MAY 2012 | VOL 12 ISSUE 05

62
Kitted Out
Memory Buyer’s Guide

74
Immerse Your Ears
Speaker & Headset Buyer’s Guide

Copyright 2012 by Sandhills Publishing Company. CPU Computer Power User is a registered trademark of Sandhills Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in
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Did you find the hidden CPU logo on our cover? Turn the page to find the answer.
 MAY 2012 | VOL 12 ISSUE 05

Frontside
8 What’s Happening
16 Digital Economy

Heavy Gear 26
Thermaltake Level 10
GTS Snow Edition
17 Solid-State Soirée
We Throw A Party For Some Classy SSDs
24 AMD Radeon HD 7950
26 Thermaltake Level 10 GTS Snow Edition
28 Zalman Z11 Plus
29 SteelSeries 7H Fnatic Edition
30 JETNAS JET504
32 Aerocool Strike-X One
33 Corsair Obsidian Series 550D
34 Diablotek U310 Keyboard PC

29
36 MSI Interceptor Series Stealth
37 In Win GreenMe 750W
38 LEPA G1600-MA
40 By The Beard Of Zeus!
SteelSeries 7H
CyberPowerPC Zeus Thunder
Fnatic Edition
42 Coming Attractions
Everything New In PC Hardware

Hard Hat Area

PC MODDER
44 Mad Reader Mod
EpiDemic
46 PDXLAN 19
Frags, Mods & Woots

48 Advanced Q&A Corner

52 X-ray Vision: Antec HCP-1000 Platinum PSU
34
Diablotek U310
Keyboard PC
Power Supply Trifecta: Powerful, Quiet & Efficient
56 White Paper: AMD Radeon HD 7970
New Architecture, 28nm Manufacturing Process
Highlight AMD’s Latest GPU

37
In Win GreenMe
750W
 MAY 2012 | VOL 12 ISSUE 05

Loading Zone
90 The Bleeding Edge Of Software
Inside The World Of Betas
91 Up To Speed
Upgrades That’ll Keep You Humming Along
92 Firefox 10
93 Siber Systems GoodSync 9
94 Google Chrome 17
UVViewSoft Universal Viewer Pro 6.4.5
95 Software Tips & Projects
Windows 7 Parting Shots

Digital Living
97 At Your Leisure
PC & Console Games & Gear
102 Programing Is Fundamental
Codecademy Brings Coding To The Masses

What’s Cooking
105 Technically Speaking
An Interview With SAPPHRE
Technology’s Bill Donnelly
92
97
Back Door
110 Q&A With Ryan Petersen
OCZ’s Founder & CEO On The Solid State
Of Solid-State

Infinite Loops
Strange stats and other oddball items from Gotcha.
computing’s periphery 96 Here it is.

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 OWC Launches SSD Firmware Update
Other World Computing recently announced that it has released a
new firmware version (MP5.0.1) that will provide users of OWC’s
SandForce-powered Mercury SSDs with improved performance
and stability when used with either PCs or Macs. And thanks to
OWC’s proprietary GUI-equipped firmware update utility, getting
and applying the new firmware will be a snap. “We recognized
SSDs would be an ever-evolving product, so we made it our
priority to ensure users of OWC Mercury-brand SSDs would
ENERMAX Holding It Down immediately be able to utilize the benefit from any hardware
On The Audio Tip and/or firmware updates,” says OWC founder and CEO Larry
O’Connor. “As such, this latest firmware update is quick, easy, and
When you hear the name “ENERMAX,” what do you think
performed with no guesswork or doubt via the only point-and-
of first? If you’re like us, you probably either think of cases
click Mac-friendly updater, as well as standard upgrade packages for
(like the Fulmo GT) or power supplies (like the company’s
Windows and Linux operating system users.” ■
Platimax-series units), two areas where ENERMAX excels.
But the company isn’t resting on its laurels; a few weeks
ago, it announced that it would enter the PC audio market
with the DreamBass Genie, an external USB-connected
audio output device that combines VIA chips and custom
algorithms to boost your bass and produce clearer, better-
separated sound in general through its integrated headphone
jack. The unit is also an amplifier and gives you better mic
controls through its mic jack, a nice feature for users who
like to use their PCs for recording audio. ENERMAX is
offering the unit in two variations. DreamBass AP001,
which is the unit by itself, will sell for just over $40;
DreamBass AP001E, which comes with a set of earphones,
will retail for just over $50. ■

WATCHING THE CHIPS FALL

CPU Released Original Price Last Month’s Price Online Retail Price*
Here is the pricing AMD FX-8150 Black Edition Eight-Core 10/12/2011 $245** $249.99 $249.99
information for AMD FX-8120 Black Edition Eight-Core 10/12/2011 $205** $199.99 $189.99
various AMD and AMD FX-6100 Black Edition Six-Core 10/12/2011 $165** $149.99 $149.99
AMD A8-3870K Black Edition Quad-Core 12/20/2011 $135** $139.99 $139.99
Intel CPUs.
AMD A8-3850 Quad-Core 7/3/2011 $135** $129.99 $129.99
AMD A6-3670K Black Edition Quad-Core 12/20/2011 $115** $119.99 $109.99
AMD A6-3650 Quad-Core 7/3/2011 $115** $109.99 $109.99
AMD FX-4100 Quad-core 10/12/2011 $115** $109.99 $109.99
Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition 11/14/2011 $990** $1,049.99 $1,049.99
Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition 2/14/2011 $999** $1,029.99 $1,029.99
Intel Core i7-3930K 11/14/2011 $555** $599.99 $599.99
Intel Core i7-2700K 10/24/2011 $332** $369.99 $339.99
Intel Core i7-2600K 1/9/2011 $317** $329.99 $324.99
Intel Core i7-2600 1/9/2011 $294** $299.99 $299.99
Intel Core i7-3820 2/13/2012 $285** $319.99 $319.99
* As of March 2012 Intel Core i5-2550K 2/8/2012 $225** $239.99 $229.99
Intel Core i5-2500K 1/9/2011 $216** $224.99 $224.99
** Manufacturer’s Intel Core i5-2500 1/9/2011 $205** $209.99 $209.99
estimated price Intel Core i3-2130 9/4/2011 $138** $149.99 $149.99
per 1,000
Intel Core i3-2120 2/20/2011 $138** $127.99 $127.99

8 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

Super Talent Announces New RDIMMs
San Jose-based Super Talent has added a new product line to because many server applications depend on high levels of
its already massive lineup, which includes DRAM modules, stability as well as peak performance, the new lines include
SSDs, and flash memory storage devices. The company has only registered memory modules. These modules operate
begun offering two new lines of dual- and quad-rank, quad- efficiently at 1.5V and clock speeds of 1,333MHz (the
channel RDIMMs for use in servers. The new memory lines 8GB dual-rank modules, part number W13RB8G4S) or
are specially designed to work with new servers that can 1,066MHz (16GB quad-rank modules, part number
support 16-core processors and up to 256GB of RAM, and W10RC16G4S) and are available now. ■

Gigabyte’s 7-Series Boards

Will Be Their Toughest Yet
Back in June 2006, Gigabyte introduced
its Ultra Durable motherboard technology
with the addition of all solid capacitors to
its boards. Since that time, the company
has continued to seek out and add new
durability tech to its board lineup,
such as ferrite core chokes, low-RDS
MOSFETs, 2x copper PCBs, and so on.
Now, as Gigabyte prepares to reveal its
7-series boards, the company has unveiled
the next generation of toughness: Ultra
Durable 4. Gigabyte’s 7-series boards will
CyberPowerPC include an impressive array of what it
calls “lifespan-enhancing” tech, including
Adds New Radeons To Its Lineup all the features from previous generations
CyberPowerPC recently began shipping gaming PCs across its Gamer plus humidity protection (in the form
Infinity, Gamer Ultra, Gamer Xtreme, Fang, and Zeus series with AMD’s of a new Glass Fabric PCB tech that
new Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and 7850 GPUs. These GPUs repels moisture), electrostatic protection
feature AMD’s GCN architecture, which incorporates the industry’s (three times the electrostatic discharge
first 28nm GPU design and full DirectX 11 support. At press time, resistance of standard ICs), power failure
CyberPower systems equipped with the new GPUs started at $799 and protection (combining anti-surge IC tech
included PCI Express 3.0 support, AMD App Acceleration, AMD’s with Gigabyte’s DualBIOS feature, which
ZeroCore Power technology, and support for AMD Eyefinity. As always, automatically refreshes your BIOS in the
CyberPowerPC customers also have the option to add other advanced event of a power outage), high-temperature
features to their orders, as well, including CyberPowerPC’s Advanced protection, and more. For more information
Hydro Liquid Cooling kit, solid-state drives, Blu-ray drives, gaming about Gigabyte’s 7-series boards and
peripherals, and more. For more information on CyberPowerPC’s latest UD4 technologies, visit www.gigabyte.us/
offerings, visit www.cyberpowerpc.com or call 800-707-0393. ■ microsite/306/7-series.html. ■

CPU / May 2012 9

 netTALK Duo Offers Another Telco Alternative
There are a number of alternatives to traditional phone service option; if all you need is the means to make local and long-
on the market today, devices that use Internet telephony to distance calls throughout the United States and Canada, you
bypass the old-school switched networks that used to be the can buy the DUO for $49.95 (this includes the first year
only way to facilitate phone service. Some are dirt cheap up of service) and pay $29.95 per year after that for continued
front with modest monthly call plan fees, while other devices service. For $70 per year, you can add calls to Puerto Rico and
cost a couple hundred dollars to start but don’t charge any fees Mexico, and for $120 per year you get international calling to
down the road. The netTALK DUO is a sort of intermediate 60 countries. The netTALK DUO provides voicemail service,
caller ID, 3-way calling, 411, e911, and live tech support seven
days a week. In some cases, you can even keep your current
number (at press time, netTALK was offering this service free
for a limited time), and netTALK DUO connects directly to
your router and doesn’t require your PC to be on to operate. ■

Ha rdware Mol e

MSI Announces The Latest

Lightning Graphics Card
MSI has revealed that the next card to get the company’s
“Lightning” moniker will be a new variant of the Radeon
HD 7970. Based on what we’d seen from Lightning cards
in the past, we knew that this would be considerably more ARCTIC Unveils New 4-Port
than a new set of stickers slapped on a reference card, but in
the case of the R7970, MSI has pulled out all the stops. For Powered USB 2.0 Hub
starters, MSI has done a lot of work on the PCB; the new As much as we all love USB 3.0 (and the idea of USB 3.0),
card has a revamped power control design that emphasizes we know that in truth, most USB-connected devices are
performance, a new digital PWM controller for greater still primarily USB 2.0-compliant. And, of course, for many
stability, and an unlocked BIOS. Another change is more peripherals, USB 2.0’s 480Mbps maximum transfer speed is
overt; MSI equips the R7970 Lightning with its Twin Frozr more than sufficient. Recognizing this, ARCTIC has released
IV custom cooling unit with dual 10cm fans, so that you a new 4-port USB 2.0 hub that will come in handy for
can push the card without undue worry about excess heat. those of us with more USB devices than ports. And because
The Twin Frozr IV unit also has a cool feature called Dust ARCTIC designed the hub with its own external power
Removal Technology; the fans run backward for 30 seconds supply, the USB Hub 2.0 is ideal for charging your power-
after power on to remove any dust that has accumulated on hungry devices such as smartphones, tablets, and cameras.
the R7970’s heatsinks. MSI tells us the card will ship with a ARCTIC covers the USB Hub 2.0 with a two-year limited
suggested retail price of $599.99. ■ warranty and sells it at www.arctic.ac for $9.95. ■

10 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 New MIT Software The Devs Like The Same Games You Do
To Aid In CPU Design The 2012 Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco was
For several years now, CPU manufacturers have also the site of the 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards.
increased the power and speed of their chips by Unlike the film industry’s Academy Awards show, where winners
adding increasing numbers of cores to their designs rarely reflect popular success, the GDCA winners probably won’t
instead of pushing for higher and higher clock come as a surprise to most gamers. Recipients included Game
speeds. The ever-increasing complexity of modern of the Year winner The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (that sounds
CPU architectures means that the accompanying familiar) and Best Debut winner Supergiant Games (for Bastion,
likelihood of running into catastrophic design which also won Best Downloadable Game—this, too, mirrors
problems increases, as well, but as is often the CPU’s picks). Valve’s excellent Portal 2, which CPU awarded
case, MIT has a solution to the problem. An MIT Best Multiplayer Game of the Year, took home Best Audio, Best
group has developed a software simulator called Game Design, and Best Narrative
Hornet that gives chip designers the opportunity to awards; Battlefield 3 won an award
rigorously test the performance of multicore chip for Best Technology; and Uncharted
designs prior to physical manufacturing, and can 3: Drake’s Deception (CPU’s PS3
work in conjunction with programmable hardware Game of the Year) got the nod for
models and other types of software testers to give Best Visual Arts. Warren Spector,
designers a more comprehensive look at how data the director and producer of Deus
will flow through chips containing as many as 1,000 Ex and creator of Epic Mickey, also
cores. Hornet’s cycle-accurate simulations are helpful received a well-deserved Lifetime
in discovering rare, highly specific design flaws; the Achievement Award for his nearly
simulator will likely be a vital tool as chips continue 30 years of groundbreaking work in
to advance in accordance with Moore’s Law. ■ the videogame industry. ■

S o ft w are
S h o rt s
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 Hits The Scene
Corel has released the latest version of its flagship graphics suite, CorelDRAW
Graphics Suite X6. The new suite boasts a number of new features and updates,
including advanced OpenType support, new color tools, native 64-bit and
enhanced multicore support, new website creation tools, and much more.
“Our CorelDRAW community consistently inspires us with their creativity and
versatility,” says Corel Senior Product Manager John Falsetto. “Our members play
a central role in helping us to determine the essential features and enhancements
that will help to accelerate the design process while enabling them to showcase
their true design style.” Applications in the new suite include CorelDRAW X6,
Corel PHOTO-PAINT X6, Corel PowerTRACE X6, Corel CONNECT X6,
Corel CAPTURE X6, and Corel Website Creator X6. The package also ships with
10,000 clipart and images, 1,000 new high-res photos, 1,000 OpenType fonts
(yes, including Helvetica), 2,000 vehicle templates, 350 professionally designed
templates, and 800 frames and patterns. The full version of CorelDRAW Graphics
Suite X6 costs $499, and the upgrade is priced at $199. ■

12 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

my1login Provides Free, Secure
Password Management & More
We’ve seen a number of password management
applications and services spring up in the last few years
as it becomes increasingly common for even casual web
users to accumulate large numbers of online accounts,
each of which requires a password login to maintain Firefox Will Move To
users’ privacy and security. But a new online password
Silent Updating This Year
Google’s Chrome browser has been quietly updating itself
behind the scenes since its initial launch, and Mozilla Technical
Evangelist Robert Nyman posted recently on the hacks.mozilla
.org blog that Firefox will do the same starting sometime
in 2012. “To cater to update fatigue, updates will now be
management service, my1login (www.my1login.com), downloaded and installed silently in the background,” Nyman
goes beyond what many services offer by providing writes. And later in the post, “Silent updates are currently
free password management along with an integrated planned to land in Firefox 12 . . . .” This should be a nice
interface that gives users secure access to their passwords, change from the current update procedure, in which Mozilla
bookmarks, web email, and social networking feeds from releases a new version of the browser every six weeks and you
any Internet-connected device. “Think of my1login as need to stop what you’re doing to update. Version 12 should hit
just like a safety deposit box stored in a bank vault,” says the streets sometime between the mid-March launch of Firefox
Managing Director Mike Newman. “Like the bank, we 11 and the company’s early-June release of Firefox 13. ■
provide you with a secure vault which contains your
locked safety deposit box. We can give you access to the
vault, but unless you have your key then neither we nor
you can unlock and access what’s inside. Your privacy
“Silent updates are
and security is therefore fully protected.” The service is
currently still in beta and offers a Pro upgrade for $2 per currently planned to land
month that includes integration of POP3- and SMTP-
based email, runs without web ads, and more. ■ in Firefox 12 . . . .”

Site S e e i n g
FilmBuffet.com: New Movie Fan Site Integrates Social Media
As FilmBuffet.com CEO Timothy Stevens rightly points movies (or least favorite, as the case may be), and create your
out, movie theaters are great places to see movies, but not own All-Star Cast. The site includes a database of what looks
so great for discussing them. FilmBuffet is a new site (still in to be about 26,000 films, each including a brief synopsis, cast
beta) that is designed to bring movie buffs together to review information, and a Buy button that takes would-be purchasers
and discuss the movies they’ve seen and to share their love of to Amazon.com’s listing of the film. Check the site’s blog
movies in general. You can create an for upcoming release info, read other
account on the site for free, then create members’ reviews, and more. The only
a virtual movie collection, invite friends thing that’s missing is the popcorn. ■
or friend existing members with similar
tastes, rate and/or review your favorite

CPU / May 2012 13

 Job Of The Month
Who would have guessed that you could create a worldwide phenomenon out of making smartphone
snapshots look like washed-out Polaroid snapshots from the 1970s? But as Instagram discovered last Ecommerce
year, if you attach that scheme to a social network over the iPhone, you can attract 27 million users Edition
and be named App of the Year by Apple. And you create what the company understates as “interesting
infrastructure challenges” for its engineers as it now needs to manage what suddenly has become
one of the most popular social media platforms yet created solely on smartphones. Yes, you need tech
chops. But Instagram is just as concerned that you can handle many tasks in its lean operation, like
“debugging network inefficiencies” or “writing full Python classes” or “deploying a new set of boxes on
EC2.” In other words, to recall another legacy technology, the company that revived the aesthetics of
Instamatics and Polaroids needs a computer nerd whose skill set resembles a Swiss Army Knife.

$
161.5

BILLION
instagr.am/about/jobs

Who Is Watching Americans Not U.S. ecommerce spending in 2011

Netflix and Hulu? Ready To Grab Their (comScore)

According to The Nielsen Company, 18-to- Mobile Wallets Yet

$
327

BILLION
34-year-olds (which are now being dubbed
“Generation C” for their high levels of Despite the proliferation of smartphones and
connectivity) account for nearly a third of increased comfort levels with mobile services,
people watching the streaming media services consumers remain wary over using their
phones as payment devices. According to a Projected U.S. ecommerce spending in 2016
Netflix and Hulu from home computers.
(Forrester)
survey of U.S. adults by Radius Global Market
Audience Research, half say that concerns about security

9%
Segment Netflix Hulu and fraud will influence their likelihood to use
Male 43% 41% phones as they might a credit card. And this
is not a knee-jerk response among the late
Female 57% 59% adopters, either. Younger and savvier users are
2 to 17 18% 9% among the most skeptical that mobile wallets Percent of overall U.S. sales revenue
can be secure. “The more the consumers to come from ecommerce by 2016
18 to 34 40% 31%
know about smartphone technology, the (Forrester)
35 to 49 26% 26% more they worry about the security of mobile
transactions,” says Radius Managing Director

59%
50 to 64 13% 23%
Chip Lister. Radius’ research suggests that in
65+ 4% 11% order for mobile payments to get traction, the
Hispanic 16% 11% entire mobile wallet chain (carriers, banks,
hardware providers, and retailers) will need to Share of smartphone owners who used their
White 76% 79% assure consumers that transactions are secure device to access a site or app from one of the
African-American 10% 11% and let them know who among the many five top retailers.
players is accountable. (Nielsen)
Asian/Pacific Islander 3% 3%

Who In The World Is Using Top 5 Facebook Countries Ranked By Users, 2012
U.S. 141.2 million
Facebook and Social Networking? India 68.1 million
According to eMarketer, one out of every five people on
Indonesia 49.1 million
the planet will use a social network this year, and a
quarter of all Earthlings will do so by 2014. Brazil 45.4 million
Mexico 25.6 million

16 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Solid-State Soirée
We Throw A Party For Some Classy SSDs
n most scenarios, we power users ring, we have a veritable buffet line of Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition
I can point to a particular component
upgrade that will yield the biggest
drives to choose from. The market is
teeming with high-end, mainstream,
CPU attached to GIGABYTE’s GA-
X 7 9 - U D 3 m o t h e r b o a rd , 8 G B o f
performance boost. Brand-new and entry-level models; whether you’re Kingston DDR3-2400, two Sparkle
videogame dropping your frame rate to an HDD hanger-on, an early adopter GeForce GTX 580s, and Kingston’s
a single-digit mess? Buy a new graphics looking to upgrade the 60GB SSD 240GB HyperX SSD. Sound familiar?
card. Sluggish H.264 encoding job got that set you back $250 three years It should, because we’re shamelessly
you down? Get a better processor in ago, or your family’s unwilling tech putting our Green Gaming Goblin (see
your rig, stat. Huge Photoshop files support specialist charged with buying page 36 in the April 2012 issue) back
slowing your system to a crawl? Maybe grandpa and grandma their first SSD, to work before it leaves our lair.
it’s time for more RAM. it’s now easier than ever to find the Our previously mentioned torture
If you want to reinvigorate your perfect SSD. To that end, we rounded chamber consists of two benchmarks
PC with an infusion of all-around up a bunch of the latest drives and sent designed to punish storage drives:
energy, it’s tough to beat a solid-state them through our torture chamber, so CrystalDiskMark and AS-SSD. At
drive. Although an SSD might be of you can determine exactly what “the their default settings, both of these
limited help in something like Skyrim, perfect SSD” is for you. benchmarks test with incompressible
for example (maps/levels load faster, A quick note about prices: Some data, which, theoretically, punishes
but you shouldn’t notice a dramatic manufacturers supplied us with an drives more than compressible data.
difference in fps), your system should MSRP. Others clearly quoted us a The idea here is that you’ll get a
feel swifter and snappier. Power users street price. So, although certain SSDs representation of each drive’s worst-
and boutique builders alike have here might look like relative steals, case-scenario performance. We also
taken the hint, because high-end PCs we recommend you do what you were used CrystalDiskMark’s All 0x00 (0
today that don’t have at least one going to do anyway: Swing by your Fill) test, which is a compressible
SSD are an endangered species, if favorite retailer and check out current workload. Many SSD controllers are
not already extinct. And with online prices to get a full picture of the solid- capable of lending a hand, so to speak,
prices creeping down toward a dollar a state landscape. with compressible data, so a drive’s All
gig, recommending SSDs for our less 0x00 (0 Fill) results are very close to its
technically inclined friends and family How We Tested peak performance.
has become a realistic possibility, as well. We started this contest by using These drives were eager to strut
Now that well over a dozen com- a test system as close to the cutting their stuff, so let’s get to it and see how
panies have thrown their hats into the edge as possible. This machine has an well they did.

If you want to reinvigorate your PC with an

infusion of all-around energy, it’s tough to
beat a solid-state drive.

CPU / May 2012 17

 video, and image file format), the is also available) isn’t completely
Force Series GT 240GB should deliver different, but the Marvell 88SS9174
impressive results. storage controller that calls the shots
In 4K random reads and writes, in this SSD stands out in a sea of
both with a queue depth of 1 and SandForce. An even $35 separates this
32, the Force Series GT proved to be drive from the 240GB Force Series GT,
one of the fastest drives of the bunch. but when you consider the cost per GB
Overall, this SSD performed right in ($1.69 and $1.72 per GB for the Force
line with our expectations, which is a Series GT 240GB and Performance
good thing. Series Pro 256GB, respectively),
Corsair gives you a three-year these two drives are effectively the
warranty with the Force Series GT, same price. So, is Corsair hedging its
which is more or less the industry bet with its Performance Series Pro
standard for consumer SSDs these days. 256GB? Let’s find out.
The included adapter to install this T h e Pe r f o r m a n c e S e r i e s Pr o’s
2.5-inch drive in a 3.5-inch bay isn’t a biggest claim to fame, according to
deal maker, but it’s nevertheless handy Corsair, is that you can feed it a plate
to have. of compressible or incompressible
All in all, this is a flashy drive that data and the SSD will devour it at
backs up its good looks with good an identical rate. Obviously, this is
Corsair Force Series GT 240GB performance. potentially an enormous benefit over
If you’ve seen 2011’s “Drive” (kids, get SandForce’s SF-2200 controllers,
your parents’ permission), then you know Force Series GT 240GB w h i c h re q u i re c o m p re s s i b l e d a t a
that Ryan Gosling’s Driver character $404.99 to shine brightest. The Performance
would rather throw a computer down a Corsair S e r i e s P r o u s e s “s u p e r c h a r g e d
flight of stairs than actually use it. But www.corsair.com s y n c h r o n o u s N A N D ,” w h i c h
assuming he liked high-performance PCs translates to Toshiba Toggle NAND.
like he liked high-performance cars (and Theoretically, this NAND has a slight
satin scorpion jackets), there’s no doubt performance advantage over non-
Corsair’s Force Series GT 240GB would Toggle synchronous NAND.
be his SSD of choice. From its Ferrari-red In o u r t e s t s , t h e Pe r f o r m a n c e
shell to its V12 performance, this SSD is Se r i e s Pro l i ve d u p t o C o r s a i r’s
a 2.5-inch supercar. promises. The Performance Series
Like many of the SSDs in this Pro’s CrystalDiskMark Default and
roundup, Corsair uses SandForce’s SF- All 0x00 (0 Fill) results were, for all
2200 series storage processor. With intents and purposes, identical. You’ll
compressible workloads, this SSD notice that all of our SandForce-
will easily saturate the older 3Gbps powered drives took a big hit when
SATA interface, especially with larger faced with incompressible sequential,
sequential and 512KB transfers. 512KB, and QD32 4K random
Thanks to the Force Series GT ’s writes. The Performance Series Pro,
synchronous NAND, you don’t see as on the other hand, didn’t waver, so
much of a dip in performance when it’s no coincidence that it crushes
you hit the SSD with incompressible the competition on write operations
data. Long story short: You’re going to that consist of large chunks of
pay more a Force Series GT than you incompressible data.
will for Corsair’s less expensive Force Note, however, that the Performance
Series 3 SSD of the same capacity, but Series Pro didn’t run the table on the
you’ll make your money back when Corsair Performance Series Pro 256GB rest of the SSDs. It finished just off
it comes to all-around performance. And now for something completely the pace with 4K random writes with
When it comes to files that are already different. Well, Corsair’s Performance a queue depth of 1, and Marvell’s
compressed (virtually every audio, Series Pro 256GB (a 128GB variant controller doesn’t quite give the drive

18 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 the same performance boost with for making exceptionally
compressible data as SandForce’s. Still, reliable SSDs.
the Performance Series Pro has one L a s t y e a r,
more big trick up its sleeve, and that’s In t e l u p d a t e d
its on-drive garbage collection. You its arsenal of
can configure a pair of these SSDs in SSDs with a
a RAID, and they will still execute the couple of new
TRIM command. models, the SSD
Given that this drive has the same 320 Series and the
warranty and 3.5-inch bay adapter as SSD 510 Series. Each of
Corsair’s Force Series GT, performance these drives distinguished
is the deciding factor (like it should itself from the X25-M Kingston HyperX
be). Because of its consistently great in a different way: The
results regardless of workload, we’ll SSD 320 Series drives moved to SSD: I’ll See Your
say that the Performance Series Pro
beats the Force Series GT by a nose.
In t e l’s 2 5 n m N A N D , w h i l e t h e
S S D 5 1 0 Se r i e s f e a t u re d 6 G b p s
3K AndRaise You 2K
Truthfully, you can’t go wrong with SATA support and new controller, If you’ve been following CPU for the last
either one. courtesy of Marvell. Now, with the few months, then you’ve already had
SSD 520 Series, Intel shows us that some exposure to Kingston’s HyperX
Performance Series Pro 256GB it has a few new tricks up its sleeves. SSDs. We’ve featured the 240GB HyperX
$439.99 In addition to using 25nm compute- SSD in two of our last three CPU System
Corsair quality NAND, the 6Gbps 520 Series Workshop builds (see page 51 in the
www.corsair.com “Cherryville” SSDs feature a first September 2011 issue and page 42 in the
for Intel: a SandForce April 2012 issue), and for good reason:
s t o r a g e c o n t r o l l e r. the drive flat-out hauls. Now along comes
( A re t h o s e 5 5 0 M B p s the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD, and you
sequential read and suddenly have a decision to make.
500MBps sequential
write numbers making The HyperX SSD that Kingston introduced
sense now?) last year uses NAND flash rated for 5,000
Of course, SandForce’s P/E (program/erase) cycles, compared to
SF-2281 has been around the HyperX 3K SSD, which, as you might
for a while now, so why expect has NAND rated for 3,000 P/E
are we just now seeing it cycles. For the uninitiated, once the NAND
in an Intel drive? As we chips hit their rated limit, they become
said above, reliability is unreliable at best.
huge for Intel, and by
taking its time internally Given that the performance numbers of
Intel SSD 520 Series 120GB testing and validating SandForce’s the 5K HyperX SSD and the 3K HyperX
Intel is no stranger to SSDs. As controller, Intel has created another SSD are essentially identical, in practice,
one of the first companies to release class of solid-state drives that is built the 5K HyperX SSD is more than likely
solid-state drives that used much more to last. Look no further than the SSD worth the extra investment if you intend
affordable MLC NAND, Intel attracted 520 Series’ five-year warranty, which on performing a lot of write operations to
legions of eager enthusiasts who didn’t easily surpasses the other drives in this the drive on a daily basis. It’s something
have the desire or deep pockets to buy month’s roundup. power users who are heavily involved in
ultra-fast, but ultra-expensive, SSDs As the only 120GB drive in a content creation could take advantage of.
that used SLC NAND. Intel’s X25-M field of 240GB units, the SSD 520 Gamers and enthusiasts whose SSD use
drives were some of the most popular Series couldn’t quite match its more consists primary of read operations, which
around, and we’re guessing a good capacious opponents in a few of our don’t count against NAND’s P/E cycles, will
many of those stalwart warriors of tests. Generally speaking, the SSD 520 likely find that the 3K HyperX SSD gives
storage are still in service today. After Series drive matched the other SSDs them all of the performance of the 5K
all, Intel has also earned a reputation in read performance, but it trailed HyperX SSD at a reduced price.

20 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

in sequential and 512KB writes that NAND is rated for 5,000 P/E
used incompressible data. However, c yc l e s , c o m p a r e d t o t h e
it’s crucial that you know the 120GB HyperX 3K SSD’s 3,000
SSD 520 Series performed exactly as it P/E cycles. (Any guesses
should. Had we tested a 240GB SSD where the “3K” label
520 Series drive, which benefits from comes from?) The
additional memory channels, there’s no upshot is that last year’s
doubt its overall performance would’ve HyperX SSD will theoretically
been the same as the other SF-2281- have a considerably longer life span
powered SSDs. than the HyperX 3K SSD. Now, it’s
Good things come to those who impossible to tell you that 3,000 P/E Other World
wait. Intel has rewarded you with a cycles guarantees that the drive will Computing
kickin’ drive backed by a five-year work for a given number of years; Mercury Electra 6G 240GB
warranty. everyone uses their drives differently. Last month, we gave you your first
That being said, it’s highly unlikely taste of an Other World Computing
SSD 520 Series 120GB that you will burn out the drive ahead offering, the Mercury EXTREME Pro
$199 of your upgrade schedule. Instead, 6G. (See page 26 in the April 2012
Intel focus on the fact that, with this issue.) This speedy little gremlin did
www.intel.com different NAND, Kingston is able to well for itself and gave us a look at a
deliver an SSD that company that is arguably primarily
is 20% less expensive known for its Mac-related wares. We
than the 2011 HyperX said it last month and will say it again
SSD. That should get now: If you’re looking for a new solid-
your attention. state drive, you need to have OWC on
Now that we have your radar.
your attention, let’s For this roundup, OWC’s contender
turn to performance. is the Mercury Electra 6G 240GB,
It would be one thing a c l o s e re l a t i v e o f t h e Me r c u r y
if the HyperX 3K SSD EXTREME Pro 6G. These are both
saved you a few dollars SandForce-equipped SSDs, and both
at the cost of reduced can theoretically achieve the same
performance, but our throughput. But, as we’ve learned in
b e n c h m a rk s s h owe d the past, there’s more than meets the
that this new drive is eye. The Mercury Electra 6G 240GB
at least as potent as rings up $100 less than the Mercury
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 240GB the 2011 HyperX SSD. In the few EXTREME Pro 6G 240GB because
If ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? instances that the HyperX 3K SSD the former uses asynchronous NAND,
Kingston got the memo, because its was “slower” than its predecessor, the which is cheaper but also slower.
new HyperX 3K SSD is extremely results were so close that the HyperX Helpfully, OWC supplies you with
similar to last year’s HyperX SSD. The 3K SSD could have easily come out the Electra 6G’s performance with
HyperX 3K SSD’s most noticeable on top in every test had we retested incompressible data: 208MBps reads
difference is its shell. Here, Kingston both drives. and 235MBps writes. Compare this
trades its traditional HyperX blue Retail units of the HyperX 3K SSD to the EXTREME Pro 6G’s 479MBps
accents for touches of black. Other weren’t available at the time of this reads and 282MBps writes, and you’ll
than that, the specs between these writing, but if Kingston hits its price understand the EXTREME Pro 6G’s
HyperX SSDs are identical in so target for these new drives, it has a real price premium.
many places that we’d forgive you if winner on its hands. In our tests, the Electra 6G actually
you came to the conclusion that the produced better results than OWC’s
HyperX 3K SSD is the 2011 HyperX HyperX 3K SSD 240GB own internal data, which is always a
SSD with a new coat of paint. $280 good thing. Although it’s true that
The key difference between these Kingston the SSDs in our roundup that have
drives is that the 2011 HyperX SSD’s www.kingston.com synchronous NAND outperformed

CPU / May 2012 21

 the Electra 6G on incompressible you don’t have a strong opinion either,
sequential and 512KB transfers, dig you’ll still love the Pyro SE.
a little deeper. The Electra 6G doesn’t Back in the day, some of
trail its competition by much in 4KB Patriot’s earliest solid-state
random reads and writes, an important drives relied controllers
measure of general-use performance, and from the likes of Phison and
in situations where its workload consists Samsung. These were 3Gbps
of compressible data, the Electra 6G’s SATA SSDs, and before Patriot
performance should be virtually indis- rolled out its fleet of 6Gbps
tinguishable from the other SSDs. drives, the company introduced SanDisk
The Electra 6G’s retail package is its Inferno SSDs, which featured an Extreme 240GB
decidedly no-frills. The drive arrived in excellent storage controller from an up- If you played a game
a blister pack containing . . . the drive and-comer in the field. That up-and- of word association with 10
itself. Most cases these days either have comer was SandForce, and that storage enthusiasts, we’d bet money that if you
dedicated 2.5-inch internal bays or controller was the SF-1222. Since then, said “SanDisk,” nine of those enthusiasts
3.5-inch drive trays with mounting Patriot has gone all SandForce all the would respond with “memory cards.”
holes for 2.5-inch drives, though, and time and hasn’t looked back. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with
as we mentioned earlier, the lack of a And why would you? Even a year that, as SanDisk’s fleet of memory cards
3.5-inch drive bay adapter is no longer after its introduction, SandForce’s is truly impressive; SanDisk caters to
a deal breaker. The Mercury Electra current client controller continues to professional photographers and console
6G gives you what you pay for. No power some of the fastest consumer gamers alike. It’s true that many power
complaints here. SSDs around, and the 240GB Pyro users happen to be quite serious about
SE is proof. With its complement of digital photography and/or console
Mercury Electra 6G 240GB 16GB synchronous NAND chips and gaming, thus making them potential
$359.99 SandForce’s SF-2281 controller, the SanDisk customers. But SanDisk is
Other World Computing Pyro SE matches the other leading clearly hungry for more. Prepare to be
www.macsales.com drives in the roundup stride for stride. courted, readers, because SanDisk is
Some of the highlights were the Pyro’s pulling out all the stops to compete for
incompressible sequential reads and your affections.
writes (in both Cr ystalDiskMark T h e Sa n Di s k E x t r e m e 2 4 0 G B
and AS-SSD), 4K random reads in is SanDisk’s latest suitor (a 120GB
CrystalDiskMark, and its 4K random version is available, and a 480GB
write result in AS-SSD. In the other SanDisk Extreme should be available
subtests, the Pyro SE keeps up with the by the time you read this), and boy
rest of the pack. is it dressed to impress. The SanDisk
Give Patriot credit for listening to Extreme uses a SandForce SF-2281
the market and producing hardware controller, which gets it off to a great
accordingly. The Pyro SE 240GB start, naturally, but we’re really excited
is priced competitively, performs about the drive’s NAND. The SanDisk
as expected, and carries a three- Extreme features 24nm Toggle Mode
year warranty that power users have NAND chips, which is something we’d
come to demand. If you want the not yet seen in our labs. Consider us
absolute best Patriot has to offer (and pleasantly surprised.
are willing to pay extra for it), the As it turns out, this one-two punch
240GB Wildfire is the SSD for you. makes the SanDisk Extreme 240GB quite
Otherwise, the Pyro SE has the hustle potent. It easily claimed the top spot in
and heart of a great solid-state drive. CrystalDiskMark’s 512KB read tests, and
it also posted the fastest 4KB random
Patriot Memory Pyro SE 240GB Pyro SE 240GB read and write speeds in CrystalDiskMark
Our quick take for Patriot’s 240GB $359 running the Default test at a queue depth
Pyro SE: If you love Patriot-branded Patriot Memory of 1. The drive took first-place honors in
hardware, you’ll love the Pyro SE; if www.patriotmemory.com a few other tests, as well, but the message

22 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

is clear: The SanDisk Extreme 240GB it online well below SanDisk’s MSRP. it, and then went out for a burger, we
is clearly capable of running with the That’s about as “Duh, winning!” as you expected to return to find a clear winner,
perennial top dogs in the SSD market. can get these days. a last drive standing, if you will. Instead,
Full disclosure: Before we tested we returned to find them all there,
the SanDisk Extreme, we figured it Extreme 240GB refusing to give up the fight; there wasn’t
would be another me-too SandForce- $399.99 a dud in the bunch. We’re seeing a crazy
powered that arrived at the party after SanDisk level of parity in the SSD market right
the neighbors have already called www.sandisk.com now, which means you have a lot of
the cops. Instead, we got an SSD really good options for your next build
that unapologetically punched some Pick A Drive, Any Drive or upgrade. ■
sense into us. It turned in fantastic When we locked our combatants
benchmark results, and you can find in the Octagon, told them to have at BY VINCE COGLEY

Corsair Intel Kingston Kingston OWC

Force Corsair SSD 520 HyperX HyperX Mercury Patriot SanDisk
Series Performance Series SSD 3K SSD Electra Pyro Extreme
By The Numbers GT 240GB Pro 256GB 120GB 240GB 240GB 6G 240GB SE 240GB 240GB
Maximum read* 555 515 550 555 555 556 550 550
Maximum write* 525 440 500 510 510 523 520 520
Warranty 3 years 3 years 5 years 3 years 3 years 3 years 3 years 3 years
Price $404.99 $439.99 $199 $350 $280 $359.99 $359 $399.99
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 Default*
Sequential read 509.4 508.9 477.9 509.8 499.2 214.9 505.3 502.4
Sequential write 315.8 419.8 184.7 309.6 319.9 259.9 314.8 296.5
512KB read 452.6 396 437.4 451.4 452.1 202.5 449.5 477.3
512KB write 315.3 413.4 185.9 309.4 319.1 260.4 314 295.2
4K random read QD1 30.55 27.73 30.86 31.99 31.85 26.72 31.68 32.65
4K random write QD1 78.18 60.06 72.12 71.91 71.45 70.49 70.97 80.99
4K random read QD32 215.8 272.3 143.5 207.2 207.1 145 209.8 221.9
4K random write QD32 255.3 261.9 184.6 251.7 266.3 237 259.2 240.2
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 All 0x00 (0 Fill)*
Sequential read 499.2 502.4 474.3 482.3 479.1 495.6 499 492.8
Sequential write 503.8 418 484.1 502.9 494.4 509.6 503.8 510.1
512KB read 468.3 382.2 470.8 469 479.6 458.8 469.5 481.2
512KB write 493.2 408.6 485.5 490.6 497 498.7 493.7 498.9
4K random read QD1 32.13 27.31 28.84 33.28 33.22 30.68 33.17 34.92
4K random write QD1 79.19 59.6 71.86 71.29 71.29 78.78 81.97 79.99
4K random read QD32 220.2 271.3 157.2 210.6 240.1 192.5 223.9 238.7
4K random write QD32 339.9 261.2 342.3 340.2 350.4 351.6 345.8 351
AS-SSD*
Sequential read 503.52 510.62 483.88 502.11 502.98 211.02 502.91 502.89
Sequential write 298.75 423.6 176.41 291.25 305.13 246.91 298.2 279.51
4K read 19.71 24.99 20.87 19.35 19.84 16.93 19.67 19.61
4K write 64.06 51.99 58.02 65.16 56.9 64.42 65.11 64.75
4K-64Thrd read 197.51 283.25 138.08 212.26 208.98 158.55 177.23 220.98
4K-64Thrd write 232.9 242.61 167.77 223.72 237.31 213.43 229.75 218.7
*Results in MBps.
Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-3960X; Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3; GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (2x, SLI); Memory: 8GB Kingston
DDR3-2400; Storage: Kingston 240GB HyperX SSD

CPU / May 2012 23

 AMD Radeon HD 7950
f the Radeon HD 7970 is a luxury Edition Double Dissipation, but we the 7970. This generation just got
I trip to Tahiti (the GPU’s code name),
then the Radeon HD 7950 is the
underclocked the latter card’s core
and memory clocks to the stock 7970
very interesting. ■

same vacation without the President’s settings, 925MHz and 1,375MHz, BY ANDREW LEIBMAN
Suite. For the GPU in the 7950, AMD respectively. As you can see in the real-
disabled four of Tahiti’s 32 compute world game benchmarks, the Radeon Radeon HD 7950
units (a total of 256 stream processors HD 7950 posts frame rates that are $449 | AMD
and 16 texture units) and dropped about 15% slower than the 7970, but www.amd.com
the core clock speed from 925MHz to the price is 18% less, which is
800MHz and the memory clock from a decent ratio.
1,375MHz to 1,250MHz. This leaves A s w e w e n t t o p re s s ,
us with 1,792 functioning stream NVIDIA had just launched
processors and 112 functioning texture its flagship GeForce GT X
units, with the same number of ROPs 680, which is the Green
(32). Another carryover from the larger Squad’s answer to Tahiti and
GPU is the 384-bit memory bus and
3GB of GDDR5.
Although we’re essentially reviewing Specs & Scores Radeon HD 7950 Radeon HD 7970
a reference card, AMD’s partners won’t Price $449 $549
be selling a reference card; any 7950 Core clock 800MHz 925MHz
you see in retail will most likely feature Memory clock 1,250MHz 1,375MHz
a custom cooler and, potentially, an Memory interface 384-bit 384-bit
overclocked core. The heatsink on the Memory 3GB GDDR5 3GB GDDR5
card we tested is a vapor chamber with 3DMark 11 Performance
a closed red and black plastic shroud 3DMark Overall P6907 P8060
similar to the reference Radeon HD Graphics Score 6591 7871
6000 series cards cards AMD has sent Physics Score 9616 9766
us in the past. Because this is a 200- Combined Score 6500 7454
watt card, two six-pin PCI-E power Graphics Test 1 28.48 34.8
connectors provide the necessary juice. Graphics Test 2 32.55 39.4
On the backplane, there’s a pair of Graphics Test 3 41.58 48.68
mini DisplayPorts, an HDMI port, Graphics Test 4 20.12 23.69
and a DVI port all on the same plane, Physics Test 30.53 31
which leaves a whole expansion slot for Combined Test 30.24 34.67
venting heat. Up top you’ll find a pair Unigine Heaven
of CrossFire connectors. FPS 36.6 42.7
As we pointed out in the XFX Score 921 1074
R7970 Black Edition Double Dissi- Games 1,920 x 1,200
pation review from last month (see Metro 2033 (4X MSAA, 16XAF) 38.67 45
page 17), you’ll need to pick up an Just Cause 2 (8XAA, 16XAF) 79.76 92.39
active mini DP-to-DVI adapter to Aliens vs. Predator (4XAA, 16XAF) 49.9 59.5
run three-way Eyefinity. Some Radeon 2,560 x 1,600
HD 7950s will come with the adapter Metro 2033 (4X MSAA, 16XAF) 25 29.33
and some won’t, so keep that in Just Cause 2 (8XAA, 16XAF) 53.82 63.12
mind if you want to get in on triple- Aliens vs. Predator (4XAA, 16XAF) 31.4 37.3
display gaming. Driver: Catalyst 12.3
To develop an accurate picture Test System Specs: Processor: 3.6GHz Intel Core i7-3820X Extreme Edition; Motherboard: ASUS
of how the 7950 compares, we ran P9X79 Deluxe; RAM: Patriot Division 4 Viper Xtreme DDR3-1866; Storage: 240GB OCZ Vertex 3;
it against the XFX R7970 Black PSU: Antec High Current Pro 1,200W; Display: Dell 3007WFP

24 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Thermaltake Level 10 GTS Snow Edition
he Level 10 GTS Snow Edition is features easily removable 5.25-inch Thermaltake designs the motherboard
T the little brother in Thermaltake’s
Level 10 family of cases, and the
mesh bay covers, which help improve
airflow inside the case.
tray with four rubber-grommeted cable
management holes (three along the
compact case is filled with many of the Out of the box, Level 10 GTS Snow side, one along the bottom) and a good-
conveniences found in Thermaltake’s Edition includes a 200mm, blue LED sized square cutout for easy CPU cooler
Level 10. For example, there are four fan in front of the hot-swap drive bays, installation. There’s a little less than an
hot-swap 3.5-inch drive bays that as well as a 120mm rear exhaust fan. inch of space behind the hard drive cage,
can also support 2.5-inch drives. It There are also two 120mm mounts which provides enough room to run
also offers Thermaltake’s Smart Lock at the top of the case where you can SATA cables to the hot-swap brackets
Security System that provides you a install fans to pull hot air out of and stow the excess.
keyhole lock for the front drive cage the case (or install up to a 240mm Builders looking for a midtower that
to prevent others from removing drives radiator for liquid-cooling); the top offers a variety of helpful features will
from the hot-swap bays. panel also has holes for one 200mm like the Level 10 GTS Snow Edition.
Obviously, the of the Level 10 GTS fan instead of a pair of 120mm fans. The compact case delivers an attrac-
Snow Edition’s exterior is primarily The left side panel has mounts for tive exterior and provides you with
white, with the exceptions of the black either a 140mm or 200mm fan, and the airflow necessary to handle high-
metal 5.25-inch bay covers and rear the bottom panel has one opening for end components. ■
chassis. The interior of the case is mostly your power supply’s fan and another
black, with the exception of the hot- for an optional 120mm fan. In terms BY NATHAN LAKE
swap HDD bays. On the right edge side of space accommodations, Thermaltake
of the front panel, you’ll find two USB indicates that the Level 10 GTS Snow Level 10 GTS Snow Edition
3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and audio Edition can handle CPU coolers up to $109.99
jacks. The left side panel has a handy 6.89 inches tall and graphics cards up Thermaltake
pull-down headset holder. Thermaltake to 12.4 inches long. www.thermaltakeusa.com

Specs: 18.2 x 9.2 x 20.1 inches (HxWxD); Motherboard support: ATX, mATX; Bays: 4 5.25-inch external, 1 3.5-inch external, 4 2.5/3.5-inch internal; Fans:
1 200mm front, 1 120mm rear, 1 200mm or 2 120mm top (optional), 1 200mm or 1 140mm side (optional), 1 120mm (optional); Expansion slots: 7; Ports:
2 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, audio I/O

26 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

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to sign up for your complimentary subscription.
 Zalman Z11 Plus
alman’s latest midtower PC case, the
Z Z11 Plus, is a study in thoughtful
design. The case looks great, for starters,
with its muscular stealth-fighter angles
and the flat black finish that covers it
both inside and out. But pretty cases are
a dime a dozen, and as most of you know,
pretty doesn’t help when you can’t get all
your stuff situated inside or keep it cool.
The Z11 Plus has all the latest builder-
friendly features, including motherboard
tray cutouts for installing a CPU cooler
and tucking cables out of sight behind
the right side panel, a variety of fan
mount options, room for graphics cards
up to 11.4 inches long, and lots of handy
drive bays. It also provides grommeted
holes on the rear panel for watercooling
tubing, a dust filter and antivibration
rubber mounting area for your PSU, and
front-mounted USB 3.0 ports with an
internal header connection.
But where most cases stop at such
amenities, the Z11 Plus keeps going
with several really nice touches that are
pleasantly surprising. For instance, the
angular side vents that look like they were
appropriated from the flanks of an exotic
supercar aren’t just ornamental: Each
houses an 80mm intake fan that helps the
120mm blue LED fan in the front panel
bring cool air into the case.
The Z11 Plus also provides a dedicated
2.5-inch SSD mount on the back of the acrylic window and the included blue its modest asking price. As it is, anyone
motherboard tray that’s great for folks LED fans, you can proudly show off looking for a stylish midtower to house
who prefer to conceal as much of their your handiwork. We also like that their next build would be remiss not to at
systems’ innards as possible. Because it’s Zalman includes an 8-pin CPU power least give Zalman’s Z11 Plus a look. ■
behind the motherboard tray, not only extension cable that’s outfitted in
does it keep the drive itself out of sight, black nylon mesh; it saves the hassle of BY CHRIS TRUMBLE
but its SATA and power cables will be all stretching and straining to reach the
but invisible, as well. CPU power socket from behind the Z11 Plus
Zalman knows how much you like motherboard tray. $74.99
having a clean, uncluttered interior, All things considered, we’d like this Zalman
and thanks to the left side panel’s clear case even if it cost considerably more than www.zalman.com

Specs: Dimensions: 19.6 x 10.2 x 20.7 inches (HxWxD); Motherboard support: ATX, mATX; Bays: 4 5.25-inch external, 1 3.5-inch external, 5 3.5-inch
internal, 1 2.5-inch internal; Fans: 1 120mm front (blue LED; 140mm optional), 1 120mm rear, 1 120mm top (blue LED; 140mm optional), 1 80mm left, 1
80mm right, 1 120/140mm bottom (optional); Ports: 2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0, audio I/O

28 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

SteelSeries 7H Fnatic Edition
e’ve been big fans of the SteelSeries the whispery sounds of gaming (feet The gooseneck-mounted, unidirec-
W 5Hv2 headset for many months, but
they’ve met their match in the 7H Fnatic.
shuffling, rocks shifting), where sensitivity
and directionality are paramount. This is
tional mic still retracts into the left can.
The mic itself does a better job than the
If you like glossy black plastic with orange where the 7H Fnatic shines brightest. 5Hv2 on noise isolation and sensitivity to
accents, then you’ll like the aesthetic here. We have some big heads here, and the lower voice frequencies.
We care more about features and 7H Fnatic goes on a bit snug, especially Despite the 7H Fnatic’s ruggedness, it is
function, though, but this set really across the top. It never becomes uncom- largely thin and hollow, so touching the set or
satisfies in that regard, too. The 5Hv2 fortable, though, even after hours of its braided cable creates noticeable vibrations
has slightly better bass response and continuous wear. SteelSeries’ orange earcups through the cans during use. Otherwise, the
marginally fuller mids than the 7H use an intriguing design of leather covered 7H Fnatic Edition is stellar for all types of
Fnatic, but the 7H Fnatic is more in cloth. The former provides more passive digital entertainment. ■
precise and excels in the highs. You noise blocking (which you want in loud
may note that the 5Hv2 has a 40 Ohm environments), while the latter gives more BY WILLIAM VAN WINKLE
impedance to the 7H Fnatic’s 32 Ohms. comfort and ventilation to prevent sweaty
Lower impedance will sound louder on ears. It feels a bit tighter and heavier, but the 7H Fnatic Edition
lower-powered playback devices, such end result is excellent. For those who prefer $139.99
as portable players, but louder doesn’t a lighter feel, SteelSeries includes a pair of SteelSeries
necessarily mean higher quality. You don’t black cloth pads. www.steelseries.com
get as “big” of a sound from these 50mm
drivers, but the subtlety and clarity are
better. This especially shows up in the Specs: Interface: 3.5mm mini plugs; Frequency response: 18Hz to 28kHz (headphones), 50Hz to
quieter background details of music and 16kHz (mic); Impedence: 32 Ohms; Drivers: 50mm; Mic sensitivity: -38 dB Cable length: 9.8 ft

CPU / May 2012 29

 JETNAS JET504
f you’ve been following the price of This software utilizes several real-
I mechanical storage lately, you’re likely
to need a barf bag. Now that prices
world workloads that are typical in
a modern home network, such as
seem to be declining again, it’s safe to HD video playback and recording,
start thinking about setting up a NAS. data backup and restoration, office
JETNAS, a Silicon Valley-based storage productivity applications, video
vendor that specializes in RAID/JBOD rendering, content creation, and
arrays, SAN storage, and NAS storage more. We ran the utility on a Dell
just sent us one of its JETNAS 500 series OptiPlex 745 with an Intel 2.8GHz
units, the JET504. Pentium D, 1GB DDR2-800, and a
Billed as affordable data storage, this local 160GB WD Caviar Blue HDD.
unit can be configured with eight 1TB Before running the benchmark, we
HDDs starting at $2,999 (JET502). rebuilt the JET504 as a RAID 0 to
If that’s not enough, you can order a maximize performance and we set it as
JET506 with up to eight 3TB HDDs our target device.
(24TB raw space) for $4,999. This Compared to a NAS roundup we ran
JETNAS
NAS/iSCSI storage appliance also in the March 2009 issue, the JET504 Benchmark Results JET504 (RAID 0)
supports snapshots, replication, thin simply decimated the dedicated NAS Intel NAS Performance v1.6.0 Throughput (MBps)
provisioning, and hardware RAID 0, boxes there. To be fair, this unit is in HD Video Playback 1 75.887
1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60 with global a league of its own, with a quad-core HD Video Playback 2 65.382
and dedicated hot spare. Due to the Intel Xeon E5606, 6GB of DDR3- HD Video Playback 3 66.581
ongoing hard drive shortage, JETNAS 1333, and the standalone storage HD Video Playback 4 63.372
was only able to outfit our JET504 controller. The system performed HD Video Record 1 84.343
with four 2TB HDDs (for 8TB of raw particularly well in the HD video HD Video Playback/Record 1 83.949
storage), but the company assures us playback and recording tests, posting HD Video Playback/Record 2 82.603
that this configuration in a RAID 5 between 63MBps and 84MBps HD Playback With Office 81.553
would perform very similarly to the throughout. The Content Creation HD Playback With Backup 37.913
fully-equipped JET504. results from 2009 were in the high Content Creation 27.934
One of the best features is the design, single-digits, but JETNAS managed Data Backup 52.414
which emphasizes very quiet operation; almost 28MBps in the same test. The Data Restore 48.796
yes, this is a storage server, but it Directory Copy To and From NAS tests File Copy To NAS 53.098
runs almost silently. The Supermicro also show the power of the JET504. File Copy From NAS 50.002
chassis is built like a tank. Thanks to If you’re looking for an enterprise- Directory Copy To NAS 10.528
the hot-swap drive bays, there were no grade NAS/iSCSI storage appliance, the Directory Copy From NAS 42.621
airflow-obstructing cables, save the tight JET504 and the rest of the 500 series Photo Album 18.652
bundle spanning between the hot-swap should definitely make your short list. ■ Specs: Processor: 2.13GHz Intel Xeon Processor
drive bays and the storage controller. E5606; Motherboard: Supermicro X8DTE-F
The price sounds right, and the build BY ANDREW LEIBMAN (Intel 5520 Tylersburg); RAM: 6GB Super Talent
quality is top-notch. But to determine JET504 DDR3-1333 Registered ECC; Storage: 2TB Toshiba
how it performs, we turned to Intel’s $3,999 | JETNAS MK2001TRKB 7,200rpm 6Gbps SAS HDDs (4x, RAID
5); Storage controller: Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-
NAS Performance Toolkit. www.jetnas.com
H8iR; PSU: Supermicro 865-Watt PWS-865-PQ

30 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Aerocool Strike-X One
n the March issue of CPU, we called
I Aerocool’s Strike-X GT a midtower
you’d be proud to show off at your next
LAN party. (See page 25.) This month,
Aerocool is back with the Strike-X One, a
case that has many of the same enthusiast-
grade features but at a much more
affordable price. Read on to find out if
it retains enough of the Strike-X DNA to
attract gamers on a budget.
The first thing we noticed was the more
muted aesthetics of the Strike-X One
compared to the GT. The exterior and
interior are both painted black steel, save the
plastic front panel, which sports a similar
X logo, but you won’t find any LED fans
there. The only fan this case includes is
a 120mm rear exhaust fan, but there are
plenty of air cooling options here. The top
panel will hold two 120mm fans, and two
120mm or 140mm fans will fit into the side
panel. There’s space for another 120mm fan
in the bottom panel. Splashes of red come cutouts
from the Strike-X case badge at the top of for routing
the front panel and the LED below the cables behind
reset button. Aerocool sells a Strike-X One the motherboard
Advanced, which offers USB 3.0 front panel and a hole in the
ports, but the model we looked at has plain motherboard tray
USB 2.0 ports and mic and line-in jacks on behind the CPU, which
the front panel. lines up nicely with a vent
The case dimensions are also a bit different in the right side panel. Here
compared to the Strike-X GT. This case is an too are six of Aerocool’s innovative
inch shorter, less than half an inch narrower, converter brackets, which fit into
and about a half inch shallower. That being any of the external or internal 5.25-
said, you still have plenty of room for inch bays either vertically or horizontally
enthusiast gear, including AMD’s Radeon to accommodate a 3.5-inch HDD, 2.5-inch between what you want
HD 7970 and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX HDD or SSD, or a 120mm fan on the in a gaming case and what
680. There are a couple familiar tool-free opposite side. With these converter brackets, budget gamers can afford. Those of
features in this case, including a quartet of you have multiple front-panel cooling you who have had one eye on the Strike-X
thumbscrews that hold the side panels in options. We love how flexible this system is GT and another on your featherweight
place and eight twist-and-release ODD when it comes to drives and cooling. wallet won’t be disappointed in the
locks that correspond to the four 5.25-inch With many of the same features of its Strike-X One. ■
bays. Other features we like include loads of big brother, this case strikes a good balance
BY ANDREW LEIBMAN

Specs: Dimensions: 17.3 x 7.1 x 18.7 inches (HxWxD); Materials: Steel, plastic; Motherboard support: mATX, Strike-X One
ATX; Bays: 4 5.25-inch external, 6 2.5/3.5-inch internal; Fan: 1 120mm rear, 3 120mm front (optional), 2 $59.99 | Aerocool
120mm top (optional), 2 120/140mm left side panel (optional), 1 120mm bottom (optional) www.aerocool.us

32 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

Corsair Obsidian Series 550D
eriously, wow. We’ll take two. 120/140mm holes with rubber grommets. the removable front panel door, we
S From the unboxing, we knew the
Corsair’s Obsidian Series 550D would be
An external filter is held down by small
magnetic strips, so it stays put but is also
accidentally popped the door right off
its hinges. The thick aluminum door fell
a treat. The 550D looks to be a largely easy to remove in a hurry. about two feet and gouged a divot into
unadorned black monolith at first glance, Inside, Corsair provides all the essentials our laminate flooring, but the door itself
but just under its easily removed surfaces, and several bonuses. Both removable drive was unscathed. We toss around the term
there waits a wealth of high-end features. cages are stocked with pinch-and-pull trays “bulletproof ” as a fun hyperbole, but the
Within 20 seconds, we were assaulted that mount both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch 550D just might be.
with awesome features: four rubber- drives. The four 5.25-inch bays use similar Highly rugged, quiet, sleek, and
grommeted holes for watercooling tubing press-and-pull tool-less drive locks. The ingenious, this is the best tower we’ve seen
in the back, sound dampening foam on motherboard tray has a jumbo-sized CPU in quite a while. ■
both the front panel door (which opens heatsink cutout and plenty of room for
from either the right or left side, by the cable routing via rubber-grommeted oval BY WILLIAM VAN WINKLE
way) as well as both side panels, push- cutouts. Even the PSU bed features four
button releases for both side panels, rubber pads. Obsidian Series 550D
and a slide-out air filter on the bottom One warning that inadvertently also $159.99
covering the vent for the PSU fan and ends up being a bit of praise for the Corsair
another 120/140mm fan. A spring-loaded 550D’s durability: While examining www.corsair.com
exterior panel on the left side panel
reveals mounting holes for another two
120/140mm fans; the 120mm holes have Specs: Dimensions: 20.9 x 8.7 x 19.5 inches (HxWxD); Motherboard compatibility: ATX, microATX;
preinstalled rubber grommets. On the top Expansion slots: 8; Bays: 4 5.25-inch external, 6 2.5/3.5-inch internal; Fans: 2 120mm front,
panel, in a recess hidden under another 1 120mm rear, 2 120/140mm top (optional), 2 120/140mm or 1 200mm side (optional), 1
spring-loaded panel, lies yet a third set of 120/140mm bottom (optional); Ports: 2 USB 3.0, audio I/O

CPU / May 2012 33

 Diablotek U310 Keyboard PC
Diablotek U310
s long-ago VIC-20 and Commodore Diablotek’s build quality is quite
A 64 owners, we’ve retained a sentimental
spot for keyboard PCs. After all, if you’re
solid. Diablotek gives the plastic
bezel a brushed aluminum look, and
Benchmark Results
PCMark 7
Overall
Keyboard PC

601
going to dedicate desk space to a keyboard, the effect is attractive. The U310 is all Lightweight 875
why not stuff the motherboard and black, with a low-profile keyset that feels Productivity 505
everything else inside of it if possible? sturdy. The ports are located around the Creativity 1205
Well, there are some good reasons, and left and back sides of the unit. Keep Entertainment 521
most of them have to do with the platform you VGA cable handy, because there Computation 734
running a 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525 are no HDMI or DVI ports on the System Storage 1361
dual-core processor with Intel GMA 3150 U310. On the other hand, the U310 SiSoft Sandra 2011 Lite

graphics. This automatically limits the system has two integrated speakers, ran our Processor Arithmetic

to DirectX 9.0c, which is why we couldn’t copy of Windows 7 Professional 32- Dhrystone ALU (GIPS) 8.65

run some of our usual system benchmarks. bit with no problem (Ubuntu Linux is Whetstone iSSE3 (GFLOPS) 7.54

So this is a not a monster gaming machine— pre-installed on the U310), and only Processor Multi-Media

who cares? It’s not supposed to be. draws 17W under full load, making it Integer x8 iSSE3 (Mpixels/s) 19.7

Rather, the U310 makes for a great a great potential power saver. If you can Float x4 iSSE2 (Mpixels/s) 14.87

small-footprint nettop. Even using the bring your own storage and RAM, the Double x2 iSSE2 (Mpixels/s) 2.72

integrated 802.11n adapter, we could barebones U310 is only $199.99. ■ Memory Bandwidth

stream and view 1080p YouTube videos Integer Buffered iSSE2 (GBps) 3.27

at full screen with fluid frame rates. This BY WILLIAM VAN WINKLE Float Buffered iSSE2 (GBps) 2.68

is a sensible, stylish solution for young Media Transcode

students, data entry, and similar low- U310 Keyboard PC WMV > H264 (KBps) 100

impact tasks. In short, it’s great for a $299.99 | Diablotek H264 > H264 (KBps) 107
Cinebench 11.5 32-Bit
secondary or tertiary system. www.diablotek.com
CPU 0.56

Specs: CPU: 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525; Graphics: Intel GMA 3150; Memory: 2GB DDR3; WLAN: 802.11b/g/n; Audio: Azalia, 2-speaker output; Ports: 4 USB 2.0, audio out,
mic, VGA, 10/100 Ethernet, 9-pin COM; Dimensions: 1.18 x 18.11 x 6.57 inches (HxWxD)

34 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

Antec is known for creating reliable, preparing for an online deathmatch Deep-Cleaning Gel™
high-quality computer components, or for cleaning up your keyboard after For the dirtiest jobs, you’ll want to turn
but now they introduce Antec Advance lunch at the desk. 3X Strength prod- to Antec’s Deep-Cleaning Gel™. Use
Cleaning Solutions. This is a variety of ucts are also anti-bacterial to keep out Deep-Cleaning Gel to get rid of any
products designed to give your smart- unwanted germs. crumbs, cobwebs, and grime that has
phone, monitor, or similar device that built up over the months. Then polish
out-of-the-box appearance and meet 100% Natural the job with the included microfiber
your on-the-go or home usage needs. Antec’s 100% Natural formula features cloth. Like 3X, Deep-Cleaning Gel is
Here’s a look at what Antec has to offer a solution containing zero chemical ad- also antibactieral.
under their 100% Natural, 3X Strength, ditives, making it perfect for family envi-
and Deep-Cleaning labels. ronments or around pets. Simply apply With Antec Advance Cleaning Solu-
the solution onto any messy screen, tions, you can turn back the clock
3X wipe away, and you’ll notice the differ- and make your devices look fresh
Want to fend off dust and grime in just ence in no time. Like 3X, 100% Natural again. Use them for glasses, key-
seconds? 3X Strength is the way to go. products are anti-static to fend off dust boards, and even jewelr y without
Unlike traditional screen cleaners 3X and have a fingerprint-resistant coating. fear of permanent damage to any of
Cleaner Spray utilizes a unique non- them. Cleaning Solutions are avail-
drip formula to adhere to your screen 3X and 100% Natural are available in able on Newegg, Amazon, and your
and prevent solution from quickly drip- 60mL and 240 + 60mL spray bottles with local electronics retailers. These
ping into unwanted areas or surfaces included microfiber cloth. You can also tr uly are the best solution for a
– certainly ideal for your monitor when find them in 20-wipe and 100-wipe boxes. clean screen! ■

Advertisement
 MSI Interceptor Stealth (IN-7001)
ith a stylized, lightly rubberized to depress, the power button juts out
W front face, the Stealth uses
attractive bezel angles to evoke a bit
beyond the bezel slightly and offers
little resistance, making it a little too
of its military jet namesake. Adding easy for a stray knee or whatever to hold
to this, the Stealth uses blue internal down. We like that MSI builds in rubber
accents, notably the front fan LEDs, padding under the PSU and in each
motherboard tray, drive bay trays and of the 3.5-inch drive trays’ mounting
locks, rear fan blades, and slot covers. It’s pegs, but the trays themselves feel quite
a sharp look that should mesh well with rickety, so watch your high-platter-count
additional lighting. drives for heavy vibration. On the other
If MSI allows retailers to discount hand, two sliding reinforcement bars not
the case $20 or so, it should be very only help stabilize long graphics cards
well-positioned. The steel construction but also use rubber pads to dampen their
is reasonably solid, and the 0.75 inch fan vibrations. This is the first time we’ve
of cable management clearance behind seen this in a sub-$100 case.
the motherboard tray is ample for Overall, high marks to MSI for
most needs. Getting only two 120mm delivering an affordable gaming case
fans out of the box may seem a bit that still provides plenty of features and
stingy in performance circles, but it attractive looks. ■
helps keep the case within the budget
category and, realistically, should meet BY WILLIAM VAN WINKLE
the cooling needs of most users. For
those who need more, three additional The only notable misgiving we had MSI Interceptor Stealth (IN-7001)
fans can be added, plus there are about the Stealth is its triangular power $99.99
rubberized holes for water tubing button. While the smaller reset button MSI
above the card slots. is slightly recessed, and thus harder us.msi.com

Specs: Form factors: ATX, microATX; Body: steel; Bays: 4 x 2.5/3.5-inch (internal), 4 x 5.25-inch (external); Front I/O: 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB
2.0 for charging, 1 x stereo, 1 x mic; Cooling: 1 x 120mm blue LED (front), 1 x 120mm (rear), 2 x 120mm (top, optional), 2 x 120mm (side, optional), 1 x
120mm (bottom, optional); Dimensions: 8.07 x 18.90 x 17.72 inches; Weight: 11.24 lbs.

36 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

In Win GreenMe 750W
s the brand name suggests, In Win and +3.3V rails both support a maximum and a 128GB Crucial RealSSD C300.
A designed its new GreenMe line
of power supplies with an eye toward
of 20A for a combined maximum wattage
of 120. In Win designed it to operate at a
Graphics power was delivered by a
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580. To max the
lessening their environmental impact. First voltage regulation within 5%. load, we simultaneously ran POV-Ray 3.7
off, the boxes these units ship in are made In Win provides enough cabling to Beta and Aliens vs. Predator benchmarks.
of recycled cardboard, are printed with handle most any basic system build. We ran the tests three times, and at peak,
natural soy ink, and are themselves 100% There’s a 20+4-pin main power connector the GreenMe 750W hit a wattage of 382,
recyclable. Secondly, the GreenMe 750W and a +12V 4+4-pin CPU connector a power factor of .944, a max voltage of
that we tested (550W and 650W units are to provide support for both legacy and 115.7, and a max amperage of 3.25.
also available) runs at up to 85% efficiency current motherboards and CPUs. Two Environmentally conscious builders who
at 50% load to meet the 80 PLUS Bronze +12V 6+2-pin PCI-E connectors deliver are looking for a PSU install into a basic
standard and is compliant with RoHS support for one high-end graphics card system will like the features of the GreenMe
and ErP Lot 6 international regulations. or two midrange cards. There are six 750. In Win backs the GreenMe power
Finally, In Win has announced that it will SATA connectors split between two cables supplies with a three-year warranty. ■
donate $1 for every unit sold to the World (three connectors each), and three Molex
Wildlife Fund. connectors, which are all located on one BY NATHAN LAKE
The all-white, non-modular GreenMe cable that also provides a FDD connector. GreenMe 750W
750W has four +12V rails that can handle We installed the GreenMe 750W in $99.99
a maximum of 25A apiece and combine for a system consisting of Intel’s Core i7- In Win
a maximum wattage of 744. The unit’s +5V 2600K, a Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3, www.inwin-style.com

Specs GreenMe 750

Rated continuous (W) 750 (at 40C)
12V Rails 4
+12V max (A) 25
+5V max (A) 20
+3.3V max (A) 20
SLI/CrossFire-certified No
Max wattage tested 382
Power factor tested 0.944
Efficiency rating 85
(as advertised)
Cable side Motherboard
Fan location Bottom
Fan(s) 120mm
PCI-E 2 (6+2-pin)
Main 12V 24+4-pin
8-pin EPS 12V 1 (4+4-pin)
4-pin 12V 0
SATA 6
4-pin Molex 3
Floppy 1
Length 7.5 inches
(including cable bend)
Warranty 3 years

Test System Specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K; Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3; GPU: Zotac GeForce GTX 580; Storage: 128GB Crucial
RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit)

CPU / May 2012 37

 LEPA G1600-MA
ith support for up to 1,600 watts of Over temperature protection will turn on 580s in SLI delivered graphics power.
W continuous power and quad-SLI or
-CrossFire, LEPA’s G1600-MA is certainly
if the heat sink goes above 90C.
The G1600-MA is built with a 135mm
To max the load, we simultaneously ran
POV-Ray 3.7 Beta and Aliens vs. Predator
designed for the high-end system builder. ball-bearing fan whose speed is dependent benchmarks. We ran the tests three times,
This PSU also offers an 80 PLUS Gold on the temperature inside the PSU, so and at peak, it hit a wattage of 634, a
efficiency rating and compliance with ErP it’ll be silent under cool temperatures. The power factor of .980, a max voltage of
Lot 6 to help reduce excess power usage. completely modular power supply provides 116.9, and a max amperage of 5.53.
LEPA designed the G1600-MA you with a bevy of sleeved cables to match LEPA supports the G1600-MA with a
with six +12V rails to support powerful your system needs. There are two +12V three-year warranty, and with the amount
graphics cards and dual-CPU setups. Rails 8-pin CPU connectors, as well as a +12V of connectors it offers, it’s likely to support
one and two provide up to 20A, while 4-pin connector for older motherboards. your system builds for a while. The power
rails three through six offer 30A. In total, LEPA also provides you with 10 +12V supply was reliable under our stress tests,
the +12V rails can handle a peak amount PCI-E cables, which seems like one set and we liked the all-modular design. ■
of 1,596 watts, or 133A. The +5V and more than you’d be able to connect to even
+3.3V rails both support up to 25A of a quad-GPU configuration, but maybe BY NATHAN LAKE
power. LEPA tests the G1600-MA to an LEPA is looking to provide some type of G1600-MA
operating temperature between 0 and 40 future-proof support. There are also 14 $329
degrees Celsius. In terms of protection, SATA connectors, 10 Molex connections, LEPA
you’ll find over current, under voltage, and two FDD connectors. www.lepatek.com
and over voltage for each individual We tested the G1600-MA on a system
+12V, +5V, and +3.3V rail. There’s also with Intel’s Core i7-2600K, a Gigabyte Specs G1600-MA
over power protection when total power Z68X-UD3H-B3, and a 128GB Crucial Rated continuous (W) 1,600 (at 40C)
reaches 110% to 160% of the rated load. RealSSD C300. Two Zotac GeForce GTX 12V Rails 6
+12V max (A) Rails 1-2 (20A),
Rails 3-6 (30A)
+5V max (A) 25
+3.3V max (A) 25
SLI/CrossFire-certified Yes
Max wattage tested 634
Power factor tested .980
Efficiency rating 80 PLUS Gold
(as advertised)
Cable side Motherboard
Fan location Bottom
Fan(s) 135mm
PCI-E 10 (6+2-pin)
Main 12V 24-pin
8-pin EPS 12V 2 (8-pin)
4-pin 12V 1
SATA 14
4-pin Molex 10
Floppy 2
Length 9.2 inches
(including cable bend)
Warranty 3 years

Test System Specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K; Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3; GPU: Zotac GeForce GTX 580 (2x SLI); Storage: 128GB Crucial
RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit)

38 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 CyberPowerPC recently launched the Zeus Thunder, a new high-performance gaming PC that offers a
truckload of customization options. We talked to CyberPower’s Joey Wang to find out what makes this
rig special, how CyberPower went about choosing its striking white enclosure, and more.

Q What would you say most sets this

rig apart from other systems in
CyberPowerPC’s lineup?
Q The sleek, white Zeus systems on your
website have a very distinctive look
that really stands out. Was this design a
little different for CyberPowerPC, and

JW The chassis, hands down. We

are known to offer a plethora of
how did you come up with the look?

chassis options on our website, and the

Zeus Thunder is unique in that it comes
standard with the uniquely styled and
JW White is becoming an immensely
popular color choice for gaming
chassis, so it’s only natural that we begin
brilliantly white NZXT Switch 810. I think to incorporate more high-end white
that’s what people will notice first when they chassis in our configurators. When we saw
compare the Zeus to our other gaming PCs, the NZXT Switch 810, we were amazed
such as our Fang III Black Mamba. at its refined and unique style and long
feature list. We knew right away that it

Q It looks like you currently have eight

“Thunder” configs built around
was the logical choice for the Zeus series.

Intel CPUs and four “Lightning”

systems based on AMD chips. How
did you go about choosing the other
selection since to include an additional four
Thunder and two Lightning PCs to the Zeus
series. We do this to offer a broader range
Q Can you tell us a little bit about the
process of designing a new system?
How much of it is inspiration and experi-
components for these systems? Are there of default configurations for our users who ence, and how much of a role does cus-
any special areas of emphasis? don’t necessarily want to customize their tomer feedback from previous models play?
systems. The components are selected to

JW Our initial launch included four

Thunder and two Lightning sys-
tems, but we have since expanded the
accommodate user preferences for brands
such as Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA while
maintaining our competitive pricing.
JW While some of it is based on
our experience as a custom
system builder, we work closely with

40 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

case manufacturers to ensure that the
cases we use are geared toward our
gamer and enthusiast customers. Also,
Q What does your Venom Boost
factory overclocking option entail,
and what kind of overclocks are typical Building A
user feedback is tremendously helpful
because it is ultimately those same users
for the Core i7-3960X, for example? God-like PC
All of CyberPowerPC’s Zeus
that purchase our products.
JW Venom Boost factory over-
clocking is our way to ensure Thunder systems begin with
NZXT’s Switch 810 case, but
Q How much testing do you have to
do on a system configuration to
know that it’s solid and ready to ship?
users receive maximum stable perfor-
mance out of the box. This option gives
users up to a 30% increase in CPU
you have lots of choices at every
other component spot.
Can you talk about the kinds of tests speeds and ensures their CPU is safely
you use to torture a system? protected under warranty despite the CPU: For starters, Thunder
overclocking. Since its launch, we’ve systems (at press time, starting
at $1,085) are based on Intel
JW CyberpowerPC systems go
through a stringent battery of tests
before leaving our assembly line. We’ll run
seen Core i7-3960Xs consistently push
4.7GHz to 4.8GHz, but we tend to stick
to our Venom Boost options in delivering
CPUs, while Zeus Lightning
PCs (starting at $879) are
the popular 3DMark test, of course, but a 10%, 20%, or 30% overclock. powered by AMD chips.
we also throw in Prime95 coupled with
GRAPHICS: Whether you’re
Unigine’s Heaven benchmark simultane-
ously for our maximum stress test. Q We noticed that Intel’s Performance
Tuning Protection Plan is an option
on the Zeus Thunder line. What kind
a fan of Team Red or Team
Green, you’ll find plenty of
graphics card options for your
Q How long does it take the team
at CyberPowerPC to build a Zeus
Thunder from the time it’s ordered online
of response has CyberPower seen to the
plan so far, and can you tell readers
exactly how the plan works?
Zeus Thunder PC. CrossFireX
and SLI configurations are, of
or by phone, and what kind of special course, on the menu.
personalization options are available?
JW The Intel Performance Tuning
Protection Plan gives users com- MEMORY: Building a bottleneck-
free gaming PC requires fast, stable
JW The time it takes will vary from
order to order. Typically, a user
can expect to receive their system within
plete peace of mind when they want to
go extreme and push their CPUs to the
max. As most users are aware, extreme
memory, and CyberPowerPC pro-
vides that in spades on its Zeus
10 to 15 business days from the day they overclocking requires overvolting the models. Kingston HyperX and
ordered it. That time, of course, can be CPU in order to push it to the limits, Corsair Vengeance DDR3 kits are
expected to change depending on how and doing so shortens the life span of available on all builds.
well customized the user takes his or her CPUs quite a bit. Sometimes, it can be
system, and we have a lot of customization even more disastrous, as in the case of an STORAGE: A good SSD (or
options available—laser engraving, custom instant, complete failure. By purchasing multiple SSDs in RAID) are
watercooling, lighting, and more. this plan, users have a no-questions- essential for today’s top-
asked three-year warranty from Intel that performance machine, and
basically guarantees a CPU replacement. the Zeus Thunder comes with
We’re privileged to be the first system your choice of drives from
integrator to offer this option, and it has OCZ, Corsair, Intel, Kingston,
been well received by our clients. and ADATA.

What else would you like CPU’s COOLING: Zeus gaming rigs
Q readers to know about the Zeus
Thunder, or about CyberPower in general?
(by virtue of the Switch 810)
can accommodate as many
as 10 120mm case fans, or
a combination of fans and
JW That Zeus Thunder, along with all of
our CyberPowerPC gaming PCs can
be configured on our website at www.cyber
reservoirs, in the event that
you select CyberPowerPC’s
powerpc.com with numerous upgrade and Advanced Hydro Liquid Cooling
customize options and accessories. ■ option.

CPU / May 2012 41

 Everything New In PC Hardware
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42 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 EpiDemic
T
he winner of our most recent “Mad Reader Mod” it to the bottom of the rig’s Blu-ray drive, and painted
contest at PDXLAN 19 is Jon “Pennywise” the Blu-ray drive black. He also built EpiDemic’s custom
Hansz’s EpiDemic, and it’s easy to see why at a acrylic feet, built his own light controller with internal and
glance. He spent the better part of winter putting external controls, and fabricated a custom graphics card
his ideas in motion. support to avoid long-term sagging.
“I started in November and pretty much worked on EpiDemic began as a CaseLabs MAGNUM TH10 with
it just about every day after work, with breaks here and XL windows on both sides. The build’s component list starts
there while waiting on parts,” Hansz says. “I finished it in with Intel’s Core i7-2700K, mounted on an EVGA Z68
January. I would say I have about 60 hours or more into FTW motherboard and supported by 16GB of Mushkin
the wiring, including extending every fan cable, resleeving Enhanced Redline 2,133MHz memory. EVGA’s GeForce
them, and rerouting the wires.” GTX 580 Classified Hydro Copper 3072MB card handles
As an electrician, Hansz put special emphasis on graphics duties, two 120GB Corsair Force Series GT SSDs
EpiDemic’s wiring. in RAID provide storage, and a Corsair Professional Series
“I was shown a long time ago how to lace wires together,” Gold AX1200 PSU makes the whole thing run.
he says. “It’s sad that they never do it anymore. The only The rig’s custom cooling setup consists of 29 Phobya
place you really see lacing like this is in tanks and fighter jets, Nano-2G fans, Black Ice SR-1 480 and 360 radiators,
or pretty much anything with a lot of vibration.” FrozenQ’s Liquid Fusion Dual Bay reservoir, a Koolance
When he set out to create this mod, Hansz had CPU-370 waterblock, Danger Den DreamFlex tubing,
EpiDemic’s basic look in mind, and he came up with a a Sunbeamtech Rheosmart 6 fan controller, Bitspower
few ideas along the way, including the mod’s name and compression fittings, and a Koolance D5 pump.
the biohazard theme, which he attributes to the rapid, viral One of the things about EpiDemic that really blew us
increase in popularity of modding. away when we found out more about it was that it was
Hansz’s work on EpiDemic wasn’t limited to its impres- Hansz’s first mod. He says he can’t wait to start his next
sive custom cables. He created all of the custom vinyl decals one, and if this first attempt is any indication of future
on the outside, wrapped his hard drive in vinyl and attached work, we can’t wait, either. ■

44 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Give Us
Your Mod
Have a computer
mod that will bring
tears to our eyes?
Email photos and
a description to
madreadermod@
cpumag.com. If we
include your system
in our “Mad Reader
Mod” section, we’ll
send you $1,500
and a one-year
subscription to CPU.

CPU / May 2012 45

 PDXLAN 19
Frags, Mods & Woots

PDXLAN 19 took place in Portland, Ore., over four days

in February, starting in the evening of Friday
the 16th and running through 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 20. As is always the case,
Matt “Vector” Conwell and his staff put on an incredible event, which sold out
well in advance. (As of this writing, PDXLAN 20, scheduled for July 13 through
July 16, is already sold out, as well.)
CPU was on hand at PDXLAN 19, and in addition to the great people and lots
of excellent events, we got to check out truckloads of cool mods. If you’re a fan of
modded PCs, PDXLAN is like the HOT ROD Power Tour for gearheads. You’ve
seen EpiDemic, the winner of our mod contest, on the previous two pages. Now
check out a few shots of our runners-up, plus some of the other mods we saw at
the LAN. (This is the only time in CPU history when a Star Wars mod and a Star
Trek mod were finalists in the same contest.) ■

“AT-PC-AT” by Andrew Balogh

“Dragon Blood” by Michael Cutler

“U.S.S. Leatherface” by Stephen Popa, Jr.
“Sprinkles” by Jeff Hall

46 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 On Sunday evening, we raffled off the CPU
System Workshop HTPC build from our
January 2012 issue, and when the moment
of truth arrived, Kyle “Notoes” McDaniel
emerged victorious.

We saw some nice mods that weren’t in

our contest, so we thought we’d share
a few shots of random coolness:

Mech Dragon . . . that name sounds familiar.

never leaves home without Candy.

Or without the October 2011 issue
Anthony “NRP|Elmy” Lackey, Sr.

of CPU.

This clear acrylic beauty is named after the one-handed

Norse god of single combat, victory, and heroic glory.
This is the Smoothest Cosmos II
mod we’ve ever seen.

How you gonna keep ’em down on the

farm once they’ve seen PDXLAN?

CPU / May 2012 47

 Get informed answers to your advanced technical questions from
CPU. Send your questions along with a phone and/or fax number, so
we can call you if necessary, to q&a@cpumag.com. Please include
all pertinent system information.

Each month we dig deep into the CPU A: Windows Vista has a built-in parti- To perform the basic shrink and
mailbag in an effort to answer your most tioning utility called Disk Management, expand operations in Disk Management
pressing technical questions. Want some but it’s a little picky about how it works. in Vista, click Start, right-click Computer,
advice on your next purchase or upgrade? What you need to do is shrink your D: click Manage, and then click Disk
Have a ghost in your machine? Are drive and add the resulting unallocated Management from the left pane of the
BSODs making your life miserable? CPU’s space to the C: drive. Unfortunately, Vista Computer Management screen. Find
“Advanced Q&A Corner” is here for you. only lets you expand partitions to the the hard drive you want to manipulate
right, meaning that the unallocated space (labeled Disk 0, Disk 1, etc.). The one
R. G. K. asked: Several years ago, I you snag from the D: drive will appear to you want should have three partitions on
purchased a Windows Vista-based PC and the right of the D: drive; there’s no way it. Right-click the partition (or Volume)
specified that the hard drive be partitioned to move it to the right of your C: drive you want to delete, shrink, or extend,
into a C: drive for the OS, D: drive for without a third-party partitioning utility. and then click the appropriate option. If
programs and files, and E: drive for backup Without a block of unallocated space shrinking and extending, you’ll need to
purposes. Currently, my C: drive is maxed immediately to the right of your C: drive, input the space parameters in megabytes
out, and I’d like to reallocate some of you can’t perform this operation. Your (for example, 5,120MB equals 5GB) and
the excess space on my D: drive to the options are to invest in a third-party utility, then click Shrink/Extend. Note that this
C: drive, but my old partitioning software such as Paragon Partition Manager (www number must be equal to or less than Size
doesn’t work in Vista. Is there any program .partition-manager.com), or to save yourself Of Available Shrink Space.
I can use to resize and move partitions on some money and backup and delete your
the fly, without destroying or otherwise D: drive, resize the C: partition as you see Linda C. asked: We have a Dell
losing current programs and data recorded fit, create a new D: partition, and then V715w All-in-One Wireless Printer. Is
on the hard drive? reload the data to that drive. there any way I can print to it from my
iPad 1 running iOS 5?

A: As of iOS 4.2, Apple added AirPrint to

the list of features for iPod touch, iPhone,
and iPad. What’s confusing is that devices
that support the feature, including your
iPad, only work with printers that also
support AirPrint. The wireless V715w All-
in-One you have does not support AirPrint.
According to two Dell employees posting
to the Q&A website for this printer, Apple
products cannot print wirelessly from
this printer, but don’t trash your printer
just yet. There are a number of third-
party apps that let you print wirelessly.
EuroSmartz’s Print N Share Pro (mobile
Vista’s Device Manager lets you perform some partitioning tasks, but you’ll need a .eurosmartz.com) lets you print wirelessly
third-party utility to perform advances procedures. from your iPad as long as the free

48 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 performance when opening, in Photoshop, but the 32-bit version of
moving, and editing large WinXP lets users manually enable the
and complex images. Another settings if a compatible GPU is installed.
improvement includes access Regarding Lightroom 3/4, Adobe
to the Rotate View tool, reports that you will see no benefit from
which uses the graphics card’s a dedicated graphics card. According to
dedicated memory to instantly an Adobe employee’s response in the user
and smoothly rotate the image. forums, Lightroom does support multiple
Zooming is improved thanks processors, but parallel processors, such
to reduced stuttering and as a GPU, struggle with a number of the
preview lag. Highly magnified compression methods used in RAW files.
images have a new Pixel Grid,
which lets you make extremely Mike M. asked: It is my understanding
fine adjustments to images that Windows 7 has a huge amount of
and models. A GPU lets CS4 small files that it writes to daily and it is
and CS5 users use the hand recommended that these files be moved
tool to grab and toss an image off the SSD and onto a conventional hard
for natural real-time panning. drive to extend the life of the SSD. Is there
Dedicated hardware is also software that will do this task for you?
capable of reducing jagged If not, how do you go about recognizing
edges and letting you resize them and where in the Registry do I need to
brushes by simply clicking and make changes?
As long as your printer supports it, AirPrint is a dragging your mouse.
great feature for iPad users. If the graphics subsystem A: This is a great question, Mike. If
in your PC meets these requirements, you had asked us a few years ago, we
companion utility is running on your PC then Photoshop will automatically enable probably would have told you a com-
or Mac. To learn more about AirPrint- the OpenGL Drawing preferences setting pletely different answer. With the
compatible printers, visit http://store.apple in Mac OS X and Windows Vista/7. current generation of SSDs, however,
.com/us/browse/campaigns/airprint. Windows XP 64-bit does not support write endurance simply isn’t something
GPU acceleration and OpenGL settings you should be concerned with. It’s true,
Scott B. asked: I plan on building a
new system based on an Intel Sandy Bridge
Core i3 or Core i5 Processor, primarily to
run Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 3. Will
these two applications perform better if I add
a dedicated graphics card to the system?
Does the answer hold true if I upgrade to
Photoshop CS5.5 and Lightroom 4?

A: According to Adobe (tinyurl.com

/bttmmoy), both Adobe Creative Suite 4
and 5 can get a performance boost thanks
to the GPU. Adobe’s products look
for three things when it comes to your
graphics technology; support for the video
processing acceleration API OpenGL, a
minimum of 256MB of dedicated RAM
(512MB or more is preferable), and a
display driver that supports OpenGL 2.0
and Shader Model 3.0.
The benefit of adding a GPU for
Photoshop users is dramatically improved Photoshop’s Rotation Angle feature supports GPU acceleration for quicker and smoother image rotating.

50 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 They don’t build SSDs
like they used to. That’s
a good thing.

SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash can across all sectors of the flash, so that no To determine if TRIM is functioning on
handle significantly more writes before sectors are subject to more wear than your system with an SSD, click the Start
failing than the MLC-based (multilevel others. TRIM, or garbage collection, also orb, type cmd, right-click cmd.exe from the
cell) SSD you’ll most likely install in your ensures your SSD keeps running at its top of the search results and click Run As
system. But according to Troy Winslow, maximum performance for a long time by Administrator. At the prompt, type fsutil
Director of Product Marketing at Intel’s enabling to operating system to designate behavior query DisableDeleteNotify
Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, blocks of data on the SSD that are ready and then press ENTER. If you see
“. . . when you look at the quality of to be overwritten so the SSD can wipe DisableDeleteNotify = 0, then TRIM
MLC drives today, even in a power user’s them. Windows 7 supports TRIM, as is working. If you get a “1” instead of
desktop, there should be no issues with does Windows Server 2008 R2, Linux a zero, then type fsutil behavior set
write endurance.” To further drive home kernel 2.6.33, and Mac OS X Snow DisableDeleteNotify 0 to enable the feature.
the point, consider that Winslow told Leopard and Lion. It sounds overly simplistic, but the
us that in the August 2010 issue best notion of how long you can
of CPU (page 67). Needless to depend on your SSD will come
say, current SSDs are designed to from the warranty period and the
handle the rigors of normal use, MTBF. If this answer still doesn’t
even as boot drives with operating satisfy, then read “Solid-State
systems that read and write small Storage 101” in the October 2010
amounts of data very frequently. issue of CPU, starting on page 31.
There are several features That article walks you through a
built into today’s SSDs that are handful of steps you can take to
designed to prolong the storage extend the life of your SSD, and
lifespan of the device. Wear the instructions are easy enough
leveling is a technique that SSDs employ If DisableDeleteNotify = 0, then TRIM is to follow that even a novice could do it,
to distribute the erasures and rewrites running on your system. no software necessary. ■

CPU / May 2012 51

 Antec HCP-1000
Platinum PSU
Power Supply Trifecta:
Powerful, Quiet & Efficient
ntec is a company that’s well

A known to PC enthusiasts thanks to

a strong line of products, including
power supply units. Antec has released
some powerful PSUs in the past few years,
including the highly regarded HCP-1200.
So, when a company like Antec releases
a new power supply with a lower max-
imum wattage, such as the HCP-1000
Platinum, it might be tempting to give it
a cursory glance and move on. However,

Stealth Wires
The HCP-1000 Platinum comes with Antec’s new dark-col- "OUFD
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look of the power supply, which of course translates to a future changes and industry needs, Theissen says.
better-looking interior for builders. The company can change i$VSSFOUMZ
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about 70% of the colored wires to black in the power i.PUIFSCPBSE
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supply, he says, but the other 30% of the wires have to re- and have already
main color-coded to meet various production requirements. used up the ad-
The HCP-1000 Platinum is also fully modular, and comes ditional one or
with a nice array of connectors, including: UXP
$16
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Source: Antec

1x 1x 1x 6x 9x 6x 1x
24p MBU 8p CPU 4+4p CPU 6+2p PEG SATA PATA FDD

52 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

when the company places as many new cases, CPU cooling solutions, and light- Although some people may consider
features in the power supply as Antec has ing products, among other enthusiast this rating to be more of a marketing gim-
done with the HCP-1000 Platinum, it’s gear. However, Antec has focused a lot of mick, a Platinum-rated power supply is
important to take a closer look, especially its product development work into power going to save you some money. Just how
in a market as competitive as the high- supplies in the past few years, updating much you’re going to save will depend on
end power supply market. the company’s entire product line, and the electrical rates you pay in your area of
“The technology is simply the most high- the HCP-1000 Platinum was introduced the world, as well as how closely you run
tech currently in use within the industry,” in March. the power supply to a full load. For this
says Joerg Theissen, product marketing HCP-1000 Platinum represents the reason, the amount that you save likely will
manager for power supplies at Antec. “Up first Antec power supply to receive an be less than what some companies’ mar-
until now, it was very difficult to achieve 80 Plus Platinum rating. This rating is a keting materials claim, but Theissen says
Platinum efficiency and have top-notch measurement of how multi-outlet power the savings will still be there.
voltage regulation and ripple and noise.” supplies operate in terms of their energy For this reason and others, achieving
efficiency performance at different rated 80 Plus Platinum certification is well
The HCP Series Goes Platinum loads. To receive an 80 Plus Platinum worth the considerable effort.
Antec doesn’t limit itself to power sup- rating, the power supply has to provide “It is very important, as it’s currently
plies; the company also offers computer 80% or better energy efficiency. the highest possible efficiency class, and

16-Pin Socket
The pin connectors built into the HCP-1000 Platinum give so not all four +12V rails can run at their individual max-
this power supply unit some significantly different options imum output at the same time. These high-current +12V
vs. other modular power supplies. Antec has developed rails are designed to ensure maximum CPU and GPU
16-pin sockets that can accept two side-by-side 8-pin con- compatibility, Theissen says.
nectors, and redesigned its 8-pin connectors to make them Source: Antec
thinner to accommodate this arrangement.
“Our 20+8 MBU connector works only in conjunction with
our 16-pin sockets, as these allow for two different 8-pin 16-Pin Socket
cables—or bigger ones in the future—to be inserted,” The-
issen says.
With the MBU connector moving toward requiring more
pins, Theissen says Antec’s new design will give users
longer life spans from their power supplies. The design
will also support future connectors consisting of 10, 12,
14, or 16 pins.
“As MBUs want even PCI-E connectors for themselves, MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY
PSUs are running out of them,” Theissen says. “We
wanted to make a flexible solution and also include spare 16-pin 2 x 8-pin 14-pin 12-pin 10-pin
sockets. The standard configuration of cables leaves
one-and-a-half 16-pin sockets unused, which equals
three 8-pin cables, which provides freedom and versa-
tility. In the future we will implement these in our modular
PSU range and also have one to two spare sockets. Our
sockets are already patented. It’s likely that the MBU
connector gets enlarged, so it’s great to have our new
socket available in the future. A user would likely only
need a new cable and not a new PSU.”
The HCP-1000 Platinum makes use of four +12V rails,
each with a maximum output of 40A. However, the total
output of all of the 12V rails can be as high as 83.3A,

CPU / May 2012 53

“Up until now, it was very difficult to achieve Platinum
efficiency and have top-notch voltage regulation
and ripple and noise.”
— Joerg Theissen
very few units are in the market,” The- “The fan control of this unit is im- in the HCP-1000 Platinum. Even though
issen says. “Also it’s quite difficult to proved, as we do not have as high of Antec offers an even larger PSU with its
achieve from an engineering perspective.” cooling needs as with other less efficient previously released HCP-1200, this HCP-
power supplies,” Theissen says. “The RPM 1000 Platinum has enough technological
Staying Cool & Quiet settings are 450 to 1500, which is relatively improvements that Theissen says it can ap-
To keep the PSU cool, Antec has in- low for this high of a wattage class. Under peal to a wide audience of enthusiast users.
cluded a 135mm fan. Although this is a load, they don’t speed up too fast with “Anyone with a big system needs this
large fan, Theissen says Antec is able to 700rpm at a 600W load and 1000rpm kind of wattage,” Theissen says. “This can
run the fan at a slower speed because of at a 725W load, keeping the HCP-1000 include workstations, high-end gaming
The HCP-1000 Platinum’s strong power Platinum unit relatively silent.” systems, or servers. Anyone who wants to
efficiency features. The lower speed of the Those looking for a 1000W power have not only top-notch power, but also
fan helps the unit remain quieter. supply unit will find a lot of key features efficiency, would be a potential user.” ■

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54 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 AMD Radeon HD 7970
New Architecture, 28nm Manufacturing
Process Highlight AMD’s Latest GPU

n the ever-changing world of GPU

I technology and design, AMD has

decided to push the process of change
beyond the norm with its latest GPU,
the Radeon HD 7970. AMD has paired
a new chip architecture along with a new
manufacturing process to give the Radeon
HD 7970 a list of significant “firsts.”
The Radeon HD 7970, introduced in
December, was the first GPU to make
use of a 28nm manufacturing process,
which let AMD to squeeze more than
4 billion transistors onto the die.
(NVIDIA unveiled its first 28nm GPU,
code-named “Kepler,” in late March.)
The HD 7970 was the first AMD GPU
to make use of a new GPU architecture,
called GCN (Graphics Core Next).
AMD has also made a powerful GPU
that isn’t necessarily power-hungry:

Welcome To The Southern Islands

The Radeon HD 7970 graphics card, code-named “Tahiti,”
is the first card that’s part of the AMD Southern Islands
family of cards, and, at the time of this writing, was priced
at $549. Targeted at enthusiasts and gamers, Tahiti is the
largest chip in the Southern Islands lineup.
“We launched three chips so far on the Southern Islands
architecture,” Dave Baumann, AMD product manager, says.
“The first was Tahiti. It was designed to address the upper
end of the enthusiast market with gaming performance.
It’s ideal for high-resolution performance and gaming on
Cape Verde will be the basic-featured chip in the Radeon
multiple displays at the same time.”
HD 7700 series.
Pitcairn is the midgrade chip in the Radeon HD 7800 series.
“The 7700 series is the low to mid-range of the perfor-
“The 7800 series is the entry-level enthusiast market, which
mance segment,” Baumann says. “It has great gaming
is a large portion of the market,” Baumann says. “There’s great
where entry-level gamers come in.” ■
performance and image quality. There’s a lot of interest in the
Source: AMD
7800 series, and it’s just a bit more cost-effective.”

56 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

ZeroCore Power enables the HD 7970 component to this chip’s design, and parallel processors, which allow them
to enter an idle state that uses less than it represents AMD’s first significant to perform some computing tasks more
3W of power. architectural upgrade since 2007, quickly than CPUs.
All of these changes are designed to when the company announced its Wi t h t h e V L I W a r c h i t e c t u re ,
help AMD introduce a new family of VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) Baumann says AMD reached the limit
GPUs that will offer enhanced computing architecture. AMD released updated of what it could do in terms of squeezing
power without sacrificing any of the versions of the VLIW architecture in more compute capabilities out of the
graphics processing capabilities, says Dave recent years, including VLIW4 late architecture. VLIW was centered more
Baumann, AMD product manager for the in 2010; however, AMD’s late 2011 on graphics processing than computing
enthusiast and performance markets. announcement of GCN introduced a processing. Making use of GCN will
“The reception has been very positive,” number of key architectural changes give the company much more headroom
Baumann says. “The first of the 28nm compared to what VLIW offers. in terms of building compute power
products are on the market, and we By making use of GCN, AMD expects into its GPUs, while maintaining strong
followed that up with a good set of that it will be better able to take advantage graphics processing.
performance and enthusiast cards.” of the compute capabilities of GPUs going “Workloads can be assigned to a
forward. As GPU technologies have evolved particular core to get the best work
GCN Goes To Work in recent years, today’s GPUs excel at both results,” Baumann says. “GCN is the first
The Graphics Core Next architecture graphics processing and compute functions. architectural implementation where we
found in the HD 7970 is the key GPU designs have trended toward massively can interact directly with the CPU cache.”

Radeon HD 7970 vs. 6970

Obviously, the Radeon HD
7970 will be a vastly different
card from the Radeon HD
6970, which made use of
the VLIW architecture. The
differences between the 7970
and the 6970 go far beyond
the architecture, however.
The HD 6970 made use
of a 40nm manufacturing
process, which AMD
began using in 2009, while the HD 7970 uses a 28nm the HD 7970 compared to the HD 6970, even though its die
manufacturing process. This shrink in the manufacturing size is about 8.5% smaller. ■
process let AMD include about 63% more transistors on Source: AMD

AMD GPU Model Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 6970

Transistors 4.31 billion 2.64 billion

Die size 356mm2 389mm2
Architecture GCN VLIW
Manufacturing process 28nm 40nm
Stream processors 2,048 1,536
Texture units 128 96
Core clock 925MHz 880MHz
GDDR5 memory clock 1,375MHz 1,375MHz
Memory bus width 384-bit 256-bit
Memory bandwidth 264GBps 176GBps
Compute performance 3.79 TFLOPS 2.70 TFLOPS
Frame buffer 3GB 2GB

CPU / May 2012 57

 GCN Development Timeline predict just what the market is going “It is a long time from the initial
Baumann estimates that AMD de- to be like several years down the road, conception,” Baumann says, “but you
signers and engineers worked on GCN’s Baumann says the engineers working kind of know what’s coming up on the
coding in earnest for four years, although with GCN planned features to include roadmap. You know what inflection
the background work began well before based on what they could predict with points are coming up in the industry. All
that. Even though it can be difficult to reasonable certainty. of those things factor into what you’re

The GCN Architecture

Both AMD GPU architectures, Graphics Core Next and Each CU also has a complement of texture units, 16KB
VLIW, run tasks in parallel, but beyond that basic similarity, of L1 cache, and a 64KB local data share.
VLIW and GCN will make use of different types of execution With VLIW architecture, the compiler schedules all of
functions. GCN will make use of an execution technique the instructions ahead of time, so if a piece of code is
called Thread Level Parallelism, while VLIW uses Instruction being used and it relies on other code, the compiler cannot
Level Parallelism. add that to the schedule, leaving the system unable to
Several of the advantages that are built into TLP provide work as quickly as the GCN architecture. GCN handles its
greater computing processing power than is available with scheduling through the CU hardware, allowing it to be more
ILP. For example, when using ILP, it’s difficult to make use flexible and to work faster.
of dynamic scheduling and debugging techniques. For “All of the CU structures are the same in terms of
graphics processing, these issues aren’t noticeable. For functionality and capability,” Dave Baumann, AMD
computing processing, however, the lack of these can product manager, says. In the illustration, each CU is
greatly hinder performance. labeled “GCN.”
The GCN architecture makes use of SIMD vector units, At the top of this illustration, you’ll see a new component
each of which is paired with a 64KB vector register. Each to the GCN architecture, called the Asynchronous Compute
SIMD vector unit consists of 16 scalar ALUs (arithmetic Engines. These end up dispatching the compute operations
logic units, shown here in red rectangles). Each scalar ALU work to each of the CUs for processing. ACEs will also
contains a single ALU and an 8KB register file. determine the task priorities as well as the allocation of
This means that each SIMD vector unit can accept an resources for each computing task. By including several
instruction and up to 16 pieces of data to process during ACEs on the GPU die, the GPU can work on several
one clock cycle. SIMDs are flexible and can perform several computing processing tasks at the same time.
different integer and floating point operations. There’s also a Graphics Command Processor at the top of
Four SIMD vector units combine to make up a Compute the stack, and it controls passing data to the various graphics
Unit. This allows each CU in GCN to handle four instructions processing system components. The Graphics Command
at one time. Processor will send all of the graphics processing instructions
As shown here, a CU also includes a branch and message through the CUs to the pixel pipelines.
unit and a scheduler, which combine to handle Finally, the GCN archi-
fetching and decoding. The scheduling work in tecture will make use of
GCN is called dynamic scheduling, and it lets a process called partially
the GCN work around dependencies. If it runs resident textures, or PRTs,
into a problem where it must wait for another as part of the graphics
instruction, it simply works around it until the processing pipeline. With
problem is solved. this technique, developers
can choose to load into
memory only the part of an
extremely large texture that
will be used. This will help
the overall system maintain
a better level of performance
and memory efficiency. ■
Source: AMD

58 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

trying to do with the chip. You know The GCN architecture also ushers in technology, which enables 3D gaming
what you want to accomplish from support for FP64 (64-bit floating point). across multiple displays, Baumann says.
AMD’s perspective. You marry those Although most consumer applications Despite its initial appeal, 3D gaming
things together.” don’t require FP64 support, high-end hasn’t caught on as quickly as some in the
commercial applications will be able to industry may have hoped.
Calling All Gamers & Developers work more easily with GCN because of “It does seem like a very niche
DirectX 11 support remains an em- the FP64 feature. segment, it hasn’t really taken off,”
phasis with GCN, Baumann says. Baumann says. “3D gaming should
“All of the DirectX components work Shrink To Grow: The Transition be the killer app, but the glasses
much better under this architecture,” To 28nm are turning people off, and the
Baumann says. “We wanted to improve While introducing the GCN archi- infrastructure and needing special
our DirectX 11 gaming performance tecture with the Radeon HD 7970, display panels are an issue.”
but also are looking into more general- AMD is also using a new 28nm man- Even without a big boost from
purpose computing.” ufacturing process. By going with 28nm 3D capabilities, a lot of different
Finally, as part of the GCN archi- manufacturing process, AMD has technologies are coming together in the
t e c t u re , A M D h a s i n t r o d u c e d a placed 4.31 billion transistors on the Radeon HD 7970.
variety of features aimed at making HD 7970 GPU. “GCN was really targeted at 28nm,
t h e a rc h i t e c t u re m o re a c c e s s i b l e “The 28nm process really allows you so we could still get a performance
for developers writing code. For to get more performance per area,” uplift on gaming applications, and
example, AMD will support high-end Baumann says. “We’re the first to jump still get computing components of the
programming languages such as C++. on that node. It’s very effective.” architecture, as well,” Baumann says.
This means that the developers will be The Radeon HD 7970 will include “Now we have a CPU and a GPU on a
able to code for both the compute and the latest interface standards, including single die. It’s homogenous computing.
graphics functions in GCN using the PCI-E 3.0 and HDMI 1.4. HD 7970 We’re actually able to use all of that GPU
same application. cards will also support AMD’s HD3D math power in general computing.” ■

ZeroCore Power
Power consumption techniques that AMD has implemented
with the Radeon HD 7970 will make it a potentially very
power-efficient model, thanks to its low power demands
at idle.
“One of the top new features is ZeroCore Power,” AMD
product manager Dave Baumann says. “It saves more
power when the system is idling. It keeps a tiny portion of
the system active, but most is shut down.”
ZeroCore Power is similar to what AMD has used in
the past with its mobile GPUs, but it’s a new concept for slave cards in a CrossFire configuration couldn’t reach
desktop computers. With ZeroCore Power, AMD includes an extremely low power state. With ZeroCore Power, the
a second stage of idle, called long idle. At regular idle, slave graphics cards now can be placed in a long idle state
the new 28nm chips will consume about 15W, which is a whenever they aren’t in use.
reduction of about 25% from the 40nm chips. “There are many enthusiasts who buy multiple cards, so
Now, however, in AMD’s long idle power state, its the savings really stack up there,” Baumann says.
Radeon HD 7970 will consume a mere 3W. Essentially, AMD also has announced that its ZeroCore Power
the Radeon HD 7970 will go to long idle any time it isn’t technology will apply to multi-GPU graphics cards in the
doing any work, which typically occurs with a desktop Radeon HD 7000 Series, when they’re released in the
computer when the display screen goes blank. future, allowing the card to place the slave GPU into
ZeroCore Power also will bring significant power savings long idle mode while keeping the master GPU active,
to to power users who have multiple Radeon HD 7000 for example. ■
Series graphics cards set up in CrossFire. In the past, the Source: AMD

CPU / May 2012 59

62 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com
 AT THE BEGINNING OF THE a maximum speed of 1,333MHz. Similar to the
year, prices for DDR3 DRAM had 890FX chipset, all motherboards equipped with an
dropped to what was an all-time low: The AMD 9-Series chipset support dual-channel memory
average price for 2Gb DDR3 DRAM chip configurations.
was $1. Prices remain low, so now is as good a
time as any to upgrade the memory on your desktops AMD’s “Llano” APUs platform added support for
and notebooks. But before you jump into our buying dual-channel memory up to DDR3-1866, which is a
guide, check out what has changed in the world of RAM jump from the single-channel architecture and DDR3-
over the last six months. 1333 limitations found on the Brazos lineup of APUs.
Most Llano-based motherboards can handle up to
Intel-based Systems 32GB of DDR3 RAM.
When Intel released its X79 chipset in November of
2011, it announced that compatible processors will DDR4 On The Horizon
feature a quad-channel memory controller that offers At the recent International Solid-State Circuits
a significant increase in memory bandwidth over Conference, DDR4 DRAM was one of the hot
dual-channel and triple-channel designs. As such, the topics. Initially set to be launched in the server
X79/Sandy Bridge-E platform is the new memory market sometime in 2013, DDR4 is expected to
performance king. For example, in our testing, we’ve utilize lower voltages than DDR3, with requirements
found in SiSoftware Sandra’s Memory Bandwidth forecast to be around 1.2V. Similar to the change
test that quad-channel systems generally hit at least between DDR2 and DDR3, DDR4 will feature a
40GBps, while dual-channel systems hover around different number of pins and won’t be backward-
20GBps. Triple-channel configurations delivered compatible with DDR3 motherboards. That being
around 30GBps. The clock speed and latency timings said, DDR4 isn’t expected to attain a large portion of
of the memory can impact the memory bandwidth by the memory market until 2015, according to a recent
a fewGBps above and below these averages. report from iSuppli. The report also forecasts that by
2015, the most common density for RAM modules
You must install at least four identical (in capacity will be 8GB. Compare that to 2009, when the most
and speed) memory modules to take full advantage of common density was a mere 1GB.
a quad-channel platform. As such, many of the key
players in the enthusiast memory space have introduced The memory market is highly competitive, and you’ll
new quad-channel kits that provide you with four find that the vendors in our buyer’s guide bring
matched DDR3 modules. Intel also released version something special to the table with their modules. Be it
1.3 of its XMP (Extreme Memory Profile), which is a custom heat spreader, a variety of built-in profiles, low
developed specially for the X79 chipset. latency timings, or another innovation, we’ll detail what
makes each memory kit special in our buyer’s guide.
AMD-based Systems You’ll be able to find the capacity, memory frequency,
AMD’s newest release, the 9-Series chipset, boosted and full timings at the bottom of each listing. All prices
the maximum memory frequency to 1,866MHz, and marked with an asterisk (*) are current online prices at
it’s designed to handle DDR3 modules rated at both the time of this writing. ■
1.5V and 1.65V. The 1,866MHz speed is a relatively
large jump considering that the 890FX chipset featured BY NATHAN LAKE

CPU / May 2012 63

 MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

AMD Performance Edition AP38G1608U2K

$51.99*
www.amd.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This memory kit is designed for

use on AMD platforms. The 1,600MHz modules feature
low timings of 8-9-8 and run at a voltage of 1.65V. AMD
Performance Edition memory comes with low-profile
extruded all-aluminum heat shields, which are good for
builders who have a CPU cooler that extends over the
motherboard’s DIMM slots, because the CPU won’t hit
the top of the memory modules.

Who Should Apply: Builders who want lag-free

gaming and fast rendering when using multimedia
production applications. A lifetime warranty and compat-
ibility with both Intel and AMD platforms provides you
with reliability and flexibility.

Capacity: 8GB (two 4GB modules)

Speed: 1,600MHz
Timings: 8-9-8-24

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

ADATA XPG Gaming v2.0 Series DDR3-2000G

$79.99*
www.adatausa.com

Why You’ll Dig It: ADATA’s XPG Gaming v2.0 Series

modules offer you extended heat spreaders and an
eight-layer PCB that’s lined with two ounces of copper,
for high speeds and low timings. For example, the 8GB
DDR3-2000G kit runs at 9-11-9-27 timings and has
an Intel XMP profile for its rated 2,000MHz speed, so
configuration is easy. ADATA indicates that its XPG
Gaming v2.0 Series memory chips are selected based
on a strict filtering process to deliver high performance
and low voltage levels.

Who Should Apply: Power users interested in over-

clocking their memory to maximize their systems’ potential.

Capacity: 8GB (two 4GB modules)

Speed: 2,000MHz
Timings: 9-11-9-27

64 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

ADATA 16GB Premier Series AD3S1333W8G9-2

$149.99*
www.adatausa.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This ADATA Premier Series kit

provides two 8GB SO-DIMMs for 16GB of DDR3-1333
for your laptop. Premier Series modules are stringently
tested to ensure compatibility and stability on your
system; part of the testing includes a 100% burn-in test
score. The two 8GB modules provide the high-density
RAM you need for quick performance when running
digital content-creation applications on your laptop.

Who Should Apply: Multimedia enthusiasts who use

their laptop to quickly render video and high-resolution
photos. The fast timings and large capacity also make
this memory a good fit for laptop gamers.

Capacity: 16GB (two 8GB SO-DIMM modules)

Speed: 1,333MHz
Timings: 9-9-9-24

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Centon memoryPOWER R1066SO4096K2

$44.99*
www.centon.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This DDR3-1066 kit lets you add 8GB of RAM to your laptop.
Centon offers a lifetime warranty and configures the modules to run at 1.5V, so
they’re compatible with today’s low-voltage requirements. CL7 timings provide you
with relatively low latency for DDR3-1066 SO-DIMMs.

Who Should Apply: Laptop owners looking for SO-DIMMs with low latency tim-
ings to upgrade their system performance.

Capacity: 8GB (two 4GB SO-DIMM modules)

Speed: 1,066MHz
Timings: CL7

CPU / May 2012 65

 MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A2133C11R

$179.99
www.corsair.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Corsair individually screens its enthusiast-

grade Vengeance lineup to ensure reliability and speed, as
well as generous headroom for overclocking. This 8GB set is
configured to operate at up to 2,133MHz to provide high-end
performance. Corsair knows that great looks are important,
too, so the Vengeance lineup is offered in a variety of colors—
including the red set shown here—to let you match the
modules with the color of your other components. Intel’s XMP
settings are built in to let you optimize speeds by selecting the
XMP profile in your BIOS. Corsair backs all of its memory with
a lifetime warranty.

Who Should Apply: Corsair Vengeance DDR3

memory modules are designed for overclockers, gamers,
and any users looking to get the best performance from
their computers.

Capacity: 8GB (two 4GB modules)

Speed: 2,133MHz
Timings: 11-11-11-27

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Corsair Vengeance CMZ32GX3M4X1866C10R

$699.99
www.corsair.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This 32GB kit from Corsair is made
up of four 8GB modules with a maximum frequency of
1,866MHz. Corsair also configures the DRAM to operate
at 1.5V to be compatible with today’s lineup of Intel Core
i3/i5/i7 processors. The CMZ32GX3M4X1866C10R kit
is designed for use with Intel’s X79 chipset, and it in-
cludes an XMP 1.3 profile to let you easily hit the optimal
frequency and timings. The memory is also compatible
with AMD dual-channel DDR3 platforms.

Who Should Apply: Power users who want popu-

late their motherboard with 32GB of high perfor-
mance memory.

Capacity: 32GB (four 8GB modules)

Speed: 1,866MHz
Timings: 10-11-10-30

66 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

G.SKILL RipjawsX F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM

$74
www.gskill.com

Why You’ll Dig It: G.Skill’s RipjawsX series provides

some serious value for PC enthusiasts. Using only best-
in-class components, this 8GB DDR3-2133 CL9 memory
kit delivers the enhanced memory bandwidth necessary
to handle performance tasks and heavy workloads. For
only $74, you can enjoy the kit’s ultra-fast speed and
incredible overclocking headroom.

Who Should Apply: With the Intel XMP profile,

this high-speed memory kit is the perfect choice for
the overclockers and gaming enthusiasts who want
to build a high-performance PC using a Z68- or P67-
based motherboard.

Capacity: 8GB (two 4GB modules)

Speed: 2,133MHz
Timings: 9-11-10-28

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Kingston HyperX Genesis Plug and Play KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G

$78
www.kingston.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This dual-channel kit is part

of Kingston’s Plug and Play line, which is preset to
operate at maximum speeds on systems with Intel’s
Z68 or P67 chipsets. The KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G
has been tested to run at JEDEC DDR3-1866 speeds,
so you know it will stand up to its highest rated fre-
quency. We like that Kingston configures the modules
to operate at 1.5V, so they’ll be compatible with current
voltage requirements on Intel and AMD motherboards.
Kingston also offers the same 1,866MHz HyperX Plug
And Play configuration in a SO-DIMM kit.

Who Should Apply: Enthusiasts, gamers, and other

power users who want RAM that can automatically maxi-
mize frequencies and timings for optimal speed.

Capacity: 8GB (two 4GB modules)

Speed: 1,866MHz
Timings: 11-11-11

68 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Kingston HyperX Genesis Quad Channel KHX2133C11D3K4/16GX

$187
www.kingston.com

Why You’ll Dig It: For only $187, you can invest in a 16GB
kit that runs at one of Kingston’s fastest speeds—2,133MHz.
Additionally, Kingston designs and tests this HyperX Genesis kit
to work with the quad-channel memory controller found Intel’s
Sandy Bridge-E processors. The HyperX Genesis heat spreader
features the same blue color found on many of Kingston’s
HyperX modules, and Kingston enhanced the heat dissipation
capabilities by adding a ballistic trim with holes where hot
air can dissipate. Kingston provides two XMP profiles: one at
2,133MHz and timings of 11-12-11 and one with timings of
1,866MHz and timings of 10-11-10.

Who Should Apply: Enthusiasts who want a quad-channel kit

that’s been tested and certified for reliability with Intel’s Sandy Bridge-
E/X79 platform. The fast 2,133MHz kit is also ideal for builders who
require the raw performance of fast quad-channel memory.

Capacity: 16GB (four 4GB modules)

Speed: 2,133MHz
Timings: 11-12-11

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

OWC 1333DDR3S16P

$239.99
eshop.macsales.com

Why You’ll Dig It: It’s compatible with 2011 MacBook

Pros; mid-2010/2011 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs; mid-
2011 Mac minis; and PC laptops. All OWC memory mod-
ules meet or exceed manufacturer specifications and
are rigorously tested in OWC’s in-house lab to ensure
superior quality, compatibility, and reliability. OWC backs
the modules with an industry-leading lifetime advanced
replacement warranty. If your memory bites the dust,
OWC will ship a replacement kit the same day.

Who Should Apply: Anyone who wants to speed

up their PC’s quickness when Web surfing, printing,
transferring files, video editing, gaming, downloading,
multitasking, starting programs, and booting.

Capacity: 16GB (two 8GB SO-DIMM modules)

Speed: 1,333MHz
Timings: 9-9-9-24

CPU / May 2012 69

 MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

OWC 85MP3S9M096K

$1,459.99
eshop.macsales.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This 96GB OWC memory upgrade is compatible with Mac
Pros (early 2009 and late 2010 Nehalem-based and Westmere-based dual-
processor systems), early 2009 Xserve servers, and PC desktops/servers. OWC
memory for Mac Pro Quad Xeon meets Apple’s specifications, and OWC also pays
special attention to proper thermal specifications. The 85MP3S9M096K is rigor-
ously tested in OWC’s in-house lab to ensure superior quality, compatibility, and
reliability. Through its OWC MaxRAM certification program, OWC lets you install
50% more memory than Apple’s specified limit.

Who Should Apply: Power users, multitaskers, and creative workers who de-
mand the ultimate in performance from their Mac Pro. For those running Windows
on their Mac, a 128GB kit is also available.

Capacity: 96GB (six 16GB ECC modules)

Speed: 1,066MHz
Timings: 7-7-7-20

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Patriot Memory Gamer 2 Series, Division 4 Edition

PGQ332G1600ELQK

$324.99
www.patriotmemory.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This 32GB kit features four 8GB DDR3-
1600 modules, so you’ll be able to fulfill the maximum memory
capacity of many motherboards. Patriot Memory designs the
modules to run at CAS 9 latency timings, and it certifies every
component that goes into the RAM. The modules themselves
must also pass Patriot’s strict standards to ensure quality and
reliability. Patriot designs the quad-channel kit for use on Intel’s
Sandy Bridge-E/X79 platform.

Who Should Apply: Gamers, enthusiasts, and content

developers looking for high-density RAM to maximize the per-
formance of their system for creating digital content, such as
photos and movies.

Capacity: 32GB (four 8GB modules)

Speed: 1,600MHz
Timings: 9-9-9-24

70 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Patriot Memory Viper Xtreme Division 2 PXD38G1600LLK

$59.99
www.patriotmemory.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Patriot Memory designs this 8GB kit (two 4GB
modules) for the Intel 6 Series platfrom. The kit is engineered to run at
1,600MHz with timings of 8-9-8-24. For cooling, the PXD38G1600LLK
kit uses an aluminum outer heat shield built around a copper core to
efficiently move heat away. It’s compatible with Intel’s XMP profiles, so
you can set its optimal speed and timings by simply selecting the XMP
Profile in the BIOS.

Who Should Apply: Enthusiasts building around an Intel 6 Series

chipset and wanting to easily maximize the memory performance of
their system.

Capacity: 8GB (two 4GB modules)

Speed: 1,600MHz
Timings: 8-9-8-24

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Team Group Xtreem LV TXD316G2600HC10QQC-L

$643.95*
www.teamgroup.com.tw

Why You’ll Dig It: This Xtreem LV kit is one of the

fastest quad-channel kits available, as it supports fre-
quencies up to 2,600MHz at timings of 10-12-12-31.
The kit consists of four 4GB modules that feature Team
Group’s tall aluminum heatsink. Team Group utilizes a 1T
command rate within the modules to reach peak speed,
and the modules operate at a voltage of 1.65V. An eight-
layer PCB helps improve stability and reliability.

Who Should Apply: Overclockers and perfor-

mance enthusiasts looking to create the fastest ma-
chine they can.

Capacity: 16GB (four 4GB modules)

Speed: 2,600MHz
Timings: 10-12-12-31

CPU / May 2012 71

 MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Transcend TS1GSK64V3H

$146
www.transcend-info.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Transcend’s line of notebook

memory are selected only after passing tests for per-
formance and stability. With this 8GB memory module,
you’ll be able to upgrade the RAM in your laptop while
using only a single slot, which provides you some
flexibility with future memory upgrades. The DDR3 SO-
DIMM operates at 1,333MHz with timings of 9-9-9.

Who Should Apply: Notebook owners who want to

invest in a single, high-density module when upgrading
the RAM in their laptop.

Capacity: 8GB (one 8GB SO-DIMM module)

Speed: 1,333MHz
Timings: 9-9-9

MEMORY BUYER’S GUIDE

Wintec One 3OH16009U9H-6GT

$63.99*
www.wintecind.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Wintec’s One desktop memory modules use
a heat spreader with a series of Air-Flow Channeling Fins to help
effectively cool the memory. This triple-channel kit is perfect for
those working with an X58 chipset, because it features an SPD
voltage of 1.5V. We also like that this is one of the most affordable
6GB triple-channel kits you’ll find. Timings of 9-9-9-24 provide a
relatively fast latency for a 1600MHz triple-channel kit.

Who Should Apply: Budget builders who want to outfit their

X58-based motherboards with a triple-channel memory kit that
won’t break the bank.

Capacity: 6GB (three 2GB modules)

Speed: 1,600MHz
Timings: 9-9-9-24

72 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

74 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com
IT’S POSSIBLE THAT SOME OF US STILL beat of a different drum and steps up the gaming
look at the PC as a tool strictly to get work done and movie watching experience accordingly, as well
on. The type of person who only uses a PC to create as a full 5.1-channel surround system that offers true
spreadsheets and documents, read and reply to email, discrete channel audio performance to those with the
and occasionally shop for sedatives online has little use desk and room real estate to support it.
for speakers or headsets. Man, that guy’s got it rough.
Headsets
The rest of us are streaming movies and TV shows, Headsets are the most practical option for those of
watching DVDs and Blu-rays, playing games, us who lead a private playback and gaming life, so
listening to music, composing, video editing, and we’ve included a wide variety of options. Just like with
keeping up with the latest memes on YouTube. To speakers, we’ve got several headsets that offer virtual
do any of the above effectively, you’ll need something surround technologies, and others that include four or
more substantial than a piezo buzzer built into your more discrete drivers crammed into the cans. We love
motherboard. In this buyer’s guide, we’ve collected seeing how different manufacturers strike a balance
26 of the best PC speaker systems and headsets that’ll between driver size and number of drivers in each
take your multimedia enjoyment to the next level. headset. Some headsets are designed to connect to your
smartphone via Bluetooth, while others use a USB
Multi-Channel Speakers connection to connect to your PC or notebook. Others
In this buyer’s guide, we included several 2.1-channel still use 3.5mm jacks, which makes them perfect for
speaker systems that deliver discrete stereo sound just about any device that plays audio. Most of these
with the added emphasis that only a subwoofer can headsets feature over-the-head designs, but one is a
provide. Some of the speaker systems here come behind-the-head unit. All of our favorite features are
with virtual surround technology that’ll trick your well represented in this collection, including detachable
ears into hearing nonexistent rear satellites. Others mics, adjustable headbands, in-line remotes, swappable
are small enough to pack into your carry-on, clip can cushions, and collapsible designs.
onto your monitor, or snap shut and slip into your
pocket for easy on-the-go sound. A couple models Sound Advice
here are capable of producing an audiophile-class This buyer’s guide makes no assumptions about the
sound field but still save space around your system. kind of sound system that tickles your tympanic
For the aesthetically-inclined among us, we have an membranes. If you or someone you know is in the
attractive acrylic system, a set with real wood housing, market for a new speaker system or headset, skip to this
and more traditional silver and black finishes. We’ve track and press Play. Prices marked with an asterisk (*)
got a handful of wireless speakers to help keep wire are current online prices at the time of this writing. ■
clutter to a minimum. In the pages that follow, you’ll
also find a 4.1-channel system that marches to the BY ANDREW LEIBMAN

CPU / May 2012 75

 SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Altec Lansing inMotion Air Black (IMW725BLK)

$199.95
www.alteclansing.com

Why You’ll Dig It: It’s a common misconception that wireless speakers
force you to compromise on sound quality. Nothing proves that false better
than the inMotion Air from Altec Lansing. This Bluetooth wireless speaker
system supports wireless ranges of up to 333 feet using the included
Bluetooth USB dongle, which you can plug into any USB-capable device
that doesn’t support Bluetooth natively. You can also stream music from
Bluetooth-enabled smartphones and tablets at a range of up to 33 feet.
Other features we liked include the ability to stream music to two of the
speaker systems at once, apt-X technology for CD-quality audio, and a built-
in rechargeable battery that gives you up to seven hours of audio playback.
It also has an auxiliary jack so you can play music from devices that don’t
support Bluetooth or USB.

Who Should Apply: Music lovers looking for an inexpensive way to

stream music to one or more rooms or anyone looking to play music from
just about any device they own.

Frequency Response: Unspecified

Total Power: Unspecified

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Aluratek Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headphones (ABH01F)

$79.99
www.aluratek.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This foldable Bluetooth wireless headset is attractive,
lightweight, and sonically impressive. You can use it to listen to music
and videos and even receive calls on it when paired to a smartphone. It
also supports any Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR device, so you can stream audio
from tablets, PCs, and notebooks. Features include a button that lets you
toggle between calls and music, as well as a 3.5mm audio cable for direct
connection to devices that don’t support Bluetooth. We also like that this
headset has a range of up to 33 feet, supports A2DP (Advanced Audio
Distribution Profile), and can store pairing settings for up to six devices
in memory.

Who Should Apply: Anyone looking for a wireless way to connect to

their mobile devices, make hands-free calls, and enjoy high-fidelity audio
will appreciate this headset from Aluratek. The option to connect a 3.5mm
jack also makes it great for wired listening.

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz

Connector: Bluetooth, Analog

76 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Antec Soundscience Rockus 3D|2.1 Speaker System

$199.99
www.soundscienceaudio.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Antec, a name familiar to us all for cases and power
supplies, offers the soundscience rockus speaker system for our aural
enjoyment. The rockus includes two different sound configurations that
can be used for various media. In music mode, you get a crisp and layered
audio experience that plays music and audio sources as the artist intended.
In 3D mode, the rockus speaker system emulates a large surround sound
setup for immersive movie and videogame soundtracks. Other features we
like include the sleek anodized aluminum satellites, an active subwoofer
with passive radiator that enhances low frequencies, and an optical input for
multimedia devices.

Who Should Apply: Those looking for a multipurpose solution for

music, movies, and games will enjoy the rockus. It makes an excellent
desktop companion but can also be used for basic home theaters. Though
it retails for $199.95, you can often find the rockus for significantly less,
sometimes as low as $120.

Frequency Response: 10Hz to 20 kHz

Total Power: 150W (25W per speaker, 100W subwoofer)

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

ARCTIC P311

$49.95
www.arctic.ac

Why You’ll Dig It: If you’re looking for a wireless headset that works with
your notebook, PC, and smartphone, then look no further than the ARCTIC
P311 Bluetooth headset. This unit works seamlessly with any gadget that
supports Bluetooth technology and boasts a wireless range of up to 98 feet,
so you can stay connected without fussing with wires. The unit features an
integrated rechargeable lithium-ion battery that lets you listen for up to 20
hours before you need to plug in the USB cable to recharge it. There are five
function buttons on the right earphone that let you skip forward and back,
raise and lower volume levels, and answer incoming calls.

Who Should Apply: Anyone on the go who has a sporty and active life-
style will get a lot of mileage out of the P311 Bluetooth headset. This device
is compact enough for road warriors, and it handles both music playback
and phone calls with crystal clear results.

Frequency Response: 18Hz to 22kHz

Connector: Bluetooth

CPU / May 2012 77

 SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

ARCTIC P531

$79.95
www.arctic.ac

Why You’ll Dig It: For the most realistic surround sound experience avail-
able in a headset, you need discrete drivers, and that’s just what ARCTIC’s
P531 gives you. Featuring four individual drivers in each earcup, the P531
delivers true 5.1 surround sound dynamics for the most immersive movie
watching and gaming experience. This unit also features force feedback-like
bass boost, which vibrates to really emphasize the visceral low frequency
sound effects in games and movies. The included in-line remote control lets
you tweak each channel individually for one of the most tailored listening
experiences you can get. This headset also features premium soft fabric
and ultra-thick cushioned earcups that block ambient environmental sounds
while letting you game for hours on end without the slightest discomfort.

Who Should Apply: ARCTIC’s P531 is perfect for hardcore gamers looking
for an affordable way to enjoy 3D sound in a compact headset form factor.

Frequency Response: Center speaker: 20Hz to 20kHz, Front speaker:

18Hz to 20kHz, Surround: 20Hz to 20kHz, Subwoofer: 10Hz to 400Hz
Connector: USB

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

ASUS ROG Vulcan ANC

$129.99
usa.asus.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Active noise-cancelling technology is particularly

good at eliminating low frequency noises such as jet engines, which is why
headphones with this technology are popular with air travelers. But ASUS
recognizes that PCs are also a source of low frequency noise, which is why
the company built the technology into the ROG Vulcan ANC. The large ear
cans are capable of isolating up to 30dB of external noise, and the noise-
cancelling technology can eliminate 85% of the low frequency sounds
particular to PC gaming. Avid gamers will also appreciate the large 40mm
drivers, foldable design and included carry case, detachable noise-filtering
mic, in-line volume and mute control, and the detachable cabling. The unit
also has a rugged carbon shell, which keeps it looking sharp even after
years of heavy use.

Who Should Apply: This headset is perfect for professional gamers

and gaming enthusiasts who want an immersive experience free of external
audio distractions.

Frequency Response: 10Hz to 20kHz

Connector: Analog

78 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Cooler Master Choiix Boom Boom Speaker

$24.99
www.coolermaster-usa.com

Why You’ll Dig It: You don’t have to settle for the sound produced by
those tiny speakers in your notebook to get your tunes on the go. The
Choiix Boom Boom speaker is a portable set of speakers that delivers a full-
range audio experience your notebook could only dream of. Just plug the
compact speakers into any USB-capable PC or notebook or any device with
a 3.5mm analog line out port to enjoy rich, room-filling sound. When you’re
ready to pack it up and head out, simply flip the glossy speaker cover closed
and tuck the 3.5mm cord into the edge of the speaker housing. When open,
the speaker cover doubles as a stand. Black and white versions are available
in U.S. markets. The Boom Boom speaker features four integrated drivers
and a built-in amplifier.

Who Should Apply: These speakers are ideal for people who want a
compact external speaker for MP3 players, smartphones, notebooks,
tablets, and more.

Frequency Response: 410Hz to 20KHz

Connector: Analog, USB

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Cooler Master CM Storm Sirus 5.1 Surround Sound Headset

$129.99
www.coolermaster-usa.com

Why You’ll Dig It: For a distinct advantage in games, it helps to be able
to hear where the sniper’s located or where the zombies are coming from.
The CM Storm Sirus 5.1 Surround Sound Headset can do that thanks to the
eight discrete drivers (four per ear) that deliver accurate positional audio
for a more immersive experience in movies and games. With the Tactical
Mixing Console, Cooler Master puts the power in your hands; you can select
rear, front, master, center, and bass channels and adjust them on the fly. The
headset also comes with two sets of ear cushions—breathable microfiber
and noise-cancelling leatherette. Another feature we like is the unidirectional
microphone with background noise cancellation.

Who Should Apply: According to Cooler Master, this headset was built
for gaming enthusiasts and audiophiles, which means it’s capable of fully
immersing you in the media, no matter what you’re listening to.

Frequency Response: 10Hz to 20kHz (headphones), 100Hz to 10kHz (mic)

Connector: USB, Analog

CPU / May 2012 79

 SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Corsair Vengeance 1500 USB 7.1 Dolby Headset

$99.99
www.corsair.com

Why You’ll Dig It: The Dolby Headphone technology built into this
headset from Corsair delivers accurate 8-channel positional surround
sound audio, which can up your game on the battlefield and deliver a
supremely immersive movie-watching experience. Other features we liked
include a pair of sizeable 50mm drivers capable of producing clear highs
and solid low frequencies for your listening pleasure. A high-sensitivity
noise-cancelling microphone lets your voice ring true whether you’re
gaming or just talking to friends and family. Corsair keeps comfort in
mind with the Vengeance 1500, as well: Extra-wide diameter circumaural
closed-back earcups with memory foam pads let you game for hours
without the slightest twinge of discomfort.

Who Should Apply: This headset is ideally suited to gamers who

appreciate the flexibility of a USB headset and want to be able to game
into the wee hours and chat with the rest of their clan, guild, or team.

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz (headphones), 100Hz to 10kHz (mic)

Connector: USB

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Corsair Vengeance 2000 USB 7.1 Wireless Headset

$149.99
www.corsair.com

Why You’ll Dig It: The Corsair Vengeance 2000 headset shares many
of the features that make the Vengeance 1500 such a great gaming
headset, but the big difference here is that the Vengeance 2000 uses
2.4GHz wireless audio for untethered gaming freedom. This headset
delivers up to 10 hours of play time on a single charge, and you can
keep playing while it charges through its USB cable. The same quality
50mm drivers that power the Vengeance 1500 are here as well to re-
produce clear high and solid low frequencies. The extra-wide diameter
closed-back earcups have memory foam pads for comfortable extended
gaming sessions, and a high-sensitivity noise-cancelling microphone
makes sure your voice comes across loud and clear.

Who Should Apply: This headset’s advanced wireless audio technology

makes it perfect for enthusiast gamers who want the freedom to play at
their competitive best and stay in the conversation even when not in front of
their monitors.

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz

Connector: USB

80 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Creative ZiiSound T6

$399.99
us.creative.com

Why You’ll Dig It: It’s true, Creative’s ZiiSound T6 is a 2.1-channel

speaker system, however, you can swivel the satellite speakers to widen
the sound field for a surround sound effect and a more visceral gaming
and movie-watching experience. Better still, satellites are wireless, which
gives you the freedom to place them where they’ll sound best. The speakers
feature high-quality full-range drivers for rich audio reproduction, and the
precision-tuned SLAM (Symmetrically Loaded Acoustic Module) subwoofer
delivers window-rattling bass. The speaker system also includes the
Creative BT-D1 USB transmitter, which lets you pair it with Bluetooth
devices and stream audio right to it.

Who Should Apply: The Creative ZiiSound T6 is great for audio enthusi-
asts who enjoy music, movies, and games, but abhor wires and the added
clutter of five or more speakers.

Frequency Response: Unspecified

Total Power: Unspecified

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

HP Premium Digital Headset

$34.99
www.hp.com

Why You’ll Dig It: The HP Premium Digital Headset is an affordable way
to get quality audio for music, VoIP, and gaming. This headset utilizes an
over-the-head design like most other headsets in this buyer’s guide, but the
padded leather earpads make the headset comfortable to wear and help to
reduce external sounds that can become a distraction. You can also rotate
the mic boom over 180 degrees for righty or lefty talkers and you can swing
it up and out of the way when watching a movie or listening to music.
The mic also supports noise-cancelling technology for crystal clear voice
performance. The headset also features sidetoning, which lets you hear
your own voice through the headset.

Who Should Apply: This headset puts your comfort and audio enjoy-
ment above all else, making it perfect for users who want a single headset
that works well for multimedia tasks, such as movies and music, plus
gaming and VoIP.

Frequency Response: 100Hz to 10kHz

Connector: USB

CPU / May 2012 81

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Lenovo Headset P950

$29.99
www.lenovo.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Another inexpensive option comes to us in the form
of Lenovo’s P950, but don’t let that price fool you; it’s got quality written
all over it. The headset uses a pair of 27mm drivers capable of producing
impressive bass and clean full-range audio for music listening, movie
watching, gaming, and a variety of voice applications. The handy in-line
control lets you adjust volume and mute the microphone. You can also flip
the mic up when not in use. The padded earcups and headband ensure your
experience with this headset is a comfortable one, even during extended
gaming sessions. The noise-cancelling microphone also makes sure your
voice comes across loud and clear no matter the application. The analog
connector also makes this unit perfect for non-USB devices, such as MP3
players and smartphones.

Who Should Apply: This unit is ideal for anyone looking for an afford-
able way to take their gaming, voice communications, and media enjoyment
to the next level.

Frequency Response: 125Hz to 20kHz (headphones), 100Hz to

10kHz (mic)
Connector: Analog

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Logisys 2.1+1 Multimedia Clear Speaker w/Blue LEDs (SP6006CL)

$64.99*
www.logisyscomputer.com

Why You’ll Dig It: For many of us, aesthetics play a significant part in
our purchase of certain peripherals. If looks matter to you, take a gander at
this acrylic 2.1-channel speaker set from Logisys that looks like a family of
jellyfish. The spherical satellites and domed passive subwoofer are certainly
eye-catching. As a nice visual bonus, these speakers feature blue LEDs that
light up in response to the sound they’re producing. Other features we like
include the standalone amplifier that lets you tweak the bass, treble, and
master volume. Other features include an external fuse for added safety and
durability, analog connectors for your choice of output device, and magnetic
shielding throughout the system to prevent static and distortion.

Who Should Apply: If you’re looking to make a splash with your

speakers, whether for your PC, notebook, TV, this unit from Logisys is
sure to satisfy.

Frequency Response: 30Hz to 120Hz (subwoofer), (120Hz to

20kHz (satellites)
Total Power: 40W (12W per speaker, 16W subwoofer)

CPU / May 2012 83

 SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Logisys Amadeus 4.1 Home Theater Surround Speaker System

$64.59*
www.logisyscomputer.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This unique 4.1-channel surround sound speaker
system from Logisys adds a whole new dimension to your audio experi-
ence compared to more traditional 2.1-channel speaker systems, making
it better for gaming and movie watching. The Amadeus’ four satellite
speakers utilize 3.5-inch full-range drivers, and the subwoofer relies on a
large 6.5-inch driver encased in a wooden enclosure. The unit also comes
with four color-coded speaker wires, two color-coded patch cables, an
RCA-to-stereo mini plug, and a pair of wall mounts for the rear speakers.
An internal fuse in the subwoofer is designed to protect against power
surges. The subwoofer also features volume controls for the front
channels, rear channels, and the subwoofer.

Who Should Apply: The Logisys Amadeus is a great-sounding option

for those who are looking for a wider sound field in gaming and movie-
watching applications, especially considering the modest price.

Frequency Response: 40Hz to 20kHz

Total Power: 67 Watts (16W per speaker, 35W subwoofer)

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Logitech 5.1 Speaker System Z906

$399.99
www.logitech.com

Why You’ll Dig It: It takes some serious power to get the most audio
out of your PC or notebook, and nobody knows that better than Logitech.
The Z906 is the perfect example of a no-compromise approach to audio
reproduction. It features a pair of front channel speakers, two rear channel
speakers, a center channel and a subwoofer, so you get true-to-life, THX-
certified audio that will blow you away in games, movies, and music. Input
options include digital optical, digital coaxial, RCA audio, and 3.5mm
analog. Other features we liked include the wireless remote, support for
Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks, and the attractive orange LED-lit control
console, which lets you adjust various volume levels and cycle between any
of six simultaneous input sources.

Who Should Apply: Gaming enthusiasts, movie fanatics, and music

lovers will get lots of mileage out of this impressive speaker system.

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz

Total Power: 500W (67W per speaker, 165W subwoofer)

84 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Plantronics GameCom 780

$79.99
www.plantronics.com

Why You’ll Dig It: The GameCom 780 headset from Plantronics utilizes
a pair of large 40mm drivers to deliver stunning stereo sound for music
enjoyment. But thanks to built-in support for Dolby Headphone and Pro
Logic IIx technologies, you can enjoy up to a 7.1 surround sound experi-
ence in games and movies. We also like the noise-canceling mic that
delivers crystal clear voice performance, the spin joints that let the
earcans lay flat for taking them to LAN parties and on the road, the
earcan-mounted volume adjustment controls, and the extra-durable
cords and joints that ensure a long product life. This headset also
features padded ear cushions and a padded headband to keep you
comfortable during those extended gaming sessions.

Who Should Apply: According to Plantronics, the GameCom 780

headset is ideally suited to anyone who enjoys gaming, video watching,
listening to music, and making PC voice calls.

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz (headphones), 100Hz to 8kHz (mic)

Connector: USB

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Psyko Carbon

$199.99
www.psykoaudio.com

Why You’ll Dig It: The Psyko Carbon takes a bit of a different approach
to the 5.1-channel surround sound headset. Unlike other options we’ve
covered, Psyko arranges five discrete drivers in the headband and uses
“waveguides” to direct sound to different portions of your ear so you get
uniquely precise positional audio, which is particularly obvious in games
and movies. Subwoofer drivers in each of the earcans also adds powerful
bass and low frequency sounds to your movie and game soundtracks.
Another feature we like is the Psyko Amp control panel that lets you tweak
bass and volume levels. A five-LED visual direction indicator lets you know
when you’re listening to a 5.1 or 2.1 source. The earcans also feature a
closable vent that lets you hear external sounds and block them out,
respectively. We also like the removable mic boom, braided cables, and
gold-plated connectors.

Who Should Apply: Avid gamers and movie lovers alike will really appre-
ciate the subtle audio nuances that this surround sound headset conveys.

Frequency Response: Unspecified

Connector: Analog

CPU / May 2012 85

 SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Rosewill Audio Pro RHM-6308 USB Connector

Circumaural Gaming Headset

$39.99
www.rosewill.com

Why You’ll Dig It: The big drawback to cramming multiple drivers into
each can on a surround sound headset is that each driver needs to be small
enough that they all fit. Although these headsets handle surround sound
sources well, stereo sources suffer due to the reduced driver size. Rosewill’s
RHM-6308 uses a pair of large 40mm drivers so you get full-range stereo
sound with deep bass. But if you want 5.1- or 7.1-channel audio, this head-
set does that, too, with virtual surround sound technology. The headset
itself was designed with ergonomics in mind. With its adjustable headband,
full-sized padded ear cushions, and light weight (approximately 8.8 ounces),
you’re ready for those prolonged gaming sessions. The unidirectional mic
is at the end of a flexible boom, which lets you adjust its position on the fly.
We also like the wired volume and mute control.

Who Should Apply: This headset is great for those looking for an afford-
able but powerful way to enjoy music. Its virtual surround sound capabili-
ties also make this headset a viable option for fans of games and movies.

Frequency Response: 10Hz to 25kHz (headphones), 70Hz to 20kHz (mic)

Connector: USB

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Rosewill RNA-SYM 2.1

$39.99
www.rosewill.com

Why You’ll Dig It: As one of the most compact 2.1-channel speaker
systems we’ve seen, we just couldn’t pass up the RNA-SYM from Rosewill.
This cylindrical speaker set features a right and left speaker at either end of
the tapered tube, with a third driver in the center for low frequency sounds
that your monitor’s integrated speakers (if it even has them) just can’t
achieve. The speaker features support for line-in sources for any device that
has a headphone jack. A USB cable for PCs and notebooks is included, as is
a 3.5mm analog audio cable. And because it’s USB-powered, you don’t need
an external power supply to get rich sound.

Who Should Apply: Anyone looking for a space-saving way to punch up

their music, movies, and games should check out the Rosewill RNA-SYM
2.1. It also works well with non-USB enabled devices, such as small TVs,
smartphones, and MP3 players.

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 500Hz (subwoofer),

150Hz to 15KHz (satellites)
Total Power: 4W (1W per speaker, 2W subwoofer)

86 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

SteelSeries Diablo III Headset

$119.99
www.steelseries.com

Why You’ll Dig It: OK, this headset has a few things going for it, such
as a lightweight over-the-head suspension design that lets you game for
hours on end without discomfort, plush leather earcups that block external
sounds, massive 50mm drivers the produce impressive sound in games
and movies, a unidirectional retractable microphone, double-braided black
and red nylon cords with in-line volume and mute controls, and the red LED
illumination that you can turn off or set to pulse at three different levels,
but you really don’t care about any of that. This is the Diablo III headset,
adorned with the game’s logo, a matte black finish, and SteelSeries’ knot-
work design on the headband.

Who Should Apply: If you’re a fan of Diablo in the market for a new
headset, then what are you waiting for? Incidentally, this headset is also
great for movies, music, and any other game you choose to play in between
trips to Sanctuary.

Frequency Response: 18Hz to 28kHz (headphones), 50Hz to 16kHz (mic)

Connector: USB

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Tritton AX 720 7.1 Surround Headset

$149.99
www.trittonusa.com

Why You’ll Dig It: This headset from Tritton utilizes a pair of 40mm
drivers to offer superb audio performance in from stereo sources, but it
really opens things up in 5.1- and 7.1-channel surround sources, thanks to
the support for Dolby Headphone Pro Logic IIx technology. Your games and
movies become much more immersive when you can tell which direction
sounds are coming from. Other features we like include the removable mic
boom, separate game and voice volume dials on an in-line controller,
Selectable Voice Monitoring that lets you hear your own voice through the
headset, and comfy padded earcans and an adjustable padded headband
that lets you game into the wee hours.

Who Should Apply: Gamers and movie lovers are sure to appreciate the
surround sound prowess of this headset, but music enthusiasts will also
appreciate the superb stereo audio performance.

Frequency Response: 25Hz to 22KHz

Connector: USB

CPU / May 2012 87

 SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Tt eSPORTS SHOCK One

$109.99
usa.ttesports.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Judging by the number of surround sound headsets
in this buyer’s guide alone, it’s safe to say that gamers want this feature. Tt
eSPORTS takes the virtual approach in its SHOCK One headset; each can
features a single large 40mm driver capable of reproducing highs, mids,
and deep bass in games, movies, and music. As a DTS-certified headset,
however, the SHOCK One can recreate a 360-degree sound field that helps
you pinpoint audio cues that can make all the difference in many games.
Bundled software lets you customize your headset settings and load presets
best-suited to FPS, MMORPG, and RTS games. We also like the noise-
cancelling mic boom, adjustable headband, in-line speaker and mic volume
controller, two pairs of ear cushions for comfort or noise blocking, and a
gold-plated USB connector.

Who Should Apply: This headset works well for music, but it really
shines in games and movies that support surround sound audio.

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz (headphones), 100Hz to 10kHz (mic)

Connector: USB

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Tt eSPORTS SHOCK Spin

$74.99
www.thermaltakeusa.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Tt eSPORTS is known for making some great gamer-
oriented peripherals, and the SHOCK Spin headset is no anomaly. This
headset features large 50mm neodymium magnet speaker drivers that de-
liver impressive full-range mids and highs and awesome skull-shaking bass.
This headset also features a clip-on omnidirectional microphone box with an
integrated mute switch, an in-line volume controller, ergonomically-shaped
ear cushions covered in velvet for your comfort, and a 3.5mm analog jack,
which lets you plug it into PCs, notebooks, MP3 players, tablets, smart-
phones, and more. This headset is available in three color choices, Shining
White, Diamond Black, and Royal Red.

Who Should Apply: Gamers and multimedia enthusiasts who want a

no-nonsense stereo headset that delivers impressive sound will not be
disappointed in the Tt eSPORTS SHOCK Spin.

Frequency Response: 15Hz to 20kHz (headphones), 100 to 10kHz (mic)

Connector: Analog

88 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Zalman 5.1-channel Stereo Headphones With Microphone (ZM-

RS6F+M)

$60.26*
www.zalman.com

Why You’ll Dig It: Zalman sells two different models of 5.1-channel
surround sound headsets, but the only difference is that this model also
includes the clip-on mic attachment (ZM-MIC 1). Zalman’s take on surround
sound is to cram multiple discrete drivers into each can, but rather than
install smaller drivers, Zalman widened the cans dramatically. Other features
we like about the ZM-RS6F+M include the foldable design that makes this
headset surprisingly easy to take on the road, a high-sensitivity headphone
mic that delivers voice communications loud and clear, and a trio of mini
clips to keep your wires tidy. The adjustable headband and soft padded
earcups also make those extended gaming sessions a cinch.

Who Should Apply: Because this version includes a mic, it works well
for users looking for a voice communications-oriented headset and gaming,
but it also handles surround sound movie soundtracks with aplomb.

Frequency Response: 50Hz to 20kHz

Connector: Analog

SPEAKER & HEADSET BUYER’S GUIDE

Zalman Clip-on Notebook Speakers (ZM-NSP100)

$24.99
www.zalman.com

Why You’ll Dig It: The trouble with notebook speakers is that you’re
always going to need to find a place to set them. But this pair of notebook
speakers from Zalman has a unique clip that lets you connect them to the
sides or top of your notebook screen bezel. Despite their compact size, they
produce significantly better audio performance compared to your notebook
speakers due to the built-in USB-powered amp. These compact speakers
utilize neodymium magnet-based drivers, which deliver rich, room-filling
sound. The speakers are also easy to pack and run, thanks to the included
carry case. As a plug-and-play speaker system, there’s no software or
drivers necessary to enjoy them on your PC or notebook.

Who Should Apply: Road warriors who want a more compelling audio
experience with their notebooks and PC users and are particularly space-
constrained will appreciate these small but sonically impressive speakers.

Frequency Response: 60Hz to 18kHz

Total Power: 6W

CPU / May 2012 89

 Inside The World Of Betas
CGSecurity PhotoRec 6.14 Beta
here’s nothing more heartbreaking than PhotoRec 6.14 Beta
T returning from your vacation, connecting
your digital camera to your PC to retrieve
Publisher and URL: CGSecurity,
www.cgsecurity.org
your photos, and finding nothing. Undelete ETA: Q2 2012
utilities are a dime a dozen, but they only Why Should You Care: Reliable data recovery is
work to get back files you’ve intentionally good, but free reliable data recovery is better.
deleted. Retrieving scrambled files from
semireadable media is a tougher challenge,
so it’s refreshing to find PhotoRec. it reconstructs into a file until it stumbles simple interface is that PhotoRec works
PhotoRec scans HDDs, optical media, across another header. Originally, PhotoRec with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and even
and solid-state media (such as thumb drives only looked for image files, but it has since DOS/Win9x. The latest beta version quashes
and SD cards). It ignores the base file system, grown to recognize ZIP, PDF, MP4, MOV, some minor bugs introduces support for
letting it retrieve files from reformatted or and even Ghost image files. Adobe Premiere projects.
damaged media, and recognizes more than PhotoRec lacks a GUI, instead relying When tested on old and heavily used
225 file families and 390 file extensions. on text prompts and key presses that will SD cards found in various digital cameras,
It works by automatically scanning each remind old-school power users of their time PhotoRec recovered photos from trips taken
block or cluster looking for recognized file spent on CompuServe at 1200 baud. Despite six years ago, where various undelete utilities
headers; upon finding one, PhotoRec reads this, PhotoRec is easy to use if you read and just went back about six months. We’d call
subsequent blocks or clusters for data, which follow the prompts. The advantage of the that a great success. ■

Ad Muncher 4.93 Beta

here’s a reason that Adblock Plus is Ad Muncher 4.93 Beta
T the most popular Firefox extension:
Lots of folks are just plain irritated by the
Publisher and URL: Murray Hurps,
www.admuncher.com
banner ads and pop-up ads that appear ETA: Q2 2012
when surfing the web. But where Adblock Why Should You Care: Block all the ads . . .
Plus is limited to slaying ads in Firefox from everything.
and Chrome, Ad Muncher kills ads in
practically everything. Let’s take a look
at this browser extension that takes ad In our testing, Ad Muncher de-
blocking to the next level. livers what it promises: an ad-free
“Practically everything” is pretty based on lists retrieved regularly from Internet across lots of programs, and
extensive. It includes all major web Ad Muncher’s servers. Because of this, it the beta version looks and feels just
browsers (as well as pop-up windows offers options similar programs can’t. It like the retail version. Ad Muncher’s
those browsers might generate), plus can remove background music, sounds, power comes at cost, though. The
Pando, ICQ, SopCast, Kaazaa, LimeWire, and background images from any basic version is $19.95 for a year of
Bearshare, iMesh, and a lot more. It also website. It can stop sites from changing updates (without which, ads start
thwarts tough-to-block ads, such as the the active window, bookmarking or showing up), and the premium version
video pop-ups YouTube is fond of. reloading themselves automatically, or (updated daily) costs $29.95 annually.
Ad Muncher runs the background, moving/resizing the browser window. (Multiyear and lifetime licenses can
constantly monitoring TCP/IP traffic These are handy options to have even if save you money in the long run.) It
outside of these apps, filtering content you’re not a power surfer. adds up over time. ■

90 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 The Latest Upgrades To Keep You Humming Along

Widely used programs like Adobe Lightroom, iTunes, iOS, and the free avast!
antivirus program get major updates this month.

Software Updates
Adobe Lightroom 4 new FileRep feature sorts out new and Match, and a bug fix to some music
The workflow tool for managing untested files from known safe files. playback from iCloud.
photo libraries gets a major update. Im- Remote Assistance lets one user help a support.apple.com
provements in the auto-adjustment tools friend by accessing her PC safely. And
allow for quicker editing of exposure, the WebRep browser plug-in detects Maxthon 3.3.5.1000
contrast, and noise. Templates and a counterfeit sites. The speedy cross-platform browser al-
new Book module make crafting albums www.avast.com ternative has fixed zooming issues under
easier. A Map module helps visualize New Sessions. The developers have also
geotagging. Users can now edit video BatteryCare 0.9.9.0/0.9.9.1 addressed crash problems in the Webkit
shot on D-SLRs and smartphones. The utility for monitoring and maxi- core as well as a problem in the spell
www.adobe.com mizing laptop battery life gets two checker that added extra spaces. Unsup-
quick fix releases in short order to ad- ported ActiveX pages are now switched
Avant Browser 2012 Builds 23/27/28 dress CPU temperature misreadings in automatically to Retro Mode. Maxthon
The low-overhead alternative browser Intel Core i3 chipsets, program icons has also announced that it will support
has a flurry of builds for its new version disappearing after long use, and errors the Do Not Track protocols on all of
in the last month. Fixes have been made experienced after program updating. its upcoming desktop, mobile, and An-
to errors in form filling, a disappearing Added in these updates is a new In- droid tablet browsers.
menu bar issue, rules for assigning the ternal Core Engine for more stability www.maxthon.com
right rendering engine, the proper func- and better memory optimization.
tion of the image save window, and batterycare.net Microsoft Research Cliplets 1.0.1
print previewing. This remarkable new tool from Micro-
www.avantbrowser.com FileCenter 7.1.0.59 soft lets users combine still photos into
This tool for virtualizing business short video clips to create a new range of
avast! 7 documents for a paperless office has wild animations that are somewhere be-
The malware protection suite gets a added a second optical character rec- tween photograph and video. This soft-
major version update. A new one-click ognition (OCR) engine for the Stan- ware requires the Microsoft Visual C++
option lets the user run a browser site dard version of the program that boasts 2010 Redistributable Package to run.
in a protected sandbox. The improved greater accuracy. The old Standard en- research.microsoft.com
sandbox feature for all programs pre- gine is now in the Lite version of File-
vents programs from taking screenshots Center. Driver Bay
or video captures. And users can specify www.lucion.com iOS 5.1
documents or URLs that can be blocked This update for iPhone and iPad lets Siri
from use by virtualized applications. iTunes 10.6 speak Japanese. The lock screen now pro-
www.avast.com To support iOS 5.1 and the release of vides faster access to the camera, and the
the new iPad and refreshed Apple TV, camera app for iPad has been redesigned.
avast! 7 Free Antivirus iTunes now plays 1080p video. Also, iPad audio from TV and movies has been
The popular free malware protec- movies that have been purchased via optimized to sound louder and clearer.
tion tool gets an upgrade along with iTunes are now available for re-down- Genius mixes are now available for iTunes
its premium cousin (see above). Free load from iCloud. Other enhancements Match, and individual photos now can be
users get faster info on malware threats include better album art handling, im- manually deleted from the Photo Stream.
from a streaming cloud-based model. A provements in song matching in iTunes support.apple.com

CPU / May 2012 91

 Mozilla Firefox 10
n the blink-and-you-miss-it world
I of Firefox updates, another six weeks
has brought us to version 10 of the web
browser. You won’t find any stunners in
terms of new features or UI changes, but
there are some key changes to make your
upgrading efforts worthwhile.
First off, Firefox has long maintained
a checkered relationship with add-ons.
Even if add-ons for a prior version were
compatible with the latest Firefox update,
the browser would often disable them
because developers hadn’t validated them
under the current version. Add-ons
hosted by Mozilla (addons.mozilla.org)
don’t have this problem, but that only
accounts for 25% of the add-on “market.”
Given that Mozilla reported last summer
that 85% to 89% of Firefox users have
installed add-ons, the disabling issue is
no small inconvenience. In many cases,
there are workarounds, but who wants to
bother with that?
Now, you don’t have to. As of Style Inspector, which offers details about a excelling in the 3D, bitops, and crypto
Firefox 10, the browser is changing its selected node’s CSS. The new Code Editor tests. Elsewhere, Chrome maintains its lead.
default setting to view most add-ons as gives developers code-level editing access If you were hoping for a bit more
compatible. The only notable exceptions from within the browser via tools such as from your Firefox refresh, fear not.
are binary add-ons, which carry the Scratchpad and Style Editor. Version 11 was in RC2 status as of this
highest risk of negative issues and are Let’s talk benchmarks. We used one of writing and should be available by the
never compatible between versions. our regular office systems (AMD Phenom time you read this. Our most anticipated
The only interface change in version II X4 955, MSI DAK790GX Platinum, feature for Firefox 11 is Add-on Sync,
10 is the change to a “dynamic forward AMD ATI Radeon HD 4550, 4GB which promises to ensure that user data,
button.” (Actually, there hasn’t been a OCZ PC2-5300, Intel 80GB X25-M including add-ons, is synchronized across
significant UI overhaul since version 4.) SSD, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit) with your various devices running Firefox. Also
When you first open a tab with a new page Outlook, Word, and Excel open; iTunes look forward to being able to migrate
on it, there will be no forward button. After playing; and six Chrome tabs open in the settings and data from Chrome. (IE,
all, why would you need one cluttering background in order to approximate an Safari, and Opera are already supported.)
up the UI when there’s no page to jump average use scenario. We ran Chrome 17, Not least of all, Firefox 11 should
forward to? Once you navigate back from a Internet Explorer 9, and Firefox versions bring support for the SPDY transport
page, then the smaller forward button will 9 and 10 through four benchmark tests: protocol, the faster successor to HTTP
appear beside it. Kraken 1.1, SunSpider 0.9.1, Peacekeeper, now implemented in Chrome, as well as
Developers will enjoy some of this and BrowserMark. Across those four, we Amazon’s Silk browser. ■
iteration’s new tools. The new Page averaged a 7.5% performance improvement
Inspector is a portal into a number of web in upgrading from Firefox 9 to 10. BY WILLIAM VAN WINKLE
development tools. One of these is the Even with the speed bump, though,
Highlighter, named for how it highlights Firefox 10 doesn’t change its position Firefox 10
a given page element and offers tools for between Chrome and Internet Explorer. Free
common operations right next to the Firefox 10 maintains a win over both Mozilla
element. Another Page Inspector tool is the competitors in SunSpider, especially www.mozilla.org

92 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

Siber Systems GoodSync 9
yncing two devices is simple enough button, and the program by default Mobile and Pocket PC devices, and
S in theory. But sometimes it can
be the equivalent of rocket science in
saves the last version of every file it’s
been told to delete or replace: a useful
a full range of removable drives that
will be specifically recognized even
practice when multiple devices exist, fail-safe. if one later changes drive letters. It
and the time to personally handle Once you have set up all the can also sync folders on a variety of
your syncing doesn’t. This is where parameters on a file transfer, GoodSync servers, including FTP, Secure FTP, and
GoodSync 9 comes in. It performs saves it as a job. You can reload jobs Amazon S3.
bi-directional synchronization, works whenever you want, on the computer We do have two quibbles with the
on a wide range of devices, establishes where they originate or on another software. First, the main interface,
peer-to-peer connections, and lets users via importing through a separate copy while fine for syncing the entire
create and schedule automated jobs. of the program. You can automate a contents of a folder or a single file,
At its simplest, GoodSync presents job or range of jobs to run when becomes a little unwieldy when you
a simple display where you can sync GoodSync starts, on file changes, on need to sync several specific items from
the contents of one folder (drives, folder connects, or on a specific schedule folders containing many files. We’d
directories, subdirectories, files) with that can repeat up until a stop date you like to have the option to pull up a
the contents of another. But you can define. Automated jobs created on a second directory tree in a pane on the
do so much more with it—resetting the series of computers can pass updated right, which would make navigating
direction of the sync on any number files quickly down the line, without any to specific destination files and
of items between those folders, for human involvement. You can also create subdirectories a bit easier.
instance, and turning off the copying scripts for calling programs and sending Second, GoodSync 9’s online user’s
of some items. A series of Tree View emails, though these aren’t built around manual (and, in a couple cases, menu
buttons let you sort files just by those Natural Language formulas and require text within the program) could have
that will be excluded, deleted, changed, some familiarity for use. used a little more polish, but we liked
or copied in one direction or the other. GoodSync isn’t limited to desktop pretty much every other aspect of the
Nothing happens until you hit the Sync computers. It works with Windows software. Its most basic functions are
easy to jump right in and
use, and there’s plenty of
flexibility and complexity
there if you want it and
don’t mind taking the time
to explore and learn. ■

BY BARRY BRENESAL

GoodSync 9
$29.95 ($39.95 for
GoodSync2Go 9)
Siber Systems
www.goodsync.com

CPU / May 2012 93

 Google Chrome 17
oogle set out to emphasize speed wrench icon, then History, you’ll
G and security with version 17 of its
browser, and the results, predictably,
open a new tab showing your
browsing history. As you mouse
don’t disappoint. It’s the only offering over an entry in the list, you’ll
among the Big Three (including see a checkbox appear to its left.
Internet Explorer and Firefox) to deliver Select as many of these as you wish
complete HTML5 support. We’ve and then click Remove Selected
already seen Instant Pages, in which lets Items. Alternatively, you can click
Chrome offers predictive links based on Clear All Browsing Data and blow
what you type in the Omnibox. Now, everything up at once.
version 17 actually starts preloading the   C h ro m e u s e s G P U - b a s e d
page that it thinks you’re most likely graphics acceleration, integrates
to select. Adobe Flash natively, and sim-
  Additionally, Chrome 17 beefs up ply self-updates without needing of a great browser, and we’re glad to see
the browser’s Safe Browsing technology. bothersome patches. The only minor Google continuing to take Chrome in
It now analyzes executables that you complaint we have is that rather than good directions. ■
download. If Chrome determines that a open a new tab for print previewing and
given file is dangerous (or if it originates options, Chrome 17 now replaces your BY WILLIAM VAN WINKLE
from a known-dangerous site), it will current page with the print page, so you
suggest that you delete the file. can no longer see them concurrently. Chrome 17
  Chrome 17 features an updated We preferred it the old way. Still, Free | Google
History area. When you click the version 17 remains a worthy iteration www.google.com/chrome

UVViewSoft Universal Viewer Pro 6.4.5

t’s easy to become complacent with the load items or simply drag and
I browsing capabilities of My Computer,
which makes skimming across your files
drop them into the frame from
the Windows shell. Our favorite
fairly easy. And whenever you want to see way of loading files was simply to
the contents of a file, just double-click leave Universal Viewer’s navigation
it to bring up the associated application. panel open, as it serves as a fine
Of course, this is time-consuming, plus it replacement for My Computer and
chews up valuable system resources. For automatically previews whatever
this, the world needs Universal Viewer. compatible file is clicked on.
The idea of Universal Viewer is simple There is a free version of
enough. The app serves as a frame through Universal Viewer you can down-
which you can quickly view an impressive load, but the Pro version will
range of file types. For example, Universal display Word and Excel files—both
Viewer supports over 40 image formats, legacy and XML (Office 2007/2010) but Universal Viewer is thorough, easy,
even including those rarely supported versions—even if you don’t have Office and will save you plenty of time over
in other viewers. Additionally, Universal installed. Pro also natively supports prolonged use. ■
Viewer Pro will “display” audio and video PDF, RAW, and complex RTF files. Not
files, including FLV, VOB, AVI, and least of all, the Pro version Edit and BY WILLIAM VAN WINKLE
MKV. No external codecs are required, so Convert tabs adds to the image viewer,
the app is extremely quick to implement. for quickly rotating and transcoding Universal Viewer Pro 6.4.5
Universal Viewer opens to a blank files into alternate formats. Perhaps $23 $23 (personal license) | UVViewSoft
frame. You can use the File menu to feels a bit steep for a simple file viewer, www.uvviewsoft.com

94 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Windows 7 Parting Shots
ow that the preview version of In Windows Explorer, simply make

Registry Tip N Windows 8 has hit the Web, many

hard-core techies like us are looking
a new folder. You can give it any
descriptive name you like so long as it
Of The Month forward to a whole new class of tweaks
and tips to explore. Boy have we gotten
ends with a dot followed by the text
string {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-
Ever wonder why Windows thinks that one of some mileage out of Windows 7 these last 99712043E01C}. So in our case we
your file types can be opened with a particular few years. But before we say goodbye to renamed our new folder GodMode
program? Use the contextual Open With the Windows version that gave Microsoft .{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-
menu item and some curious options come some of its groove back, let’s offer some 99712043E01C}. When you click away
up. For some reason, our system thinks that tricks you may not have seen before and a from the new name, the folder turns into
the comics reader formats CBR and CBZ are few oldies but goodies. an icon. When you double-click this new
compatible with iTunes. The problem is that folder, your Windows Explorer window
the Open With menu can become cluttered A Windows Of Many Gods gets a column of commands divided into
with irrelevant or incorrect program options Veterans of this feature may recall that 46 categories, such as Action Center,
that can add time to operations or result in two and a half years ago we introduced Keyboard, and Programs and Features.
strange launches. To winnow the options for you to what many call Win 7 “God Now, a couple of little tricks. In the
an important file type, open Regedit and go to Mode.” This little hidden feature in Name column, right-click any of the main
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Win 7 gathers many of the switches and headings and the context menu will let
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts. settings scattered all around the OS into you expand all of the settings under this
Look for the file extension for which you want one easily accessible Windows Explorer heading, collapse them, or collapse and
to change Open With options. interface. expand all headings under all groups. If
Fair warning: It can be tricky trying to you collapse everything, you will get a
restore any of the associations you delete better peek into all that is available here.
here. It is a good practice generally when Double-clicking any of the items brings
making a Registry tweak to back up the you directly to specific settings adjustments
original state of the key you are modifying. like “Add clocks from different time zones”
Highlight the key you are going to change and under the Date and Time heading. You
use the File/Export commands to make a .reg can also make a shortcut out of any of the
file that contains the original key. If you make individual controls here. Just right-click on
an error, you can simply double-click that the operation and make a shortcut, and it
exported .reg file and Windows will restore it. will appear on the Desktop. In fact, if you
Now, back to making the change. For the use the Make Shortcut command on the
relevant file extension, open its OpenWithList section header in God Mode, it will make
sub-key. You will see in the right pane values shortcuts for all of the operations under
named a, b, c, etc., with programs associated with
each. Highlight the value(s) related to the program In the same way we make a God Mode by naming a folder with a specific
you want to excise from the Open With list and number of strings, there are many other shortcuts you can make to
delete it. The change will occur immediately. individual settings in Windows.

Windows Tip Of The Month

Did you ever need to turn your PC’s speaker volume way up to get the audio from a YouTube video and then suffer the jolting effect of having a
Windows’ system sound blast your eardrums? Don’t forget that Windows’ audio mixer lets you set volumes separately for system sounds as well
as for most other programs and media players. Click your speaker icon in the System Tray and enter the mixer link. In order to adjust the audio
for a given program, it should be running. Set the left speaker volume to the highest you want any audio source to play. This sets the upper limit
for all channels. Then adjust things like System Sounds, Windows Media Player, Messenger, your VoIP program, or iTunes to the default levels you
want. You can even mute any one of these channels separately by clicking the speaker icon at the base of the respective slider.

CPU / May 2012 95

 The popularly tagged God Mode in Windows 7 is really just a folder that contains scores of settings for the
operating system organized in a more usable way.

More God Mode Shortcuts

Change Default Locations: {00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
Use Biometric Input: {0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
Select A Power Plan: {025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
Select Icons & Notifications That Show In Taskbar: {05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
Credentials Manager: {1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
Install A Program From A Network: {15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
Set Default Programs: {17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
Set Order Of Connecting To Wireless Networks: {1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
Shows Shortcuts, Links, FTPs, etc. On Network: {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Add/Remove/Manage Printers: {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Set Up New Connection With Remote App & Desktop Connections: {241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
Set Firewall Options: {4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
System Performance Rating: {78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}

this heading. This collection of settings is Widen Your Send To Horizons

handy in that it organizes a vast range of Most Win 7 users are aware of the INFINITE LOOP
adjustments for Windows in sensible ways. enhanced contextual menus. For
While many advanced tweakers know instance, if you hold the Shift key Anchors Away
about God Mode, the lesser “Gods” of
Windows 7 are not widely known. If
down when you right-click an item
in Windows Explorer, you get a wider
For Firefighting Robot
the large God Mode and its 46 headings range of operations than with a standard The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, along
are a bit unwieldy, there are task-specific right-click. But did you know that the with researchers at Virginia Tech and the
versions of this trick for at least a dozen same command greatly expands the University of Pennsylvania, is developing
more granular categories of settings. options in the Send To sub-command a humanoid robot designed to help fight
For instance, you can make a folder in the context menu? All according to fires on ships. The Shipboard Autonomous
that contains the dot + {00C6D95F- what you have installed on your PC, the Firefighting Robot, or SAFFiR, can walk and
329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33} Send To command will offer six or seven negotiate obstacles, activate fire suppressors,
for a shortcut to change the default major destinations for a file: optical and throw special PEAT (propelled extinguishing
location that programs use when external drives, Desktop, mail recipient, agent technology) grenades, and work in
asking for location input. Another one, etc. Hold the Shift key when you first concert with its human shipmates. It has a
dot + {025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844- open the context menu, however, and stereo infrared camera to help it see through
36FE4BEC8B6D}, creates an icon that the Send To sub-menu blossoms, with smoke, a battery pack that lasts 30 minutes,
lets you change your Power Plan. See the options to send the file to places like My and a lightweight aluminum structure. The
sidebar for more. In most cases, creating Documents and Pictures. Navy says SAFFiR will see its first shipboard
a folder with the dot plus number model tests late next year. ■
will create a folder that turns into a System Info In One Move
specific icon for the operation. In some Like most CPU readers, you likely
cases, these functions represent top-level are the on-call IT person for family and
Control Panel options, for which you friends. That means you usually have to
can create shortcuts directly from the figure out quickly what version of the
Control Panel anyway (using the right- OS and hardware a sick PC is running.
click context menu). But in other cases, The cool shortcut to Win 7’s all-revealing
they are harder-to-find settings that this System window is a simple Win+Pause.
technique brings to the surface more It brings up the basic info about the PC
PHOTO: VIRGINIA TECH

easily than drilling into the relevant and includes the links to more advanced
menus. Device Manager and system settings. ■

http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2012/nrl-designs-robot-for-shipboard-firefighting

96 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 $59.99 (PC/X360/PS3) ESRB: (M)ature
●

Electronic Arts masseffect.bioware.com

●

Finish The Fight—by Dr. Malaprop

Over the past five years, we’ve played improved significantly over the last two the first game, so it was disappointing
and reviewed 2007’s Mass Effect and games, and ME3 nails it. The most notable to encounter a bug that kept us from
2010’s Mass Effect 2, which was CPU’s improvement, the cover mechanic, makes importing our character’s face. After
Multiplatform Game Of The Year. it hard to go back and replay the first ME. playing more than 70 hours over the first
Now arrives the high-stakes finale If you’ve played the predecessors, two games, we found it disconcerting to
to the series. We think that ME3 is importing your saved game into Mass see our Shepard look so different in ME3.
perfectly serviceable without playing Effect 3 will result in a customized Another promise of the series has been
its predecessors, but you can expect experience. Your decisions over the past crafting your adventure through in-game
a significantly better experience by two games will craft your character’s decisions. At one level we appreciated
completing ME2 and importing that story across this third installment. You’ll this, but those decisions become
character into ME3. have the choice to make Commander less impactful as the game rolls to its
The narrative picks up right after the Shepard one of six military classes: Soldier, conclusion. There’s a very specific ending
ME2: Arrival expansion. Commander Infiltrator, Vanguard, Sentinel, Adept, you are being carried toward regardless of
Shepard is now located on Earth, and or Engineer. However, you can modify how you’ve been playing the series, which
he’s summoned to advise the Alliance’s your style of play further based upon the came as a shock. The ending felt abrupt.
Defense Committee regarding the weight of your equipment. For example, Still, it’s the journey across all three games
Reapers. No sooner does the meeting weight affects your Power Recharge that made the series so memorable, and
begin than the Reapers launch an Speed. So the heavier you gear up, the we’d take that journey again knowing
all-out attack on Earth, decimating slower you recharge. Conversely, you can what we know now.
major cities and severely crippling the have a more nimble character that does Remember, Mass Effect 3 is playable
planet. Shepard is tasked with unifying more damage with abilities if you lighten on its own, but you’re going to get a
the galaxy’s military resources to fight the load. The tactical pause menu lets much richer experience by playing
the Reapers and give Earth at least a you bring up your squad’s abilities during through at least Mass Effect 2 first. Either
fighting chance. combat, so you can more directly control way, it’s worth the trip. ■
ME3 offers three campaign modes: the combat engagement. And you can
RPG, Action, and Story. RPG is our customize each character and his or her
recommended way to play the game. weapons as you level up. For more story-
It aligns with the core design of the oriented players, there’s an Auto-Level
prior games. Action sets combat feature, so you don’t have to mess with
difficulty to Normal and features any of that. Last but not least, there’s the
pre-selected conversation Galaxy At War multiplayer mode, where
trees. Story Mode sets you can impact the larger single-player
minimal combat difficulty campaign by playing co-op with up to
but lets you make your own four other players.
decisions. Third-person Mass Effect made possible the idea of
action mechanics have being able to import your character from

CPU / May 2012 97

 $59.99 (PC/X360/PS3) ESRB: (M)ature
●

Electronic Arts ea.com/syndicate

●

Dystopian Done Well —by Dr. Malaprop

Fans of Bullfrog’s 1993 isometric, real-time, tactical cyberpunk game are not going
to get the brutal strategy-action experience they remember in this 2012 reboot.
The Starbreeze Studios-developed Syndicate reboot is a full-tilt, first-person shooter
cloaked in the ambiance of Neuromancer-style cyberfiction.
In 2069, democracies and dictatorships no longer exist in a world controlled by three
behemoth corporate entities: Aspari, Cayman Global, and EuroCorp. It’s a world where
people, like in the original 1993 game, have processor chips embedded in their brains.
The new Syndicate focuses on one EuroCorp agent, Miles Kilo, as he gets embroiled in
all-out warfare between the three corporations.
There is the usual mélange of guns, but what raises the stakes from generic to
interesting is the prototype DART 6 implant in Kilo’s head. It is an upgradable chip
that gives Kilo capabilities well beyond the average soldier or citizen. For example, the
DART overlay briefly slows time (think Bullet Time), making Kilo more powerful
and impervious while providing x-ray vision. The overlay effects are too brief and
take substantial time to power back up. As one of the most useful abilities, it’s
where we focused our upgrades. Other abilities include Suicide, Backfire,
and Persuade. Finally, Kilo has the ability to sprint and slide into enemies.
Once you master the controls, you’ll find yourself seamlessly combining a
sprint-breach with a DART ability, weapons, and execution takedowns.
Multiplayer is a key element because you can have up to four players in co-op
going through nine missions with updated abilities that are meant to complement
teammates. Unlike many games’ multiplayer modes, co-op in Syndicate steals the
limelight from the single-player game. The surprise is that Syndicate manages to make
what could have been a generic FPS into an engaging experience. ■

$39.99 (PC)
ESRB: (T)een
Paradox Interactive
www.crusaderkings.com

Deep, Addictive Medieval Strategy

—by Barry Brenesal
Crusader Kings II starts in 1066, the year of the Norman and Norwegian
invasions of England. You choose a character from a variety of European
rulers: counts, dukes, kings, even the head of the Holy Roman Empire, if
you so choose. As your leader dies, his title passes to his heir, whom you
play as well—for 400 years, provided your line doesn’t die out.
The game isn’t a simulation, but an open-ended, sim-flavored strategy
title. You make your own goals. Do you want to play an Irish count whose Wars are handled strategically in real-time-with-pause, using light
descendants will eventually go independent and take over Ireland? and heavy mounted, foot, and ranged units that attack in three
The King of Castile, attempting to bring the Reconquista to the Iberian columns. Unit morale and the Martial stat of a leader factor in, as well.
peninsula? Put it all together with a wide range of activities, including many
CK2 simulates personalities brilliantly with a traits system, first that are launched through your five-person Council, and you’ll feel
unveiled in Paradox’s Rome. They offer benefits and drawbacks: “Cynical” like a self-aware creature in a giant, late-medieval ant farm. Suppress
makes the person better at Intrigue-based actions, but detracts from revolts. Launch holy wars. Offer gifts, create new titles, change
Piety gain per month, in a world where Prestige and Piety are necessary succession laws, stop plots, and get the Pope to excommunicate an
for some important actions. Two characters who are Patient and Wroth enemy. Improve buildings that give you more money or soldiers.
respectively look more negatively upon each other. Multiple traits, even Marry across dynasties and gain allies. Single-player or multiplayer,
as many as a dozen, are likely over a lifetime. Each character is also rated no two games are anything alike. In short, don’t buy CK2 unless you
for five stats: Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, and Learning. have 400 years of free time. It’s that addictive. ■

98 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Price: TBA (PC) ESRB: (R)ating (P)ending
●

Valve blog.dota2.com
●

CPU’s Beta Preview—by Nathan Lake

The original DotA (Defense of the Ancients) was a Warcraft III mod that fans created by
using Blizzard’s World Editor feature. DotA, along with the Aeon of Strife custom map
for StarCraft, was the foundation of the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre,
which features popular titles League Of Legends and Heroes Of Newerth. Dota 2 is Valve’s
take on the genre, and they’ve enlisted one of the original DotA developers to create a
similar play style with upgraded graphics. We’ll note that, as of press time, both Blizzard
and Riot Games (developers of League Of Legends) are disputing Valve’s trademark of
the Dota moniker, which could slow the release of Dota 2.
The gameplay of the Dota 2 beta mirrors the typical format for MOBA games. There
are two teams with five players apiece. Each player selects a “hero” who they’ll level
with skills that consist of spells, stuns, passive abilities, and auras. Valve breaks down the
heroes into the same kind of categories found in the original DotA (strength, agility, and
intelligence), and it’s best to have a mix of the types on a team. The goal of the teams,
titled the Radiant and the Dire, is to destroy the Ancient Fortresses located on the
opposite end of the map from the team. To get to the Ancients, the heroes must fight
through the enemies’ defenses, which consist of “creeps” (waves of units that fight for
one side), towers (defensive bases that fire at units within range), and the enemy heroes.
After having played several MOBA variants, the Dota 2 beta’s detailed graphics
(especially the quality of the characters and spell effects) really stand out. The aggressive
gameplay, which seems to offer a greater number of offensive capabilities, makes the
mechanics of the Dota 2 beta much different from its MOBA competitors. Experienced
players may find the different style refreshing, but it may seem overly hardcore to others.
One thing’s for sure: We can’t wait to see how Dota 2 turns out once it’s out of beta. ■

difficulty level. You can also play a couple of

$24.95 (PC/Mac) ESRB: N/A
●
AI opponents in a card game called Psy Duel,
Sinister Design sinisterdesign.net
●
utilizing attacks, defenses, and summons.
Caution: it is wonderfully habit-forming.
There are few optional quests, but a series
of four crypts provide fiendishly difficult
A Different Kind Of RPG —by Barry Brenesal puzzles, the best I’ve seen since some DOS
games of yore. Factor in a variety of orbs
Telepath RPG: Servants of God is an indie some of those can have a major effect on your hero can find to boost his abilities, a
RPG and one that isn’t (for once) set in a how Telepath RPG progresses, and whether choice of training in one of four elemental
fantasy world among elves and dwarves. new locations open up. Visually, the game is disciplines, and a selection of 10 people
Instead it pits a ragtag band of allies who top-down 2D, plain but stylishly attractive, from which to draw your active party, and
possess magical, mind-based, and physical with facial popups in conversation. you have an interesting game with definite
attacks against a theocracy that sees all Combat in Telepath RPG is turn-based. replayability. Telepath RPG does have a few
political opposition as evil. As your band It plays out on a grid with different types of rough patches—such as knowing party
gains funds it trains to grow stronger, but to obstructions and a few varied goals, where members can gain new powers without
stay alive it must find supporters. your characters are faster, but the opposition knowing what thresholds in strength,
The game is moderately linear—like is usually more numerous. This is an area psy attack, and psy defense to train (and
Dragon Age: Origins or Baldur’s Gate II, with in which the game really shines, with an AI spend gold) for. But it’s a distinctive and
a few locations you can visit at any one time. that adapts to your strategies and can give challenging RPG, very well made and
There aren’t many decisions to be made, but you a strong challenge even on the normal decidedly different. ■

CPU / May 2012 99

 Our Favorite
Vita Launch Games
$249.99 (Wi-Fi); $299.99 (3G/Wi-Fi)
Sony Computer Entertainment playstation.com/psvita
● Lumines:
Electronic Symphony
$39.99, Ubisoft www.ubi.com
●

Almost The Kitchen Sink —by Dr. Malaprop Puzzle. Electronic Symphony is a must-
have Vita launch game. It combines
Craving a handheld game console that approaches the power of a some new ideas with the classic Lumines concepts of
PlayStation 3 but weighs less than 10 ounces? You’ve come to the right colored blocks, music (lots and lots of new, very good
place: The quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor, quad-core music), and puzzles to breathe more life into the
GPU, 512MB RAM (double that of a PS3), stunning five-inch 960 x 544 game. And displaying friend leaderboards as the game
AMOLED capacitive multitouch screen, dual analog sticks, gyroscope/ starts is deviously motivating.
accelerometer, and multitouch rear pad are equally impressive on the
outside. The Vita’s screen is large, vibrant, and sharp. It may not match Rayman Origins
Apple’s Retina Display on paper, but you’ll have a hard time noticing
$39.99, Ubisoft raymanorigins.us.ubi.com
●

that visually. And note that the OS lets you switch between up to five
Platforming. We loved this game
apps—such as Twitter and Facebook—and play music and movies.
on the home consoles. For anyone
Budget at least $250 for the Wi-Fi model or $300 for the 3G/
desiring a platformer on the Vita,
Wi-Fi kit. The Vita has no built-in game storage, so predictably
this is our first choice. It’s charming, looks beautiful,
proprietary Vita memory cards are required. These flash cards
features hours of gameplay, and delivers epic boss
aren’t cheap, so plan on an additional $30 (8GB), $60 (16GB),
battles. Unfortunately, the missing two- to four-player
or $100 (32GB). By comparison, a PS3 costs $249.99 or $299.99
multiplayer mode is tragic for a device that so heavily
for the 160GB or 320GB, respectively. Top-shelf retail titles are
touts connectivity.
arriving at $40 and $50, but more affordable, downloadable
games, such as the excellent Super Stardust Delta, are available for
EA Sports FIFA Soccer
$10 via the PlayStation Network.
$39.99, Electronic Arts
Sony’s Vita does admirably well at creating a console www.ea.com/soccer/fifa-soccer
experience on a handheld (for example, with games such as Sports. FIFA Soccer is another title
Uncharted and Wipeout 2048). The gameplay is solid with that successfully transitions from home
the hardware delivering on nearly every promise except an consoles to the Vita. It looks nearly as good as its
unexpectedly short three-hour battery life. (However, it charges PlayStation 3 counterpart, and controls are intuitive.
quickly.) Price of entry also remains steep in a market that expects Console players should not expect to find every
to pay $5.99 or $0.99 for mobile games on phones and tablets. mode and feature ported, but what’s there now is
The Vita is lovely—and perhaps the last of its kind. ■ great fun for the medium.

Super Stardust Delta

$9.99, Sony Computer Entertainment
us.playstation.com
Arcade. Developer Housemarque’s attempt to bring
Super Stardust to the PSP was disappointing without
dual analog stick controls. The Vita’s hardware
addresses that, so Super Stardust Delta is fun to play
and looks beautiful. Also, it’s a steal and feels like the
perfect type of game for the Vita.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

$49.99, Sony Computer Entertainment
us.playstation.com
Action-Adventure. Nathan Drake
returns in this prequel to the original
Uncharted. What the game lacks in narrative oomph
(it was not created by Naughty Dog), it makes up for
in gameplay that takes every opportunity to leverage
the Vita’s various hardware features. Gimmicky, sure,
but absolutely enjoyable.

100 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Programming
is Fundamental
Codecademy Brings Coding To The Masses
omputer programming comes easily
C to some and appears daunting
to others. But if you want to learn
something about the basics of coding,
there is a place that tries to make it so
painless that you won’t even know you are
doing it at first. In fact, the site has you
programming from the time it says hello
at its front door.
“Hey! Let’s get to know each other.
What’s your name? Type it with quotes
around it like this ‘Ryan’ and then press Codecademy gets you into the
enter on your keyboard.” The site then command line at hello and
asks you to follow that basic input with starts awarding badges for
the “.length” command to discover the good performance soon after.
number of characters in your name.
There. You’re programming. This is
the clever point of entry for the wildly
popular Codecademy, which tries to make chunks that are fun and allow the JavaScript code editors that let you create
programming accessible to all. Within student to enter at multiple points. programs and share them with others on
seconds, new users are doing rudimentary Although the site is soliciting lessons the Web without having to download
programming moves. In a minute you get for programming Ruby and Python, and install discrete editor software.
moved into a basic tutorial on JavaScript. its focus now is Web programming in And like most hot new digital
And in short order you realize why JavaScript. The user can work through a star tups, there is an interesting
the site has grown popular. When you 10-step plan of interactive tutorials that backstory to it all. Co-founders Ryan
enter your first programming error, cover functions, arrays, and loops. The Bubinski, 22, and Zach Sims, 21, met
Codecademy awards you your first user can go through the lessons in order at Columbia University. “Ryan was a
online “badge” and lets you broadcast the or drop into any one of them. The site computer science major, I was political
achievement to Twitter and Facebook. offers both a straightforward tutorial of science,” Sims says. Both had worked
In its first days after the August 2011 concepts and learning through doing— with local startups. Sims wanted to learn
launch, Codecademy attracted more than working on projects. For instance, in programming but was frustrated by the
200,000 active users who had already the introduction to JavaScript, the user available books and online resources. “I
completed 2.1 million lessons. Since then can create a basic children’s game called was using books and watching videos,
it has become one of the hot startups FizzBuzz. Once you work your way but I found that the best way to learn
on the Web, attracting $2.5 million in through the basic levels, Codecademy was actually to code.” Bubinski had been
venture capital funding by November. By challenges you to build a blackjack teaching programming to friends at
the beginning of the year, Codecademy game. All the while, your achievements Columbia and also to Sims. They formed
had surpassed 1 million users. are being badged and posted across the Codecademy in August.
The site works because it breaks the social networks, if you choose. The site “You discover concepts by doing
learning process down into manageable also offers online Ruby, Python, and them,” Sims says. “It is really learning by

102 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

doing.” But the cleverness of Codecademy The New Literacy Summer+ will be aligned with President
is in breaking down the otherwise Sims and Bubinski are not just riding Obama’s Summer Jobs+ effort and will
daunting task of learning a computer a hot new startup to riches. There is a offer a condensed Codecademy curriculum
language into manageable chunks that are mission here. They believe that computer designed to help young people “get on
highly interactive. “You see a small set of programming is a discipline everyone track to become engineers,” Sims said in the
instructions, code yourself, and we reward should know. “We call it the literacy of the announcement. Students who complete app
people by giving them points and badges,” 21st century,” Sims says. This is a gadget- prototypes in the Code Summer+ program
he says. Codecademy not only simplifies and computer-driven culture now. “It is could be linked through Summer Jobs+ to
the learning process but also taps into two important for everyone to learn the basics of internships or potential mentors in the field.
of the hottest trends in digital media, social coding, in order to understand a phone or a
networking and “gamification.” Friends can laptop and the fundamentals,” he says. Built For Speed
monitor one another’s progress via Twitter But on an even deeper level, Sims says Codecademy is itself built on the same
and Facebook, and the rewards system that programming teaches some basic skill self-serve model it offers. Sims says they built
quantifies your advances. sets that are broadly applicable. “We teach the site themselves. The New York-based
In fact, the biggest gains Codecademy people to think algorithmically,” he says. staff is up to nine now, with one person
experienced in early 2012 came when Programming also teaches one how to break devoted to customer support. Sims says the
Sims and Bubinski turned coding into down tasks logically. “We think anyone highly interactive, app-driven destination
a New Year’s resolution and game-like can be improved. You learn how to parse performs very well. “We run it all in the
challenge. CodeYear.com invites people data. Financial analysts can model better. browser. We are running what traditionally
to resolve to learn programming in 2012. Anything that people do can be done better would be server side technology on the client
And Codecademy has turned its online with a basic knowledge of coding.” Part of side. The site was written in JavaScript.” The
tutorial engine into a series of push the site’s mission seems to be making the art client-side approach is designed to ensure
lessons that arrive by email each week. of coding so accessible and entertaining— that everything runs faster and that there is
According to Forbes, the Code Year site even contagious through viral social no latency.
premiered on Jan. 1 and had attracted sharing—that anyone can play. But is there a business model behind
more than 100,000 people over the This effort to put programming at the it all? With a couple of million dollars
next three days. Users shared more than center of education has itself attracted invested, considerable traffic, White
50,000 tweets in the next few weeks, and support from high places. Early this year, House notice, and press attention, how
300,000 signed on in the first week. By Codecademy joined with the White does the company turn this into profit?
late March, more than 422,000 people House in what they are calling the Code While Sims admits there is no business
had enrolled for the challenge. Summer+ Youth Education Program. Code plan in place yet, “There are plenty of

“We think anyone can be

improved. You learn how to
parse data. Financial analysts
can model better. Anything
that people do can be
done better with a basic Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, entrepreneur Mitch Kapor,
and Codecademy co-founder Zach Sims are partnering on initiatives

knowledge of coding.” Zach Sims to bring computer science education and career opportunities to
kids this summer.

CPU / May 2012 103

 “Simply presenting programming
concepts in strategically ordered Alternative
Schooling
steps does not teach programming.” Codecademy joins a portfolio
of other online programming
Terry Harvey, tutorials. If the style or level of
lecturer in computer science at the University of Delaware learning there does not suit the
budding code jockey, there are
ideas.” The company is already working couple of lessons and was not impressed many alternatives.
with institutions and companies to create by the system asking her merely to “parrot
programs just for them. back the commands” and by the template ■ Treehouse
negative feedback. But more to the http://teamtreehouse.com
Can A Dotcom Teach? point, she wonders if the larger, laudable If you prefer learning by seeing,
When we asked computer scientists ambition of the site to teach the discipline Treehouse uses video tutorials in
who teach programming for a living to of thinking in algorithms is achieved. Can Web design, Web development,
try Codecademy, they admitted the goals the broader concepts behind computer and iOS development followed
and some of the methods were admirable. science really come through on a site or by quizzes.
“This is a great way to introduce someone even in a book? “I think the site is more
who already knows basic programming about coding as opposed to computational ■ Alice
to a new language,” says Terry Harvey, thinking. This is something we stress here alice.org
a lecturer in computer science at the in an introductory course—getting people Developed by Carnegie Mellon as
University of Delaware. And Kathleen to think about how to solve problems a downloadable set of tutorials
McCoy, professor of computer and systematically and computationally. There in a 3D environment, Alice uses
information sciences, also of University is a lot more to doing that than ‘coding,’” drag-and-drop elements to build
of Delaware, adds, “I think in general it she says. “It is a way of thinking.” rudimentary programs. This
is a great idea to game-ify the process of While the human element may not approach shows the programmer
learning code. This has the potential to be included in a Codecademy education, the relationship between the
really motivate people to learn.” there is no doubt that the site is at least commands and the behavior of
Nevertheless, as old pros in the field piquing the interest of hundreds of objects in an animation.
of teaching CompSci, they warn of thousands of people about computer
the limitations of online instruction in science and programming. Of course, ■ Scratch
general and Codecademy’s present state. Codecademy is but a six-month-old scratch.mit.edu
“It isn’t there yet,” Harvey says. “Simply school that has a lot of learning itself This downloadable programming
presenting programming concepts ahead of it. Sims says that the small language from MIT teaches
in strategically ordered steps does not company is looking to widen its scope users how to create interactive
teach programming.” It still takes human and enrich the level of interactivity and stories and games. Designed
instructors to spot where a student is support for students. “For us the focus is for kids, the program is aimed
going wrong and why. While automated on high-quality educational content,” he at teaching mathematical and
learning systems have long been a dream says. “We want to broaden the number computational ideas.
of artificial intelligence, Harvey says, of languages. And we want to make the
helping a user understand mistakes is a experience much more about learning and ■ MIT Open Courseware
very complex process that has to account activities like Q&A and helping people ocw.mit.edu
for a lot of variables. “Teaching someone more to supplement the learning.” If you really want a top-level
to program with Codecademy would be Still, the site and the company have CompSci education, why not
like taking a new driver from ignition to amassed a phenomenal amount of interest, drop in for an online course
parallel parking to highway driving, all connections, and investment in a very at MIT? The OCW program’s
via cell phone.” short period of time. All this from two most popular free course is
McCoy concurs that correcting entrepreneurs who haven’t even celebrated Introduction to Computer Science
mistakes without confusing the students their 23rd birthdays. “We are happy with and Programming. It includes
is a challenge in Codecademy. She tried a where we are now,” Sims says. ■ 24 full class lectures on video,
assignments, and exams.

104 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 An Interview With SAPPHIRE Technology’s Bill Donnelly
Originally trained as an engineer, Bill Donnelly spent several years as the editor of a leading electronics industry magazine
before joining a PR company based in the UK to promote rapidly evolving integrated circuit technologies and PC-related
systems. His firm’s clients included major semiconductor and component companies, and Donnelly gained valuable
experience building homebrew computer rigs and learned a great deal about the application of component technology and
the evolution of computer architectures. Donnelly moved from PR to consulting and helped launch SAPPHIRE in the UK
and Northern Europe before the company approached him eight years ago to become the full-time director of its global PR
operations. Donnelly currently leads a small but dedicated marketing team and draws on his engineering background and
industry experience to work with SAPPHIRE’s design team in Taiwan to stay ahead of market demands and expectations.

Q What sets SAPPHIRE apart

from other AMD graphics
card partners?
Q The other big differentiator
is often factory overclocks,
and SAPPHIRE’s TOXIC brand
cards have that covered. How

BD What makes us different

is innovation; our in-
house design team optimize the
does SAPPHIRE choose the clock
settings that TOXIC cards ship
with, and what other kinds of
PCB designs for performance in differentiation go into these cards?
products aimed at the enthusiast,
and also for cost/performance
and efficiency of manufacturing
for mainstream products. We
BD Well, TOXIC-branded
cards will always be the
best in class of a particular family.
were the first company with a The will always have a special
totally silent heatpipe-based cooler cooler; most of our recent models
on a production graphics card, use the Vapor-X technology we
and again the first to use vapor already discussed. They will
chamber-based cooling. Currently be screened to be the best of a
we add purpose-built coolers to production batch, and shipped
suit different market segments— with factory-programmed raised
and these are commissioned specially for Vapor-chamber technology was devel- clocks. The shipping clocks will be chosen
SAPPHIRE, not just aftermarket coolers oped for the processors in blade servers still to allow extra headroom, ensuring
stuck on a reference design. where space was limited and power maximum stability for people who use
dissipation of the devices was high. It them “out of the box” but also giving

Q There are a few ways that we’ve

seen graphics card companies
differentiate their products over the
is a very thin module in direct contact
with the chip and it works a bit like a
heatpipe, transferring the heat from one
scope for the enthusiast to tune them
up for extra performance. Some of the
high-end models also have a dual BIOS,
years, but one of the primary means for surface to the opposite face, where a more with the second setting pre-programmed
doing so seems to be custom cooling. conventional heatsink/heatpipe and fan to more extreme settings.
Can you talk about SAPPHIRE’s assembly carries away the heat. Because
Vapor-X cards and what advantage
vapor-chamber cooling provides?
the vapor chamber is so efficient, we are
able to use lower-speed and therefore
quieter fans on models equipped with
Q What kinds of settings can users
tweak with SAPPHIRE’s TriXX
performance tuning tool?

BD To cool a graphics processor

chip (or a CPU, actually)
the first stage is to get the heat off the
this technology, which we call Vapor-X.
(There is a white paper on our website
which explains the structure and oper- BD TriXX knows which graphics card
is installed in the system, so what
surface of the chip as quickly as possible. ation of the module in more detail.) can be achieved will depend on which

CPU / May 2012 105

 card you have. It always allows users
to vary clock speeds of both the GPU
core and the memory, and to change fan
Q The big news in AMD-based
graphics cards is, of course,
the arrival of the Radeon HD 7000
generations, we have found that we can
achieve excellent thermal performance
with a graduated multiheatpipe cooler
speeds, either manually or by setting up a Series cards. What has SAPPHIRE layout and two large-diameter fans.
new profile. On the higher- performance done to put its own special stamp on The fans have dust-repelling bearings
models, TriXX will also allow you to the 7970 in particular, and on the and aerofoil profiled blades, achieving
vary GPU voltage, giving even more series in general? maximum airflow at lower speeds and
scope for overclocking. It continuously with less noise. We have also introduced
displays GPU temperature, helping
users to operate within safe limits. Four
settings can be saved and restored. So, for
BD As with other generations,
we have already introduced
versions with alternative coolers: This
a totally silent, fanless heatpipe model
known as the HD 7750 ULTIMATE.

example, you could save extreme settings

for gaming, a more modest profile for
day-to-day working, and a “silent” profile
time, [we have] a new series known as
“Dual-X.” This stands for Dual-Extractor
technology. As the power dissipation of
Q SAPPHIRE recently re-entered the
motherboard market. What prompted
this move, and how did SAPPHIRE decide
for watching videos. the HD 7000 series is lower than previous that the time was right?

106 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 BD Ah, well this is a really cool product.
It’s exactly what AMD designed the
APU to do! The EDGE HD3 is a complete
PC in the form factor of a paperback book.
It has the AMD E-450 processor, 4GB
of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, wired and
wireless LAN, two USB 3.0 and two USB
2.0 ports, and HDMI and VGA. So, the
possibilities are wide: With the onboard
HD graphics and streaming capability, it
can easily replace a general-purpose home
PC or HTPC. For business use, its very
small footprint and low power (less than
30W) are potentially cost-saving, and
the AMD technology accelerates Office
applications and most browsers. We are
even being told it is suitable for online
gaming or working with cloud servers.

BD I think it is clear that the latest

generation of on-chip graphics
are many times better than the old
APUs and the 990FX for the Bulldozer
series. The current Intel line really started
last year with an enthusiast X58 board, Q What else does SAPPHIRE have in
store for us in 2012? Any impending
“integrated” graphics. Solutions from then P67 and H67 series boards. We are launches that you can talk about?
Intel and AMD are comparable with currently working on our Z77 board.
earlier generations of add-in graphics
cards, effectively challenging this segment
of the market. Also, we think that AMD’s Q SAPPHIRE also offers a line of small
form factor PCs, the latest of which
BD We are just in the secondary
phase of the HD 7000 series
graphics, and you will see a very exciting
APU line is extremely promising, and we is the Mini-PC EDGE HD3. What can high-end card from us. And yes, watch for
need to be there to support this platform. you tell us about the HD3, and what the evolution of the mini PC and maybe
kind of user is the system designed for? some other lifestyle products. . . . ■

Q How does the motherboard market

differ from the graphics card market,
and have you found that your brand
reputation among customers more or less
transfers to a new product line, or are you
basically starting from scratch?

BD From a global perspective it varies a

lot by region. The SAPPHIRE brand
is strong for graphics, but we have some work
to do to build the brand in mainboards.

Q Which Intel and AMD chipsets

does SAPPHIRE support with
motherboards, and how did SAPPHIRE
choose how far back to go with leg-
acy chipsets?

BD Actually, we have had a line of

AMD mainboards back through
several generations, although these are not
sold in all of our global regions. Our latest
models are the A75 for the AMD’s A-Series

CPU / May 2012 107

 Look For CPU At These LAN Parties
Across The Nation—& Beyond!

04.06-07.12 05.11-13.12 08.11.12

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www.nexuslan.org 07.12 10.12-14.12
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www.egsrit.com/content/spring-lan AnimeSouthEast - Sevierville, TN www.wvgamers.com
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lanfest.intel.com www.pdxlan.net
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Naois Gaming - York, PA Naois Gaming - York, PA www.networkgamingclub.com
www.naoisgaming.com www.naoisgaming.com WV Gamers - Eugene , OR
05.03.12 NGC’s LAN-A-GEDDON - Greenville, TX www.wvgamers.com
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12.15.12
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Would you like us to help promote your next LAN?

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108 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Q&A With Ryan Petersen
OCZ’s Founder & CEO
On The Solid State Of
Solid-State
Q A lot has happened at OCZ since
last time we talked! OCZ used to be
primarily a DRAM company, but now
RP Acquiring Indilinx brought not
just a lot of controller IP into
the company, but also a talented team
rapidly; this is an area that we devote a
lot of our resources to, but it’s also the
reason why we are able to create innovative,
you’ve transitioned away from that to a of hardware and firmware engineers into feature-rich products for workstation users,
model where SSDs are your bread and the organization, and this is the same as well. Case in point is our RevoDrive 3
butter. What prompted this move, and reason we acquired the UK design team PCI-E SSD, which leverages designs and
what other kinds of changes needed to from PLX. As we increase our technical features we originally created for the data
take place at OCZ as a result? resources, we are able to develop next- center in our Z-Drive PCI-E Series. One
generation solutions in-house that allow of the reasons that we have had so much

RP Our philosophy is that by cre-

ating best-in-breed solutions,
we can add real value for customers.
us to drive more innovation and tailor
solutions for our customers.
We have strong existing partnerships with
success in the enterprise is our ability to not
just innovate, but design solutions across a
wide spectrum of interfaces (SATA, SAS,
With the DRAM market becoming other controller manufacturers, and one of PCI-E) that are tailored specifically to our
rapidly commoditized and with the the things that make OCZ more agile is our customers’ applications.
innovations we had early on with ability and willingness to use a combination
SSDs, we recognized an opportunity
to innovate and add value. Storage had
become a real bottleneck in computing,
of internally and externally developed tech-
nology to deliver superior products.
That being said, controllers often take
Q What’s next for OCZ? Do you have
any big announcements or launches
coming up that you can share with
as traditional rotational media had not years to develop (think CPU or GPU CPU’s readers?
kept pace with the other components, architecture); you can be sure that our
including CPUs and GPUs.
We were able to leverage our existing
expertise in memory and flash, but had
next two generations of controllers will
not only deliver the highest performance
in the market in terms of typical metrics,
RP We are constantly working on
exciting projects, and while I can’t
provide specifics, we did demonstrate a
to make major investments in R&D and but will revolutionize the way we view number of technologies at recent trade
technology surrounding hardware and SSD performance. In addition, as you may events like Storage Visions and CES that
firmware in order to design and introduce know, OCZ is committed to delivering the highlight the direction we are moving
the highest-performing SSDs across a lowest cost per gigabyte of any solution in in. On the controller side, we previewed
wide range of interfaces. It has been an the market, and our Indilinx nDurance our next-generation Indilinx Everest 2
amazing transformation even looking technology makes that possible. platform, which will power our next
from the inside out. Vertex and Agility Series SSDs; this is

Q Obviously controllers are a big

deal in SSDs, and our readers pay
Q OCZ is well known for its high-
performance SSDs for gaming PCs,
but your company has made some strides
most certainly an area to watch.
At the end of the day OCZ is, and
always will be, about serving our
a lot of attention to what controllers in drives for the enterprise, as well, correct? customers’ needs. Whether it is a client
are in the models they are considering or enterprise application, you can be sure
when it’s time to buy. What did OCZ’s
purchase of Indilinx mean to the com-
pany, and why does OCZ still build in
RP OCZ is unique in that we service
both sides of the solid-state storage
market, client and enterprise. The enterprise
we will remain committed to innovation,
performance, reliability, and providing the
features and value that address the needs
third-party controllers? side of our business has been growing of our valued customers. ■

110 May 2012 / www.computerpoweruser.com