Tune Up Utilities 2011 : Review

The well-rounded feature set and flexible interface in TuneUp Utilities make it one of the best PC system utilities around. You barely have to lift a finger in this PC system utilities application to keep your computer optimized with unique features like Live Optimization, Turbo Mode and Automatic Maintenance. Plus, you can take advantage of TuneUp Program Deactivator, a feature that’s one of the best at indicating which applications are taking up the most memory.

Management/Diagnostics:

At the bottom of TuneUp Utilities, there’s a status bar that keeps track of your computer’s optimization progress, how many optimizations you’ve completed and tasks this PC system utilities application recommends you perform. Once you have accomplished what TuneUp Utilities suggests, you will receive a notification that your computer is 100% optimized.

Cooler Master HAF 932 - Review

Since the first personal computers were available, technology hasn't stopped evolving. We are now very far from the performance computers from the eighties. With each performance increase achieved, there was also an increase in heat produced. Who would have thought to cool a Commodore 64 using some sort of extreme cooling? Nobody, well I'm sure somebody did! Today, new processes allow transistors to be manufactured as small as 45nm, and 32nm will appear soon. But these new manufacturing processes cannot completely counter the increase in the growing number of processor cores and transistors, so computers have to rely on more advanced ways of cooling.
Cooler Master, developing cooling devices since 1992, has always supplied the market with adapted products. Today, to answer the ever increasing demand in case airflow, the new full-tower chassis named HAF 932, for High Air Flow, is launched. It features four fans, three of them having a diameter of 230mm! So let's see what this monster looks like.

Closer Look:

My first impression when I saw the box was that it was small for a full-tower chassis. It was as big as the two last mid-tower cases I have looked at, although the package is heavier. On the front, there was nothing more than a picture of the HAF 932 along with its name. At the back, there were some other pictures, along with a list of the main features. On one side, the complete specifications table could be found. I noticed at the bottom of the same side that there are some stickers indicating that there might be versions without a window and a power supply included. On the other side, there was nothing more than the same picture on the front. I finally opened up the box. The foam inserts were much thinner than the previous cases I looked at, however they were still thick enough to protect the case very well. That is why a big case like the HAF 932 enters in a not so big cardboard box. As always, there was a plastic bag for protecting it against whatever may scratch it.

 

AMD Radeon HD 6990 Review

AMD introduced its first Radeon HD 6000 graphics card last October, when we reviewed the mid-range Radeon HD 6870. Since then AMD opened up to show its GPU roadmap and the cards that soon thereafter were coming to market.

The high-end Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 also arrived late last year, while the dual-GPU version of AMD's last generation graphics series code-named Antilles was expected to arrive shortly after. Coincidentally (or not) both AMD and Nvidia took a few months longer than expected to show its hardcore dual-GPU graphics cards, with the former making the first move to finally unveil the Radeon HD 6990.

Having looked at most of the previous generation Crossfire and SLI products, we were certainly looking forward to see what AMD had in store for us with this dual-GPU monster.

We don't think AMD sells large volumes of these dual-GPU cards, in fact, previous versions of their topmost offerings have been known to disappear from retail temporarily and then stock back up again. Having that said, the Radeon HD 6990 is an important product on AMD's line-up as it can do a lot for the series reputation, just as the HD 5970 did before.

Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB Review

Western Digital has both announced and started shipping their 5th generation Caviar Green hard drive. Of course the major highlight this time around is the monster 3TB capacity, a first for internal 3.5" hard drives. WD accomplishes this feat by leveraging Advanced Format and four 750GB platters. In addition to the 3TB model (WD30EZRSDTL) there's also a 2.5TB (WD25EZRSDTL) capacity available. Other drive highlights include a 64MB buffer, 3Gb/s SATA interface and quoted standby power consumption of only 1W. While the high capacity is surely a blessing to many users, there are certain risks WD is taking by going to market right now. We'll dive into these potential compatibility issues and take a look a performance numbers in this review.

Alienware M17x : Gaming Notebook Review

Alienware has a reputation to uphold. It's been known for years for creating some of the most powerful gaming PCs on the planet, so it made sure to come out guns blazing at PAX East this year with an impressive display of their notebooks. One machine, however, stood out in particular.

The M11x, which we reviewed (and loved), was on display, as was the mid-range M15x, which balances portability with performance. But the real star of the show was Alienware's latest and greatest notebook offering, the M17x.

The 17.3-inch M17x is powered by the new Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7 processor, clocking in 2 GHz on the base model (higher end models run at 2.2 GHz and 2.3 GHz). Memory options range from 4GB to a staggering 16GB of DDR3 RAM, while storage options include a 1500GB hard drive or 512GB solid state drive.