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Less than a year ago, if you would have told us that Corsair was thinking about launching a case, we would have had some serious questions about your sanity. Much like when this memory company launched their first two power supplies, Corsair did the unexpected and proved their skeptics wrong by introducing a full tower case that featured almost everything people had been asking for. The legend of the 800D was born literally overnight and it was received to a standing ovation here at Hardware Canucks. Flush off the retail success that has made the 800D an extremely popular option for novices and enthusiasts alike, Corsair has now introduced a new case called the Obsidian 700D. To be honest with you, this isn’t a new product at all but is rather a slightly cut-down version of its bigger brother. The cuts Corsair has performed are all quite sensible and include the removal of the hot-swappable hard drive bays as well as the windowed side panel. The result isn’t a substantial cost saving –the 700D is a mere $30 less expensive that it’s bigger brother- but there are many people out there who are more than happy to do without these two items and any price reduction is welcome. Other than those two small changes, the 700D is literally an 800D with a different name. It still carries the same affinity for water cooling setups, has an absolutely cavernous interior, uses high flow 140mm fans and comes in a single colour: imposing black. Naturally, almost everything we liked about the 800D is back again for an encore presentation but are the differences really enough to warrant a new product name? Let’s find out. To view the complete video review click here
With the storage market expanding at a breakneck pace and solid state drives taking center space, people’s focus has very much been on internal storage solutions. There has been very little news regarding one of the mainstays of many users’ daily file transfer needs: the ubiquitous flash drive. The inclusion of USB 3.0 on many motherboards has somewhat restored some interest in these drives simply because of its promise of break-neck file transfer speeds. Unfortunately, at this point the implementation of current hot-running USB 3.0 controllers into small flash drives doesn’t appeal to many companies so they have stuck with USB 2.0. Corsair on the other hand has gone to the next level by releasing their GTR series which supposedly pushes the limits of USB 2.0 technology. In this review we will be taking a closer look at the newly released Flash Voyager GTR 32GB which actually looks like a class-leading product at this point. Corsair has a long history with all things based on flash memory and has released successive generations of flash drives of which some have a unique focus. Products in their Survivor series are considered to be some of the most rugged drives around and the Padlock series sports data protection through a unique onboard keypad. The Voyager series on the other hand can be considered a jack of all trades with high speeds, near-invincible construction and even a Mini version for those of you who hate bulky thumb drives. While nearly everyone and his mother may own at least one of these little marvels, this is not to say that all flash drives are created equal. In fact many only have one thing going for them: low price since their capacity, speed and durability are usually sorely lacking. This is where the Voyager GTR 32GB enters the equation since it can not only carry a huge 32GB of data, but has also been designed from the ground up to be as fast as you can realistically get when using the USB 2.0 interface. Besides the shear profusion of products Corsair offers, the other main thing they are known for is their commitment to customer service and customer satisfaction. In the case of their Voyager line of flash drives this means an amazing (and industry leading) 10 year warranty Even though this is a relatively new product, it should be fairly easy to find at both retailers and e-tailers alike throughout North America. However, even though it will not be overly hard to find it still a large performance-orientated flash drive so it does come with a bit of a price premium. As of the time of this review it can be found for about $110 CAD / $90 USD, which is not all that terrible. Just remember that if you want larger capacities, you’re going to be paying about $220 Canadian for the 64GB version and an eye-watering $325 for a massive 128GB of storage space. Speed, size and durability are the main claims to fame this unit has going for it and we intend to find out whether or not this drive deserves these bragging rights.
To view the complete review click here
AMD has had an excellent handle on the budget and mid-range PC markets of late, and the success of their integrated graphics platforms has played a key role in this. When we first took a look at AMD’s new 890GX platform back in March, we were impressed by it’s rich feature set and very attractive price tag. Although the integrated graphics in the 890GX is nothing more than a simple evolution of the 790GX, the new SB850 southbridge brought some key next-generation functionality to the table. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at one of the industry’s first 890GX boards to hit the shelves – the GIGABYTE 890GPA-UD3H. Pricing in as low as $120 CDN, the UD3H is targeted directly at the low to midrange market share and has a healthy set of features, including USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps. But just because this is an integrated graphics platform doesn’t mean the UD3H is in the cold as far as AMD’s higher end crowd. With a large passive cooling solution, support for CrossFire-X in a dual 8X PCI-E 2.0 configuration and enough juice for 140W CPUS – new X6 processors included – the 890GPA-UD3H and 890GX in general cater to a wide variety of buyers. A board of this caliber could be found in a basic machine with a low cost Athlon II dual core running integrated graphics, or in a budget conscious performance rig running an X6 1090T and a pair of Radeon HD 5850s. Let’s face it – not everyone needs or wants to spend $300 on a motherboard, nor do they need half of the features that high end boards offer. Lately, Gigabyte has done a good job in shying away from the complicated naming schemes many other manufacturers use for their boards. Basically, the 890G denotes the chipset, the “A” shows us that there is USB 3.0 installed and the UD3 is the Ultra Durable namesake followed by the product category. Without further ado, let’s take an in-depth look at the GIGABYTE 890GPA-UD3H.
To view the complete review click here
With competition in the graphics card market as fierce as it currently is, both ATI’s and NVIDIA’s board partners are constantly looking for ways to distinguish their products from those of the competition. Even though the HD 5870 has been out for quite a while, it is still one of the most popular cards on the market and as such, we have seen numerous custom designs based off of it. Products like the PowerColor PCS+, ASUS Matrix, Sapphire Toxic, MSI’s Lightning series and HIS’ Turbo X have all shown that extra performance can easily be squeezed out of the HD 5870’s frame if you are willing to pay for it. There have even been 2GB versions released like the aforementioned Sapphire Toxic Edition. However, all of these players know that another major vendor is about to enter their cozy little corner of the market and want to make sure all their cards are on the table before any announcement is made. Gigabyte is joining the ranks of these board partners with their own eagerly anticipated HD 5870: the Super Overclock Edition. We have already looked at two previous Super Overclock cards in the form of the GTX 275 SoC and the GTX 260 216 Soc and both times we came away extremely impressed. Not only were those cards capable of equalling the performance of significantly high-end products but they were also priced quite well. Availability of highly overclocked cards usually leaves much to be desired and Gigabyte is committed to offering sufficient stock this time around. Interestingly enough, the HD 5870 SoC can already be found at several retailers throughout North America and Europe. When we previewed Gigabyte’s flagship card, quite a few interesting technologies were put on the table and discussed. Not much has changed since then other than the clock speeds which were predicted. Unfortunately, Gigabyte wasn’t quite able to hit their target 1Ghz core speed even with their stringent GPU Gauntlet sorting process. In our conversations with them it was stated again and again that the yields of cores capable of running 1Ghz with the stability needed for a retail product were too small. As such, the speed had to be dialled back to a more pedestrian 950Mhz. Naturally, pricing for any non-reference card is going to run the usual gamut: it will either be priced surprisingly well or it will command a significant premium over the cookie-cutter version. The Super Overclock lands firmly on the “they want how much!?” side of the fence at around $500 USD. With many HD 5870 1GB cards costing between $400 and $420, this will probably be a bitter pill to swallow for prospective owners. However, if the Super Overclock’s performance can live up to expectations, it may well be worth the investment.
To view the complete review click here
