Introduction 

We are in an era where personal computers are becoming smaller with each passing generation; except for those whom like to cool or use their systems in ever more esoteric ways. As a result Intel has dropped the gauntlet with the Atom processor and with the formation of MITX as the de-facto standard for all small form factor systems, then we are in for some interesting times! The idea behind these systems is for low power consumption making them a green alternative to the larger computers but with the obvious sacrifice of speed and in some cases durability. 

The obvious applications for the above hardware are to use in a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box or a HTPC (Home Theatre PC) We all know that HTPC cases get very hot, due to the amount of power that is used in such a small confined space and with little airflow. However with each generation of the Intel Atom processor, then the power requirements are lowered ergo the heat.  

One company that has been amongst the forefront of the computer world is Asus. Previously known for their range of motherboards, graphics cards and more recently their netbook range; then it would be fair to assume that the aforementioned business has made an impact in the I.T industry and with their knowledge of producing quality ‘netbooks’ it is with hopes that this can be translated into the ‘desktop’ environment with the use of the Intel Atom processor.  

Today sees the release of two new reservoirs for the water cooling enthusiast market. Designed around the popular Liang D5 and D5 vario these products are set to provide maximum compatibility whilst being user friendly.

The reservoirs attach directly to the Liang pumps, thus eliminating the need to install tubing from the reservoir to the pump itself. This saves the consumer money, space and time.

The products are available in two flavours, bay and tank designs.

http://www.xspc.biz/d5bayres.php

http://www.xspc.biz/d5tankres.php

This reviewer would be very interested to see what XSPC comes up with next.

Author Gilgamesh

Celebrating, the release of the NEW CPU Rasa CPU water block.  XSPC and Overclockerstech are pleased to announce the opening of a new contest. The prize will be the aforementioned product. If you do not win all is not lost as we have forty codes entitling the bearer to a cool ten percent off the total cost of the Rasa CPU block.

What must you do to win? Simply sign on to the forums at Overclockers Tech and post your entry. Details are in the Competitions Sub-section of the forums.

Sound cards: an industry that has long been dominated by the likes of Creative; with their Sound Blaster series of add-on devices. One could say that using the aforementioned company products is a mixed bag as they blessed us with decent voice synthesis to replace the old Adlib cards. Since then Creative has dominated the market with a slowly increasing line of products. However the other side of the coin is that a rising company back in 1992 (around the time when Doom was launched) going by the name of Advanced Gravis released the Ultrasound range of cards (or GUS was its friendly moniker) they for a short while gave Creative a run for their money with its first generation wave table cards, programmable musical instruments etc. However the world was hooked like sheep onto the Sound Blaster name and despite having a big name in the music world and being technically superior in every way, the advanced Gravis Ultrasound died a lonely death! This reviewer remembers this sound card with great fondness.

Recently Creative has courted controversy by deliberately disabling certain features in their drivers so as to cause complications in Windows Vista. This was done in order to force owners to purchase their Alchemy software which re-enabled those same features again. A gentleman known as Daniel_k discovered this issue and re-enabled the features again, by the use of a software hack. Creative then threatened to prosecute the aforementioned gentleman; however this all back-fired when Daniel reported this to the press and instantly Creative shares dropped by seven percent overnight. Anyone whom uses Creative sound cards will freely recognize the bloatware drivers and the issue of the aforementioned drivers causing a slower boot up time.

Today Overclockers Tech can possibly offer the consumer an alternative by Asus, namely the Xonar Essence ST! Billed as a musicians sound card first and a gamers card second, one can not help but be thrown back to the year 1992 and the era of the Advanced Gravis Ultrasound!

Introduction

In the performance water cooling industry, we have seen many CPU blocks vie for our attention; with many products and a myriad of interesting ideas. A company that has hugged the limelight is with their heat killer range of blocks and indeed they have been bestowed with the performance’ crown for a log time. With baited breath water cooling enthusiasts have been expecting the new heatkiller killer for quite some time! This is where the new XSPC RASA steps in with its new mounting mechanism, which is of a similar nature to that of the Swiftech XT.

XSPC have been around for many years, offering cooling parts for the computer consumer. They made their name with their range of radiators and of their quality water cooling tubing. In recent times XSPC have purchased ‘Thermochill’ which is in joint ownership with Watercoolinguk and it has seen to have gone from strength to strength.  With the release of their new RX radiators time is indeed looking  good for XSPC! Those ‘good times’ may be set to continue with the launch of their new CPU water block entitled Rasa. The word or concept Rasa is Sanskrit for the concept of ‘essence’, it is also Latin meaning ‘Slate’ as in Tubular Rasa’ meaning blank slate’.  The reason why the block was called this as that this block is not based upon any existing XSPC  product, rather they started from ‘scratch’-hence the name Rasa!

Without further delay let us look further into the Rasa’s capabilities.

Specifications

• ¼ inch thread mounting holes for the barbs
• Chrome mounting bracket
• Weight 150 Grammes
• Compatible with Intel Sockets 775, 1156, and 1366

One must note that the block that this reviewer received was the final revision prototype, this means that the chrome is not as polished as the final sales version that the consumer would see. Additionally the screws holding the Rasa block together will be stainless instead of mild steel.

Today we are proud to announce a world exclusive! Gilgamesh at overclockerstech was lucky enough to be amongst one of the few people in an exclusive club, testing a new water block by XSPC. This site is not allowed to publish detailed photos as of yet, but we have been authorised to publish the following image.

The new XSPC block

We are not allowed to post intimate details of the various features of this block, however we can confirm that FINALLY we have a block that KILLS the Heatkiller 3.0 (copper version)

Before posting the following results one must notice that the mounting mechanism creates a much closer contact between the CPU and the water block, judging by its mounting mechanism.

The initial testing results are between one and two degrees BETTER performance than the Watercool Heatkiller!

This preview shall be appended with the full results shortly! However one must note that the testing has been carried out on a PROTOTYPE waterblock!

Author gilgamesh

Introduction

One lives in interesting times: An old Chinese proverb that this reviewer uses on occasion. Indeed, as far as Solid state drives are concerned we are heading for those aforementioned times. Memory manufacturers are clambering all over each other in their eagerness to gain our attention and our hard-earned cash. However, this is for our benefit as competition is good for all of us! This forces manufacturers to innovate and reduce prices, which of course is for the consumers benefit. Of course since many SSD manufacturers already produce memory, it is only a ‘short hop’ into producing Solid state Drives. However, what is concerning is that we have yet to see any products from the usual hard drive companies (apart from that of Western Digital) such as Seagate and others. Until this happens the market is wide open for the memory producers!

One such manufacturer is OCZ which was founded in 2002, in San Jose California. The company has, from its inception, been one of the world leaders in memory and power supplies. This last year they have branched out into producing solid state drives, with the  30GB  Vertex drive winning many awards.

However today we shall look at a new drive from OCZ namely theSolid 2 model. Before we go further into the review, we would just like to thank our sponsor AriaPC Technology for sending us this review sample.

]]> http://www.overclockerstech.com/ocz-solid-2-solid-state-drive-review/feed/ 3 http://www.overclockerstech.com/fractaldesign-define-r2-case-review/ http://www.overclockerstech.com/fractaldesign-define-r2-case-review/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:50:43 +0000 Gilgamesh http://www.overclockerstech.com/?p=1939

Introduction

In the computer industry, cases are a rather hit and miss affair. With some monstrosities such as the forthcoming Thermaltake Ten to the elegant Lian Li cases, we have seen computer chassis come and go.

Remember the days when computer cases were a drab off-white colour and full of razor sharp edges?  In those days building a computer was considered baptism by fire!  The nearest a consumer could get to an elegant case was from Apple and these had the resemblance of ‘boiled sweets’  In today’s  world we  see many types of computer enclosures and in many interesting shapes. To add another factor into this ‘whirlpool’ of chassis configurations; we now have the consumers themselves making their own cases!

Company Background

Fractal Design was founded in Sweden in the year 2007 by a Mr Hannes Wallin! They first entered the Scandinavian Market in 2007 and two years later they had explored additional markets in Europe; namely Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK amongst others.  They also have recently signed a contract with their new distributor in Australia.  In addition, during the second Quarter of 2010 they will enter the North American market!

Their goal is to be widely recognized for a high end level of design and products.  Fractal is putting great effort into choosing the right partners in each region, and  their strategy is to work with a good structure of selected distribution partners and retail/e-tailers!

One of the core ideas of Fractal Design is to provide products with an extraordinary design level. The principles of their products have been stylish, simplistic and clean; which they prefer to call the Scandinavian design! Their ethos is to produce products that incorporate the above, but without compromising quality, functionality and pricing.

Introduction

The Hard disk drive is dead; long live the Solid State Drive! These are the words that many are wishing to hear these days. With the reliability of these devices, combined with a consistent read speed, lower profile, less heat, noise and the fact that they are much more efficient in terms of power usage, then the age of the ‘SSD’ has indeed begun! Memory manufacturers have already jumped on the bandwagon and have invested a great deal of resources into manufacturing the next revolution in storage technology.  Coming in many flavours such as the 32, 64, 128, 256 gigabytes and above,  one can see that the potential benefits of these drives.

Patriot Memory was established in 1985 in Fremont, California (with a name such as ‘Patriot’, this would indeed make sense) and has long since established themselves in their native USA as a force to be reckoned with. However, in the United Kingdom and perhaps the rest of Europe, they have not made quite as big of a splash as was made in the USA. This could be due to that fact of the very name of the company, or with the cynics in the United Kingdom, thinking that this is a company built from American propaganda rather from that of solid products.  However having seen some of their memory in action, nothing could be further from the truth. Patriot has ever so slowly built a fierce reputation in this country and they are slowly growing further.

Today we take a look at Patriot’s latest offering the PS-100 Solid State Drive.  Coming in at the smaller capacity of just thirty two gigabytes and only costing roughly seventy pounds which is inclusive of VAT; from www.aria.co.uk then it could be termed as a bargain. The PS-100′s nearest rival in terms of price would be the INTEL value, and the OCZ Solid-2 drives.  However the price on this drive varies greatly and has been sold for as little as a fifty eight pounds from the aforementioned site!  The question is – what exactly would the consumer get for their hard-earned money? Let us read on and find out.

Specifications

The specifications of the drive are modest in comparison to the more costly of SSD’s; however at this price-point it is still the cheapest one around, and for the money the drive offers some decent specifications.

“The Patriot PS-100 SSD is a great way to upgrade an existing desktop or notebook computer. The PS-100 drive brings faster boot and application load times, reduced power consumption and improved durability. Looking to extend the length of your notebook’s battery? The PS-100 significantly reduces power draw extending battery life and reducing heat. PS-100 drives are more durable than traditional hard drives and are ready for the rough and tumble world of every day computing. What’s more, they are silent. The Patriot PS-100 SSDs use the standard SATA interface and are available in 2.5″ form factor up to 256GB.”

(http://www.patriotmem.com/products/detailp.jsp?prodline=8&catid=21&prodgroupid=166&id=913&type=17 last accessed 29/1/2010)

]]> http://www.overclockerstech.com/patriot-ps100-solid-state-drive-review/feed/ 1 http://www.overclockerstech.com/noctua-nf-p14flx-fan-review/ http://www.overclockerstech.com/noctua-nf-p14flx-fan-review/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:20:49 +0000 Gilgamesh http://www.overclockerstech.com/noctua-nf-p14flx-fan-review/  

Noctua (meaning Little Owl) is a company that has built quite a reputation in recent years. This is due to recent hits such as their increasingly popular CPU heatsinks and later the illustrious NF-P12 120mm fan! Until Noctua came long, if one wished to cool a processor quietly, then traditionally they would have been pointed in the direction of Nexus or Yateloon! Noctua has built their business model on cooling computers quietly and some may say effectively. 

The traditional colour; of the Noctua fans have been a subject of contention for some. One would even go so far as to say that the colour scheme has a similar aspect to Marmite (You love it or you hate it) However, Noctua products could also be considered expensive by some and indeed the Akasa Apache fan offers similar performance for less money. Can Noctua build upon the good will of the consumer with their latest incarnation? Let us read on and find out! 

 

Specifications

The NF-P14 offers very similar specifications to the previous models; in the blade design, however there are a few major differences in the rest of the model. There is of course the 140mm fan blades, the reinforced motor drive and the circular fan housing.

Product Images

The Noctua box design is of similar to that of previous incarnations, with a small window at the front of the box in order to give a hint on the product that has been purchased! It would have to be noted that the colour scheme of the box, matches that of the fan model itself; with the exception of the inner pages, of which are a medium-blue.

Box Front	Box Rear

Center Pages	Inner Carton

The fan is supplied with a number of accesories, which include: 

• Four Rubber AntiVibration Mounts
• Four self tapping screws
• Four 120mm to 140mm adaptors
• A number of speed limiting cables

Accessories	The NF-P14 FLX

Close-Up of The Motor	The Reverse side of fan

As listed in the specifications, the motor of the Noctua NF-P14 fan has been reinforced by metal supports; this would probably explain why Noctua are so confident that they give a six year warranty on this model. To demonstrate the purpose of the metal mounts in conjunction with the motor; a manufacturers diagram is listed below. 

 

Fan Blades	The Blade Notches

120mm Mounts	Mountings Explained

As usual, and as with all of Noctua’s range of fans, the power lead has been braided to perfection. Strictly-speaking-though cosmetic it does help to give a nice final finish to the fan. Lastly and this has been mentioned before, the colour scheme of the fans is subject to taste. This reviewer does indeed like the colour scheme, though the blades should be two shades of red higher. The photographs in this review look as though the blades are red-; they are indeed a brown colour. The flash has helped to give them a shade of red, However as with anything of this nature, the colour scheme is subject to personal preferences. 

Testing

Testing Methodology on a Water-Cooling Enviroment

Our testing regime has been; as usual vigorous, with the exact same testing equipment as if we were reviewing a radiator. A hardware Lian-Li sensor was placed before the fan and after the radiator. An inline sensor was used to monitor the fluid going into the CPU and another exiting. For the CPU temperature ‘REALTEMP 3.0′ was used. 

It is at this time, it would be prudent to note that ambient air temperature through-out these tests were set at 21 degrees Celsius in a controlled environment. All idle temperatures were only taken after 1 hours of ‘Prime95’ use, and then left to cool down for a further thirty minutes. Full load temperatures were then taken after another hour of use. 

 It must be noted that sound tests were not recorded, as they would be subject to the volume control on your computer. However a written comparison to try and describe  how loud or quiet these fans are will be carried out later. All fans were ran at their MAXIMUM speed for an’ out of the box experience’ though it must be noted that the Noctua fan is actually 100rpm SLOWER than the compared fans. 

Test bench specifications. 

• ATI X1600 Video Card
• Corsair Dominator ram at 1866 3×1 Gigabyte
• Water Cool Heatkiller 30.0 (copper and with backing plate)
• LAING ddc Ultra pump
• BlackIce sr1 140mm Radiator
• Dismastech Benching Table
• DFI X58 UT T3EH8 Systemboard
• Intel COre i7 920 at stock voltage and speeds

 

 

If one wishes to compare all the average temperatures on idle and full load, then all results are very similar with Noctua actually being in last place. However if then the maximum temperatures are taken into account-then this tells a completely new story! On idle the Noctua NF-P14FLX simply storms ahead of the Scythe Kaze Maru and the Xigmatec. 

It is to be noted that the Scythe Kaze Maru uses a similar concept to that of the Noctua NF-P14FLX, which is, using a 120mm mounting method!  Whilst the Scythe fan is being mentioned; the 120mm to 140mm adapters that were part of the Noctua box were also used on the Scythe, for a like for like test. With the aforementioned fans, there is an issue when both models are used in a radiator environment. Due to the nature of the circular housing the fans do NOT create an air-tight seal around the edges of the radiator. Indeed it leaves gaping gaps uncovered and airflow does not strike these areas. It is fair to say if the same technology was used I.E blade design and motor but combined into a regular housing with native 140mm mountings-then BOTH fans would then perform better in this environment-due to air-tight seal being created. In all due fairness despite this major disadvantage, both the Noctua and the Scythe stormed head of the TRUE 140MM Xigmatec fan of which DOES create an air-tight seal. So a well-done is due to Noctua and the Scythe fans! 

Testing in an Air Cooling Enviroment

Test setup 

• MSI-P55-GDI Motherboard
• 4GB GSkill Reaper 2000mhz
• Core i7 860 (Stock)
• EVGA GTX260 SSC
• Noctua NH-U12P (provided by Noctua)
• Corsair HX620w (Main power)
• FSP 250w (Fan and probe power)

As the idle air temperature results show, is that the NF-P14 FLX performs WORSE than the NF-P12! This is possibly due to the static pressure differential between the fans. However when the CPU has undergone a full load test then the NF-P14 storms ahead of the previous model by two degrees.

However here we have an issue, if the both the Noctua and Scythe fans perform similarly on full load then in theory what would justify the Noctua fan being almost Double the cost of the Scythe? In all honesty the Scythe fan is slightly louder then the Noctua and that the sheer-life time of the Motor used in the Noctua model (a staggering SIX years) could indeed make up for this. The added bonus of a braided cable (though trivial to some) is just icing on the cake! As mentioned in the beginning of this review, for silent water cooling one would have been pointed in the direction of Nexus, it seems that Noctua are now the new king (but only just)

Summary and Conclusion

As usual from Noctua; a well-rounded (literally) and thought of fan. Backed with a six year warranty it is a product that is hard to ignore. Performing on par with the Scythe and BETTER than a dedicated 140mm fan this indeed is a product that is a worthy purchase. The icing on the cake is that whilst performing better than the Xigmatec and on-par with the Scythe; the Noctua is actually quieter than both of the previously mentioned fans.

Based upon these results one could NOT recommend an upgrade from the Noctua NF-P12 fan. However if you do not have a Noctua model already then this would be the ideal purchase! The results show the potential of this fan-even if it is only just in some cases. If one wanted a fan that would do the job well and quietly then one would not need to look any further than the Noctua NF-P14FLX. This model from Noctua has achieved a silver award by showing its potential. However as the aforementioned case if one is upgrading from a previous Noctual model then one must weight up the odds. As mentioned before the six year warranty really is icing on the cake and if a long fan life-span is your goal, combined with a good performance then the Noctua NF-P14 should be your first stop.

 

Pros:

• Good Performance
• Hard Wearing
• Fantastic Warranty
• Compatible with 120mm Mountings
• Nice bundle of ‘Extras’
• Colour Scheme (Though subject to taste)

Cons:

• Does not Create an air-tight seal on a radiator
• Could be deemed as expensive for some
• Performance is good but not much better than the competition

Available at www.aria.co.uk and www.watercooled-pcs.co.uk

Author: Gilgamesh With thanks to TAKTAK for the graphs!