24 May 201527 May 2015CoolingBy Julian Duque

Scythe Ashura CPU Cooler Review

If you are the type of person that prefers to buy products from experienced companies then you won’t be hard-pressed by the manufacturer of the product in this review. Scythe has been around since 2002, that is thirteen years that sets them as one of the oldest and most experienced companies in the DIY PC market. This week, they have allowed Benchmark Reviews to take a look at some of their latest high performance coolers and today the spotlight falls on the Scythe Ashura, a compact 120 mm cooler which Scythe claims will pass our tests with flying colors.

4 January 2015ProcessorsBy David Ramsey

AMD FX-8320E AM3+ Processor Performance Review

AMD released a slew of new FX-series CPUs in September, 2014, including the FX-8370, FX-8370E, and the subject of our review, the FX-8320E. This is the low end of AMD’s eight-core FX series of enthusiast CPUs, and the “E” suffix marks it as a low-power variant; nonetheless, AMD touts it as a viable CPU for a gaming system. Benchmark Reviews will run this CPU through our gauntlet of tests to see how true this is.

24 October 201422 April 2015CasesBy Meng Vang

Fractal Design Core 1100 Case Review

Fractal Design has now released their Core 1100 MicroATX computer case. It still has a preinstalled 120mm front intake fan and the vertical hard drive bracket. The biggest change is only the exterior design with its brushed aluminum finish, making it look identical to most Fractal Design cases. Front panel I/O ports are now located on the front instead of on the side like how the Core 1000 had them. It also supports graphics cards of up to 350mm, CPU coolers up to 148mm tall, and an optional 80mm or 92mm rear exhaust fan for improved airflow.

20 October 201427 October 2014CoolingBy Aidan Moore

Cooler Master Nepton 240M Review

In this article, Benchmark Reviews looks at the new Cooler Master Nepton 240M all-in-one water cooling system to determine if it’s performance matches the claims. We compare performance for the Nepton 240M against two other popular dual-fan liquid coolers.

20 October 201420 October 2014ReviewsBy David Ramsey

Lenovo Horizon 2 AIO Desktop Computer Review

The desktop computer is changing, acquiring hardware and software features first seen on mobile devices. As Microsoft works to unify the Windows experience across everything from phones to desktops, vendors work to make their desktops work more like phones, with integrated all-in-one designs, touch screens, and new user interfaces. Today Benchmark Reviews looks at Lenovo’s latest entry in this evolving category, the Horizon 2 All-In-One PC.

8 September 20149 September 2014MotherboardsBy David Ramsey

ASUS X99-DELUXE Motherboard Performance Review

Since Intel no longer manufacturers desktop motherboards, it works closely with its partners to ensure products are ready when new CPUs and chipsets are introduced. The X99 Express chipset, part of the LGA2011-V3 system that replaces the aging X79/LGA2011 system, is Intel’s newest foray into very high end desktop systems, and today Benchmark Reviews looks at the bundled software, features, utilities, and performance of the ASUS X99-DELUXE motherboard.

3 September 201412 September 2014CasesBy Julian Duque

Corsair Graphite 380T Mini ITX Case Review

Computer form factors keep getting smaller and smaller, but the market for smaller systems keeps growing everyday mainly due to the availability of components that allow users to build extremely powerful systems in very constrained spaces. Corsair clearly understands this, with the release of the Corsair Obsidian 250D earlier in 2014 it became clear that there was a need for Mini-ITX designs to be implemented in the rest of their lines of products, leading to the release of the Graphite 380T, the case Benchmark Reviews will be taking a look at today.

2 September 20142 September 2014ProcessorsBy Hank Tolman

AMD FX-8370E AM3+ Processor Performance Review

The newest installment of AMD FX CPUs is finally upon us. September 2014 marks the release of the a few new FX CPUs, including the FX-8370, the FX-8370E, and the FX-8320E. Although I, for one, have been anxious to see a new FX CPU lineup using Steamroller cores, the three CPUs released today follow the same pattern as the last two years worth of FX CPU in using Piledriver cores. With the AMD Kaveri APUs showing up at the beginning of 2014 with Steamroller cores, I thought perhaps the FX series wouldn’t be far behind. Looks like we will be waiting until next year at least. Today, Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the FX-8370 and FX-8370E processors.

2 July 20142 July 2014MotherboardsBy Hank Tolman

ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ Motherboard Review

FM2+ Motherboards sporting the A88X chipset started appearing in October 2013, but the improved functionality over the latest FM2 motherboards only became truly apparent with the release of the Kaveri line of APUs in January 2014. Add to that the recent release of AMD drivers supporting the Mantle API, and the FM2+ motherboards start to make sense. Benchmark Reviews has the AMD A10-7850K APU and a couple of FM2+ motherboards on hand. This article is dedicated to reviewing the ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ Motherboard to discover what sets it apart from the rest of the FM2+ crowd.

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30 June 201430 June 2014GraphicsBy Steven Iglesias-Hearst

HIS Radeon R9 290 iPower IceQ X2 OC Video Card Review

Since AMD announced their GPU 14 R9 series video cards, AIB partners have been tweaking and tuning their own aftermarket designs. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the HIS Radeon R9 290 iPower IceQ X2 OC 4GB video card (Model# H290QMC4GD). As the name suggests, this particular model features the high end IceQ X2 cooler from the HIS labs and slightly faster Core and Memory speeds. I have seen the evolution of this cooler first hand and I know it to be fully capable. Two 89mm dual axial fans and five heatpipes ensure that your temperatures will stay well within safe limits with the minimum amount of noise, even during overclocking.

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27 June 201410 July 2014GraphicsBy Steven Iglesias-Hearst

HIS Radeon R9 280 IceQ X² OC 3GB Video Card Review

In this next installment of AMD’s GPU 14 R9 line-up, Benchmark Reviews will be testing the HIS Radeon R9 280 IceQ XÂ² OC 3GB Video Card (Model# H280QMC3G2M). As the name suggests, this particular model features the high end IceQ X2 cooler from the HIS labs and faster Core and Memory speeds. I have seen the evolution of this cooler first hand and I know it to be fully capable. Two 89mm dual axial fans and five heatpipes ensure that your temperatures will stay well within safe limits.

7 May 201428 May 2014MotherboardsBy Olin Coles

ASUS Z97-DELUXE NFC & WLC Motherboard Review

ASUS really pulls away from their competition with digital power control for memory and processor, utilizing up to 16 power phases to ensure absolute precision stability. All hardware points are controlled by Dual Intelligent Processors 5, which consists of DIGI+ Power Control, TPU, EPU, Turbo App, and Fan Xpert. ASUS Z97-DELUXE and Z97-PRO models feature dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac (a/b/g/n/ac) and BlueTooth 4.0 wireless functionality. In this article Benchmark Reviews showcases the ASUS Z97-DELUXE (NFC & WLC) motherboard, and reveals the many hardware features packed onto this mainstream channel desktop board while showing off overclocking performance.

5 May 201415 December 2014MotherboardsBy David Ramsey

ASUS Z97-DELUXE Motherboard Performance Review

With Intel being the sole supplier of chipsets for their processors, all motherboards with the same CPU and supporting chipset will provide pretty much the same performance at stock settings. Vendors strive to distinguish their products with additional features, which can be as disparate as a clever new BIOS or entirely new hardware capabilities grafted on via custom or third-party silicon. From a performance perspective, ASUS has historically added value with enhancements to standard interfaces, such as their accelerated USB 3.0, and hardware and software features that make overclocking easier, even for the novice. With the Z97-DELUXE they’ve even added entirely new high speed interfaces: M.2 and SATA Express. If you’re looking for a future-proof board for your next rig, this could be it.

24 April 201424 April 2014MemoryBy Tom Jaskulka

Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3 Memory Kit Review

Announced at CES 2014, Kingston has released their replacement of the Blu series of RAM modules. Named “Fury,” the new HyperX series of DDR3 RAM claim to make overclocking even easier by automatically detecting the appropriate speeds and timings for your motherboard, making these modules “Plug and Play” ready. Arriving in 4GB, 8GB single, 8GB dual or 16GB dual-channel kits, the Fury line will have frequencies of 1333 MHz (CL9), 1600MHz (CL9), or 1866 MHz(CL10). A new asymmetric heat-spreader design in red, blue, white or black colors covers a stylish black PCB, adding a distinct look to this newest memory kit from Kingston. Benchmark Reviews received one of the dual-channel 8GB kits for testing (model HX318C10FWK2/8), so let’s see how these modules compare.

7 April 20147 April 2014GraphicsBy Olin Coles

Titanfall Performance Boost: NVIDIA R337 Drivers

Titanfall has been one of the most-anticipated games of 2014, and for a very good reason. Combining the best first-person shooter aspects of Call of Duty and Battlefield into a mech-themed FPS video game isn’t easy to pull off, but Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts do so with great success. Available for console and PC, gamers who want ultimate immersion and control will likely gravitate towards the desktop gaming platform. For good reason then, NVIDIA has focused a significant amount of its resources towards optimizing performance so that players can enable the best graphical quality settings possible.

12 March 2014ProcessorsBy Hank Tolman

AMD A10-7850K Performance Optimized Catalyst 14.2 Driver

With the release of AMD’s Kaveri APU and the realization of their heterogeneous compute vision, the A10-7850K has the potential to make a lot of changes in the way we use the processing power available to us. The A10-7850K can harness the full power of both its CPU and GPU cores equally, something that can benefit us, the end users, greatly. The problem is, that vision doesn’t fully come to life until developers start writing for it.

17 February 20149 May 2014GraphicsBy Olin Coles

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti Benchmark Performance

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti graphics card is designed for mainstream 1080p gaming with moderate settings. GeForce GTX 750 Ti utilizes first-generation NVIDIA Maxwell GM107 GPU architecture with 640 CUDA Cores. The memory subsystem of GeForce GTX 750 Ti consists of two 64-bit memory controllers (128-bit total bandwidth) and 2GB of 5.4Gbps GDDR5 memory. GeForce GTX 750 Ti’s base clock speed is 1020MHz, and features a typical Boost Clock speed reaching 1085MHz. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the GeForce GTX 750 Ti graphics card using several highly-demanding DX11 video games, such as Metro: Last Light, Batman: Arkham City, and Battlefield 3.

10 February 2014CasesBy David Ramsey

Corsair Obsidian 250D Mini-ITX Computer Case Review

Corsair introduced their new Obsidian line of cases with the full-tower 800D; they’ve since expanded into the super-tower market with the 900D, added the 750D to the full-tower lineup, addressed the mid-tower market with the 550D and 650D, and the micro-ATX market with the 350D. Their latest case, the Corsair Obsidian 250D, brings the design and versatility of the Obsidian line to the mini-ITX field.

10 December 2013CoolingBy Tom Jaskulka

Noctua NH-U12S CPU Cooler Review

The Noctua NH-U12S is one the newest versions from Noctua’s NH-U series of CPU coolers that were first introduced in 2005. For years, Noctua has been synonymous with premium performance cooling and the new NH-U12S model looks to continue the tradition. Designed to be an affordable option for the NH-U series the 120mm NH-U12S and its 45mm wide heatsink promise quiet performance while still clearing RAM modules, even on sockets like LGA2011. Combined with the new NF-F12 PWM 120mm fan and an entire host of cutting-edge trademark technologies from Noctua, can this cooler compete with popular offerings like the Hyper212 EVO? Benchmark Reviews has a chance to review the NH-U12S and see what Noctua has done with the 120mm tower CPU cooler formula.

16 September 201316 April 2018MotherboardsBy David Ramsey

ASUS Z87I-Deluxe Mini-ITX Intel Motherboard Review

It seems full-sized ATX systems are becoming less relevant every day. Increasing GPU horsepower diminishes the need for expensive multi-GPU setups; onboard sound has become good enough for all but serious audiophiles, and inexpensive 8GB DIMMs mean that two DIMM slots is plenty. The ASUS Z87I-Deluxe LGA1150 mini-ITX motherboard is the latest in ASUS’ new line of enthusiast mini-ITX motherboards. If you haven’t considered a mini-ITX build, maybe it’s time you should.

9 September 201316 April 2018MotherboardsBy David Ramsey

ASUS Z87-Deluxe/Dual LGA1150 Intel Motherboard Review

How many new features can you cram onto a motherboard that are both useful and innovative? ASUS is the expert at doing this, and their history of innovations is long: the custom EPU and TPU processors; intelligent fan control, the ability to update your BIOS on a board with no CPU and RAM installed, and so forth. The Z87-Deluxe/Dual LGA1150 motherboard shows that ASUS is not content to rest on its laurels. With new features like Near Field Communications and 802.11ac support, this motherboard has it all.

12 August 201316 April 2018ProcessorsBy David Ramsey

Intel Core i5-4430 CPU LGA1150 Haswell Processor Review

When Intel sends out press samples of their new CPUs, they generally provide the top-end desktop products like the Core i7-4470K. And it’s fun to have the latest new super-fast processor to play with. But most people don’t need this level of power, and indeed in many cases even enthusiasts won’t make full use of the capabilities of a high-end part. Given that, might a less expensive, mid-range CPU be a better choice? Benchmark Reviews tests the mid-range Intel Core i5-4430 CPU, desktop processor model BX80646I54430, to find out.

lenovo LT3053p 34 front 2560x1600: GeForce GTX 770-780 vs Radeon HD 7950-7970

26 July 201316 April 2018GraphicsBy Olin Coles

2560×1600: GeForce GTX 770-780 vs Radeon HD 7950-7970

Very recently Lenovo loaned us their 30-inch ThinkVision LT3053p IPS LED-Backlit LCD Monitor for review. While the AH-IPS display panel was impressive, its size really made us wonder about how much impact it would have on PC video games. Before this behemoth display went back to Lenovo, I decided to test it on some of the most recent graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests frame rate performance at 2560×1600 for the Radeon HD 7950 against GeForce GTX 770, and Radeon HD 7970 against GeForce GTX 780.

15 July 201316 April 2018MotherboardsBy Steven Iglesias-Hearst

ASRock Z87E-ITX Intel Desktop Motherboard Review

Small form factor PC’s have been gaining a lot of momentum and favor with hardware enthusiasts and hardcore gamers these past couple of years. Since more features are integrated into the CPU in recent releases, it means more real estate has been made on ITX form factor motherboards for extras that may well have not fit previously. With the release of Intel Haswell CPU’s and Z87 chipset, motherboard vendors are now more than ever able to condense the features of a full size ATX motherboard into the ITX form factor without much (if any) sacrifice. See for yourself, take a look at an average Z68 or Z77 ATX motherboard and you will start to notice just how much space isn’t occupied. In this article Benchmark Reviews takes an in-depth look at the ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard, reporting back on special features and performance as well as giving a visual commentary on the aesthetics of this tiny beast.

7 July 201316 April 2018NetworkBy Olin Coles

Diamond Multimedia WR300NSI Wireless-N Repeater Review

Wireless networking has leaped from niche application to mainstream installations in a short matter of years, allowing homes and businesses to implement features like Wi-Fi Internet access and wireless multimedia file storage. The latest 300 Mb/s 802.11n (wireless-N) networks have been a big part of this transition, enabling transfer speeds similar to the cabled Gigabit Ethernet connections. This has made life more convenient, but for many installations range is still a problem. In this article Benchmark Reviews investigates the Diamond Multimedia WR300NSI Wireless Wi-Fi Range Extender. The purpose of this portable device is self-explanatory, and networking can be complicated, which is why we’ll test how well Diamond has kept it simple for the novice consumer in this article.