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NZXT is an interesting manufacturer. Each company that designs and manufactures cases has their strengths and weaknesses, things they're good at and things that need work, but NZXT is unique in that they're very closely related to iBuyPower (one of the biggest system building boutiques and one that's starting to threaten established brands) and tend to vend some of the most cost effective enclosures to boutiques in general, for better or worse.
Our experiences with NZXT have been mixed. The H2 when it was released suffered from a serious design flaw that drove up internal thermals (an unmarked revision was silently released later that largely resolved those problems), and the Switch 810 was a good but not great enclosure that couldn't quite live up to its promise. But today NZXT is launching the Phantom 820, a case aimed squarely at the top end of the case market where stalwarts like the Thermaltake Level 10 GT, Corsair Obsidian 800D, and SilverStone FT02 reside. It has a lot to live up to, but most impressively of all...it might actually do it.
I'll get this out of the way: the Phantom 820 is not coming cheap. NZXT is listing an MSRP of $249, placing it squarely into competition with the highest end enthusiast cases, and it's a pretty bold move from a company that's usually been more about raw value than premium gear. I'm of two minds when it comes to this decision; I think it's a good choice for the company since price is often the best way to give a premium product that extra kick (just ask Apple), but it's ultimately bad for the end consumer who wants and should get great products at reasonable prices.
Given just how long Logitech has been a vendor of all manner of desktop peripherals, it may come as a surprise that they've taken this long to release a keyboard with mechanical switches. Historically Logitech keyboards have employed membrane switches across the board, but Cherry MX mechanical switches have been picking up quite a bit of steam among enthusiasts lately. Mechanical keyboards are traditionally a fair sight more expensive than membrane-style keyboards owing to the spring-actuated switch in every single key, but the tactile feedback, durability, and overall comfort is undeniable. Consumers have largely spoken, and now Logitech is answering with the G710+.
At the same time, Logitech has also released an MMO-oriented mouse alongside growing ranks like Corsair's M90 and Razer's Naga. MMO mice are remarkable for including a staggering number of configurable buttons on the left side of the mouse, beneath the thumb, but with varying degrees of success. Ironically, with the G600, Logitech may very well have produced an MMO mouse so intuitive that its cavalcade of hotkeys could easily replace a more complex gaming keyboard.
When you look at the 27” panels on the market today, they virtually all use a panel from LG. Samsung has their own PLS panels, but otherwise almost everyone with a 2560x1440 panel is using one from LG, with either LED or CCFL backlighting. When the main component of any screen is the same as every competitor, it can be harder to differentiate yourself from the pack. We see NEC offer flexibility, uniformity and control beyond the other vendors, though at a price. Nixeus offers us a panel with the features and build taken down to a level that lets it beat everyone on price.
Dell seems to almost always focus on trying to find the sweet spot for value and features in their display line. They don’t make panels to compete with NEC, but they generally aren’t trying to compete with comapnies like Nixeus. The Dell U2713HM is their newest 27” panel, though it doesn’t replace the U2711. That model still has a larger AdobeRGB color gamut as well as more inputs and features in comparison to the U2713HM, and it maintains a higher retail price. So what does the Dell U2713HM offer, and where does it fit into the world of 27” displays ?
Today we are going to talk about two 1 kW power supply units from Cooler Master that have practically identical model names (one digit difference), the same market positioning and identical wattage. They both belong to the Silent Pro family, though come from two different generations.
As a case designer and manufacturer, Lian Li has built their entire business around aluminum. It's one of those materials that seems to have a real marketing draw, that seems to perk up consumers, and it's understandable. Aluminum conducts heat well, and an attractive brushed aluminum finish can trump the heck out of any garden variety plastic and/or steel enclosure. It's something Lian Li have essentially created a premium brand around, and today we're taking a look at one of their most premium offerings of all, the PC-A76X.
The PC-A76X isn't just a premium enclosure, it's a concerted effort by Lian Li to produce an E-ATX/HPTX case in relatively small dimensions. Our testbed is admittedly going to seem a little mundane, dwarfed by this monstrous piece of aluminum designed and destined for only the most powerful of workstations (or enthusiast builds), but that may not matter as much as it first appears. Has Lian Li produced a knockout case, or have they missed the mark ?
It's pretty clear on our side of the fence that smaller enclosures and leaner builds are increasingly becoming the way to go for most users these days, with even die hard enthusiasts drawn to these smaller cases if for no other reason than to see just how much horsepower they can cram into a small form factor system. There are tradeoffs made in going small form factor, though, and if you go too small the cooling demands can produce system noise that may be too much for many users.
That's why there are slightly larger, Micro-ATX scale enclosures like the Thermaltake Armor A30. Thermaltake's case is designed to support a Micro-ATX motherboard and a substantial video card or two, and the cooling system is remarkably robust. Yet as it turned out, working with the A30 proved to be a remarkably fraught experience, with the case having split personalities. Cooling and acoustic performance were actually quite good, but the case itself is tough to recommend. So what happened ?
Deepcool cooler with this intimidating name is very large and heavy, and on top of everything take over three PCI-E slots next to it and is quite expensive. However, its cooling efficiency is truly unbeatable. Today we are going to talk about the second revision of this remarkable product.
<div><span style="font-size: small; ">The price model for 27” IPS displays has been turned on its head recently by imported models from Korea that you can buy on eBay. Selling for as little as $350, these are stripped down models that lack inputs beyond DVI, have no OSD, have very minimal stands, and often have very little in the way of support. They also use A- grade panels where tolerances for stuck pixels and uniformity errors might not be as high as they are with A or A+ panels that are used in most displays.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: small; ">However, these panels offer a large amount of value for people that want a high-resolution display and can’t afford the $650 and up that the cheapest US model, the HP ZR2740w, typically costs online. Nixeus has come out to change that with their $500, 27” NX-VUE27 monitor. Using a Grade-A panel with an OSD and a wider variety of inputs that the Korean imports, the Nixeus is priced to compete with the Korean imports and the US models. Does it offer performance that competes with the higher priced US models by shaving costs in other areas, or does performance also suffer because of these cuts ?</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: small; "><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/6286/nixeus-27-inch-ips-monitor-for-the-masses" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></div>
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Antec system cases from the previous series boasted some truly unique features, which would often make assembly difficult and would always affect their price. New Antec system cases, which we will be talking about today, namely – One, Eleven Hundred and P280, have more traditional design and much more appealing price.
It seemed that the new Phanteks cooler had everything it takes to be a CPU cooling rock-star, except for one “little detail”: structure type. Unfortunately, the little detail had a big impact.