Darkhorse SSD brand kicks it up a notch

WE MUST confess we hadn't heard of Photofast and their G-Monster V2 128GB SSD, but OCaholic apparently has. You don't know what's under the bonnet, but it's challenging Intel's X25-m directly.

Even though Windows 7 is a fair few months away, PC Perps benchmarked Nvidia and AMD's graphics cards with the current crop of Win7 beta drivers.

New CPUs bring along new cooling ideas. Legion Hardware is looking at the new Asus Triton 81 CPU cooler. Average results across the board and a bit noisy to boot.

Scythe, the Japanese manufacturer of high-end CPU coolers, has released the Mugen 2, a massive lumbering tower of aluminium fins with the cooling power of a small fridge.

Electrobeans in Germany has a review of the Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Pro, and even though our German skills still suck, Google does a good enough job of translating it. Bit on the expensive side, it seems.

Guru of 3D is presenting its monthly Rig of the Month feature where you can see what the fans have been up to. This month it's Mark Doney's 15 minutes of glory.

Benchmark Reviews has a Palit GTX 260 Sonic 216SP graphics card in the oven. You pay top dollar for this card and get shortchanged on some aspects, but it delivers some serious performance.

The Hardware Canucks have a go at the OCZ Apex series SSDs. The Apex pumps out data at 170MB/s (average read speeds) and writing at 86MB/s. The price is a bit intimidating, though...

TweakTown scared up a Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ CPU cooler. Titan has never been an enthusiast brand, despite its many attempts, but this piece of kit seems to have turned the tables on the competition.

Madshrimps has a volt modding project involving a 9500GT, a 50k Ohm resistor and some intense overclocking. How about 9.5K marks in 3DMark 06?

Danish PSU brand, Chill Innovation, markets the Chill Innovation CP-700M. This PSU lacks many of the finer details we've become accustomed to, but excels at keeping things pretty hush-hush, says Silent PC Review.

Apple's iMac 24-inch 2009 Edition is on test at Thrusting Reviews. The Mac makeover has delivered some improvements to the graphics side of things and refined the looks, very much like the MacBooks. Andy gave it a thumbs-up.

Hot Hardware is trying out Linksys' new Cisco Media Hub, a two-bay NAS with some new media management software. Daniel thinks the software is quite buggy and needs a major overhaul... oh, it's quite expensive too.

Fink Computers has a Lenovo ThinkPad W700s, 17-inch DTR laptop workstation. Actually this isn't for the faint of heart, the W700s starts at $3,300, but includes Quadro FX 3700 graphics, a WACOM digitizer and a spec list to shame many desktops.

Bjorn 3D has an MSI 790GX-G65 AM3 mobo on the bench. It's a budget board, but it still delivers some really great features. The only negative point seems to be the DDR3 slots nudging the CPU slot.

Hot Hardware has an Asus Xonar Essence STX Headphone Amp Card. The card is what it says: targeted at audiophile who use serious ear-wear. It'll blow you away (well, at least your wallet).

Tech Reviews in the UK has an Antec Fusion Remote Max case. This HTPC case is massive but it oozes good looks and functionality.

CPU3D is testing a TwinTech Geforce GTS 250 XT OC Edition. Considering what it is, it does benefit from the extra-silent cooling and factory overclock, still... flash your GTX+ and you've got the same result.

Big Bruin has a WD Caviar Green 2TB drive in the shop. It's worth buying for bragging rights alone, but the drive also consumes less power than most... not too shabby.

PureOC has some high-end stuff from Crucial, the Ballistix Tracer 3x2GB DDR3-1600. It isn't everyday that you see OCZ taking a pounding, so give it a look.

If you want to build a low-footprint PC, Intel sells its DG45FC mini-ITX Atom motherboards quite cheap. Bit Tech has a review. Use that GMA Booster software to give it a kick in the shins.

13.3-inch is about as small as you go without compromising performance and features. Asus' F6Ve laptop, on test at Notebook Review, seems to fit the bill.

Legit Reviews is testing the WD Scorpio Blue 500GB notebook HDD. You can see that WD has been doing some serious work on these drives, they just obliterate the competition.

Laptop Mag has a new tidbit from Duracell, the PowerSource Mobile 100, from which you can power up several devices or use as an inverter in your car to power an auto PC, for example. Good stuff.

ITPro tested another spawn of the Asus Eee factory, the 1000HE. This one sports an awfully larger battery which Asus claims will give you all-day computing... or almost.

Hardware Logic has a Thermaltake V9 mid-tower case. It's a great tool-less unit the features great airflow, in particular the 230mm monster fan on top...

Joel at ExtremeTech has upped an article that sounds useful. It's the 30 tips on upgrading a motherboard wotsit. µ