GIGABYTE SATA 6G Update - RAID 0 Just How We Like It

Here is a neat little article with RAID 0 and SATA 6G to take note on.Looks like Gigabyte is putting on there thinking caps to make the best performing SATA 6G RAID 0 solution for its users.

"When we tested the ASUS P55 and GIGABYTE P55 boards with USB 3.0 and SATA 6G, we found some interesting numbers when using the GIGABYTE P55A-UD4P in RAID 0. For the most part we didn't see much of an improvement when going from a single to a dual drive configuration with RAID 0. GIGABYTE also noticed the same issue and quickly went to work with Marvell to find a solution.

When enthusiasts choose to pair a set of drives in RAID 0, they are looking to nearly double their performance. RAID 0 offers many a quick and inexpensive way to get solid performance gains out of the slowest component or subsystem in their computer. Simply put, when your hard storage system is running faster, your entire machine feels more responsive and appears to be faster."

Looks like Gigabyte has something over Asus once again.

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G.Skill Pi Series DDR3-2200 and Eco DDR3-1600 Review @ HardwareHeaven

Here is a sweet looking set of RAM from GSkill that has some very awesome setting for getting to such high speed. Check out the review to see what I am talking about.

"Today we have two sets of memory from G.Skill on our test bench, the high performane Pi series DDR3-2200 and a 1.35v set from the Eco series running at DDR3-1600."

Pretty impressive stuff there.

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Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 Review

The new Sapphire Radeon 5450 has just arrived and we are testing it right now. So we wanted to let everyone know the review is coming. Till then enjoy the pic.

1. Microsoft DirectX 11 Support
2. ATI Eyefinity Technology, support up to 3 displays. *
3. ATI Stream technology**
4. 40nm Process Technology
5. PCI Express® 2.1 support
6. Microsoft Windows 7® Support
7. Enhanced Anisotropic Filtering
8. Accelerated Video Transcoding**
9. Display Flexibility
10. HDMI 1.3
11. Dolby® TrueHD and DTSHD Master AudioTM Support
12. ATI PowerPlay ™ Technology***
13. ATI Avivo™ Technology Enhanced Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD 2)***
14. Supports OpenGL 3.2 ****
15. ATI CrossFireX™ multi-GPU technology*****

We are very sure you HTPC guys are looking hard at this card.

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NL: Monster Sized Air Cooled Heatsinks

Here is a couple monster sized heatsinks for all your air cooling needs. Even though Ninjalane will be the first to tell you to just go watercooled.

Noctua NH-D14 Dual Fan CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers

"Before I re-write the About Us page for Noctua let's get into why we are here today. Noctua was generous enough to send other their latest cooler, NH-D14. The D14 as we will call it is the largest cooler we have seen from Noctua to date. This new cooler weighs in at 1240 grams with two fans attached. This alone is scary enough but due to the SecuFirm 2 mounting system weight should be the last issue on your mind. Lets get into the review before I reveal anymore secrets on the D14." 

Thermalright Venomous X CPU Cooler @ PCShopTalk

"After the fall of the old king of air cooling, the TRUE, some manufacturers have succeeded to make better and better heatsinks, with different shapes and sizes. All concurrence was ripped apart when Noctua have presented their NH-D14 heatsink. Thermalright, which developed one of the best heatsinks for a really long time had to catch up. In this review we will see if we will have a new king of air cooling or a huge dissapointment." 

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NL: PC Game Reviews Roundup

It has been a little bit since our last PC game review roundup. Don't worry there is going to be enough new games hitting soon that will take care of the problem.

Star Trek Online (PC) Review @ GamingHeaven

"Back in 2004 an announcement was made that Star Trek Online was in development and geeks around the world rejoiced (this reviewer included). News releases after that were sporadic at best until in January 2008 it was announced that the developer was closing its doors and the game development (not including code) was being passed to Cryptic Studios. Given their experience with MMO games, Cryptic seemed an ideal fit and just over two years after taking on the IP, we have the official release of Star Trek Online."

Mass Effect 2 @ Technic3D

"Mass Effect 2 is the sequel to BioWare's hit space-based role-playing game (RPG), Mass Effect. A single player adventure, Mass Effect 2 allows players to continue the adventures of the fully customizable series hero, Commander Shepard, as you take on a whole new adventure and cast of supporting characters. Features new to this latest release in the franchise include the ability to import game save files from the original Mass Effect game to continue the adventure in an unbroken fashion, a new damage system, a more flexible dialogue game mechanic and more. See you in the following Review from Technic3D." 

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ASUS P7H55D-M EVO & Intel DH55TC @ Techgage

Look here a two for one review on two different board with the same Intel H55 chipset. HTPC is really in the air right now with everyone about to jump on this new setup. Let's see what these guys think about these board for your HTPC setup.

"With Intel's recent Clarkdale processor launch, the itch to build that new HTPC is no doubt greater than ever. Not only does Intel offer a wide-range of processors, but motherboard vendors are currently offering an incredible amount of H55 models. We're taking a look at two here, Intel's own DH55TC and ASUS' P7H55D-M EVO."

I think the Asus board would be my pick.

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Inside Intel and Micron's 25nm NAND Fab - IMFT @ Legit Reviews

Time for a road trip on the internet to the Intel/Micron Fab in Utah. Interesting to see, but I do have a spoiler. Not one guy was dressed in cool blue suit or dancing. Micro must not allow the Intel guys to have fun there.

"This shrink is important as the new 25nm process reduces chip count by 50 percent compared to previous process generations, allowing for smaller, yet higher density designs and greater cost efficiencies. This is great news as that means IMFT will be able to get twice as many NAND Flash chips per wafer. Intel said that performance would be comparable to 34nm speeds today, but that endurance and reliability would be improved. Since devices like SSDs can be built using less 'chips' now you can expect to see SSD capacities increasing in the months to come. Micron even mentioned that 1TB 2.5" SSDs will be a possibility in 2010 thanks to the move down to 25nm..."

What a shame I was so looking forward to dancing workers in the fab.

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GF100 (Fermi) Product Names Released

Caught this on Facebook and Twitter of all places

Fun Fact of the Week: GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 will be the names of the first two GPUs shipped based on our new GF100 chip!

Seems reasonable 

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Corsair Obsidian 800D @ PureOverclock

Here is a case that many of us have been dr00ling over. 

The Corsair Obsidian 800D showcases extensive and unique features in a crowded marketplace that often lacks originality. Corsair may be new to the chassis business, but they've had years to watch and learn from other manufacturers’ mistakes. Can the Obsidian 800D rise to the challenge in a very competitive market? Can Corsair continue their successful move from memory products into other PC component areas? Let’s find out.

The case is full of cool stuff and goes light on the crap we don't normally use.  A must see if you get a hands-on look.

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NL: Review Block - Lil bit of everything

Here is a kitchen sink edition of a review block.  Nice thing about this...  The news box is clean once again, and this time because of posting stuff.

Motherboards
- EVGA H55 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- EVGA W555 First Look @ OC3D
- MSI H57M-ED65 mATX Motherboard @ Hardwarezone
- ASUS P7P55 WS SuperComputer Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Intel P55 Motherboard Review @ PCStats

Video Cards
- HIS Radeon HD 5770 Videocard Review @ Tweaknews
- Diamond Radeon HD 5750 OC Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

Cooling
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler Review @ Overclockers Online
- Noctua NH-D14 CPU Heatsink review @ APH Networks
- Zalman CNPS10X Flex CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Noctua NH-C12P SE14 @ Hardwareoverclock

Storage and Memory
- Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB @ Techgage
- Kingston HyperX 12GB DDR3-1600 @ PureOverclock
- Patriot Memory Torqx 64GB PFZ64GS25SSDR Solid State Drive @ PCShopTalk
- Thecus N4100PRO: A Data-Treasure Cave @ InsideHW
- Patriot Memory Torqx 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) Review @ ModSynergy
- Patriot Valkyrie NAS Raid Device @ Pro-Clockers

Cases
- Cooler Master HAF 932 AMD Limited Edition Case Review @ Bigbruin

Until next time.

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ASRock ION 330HT with Blu-Ray Review @ HardwareHeaven

ASRock using ION, finaly something people can maybe buy. 

Today HardwareHeaven has one of the latest ION models released on their test bench, the ASRock ION 330HT-BD is one of the highest specification ION/ATOM systems HardwareHeaven have seen to date.

The best thing about this product?
Its really small. 

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Workarounds for Radeon HD 5000 Series Vertical Stripes Issue

Something tells me that if anyone is having an issue where the screen is blank they are most likely to just return the product for RMA. 

AMD's latest ATI Radeon HD 5000 series is indeed selling like hotcakes. Only three weeks ago, AMD had announced that it had shipped two million DirectX 11 GPUs. However as history has taught us, new products sometimes mean new issues. Since the official launch of the HD 5000 series, there have been many lockup reports on several forums. This lockup happens mostly during 3D mode and is accompanied by vertical stripes appearing on the screen (But sometimes it appears as a black screen) and looping sound. So far, we haven't found any information on AMD's website, but luckily one of our systems was affected and it allowed us to investigate this issue.

Funny how one of the workarounds is to update the BIOS, imagine that

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First Look: EVGA W555 dual-Xeon motherboard @ bit-tech

One of the coolest motherboards of 2010 was on display at CES from the American company, EVGA.  The board hasn't been released yet but there are plenty of photos including the ones we took at CES and the ones found over at bit-tech.

The W555 is a dual-processor LGA1366 motherboard with a difference - unlike existing traditional workstation/server motherboards - it's designed to be overclocked.

Created by a design team led by Peter 'Shamino' Tan, the W555 was first unveiled at the CES show a couple of weeks ago. However, the only shots we saw of the board were extremely blurry and covered with heatsinks. Fortunately, EVGA sent us these photos so we could take a closer look at how this monster motherboard is shaping up.

We cannot wait to get ahold of this little gem for some real world testing, it should be awesome.

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P55 vs X58 Memory Performance Analysis w/ OCZ Platinum Series @ Tweaktown

Here is an interesting spin on dual-channel vs. triple-channel. Looks like they are using two different chipsets to test out this theory. Don't forget to read our article using the same chipset to get our take on this subject.

With so many samples passing through my front door over the year, we quite often end up with some surprises; be it a company sending it without letting us know, or it taking a bit longer to arrive than we expected and we forget about it. For whatever reason, we ended up with a couple of kits of PC3-12800 memory from OCZ.

In wondering what we could do with the two kits and how we could work them both into a single article, I thought it was time to see how the old Tri-Chan vs. Dual-Chan debate is going on with our X58 GIGABYTE board and P55 ASRock one."

Here is a link for the lazy.

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AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE & Athlon II X4 635 & X3 440 Processors Reviewed @ EXTREME Overclocking!

AMD has been pushing out good processors for the low end market, and looks like they have some more for everyone to checkout. A new $100 dual-core Black Edition is a pretty good deal there.

"Today AMD is releasing five new processors in their Phenom II & Athlon II lineups. Along with these new chips comes lower prices to existing products, most notably the Athlon II X4 630 (2.8 GHz) will replace the X4 620 (2.6 GHz) at the $99 retail price point! This means that AMD now has two quad core processors priced at $99 or less, and one quad core at only $119!"

Even though a quad-core for $119 is very nice.

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Asus P6X58D @ Bjorn3D

With all of the new technologies coming out such as SATA 6.0 to USB 3.0. Most of the X58 motherboards are starting to look a little long in the tooth without some of these new technologies. Don't worry Asus has everyone covered with their newest X58 P6X58D motherboard.

"The X58 chipset is currently the flagship of Intel's chipset line, but it was lacking a couple of key features due to its launch date. These where of course SATA 3 and USB 3. This is no longer true thanks to Asus. They have put a SATA 3 Controler onboard as well as adding two USB 3 ports on the back of the motherboard. This gives the X58 chipset a much needed modernization, since its little brother the P55 already has these features. If you happen to not be an Asus fan then you will have other options as well. Gigabyte plans to have a new X58 board out that will also support these features.

Other than the adding of these two features there is not much else thats different from the P6T, but lets take a look at the features to give you a refresh of what Asus has to offer."

Nice looking board.

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Cooler Master ATCS 840 @ techPowerUp

Staying with the cases run here with another case manufacture that is on the top of the list here at Ninjalane. Yep, you guessed it or just read the title Cooler Master. Here is one excellently crafted aluminum case from them that is just beautiful.

"The Cooler Master ATCS 840 revives the line of cases which essentially made the brand so popular in 2001. It will be interesting to see if the chassis is worthy to carry such an illustrious name and if it can light that same spark of awe and respect for the now established brand."

I remember that old classic aluminum cases.

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Silverstone Fortress FT02 System Enclosure Review in Metku

This is one clean looking case from SilverStone that I think looks even better than the Raven 2. This is all in the eyes of the beholder as well. Let's get reading to see if it is all that we hope it is.

"By the look of things, it's very much the same chassis as the Raven 2 reviewed earlier, but aimed at a bit different target audience."

Nice case!

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Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB @ Techgage

You know the first hard drive I ever bought was 540megs,  Yes I said megs as in megabytes.  However back then storage didn't come cheap and anything below a gig was reasonably priced.

Fast forward to now and anything without a triple digit gigabyte rating is often ignored.  So why bother with a 40GB SSD??

Want to make the upgrade to a solid-state drive, but prefer to avoid the high cost of adoption? Kingston helps ease that pain with its SSDNow V Series 40GB, a modest drive that features Intel's NAND and impressive G2 firmware, which helps it deliver stellar performance when compared to an HDD, for an easy-to-stomach price.

I guess that would be a pretty good reason.

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G.Skill Falcon II 128GB SSD Review @ Hardware Canucks

Solid State Hard Drives are one of the fastest storage mediums but are still plagued with higher than expected costs over their rotational counterparts and come with considerably less storage space.

But they are well worth the price, especially if you have a readily available network storage option.

As the SSD marketplace expands at a near-breakneck pace, OEMs and manufacturers alike are moving quickly to cover as many price points as possible. One of the most popular portions of this market doesn't lie with the high-performance, stratospherically-priced drives but rather with drives that offer the perfect mix of value and performance. G.Skill's new Falcon II 128GB is one of the SSDs which is leading the push towards affordable, large capacity SSDs.

So here is a question, what is faster than a single SSD?  Two of them in a RAID of course.

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