Content and news by Optix

The sub-$100 chassis market is filled to the brim with selection, with the $70 price-point in particular being a total hotspot. AZZA, a relative new-comer to the chassis game, has a wide-variety of models available, with its $70 Toledo 301 being the most recent. Let’s dive right in, and see if other $70 models have a reason to be wary.

It’s been a good two-and-a-half years since we’ve taken a look at a Zalman chassis, so with the announcement of the ~$69 Z9 Plus, we were eager to get one in and see how it compared to the current fleet of sub-$100 offerings on the market. With that, let’s see what the Z9 Plus gives us aside from its good looks and focus on efficient airflow.

Have a desire to add a bit of ‘bling’ to your PC, but fear being ridiculed for it? Well, there’s no better excuse for bling than with Corsair’s AirFlow Pro add-on for the company’s AirFlow 2 memory cooler. In addition to offering a hypnotizing light-show, the AirFlow Pro can also keep you informed on your memory’s usage and temperatures.

Anybody paying attention to the recent explosion of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers knows just how hot the market is. These units allow for excellent temperatures while remaining nearly silent, without the need to leak test or refill them, as would be the case with a custom water setup. In what looks like an effort to keep even the hottest running…

Finding a gaming headset that offered 5.1 audio used to be a total rarity, but today, they’re commonplace. While some 5.1 headsets out there don’t do the best of jobs with delivering the aural experience we’d hope for, some do, if the driver alignment and software is spot-on. Read on to see which camp the Sonar 5.1 Championship sits in.

Choosing the right CPU, GPU, or even SSD could be considered difficult – but so could simple peripherals, such as an HDD enclosure. These seem to be a dime a dozen, and while many consumer purchases may boil down to aesthetic value, we’ve discovered with Zalman’s ZM-HE350 U3 that not all external enclosures perform alike.

Taiwan-based Cubitek, an old player with a new name in the chassis market, has launched its Magic Cube. While the name of the product may not make one sit up and take notice, the design should, seeing how components are housed in three separate aluminum chassis. The first, which looks like an ordinary…

Think fan controllers are boring? You haven’t seen Lamptron’s FC Touch, then. This is a unit that’s encapsulates three important factors. It looks great, is powerful, and is simple to use. It can power up to 6x 30W fans, and it has a touch screen that’s reliable and does just what is promised. Though a bit expensive, the FC Touch is unmatched.

There are hundreds of options when searching for a computer case. For those who just can’t make up their minds, ASUS has come to the rescue. The solution? A box that holds the actual motherboard but also doubles as the computer case. Yes, you read that correctly. The cardboard packaging can also be used as a case. Demoed…

The benefits of building a small PC are easy to understand, but what’s not always easy is finding an ideal case to store all of the components in. Well, for those looking for something a bit different, SilverStone has its Fortress FT03… an offering that must be seen to be appreciated. It’s a tower, yet small, and has huge aesthetic appeal.

With the Super Bowl just around the corner, how could we not give readers a little technology related NFL news? Whether you love it or hate it, there is no denying that Apple’s iPad has been hugely successful in a variety of scenarios. So much so that NFL teams are starting to take notice and could abandon their paper playbooks in…

After news of a design flaw found by Intel in its 6-series chipset spread like wildfire, motherboard manufacturers are starting to issue press releases with information on what consumers can do if they have an affected board. Asus, Gigabyte and MSI have all stated that those with an affected motherboard can choose to either use SATA…

Thortech, a company that has been in the industry for 15 years but few may have heard of, announced the launch of their new Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt Plus series power supplies. Each carries an 80Plus Gold certification meaning increased efficiency, modular connections, a 135mm fan, support for Crossfire and SLI configurations…

Once in a while, a game comes along that holds so much promise but ends up falling flat on its face. The most recent game that comes to mind that fell the hardest would have to be Realtime Worlds’ 2010 release, APB: All Points Bulletin. The initial buzz about this “GTA IV MMO” was huge and I personally was almost rabid about getting my…

Ever go to a restroom during a LAN party, only to come back and find your peripherals missing? Me either, but that shouldn’t be a reason to not look into better protecting your goods while at such events. Thanks to NZXT, a great solution doesn’t cost much at all. It’s called the Bunker, and retails for around $25.

In order for any hardware to be a success in the technology world, it has to be a fresh idea that offers something that the competitors don’t, but still be completely functional. Shogun Bros. look to cover all of these points with the release of its Chameleon X-1 mouse. I mean game controller. I mean remote. What do I mean?

A fan who used the built in modkit supplied with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has attracted attention with their World Of StarCraft mod. The mod creates an MMO style game in the same vein as Blizzard’s other blockbuster title, World of Warcraft but based on StarCraft characters. While garnering overwhelming support…

The Blue Team has done it again, improving on 2009 with another record year. Up $8.5 billion from the previous year, Intel weighs in with $43.6 billion in revenue. When all is said and done, its net income tops out at $11.7 billion, an increase of $7.3 billion.All across the board, Intel is in the black. The official press release shows PC Client Group…

As if Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors couldn’t get any bigger, Acer has announced that they plan to launch two or three new tablets based on the 2nd generation core architecture. One will feature a 7 inch screen while the largest will have a 10 inch, and both will run an Android operating system. Claims are that they will be…

It seems that everybody is trying to break into the water cooling market with self contained, all-in-one units that require little to no upkeep. Cooler Master showed off its own A-L2 unit at this year’s CES, and marks the first time the company has produced a liquid cooler since its Aquagate Mini R80 in 2008. The new unit bears a striking…