Lian Li PC-XB01 Review & Installation Guide

Manufacturer:Lian Li
UK Price (as reviewed): £69.32 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$169.99 (Ex. Tax)
Dimensions: 415mm (w) X 250mm (d) X 161mm (h)

We’re always happy to bring you firsts here at bit-tech and today’s review is certainly a big one – the Lian Li PC-XB01 is the very first full replacement chassis for the Xbox 360, and for those brave enough to dismantle Microsoft’s eponymous console, promises greatly improved cooling and significantly reduced noise levels.

Asus G70

Manufacturer:Asus
UK Price:£1,772.99 (inc VAT)
US Price:$2,999.95 (free delivery)

Laptops are funny old things style-wise and as we found out with our last gaming laptop review where we looked at the Kobalt Comanche SLI in Ferrari Red, everyone has their own tastes about how a laptop should look.

There are those who want laptops which are just ordinary black slabs that won’t grab attention, then there are those who want custom paint jobs and decals. Finally there’s the camp that wants something which is different by design, something that’s truly striking and good looking. It’s to those people that the Asus G70 is probably going to appeal.

First Look: Lian Li XB01 - Xbox 360 Case

Manufacturer:Lian Li
UK Price:£69.33 (inc VAT)
Digg this story

We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our review sample of the Lian Li XB01 for a few weeks now and were practically brimming with excitement when the delivery man brought this unassuming black and orange box through our door. Does it work as expected? Does the 360 fit perfectly? Does it make it any cooler or any quieter? Is it worth the upgrade? So many questions, so little time.

Asus Eee PC 1000

Manufacturer:Asus
UK Price:£338.99 (free delivery)
US Price:$685 (free delivery)

Asus’ Eee PC line has come a long, long way over the past twelve months – too far some would say, arguing that the gigantically strong brand of ultra mobile notebooks has been diluted by a later focus on needless peripherals and incremental upgrades.

That’s a view I sympathise with to a degree. I remember when the very first Eee PCs first rolled off the production line and I quickly snapped up a 701 all for myself, though lately it’s been hard to pry it from the white-knuckled claws of my girlfriend. My own fault admittedly, I tried and failed to fix her computer recently.

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4850 TOXIC

Manufacturer:Sapphire
UK Price (as reviewed): £134.95 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$199.95 (Exc. TAX)

Core Clock: 675Mhz
Memory Clock: 2,200MHz (effective)
Warranty: Two years (parts and labour)

With the release of the Radeon HD 4870 X2 last week we’ve seen the last major graphics release of the summer, with both Nvidia and AMD/ATI having laid all their cards on the table, for now at least. But while the GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon HD 4870 X2 slug it out at the top end for the title of world’s fastest graphics card, it’s easy to forget the phenomenal performance and value offered by cards further down our benchmark graphs and the Radeon HD 4850 is no doubt the best example of this.

Samsung SyncMaster XL30 LED Backlit LCD

Manufacturer:Samsung
UK Price (as reviewed):£2,639.40 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$3965.97 (ex. Tax)

It was way back in the very dying days of 2005 when Dell wheeled out the first vaguely affordable 30-inch monitor. The 3007WFP may have been flawed (single DVI input, dodgy backlighting and all that jazz), but with a massive 2,560 x 1,600 native resolution and slick styling it was probably the most desirable monitor on the face of the planet.

Kobalt Comanche SLI

Manufacturer:Kobalt
Base Unit Price:From £2,225.00 (inc. VAT)
Price (as reviewed):£2,870.00 (inc. VAT)

Normally when we’ve had gaming laptops in in the past, we at the bit-tech offices have gone through the same old dance. After a few minutes of beholding the laptop my frustrating need to argue takes over and I question what exactly the point of a gaming notebook is.

They are, I point out, invariably too heavy and big to be anything more than a desktop replacement when you get right down to it, except they have less power and upgradability.

Asus CrossHair II Formula and Hybrid SLI

Manufacturer:Asus
UK Price (as reviewed):£148.21 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$274.99 (ex. Tax)

Introduction

Eighteen months ago we reviewed Asus' original CrossHair based on Nvidia's nForce 590 SLI chipset for AM2 Athlon 64 CPUs. The layout of that board was, well, interesting, but the features set a new record in terms of awesomeness.

Things have come a long way since then; since the time when Athlons were the talk of the town, Intel chips were simply used as space heaters in the world of the enthusiast. Now we have the opposite situation, where Phenoms are playing second fiddle to Intel's Core 2, although the features Nvidia brings to the table with this particular motherboard does perk an interest, that's for sure.

Akasa Omega

Manufacturer:Akasa
UK Price (as reviewed):£123.25 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): N/A

Ah, how time flies when you’re buried up to your armpits in cutting edge tech. I can’t believe that it’s been almost three months since I joined bit-tech and had my first review published, the Akasa Mirage -62.

The Mirage, if you don't want to do all that back-reading, proved to be a fantastically laid out case which was both a delight to build a system in and to have running on your desk, thanks to some wonderful near-silent cooling. While there were a few missing options on the Mirage, namely the possibility of additional cooling, it was a wonderfully crafted case and worthy of a recommended award.

AMD ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2

Manufacturer:AMD
UK Price (as reviewed):£344.95 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$559.99 (ex. Tax)

Ever since the launch of the GeForce 8800 GTX in November 2006, it’s mostly been a one-sided affair at the high end of the graphics card market and every time there was a chance that AMD might compete with Nvidia, the company rolled out something faster still to thwart the efforts put forth by the troubled platform manufacturer. It’s fair to say that AMD was in trouble, and it needed a lifeline of sorts to get back in the game.

Cooler Master Silent Pro 700W

Manufacturer:Cooler Master
UK Price (as reviewed):£91.18 (inc. VAT)

Introduction

Cooler Master has been making, well, "making" power supplies for many years, but we have to admit it's not until recently that we gave them much consideration. Just before Computex this year we dropped into Cooler Master HQ in Taiwan to say 'Hi' to those we know there, and inevitably nose around to see what's new. We were introduced to one of the Power Supply Product Managers, Joey Cheng, who has spent many years working as an electrical engineer for an industrial PSU testing company.

EVGA GeForce GTX 280 Superclocked

Manufacturer:EVGA
UK Price (as reviewed):£328.31
US Price (as reviewed):$459.99

Core Clock: 621MHz
Shader Clock: 1,350 MHz
Memory Clock: 2,268MHz (effective)
Warranty: Ten year limited warranty

This summer has been the most active in recent memory for the graphics card industry, with both Nvidia and ATI having launched their new flagship GPUs, resulting in some lengthy late night benchmarking sessions here at

Cyberpower Gamer Infinity CrossFire HD

Manufacturer:Cyberpower
Price:£1133.13 (Inc. VAT and shipping) as reviewed

Our recent reader’s survey indicated that the average bit-tech reader spends eight hours a day using a PC. That’s the equivalent of 121 days a year sat next to your trusty PC of choice, be it working, gaming, or searching YouTube for videos of skateboarders face planting (hi Tim!). With so much of our modern lives spent in the company of our PC, it stands to reason that it should be one of the single most important purchases you can make, even more so than say your car or TV.

Acer Aspire One

Manufacturer: Acer
UK Price (as reviewed):£234.99
US Price (as reviewed):$379 with free delivery

Building an ultra-portable notebook - or UMPC or sub-notebook or whatever the hell you want to call it – shouldn't be all that hard, but the sheer number of companies out there struggling to get it right seems to imply that there are hidden complexities to the task.

“Surely it must be simple?" the consumers cry.