BMW DesignworksUSA's Level 10 case for ThermalTake

As you can see from the image, the Level 10 gives each PC component its own molded enclosure. We have no word on specs, availability, or price, although it appears to adhere to standard ATX motherboard design. You can read the full press release from BMW DesignworksUSA for the thought-process that went into the Level 10.
Assuming the Level 10 will make its way to retail, you will likely find it available as a standalone product, as well as from system builders like AVADirect, ABS, and others which typically build their PCs from off-the-shelf parts. Those vendors are usually anxious to adopt unique components, as we saw with AVADirect and the CoolerMaster Cosmos line last year, and we imagine the Level 10 will be hard for them to resist as well

source:news.net.com

The Nvidia 896MB GeForce GTX 275.

Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 275 is slated to become available for purchase on April 14. And while we don't imagine that Nvidia could simply make a new 3D card appear overnight (nor do we necessarily know which vendor actually started taping out its new card first), we find it interesting that mere days after ATI called us for a briefing on the Radeon HD 4890, Nvidia got in touch regarding its own new product

source:news.cnet.com

24-inch aluminum iMac

If you were following me on Twitter last week, you probably know of the disaster that hit me hard Tuesday night: my 24-inch aluminum iMac, sporting a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, failed.
I quickly determined that it was a hard-drive failure. I tried running Disk Utility off my Leopard install disc to repair it. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I then tried repairing the invalid sibling linkand invalid node structures. Once again, I failed.
Remembering that I also failed to pay for AppleCare, I decided that I needed to find a way to salvage my hard drive. So I tried connecting my iMac to my MacBook through a FireWire cable to get the contents off of it. That didn't work.
At this point, it seemed that I was out of options. I determined that it definitely was my hard drive that failed on me, so I could still use my iMac with a new hard drive, but there was one catch: removing the hard drive and replacing it would be extremely difficult, since unlike most other computers, opening the case with a few screws and popping out the hard drive was impossible with my iMac.
Believe it or not, that 24-inch aluminum iMac has only one screw on it, and it only gives you access to the RAM. To access the hard drive, I had no other option but to crack open my beautiful 24-inch iMac with the aid of suction cups. And I decided to share my experience with you.
Here's my step-by-step guide on how to crack open your iMac and replace your hard drive.

source:news.net.com

ATI Radeon HD 4770 3D

With a new 40-nanometer manufacturing process behind it, AMD announced the ATI Radeon HD 4770 3D graphics chip this morning. Available now on 3D cards starting at $109 (before a $10 online rebate), the Radeon HD 4770 is the first 3D chip built on the 40-nanometer process, which allows for faster, more power-efficient hardware than AMD's previous 55nm chips.

The various enthusiast review sites found the 512MB Radeon HD 4770 fast enough to play most current games at lower resolutions and image quality settings. Think 1,680 x 1,050 or lower and with little-to-no anti-aliasing. The Radeon HD 4770 also outpaced Nvidia's $95 GeForce 9800 GT on almost every test, and competed well with the approximately $130 Geforce 250 GTS (aka the GeForce 9800 GTX+). Its power consumption seems to stand out mostly under load, but its idle results showed little benefit.
If this new card delivers on performance, we still find it interesting that the boxed versions of the card from Gigabyte, Sapphire, and Powercolor each have a bulky fan bolted onto the chip. Each card will thus require the space of two expansion card slots inside a desktop (affectionately referred to as "double-wides").Traditionally, $99 cards have been single-slot designs, making them perfect for adding to smaller desktops or PCs with several other expansion cards. It seems that with the decline of dedicated sound cards, the 3D graphics card is making a PC land grab.
We hope to be able to get to a review of the Radeon HD 4770 (along with the other new 3D cards and CPUs we've missed), but we have a lab full of desktops at the moment, and more on the way. Until we clear the decks (August?), we suggest you check out the following enthusiast sites for in-depth reviews of AMD's new card

source:news.cnet.com

intel core i7 920 chip

We've seen the Core i7 920 chip overclocked successfully. A chip bumped up to 3.88GHz in a system from AVADirect passed an overnight Prime95 run last week with no throttling, and at reasonable temperatures. That it's possible to squeeze $700 worth of performance from a $250 CPU is exciting for you and for your customers. However, as should be obvious, overclocking a CPU shouldn't come at the expense of system stability.
Call us foolish optimists, but we won't name names of the systems that failed because both of you had plausible explanations. The blue-screened desktop had been shipped multiple times to multiple review outlets. Neither shipping nor reviewing is a particularly gentle process.
The PC that throttled down came with what you told us was an outdated BIOS. You're not selling this PC yet, so we're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. We look forward to trying out the new BIOS you said you'd e-mail us.
So, PC Industry, consider yourself on notice. We weren't too concerned about your previous overclocking attempts that went 10 or 20 percent above stock. Now that you're aspiring to 50 percent performance gains, we're going to require two things:
You must acknowledge on your Web site that you offer CPU overclocking, and that the speeds you can achieve will vary from chip to chip. Most of you already do this.
Your overclocked PC must be stable enough to survive a 24-hour run of Prime95 in our lab.
If you fail to declare that you overclock and the limits thereof on your Web site, we will decline to review your PC above its stock component settings. If you send it to us anyway, we can send it back or clock it down, your call. We'll take failure to complete Prime95 on a case-by-case basis. Repeated failure will very likely result in a public reprimand.

source:news.cnet.com

FIRST SSD-RIPPING NAS DEVICE

network attached storage devices this week--the Statement series--in solid-state drive and hard-disk drive formats. The RipNAS Statement is purported as the first CD ripping NAS device to come equipped with the former.
Based on the Windows Home Server OS and housed in a silver aluminum casing (designed to eliminate noise pollution), the Statement is capable of CD ripping, media streaming, and networked storage on either the 500GB SSD configuration (2 x 250GB SSDs) or the 3TB HDD configuration (2 x 1.5TB HDDs). The entire case measures 10 x 43 x 38 cm and is powered by a dual-core Atom CPU, has 2GBs of memory, and 4 USB ports.
It looks like the UK will get first dibs on the RipNAS Statement SSD and HDD for now, but no pricing information has been announced, nor the date it will be available in the U.S.

source:news.cnet.com

USB 2.0 microSD Card Reader

Meritline.com offers this USB 2.0 microSD Card Reader in a random color for $3.99. Apply coupon code "MLC4003172" to chop it to $1.49. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we could find for such an item. Deal ends May 16.

source:dealnews.com

Cables Unlimited eSATA / USB Hard Drive Docking Station

offers the Cables Unlimited eSATA / USB 2.0 Serial ATA Hard Drive Docking Station model no. USB-2155, for $24.99 with free shipping. That's the lowest total price we've seen by $21. This docking station connects all 2.5" or 3.5" SATA hard drives, up to 1TB, to a PC. It also features a built-in USB 2.0 hub and memory card reader.

source:computerdeals.com

Asus P6T Socket 1366 Intel X58 + ICH10R Chipset CrossfireX / 3-Way SLI Dual-Channel Triple-Channel DDR3 2000/1800/1600(O.C,)/1333/1066Mhz 3x PCI-Expre

Product Specifications
CPU
Intel ® Socket 1366 Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition/Core™ i7 Processor/
Supports Intel® Dynamic Speed Technology
Chipset
Intel® X58 / ICH10R
System Bus
Up to 6400 MT/s
Memory
6 x DIMM, Max. 12 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)*/1866(O.C.)*/1800(O.C.)*/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 Memory
Triple channel memory architecture
Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
*Hyper DIMM support is subject to the physical characteristics of individual CPUs.
*Refer to www.asus.com or this user manual for the Memory QVL(Qualified Vendors Lidts).
Expansion Slots
3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x16/x4 mode)
1 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI
Multi-GPU Support
Supports NVIDIA® 3-Way SLI™ Technology*
Supports ATI® Quad-GPU CrossFireX? Technology
Storage
Southbridge
6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports
Intel Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10
JMicron? JMB363 PATA and SATA controller
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices
1 xExternal SATA 3Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)
JMicron® JMB322 (Drive Xpert technology)
- 2 x SATA 3Gb/s
- Supports EZ Backup and Super Speed functions
LAN
Realtek® 8111C PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2
Audio
Realtek® ALC1200 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O
ASUS Noise Filter
Support Jack-Sensing, Enumeration, Multi-streaming and Jack-Retasking
IEEE 1394
VIA® VT6315N controller supports 2 x 1394a ports (one at mid-board; one at back panel)
USB
12 USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
ASUS Unique Features
ASUS Exclusive Features:
- ASUS TurboV
- ASUS 8+2 Phase Power Design
- Express Gate
ASUS Power Saving Solution
- ASUS EPU-6 Engine
- ASUS AI Nap
ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution:
- ASUS Fanless Design: Heat-pipe solution
- ASUS Fanless Design: Stack Cool 2
- ASUS Fan Xpert
ASUS Crystal Sound:
- ASUS Noise Filter
ASUS EZ DIY:
- ASUS Q-Shield
- ASUS Q-Connector
- ASUS O.C. Profile
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
- ASUS EZ Flash 2
Overclocking Features
ASUS TurboV utility
Precision Tweaker2:
- vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.00625V increment
- vCPU PLL: 36-step reference voltage control
- vDRAM Bus: 49-step DRAM voltage control
- vChipset(N.B.): 31-step chipset voltage control
- vNB-PCIe: 65-step chipset-PCIe voltage control
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
- Internal Base Clock tuning from 100MHz up to 500MHz at 1MHz increment
- PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to180MHz at 1MHz increment
Overclocking Protection:
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features
Multi-language BIOS
ASUS MyLogo 2
Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x External SATA
2 x S/PDIF Out ( 1xCoaxial & 1xOptical )
1 x IEEE 1394a
1 x LAN(RJ45) port
6 x USB 2.0/1.1
8 -Channel Audio I/O
1 x PS/2 Keyboard (Purple)
1 x PS/2 mouse port (Green)
Internal I/O Connectors
3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
1 x Floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector
6 x SATA connectors
1 x IEEE 1394a connector
1 x CPU Fan connector
2 x Chassis Fan connector
1 x Power Fan connector
2 x Drive Xpert SATA connectors (orange and white)
1 x S/PDIF Out connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
24-pin ATX Power connector
CD audio in
Front panel audio connector
Chassis Intrusion connector
System Panel (Q-Connector)
1 x Power on switch
1 x Reset switch
BIOS
16 Mb Flash ROM
AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
Manageability
WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME,PXE
Accessories
User's manual
1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
4 x SATA cable
2 in 1 Q-connector
ASUS Q-Shield
1 x ASUS 3-Way SLI bridge connector
1 x ASUS SLI bridge connector
Support Disc
Drivers
ASUS PC Probe II
ASUS AI Suite
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
ASUS Update
Image-Editing Suite
Form Factor
ATX Form Factor
12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )

source:canadacomputers.com

ASUS VH242H

The VH242H actually uses a 23.6-inch panel with a maximum resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 and a 16:9 aspect ratio, which means you can watch Blu-ray movies in their native format. The panel, with its nonreflective, antiglare finish, is housed in a black cabinet and framed by a shiny black bezel with beveled edges that gives it a clean, sleek appearance. A matching round base supports the screen and provides 25 degrees of tilt maneuverability (5 forward, 20 backward), but height, swivel, and pivot adjustments are not supported.
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346114,00.asp

A silver logo is embedded in the center of the lower bezel, and there are five function buttons and a power switch at the right. The use of gray lettering against the black background makes the labeling difficult to read in low light, but there's no mistaking the orange power button, which uses a tiny LED to indicate power-on (blue) and standby (amber) status. Four of the buttons act as hot keys for adjusting brightness and volume levels, selecting an input source, and toggling through the five "Splendid" viewing modes (Game, Night View, Scenery, Theater, and Standard). Each "Splendid" mode offers preset brightness, contrast, and color-saturation levels that are optimized for specific applications. The Menu button takes you into the on-screen display (OSD), where you can further fine-tune image settings by adjusting color temperature, skin tones, picture sharpness, and saturation levels. You can also enable the ASCR (ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio) feature, which boosts the contrast ratio from 1,000:1 to 20,000:1. I found the picture was a bit too bright with the ASCR enabled and preferred the Standard "Splendid" viewing mode over the other four presets.
At the rear of the cabinet are VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports, as well an audio input for the integrated speakers, an S/PDIF audio output, and a headphone jack, which is a nice addition but would be easier to reach if it were mounted on the side or front bezel. I'd love to see a few USB ports as well, but given this monitor's low price I can't complain too much. The 2-watt speakers are clear and fairly loud, but like most embedded speakers they could use a bass boost to fill out the sound a bit. Although DVI, VGA, and audio cables are included in the box, you'll have to supply your own HDMI cable, which I find annoying. HDMI cables are now cheap enough to be included with all HDMI-enabled monitors. On the plus side, ASUS covers the VH242H with a generous three-year parts, labor, and backlight warranty.
The H242H did a fantastic job of displaying HD content in 1080p. I watched a Blu-ray disc of Resident Evil: Extinction in its entirety and was impressed with the panel's motion-handling performance and overall image quality. Colors were bold without appearing oversaturated, and skin tones were spot-on. I also played a few rounds of Burnout Paradise while hooked up to my PS3 console and was equally impressed. Game play was smooth, and there was no motion blur, ghosting, or artifacts.
Back at my PC, I ran my usual array of DisplayMate tests on the VH242H and observed weakness at the high end of the grayscale, a flaw the H242H shares with the Acer H233H. Although the grayscale error wasn't serious enough to knock light colors out of whack, it did result in a slight loss of detail on my test photo and made it impossible to distinguish between the two lightest shades of gray on the 64-Step Grayscale test. Dark grayscale performance was much better, however. Every dark gray level of the 64-Step Grayscale test was well defined and scaled evenly to the darkest shade. The Acer H233H had trouble with this portion of the test, but both monitors were able to display small text clearly and legibly, even down to the smallest font (5.3 points).
The ASUS H242H is a midsize HD display offered at a price that won't empty your wallet, and its performance will satisfy most die-hard gamers and video fans. There are better-performing monitors out there, such as the which comes with a built-in USB hub and a very flexible stand, but that will cost you around $130 more, and it can't handle games and movies as well as the H242H

source:www.pcmag.com

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Boost your system performance with this 4GB (2x2GB) kit from G.Skill. This PC2-8500 kit will have your system screaming in no time. The included heat spreaders will keep your memory cool even when you're running your system flat out. Tested and evaluated beyond most peoples' skills at tweaking, maybe you can be the one to push it to its 64-bit best! Rated at CL 5-5-5-15 standard timings, you'll find it hard to do better than G.Skill has managed to design for you!

AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition

On the surface, it may seem like an odd move for AMD to celebrate 40 years in business (and 10 years of Athlon processors) by releasing a CPU based on previous-generation technology that can’t compete with cutting-edge offerings from Intel. Still, that’s exactly what the company has done, asking customers to "Celebrate the AMD and Athlon anniversaries with an Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition," a dual-core processor clocked at 2.8GHz and priced at $69 at its debut.
Look closer, though, and the move makes a bit more sense. AMD/ATI has distinguished itself recently by focusing on the price/performance "sweet spot," where overall value matters more than absolute high-end performance. The recently announced video card is a prime example, offering up forward-looking innovations at a budget price. Likewise, the Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition is a capable processor, with some overclocking room and enough muscle for everyday computing and even gaming (with the help of a capable graphics card). Even though its old-school architecture is limiting, and it offers only the smallest of speed bumps over last December's 2.7GHz it's a good value for the price.
Like all Black Edition processors, the Athlon X2 7850 comes with an unlocked multiplier, easing overclocking, and AMD's Beta software makes the process so simple, even relative novices should be able to squeeze out a bit more performance. Just like the slightly slower 7750, the Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition is built using older 65nm technology, supports the Socket AM2+ CPU interface, and features 1MB of combined L2 cache. There’s really nothing new about the 7850 other than the 100MHz speed increase over the 7750, which is hardly enough for a noticeable performance boost. So if you’re really looking to save on a PC build, you could step down to the 7750 and spend the extra money bumping up your video card.
And considering the disparity in cost, the difference in test scores is actually surprisingly minimal.
The only test in which the Intel chip trounced the Athlon was our Sony Vegas 8 MPEG-2 rendering test. Our test system with the Intel CPU took just 6 minutes and 24 seconds to render our MPEG-2 test file, compared with the 9 minutes and 10 seconds it took the 7850. In Futuremark's PCMark05, the Athlon X2 7850 scored 6,740, versus the Intel E8400’s 7,023, and in Cinebench 10, the Athlon scored a 4,777, versus the Core 2 Duo’s 6,023. While those scores are notably different, the difference isn't huge considering the $100 price gap, which showcases the AMD CPU’s overall value. And these scores, while by no means speedy, are perfectly acceptable for most common computing tasks, and even gaming, considering that today’s games lean very heavily on the graphics processor. In fact, when we swapped out a Phenom II X3 in our test system (which also includes an ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card), we didn’t see any subjective difference in game performance.

source:http://computershopper.com/