HTPC | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 30 Mar 2023 18:39:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png HTPC | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Noctua announce the Chromax Black NH-L9a low profile CPU cooler for AM4 https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/james-dawson/noctua-announce-the-chromax-black-nh-l9a-low-profile-cpu-cooler-for-am4/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/james-dawson/noctua-announce-the-chromax-black-nh-l9a-low-profile-cpu-cooler-for-am4/#respond Tue, 21 Jan 2020 12:30:45 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=447945 In October 2019, Noctua introduced the Chromax Black range of its most popular CPU coolers. The company has today announced it is adding to the Chromax Black series with an updated version of its low-profile NH-L9a cooler for AMD AM4 platforms. The latest CPU cooler to be added to the Noctua Chromax Black range is …

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In October 2019, Noctua introduced the Chromax Black range of its most popular CPU coolers. The company has today announced it is adding to the Chromax Black series with an updated version of its low-profile NH-L9a cooler for AMD AM4 platforms.

The latest CPU cooler to be added to the Noctua Chromax Black range is the NH-L9a, the new Chromax Black NH-L9a is a revised version of the previous NH-L9a low profile CPU cooler for AM4 sockets, which now features a completely all-black appearance with a black coated heatsink and black NF-A9x14 PWM fan.

The NH-L9a has proved popular among PC enthusiasts installing AMD Ryzen processors into small form factor cases for HTPC builds. Noctua says regardless of the new appearance, the Chromax Black NH-L9a will offer the same thermal dissipation performance as the original version, as well as offering 100% RAM compatibility and excellent PCIe device support while giving a new sleek and stealth look.

“AMD’s Ryzen platform has become more and more popular over the last few months, not only for high-end builds but also for compact HTPCs and Small Form Factor systems”, says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). “We’ve already introduced the black NH-L9i low-profile cooler for Intel in October, but now we also want to give design-conscious AMD users a new option with the black version of NH-L9a-AM4!”

The Noctua Chromax Black NH-L9a now offers improved aesthetics and due to its slim 23mm heatsink and low profile 14mm fan, the cooler stands at just 37mm overall height, for maximum compatibility in small form factor systems that offer minimal CPU cooler clearance. A compact footprint means the cooler complies to AMD’s specified socket keep-out zones, so there is no interference with memory modules.

Just like the original Noctua NH-L9a, the new Chromax Black version utilises the company’s SecuFirm2 low profile mounting system for a quick and easy installation process and is supplied with Noctua's enthusiast-grade NT-H1 thermal compound. The Chromax Black NH-L9a is available now via Amazon priced at £45.99 and is backed by a six-year manufacturer’s warranty.

KitGuru says: It’s great to see Noctua adding another one of its popular CPU coolers to the Chromax Black range, the black design means the NH-L9a will be easier to integrate into more systems where the CPU cooler is visible.

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MSI Trident X (2018): Cramming in an i9 9900k and RTX 2080ti ! https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/matthew-wilson/msi-trident-x-2018-cramming-in-an-i9-9900k-and-rtx-2080ti/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/matthew-wilson/msi-trident-x-2018-cramming-in-an-i9-9900k-and-rtx-2080ti/#respond Wed, 17 Oct 2018 10:17:29 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=391109 Want a console replacement but demand maximum performance? MSI's new Trident X (2018) can ship with an Intel Core i9 9900k and RTX 2080 ti graphics card. Its a beast!

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MSI wasted no time at all in upgrading its small form factor PC lineup with Intel's new 9th Gen CPUs. Last week following Intel's announcements, MSI announced the all-new Trident X, a powerful gaming PC packed into a small 10-litre case. We managed to spend some time with MSI in China to get up close and personal with the first samples.

MSI Trident X 2018 Specifications:

  • Operating System: Windows 10
  • CPU: Up to Intel Core i9 9900k
  • Chipset: Intel Z370 Chipset
  • Storage: 2x M.@ SSD (top side: 1x auto switch. back side: 1x PCIe SSD or Intel Optane). Up to 2.x2.5″ HDD/SSD
  • System Memory: 2x DDR4 2666mhz Long DIMMs up to 32GB
  • Graphics: Up to Nvidia RTX 2080 ti VENTUS 11GB GDDR6
  • Audio: 7.1 Channel HD Audio with Nahimic audio enhancer
  • Optical Drive: None
  • Wireless: Intel I219-V. Intel Dual Channel Wireless AC3168
  • AC Adapter: 450W/650W
  • Volume: 10.36 Liters
  • Dimensions: with stand: 129.74 x 382.73 x 396.39 mm
    Without stand: 129.74 x 382.73 x 368.69mm

MSI's new Trident X system gives buyers the choice between a Core i7-9700K or Core i9-9900K. Over all, the Trident X is said to offer as much as 50 percent more performance compared to last year's Infinite X system.

Aesthetically, the Trident X is similar to its predecessor, marking the return of Mystic Light and the tempered glass side panel. Some extra ventilation has been added to the base of the glass panels this time around to help with thermals while retaining impressive looks.

The graphics card sits on the left hand side of the PC all by itself, while the remaining space is taken up by the CPU, RAM, motherboard etc. Parts are spaced out like this to ensure that thermals are kept in check. MSI also has a proprietary cooling solution known as ‘Silent Storm Cooling', which splits airflow into three lanes, allowing components to be individually cooled based on the task at hand.

The MSI Trident X will be available in the UK on shelf in December @ Curry's PC World MSRP £2899 – including Core i7 9700k, GTX 2080, 512GB M.2 PCIe, 2TB HDD, 32GB DDR4 (2x16GB), with 650W PSU.

KitGuru Says: MSI's Trident X is looking impressive! We'll be looking forward to taking a deeper dive when they start shipping out.

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Zotac ZBOX Magnus Ryzen 5 Mini Gaming PC (ER51060) https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/briony-hannam/zotac-zbox-magnus-ryzen-5-mini-gaming-pc-er51060/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/briony-hannam/zotac-zbox-magnus-ryzen-5-mini-gaming-pc-er51060/#comments Tue, 28 Nov 2017 08:19:38 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=354765 Its a powerful Mini PC with AMD Ryzen 5 processor and Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics. Worth the £699?

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Zotac is mostly known for its wide range of Graphics cards. In this review we take a look at something a bit different in the form of the ZBOX Magnus. This is a bare bones PC available in a wide range of specifications which allows users to add in their own DDR4 RAM and 2.5” or M.2 drive. Zotac claim that the Magnus EK/ER series is the number 1 mini gaming PC in size to performance ratio. With the ER51060 model selling at a MSRP of £699, Can this little PC stand up to the big claims?

Specification of the ER51060:

  • Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 1400 (quad core 3.2GHz, up to 3.4GHz)
  • System Memory: 2 x DDR4-2400/2133 SODIMM Slots (up to 32GB)
  • Graphics:  ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1060 3GB GDDR5 192-bit
  • Video Output: HDMI 2.0b, 3 x DisplayPort 1.4, DL-DVI-D
  • Storage: Hard Drive 1 x 2.5-inch SATA 6.0 Gbps HDD/SSD bay
  • M.2: 1 x M.2 NVMe PCIE x4 / SATAIII SSD slot (22/42,22/60,22/80)
  • Card Reader: 3-in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC)
  • Audio: Microphone, Headphone
  • USB Port: 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C ,1 x USB 3.1 ,4 x USB 3.0
  • LAN: Dual Gigabit LAN
  • Antenna: 1 x WiFI SMA connector
  • Wifi: 802.11ac/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.2
  • Kensington Lock: Yes
  • Power Supply: AC Adapter, O/P: DC 19.5V/230W
  • Cooling system: Fan + Heatsink
  • ZBOX Dimensions: 225mm x 203mm x 128mm (8.86in x 7.99in x 5.04in)
  • Box contents: WiFi antenna AC Adapter,Power Cord, Warranty Card, User Manual, Quick Install Guide, USB drive with O/S driver, Driver Disc

Gallery:

 

Pros: 

  • Small form factor but powerful.
  • Lots of connectivity for peripherals and monitors.
  • Customization options for RAM & Drives.
  • Looks clean and sleek.

Cons: 

  • Noisy under load.
  • Gets hot when gaming.

Kitguru says: The Zotac ZBOX Magnus can get a little warm under load but is a powerful PC that provides great gaming performance – all in a small package. 

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Shuttle XPC Cube SZ270R8 Barebones Review https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/paul-afxendi/shuttle-xpc-cube-sz270r8-barebones-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/paul-afxendi/shuttle-xpc-cube-sz270r8-barebones-review/#comments Wed, 22 Nov 2017 11:01:41 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=353006 It has been a while since we looked at a Shuttle barebones. Is this one any good?

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Today I will be looking at the Shuttle SZ270R8 Barebones. As a barebones it already includes components pre-installed such as a power supply, motherboard and a CPU cooler. The question is, does it justify the £350 asking price?

Specifications 

Chassis: Black brushed aluminium chassis

Motherboard: Z270 proprietary form factor

CPU support: 1151 socket Skylake or Kaby Lake

Hard drives: 4 x 3.5 inch or 3 x 3.5 and 1 x 2.5

M.2 support:  2 x M.2 2280 or 1 x 2230 and 1 x 2280 Optane ready

Graphics card compatibility:  280mm x 120mm

CPU cooler: Integrated cooling engine 2 ( ICE 2 )

Power supply: shuttle form factor 500watt silver rated

For more details please go to link: http://www.shuttle.eu/products/mini-pc/sz270r8/specification/

The Shuttle chassis opts for a minimalist approach, no lights or tempered glass just plain black brushed aluminium. It is rather beautiful in its own way.

The only piece of plastic I could find was along the side of the front panel, but the overall build quality is excellent. Keeping the minimalist approach, the front inputs are concealed by a fold down door where you have the two 3.0 USB ports – alongside the audio jacks.

The only lights on the exterior of the case are the power and HDD indicators on the front.  On both sides of the case you have long dust filtered vents which should help with air flow. There’s also one more vent hidden in a groove along the front panel – it is well hidden and I didn’t even realise it was there until I opened the case.

Once the case is open there is a hard drive cage which you have to remove to get access to the processor and memory. This hard drive cage supports 4 x 3.5-inch hard drives or 3 x 3.5 and 1 x 2.5 drives. This hard drive cage does limit Ram height to about 42mm. Once removed you can see the 92mm intake fan at the front, so good to know there will be cool air entering this case.

Now the motherboard that comes included with this barebones is based on the Z270 chipset, which basically means you can put anything from a Skylake to a Kaby Lake in here.

The motherboard is packed with features such as two M.2 drives, 1Gbps Ethernet, support for DDR4 memory with support for Octane memory. Curiously the motherboard also has two PCI E connectors @ 1 x 16 x and 1 x 4x – keep in mind there are only two expansion slots so if you are planning on using a high end graphics card you will lose the 4x connection.

The motherboard is a proprietary design – imagine a ITX board but longer. The benefits ? It allows you to access everything quite easily because it utilizes the bottom of the case nicely which otherwise would have been wasted.

The down side is they could have made the case a little smaller if they had included a regular sized ITX board.  Another point to mention is the location of the CPU socket – it is not centred and is placed underneath the hard drive cage which will make installing your own cooler difficult and you will also be height restricted.

On the bright side the Shuttle does support a regular sized ITX board so you always have that option. Luckily you should not have to install another CPU cooler because this barebones incorporates one designed for the motherboard layout.

The included integrated cooling engine 2 (or ICE 2 for short) is an interesting design.  There are 4 heat pipes leading to a heatsink that is pressed against the rear vent of the case, then a separate shroud with a 92mm fan that you slide on top and secure with 4 thumbscrews from the rear.

Installation of the cooler is made easier by the push pins mounting that you get on Intel’s stock coolers, which means you don’t have to remove the motherboard.

The incorporated cooler design ensures that heat directly leaves the chassis, which is a good idea considering the chassis is quite small. The cooler has a sticker saying it has a limit of 95watts which in real world terms is anything from a Pentium to the i7 7700k. Overclocking should be avoided completely.

On the left side of the case we find the last inclusion of the system which is the power supply. Once again Shuttle has not opted for a traditional form factor (ATX/SFX) but more a server grade unit. The upside is that it remains hidden and out of the way for the most part. Technically sound, the power supply is rated for up to 500 watts with 80 Plus silver certification.

There are 4 x Sata, 2 x Molex and 2x PCI E power connections, 1x 8pin and 1x 6pin. Keeping within a 500 watt power limit is quite straightforward. The power supply cables are not sleeved, but once this system is built there are no windowed panels to admire the build anyway.

The major drawback of the power supply is the noise of the small cooling fan. It spins fast and the pitch is high making it unpleasant to deal with if the load gets high.

Building into this system was a breeze. All the components were easy to fit, including the graphics card. I used a Sapphire R9 285 ITX and there is plenty of space for a longer graphics card up to 280mm. Building into this system makes you realise that the unique selection of components has benefits.

Testing 

For testing I used Unigine heaven in combination with Aida 64  running a total of 10 minutes. I also used the thermal compound that comes included in the box. The system I used was the following  :

  • Processor: Intel Core I5 7400 ( stock speed, turbo boost, high performance power plan)
  • Motherboard: Shuttle with z270 chipset
  • CPU cooler: Shuttle ICE 2
  • Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666MHz
  • Graphics card: Sapphire ITX Compact R9 285 2GB
  • Power supply: Shuttle 500W Silver
  • Storage drives: Drevo 240GB SSD
  • OS: Windows 10

Temperatures 

As you can see the temperature are not bad at all but I would definitely advise potential customers to stay away from overclocking their components.

The graphics card we used pumps a fair level of hot air into the case which means the processor cooler has to dissipate the heat for that as well. A blower style GPU cooler would make a lot of sense for this system. We noticed that when playing games for a while that the CPU cooler produced a fair amount of noise dealing with rising ambient temperatures.

Closing Thoughts

I like the look of the Shuttle SZ270R8 Barebones as build quality is high and its very understated and elegant.

I found building into this system was straightforward and you can create something very powerful as Shuttle incorporate a 500 watt power supply with a Z270 motherboard. The system works and performs as it should.

The SZ270R8 Barebones is obviously for someone who wants a small PC but if you are going to make proprietary components and use different form factors you should also perhaps take the opportunity to make a more portable design.

The Shuttle XPC Cube SZ270R8 Barebones is priced around £350 leaving you to buy ram, processor, graphics card and storage to get the system up and running. It could end up a rather expensive system if you opt for higher level components.

Cooling proficiency is actually quite good, as the i5 7400 we used remained cool at all times but if you are opting for something such as the i7 7700k then the cooler is going to be struggling at the limits of its proficiency. More ventilation at the front would help improve the situation as the fan struggles to suck enough cool air in.

If you want something unusual and like the idea of the barebones ethos then the Shuttle XPC Cube SZ270R8 bears some serious consideration. Its an attractive looking chassis that will appeal to the user base who are sick of RGB lighting and windowed panels.

Buy the barebones unit from iCubes in the UK for £320.72 inc vat HERE

Pros

  • Easy assembly.
  • Plenty of space for decent hardware.
  • Silver rated 500 watt power supply.
  • High build quality.
  • Packed with features.

Cons 

  • Components are not standard form factor.
  • Overclocking should be avoided.
  • It could have been made slightly smaller with some thought.
  • Can get loud under load.

Kitguru says: The Shuttle XPC Cube SZ270R8 Barebones is well built and will appeal to a niche enthusiast audience.

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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DinoPC Bulldog BD3 4K Gaming PC Review https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/leo-waldock/dinopc-bulldog-bd3-4k-gaming-pc-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/leo-waldock/dinopc-bulldog-bd3-4k-gaming-pc-review/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2016 11:24:16 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=312269 There are no prizes for deducing the new DinoPC Bulldog BD3 gaming PC is built in a Corsair Bulldog chassis. We first saw this Mini-ITX case at its launch during Computex 2015 so the hardware has been a long while coming. The chassis supports a Mini-ITX motherboard and uses a compact Corsair H5 SF Hydro …

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There are no prizes for deducing the new DinoPC Bulldog BD3 gaming PC is built in a Corsair Bulldog chassis. We first saw this Mini-ITX case at its launch during Computex 2015 so the hardware has been a long while coming. The chassis supports a Mini-ITX motherboard and uses a compact Corsair H5 SF Hydro Series Cooler that we reviewed some while back. The Asus Z170i Pro Gaming is populated with an overclocked 4.4GHz Intel Core-i7 6700K with 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200MHz RAM and a 512GB Samsung SM961 M.2 PCIe SSD. Power is supplied by a tiny Corsair SF600 which is a modular Gold rated SFX unit that won KitGuru’s Must Have award.

A good chunk of the available space inside Bulldog is devoted to the star of the show which is an Asus GeForce GTX 1080 ROG Strix Advanced Gaming 8GB graphics card, This gaming monster sports a base speed of 1,671MHz and boost of 1,810MHz which is about 100MHz overclocked from stock speeds. The graphics card defines Bulldog BD3 as it justifies using a relatively large case for a tiny Mini-ITX motherboard. Added to that, the cost of the graphics card is a shade under £700 which is about one third the total cost of this gaming PC. The main point, however, is that GTX 1080 is ideally suited for gaming at 4K.

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DinoPC Bulldog BD3 Specifications:

  • Corsair Bulldog case
  • Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.6GHz OC
  • 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3000MHz RAM
  • Asus Z170i Pro Gaming motherboard
  • Asus GeForce GTX 1080 ROG Strix Advanced Gaming 8GB graphics card
  • 512GB Samsung SM961 M.2 PCIe SSD
  • 2TB Toshiba hard drive
  • 2x USB 3.1 ports, 6x USB 3.0 ports
  • 802.11ac Wi-Fi, BT 4.0
  • Corsair SF600 SFX Gold power supply
  • Windows 10 Home
  • 5yr Bronze warranty

Price for review system: £2,119 (inc. VAT).

dinopc-cam-build dinopc-cam-gpu dinopc-gpu-z windows-system

Bulldog BD3 looks like one of those small form factor PCs that you might lay down flat or stand on one end however this is not the case. The sides of the chassis are angled and perforated to form part of the cooling system and the four feet are firmly fixed in place. This system is very much intended to sit under your big, bold 4K TV as the focal point of the living room.

dinopc-bulldog-pc-review-on-kitguru-conclusion-650

The fact you could unplug the thing and take it to a LAN party strikes us as a bonus rather than a key selling point.

There is a flip down cover on the front panel that we forgot to show in the video. Behind the cover you will find headset jacks, two USB 3.0 ports and a tiny reset button. There is no HDMI pass through so VR aficionados might be slightly disappointed.

Testing

cinebench

cinebench-r15

Cinebench performance is impressive at just under 1000 points.

Testing – 3DMark

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3d-mark-fire-strike

3dm-fse

3d-mark-fire-strike-extreme

3dm-fsu

3d-mark-fire-strike-ultra

3dm-ts

3d-mark-time-spy

The 3DMark tests show positive performance.

Testing – Games

We tested Bulldog BD3 with our usual array of games at 4K rather than 1080p or 1440p.

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ashes-high

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ashes-crazy

ashes-crazy-1

deus-ex-settings-1 deus-ex-settings-2

deus-ex

deus-ex-results

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gears-of-war-4

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gta-v-settings-1 gta-v-settings-2 gta-v-settings-3 gta-v-settings-4

gta-v

tomb-raider-settings-1 tomb-raider-settings-2

tomb-raider

tomb-raider-result

In the main, the DinoPC system powered along although there were one or two places where it would have helped if we had reduced image settings.

For example Deus Ex on Ultra settings ran at an average of 29fps which isn’t quite fast enough for a smooth gaming experience. We see in Ashes of the Singularity that Crazy settings give an average speed of 46fps while High Quality runs at 73fps. GTX 1080 is a mighty GPU but there are times when you need to moderate your settings to get a decent frame rate at 4K.

Overall the result were impressive, the picture looked great and as a gaming experience the combination of Core i7-6700K and GTX 1080 is an absolute winner.

Power Consumption

DinoPC Bulldog BD3 draws 80-100W on Windows desktop and 265-280W in 3D Mark.

Cooling Performance.

Ambient = 18°C.

temps

The Corsair H5 SF Hydro cooler has to work hard with the overclocked Core i7-6700K however it does a decent job for such a small cooler, delivering a maximum CPU temperature of 67 degrees. The Asus graphics card delivered a similar temperature of 74 degrees which was exactly what we expected.

Acoustics performance.

The downside to Bulldog DB3 is noise which appears to come from the CPU cooler. The power supply and graphics card are both quiet yet there was a constant noise emitted from the Bulldog that became slightly intrusive when we were playing games. This would be irrelevant if you were wearing headphones or had the speakers turned up. Nonetheless we are happier when a living room PC is as quiet as possible so in that respect the Bulldog BD3 is imperfect.

Closing Thoughts

DinoPC Bulldog BD3 looks great and delivers stellar gaming performance, including at 4K. As gaming PCs go, it is fairly small however it still requires a reasonable amount of space under your TV. The design of the Bulldog chassis ensures that cooling air can flow through the case from all sides to keep the internals nice and cool. If you absolutely had to place the Bulldog on a carpeted floor you would probably be OK however it doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Working inside the Bulldog chassis looks a bit fiddly but if you felt the urge to perform a modification or upgrade it should be perfectly feasible. We know from personal experience that installing the H5 SF cooler requires a degree of patience so this built PC from DinoPC makes life considerably easier than buying a barebones.

We imagine most owners of this PC would treat it as a sealed unit and never remove the top cover.

650-conc

The fact that Bulldog does not have a front HDMI port is a minor inconvenience that may affect VR gamers.

We only have two criticisms of Bulldog BD3. The first is the noise levels which are noticeable without being a major black mark.

The second is the price which is a touch steep at £2,119. Obviously we know GTX 1080 is horribly expensive and neither does Core i7 come cheap. Add in other quality components such as the Asus motherboard, Corsair DDR4 and a Samsung SSD and you have a hefty bill on your hands. The end result is a gaming PC that looks fairly understated yet does a very fine job indeed.

You can buy from DinoPC for £2,119.00 HERE. If you want a BullDog system but have a smaller budget, the full range of DinoPC BullDog systems are available from HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

Pros:

  • Handles 4K gaming with ease.
  • GTX 1080 graphics are top notch.
  • Storming CPU performance.
  • Looks good under your TV.

Cons:

  • Moderately noisy.
  • High price.
  • No HDMI port at the front for VR gamers.

KitGuru says: Our first experience with Corsair Bulldog is a winner.

worth-buying-300x300

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Origin unveils Omega high-performance HTPCs https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/anton-shilov/origin-unveils-omega-high-performance-htpcs/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/anton-shilov/origin-unveils-omega-high-performance-htpcs/#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2015 04:05:14 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=237131 Origin PC, a leading maker of high-performance personal computers for gamers, has announced its new line of its high-end systems. The new Omega home theater PC systems are designed for the living rooms and are projected to wed extreme performance with compact sizes and AV equipment design. Origin Omega personal computers are based on factory-overclocked …

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Origin PC, a leading maker of high-performance personal computers for gamers, has announced its new line of its high-end systems. The new Omega home theater PC systems are designed for the living rooms and are projected to wed extreme performance with compact sizes and AV equipment design.

Origin Omega personal computers are based on factory-overclocked quad-core or dual-core Intel processors (up to Core i7-4790K) and may be equipped with 32GB of DDR3 memory, up to three Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 or Radeon R9 290X graphics cards and with high-capacity hard disk drives (up to 14TB). Depending on exact configuration, Origin Omega may use mini-ITX, micro-ATX or ATX motherboards. To guarantee safe overclocking, Origin offers to use liquid cooling.

origin_omega

Origin Omega HTPCs are designed to offer extreme performance in video games even in 4K (3840*2160) resolution. In fact, Omega systems are the only home theater personal computers to support multi-GPU technologies as well as leading-edge performance on par with gaming desktops. Typically HTPCs barely offer enough performance for the latest video games.

The Omega PCs from Origin come with Windows 8.1 operating systems and pre-loaded applications such as Battle.net, EA Origin, U-Play, Netflix, Skype, Steam and other. Eventually Origin will also offer its HTPCs with SteamOS.

The price of Origin Omega systems starts at $999, but high-end configurations can cost $5000 or more.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The new Origin Omega PCs could be the highest-performing HTPCs on the market. While their prices will be very high, exclusive things usually cost a lot, therefore, the new systems can become relatively popular…

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Seriously tiny ECS LIVA X Mini PC shown off at CES https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/matthew-wilson/seriously-tiny-ecs-liva-x-mini-pc-shown-off-at-ces/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/matthew-wilson/seriously-tiny-ecs-liva-x-mini-pc-shown-off-at-ces/#comments Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:26:50 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=228930 Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has lifted the curtain on the latest member to its LIVA family of mini PCs. The Liva X is a new, super small, 15w consuming mini PC powered by a 22nm Intel Bay Trail-M System on Chip CPU. Just as impressive is the thermal design, which is supposedly silent, knocking out …

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Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has lifted the curtain on the latest member to its LIVA family of mini PCs. The Liva X is a new, super small, 15w consuming mini PC powered by a 22nm Intel Bay Trail-M System on Chip CPU. Just as impressive is the thermal design, which is supposedly silent, knocking out 0dB.

The LIVA X will offer a complete PC experience, with support for multiple operating systems, including Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and various versions of Linux, including Ubuntu. It also comes equipped with USB 3.0, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet, dual monitor support and an mSATA slot for extra internal storage.

ECS Watermarked

As you can see from the images, this machine is seriously tiny, measuring in at the length of a smartphone. ECS will have more to show off during the course of the Consumer Electronics Show though. Other products tipped to make an appearance include new All-in-One systems and Durathon technology enabled Z97 motherboards.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: We will have more news from CES as it arrives. There is plenty more to look forward to this year. What do you guys think of the LIVA X mini PC? It is impressively tiny. 

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Sapphire R7 250 Ultimate is the sound of silence: KitGuru TV https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/andrzej/sapphire-r7-250-ultimate-is-the-sound-of-silence-kitguru-tv/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/andrzej/sapphire-r7-250-ultimate-is-the-sound-of-silence-kitguru-tv/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:20:19 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=219691 High end graphic cards are cool and sexy, but what if your single biggest concern is reliability or noise?  When you can't have a moving part fail or you need a genuine zero decibel count, then Sapphire's Ultimate series is one of the more popular choice. We bring Bill Donnelly from Sapphire into the KitGuru …

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High end graphic cards are cool and sexy, but what if your single biggest concern is reliability or noise?  When you can't have a moving part fail or you need a genuine zero decibel count, then Sapphire's Ultimate series is one of the more popular choice. We bring Bill Donnelly from Sapphire into the KitGuru studio to explain.

With a price around £75 on stores like Dabs, the Sapphire R7 250 may not be a single slot solution or blow the latest DX11 games away, but inside a media centre PC you will get console-style gaming at 720p and all the video playback you're likely to need in complete silence. You can read our original review here and get a good look around the product in this video.

Read the KitGuru review from earlier this year – over HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

KitGuru says: While the R7 250 Ultimate does a pretty decent job today, we're only two generations of GPU away from having full HD support on all DX11 games with an average frame rate close to 60fps in complete silence.

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Lian Li announces PC-Q19 brushed aluminium Mini-ITX case https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/matthew-wilson/lian-li-announces-pc-q19-brushed-aluminium-mini-itx-case/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/matthew-wilson/lian-li-announces-pc-q19-brushed-aluminium-mini-itx-case/#comments Mon, 25 Aug 2014 12:30:15 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=208834 Lian-Li has introduced a new mini-ITX chassis, mainly designed for HTPC use. The PC-Q19 is essentially an updated version of the older PC-Q12 slim case. However, the Q19 brings some notable improvements such as VGA support and room for additional storage. The PC-Q19 has a slim profile of 160mm and can support graphics cards as …

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Lian-Li has introduced a new mini-ITX chassis, mainly designed for HTPC use. The PC-Q19 is essentially an updated version of the older PC-Q12 slim case. However, the Q19 brings some notable improvements such as VGA support and room for additional storage.

The PC-Q19 has a slim profile of 160mm and can support graphics cards as long as 220mm. You'll need an SFX power supply and possibly some extension cables for certain models. In an effort to make the case media center and office friendly, it can be positioned both vertically and horizontally.

q19-002 q19-003s

The case includes two magnetic dust filters, one of which has a 120mm fan behind it. In addition, there is support for up to three 2.5 inch drives and one full size 3.5 inch drive. As far as front I/O goes, you'll get two front panel USB 3.0 ports and an illuminated power button.

The Lian-Li will be available from Caseking and Wave from the end of August for £99.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This case might not be suited to gaming but it could make for a decent media PC or small office machine. What do you guys think? How many of you guys have dabbled in to building HTPCs?

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Gigabyte BRIX i7-4500 Barebones Mini-PC Review (w/ G.Skill Ripjaws 1600MHz 16GB) https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/base-unit/luke-hill/gigabyte-brix-i7-4500-barebones-mini-pc-review-w-g-skill-ripjaws-1600mhz-16gb/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/base-unit/luke-hill/gigabyte-brix-i7-4500-barebones-mini-pc-review-w-g-skill-ripjaws-1600mhz-16gb/#comments Mon, 25 Nov 2013 08:27:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=162553 With modern computer components continuing the trend of shrinking in size while also increasing in performance, the small form-factor (SFF) market is big business. Taking size reductions to the extreme, can Gigabyte's BRIX prove its worth to downsizing system builders? Housed in a chassis measuring 10.5cm by 11cm, the biggest selling point for Gigabyte's BRIX …

The post Gigabyte BRIX i7-4500 Barebones Mini-PC Review (w/ G.Skill Ripjaws 1600MHz 16GB) first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
With modern computer components continuing the trend of shrinking in size while also increasing in performance, the small form-factor (SFF) market is big business. Taking size reductions to the extreme, can Gigabyte's BRIX prove its worth to downsizing system builders?

Housed in a chassis measuring 10.5cm by 11cm, the biggest selling point for Gigabyte's BRIX barebones mini-PC is clearly its size. Having the ability to mount your computer to the back of a monitor frees up desk space and helps to mimic a costly all-in-one alternative. But it's not just a petite design that the BRIX offers. Utilising a range of powerful and versatile low power CPUs, Gigabyte wants its BRIX to prove itself as a fully-fledged desktop replacement.

Powered by a dual-core, hyper-threading Core i7-4500U CPU which utilises a nominal clock speed of 1.8GHz and turbo boosts up to 3.0GHz, the BRIX i7-4500 version has a number of clear usage scenarios. General computing power is supported by the ability to access up to 16GB of DDR3-1600 memory and a 6Gb/s mSATA SSD. 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth provide the wireless connectivity options, while a Gigabit LAN controller extends networking capabilities.

With a solid set of base features and the possibility of squeezing a system comparable to a mid-range laptop into a 10.5cm by 11cm chassis, does Gigabyte's BRIX i7-4500 show off when it comes to performance and usage testing?

main-image

Features:

  • Compact PC.
  • Dual display outputs.
  • Four USB 3.0 ports.
  • VESA support.
  • WiFi module included.
  • Supports mSATA SSDs.
  • Supports SO-DIMM memory modules.
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Streacom FC5 EVO Fanless HTPC Case Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/streacom-fc5-evo-fanless-htpc-case-review/ Mon, 07 Oct 2013 07:28:14 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=150709 Today we are going to take a look at the Streacom FC5 EVO Fanless chassis which is designed for those people who are looking to build a completely silent home theatre PC.  This takes things one step further than most HTPC cases which are designed to be low-noise, as there are no fans at all …

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Today we are going to take a look at the Streacom FC5 EVO Fanless chassis which is designed for those people who are looking to build a completely silent home theatre PC.  This takes things one step further than most HTPC cases which are designed to be low-noise, as there are no fans at all in this particular case.

You'd be forgiven for not having heard of Streacom as they were only founded in 2010.  They produce a limited range of high-quality small form factor PC cases.  They have a number of models on offer, including both standard and fanless models.  We haven't experienced many fanless cases in the past, so we are excited to see how the FC5 EVO has been designed.

IMG_2898

Specification

  • Chassis Material: All aluminum, 10mm thick front panel
  • Available Colors: Silver / Black – sandblast finish
  • Motherboard Support: Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX
  • Hard Drive Bays: Up to 3 x 3.5″ or 4 x 2.5″ (with mini-ITX board only)
  • Optical Drive Bays: 1 x Slim slot loading drive, universal eject button
  • Side Ports: 2 x USB2.0, right side (USB3.0 Ready, cable sold separately)
  • Expansion Slot: 1 x Full height or 1 x half height expansion slot (riser card required)
  • Cooling: Heatpipe Direct Touch 4 Pipes – Recommended CPU TDP 65W, Max TDP 95W**
  • Dimension: 435 x 325 x 60mm (W x D x H)
  • Power Supply: NanoPSU & AC Adapter (not included)
  • Remote Control: MCE compatible IR receiver & remote (not included)
  • Net Weight: 5.2KG
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Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low Profile CPU Cooler Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/luke-hill/phanteks-ph-tc90ls-low-profile-cpu-cooler-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/luke-hill/phanteks-ph-tc90ls-low-profile-cpu-cooler-review/#respond Sun, 28 Jul 2013 09:50:11 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=138685 An array of performance focused products from Phanteks has taken the high-end CPU cooling market by storm. Can Phanteks replicate its success when diverging into the low profile, SFF CPU cooling market? With a maximum height of 45mm, Phanteks' PH-TC90LS low profile CPU cooler is designed to meet the requirements of HTPC and SFF users …

The post Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low Profile CPU Cooler Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

An array of performance focused products from Phanteks has taken the high-end CPU cooling market by storm. Can Phanteks replicate its success when diverging into the low profile, SFF CPU cooling market?

With a maximum height of 45mm, Phanteks' PH-TC90LS low profile CPU cooler is designed to meet the requirements of HTPC and SFF users on Intel's mainstream, LGA 115X, and high-end, LGA 2011, platforms. A 15mm-thick, 92mm fan provides airflow to a low profile array of aluminium fins which are equipped with Phanteks' patented P.A.T.S coating.

Can the Phanteks PH-TC90LS prove itself as a worthy upgrade from Intel's reference cooler?

post-image

Specifications:

  • CPU Socket Compatibility: Intel LGA 115X and 2011.
  • Dimensions (without fan): 95 x 95 x 27mm.
  • Dimensions (with fan): 95 x 95 x 45mm.
  • Fan compatibility: 92mm and 80mm (15mm thickness).
  • Fan Speed: 2500 RPM.
  • Fan airflow: 28.67 CFM.
  • Fan Connector: 4-pin PWM.
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Lian Li PC-Q30 Mini-ITX Case Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/lian-li-pc-q30-mini-itx-case-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/lian-li-pc-q30-mini-itx-case-review/#comments Mon, 08 Jul 2013 08:09:48 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=141025 Today we are going to look at the PC-Q30 which is one of the latest Mini ITX cases from Lian Li.  We have looked at a number of compact cases from Lian Li in the past and have been generally very impressed with what they have to offer.  This particular model has a very unusual …

The post Lian Li PC-Q30 Mini-ITX Case Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Today we are going to look at the PC-Q30 which is one of the latest Mini ITX cases from Lian Li.  We have looked at a number of compact cases from Lian Li in the past and have been generally very impressed with what they have to offer.  This particular model has a very unusual design which features a large curved window in the front of the chassis.

Lian Li are one of the longest established premium case manufacturers and boast a massive range of all-aluminium cases.  This encompasses everything from full-tower enthusiast models to tiny HTPC cases like the one we are testing today.  We are excited to see how the PC-Q30 fares in our tests!

IMG_1692

Features:

  • Dimensions: 223 x357 x 300 mm
  • Material: Aluminum
  • Weight: 2.13 kg
  • Hard Drive bays: 4x 2.5″
  • Expansion Slots: 2
  • Motherboard: Mini-ITX, Mini-DTX
  • System Fan (Rear): 140mm Fan x1
  • I/O Ports: USB 3.0 x 2 / HD Audio
  • Maximum Compatibility VGA Card length: 200mm
  • PSU length: 125mm
  • CPU cooler height: 130mm
  • PSU: SFX PSU (Optional)
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Silverstone launches brand new ML04 HTPC chassis https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/jules/silverstone-launches-brand-new-ml04-htpc-chassis/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/jules/silverstone-launches-brand-new-ml04-htpc-chassis/#respond Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:08:20 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=137969 Not many things in the world of full-blown, desktop technology products can be said to be 4 inches high. Some tower cases are big enough to house a family – in the case of the Silverstone TJ11. So when we heard that its new case was 10.5cm tall, we had to have a closer look. …

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Not many things in the world of full-blown, desktop technology products can be said to be 4 inches high. Some tower cases are big enough to house a family – in the case of the Silverstone TJ11. So when we heard that its new case was 10.5cm tall, we had to have a closer look.

The Sugo SG series from Silverstone is famous, but for a genuine home theatre experience – you are likely to struggle to get the box under your TV.

Not so with the ML series.

According to Silverstone marketing guru, Tony Ou, “Continuing where the popular Milo ML03 left off, the Milo ML04 HTPC case again combines the full size features of Grandia series with slim form factor dimensions”.

So what about the size?

Tony explained, “The ML04 has a profile of 105mm height and 350mm depth, making it extremely easy to integrate into any living room furniture. Incredibly, this case can accommodate up to three 3.5” hard drives or five 2.5” HDD/SSD through its smartly designed drive cages that can mount either size without any use of adapters”.

Neat chassis, but we would have liked them to paint the inside. Sure, you never see it - but you know it's there.
Neat chassis. We would have liked them to paint the inside. Sure, you never see it, but you know it's there.

.
Cool enough. Any other features we should be aware of?

“The main distinguishing feature of the ML04 is its lockable aluminum front door”, explained Tony. “This is similar in design to the larger GD07 case, with an LED dimmer that adds not only security, but also improved integration for home theater environments”.

So what does Tony see as its key market?

“For those looking to build an HTPC with good expansion and cooling capability but has limited room and budget, the SilverStone Milo ML04 is an excellent alternative to the ML03”, he told us.

Special Features:
• Support up to four 80mm fans
• Drive cages with multi-purpose mounts eliminate need for adapters
• Easy to install and cable route
• Support standard PS2(ATX) power supplies
• Support low profile expansion cards
• Incredible 350mm depth to fit comfortably inside home theater cabinet
• Lockable front door and power button ensure security of system and drives
• LED indicator with adjustable brightness

Launching on 17th June with an expected UK street price of around £60, you can find out more about the Milo ML04 here.

At a fraction over 4 inches high, this would not look out of place under your TV or TFT
At a fraction over 4 inches high, this would not look out of place under your TV or TFT

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KitGuru says: Neat enough chassis that will benefit from its ability to utilise lost-cost Micro-ATX parts. While Mini-ITX etc are all well and good, it seems that some component vendors take the mick when it comes to pricing. Less most certainly can cost more.

Comment below, in the KitGuru forums or join us online over at Facebook.

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Enermax Aurora Micro Wireless Keyboard Review https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/keyboards/henry-butt/enermax-aurora-micro-wireless-keyboard-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/keyboards/henry-butt/enermax-aurora-micro-wireless-keyboard-review/#respond Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:01:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=124896 Today we are going to take a look at the Enermax Aurora Wireless Keyboard which  incorporates a laser trackball and mouse keys into the bezel of the unit.  This makes it ideal for use with home theatre computers or in other applications where a dedicated mouse isn't preferable. Enermax isn't particularly well known as a …

The post Enermax Aurora Micro Wireless Keyboard Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Today we are going to take a look at the Enermax Aurora Wireless Keyboard which  incorporates a laser trackball and mouse keys into the bezel of the unit.  This makes it ideal for use with home theatre computers or in other applications where a dedicated mouse isn't preferable.

Enermax isn't particularly well known as a peripheral manufacturer; most enthusiasts will be most familiar with their ranges of cases and garish fans.  They do, however have a fairly comprehensive range of keyboards available which are targeted predominantly at a mainstream audience.

We look forward to seeing how the Aurora performs in our tests!

Specification

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Fractal Design Node 605 Case Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/fractal-design-node-605-case-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/fractal-design-node-605-case-review/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2013 09:09:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=124761 Today we are going to look at the Node 605 from Fractal Design which is designed to be used primarily for home theatre PC builds. It is part of the same range as the Node 304 that we looked at recently which we found to be a very competent product. We did feel that it …

The post Fractal Design Node 605 Case Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Today we are going to look at the Node 605 from Fractal Design which is designed to be used primarily for home theatre PC builds. It is part of the same range as the Node 304 that we looked at recently which we found to be a very competent product. We did feel that it was slightly over-priced when compared to the competition, though, so we are hoping that the Node 605 will offer superior value for money.

Fractal Design are a fairly new player in the PC chassis market as they have only been established for a few years. They have been steadily expanding their range since their genesis however, catering for the specific needs of different users.

Considering Fractal's rich history of producing quiet cases, it seems quite surprising that they have waited until now to launch a series of cases for those looking to build home theatre PCs. When compared to the Node 304 which we reviewed recently, the 605 has a number of advantages.

It's larger size means that it's able to support Micro-ATX motherboards in addition to Mini-ITX units, giving users the opportunity to install other expansion devices alongside the graphics card.

We look forward to seeing how the Node 605 fares in our tests, especially the acoustic test which is critical for HTPC users.

Features

  • Solid aluminum front panel.
  • Supports full ATX motherboards.
  • Noise-dampening material.
  • 4 HDD/SSD slots.
  • Integrated card reader.
  • Two Silent Series R2 hydraulic bearing fans included.
  • Supports graphic cards up to 280mm in length (180mm with all hard drives in place).
  • USB 3.0 and FireWire front connectors.

Specifications:

  • ATX, microATX, Mini ITX, DTX motherboard compatibility.
  • 7 expansion slots.
  • 4 – supports either 2.5″ or 3.5″ HDD / SSD.
  • 1 slim-line ODD (only supported with mATX or smaller motherboards).
  • PSU compatibility: 180 mm (including any modular connectors) with both hard drive cages mounted or 190 mm (excluding cables and any modular connectors) with one hard drive cage mounted.
  • CPU cooler compatibility: Approx 125mm with side-mounted fans – For coolers with top-mounted fans, Fractal Design recommends that you add at least 30 mm clearance for decent airflow.
  • Case dimensions (W x H x D): 445 x 164 x 349 mm (excluding front panel – 440 x 162 x 341 mm).
  • Net weight: 6,0 kg.
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Akasa prepares to ramp up assault on HTPC market https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/harrison/akasa-prepares-to-ramp-up-assault-on-htpc-market/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/harrison/akasa-prepares-to-ramp-up-assault-on-htpc-market/#respond Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:24:43 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=125027 Lamborghini started life as a tractor company, yet – in some ways – managed to eclipse the Ferrari designs that it initially coveted. In a similar way, we're now seeing some interesting industrial designs making their way across from the commercial sector and into our living rooms. Akasa has designs on your TV and products …

The post Akasa prepares to ramp up assault on HTPC market first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Lamborghini started life as a tractor company, yet – in some ways – managed to eclipse the Ferrari designs that it initially coveted. In a similar way, we're now seeing some interesting industrial designs making their way across from the commercial sector and into our living rooms. Akasa has designs on your TV and products like Euler are aimed squarely at your open VESA mounting zone. KitGuru pretends its the cable guy for a quick sniff of the HTPC goodness on offer.

Digital signage is like white lines down the middle of the road. Everyone is aware of it, we all make some kind of use of it, but no one knows who the key players are in that multi-national, multi-million pound industry.

Systems designed for this environment need to be able to operate in a wide variety of environmental conditions and, ideally, won't have any moving parts that can ‘stop spinning and result in a maintenance call'.  So reliability and efficiency are important.

When humans focus strongly on function, often, beauty evolves from that need for a specific kind of perfection. Keeping with the car theme, a good example is Formula One. An F1 team boss would not care if his car looked like a floating turd, as long as it went around the track faster than anyone else. But nature's fundamental laws mean that the fastest, most functionally fantastic forms are actually the most gorgeous in terms of eye candy.

Enter the Akasa Euler.

Looks as good as anything we've seen from Silverstone - and that's a serious compliment

.

As a company, Akasa has been going for a very long time, but it's first claim to real fame came in a bygone era where PC enthusiasts were considering brands like Alpha, Kanie, Taisol, Vantec, Thermosonic and Spire – with challenges like “How can I keep a processor as powerful as a Palomino cool when it's running faster than 1.3 GiggleHurts?”

If any of those names make sense to you, then you'll remember the little hunk of coated copper called the Silver Mountain, which helped put Akasa's name on the map.

So that brings us to the 21st century.

The Euler started life in the digital signage market, but has now been rebranded for the HTPC market. When we say ‘rebranded' – Akasa's sales guru, Alex, was keen to point out that the biggest change was switching the box colour from brown to black. Nice.

Essentially, it is a 2Kg cooler, into which you mount a thin, mini ITX board and processor ‘upside down' – maximising the chip's chances of staying cool by dissipating its heat energy through the clever fin system.

It uses an external power supply, so no nasty heat build up – and it can drive processors up to 35w (or, possibly, a little more – if Alex's wink was anything to go by).

Euler is available from the major players like Scan and OcUK for about £70 and Akasa told KitGuru, “If you think it's good now – just wait for the Haswell versions!”

Gorgeous simplicity and the 2Kg weight feels great in your hand. VESA mounting is always possible.

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KitGuru says: We will investigate this and other options over the coming months – specifically looking at how the HTPC environment might feed back into AMD and Intel's plans for industrial/embedded and vis versa.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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New Arctic Media Centre costs less than Windows 8 https://www.kitguru.net/professional/htpc/jules/new-arctic-media-centre-costs-less-than-windows-8/ https://www.kitguru.net/professional/htpc/jules/new-arctic-media-centre-costs-less-than-windows-8/#comments Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:47:54 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=124217 We all know Arctic from their cooling products, but as KitGuru discovered a couple of years back, the company has big plans to expand into new markets – and the launch of its brand new, media centre platform is part of that plan. KitGuru checks out the quality on offer with these ‘cheaper than Windows …

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We all know Arctic from their cooling products, but as KitGuru discovered a couple of years back, the company has big plans to expand into new markets – and the launch of its brand new, media centre platform is part of that plan. KitGuru checks out the quality on offer with these ‘cheaper than Windows 8' systems.

In simple terms, Arctic's new media centre option gives you a passively cooled living room design with multiple USB 3 and 2 ports, a built in multi-card reader, an optical disc and DVB-T tuner – complete with dedicated operating system. Importantly, it is likely to retail around the £175 mark from Amazon (presently on sale in as a barebone option in Germany at €119 including taxes – with the full spec version being discussed here at €199 on the Arctic site).

The outer shell looks gorgeous, with a Hi-Fi finish and it measure 1 foot high (30cm) by 5 inches wide (13cm), complete with remote control.

Neat.

The underlying idea has been created with OpenELEC in mind, which is short for Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Centre.

It is a small Linux distribution, built from scratch as a platform to turn your computer into a complete XBMC media centre. OpenELEC is fully supported by Intel, ARM, AMD, nVidia, Broadcom and Marvell. Useful.

If we haven't made your head spin with all those acronyms, then it's enough to say that Arctic has recognised that you DO want to own a stylish, low cost media centre – but you don't want to waste any of your budget on things like a specialist operating system.

When you consider that Microsoft has just pushed the Windows 8 OS up to almost £200 (€240/$300), then you can see why.

This new offer from Arctic is for a complete media centre PC – with dedicated operating system – for less than the price of Windows 8.

OpenELEC is designed to make your system boot as fast as possible – and the creators claim that the install is so easy that anyone can turn a blank PC into a media machine in less than 15 minutes. Here are some other advantages:-
• It's completely free
• The full install is under 125MB
• Hardware requirements are minimal
• Simple install to HDD, SSD, Compact Flash, SD card, pen drive etc – for maximum flexibility
• There are builds for your AMD APU (Fusion), Intel Ion and other platforms
• Simple configuration through the XBMC interface
• Plug and Play external storage
• It allows for file sharing, straight out of the box

That list of features for the OS – naturally translates directly to the system itself.

The core specification is:-

  • 1.8GHz Dual Core Atom CPU
  • Radeon HD 5430 graphics
  • 2GB DDR3
  • 1TB data drive
  • XMBC 12/OpenELEC 3.0 operating system
  • Remote control and 2 year warranty

The OS can be controlled by smartphone apps (Android/iOS) – so you can do lots of clever things – even if you're not at home – and it's also extendible so you can add in new features later.

The last thing we should mention is price: The €199 that is being charged by Arxtic themselves – and actually includes shipping to anywhere in the EU. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The brand new Arctic Media Centre PC costs less than buying a Windows 8 upgrade from Microsoft - and you'll probably find this implementation of Linux easier to follow. Probably. Just a prediction.

KitGuru says: Full media centre PC for less than the cost of Windows 8?   Hard to believe, but it's true. At the time of going to press, €199 was £172 while the price for a Windows 8 upgrade on the Microsoft site is £189.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Case Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/fractal-design-node-304-mini-itx-case-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/fractal-design-node-304-mini-itx-case-review/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:20:41 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=122273 Today we are going to look at the Fractal Design Node 304, one of the companies first attempts at a small-form factor case.  It boasts an impressive feature set which includes support for six hard drives and an ATX power supply   There is also a fair amount of headroom for CPU coolers, making the …

The post Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Case Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Today we are going to look at the Fractal Design Node 304, one of the companies first attempts at a small-form factor case.  It boasts an impressive feature set which includes support for six hard drives and an ATX power supply   There is also a fair amount of headroom for CPU coolers, making the Node 304 an ideal candidate for those looking to build a compact gaming system or powerful home-theatre PC.

Fractal Design have become well established in the case market over the past few years, after releasing a series of critically-acclaimed products including the impressive Define R4.  They are renowned for producing quiet running cases that also offer good cooling performance and excellent build quality.

Features

  • Compact, modular interior.
  • Minimalistic design with an elegant aluminum front panel.
  • Unique new modular mounting system that accommodates up to 6 hard drives.
  • Accommodates tower CPU coolers and single-fan water cooling systems.
  • Filtered air intakes ensure a dust-free environment for internal components.
  • Three Silent Series R2 hydraulic bearing fans included.
  • Excellent cooling for all components.
  • Accommodates ATX power supplies.
  • Fan controller for all fans included.
  • USB 3.0 for fast file transfers.

Specifications

  • Mini ITX, DTX motherboard compatibility.
  • 2 expansion slots.
  • 6 – supports either 3.5″ or 2.5″ HDD / SSD.
  • ATX PSUs, up to 160mm in length (To fit in combination with a long graphics card, PSUs with modular connectors on the back typically need to be shorter than 160 mm).
  • Graphics cards, up to 310mm in length, when 2 HDD brackets are removed (Graphics cards longer than 170 mm will conflict with PSUs longer than 160mm).
  • Tower CPU coolers, up to 165 mm tall.
  • Case dimensions (W x H x D): 250 x 210 x 374 mm.
  • Case volume: 19,5 Liters.
  • Net weight: 4,9 kg.
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Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Plus Cooler Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/henry-butt/arctic-cooling-alpine-64-plus-cooler-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/henry-butt/arctic-cooling-alpine-64-plus-cooler-review/#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:31:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=112419 Today we are going to look at one of Arctic's low profile CPU coolers … the Alpine 64 Plus, which is designed to be used exclusively with AMD processors.  This makes it ideal for use in small form factor systems or HTPCs.  We imagine many users will purchase this cooler to use in combination with …

The post Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Plus Cooler Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Today we are going to look at one of Arctic's low profile CPU coolers … the Alpine 64 Plus, which is designed to be used exclusively with AMD processors.  This makes it ideal for use in small form factor systems or HTPCs.  We imagine many users will purchase this cooler to use in combination with one of AMDs Vision A8 APUs in a media system where acoustics and performance are both important considerations.

Arctic produce a wide range of cooling products for various different applications.  In the past we have been quite impressed by their CPU coolers which offer great performance at an affordable price.  These allow users to achieve a significant overclock on their system without great expense.


Specifications

  • Max cooling capacity: 100 Watts
  • Heatsink material: Aluminium
  • Fan: 92 mm, 600 – 2000 RPM (PWM Controlled)
  • Bearing: Fluid Dynamic Bearing
  • Noise Level: 0.4 Sone
  • Current / Voltage (per fan): 0.22 A / 12 V
  • Power Consumption: 2.64 Watts
  • Dimensions: 115 x 98 x 70 mm (LxWxH)
  • Weight: 430 g
  • Warranty: 6 Years
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Mini PC comes of age with Sapphire Edge VS launch https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/jules/mini-pc-comes-of-age-with-sapphire-edge-vs-launch/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/jules/mini-pc-comes-of-age-with-sapphire-edge-vs-launch/#comments Thu, 22 Nov 2012 05:50:41 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=116172 As of 6am this morning, the options available to technology lovers who want oodles of power but no noise and a stylish little package, just got a whole lot more attractive with the launch of Sapphire's Trinity APU-powered Edge VS. KitGuru peers under the bonnet to see what makes this beauty tick. At the start …

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As of 6am this morning, the options available to technology lovers who want oodles of power but no noise and a stylish little package, just got a whole lot more attractive with the launch of Sapphire's Trinity APU-powered Edge VS. KitGuru peers under the bonnet to see what makes this beauty tick.

At the start of 2005, Apple launched the Mac Mini with a 1.25GHz PowerPC processor, 256MB of memory, 40GB hard drive and an ATi Radeon 9200 graphics chip. Now it seems that for less money, you can have a quad core processor running more than twice as fast, alongside an SSD-booting all round PC with Radeon DX11 graphics and the ability to take up to 16GB of DDR3 (should you decide to mod the basic system and apply some upgrades of your own).

Overall, it measures less than 20cm high, it's 18cm front to back and just over 3cm deep at its phatest point.

It comes in 2 basic flavours: Edge VS 4 with an A4 APU, Radeon 7400 graphics, 4GB of DDR3 and a 320GB hard drive – and the much more powerful Edge VS 8 with an A8 APU that incorporates Radeon HD 7600G graphics – alongside a 500GB drive and 8GB of DDR3.

Unbelievably powerful, flexible and stylish - Sapphire just hit the market with a dose of dangerous

For business users, it means you can replace old kit with something small, stylish, powerful and safe (due to the integrated Kensington Lock point).

In the living room, its top quality HD video and audio capabilities mean it can stream your content to exactly the right place, very smoothly.

But it saves the best to last when it comes to gaming. From the demos we've seen, it would appear to be able to run any game you throw at it – although to may need to adjust settings with the really demanding stuff.

Needless to say that the A8 version, modded from its ‘factory shipping HDD' to included SSD and plenty of DDR3, will provide a formidable companion for LAN events and other situations where you're require to being your own can of whup-ass to the party.

Sapphire Edge VS series of Mini PCs come in A4 and A8 APU variants - but both have the latest in DX11 graphics

KitGuru says: Life is a compromise, but with the Sapphire Edge VS – for the first time ever – you won't feel like your sacrificing anything to have the smallest, most stylish option in town. It look gorgeous, weighs nothing, has all the features you could wish for and – with it's Radeon DX11 engine – it packs a hell of a punch in a business environment, for use at home with all your HD media or as a portable gaming rig. Modders are gonna love it.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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Arctic MC101-A10 Home Entertainment Centre Review https://www.kitguru.net/professional/htpc/luke-hill/arctic-mc101-a10-8gb-home-entertainment-centre-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/professional/htpc/luke-hill/arctic-mc101-a10-8gb-home-entertainment-centre-review/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2012 07:45:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=103605 Arctic's passive MC001-BD earned our KitGuru 'Worth Buying' award. Can its more powerful, $749.00 sibling impress us equally as much?

The post Arctic MC101-A10 Home Entertainment Centre Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Home entertainment continues to be a fast growing trend in the computer usage market. Smaller, faster and quieter are all characteristics that users demand from their HTPC, but not ones that naturally go hand-in-hand. Arctic aim to care for the needs of home entertainment enthusiasts with their slim and elegant MC101.

On paper, the MC101 is a powerful home entertainment system. It packs an AMD Trinity A10 – 4600M, HD 7660G, 8GB of memory and 1TB hard drive into a chassis which is no thicker than a SD card. Built to operate silently with a low power usage, Arctic's intelligent fan speed settings should allow media-lovers to enjoy their films and TV shows without disturbance. A DVB-T (HD)/ ATSC TV tuner and front panel infra-red receiver outline the system's HTPC intentions.

Arctic's passive MC001-BD earned our KitGuru ‘Worth Buying' award. Can its more powerful, $749.00 sibling impress us as much?

Specifications:

Processor: AMD Trinity A10 – 4600M (2.3GHz)

Chipset: A70M (Hudson M3)

Memory: 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

Graphics: AMD HD 7660G (512MB)

Hard Disk Drive: 1TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue (2.5″)

Optical Drive: None

TV Tuner: DVB-T / ATSC

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

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BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Chassis Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/simon-telford/bitfenix-prodigy-mini-itx-chassis-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/simon-telford/bitfenix-prodigy-mini-itx-chassis-review/#comments Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:31:20 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=95573 Today we are looking at a case designed for the smallest breed of motherboard, the mini-ITX, which was developed back in 2001. These are slightly smaller than Micro-ATX and their key feature is their low power consumption, making them ideal for Home Entertainment systems. Recently we have seen the rapid development of APU's and as …

The post BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Chassis Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Today we are looking at a case designed for the smallest breed of motherboard, the mini-ITX, which was developed back in 2001. These are slightly smaller than Micro-ATX and their key feature is their low power consumption, making them ideal for Home Entertainment systems.

Recently we have seen the rapid development of APU's and as such the low-powered mini-ITX systems can perform all but the most demanding tasks, as such their place in the home/office has never more likely.

The BitFenix Prodigy looks to be in a league of its own, as it has so many features that you would only expect in a full-sized tower chassis. The version we have today is the lovely ‘Arctic White' colour scheme, but it is also available in Black as can be seen below.

Specifications

Materials Steel, Plastic
Colors (Int/Ext) Black/Black, White/White
Dimensions (WxHxD) 250 x 404 x 359mm
Motherboard Sizes Mini-ITX
5.25″ Drive Bays x 1 (removable)
3.5″ Drive Bays x 5 (3 + 2 modular)
2.5″ Drive Bays x 9 (5 + 2 + 1 +1 )
Cooling Front 120mm x 2 (120mm x 1included) or 140/180/200/230mm x 1(optional)
Cooling Rear 120mm x 1 (included) or 140mm x 1(optional)
Cooling Top 120mm x 2 (optional)
PCI Slots x 2
I/O USB 3.0 x 2, HD Audio
Power Supply PS2 ATX (bottom, multi direction)
Extras FyberFlex™ Composite handles, SofTouch™ surface treatment, filtered intakes, tool-free drive locking
The post BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Chassis Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
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Silverstone Grandia GD07 HTPC Case Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/silverstone-grandia-gd07-htpc-case-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/silverstone-grandia-gd07-htpc-case-review/#comments Wed, 20 Jun 2012 06:39:26 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=94585 A few months ago we looked at the Grandia GD06 case from Silverstone which impressed us due to solid build quality and competitive pricing. However, it was only capable of accepting Micro-ATX motherboards which was likely to alienate a substantial audience. Today we are going to look at the Silverstone Grandia GD07 which shares a …

The post Silverstone Grandia GD07 HTPC Case Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

A few months ago we looked at the Grandia GD06 case from Silverstone which impressed us due to solid build quality and competitive pricing. However, it was only capable of accepting Micro-ATX motherboards which was likely to alienate a substantial audience.

Today we are going to look at the Silverstone Grandia GD07 which shares a number of design similarities with the GD06 with the notable addition of ATX motherboard support.  The rest of the specification is also impressive as the unit features plenty of hard drive bays and cooling options.

Specification

  • Motherboard support: SSI-EEB, SSI-CEB, Extended ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX.
  • Power supply support: PS2/ATX up to 220mm.
  • Graphics card support: up to 13.6 inches.
  • CPU cooler support: 138mm.
  • Cooling (front): N/A.
  • Cooling (side): 2x 120mm fan vents.
  • Cooling (top): Oversized vents.
  • Cooling (rear) 2x 80mm vents.
  • Cooling (bottom): 2x 120mm vents.
  • Front I/O: 2x USB3.0, Headphone, Microphone.
  • Weight: 7 KG.
  • Dimensions: 440 x 175 x 435mm (WxHxD).
  • Easily adjustable LED brightness
  • Lockable Power Button
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Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/henry-butt/noctua-nh-l12-low-profile-cpu-cooler-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/henry-butt/noctua-nh-l12-low-profile-cpu-cooler-review/#comments Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:58:58 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=95054 Noctua is considered by many in the enthusiast community as the finest manufacturer of high end air coolers.  We have tested a number of their products in the KitGuru labs, including the mammoth NH-D14, and have been very impressed with them all.  So we were very excited when they offered us a sample of their …

The post Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Noctua is considered by many in the enthusiast community as the finest manufacturer of high end air coolers.  We have tested a number of their products in the KitGuru labs, including the mammoth NH-D14, and have been very impressed with them all.  So we were very excited when they offered us a sample of their latest CPU cooler for review.

Today we are going to look at the latest addition to the Noctua range, the NH-L12, which is a low profile CPU cooler designed for use in an HTPC or small form factor PC.  It features two PWM controlled fans, one of which can be removed so the cooler can be used in the most space restricted environments.

Specification

  • Socket Compatibility: Intel LGA 2011, 1366, 1156, 1155, 775 and AMD AM2/2+/3/3+, FM1
  • Height (with/without fan): 93/66 mm
  • Width (with/without fan): 128/128 mm
  • Depth (with/without fan): 150/150 mm
  • Weight (with/without fan): 680/415 g
  • Fan Compatibility: 1x 120x120x25 mm and 1x 92x92x25 mm
  • Warranty: 6 Years
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Phanteks PH-TC14CS CPU Cooler Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/henry-butt/phanteks-ph-tc14cs-cpu-cooler-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/henry-butt/phanteks-ph-tc14cs-cpu-cooler-review/#comments Sun, 17 Jun 2012 09:13:06 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=93592 Phanteks are a relatively new brand to the high end air cooling market but are certainly a force to be reckoned with.  We tested their first CPU cooler, the PH-TC14PE a few months back and it achieved great results, beating the almighty Noctua NH-D14 in our temperature tests.  So we were very excited when Phanteks …

The post Phanteks PH-TC14CS CPU Cooler Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

Phanteks are a relatively new brand to the high end air cooling market but are certainly a force to be reckoned with.  We tested their first CPU cooler, the PH-TC14PE a few months back and it achieved great results, beating the almighty Noctua NH-D14 in our temperature tests.  So we were very excited when Phanteks offered us a sample of their latest high-end CPU cooler.

Today we are going to look at the PH-TC14CS CPU cooler from Phanteks.  It's clear that there are a few key design similarities with the PH-TC14PE but the fundamental design of the cooler is very different.  The PH-TC14CS uses a C-shaped heatpipe design so that the fans can blow downwards towards the CPU socket.

In our tests, we will be comparing the Phanteks PH-TC14CS with the Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow.

Specification

  • Socket Compatibility: Intel LGA2011, 1366, 1156, 1155, 775 and AMD FM1, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2
  • Fan Model: 2x 140mm PH-F140 Fans with PWM adapter
  • Fan Speed: 1300 RPM
  • Max. Airflow: 88.6 CFM
  • Max. Noise Level: 19.6 dBA
  • Fan Speed (PWM): 700 – 1200 RPM
  • Max Airflow (PWM): 45.1 – 78.1 CFM
  • Max Noise Level (PWM): 13.4 – 19 dBA
  • Dimensions (Dual Fans): 160 x 151 x 140.5
  • Dimensions (Single Fan): 160 x 151 x 112
  • Dimensions (No Fans): 160 x 151 x 112
  • Weight (Dual/Single/No Fans): 900/750/600g
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Silverstone Fortress FT03 Mini Case Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/silverstone-fortress-ft03-mini-case-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/henry-butt/silverstone-fortress-ft03-mini-case-review/#comments Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:12:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=95136 ,

The post Silverstone Fortress FT03 Mini Case Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>

It would be fair to say that over the past couple of years we've seen some very interesting chassis design innovations from Silverstone.  They haven't been afraid to think outside the box and have come up with some very impressive cases in the process.  For example, the Silverstone Fortress FT02 and Raven RV02 which both feature vertical airflow designs rather than the more conventional horizontal design.

Today we are gong to take a look at the Silverstone Fortress FT03 Mini which is a smaller version of the popular Fortress FT03 which was released about a year ago.

This reduction in size means that the FT03 Mini only has room for the smallest components so you will have to combine it with a Mini ITX motherboard and a SFX power supply.  This means it is best suited for building a HTPC or small form factor PC rather than a powerful compact gaming systems.

Silverstone Fortress FT03 Features

  • Super mini footprint design with no cables and vents on four sides
  • Ample space for CPU cooling (78mm in height)
  • Elevated standoff for motherboard back side components
  • Includes 140mm Air Penetrator fan and support entry level liquid cooling
  • Support for two 2.5” SSD/hard drives and one 3.5” hard drive
  • Mini-DTX / Mini-ITX motherboard & SFX PSU compatible
  • Standard-length expansion cards support (10 inches)
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J&W give HTPC builders new Cedar Trail based mITX options https://www.kitguru.net/components/stephen-dougherty/jw-give-htpc-builders-new-cedar-trail-based-mitx-options-2/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/stephen-dougherty/jw-give-htpc-builders-new-cedar-trail-based-mitx-options-2/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:50:02 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=79118 J&W has now jumped on the Cedar Trail bandwagon in releasing a pair of mini-ITX motherboards for HTPC users in particular. Falling under the company's Minix line, the D2700-DC and D2500-DC are essentially the same board in terms of layout and specs, only they differ in the Atom chips embedded as indicative by their names. …

The post J&W give HTPC builders new Cedar Trail based mITX options first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
J&W has now jumped on the Cedar Trail bandwagon in releasing a pair of mini-ITX motherboards for HTPC users in particular.

Falling under the company's Minix line, the D2700-DC and D2500-DC are essentially the same board in terms of layout and specs, only they differ in the Atom chips embedded as indicative by their names. The D2500-DC uses Intel's dual-core Atom D2500 CPU which runs at 1.86GHz, while the D2700-DC uses the Atom D2700 CPU with a 2.13GHz core clock speed.

Both boards are entirely passive cooled (using a chunk of metal that covers most of the PCB space) which is a highly attractive attribute in line of building a completely silent HTPC. To assist in the limited amount of space available on these mITX boards, the decision to go with two SO-DIMM memory slots instead of regular DIMM slots was made. On that subject, it's possible to install up to 8GB (2 x 4GB) of memory on these boards.

Other features of the boards include two SATA 3Gbps ports, a PCI-E x1 slot, two USB 3.0 ports on the rear I/O thanks to the implementation of a third party (Renesas) controller, four USB 2.0 ports, dual PS/2 ports, dual Gigabit LAN ports and 5.1 audio support. Both D-Sub and HDMI outputs are also found on these boards along with a DC power input which allows the system to be powered using an external AC/DC adapter.

Pricing and availability details are yet to be disclosed on the Minix D2700-DC and D2500-DC mini-ITX motherboards from J&W.

In related news, the company is also planning to release to market a barebone PC based on these new boards. Measurements for it come in at 192 x 186 x 60mm which isn't as small as some nettops out there, but for one using an mITX motherboard it's not too shabby at all. There's room for a 2.5-inch HDD/SSD inside and it will ship with a VESA mount.

KitGuru says: As usual with this particular market segment it all boils down to pricing. If they can get them out cheap enough they'll no doubt become an attractive option for one's next HTPC build.

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Raspberry Pi: The $35 PC to be available by the month’s end https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/blair-mcclelland/raspberry-pi/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/blair-mcclelland/raspberry-pi/#respond Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:57:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=77693 Most of you should be familiar with Raspberry Pi, a company aimed at launching an ARM based mini-PC for a mere $25 USD. The whole PC is powered by Micro USB and will be able to run Linux distros such as Fedora, Debian and ArchLinux at launch, with the possibilityof Android and even Windows 8 …

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Most of you should be familiar with Raspberry Pi, a company aimed at launching an ARM based mini-PC for a mere $25 USD. The whole PC is powered by Micro USB and will be able to run Linux distros such as Fedora, Debian and ArchLinux at launch, with the possibilityof Android and even Windows 8 ports in the future.

As referred to in the title, the Raspberry Pi team have announced that the first batch of the more expensive (but still very cheap) “Model B” $35 Linux boxes will be completed by the 20th of February. After that they will be air freighted directly to the UK, meaning they should be available to purchase by the end of February.

The mini Linux machines are powered by a Broadcom BCM2835 which claims to have GPU performance of the original Xbox whilst the CPU is roughly equivalent to a decade old 300 MHz Pentium 2. Although these comparisons may make it appear a little slow, the GPU is fully capable of BluRay playback, making it near perfect for a cheap HTPC.  The Model A version that will set you back $25 has RCA video, 3.5 mm audio and HDMI outputs, SD card support and USB 2.0 connectivity. The more expensive, Model B version going on sale later this month has all of this plus an extra 128 MB of RAM and an Ethernet port.

Kitguru says: Be sure to sign up to their mailing list to be notified when they're available for purchase, (link) I think even 10,000 units will disappear very quickly.

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Xebec Tech HTPC Mini Wireless Keyboard Review https://www.kitguru.net/professional/htpc/henry-butt/xebec-tech-htpc-mini-wireless-keyboard-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/professional/htpc/henry-butt/xebec-tech-htpc-mini-wireless-keyboard-review/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:35:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=72129 Xebec Tech are not a very well known company but they produce a very interesting and innovative range of products which are quite different to what else is available on the market at the moment.  All of their products are designed in the UK and their product range encompasses multimedia keyboards, mice, LED lighting and …

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Xebec Tech are not a very well known company but they produce a very interesting and innovative range of products which are quite different to what else is available on the market at the moment.  All of their products are designed in the UK and their product range encompasses multimedia keyboards, mice, LED lighting and phone accessories.

Today we are going to look at the Xebec Tech HTPC mini wireless keyboard which, as its name suggests, is designed to be used with a home theatre PC.  Despite this, it is also fully compatible with Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as well as the latest Android tablets including the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Specification

  • 10-15m wireless range due to a 2.4GHz nano receiver
  • 2.4GHz nano receiver fits into USB port of your computer
  • Plug n Play installation- a specific driver is not required
  • Power saving On/off switch
  • 73 keys- 13 hotkeys (including 11 media hotkeys) and 11 further enhanced function keys
  • 11 media hotkeys are: www, e-mail, back, forward, previous track, next track, play/pause, stop, volume up, volume down and mute
  • 11 further enhanced function keys activated via the “fn” key.
  • 6 MCE hot keys: My music, my video, my picture, my TV, my radio and DVD
  • Gestures on the touchpad include 2 finger scrolling
  • Weight: 170g
  • Dimensions: 163 x 121 x 28 mm
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