After more than a year of waiting, LucidLogix's Hydra engine is ready to ship on MSI's Big Bang Fuzion motherboard. We have the platform in our lab and have spent the past week throwing Radeon HD 5870s and...
We're big fans of media servers, and HP's MediaSmart boxes have consistently impressed us. Of course, every time we look at a configured machine, the comments light up with DIY suggestions, so we went that...
Alright, so it's not as simple as waving the BIOS away. While the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is ready to replace the old and inflexible BIOS, most platform vendors aren't prepared, even though...
Intel’s P55 Express remains a mainstream chipset, so by breaking through the $200 barrier, we have high expectations of superb overclocking, unsurpassed stability, and uncompromising features. Can all of...
Can you hit the performance level of the next-fastest GPU by overclocking your graphics card? What is the impact on power consumption? Can your cooler take the extra heat? We overclock three modern graphics...
Upper-range P55 motherboards cost around $100 less than similarly-equipped X58 products, but are these still good enough for enthusiasts? We take a closer look at eight different models, dissect their features,...
Last month, we discovered that many budget P55-based motherboards simply weren't designed to stand up to the rigors of overclocking--bad news for intrepid value-based enthusiasts. Today we revisit the topic...
Intel's new quad-core i5 and i7 CPUs for LGA 1156 deliver plenty of performance and impressive efficiency. But how far can they be overclocked? We take the entry-level model Core i5-750 as far as it'll go with...
When AMD launched its 785G chipset, we were impressed by the mainstream value enabled from such an affordable platform. In this roundup, we're covering seven different 785G-based board covering ATX, microATX,...
Intel’s newest desktop processor series is all about value, and the P55 platform already powers some very affordable motherboards. We put five such boards to the test, hoping to see solid baseline performance...
Our response to reader-demand for AMD systems focuses on the company’s penchant for gaming value across three budget classes. How do these fully-optimized systems compare to each other in ultimate performance...
Reader suggestions and previous test results defined most of this month’s highest-priced build. Will the extra planning and testing pay off in clear overclocking and performance superiority? We use Radeon HD...
With a limited budget and high-resolution gaming in our sights, we spice up this quarter's $1,250 build with as many graphics cards as we can fit into a mid-range chassis. By popular request, this one's an...
Retail processors usually come with a bundled cooler, which will serve you well—at least until you try to overclock. We replaced the heat sink that Intel includes with its Core i7-920 with a higher-end model...
We've previewed a number of P55-based motherboards from Asus and Gigabyte, and have a solid idea of what to expect come launch. ASRock and MSI recently sent us samples from their upcoming lineups as well. Today...
We're spoiled. We know we are. Most of our AMD-oriented overclocking efforts center on unlocked Black Edition CPUs. But what if you're running a standard Phenom II? Today we show you how to get just as much...
You've likely already seen coverage of Intel's C0-based Core i7s compared to the latest stepping, D0. We wanted to do something different, so we compared the Core i7-965 Extreme to the 975 using base...
Modern southbridges support multiple RAID levels via software, but do they deliver decent performance? We used six Intel SSDs and tortured the top three by AMD, Intel and Nvidia. As if that weren't cruel...
With our $300+ and $200-300 Core i7 motherboard comparisons distant memories, it’s time for a sub-$200 roundup. Recent price fluctuations have pushed two contenders over the mark after we tested them, but...
Overclocking your graphics card can help squeeze out precious performance in games that utilize maximum GPU horsepower. We test whether it's better to overclock with your board vendor's tools, the GPU-maker's...
Once the territory of savvy enthusiasts, overclocking is now easy enough to entice even first-time builders. We walk through the process with four high-value dual- and quad-core CPUs from AMD and Intel: two...
Performance notebooks with desktop processors are nothing new, but Core i7’s thermal challenges are new. With thermal management potentially slamming the brakes, can Eurocom’s D900F Panther outpace current...
With 36 lanes of PCIe 2.0, 3-way SLI could be the X58 chipset’s biggest challenge. If that turns out to be true, is Nvidia’s nForce 200 controller hub, which multiplexes the platform's connectivity, a...
Intel's fastest Core 2 Duo, the E8600, runs at 3.33 GHz. But if you're a performance-hungry power user, we found that you can actually increase the chip's efficiency by overclocking it, thanks to 45 nm...
Performance on its own is not enough to earn a recommendation here. The very best graphics cards also employ innovative cooling to help muscle their way into our hearts. Today, we look at high-end offerings...
The 2009 Graphics Card Charts are here! New this year is an updated platform, reference and retail products (with overclocked/special edition boards), and an entirely new suite of benchmarks. Come compare the...