard needs and entertainment purposes.

Today we are checking out two of the newest desktop NAS (Network Attached Storage) solutions from Synology, which are part of their growing Disk Station x12 series. The budget orientated DS212j is designed to deliver the feature rich DSM 3.2 software as a cost effective 2-bay device, while the more expensive DS212+ focuses on performance...

The DS212+ on the other hand shares the exact same design as its predecessor the DS211+. The DS212+ does receive a 25% higher clocked processor, though the memory capacity remained the same at 512MB. The key advantage of the DS212+ is the addition of USB 3.0 support. Honestly we feel this is an essential feature for all new NAS devices to support and we were disappointed to find it missing on the DS212j, as well as the recently reviewed QNAP TS-119P II and TS-219P II.

Today Intel takes the next step in the evolution of their Sandy Bridge architecture, as they push the 32nm design process to the limits with a 2.27 billion transistor architecture featuring up to 6 cores and 12 threads. Codenamed Sandy Bridge-E, users can expect the most powerful desktop processors Intel has ever developed...

There was never a question of whether or not Sandy Bridge-E was going to be fast. Rather the question was how much faster would it be? Intel’s press information was quick to point out that the Core i7-3960X is 52% faster than the Core i7-2600K in content creation applications, while it provided 114% better memory performance and 46% better game physics performance...

Today we are checking out a new product from ADATA called S511, which is their latest SSD series. Based on a latest generation controller from SandForce, the S511 is the successor to the S599 series and as such promises to deliver blistering fast performance using the 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 interface...

The real-world performance of the S511 240GB was impressive as the drive performed well in both our file copy and application tests. The only weakness found was when running the CrystalDiskMark random 4K-QD32 test, where the read performance was considerably lower than the OCZ Vertex 3 240GB and Kingston HyperX 240GB drives.

Today we are checking out the QNAP TS-219P II and TS-119P II, which are designed to provide corporate workgroups or small office/home office users with budget-friendly network attached storage (NAS) solutions for efficient data backup and convenient file sharing...

Given the price and performance of the TS-119P II and TS-219P II models, we have found that they bridge the gap in QNAP’s current lineup very well. Although the TS-119P II is now the most expensive single bay device QNAP offers, it is also by far their most powerful. When compared to its predecessor, the TS-119P+, users can enjoy improved performance and an upgraded design for a small price premium.

Today we are checking out a new graphics card from HIS, as they reinvent the Radeon HD 6870 with a new IceQ model. Sporting what HIS call a black hole impeller, this new graphics card receives a massive upgrade in the cooling department, said to deliver 24 degrees lower temperatures. This new design should not only improve thermals and operating volume, but it should also enhance the overclocking performance...

Here we find HIS attempting to make old technology new as they re-design the Radeon HD 6870, giving it a new lease on life. Although the Radeon HD 6870 is still a current generation product, it is fair to say that after 12 months it is getting a little long in the tooth, especially with the release of AMD’s upcoming Southern Islands (Radeon HD 7xxx) family just around the corner.

Today we are checking out a few new portable USB 3.0 hard drives made by Silicon Power, called the Diamond D10 and Stream S20. These 2.5” portable drives come in a range of capacities and we will be taking a look at the 750GB models which are designed to provide plenty of mobile storage without breaking the bank...

Both the Silicon Power Stream S20 and Diamond D10 performed very well throughout the testing phase, as did the previously reviewed Stream S10. Still, if we were basing our choice on performance alone we would pick the Stream S20 for its superior read and write performance when handling large files, while it also blitzed the other drives in our game upload test.

Today we are checking out the Synology DiskStation DS712+, which is powered by an Intel Atom D425 dual-core processor and features a 1GB memory buffer. These hardware specifications should make the DS712+ quite snappy and the ability to support Link Aggregation should help maximize performance of the dual bay NAS device...

Overall we are impressed with the build quality, design, performance and features of the Synology DS712+. Meanwhile the DX510 expansion unit is an excellent way to increase storage without sacrificing performance. Combined, the two offer a highly flexible solution to growing businesses or professionals that cannot afford to cough up $800+ right off the bat for the larger devices.

Today AMD is launching for the first time its new FX processor series based on the Bulldozer microarchitecture. Designed from the ground up, these new processors are geared towards mainstream users. The range will include processors with up to eight cores, while six and four core models will also be available...

Even so, when we ran our encoding benchmarks, which focus on tests capable of using all eight cores, the FX-8150 didn’t exactly shine. The Core i5-2500K was slightly faster when using HandBrake, while it was worlds faster in TMPGEnc XPress, not to mention it blasted the FX-8150 in the x264 HD Benchmark. To think that the FX-8150 had twice as many cores to play with and it still came up short, really speaks volumes about the core efficiency of the Sandy Bridge processors.

Today we are checking out an SSD designed specifically for power users and multimedia designers in mind. The RevoDrive 3 X2 which has been developed by OCZ is said to be the ultimate storage solution for intensive workstation applications with maximum performance. Utilizing the PCI Express 2.0 interface the RevoDrive 3 X2 boasts read/write performance of 1.5 - 1.2GB/s...

The OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB is an interesting product that delivers strong performance, though not nearly as strong as we had hoped to see. For example, in our file copy tests the RevoDrive 3 X2 delivered the strongest performance of any product tested. However at best it was just 80% faster than a single Vertex 3 SSD, delivering less than 2x the performance.

Today we are checking out the Patriot Javelin S4, a 4-bay NAS device capable of supporting up to 12TB of storage along with many other noteworthy features. Aimed at home users, this budget orientated desktop NAS device is designed to deliver affordable features and performance...

In terms of value, the Javelin S4 is not just wallet-friendly, but it performs quite well. Until now, we've found cheap NAS solutions to be painfully slow and clumsy. For the most part the Javelin S4 is faster than a USB 2.0 hard drive and supports multiple clients simultaneously very well.

Today we are checking out a new flash drive from Patriot featuring a massive 128GB storage capacity. Known as the SuperSonic Magnum, this new flash drive utilizes eight channel technology in conjunction with USB 3.0 for fast read/write performance. Despite being somewhat pricey, we found it hard to go by the huge storage capacity which was just so convenient in a thumb size drive...

The Patriot Supersonic Magnum 128GB is the best example of a compact high-speed large-capacity storage device that we have seen. The ability to read data at 200MB/s is incredible for a thumb drive, while the 120MB/s write performance is also very impressive.

Today we are checking out one of the most expensive LGA1155 motherboards money can buy, as we give the Asus flagship Z68 motherboard the once over. Known as the Maximus IV Extreme-Z, this enthusiast type motherboard has it all from high-end features to unbeatable overclocking performance...

However what topped all this off perfectly was the overclocking performance. Asus promised the Maximus IV Extreme-Z would deliver, and deliver it did. Whereas previously tested P67/Z68 motherboards have been able to push our Core i7-2600K processor to 4.7 – 4.8GHz, the Maximus IV Extreme-Z went straight to 5.2GHz like it was nothing.

Today we are checking out the QNAP TS-659 Pro II, a 6-bay NAS device capable of supporting up to 18TB of storage along with many other noteworthy features such as USB 3.0 support. Aimed at business class users, this first class desktop NAS device is designed to deliver the very best features and performance...

The QNAP TS-659 Pro II is a well-rounded high-performance NAS device that is well suited for business use. As far as features go the TS-659 Pro II has them all, and at $1350 US it should. The TS-659 Pro II is certainly one of the most expensive 6-bay NAS devices we have come across.

Patriot Memory now offers an extensive range of DDR3 memory modules with their latest Viper Extreme and Gamer 2 series covering a wide range of timings and frequencies. Today we are taking a look at the PXD38G1866ELK and PG238G1600ELKA, which are both dual-channel 8GB kits...

Nevertheless, when testing we found that the relaxed CL10 timing of the Ballistix Sport memory made it much slower than the Patriot Gamer 2 memory which uses CL8 timing. Therefore in short we believe that the Patriot Gamer 2 is the best value DDR3-1600 memory money can buy and in fact we would go as far as to say it’s the best value 8GB DDR3 memory kit available period.

Today we are checking out a bite size motherboard from Asrock that takes the Sandy Bridge platform and shrinks it down to the Mini-ITX form factor. Called the Z68M-ITX/HT this motherboard can not only utilize the latest and greatest Intel processors but can also be equipped with a range of high-end graphics cards...

Coupled with the right computer case and a mid-range graphics card, keen gamers could find themselves with a relatively powerful and highly portable gaming system that doesn’t hurt the wallet. Overall we believe that the Asrock Z68M-ITX/HT makes for the ultimate value Mini-ITX motherboard. It provides support for the latest Intel processors while combining the latest platform features all in one neat little package.

Today we are checking out a new product from Patriot called Wildfire, which is their latest SSD series. Based on a latest generation controller from SandForce, the Wildfire is the successor to the Inferno series and as such promises to deliver blistering fast performance using the 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 interface...

The Patriot Wildfire 240GB certainly is an attractive alternative, as it uses the same NAND flash memory as the MAX IOPS version of the Vertex 3. However despite this it did appear to be slightly lacking in terms of performance when compared to the standard Vertex 3 drive.

Today we are checking out a new product made by Silicon Power called the Stream S10 which is a portable 2.5” hard drive. However what makes the Stream S10 a little special is its USB 3.0 support coupled with the massive 750GB storage capacity...

Overall we are pleased with the performance and price of the Silicon Power Stream S10 750GB and we also believe it to be a pretty cool looking product. Although there is nothing sedate about the orange or green color choices, we still feel they will appeal to most.

Today we are checking out one of the most expensive desktop motherboards money can buy, as we give the Asus flagship X58 motherboard the once over. Known as the Rampage III Black Edition, this enthusiast type motherboard has it all from high-end discrete audio to unbeatable network performance...

Having spent the past few weeks playing with the Asus Rampage III Black Edition and checking out its various features, I now find myself having to sum it all up in our conclusion. The problem is I cannot decide one way or the other as to whether I like this product or not. So let’s start with what I do like...

Today we are checking out three dual-channel memory kits, each offering an 8GB capacity with a 1600MHz operating frequency. These kits come from the likes of Crucial, G.Skill and Kingston, and all cost under $100, making them very affordable...

Although we were impressed with both the Crucial Ballistix Sport and Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey memory kits, it was the G.Skill RipjawsX that impressed us the most. By providing the best out of the box performance, best overclocking performance and best timings, the RipjawsX was untouchable.