23 September 201622 November 2016PeripheralsBy Jason Vaught

Zalman ZM-K900M Gaming Keyboard Review

The Zalman ZM-K900M is a gaming mechanical keyboard featuring Kailh blue switches with RGB illumination and a slew of lighting effects. What is the main reason to spend money on a “gaming” mechanical keyboard vs a regular keyboard? With membrane based gaming keyboards, your purchase depends mainly on features that you can only utilize during gameplay. But with a gaming mechanical keyboard, your priorities in performance to value are more broad. You’re looking for a long life keyswitch that offers tactile feel and a comfortable typing experience as well. This is what we should all look for in a gaming mechanical keyboard, does the Zalman ZM-K900M live up to their own expectations? We’ll find out in this article for Benchmark Reviews.

9 September 201622 November 2016CoolingBy Olin Coles

MasterLiquid Pro 240 Cooler Review

Cooler Master recently announced their new MasterLiquid series of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers, built using a special “FlowOp” technology that analyzes how heat is absorbed and dissipated to construct a better cooling solution than the competition. The end result was a dual chamber design that improved the cooling performance, but also dramatically extended the product’s functional lifetime. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 CPU cooler (MLY-D24M-A20MB-R1) to see how well it performs.

7 September 201622 November 2016StorageBy Jason Maxfield

Kingston Industrial Temperature MicroSD Review

The Kingston Industrial Temperature MicroSD card is designed specifically for harsh environments with temperature extremes, from -40C to 85C. Its high insertion rating is ideal for applications in which the card will be frequently accessed and removed from devices. On top of that, Kingston extensively tests the Industrial SD cards. Industrial Temperature MicroSD cards are water, shock, vibration, and airport x-ray proof.

7 September 201622 November 2016CasesBy Meng Vang

Lian Li PC-M25A Micro-ATX Case Review

The Lian Li PC-M25A comes in a small form factor design with support for micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards. It is a server case as it has the ability to support up to seven 3.5″ HDDs; five of which are hot-swappable. Graphics cards as long as 410mm can be installed for GPU intensive applications. With a powerful graphics card, there is also room to install a standard ATX power supply. The body of the case is built from aluminum, which promotes durability and gives the case a clean look all around. Benchmark Reviews will take a look at the Lian Li PC-M25A, so let’s jump into a quick overview of this product.

30 August 201622 November 2016StorageBy David Ramsey

Transcend ESD400 Portable USB3 SSD Review

Transcend Information Inc. was founded in Taiwan in 1988, and the company prides itself on “organizing your digital life.” Their new ESD400 series of external USB SSDs is their entry into the market for portable, USB-powered SSDs that aims to replace the mature 2.5″ hard drive that’s dominated the small external drive market for years. With sequential read and write speeds both spec’d in the range of 400 megabytes per second, the rated performance of this drive is vastly better than any spinning hard drive. Benchmark Reviews checks out the 256GB version of the ESD400 in this review.

18 August 201622 November 2016PeripheralsBy Tom Jaskulka

SteelSeries Rival 700 Gaming Mouse Review

SteelSeries, a company known for many innovations and their support of eSports, has released a new weapon in the competitive gamer’s arsenal: the Rival 700. While they’ve been busy refreshing all of their product lines to update previous models with new features, the Rival 700 is a brand new entry entirely. Positioned as the premier offering in the Rival line of mice, the SteelSeries Rival 700 has a new twist – or, more appropriately, a buzz. Modular sensors, interchangeable cords, Prism RGB illumination and swap-able panels compliment a first-of-its-kind tactile feedback system and customizeable OLED display panel. Will these features justify the price of entry? Follow along as Benchmark Reviews takes a closer look at the new Rival 700.

15 August 201622 November 2016CasesBy Jason Vaught

be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Review

The be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 is the newest member of the be quiet! mid-tower chassis family. This mid-tower case sports a tempered glass side panel, a fully modular design, and an abundance of water cooling support. The Dark Base Pro 900 also features filtered ventilation, RGB LED illumination, PWM fan hub, and three be quiet! SilentWings 3 x 140mm PWM fans pre-installed…

9 August 20164 August 2017PeripheralsBy Meng Vang

ASUS ROG Spatha Gaming Mouse Review

The ASUS ROG Spatha Wireless/ Wired gaming mouse brings wireless gaming to the desktop. It has an aggressive body design, six tactile side buttons, RGB lighting, and swappable left and right OMRON switches. The magnesium alloy chassis promotes durability and the sparkly steel-gray non-stick coating prevents the finish from wearing off after years of usage. Inside of the ROG Spatha is the 8200 DPI Avago 9800 laser sensor. When the mouse battery runs low, a provided micro-USB cable can be connected directly to the mouse to charge it as you play. A charging station/ wireless receiver is included in the box to charge and show off the mouse when it is not in use. At Benchmark Reviews, we will take a look at what the ROG Spatha has to offer over the competition.

1 August 201622 November 2016PeripheralsBy David Ramsey

G.SKILL Ripjaws MX780 Gaming Mouse Review

Taiwanese company G. SKILL, probably best known for its desktop and laptop memory products, jumps into the enthusiast gaming mouse market with its new Ripjaws MX780 Gaming Mouse. Stuffed with features like an 8,200-DPI Avago laser sensor, Omron switches, 1,000Hz polling, 4-zone RGB lighting, adjustable weights, switchable, ambidextrous side grips, an adjustable-height palm rest, and 512K of onboard memory for macro storage, this mouse sure looks good on paper, especially at the price. Benchmark Reviews will determine how well it stands up to the competition.

18 July 201622 November 2016AudioBy David Shields

GAMDIAS Hephaestus v2 Gaming Headset Review

The GAMDIAS Hephaestus v2 Surround Sound Gaming headset features a 50mm USB connection, built-in smart controller, large ear cups, decorative LEDs, omnidirectional mike, and finally “bass impact.’ This takes low frequency bass tones and applies a slight vibration effect to let wearers “feel” the sound. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, we’ll look at the design of the Hephaestus v2 before diving into some basic performance tests.

18 July 20164 August 2017PeripheralsBy Meng Vang

Tt eSPORTS Ventus Z Gaming Mouse Review

Designed for long gaming sessions, the Ventus Z gaming mouse comes with a standard body design with a bit of an aggressive feel to it along with its aerodynamic engineered air-through ventilation system. The ventilation system helps reduce sweaty palms in order to increase comfort. On top of that, the Ventus Z includes five separate profiles, 10 programmable buttons, RGB lighting, a weight system, and of course, the Avago 9500 11000 DPI laser sensor. Benchmark Reviews is excited to review the Tt eSPORTS Ventus Z gaming mouse, so let’s go ahead and take a look at a quick overview of this product.

14 July 201622 November 2016MemoryBy Jason Maxfield

Crucial Ballistix Elite DDR4-2666 Memory Review

Crucial sent us a sample of their DDR4-2666MHz 16GB Ballistix Elite RAM. Crucial Ballistix Elite is their premium memory line, with speeds ranging from 2666MHz to 3200MHz, and memory capacities from 4GB to 32GB in single to quad channel kits. Crucial is pushing the speed envelope with their line of Ballistix Elite memory kits well past the DDR4 standard of 2133MHz. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, I’m going to see if higher bandwidth memory makes a difference. Will Crucial Ballistix Elite deliver, or fall short of the mark? Let’s find out!

8 July 201622 November 2016StorageBy David Ramsey

LaCie Porsche Design Desktop Drive Review

LaCie is a well-known brand to Mac users, as it started as a company supporting Macs in the early 1990s. Acquired by Seagate Technology in 2012, it now serves as Seagate’s “premium brand”, designing “world-class storage solutions for photographers, videographers, audio professionals, and other power users.” Utilizing the latest USB-C connector and providing up to 8GB of storage as well as simultaneously charging your laptop computer, the LaCie Porsche Design Desktop Drive is powerful, stylish, and usable with any computer with a USB 3.0/3.1 port. There are other features as well, which Benchmark Reviews will test in this review of this interesting external drive system.

7 July 201622 November 2016CasesBy Jason Vaught

Cooler Master MasterBox 5 Case Review

The Cooler Master MasterBox 5 is the newest addition to the Master series of cases offered by Cooler Master. This budget friendly mid-tower case offers a straightforward design that features multiple interior layout options. Supporting both air and water cooling, as well as interior expansion options, the MasterBox 5 lets you decide the inside through multiple routing holes and conveniently placed cutouts. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, we test the MasterBox 5 Black Mid-Tower with Internal Configuration.

20 June 201622 November 2016CasesBy Jason Vaught

Phanteks Evolv Tempered Glass Case Review

The Phanteks Evolv Tempered Glass Case is the newest addition to the Enthoo series offered by Phanteks. This mid-tower case sports tempered glass side panels, a modular design, and an abundance of water cooling support. The Evolv Tempered Glass also features filtered ventilation, expandable RGB lighting, modular HDD/SSD options, PWM fan hub and three Phanteks Ph-F140SP 140mm fans pre-installed (two in the front, one in the rear).

20 June 201622 November 2016StorageBy David Ramsey

OCZ RD400 PCIe NVMe SSD Review

These days, better performance can be achieved with a PCIEx4 SSD in the m.2 form factor, mounted on a simple PCIe adapter card (that you don’t have to use if your motherboard has an m.2 slot). Today Benchmark Reviews checks out this modern iteration of a PCIe SSD in the 512GB Toshiba RD400.

20 June 201622 November 2016PeripheralsBy David Ramsey

Bloody B188 Light Strike Keyboard Review

In this article, Benchmark Reviews looks at the A4Tech Bloody LED B188 Light Strike Keys Gaming Keyboard, the low-cost entrant in Bloody’s keyboard lineup. Bloody keeps the cost down by using rubber-dome switches for most of the keys, saving their pricier infrared mechanical switches for the 8 special gaming keys.

13 June 201622 November 2016PeripheralsBy David Ramsey

Bloody B720 Light Strike Keyboard Review

A4Tech is a Taiwanese company whose “Bloody” gaming division was launched in 2012. Bloody produces gaming keyboards and mice using a unique switch technology: rather than metal contact points closing an electrical circuit when a key is pressed, Bloody’s mechanical switches use infrared LEDS and photosensors, which Bloody claims provides faster key response and a more reliable and durable switch. Benchmark Reviews checks out the Bloody B720 Light Strike gaming keyboard to see how it compared to other premium gaming keyboards.

9 June 201622 November 2016StorageBy Akim Green

DataTraveler Vault Privacy 3.0 Review

Nowadays it seems personal data is constantly targeted for unauthorized access; whether remotely or by physically means. AES encryption has been stellar in its ability secure data, especially in its 256 bit implementation whose encryption takes an exponentially long time to brute-force hack, even on today’s fastest machines. The DataTraveler Vault Privacy 3.0 Flash Drive, which uses a more secure XTS-AES encryption and is FIPS-197 certified, is aimed towards business users who deal with sensitive data. Benchmark Reviews evaluates this digital storage device to see how well it performs in securing a users precious files.

6 June 20164 August 2017PeripheralsBy Meng Vang

Corsair M65 PRO RGB Mouse Review

Built for FPS games, the Corsair M65 PRO RGB brings back the same exterior features as it predecessor. Instead of the laser sensor seen in the previous model, Corsair has included the PixArt PMW3360 optical sensor with a maximum DPI of 12000. There is also a weight system for adjusting the weight and a dedicated sniper button, which can be assigned to serve various functions. The Corsair Utility Engine software allows great flexibility for customization and can also manage all of your Corsair devices in one software. Benchmark Reviews will be taking a look at the Corsair M65 PRO RGB FPS Gaming Mouse, so let’s go over its features and an overview of this mouse.

6 June 20162 January 2017PeripheralsBy Meng Vang

Corsair K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE Gaming Keyboard Review

Corsair and Cherry have been working together to make some of the finest mechanical switches for gaming. With the K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE compact mechanical gaming keyboard, it comes with Cherry MX Speed switches. These switches have a silver colored stem and the actuation point is 1.2mm instead of 2mm on a standard Cherry MX Red switch. According to Corsair, this makes the switch 40% faster than a standard red switch. The Cherry MX Speed switch is similar to the standard Cherry MX Red switch, but the only difference is the shorter travel distance to the actuation point. At Benchmark Reviews, we will take a look at the compact Corsair K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE mechanical keyboard. Let’s take a quick look at the features and specifications.

1 June 201622 November 2016PeripheralsBy Joe Gulczinski

Bloody AL90 Laser Gaming Mouse Review

A4TECH’s Bloody Division unleashed upon the world last year a serious game changer called Light Strike technology, which replaces mechanical metal contacts with optical switches using infrared light. Today we examine the most recent iteration of the Bloody mice series, the AL90 Blazing Laser Gaming Mouse, combining a popular eight button layout possessing the Light Strike technology with an incredibly sensitive laser sensor. This is only one of 21 mice in the lineup.

18 May 201622 November 2016AudioBy Tom Jaskulka

SteelSeries Siberia 350 Headset Review

SteelSeries, a company known for their support of eSports and wide range of gaming peripherals, have just about finished refreshing their gaming headset series better known as “Siberia.” The Siberia 350 which Benchmark Reviews will be looking at today is a refresh of the previous SteelSeries Siberia v3 Prism headset. Utilizing 50mm drivers, DTS Headphone X technology and a classic SteelSeries fit and finish, the 350 adds 6.5 million colors through LEDs in the earcups and features SteelSeries technologies like GameSense through SteelSeries’ settings software, SteelSeries Engine 3. Will the 350 be a worthy addition to the Siberia lineup, or will these Siberias leave us out in the cold? Follow along and read about our experiences with SteelSeries’ newest headset.

10 May 201622 November 2016AudioBy Jason Vaught

HyperX Cloud Revolver Headset Review

Kingston is attempting to defy the odds and beat their very own HyperX Cloud II Headset with their new studio-grade HyperX Cloud Revolver Headset. Boasting advanced directional 50mm drivers, a low impedance, circumaural closed back design, and a steel frame, the Cloud Revolver Headset does appear to be a contender. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, I’m going to be putting the Cloud Revolver Headset through it’s paces, especially it’s claims for directional sound during gameplay.

2 May 20162 January 2017PeripheralsBy Meng Vang

Gamdias Hermes RGB Mechanical Keyboard Review

Founded in 2012, Gamdias, the God of gaming, is a gaming brand based on Greek mythology. The company focuses on PC gaming peripherals, such as gaming mice, keyboards, headsets, and other accessories while aiming for quality and design. They are taking their focus one step forward with their Hermes RGB mechanical gaming keyboard, which features n-key rollover support, RGB lighting effects, and Kailh blue mechanical switches for great tactile feedback. It also maintains a simple body shape similar to the Hermes Lite mechanical keyboard. Benchmark Reviews will be taking a look at the Hermes RGB mechanical gaming keyboard, so let’s go over the features, specifications, and a quick overview to see what Gamdias has in store for us.