Weekend Roundup – 11/9/09

Posted on the November 9th, 2009 under Everything and Anything, Product Reviews by JeffS

Good Monday, fellow tech folks.  Today is the typical week-starting catch-up of tech news, reviews and articles from over the weekend and early this morning.  Get ready to be thrilled…

PowerMat Wireless Charging Unit

http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/powermat-wireless-charging-unit/

Our homes are covered in wires. Behind our bookshelves, under our desks, cords and cables are everywhere. We use so many things on a daily basis that require power, and for every one of them, there is a wire giving it the juice it needs to function. Everyone who owns even a small number of electronics has, at one time or another, thought in their minds “if only they could invent wireless electricity.”

Vantec NexStar Universal Storage Adapter

http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/vantec-nexstar-universal-storage-adapter/

Today for review I’ve got the Vantec NexStar Universal Storage Adapter, it’s a long name but it can do quite a bit. This product will allow you to access both SATA and IDE 2.5” and 3.5” drives along with 5.25” SATA and IDE Optical drives and even 66 types of memory cards, so it does live up to it’s name of being a universal adapter.

NZXT SENTRY 2 5.25″ Touch Screen Fan Controller

http://www.bonafidereviews.com/blog/nzxt-sentry-2-5-25-touch-screen-fan-controller/

Today for review I’ve got another product from our friends over at NZXT, it’s their new fan controller the Sentry 2. This isn’t just any fan controller though, it features a touch screen and it only takes up one 5.25” bay. Personally I like this product quite a bit, in my opinion it’s the best fan controller on the market today. It’s easy to use, it works well and it looks great.

Verbatim TUFF-CLIP 8GB USB Drive

http://www.bonafidereviews.com/blog/verbatim-tuff-clip-8gb-usb-drive/

Today for review I’ve got the Verbatim Tuff-Clip 8GB USB drive. This USB drive resembles a carabineer style clip that you can attach to most anything. The drive comes with software to create two partitions as well, one secure and one public so you can hide any important data so it can’t be accessed without a password. I’ve put it up against a few other 8gb USB drives I’ve got on hand for comparison and the Tuff-Clip performs well actually..

Verbatim Easy Riser Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse with Nano Receiver

http://igadgetlife.com/2009/11/07/verbatim-easy-riser-wireless-notebook-laser-mouse-with-nano-receiver/

Today for review I’ve got a little mouse called the Easy Riser from Verbatim. It’s a wireless radio style mouse that comes with a tiny dongle reviver that can be stored inside of the mouse when not in use. What makes this mouse really special though is that it can change size or height, hence the name Easy Riser. It has a small switch on the bottom that allows the mouse to pop up and get larger, and go down to get smaller for storage. You can use the mouse either way of course, but it’s nice to be able to have an almost full sized mouse to use with your netbook.

Insane Gadgets or Genius: You Be The Judge

http://igadgetlife.com/2009/11/06/insane-gadgets-or-genius-you-be-the-judge/

So many times you see or hear about a new gadget that makes you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  And then there are times when we hear about a new gadget and say, “What the heck were they thinking?”  Some of these gadgets seem crazy, silly and downright insane; yet, some seem quite ingenious.   Check these gadgets out and tell us what you think – insane or genius?

Phenom 2 X4 965 (125w TDP)

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1724

AMD has a long tradition of improving already good products. In this case they have reworked the Phenom 2 X4 965 BE from 140w to 125w. What does that mean to the end user, well the new Phenom 2 X4 965 should work on almost any AM2+ or AM3 board while the old Phenom 2 X4 965 will only work on motherboards that support 140watt CPU’s.

NZXT BETA – EVO Computer Case/Chassis

http://www.techwarelabs.com/nzxt-beta-evo-computer-casechassis/

I know what you’re thinking; Déjà vu on the case review? Nope this is not the NZXT Beta being reposted; this is the supposedly classier brother the NZXT Beta EVO. While still a budget case my biggest question is…  Is the EVO worth the extra money?  Follow me as I look at the newest revision of NZXT Beta promising to offer increased cable management and a revised interior layout.

Seagate Savvio 15K.2 SAS 2.0 6Gb/s 146GB 2.5-inch Hard Disk

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2998/seagate_savvio_15k_2_sas_2_0_6gb_s_146gb_2_5_inch_hard_disk/index.html

In February 2004 Seagate Technology announced the world’s first 2.5 inch form factor enterprise hard drive. The product series was Savvio and although the first year was a little slow, the market has now caught on and the 2.5 inch standard has taken off like a rocket. Unlike notebook and most solid state drives, Seagate’s enterprise drives are 12.5mm tall and do not fit in a majority of notebooks due to the height and SAS interface.

ECS Elitegroup P55H-A

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ecs_p55&num=1

Back in September we published a launch-day Linux preview of Intel’s Lynnfield processors and provided Core i5 / Core i7 benchmarks. With that initial testing of the Lynnfield processors and the new Intel P55 Chipset we had used an Intel DP55KG “Kingsberg” motherboard, but since then many P55 motherboards from different vendors have flooded the market. One of the P55 motherboards to be introduced for the budget-conscious consumer is the P55H-A, which comes from ECS Elitegroup. This motherboard is very reasonably priced while offering support for up to DDR3-2200MHz memory (in an overclock mode), solid capacitors, dual PCI Express x16 slots, and S/PDIF audio support.

Why Shattered Horizon is PC exclusive and more technical details

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,698996/Why-Shattered-Horizon-is-PC-exclusive-and-more-technical-details/Practice/

The first game from Futuremark, Shattered Horizon, is a pure DirectX 10 multiplayer shooter and is currently available on Steam for 15 Euros. In a fictional future you can play with up to 31 other people. Three game modes, two similar to Capture the Flag and classic Deathmatch, and four maps are available. One of the most interesting differences to other games is the fact that since you are in space, you have to deal with zero gravity – what’s your ceiling could be someone else’s floor.

Roccat Kova

http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/peripherals/roccat-kova/

Roccat are well known at this stage for their impressive PC peripherals, introducing desktop spacial management along with massive ammounts of viral media. Today we’re looking at a product form them that’s definately in the Roccat vein. Known as the Kova, it’s a 3200 DPI mouse, with a solid plastic shell, and an interesting driverless design. Sounds intriguing, let’s check it out.

ATI Radeon HD 5850 Crossfire Review

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1968_1.html

Every year or two there are inflection points in the graphics card market. The last major inflection point was the release of Windows Vista with DirectX 10 and the NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX. These brought new meaning to the computer graphics with unparalleled performance and image quality in games. The G80 chip was a bit of a monster hit for NVIDIA.

Seagate XT 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive Testing

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1127/1/

The Seagate Barracuda XT hard drive is the industry’s first drive to support the new SATA 3.0 specification, which supports speeds up to 6Gb/s (Gigabits per second). To achieve speeds that exploit the new SATA 6Gb/s bus, your system must include a compatible SATA 3.0 compliant controller. At this time there are two companies with SATA 3.0 equipped mother boards on the market: Gigabyte and AsusTek.

Nexus Edge Case

http://www.rbmods.com/content/15162/introduction–first-look.aspx

Nexus is one of the leading manufacturers of computer power supplies and enclosures. Their products are combined with great quality with reasonable prices. Today we will have a look at their newest enclosure Nexus Edge, which is aimed for enthustiastic markets and highend users.

Acer Ferrari One Netbook – Vroom Vroom Review

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=14&id=3056

Acer has been churning out Ferrari machines for a while now, and you’ll note that it’s mostly always a similar pattern and design. From the bright red exterior to the prominent Ferrari badge, to the AMD based interior, these notebooks have always been about the spirit and excitement of the Formula One races. This time around however, Acer has opted not to go for the standard notebook build and has instead picked a netbook-like machine while utilizing AMD’s Congo platform for the machine.

Apple declares 2009 done

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/17871

Sorry, Mac fans and foes alike, but it looks like you’ll have nothing to celebrate/desecrate until the clock strikes midnight on December 31 and finally rings in a decade without the ridiculous nomenclature of “The Aughts.” A couple of things happened within the last week or so that tell me the nerds at Cupertino have gone all European on us and are taking the next couple of months off. Hopefully not wearing the man-capris so many mildly (or not so) corpulent Austrians seem to favor, but still—they’ve commenced phoning it in, even if it’s from San Jose and not San Marcos Square.

TinkerBell & The Lost Treasure

http://www.ascully.com/blu-ray-reviews/tinkerbell-the-lost-treasure/

Tinkerbell has been portrayed in a few different ways in the past – jealous, vindictive, funny, and as Julia Roberts, which was weird.  In Tinkerbell & the Lost Treasure, we get to see Tinkerbell in her own element, and she again is shown as smart if not somewhat clumsy.  Again she is portrayed as slightly edgy and short tempered, but it is with an eye on the rest of the fairies, and with no nod whatsoever to Peter Pan.

ASUS RT-N13U Wireless Router and Print Server Review

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/asus-rt-n13u-wireless-router-and-print-server-review/

As the price of home networking equipment falls, manufacturers are looking to include features which separate their product from the rest of the pack. Many routers include at least one USB port these days because of this. This USB port is generally used for either a printer or some kind of storage device, such as an external hard drive or flash drive. The ASUS RT-N13U is one such device. It unifies 802.11n wireless with a 10/100 switch and a lone USB port, which ASUS thinks your all-in-one printer would love. ThinkComputers reviews the ASUS RT-N13U wireless router.

Xigmatek Bifrost VD1065 VGA Cooler

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2999/xigmatek_bifrost_vd1065_vga_cooler/index.html

Modding BIOS’, overclocking and Folding@Home; what do they all have in common? In some sense they are all great ways to overwhelm a stock cooler and desire the quest for a quality, more efficient cooler. Along the way you will run across the few I have already reviewed, and many, many others. My goal is to help to narrow the highway of coolers flying by you as you search the web and make it more of a leisurely cruise down a scenic trail.

Darkest Of Days Physx

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1689

With the craving of playing games that are more realistic in appreance and play style, we gamers want more. Having stunning graphics with dense vegitation with textures that seem to jump out at you is all good, but what happens when we shoot at that same tree or building? We normally get a plum of smoke or dust with a small bullet hole or black mark in the same area we just shot at. The same thing happens when we shoot that same tree or building with a rocket launcher we get a large black mark or a small hole left after our carnging attempts.

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler Review

http://www.vortez.co.uk/contentteller/articles_pages/noctua_nh_d14_cpu_cooler_review,1.html

In this industry, companies come and go – releasing one ground shaking product followed by years of quietude. Tuniq, as previously seen, can be considered one of them remaining fairly quiet up till the release of the new Tower 120 Extreme rendition. Noctua, on the other hand, hasn’t followed the same suit thankfully. Their NH-U12P has grabbed them much success and during the past few years, they have strived on supporting customers with new improved fan designs and one of the best cooler mounting kit in existence. However, their actual heatsink design has failed to upkeep that trend and sporting that same 4 heat pipe design, it now faces stiff competition from other more efficient designs.

All DirectX 11 Graphics Cards

http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Graphics-cards/All-DirectX-11-Graphics-Cards.html

After launch of their high-end models, in form of Radeon 58XX series, we expected that ATI would release products that would fill mid and low range lineup as they did with previous generation. Except slightly “crippled” 5870 in form of 5850, we had chance to test two graphics cards from mid range: 5770 and 5750. Good news is that all 57XX graphics cards also support DX11 with Shader model 5, hardware tessellation and ATI Eyefinity technologies.

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X

http://techgage.com/article/sapphire_radeon_hd_5870_vapor-x/

When AMD launched its ATI Radeon HD 5000 series in late September, gamers had reason to be pumped. After all, ATI’s past generation, the HD 4000 series, were excellent cards in all regards, and it was quite boggling to picture the 5000 series, which essentially doubled everything from the previous. So, the cards were unbelievably fast, and the pricing was appropriate given the competition, at $379 for the HD 5870.

Noctua NF-S12B FLX

http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/cooling/2111-noctua-nf-s12b-flx

Most people don’t give the fans in their PC any thought, even most enthusiasts worry about colors and led’s not the noise level or performance. Noctua is in the minority when it comes to fan manufactures because they design their fans to be as quite as possible with no concern for LED’s or special colors. Today I have the chance to test out their newest fan the NF-12B FLX. Similar to the NF-P12 that we tested before, but with a few updates. Let’s take a look to see how their changes effected the fans performance.

Logitech Anywhere MX Wireless Mouse Review

http://www.everythingusb.com/logitech-anywhere-mx-wireless-mouse-17966.html

No stranger to the ubiquitous pointing device, Logitech boasts an impressive 20+ year history building mice and computer peripherals. Having surpassed the one billion mouse mark back in 2008, they are the undisputed leader in electronic rodent computer peripherals. New for 2009, the Logitech Anywhere MX wireless mouse combines wireless connectivity with unique “Darkfield” tracking technology for a mouse that is said to be able to track on pure glass and other highly reflective surfaces. Designed to be a fully-featured portable workhorse, the Anywhere MX also brings a rather unique scroll wheel to the party. How well does it all work in the cold, cruel world? Come to our glossy new labs to see if the Anywhere MX can track straight and true.

In Win AMMO 2.5 inch RFID Enclosure

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/InWin/Ammo

In Win was founded in 1985 with a focus on manufacturing and marketing PC cases. They have come a long way since then, offering not only various enclosures for all types of users, but also power supplies and server enclosures. Their case designs have made some waves in recent months as they have released bold looking enclosure and have also catered to the female PC user with their designs.

Gigabyte GeForce 210

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1712

Today we have the Gigabyte version of the G210. It of course has all of the features of the reference G210, but Gigabyte has decided to make it their own to differentiate it from the crowd. This includes Gigabyte’s great software, and a gold plated HDMI port for a better signal. Lets jump right in and explore more of this card.

Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB Vapor-X Video Card

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3000/sapphire_radeon_hd_5870_1gb_vapor_x_video_card/index.html

There’s no denying that competition in the video card market is tough. It’s even tougher for companies like HIS and Sapphire who only find themselves working for one side of the heated video card battle. With Sapphire only releasing ATI based cards, it means the company has to start to offer something more than the standard model sooner rather than later.

Toughpower XT 850W – A Second Look

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=172

Two weeks ago, Thermaltake came to us with an updated version of the Toughpower XT series. Since that model did so well, Thermaltake was curious to see how the updated version of the 850W model stacked up against the older revision I reviewed here. And so, I find myself here today looking at the Toughpower XT line for the third time. Will the 850W I have in front of me today make up for the poor showing the previous version had here at jonnyGURU.com? Let’s all find out together.