Content and news by Optix

CM’s QuickFire Rapid gaming keyboard is unlike any other. It’s not flashy, it doesn’t have a bunch of bright LEDs, it has no macro support and… it has no numpad. So what is it that sets it apart? Its sturdy design and use of CHERRY MX blue mechanical key switches. Let’s see if those features make up for what’s lacking.

Huge, feature-rich cases are nothing new, but the Cosmos II from Cooler Master becomes one of the best – if not the best. The company touts it as being an “ultra tower”, and after shoving lots of high-end hardware into one, we’d have to agree. But despite its mega-size and plethora of features, is it worth $349?

Antec is known for making a variety of quality cases to suit different needs, with its Sonata family aiming to deliver clean styling, functionality and silence all in one. The SOLO II becomes the latest entry to that family, and in some ways, it’s very different than other silent cases on the market. It’s time to find out if that’s a good thing.

You’ve no doubt heard or read about the recent flooding in Thailand earlier this month and how catastrophic it has been for those living in the area. A quick look at things from a tech perspective shows that one of the biggest hard drive manufacturers in the world, Western Digital, is in a bad spot at the present time as well.

Every so often, we’re sent a product that on the surface looks to be one of the most simple we’ve ever seen, but in practice turns out to be quite useful. Antec’s Bias Lighting Kit is one such product. It emits a white glow on a wall behind your monitor, making staring at the screen just a little bit easier. Sounds strange, but it works.

Finding a 5.1 gaming headset isn’t hard, but finding one that’s not riddled with problems is. Many companies have been entering the audio market in this way lately, and Cooler Master proves that it’s not about to be left out. With its Sirus, we’re given one of the best-looking options to date, so let’s see if it lives up to the hype.

Gamers beware – the latest release from Cooler Master’s CM Storm gaming brand is a nasty little bugger. TheXornet has been officially launched as the latest gaming mouse in a line up that has already won over tons of gamers. Under the hood, the mouse features a 2000 DPI optical sensor with anti-drift control, Omron…

Thermaltake has a large number of chassis lines, but it’s time to welcome another: Chaser. The first model, MK-1, features a bold, gamer-esque design and borrows many cues from the Level 10 GT. It features an HDD dock, a headphone holder, and tons of cooling capacity. At $150, is this a full-tower that should top your list?

Do you turn your undies inside out so that you can wear them for another day? If you’re this frugal, NZXT’s latest case release may just be what you’ve been looking for. On Friday the Source 220 mid-tower was launched, bringing with it many of the features that enthusiasts want but at a price point that’s much more mainstream.

Corsair has yet to release a liquid CPU cooler we haven’t been impressed by, and the H100 doesn’t become an exception. Building on what made the H80 such an impressive performer, the H100 doubles the radiator length, enabling support for up to 4 fans. One thing it proves? Bigger can indeed be better.

Since 2008, NZXT’s Tempest line-up has become well-known for offering a good bang for the buck. All of the models released to date have bold designs, but nothing over-the-top. The latest variant, the 410 Elite, focuses on efficient airflow, and includes a front honeycomb design and room for a dual-rad out-of-the-box.

Imagine my surprise as I pulled up Corsair’s page only to find a new product line that flew in under the radar – Vengeance Gaming. Vengeance has been Corsair’s current enthusiast brand of memory but is being expanded to incorporate K-series keyboards, M-series mice and a few new headset models.

With another Intel Developer Forum in the bag, there are always bits and pieces that slipped through our fingers but deserve to be mentioned, and this one is pretty big – GIGABYTE finally launched its own dedicated UEFI. No, not the half-hearted attempt that we all know as HybridEFI. This is a full-fledged, full-featured UEFI that…

All-in-one liquid coolers are everywhere lately with the latest one announced yesterday at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), still ongoing in San Francisco. Intel and water cooling? Yes, you read that correctly. The processor power house in conjunction with Asetek has unveiled its version, the RTS2011LC (installed on a X79 board…

All CPU coolers promise effective CPU cooling, but how each one manages their goal can vary wildly. One may be super-quiet but be the size of a car, while another may be modest-sized but sound like a jet engine. The Frio OCK and Jing from Thermaltake aren’t so extreme, but make a perfect case for noise vs. size vs. cooling performance.

Corsair’s cases have long been considered to be some of the best, but at prices of $180+, many have had to sit out and hope for more modest offerings. With the Carbide series, those have arrived. The 400R mid-tower we’re looking at here retails for just under $100, so let’s see how it compares to Corsair’s other offerings.

We mentioned in a recent chassis article that having the best of both worlds where cooling and noise is concerned is difficult, but as Corsair’s H80 proves, the same can’t be said about CPU coolers. In fact, for both those aforementioned reasons, the H80 might have just become the best CPU cooler we’ve ever tested.

In developing a chassis, companies like Cooler Master have to decide whether the focus will be on cooling or noise, because it’s extremely difficult to have a chassis excel in both. The Silencio 550 proves this, because while it becomes the quietest chassis we’ve ever tested, it comes at the expense of higher temperatures.

The hottest days of the summer may be behind us, and Cooler Master wants to make sure that the temperature of your CPU follows. Not soon after the launch of the Hyper 612 S/PWM CPU cooler comes another release, the GeminII S524. Like the original GeminII cooler, the S524 is a top-down unit, a rare sight in today’s…

We’re a few days late getting this bit of information posted but it may prove no less exciting for owners of current GIGABYTE 6-series motherboards. The company has announced that Intel’s upcoming 22nm Ivy Bridge CPUs expected in the first quarter of 2012 will be a direct drop in upgrade for LGA1155 systems, but we’ve…