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» Lian-Li PC-A77 - Review |
Jun 29, 2008 - 5:48 AM - by Clunk
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Lian-Li PC-A77 – Review.
I got my first Lian-Li case back in 2002, it was the second revision PC-60, complete with a full set of 80mm fans and a beautiful , silver, hard anodised, aluminium finish.
Since then, I have owned several Lian-Li cases with varying degrees of customisation, and it was only around 18 months ago that I strayed from the Lian-Li path and straight under the wheels of a Mountain Mods truck.
I have never really liked the MM case and have been looking for a replacement for a while, but nothing has pushed my buttons until this week, and that button pusher was the Lian-Li PC-A77-B.
Check list
The case had to check several boxes and they were:- Black Anodised Aluminium
- Full Tower Sized
- Had to be able to fit a PA120.3 in the top
- Had to be able to fit the rest of my watercooling gear easily enough
- Had to look smart without being tacky (that's my job
 )
- Plenty of drive bays
- Good airflow
Once I had seen, the A77 on the Lian-Li website, it was clear that this was perfect for the job, so the plan was to buy the case from the cheapest place and then get Lee at Watercooled-PCs to do the cuts for the radiator and the window.
As always, things didn’t quite go to plan and the only place that I could find in the UK with stock was ChilledPC.
To save sending the case backwards and forwards, I decided to let CPC do the cuts – more on the details of those later .
A week or so later and I have the case. In its standard form, it is quite an understated design, similar in size and shape to the PC-70/71/G70 series.
Like the G70, there is room for two PSUs and the motherboard sits central between the two PSU compartments, that’s where the similarities end though....
Index
1. Intro & Index
2. The Outer Casing
3. The Top
4. The Sides
5. The Back
6. The Inside - Part 1
7. The Inside - Part 2
8. The Inside - Part 3
9. The Inside - Part 4
10. The Inside - Part 5
11. Conclusion
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» DFI DK P45-T2RS - Mini Living Review - First Look At ABS Auto Boost System |
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Jun 26, 2008 - 2:04 AM - by Clunk
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DFI DK P45-T2RS - Mini Living Review - First Look At ABS Auto Boost System.
Today I'm going to embark on a mini living review of DFI's latest mid range, DDR2, P45 chipset based motherboard.
I'm calling this a "mini" living review as really, it is a preview of DFI's ABS (Auto Boost System) technology, rather than an overclocking fest, although there will be some overclocking later.
The guys at DFI are extremely proud of their Auto Boost System, and are keen for people to get to grips with it, and that's exactly what we are going to do.
In a nutshell, ABS is simply a set of predefined preloaded overclocking profiles that can be loaded at startup by pressing a key (F1 for example).
There are many different profiles available for various combinations of memory and CPU, but the great part is that the profiles can be swapped with other users online, so there will be a huge database of downloadable profiles available once people start to share them.
Admittedly, this technology is aimed at novice overclockers and anyone that requires a quick boost, however, more advanced users can also define their own profiles.
I will look more closely at ABS later, but first, let's have a look at the official specs of the P45-T2RS.
Index.
1. Intro & Index
2. Official Specifications & P45 Chipset Info
3. The Package
4. The Contents
5. A Closer Look At The DFI DK P45-T2RS
6. A Closer Look At The DFI DK P45-T2RS - Part 2
7. A Closer Look At The DFI DK P45-T2RS - Part 3
8. The Auto Boost System - ABS
9. More on the way....
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» Corsair 2x2GB XMS3 DHX DDR3-1600 TW3X4G1600C9DHXNV – Living Review |
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Jun 03, 2008 - 6:57 PM - by Clunk
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Corsair 2x2GB XMS3 DHX DDR3-1600 TW3X4G1600C9DHXNV – Living Review.
Corsair have long be at the forefront of memory technology, and recently have been pushing the performance of DDR3 to new heights.
So today, I am pleased to announce our first Corsair Living Review! - We have Corsair's brand new XMS3 DHX DDR3-1600 4GB (2x2GB) kit to put through it's paces.
I am currently reviewing the DFI UT X48-T3R, so I will be referencing that in this review, as well as having a look at some real world tests. I will also be exploring the benefits of 4GB over 2GB, and what it means for everyday users.
I will be testing with some of the traditional, synthetic benchmarks, but I will also be using current games and applications that many of us find grinding to a halt with 2GB RAM and Vista installed.
What I will be looking for is tangible benefits in things like frame rates, program loading times, task completion times and so on.
Read on to find out how things pan out....
Index.
1. Index & Intro
2. Corsair DDR3-1600 2x2GB DHX Kit - First Look
3. Official Specs
4. First Tests
5. More on the way
Firstly, let's take a look at the memory in question.
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» DFI UT X48-T3RS LanParty - Living Review |
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May 26, 2008 - 6:46 PM - by Clunk
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DFI UT X48-T3RS Living Review
It has been a long time coming, but the waiting is finally over, the DFI UT X48-T3RS is here!
It seems like an eternity since DFI announced their top of the range DDR3 motherboard, and now with the price of DDR3 falling rapidly, they have decided that the time is right for release.
It was quite a brave and somewhat prudent decision by DFI to hold back the release of this board as other manufacturers have jumped straight into the market with theirs and hoped for the best, regardless of the price of the accompanying memory.
DFI also say they have taken this extra time to fine tune the BIOS and iron out as many bugs as possible, which sounds good to me!
High performance DDR3 kits are now at similar prices to DDR2 kits this time last year and prices are set to drop further, so making the inevitable jump to DDR3 does seem like a good idea in theory, but will the jump be a smooth one, or will we be shelling out extra cash for little gain? Read on to find out.....
Index.
1. Intro & Index
2. The Package
3. DFI UT X48-T3RS Official Specs
4. First Look
5. First Look - Continued
6. First Look - Continued 2
7. A Closer Look At The Flame-Freezer
8. A Closer Look At The Flame-Freezer - Continued
9. The Accessories
10. The Bernstein Audio Module
11. Test Set Up & Initial Thoughts
12. Test Set Up & Initial Thoughts - Continued
13. The Genie BIOS
14. The Genie BIOS - Part 2 - DRAM Timings In More Detail
15. The Genie BIOS - Part 3 - DRAM Timings In More Detail
16. The Genie BIOS - Part 4 - DRAM Timings In More Detail
17. The Genie BIOS - Part 5 - DRAM Timings In More Detail
18. The Genie BIOS - Part 6 - DRAM Timings In More Detail
19. The Genie BIOS - Part 7 - DRAM Timings In More Detail
20. The Genie BIOS - Part 8 - The Voltage Settings
21. The Genie BIOS - Part 9 - The Voltage Settings - Continued
22. The Genie BIOS - Part 10 - Back to The Main Genie BIOS Page
23. The Genie BIOS - Part 11 - Back to The Main Genie BIOS Page - Continued
24. The Genie BIOS - Part 12 - Back to The Main Genie BIOS Page - Continued
25. First Tests and First Problems [Fixed]
26. DFI UT X48-T3R Voltage Measuring Points
27. Testing with Corsair DDR3-1600 2x2GB modules
28. More Tests With The Corsair DDR3-1600 2x2GB Modules
29. First Tests With OCZ OCZ3P2000EB2GK 2x1GB Modules
30. More on the way...
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