Wednesday News (11th of December)

Lately more and more things in computers have started to be changed to be more appealing to the eye, to perform better, or to be more user friendly. The case mod community in a sense has been a catalyst to the movement away from typical beige. So, naturally once one has a kickass rig, pre modded or not (I'm becoming more tolerant, but it still don't make it right!), they can sit back in the neon glow of their creation and just smile. But wait! What's that big gray ugly box in the back top of their case? The typical PSU, well unless they had done a good mod job on it of course. However, PSU enclosures made from new materials and colors are starting to show up at retailers and we've been asked to take a look at one of these... The black aluminum 520W "Power Maxx" PSU from PCToys. Sounds nice.

Performance wise, the HAC-V81 delivers quite nicely, although I wouldn't call it a top performing HSF. Were it really shines though is in its ability to control the fan speed and therefore the noise output. Being able to choose a fan speed dependent on the systems current function can be a great asset to those looking for a 'best of both worlds' cooler.

The images are made from vinyl that is 2-mil thick, the same as the automotive vinyl. If you take look at their site you can see that these are the same images they use in their painted cases except those are actually embedded onto the clear coat. They informed me that most of their graphics are made up of multiple parts, each of those parts can be a different color or pattern depending on the customer's needs and wants. I am sure this would have some impact on the cost of the images, but they are worth it

Most computer buffs are now well aware of the case modding phenomena that has taken hold over the last couple of years. More and more manufacturers are taking note and producing more products. The pre modified case is now a common site, usually they consist of a normal ATX case with a perspex window and possibly some kind of lighting system. Naya have taken this one giant step further with the crist0 classic mid atx case. It combines aluminium and perspex to create a spectacular looking case.

We haven't tested many heatsinks lately because, well, there were just a bit too many on the market at the time and every heatsink seemed to look the same. Now we're at the point where there are more high power processors and with that, higher performing coolers. Aside from actual cooling features, looking good at the same time is a major plus. Today we have two models from ThermalTake, the Volcano 9 family. Want to look cool? This might just do it...