Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W

Manufacturer:Be Quiet!
UK Price (as reviewed):£92.77 (inc. VAT)

Introduction

I was recently surprised to learn that Be Quiet! had been making power supplies for six years already. The German company has been pretty focused on its home market to date, but are now expanding into Europe a lot more. Be Quiet! is part of the same parent company, Listan, who also owns Revoltek too and yeah, the naming isn't something that crosses boarders that well or our German friends have taken satire to a whole new level.

Asus Triton 85

Manufactuerer:Asustek
UK Price (as reviewed):£34.02 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (ex. Tax)

Weight (with fan): 520g
Size (with fan): 120mm(W) x 137mm(D) x 123mm(H)
Fan Size: 120mm
Fan Speed: 1400RPM
Noise Level: 16 dBa
Warranty: Two year standard warranty

Introduction

Our Criteria of what we look for in a high performance aftermarket heatsink is simple. The ideal heatsink is easy to fit, quiet, has high thermal performance and affordable value. However, the very nature of cooling makes striking the balance between these characteristics very difficult.

AMD Phenom X4 9350e - 65W quad-core

Manufacturer:AMD
UK Price (as reviewed): Around £115-120 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): Around $220 (ex. Tax)

The AMD Phenom has become synonymous with hot CPUs, taking the reins to some degree from the late Intel Prescott (or, Preshot). However, AMD does produce some awesomely energy efficient CPUs that even Intel hasn't matched.

For example, we loved the Athlon 64 X2 BE-2350 in its 45W power envelope, and that was superseded by other BE chips. The efficiency just kept getting better with the Athlon 64 X2 4850e at 2.5GHz, which was also built on the 65nm Brisbane core and was still rated at 45W. This saw the light of day back in February when AMD launched its 780G chipset, though we didn't see stock for a number of weeks after launch.

Lian Li Tyr PC-X2000

Manufacturer:Lian Li
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed): TBC

Lian Li is one of the most respected case manufacturers in the world, and in the past it has made some of the most iconic case designs to ever grace our desks, with the PC-60 in particular holding a spot in my heart as one of the all time best cases.

However, as always, competition is fierce and a company can never afford to rest on its laurels. Lian Li has already diversified its case line up with the Lancool range, but there are also options for everything from specialised HTPCs, through to ultra high end gaming cases.

EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW

Manufacturer:EVGA
UK Price (as reviewed):£128.06 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$189.99 (ex. Tax)

Introduction

If you're a regular in our community forum then you'll know we automatically replace the phrase "FTW" with "Cheesecake" and we've even got The Cheesecake Factory so we can all discuss our love for all things sweet.

It's a little in-house humour that catches a few people, but one that slides into a whole different level now thanks to EVGA. We've previously reported about the EVGA nForce 780i SLI Cheesecake back in January at CES in Las Vegas, and now we come to look at the little brother: the nForce 750i SLI.

LG Flatron L206WU with DisplayLink

Manufacturer:LG
UK Price (as Reviewed):£189.22 inc VAT
US Price (as Reviewed):$361.66

Introduction

Apart from terminal World of Warcraft addicts who have lost all contact with the outside world, most PC enthusiasts could hardly fail to notice the ever tumbling cost of LCD screens. For some time, widescreens in the 20- to 22-inch space have been affordable enough to make a multi-monitor setup seem like a no brainer.

BFG ES Series 800W PSU

Manufactuer:BFG
UK Price (as Reviewed):£116.91 inc VAT
US Price (as Reviewed):$169.99 ex Tax

Introduction

To say that BFG's power supplies have come long way since we looked at them this time last year is an understatement. Its new breed, launched a few months ago, has been co-designed with the help of industry expert JonnyGuru, of power supply review "fame".

Everything has changed: look, style, manufacturing facilities - and the ES Series from BFG represents the leading part of four new sub-brands; ES, MX, LS and GS.

Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer

Manufactuerer:Sunbeamtech
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC - around £25 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$34.99 (ex. Tax)

Weight (without fan): 590g
Size (without fan): 104mm(W) x 125mm(D) x 155mm (H)
Fan Size: 120mm
Fan Speed: 2,000RPM at full speed, 1,000RPM at half speed
Noise Level: 20dBA at full speed, 16dbBa at half speed
Bearing type: MFDB

Alienware Area-51 m15x

Manufacturer:Alienware
UK Price (as reviewed):From £954 (exc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):From $1,499 (exc. Tax)

Normally, a review like this would open with us mocking the name of the product. That’s because most laptops nowadays, especially in the popular gaming and subnotebook markets, have incredibly stupid names.

They call themselves things which are far too easy to structure jokes around, like the MSI Wind, or they bombard you with numbers and dashes like the (deep breath) Rock Xtreme 770 X9000-8800.

Zalman GS1000

Manufacturer:Zalman
Sample Provided By:Quiet PC
UK Price (as reviewed):£119.98 Inc VAT
US Price (as reviewed):$199.95

Zalman has quite the reputation in the field of PC hardware, in the same way that BMW has quite the reputation in the field of cars. They both offer innovation, buckets of build quality, and for the most part, impressive performance, in exchange for massive chunks of your pay packet.

Gigabyte G-Power 2 Pro Cooler

Manufacturer:Gigabyte
UK Price (as reviewed): £35.99 RRP
US Price (as reviewed):$55.48

Weight: 590g
Dimensions: 121x119x162 mm (D x W x H)
Fan Speed: 700RPM/1500RPM (5v/12v)
Noise Level: 16dBA/ 23dBA
Bearing Type: EBR

Gigabyte has made a name for itself as one of the worldwide leaders in motherboards, as well as having a significant presence in the case, graphics card, and power supply markets. However, one area that the company has yet to crack on a significant scale is the CPU cooling market.

AMD 770X Motherboard Duel

Manufacturer: Abit
UK Price (as reviewed):£47.60 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$79.99 (ex. Tax)

Abit AX78 Features

• Support for socket AM2 and AM2+ Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors along with triple and quad-core Phenom CPUs
  
• AMD 770X north bridge
  
• AMD SB600 south bridge
  
• Four DDR2 DIMM slots supporting up to 8GB of memory at 1,066, 800 or 667MHz
  

MSI Wind U100

Manufacturer:MSI
UK Price (XP Model as Reviewed):£329.99
UK Price (Linux Model):£291.25
US Price (as Reviewed):$499.99

Sub-notebooks are revolutionising the way we look at portable connectivity. Gone are the days, it seems, where you paid a pretty penny for a ridiculously small and lightweight piece of hardware. Nowadays £300 will get you a cool mini-notebook in iPod white and still leave you with change to spare.