Hard Stuff: Case Roundup
Tempest 210 NZXT
SCORE: 77
The Tempest 210 isn’t all that large, measuring in at 19.3 inches deep, 17.9 inches tall, and 7.7 inches wide. It does manage to squeeze in a decent amount of stuff for its size, though, including two fans (a 14cm top exhaust fan and 12cm rear exhaust fan) with support for five more. There are seven PCI expansion slots, and although it comes with just three optical drive bays, it does include eight toolless hard drive bays and an SSD mount at the bottom of the case.
Hard Stuff: Maingear VYBE Super Stock review
The pitch line for the VYBE Super Stock is “Geared for gamers—priced for the masses.” But can you really get something that sports a reasonable price tag and can also meet the specialized needs of gamers?
Nvidia 3D Vision Wired Glasses Review
Although I’m a little sick of 3D hype, I have to admit that gaming in 3D is more immersive, more tactile, and generally a lot of fun. Nvidia must agree, as it’s expanding its 3D Vision line with a less-expensive wired model of its 3D glasses. That lower price comes hand in hand with easy setup—as long as you’ve got the necessary components (3D Vision-ready monitor, Nvidia GeForce video card, up-to-date drivers) the glasses are pretty much plug-and-play.
A look at eight new mouse pads to ramp up your game
Mousepads are an often overlooked piece of gaming hardware. I tend to consider mine more of a coaster for coffee than something that can improve my gaming. Yet thin sheets beneath our mice can go a long ways in helping define comfort and precision. These mouse pads just scratch the surface on the multitude of options to aid your next killstreak.
Hard Stuff: LG Flatron D2342P Passive 3D Monitor review
Good news! LG’s Flatron D2342P monitor allows for 3D gaming on the cheap! That said, the 3D experience it offers is, well, kind of cheap.
The D2342P looks great on paper: it’s got a tasty 23-inch serving of 1080p-capable 3D gaming and movie glory. And with sleek lines, a glossy piano-black bezel, and matching stand, it looks even better when it’s assembled and sitting on your desk. Sadly, looks aren’t everything, and once you get past this beauty’s aesthetics, there’s not a lot left to love.
Just arrived: Samsung 700G7A
Not a name you’d normally associate with gaming notebooks, Samsung’s latest 700G7A has just turned up in the office ready for review in issue 235. With its 17.3inch, 1080p screen and £1500 price tag, it’s up against some fairly serious opposition from the likes of Alienware and ASUS, but I think it’ll do rather well.
Here’s why.
Turn your hard drive into a hybrid
Fancy SSD performance with the kind of storage capacity more commonly associated with a traditional hard drive? You’ve got two choices: either sell your first born to buy a large SSD drive, or take a look at Icy Dock’s new SSD Xpander.
The SSD Xpander is a 3.5inch hard disk caddy designed to hold a standard 2.5inch laptop SSD drive. Around the back, though, there’s an extra SATA port for daisy chaining a normal 3.5inch hard drive to the Xpander. Once you’ve connected both SSD and HDD, a second partition is created on the latter and connected to the SSD via an internal RAID interface. The SSD now appears to Windows (or any other OS, since this is a hardware implementation) as double its actual size. Caching technology moves data between the HDD and the SSD to try and ensure that the bits and bytes you need are kept in the faster SSD half of the virtual drive.
It’s a little like Intel’s Smart Response Technology (SRT) which premièred on recent Z68 motherboards, which can also join an SSD and a hard drive in an unholy union of speed. Only the Xpander theoretically works with any motherboard and system.
The obvious drawback is the same one as is associated with any RAID striping set-up – if one drive fails, you lose data from both. Also, if the caching technology moves data around too much it could end up wearing out the SSD or overloading its garbage collection capabilties. It’s also potentially cheaper to look at a native hybrid drive like the Seagate Momentous XT than buying two separate drives for a new build.
Still, the idea of having a large virtual drive capable of SSD speeds is hugely appealing, and gets around the current house keeping problems of what should and shouldn’t be installed directly to the SSD when a small capacity one is included in a system. Plus, the Icy Dock SSD Xpander is only £30/$48. Since our review sample of has just turned up in the labs, I’ll be able to tell you whether it’s any good or not in the next few days.
Hard Stuff: Falcon Northwest TLX review
Got a hankering for Ferrari-like paint jobs? Check out Falcon Northwest’s TLX. Its lid is covered in an eyeball-caressing, glittery blue paint, with a majestic falcon’s head emblazoned across the middle. Nice.
Hard Stuff: Digital Storm xm15 review
For those of us whose pockets don’t bleed money, laptops priced around $1,000 are far more practical, such as the Digital Storm xm15. Of course, you should expect some sacrifices for the lower price.
Hard Stuff: Origin EON15-S review
You know those folks that dress for utility instead of style? The ones that wear flak jackets and ammo belts to dinner parties? The Origin EON15-S is their laptop equivalent.
Geek toys review: Star Wars FX Lightsabers
There are certain moments in life I’ll never forget. That time I forced my brother down a make-shift zipline constructed of clothesline rope and a wooden dowel that served as a “pulley,” and then watching him plummet into the earth, breaking his wrist (his fault—he shouldn’t have let go). Or the time when I first beat Battletoads on the NES. (OK that never actually happened.) And know what? I’ll never forget the first time I wrapped my fingers around the glorious hilt of a Star Wars FX lightsaber and fired it up. I mean yeah, the first time I held one was, like, 6 hours ago, but still: I know I’ll remember it for eternity, because this toy is quite possibly the best thing to ever happen to me. Ever.
Hard Stuff: Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 review
I’ll be frank: the GeForce GTX 590 will murder your checking account. At $700, you’re probably wondering—as I was—if it could possibly be worth it.
Hard Stuff: Razer StarCraft II Marauder review
The Marauder’s like a pair of Air Jordans—they look fantastic, but they’re expensive, and buying them won’t improve your skills at the game you know and love.
Geek toys review: Nanodots
When the carrying pouch is more entertaining than its contents, there’s something amiss. Inside an admittedly awesome yellow drawstring bag—complete with atomic logo emblazoned across the front—lies a handful of magnetic BBs called nanodots. That stick to each other. Awkwardly. That’s all they do. This is sort of like tearing open the wrapping paper off a massive box on Christmas morning only to discover a mouth-guard and a jockstrap within.
Hard Stuff: Razer Naga Epic review
When the Naga (April 2010, 94%) emerged, its 15 impeccably-placed buttons (designed to catch the overflow of abilities in most MMORPGs) and super-comfy design caused us to hail it as the finest mouse that MMO gamers could buy. Only its leash—the USB cable tying it to the PC—held it back.
