Green is a hot adjective. In fact, it was one of the fastest growing buzzwords in 2008. Across every industry, green is the new black, being slapped on products that destroy the earth only slightly less than other products.

There are truly green products though, and anything that can cut down on electricity usage in a significant way deserves to be called green. In addition to a spiffy green logo, AMD has been putting out low-TDP processors that provide lower power and cooling requirements with all the horsepower of their regular chips since 2006.

What is TDP, and why does it matter?

Rather than gloss over it, Icrontic has given this topic the proper treatment in another article. In summary, lower TDP means a chip is able to operate reliably below the voltage it was engineered to operate at. This lower voltage results in cost savings due to lower energy usage, lower heat emissions, less noise from the cooling system, and better overclocking due to stability at a lower voltage and thermal envelope.

Low-TDP chips are a boon to businesses, those with environmental concerns, silent PC enthusiasts, home theater PC builders, and gamers alike. (more…)

The Athlon II X4 (Propus) die

While enthusiasts are obsessed with flagship CPUs or finding the next Celeron 300C, it’s easy to forget that much of the world is planted firmly in the mainstream. There are no $300 CPUs, massive heatsinks, or multiplier unlocks here. A discrete GPU is a luxury. The very mention of overclocking elicits blank stares. But even if the market is largely a morass of uninspired chips, the mainstream occasionally offers a few surprises, and the Athlon II X4 620 is one of them.

It’s not easy to evaluate a chip which deliberately shrugs the trappings of performance systems; benchmarks merely highlight the architectural compromises that go into hitting a $100 price point. Instead, we felt it would be more valuable to find something it’s uniquely excellent at–an expertise that cannot be expressed in numbers.

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Hollywood is intense. Today, you can go see a film like District 9 or Transformers 2 and be awed by the computer generated visual effects–imagery that mimics the nuances of reality to an unbelievable degree–and not even realize the minute details going in to the production of a shot or, more importantly, the astounding hardware used to create those effects. Animation and VFX studios use impressive machines to bring these films to life. These artists are not relying on Radeon and GeForce GPUs to render their work. No, they pull in the big guns–the workstation boards–to do the heavy lifting.

The workstation GPU market is vastly different than the desktop GPU market, despite radically similar hardware configurations. ATI and NVIDIA both offer workstation solutions, named the FirePro and Quadro lines, respectively. The drivers set these units apart from their desktop gaming-centric cousins. These graphics cards are fine-tuned and optimized to work exceedingly well in 3D and graphics packages, such as Autodesk Maya, Softimage, and 3D Studio Max. They are built with the professional artist in mind, not the high-end gamer and, as a result, the target audience of a workstation board is radically different.

I/O ports on the V8750.

Studios today deal with intense graphics production pipelines. Any and all rendering time is valuable, and costs money. These artists don’t need machines that can render a low polygon scene with pixel shader effects at 60+ frames per second. What they need are machines with hardware that can supplement viewport performance in applications, calculate incredibly complex object physics, and render out an image with thousands of elements, anti-aliasing, shader effects, applied simulations, ray tracing, and whatever else the shot calls for, and it needs to do all of this really, really fast.

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The iFrogz EarPollution Plugz

Dear Apple,

The earphones that come with the iPhone and iPod are very uncomfortable, too big, and don’t like to stay in my ears.  Please fix it.

Love,
Nick

P.S.  You would do well to take notes from the iFrogz EarPollution Plugz headset.

Specs

Driver Unit: 9mm
Impedance: 32 ohms
Sensitivity: 98dB +/- 3dB at 1 KHz
Frequency Response: 30 Hz to 20KHz
Cord Length: 1.25m (4.1ft)
Plug: 3.5mm

The iFrogz EarPollution Plugz headset is compatible with both the iPhone and Blackberry.  The iFrogz web site lists the price as $19.99, but  they can be found on Newegg for $14.99 plus shipping.
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Missy Elliott once said something about “flip it and reverse it” and I guess somebody at SilverStone took it to heart. As our first piece of wild conjecture, we’re going to assume some engineer somewhere within the company decided to see what would happen if you put the standard back vents in a case on the top, just for kicks. Heat rises after all, so why not move all the hot air out the top instead of the back?

It must have been a good idea, or at least a good question. At CES this year we got to see the answer to that question in the form of the SilverStone Raven RV01. It’s a massive case with pretty aggressive styling but it was quirky. SilverStone won accolades for innovation but nobody gets things perfect on their first try and SilverStone was no exception. We’re glad they weren’t discouraged because today we have the SilverStone Raven RV02.

The Raven RV02 is a refined take on the RV01’s concept. Gone are the ridicucrazy mecha-angled styling cues, the cute but impractical bay door, and massive footprint. Instead we get more fans, a better motherboard tray, and svelte looks.

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The NZXT M59 case

NZXT is a relatively new kid on the block as far as computer cases are concerned. Founded in 2004, they’re not as widely known as some case manufacturers, but they make quality products that can stand up on stage with the venerable old names in the narrow world of computer enclosures.

In the past, we’ve taken a look at their Tempest, Panzerbox, and Guardian 921 cases. Today, we’ll be looking at an entry from their “Classic” line, the M59.

The M59 is one of the more unique-looking enclosures from NZXT’s product lineup. While the trend seems to be leaning towards flowing lines and curved surfaces, the M59 is all hard lines, sharp angles, and corners. As with any case, aesthetics will be a matter of personal preference. The M59 represents enough of a departure from NZXT’s other products that they can say “we have something for everyone.”

Here are the specs from the NZXT website:

• 5 fan capability (side 120mm LED and rear 120mm exhaust included)
• Included 9-fin rifle bearing NZXT fans rated at 42CFM and 23db
• An ambient light sits over the 5.25″ drives to give visibility in dark rooms or at LAN parties
• Smoked clear window and a black interior gives the best combination of black on black
• Meshed front panel allows for more airflow
• 5.25″ stealth bay to keep a clean look
• NZXT solid state bracket allows for two SSD drives to be installed
• Motherboard punched holes allows for quick CPU bracket removable and optimal wire routing, turned HDD also helps with managing cables
• Pre-drilled water cooling holes on the back plate
• Front mounted USB, audio, and eSATA ports
• Support for external dual radiator at the top of the chassis
• High end graphics card support, the M59 features space that is especially designed to fit longer 10″ cards

It all sounds well and good, but how did it work out in the real world, once we got the box open? (more…)

Ginormous side and top fans inside

Computer cases have become much more than a beige box designed to hold the guts of a vanilla PC. To the enthusiast, a case is as important as the components inside; it can be a reflection of its owner’s personality and dedication to their craft.  Today we take a look at one of Thermaltake’s offerings to demonstrate such dedication: the V9 Black Edition.  The V9 Black Edition is an all steel mid-tower case with an MSRP of $94.99 ($74.99 after $20 MIR).

Specs:

• Model: V9 Black Edition
• Case Type: Mid Tower
• Case Material: Steel
• Front Panel Material: Plastic
• Expansion Bays: 4 x External 5.25”, 2 x External 3.5”, 5 x Internal 3.5”
• Expansion Slots: 7
• Cooling: 1 x Red LED 120mm fan (front), 1 x 120mm fan (back), 1 x 230mm fan (top), 1 x 230mm fan (side)
• Dimensions(HxWxD): 18.19” x 8.19” x 19.1”
• Weight: 14.9 lbs (more…)

Five months ago we reviewed the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition. Our consensus was that it’s a good chip, on par with Intel’s Q9550 but with a lower sticker price. For five months, prices have stayed consistent so our opinion stands… Sort of.

Today, we welcome the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition as the new AMD flagship processor. It has the same architecture and price as the previous chip, but is clocked a full 200mhz faster and bpoasts a higher TDP.

AMD says the Q9550 is the closest thing Intel has to compare with the new Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, but since it was neck-and-neck with the slower 955, there’s no reason to throw it head-to-head with the 965– we all know the extra 200mhz will pull the 965 ahead. So, we’re taking a different route today to see how this flagship chip compares to the Core i7 920.

Yes, we’re aware the Core i7 is more expensive. It’s a $280 powerhouse. For the $35 difference, buyers should be getting their money’s worth. We aim to see if what is approximately a 15 percent increase in price gives users at least a 15 percent increase in performance!

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As Icrontic’s resident peripheral fanatic, I was excited to see a shiny new box show up at my doorstep recently. Inside it? The NZXT Avatar gaming mouse. Take a look inside to see how it stacks up.

The Hardware

Almost Razer-esque packaging...

Right when you see the box, you notice the distinct styling. The gull wings at the rear of the mouse are rather pronounced and sharply angled, giving it some flair. The box’s front panel opens up, revealing the mouse inside and a diagram, and the panel itself houses the drivers and instructional manual.

The interior of the box houses the mouse itself and offers a quick glance at the available buttons on the Avatar. All of them are user-programmable from the driver front end, as is the polling rate, DPI setting, and current profile. The mouse wheel even has more specific options where you can reassign a scroll upwards to a specific action separately from a scroll downwards.

Before we jump into the software full force, let’s quickly run down the hardware. The Avatar hosts 7 distinct buttons – left click, right click, two buttons under the mouse wheel, forward and back (on the right and left of the mouse, respectively), and the mouse wheel itself – which makes 8 if you make use of the advanced scroll up vs scroll down functionality mentioned above. The click travel and rebound of the main buttons is pleasant and simple; they take just enough force to prevent you from inadvertently clicking willy-nilly. The scroll wheel, on the other hand, takes nearly the hand of God to spring into action. This is not the mouse for you if you’re a fan of scrolling through long documents, but it might be if you’re a gamer that relies on a defined number of clicks to switch between weapons or inventory. It’s got a good stiff resistance to scroll, and the driver has a scroll speed setting that is just a different way to get to Windows’ own scroll speed settings. The whole package is powered by a single USB connection with a decently long cord. (more…)

TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress. Ponderous name, good software

When my favorite band announced a concert to make them a music video, I could barely contain myself.  Despite my renowned lack of creativity, I promptly went down to my local university and checked out a Canon HG10 camcorder, all set to start filming my disaster (A note to readers–the finished disaster will be available soon.  Eventually.  Someday.)  An hour and some tedious acting later, I’m all set to get a feel for my editing software.

Unfortunately–and I’m sure the Canon gurus in the audience could have told me this–the Canon HG10 records ONLY in AVCHD.

Now, I’m a man of relatively simple tastes.  I like my desktop clean, my music organized, my cereal sugary, and by gum,  my videos in mpg.  So this situation found me asking ‘can I convert it?’ Lo and behold, in comes TMPGenc 4.0 XPress to the rescue.

Pegasys–the makers of TMPGEnc–have a pretty fair history in digital video, from what I understand.  TMPGenc 4.0 is the latest in a line of digital encoding software, and includes a small editing suite as well.  The main purpose of the software is to enable you to change any video format into any other video format–from the almighty user’s perspective, a task that should feel relatively simple.  Of course, there are times when the almighty user is really worth his salt in the digital video realm–when the almighty user can shrewdly say she or he’d prefer 29.97 fps to 30 fps.

This was not one of those times.

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The Domino ALC

One of our very first stops at CES 2009 was at the CoolIT booth to meet CEO Geoff Lyon and finally see the Domino A.L.C. all-in-one water cooling system. Mr. Lyon gave us a great tour of the company booth, showed us some of the sweet things they had in the works, and left us with an overall great impression of the Domino. It seemed almost too good to be true. Here’s a unit that’s easy to install, requires little to no maintenance, looks great, and performs on-par or better than most air coolers. Of course, we asked for a review sample. Demand for the Domino has been high from the get-go and it took a while to finally get it into our hands, but we think the wait was worth it. At last, we can put speculation to rest.

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Photo courtesy NZXT.

Lets face it: Most people don’t need expensive computer cases. But they sell because they’re status items loaded with neat gadgets, bells, whistles, in a box of exotic materials and strange shapes. The majority of folks don’t need anything as fancy as what we often regard as the de facto standards in cases. Then again, nobody likes a beige box either. The market’s shunning has finally made case makers take note, and the ugly beige boxes are no longer sold.

NZXT must have seen the writing on the wall. People want a solid basic case, but don’t want to spend a fortune. NZXT’s recent introduction of the Beta case is proof.

The Beta is all-steel mid-tower sold as part of NZXT’s “Classic Series” line of cases with a $49.99 MSRP ($39.99 after MIR).
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