Quote: It is easy to use and simple to set up. You dont need any technical background to get this device up and running, it is as plug-and-play as you can get. The FreeAgent DockStar is designed to use the FreeAgent Go drive but can be used with any USB hard drives or flash-based product. It support s up to four USB drives if one of these is a FreeAgent Go.

I look at lots of netbooks as any frequent reader knows and most of them are all the same. Today I am going to be looking at the Acer Aspire One 532h-2326 netbook that packs in the new Atom N450 Pine Trail processor. The new processor doesnt really speed things up in the performance department, but it gives some very impressive battery life. The netbook market has needed a machine with decent performance and battery life that didnt come in at a huge price. Some companies place a significant premium on netbooks that offer the latest processor tech to improve battery life, but that is not the case here.

There are so many CPU models that it has become quite impossible to keep up with the different models or even remember their specifications.

While the OC is virtually a non-factor, and the bundle is just the basics, neither of these phase us too much. And while you can get more gaming performance from a last-gen card for about the same price as the HD 5670, performance offered by the HD 5670 isnt all that bad, and the feature set offered with the HD 5000 series is strong, which helps to offset the cards negatives.

SNIP: For many people $200 USD is just too much for a graphics card, but they still want to be able to play games. While mid range cards dont have the performance to max out all of the latest games, they can at least play them and deliver that playability at a low price point. Today we have the latest addition to ATIs lineup, the HD 5570. This card aims to replace the aging HD 4670. Many owners of a 4670 will praise its amazing price to performance ratio. These same owneres will no doubt pick up a 5570, or maybe take a step up to the 5600 series. However if you are not able to afford a 5600 series card, or are planning a lower power PC then the 5500 series is an amazing option.

Unless you work for the Publications Department here, you wouldnt know that article introductions are probably one of the most challenging part of each editorial. The reason why I say this -- and Ive actually been the Editor-in-Chief since 2005 -- is because each and every introductory paragraph involves a distinct level of creativity, style, technical knowledge, and appropriate lead-in to the topic. Often times, members of the team would come in and ask me for some inspiration to start their latest review, report, or lounge article. And most of the time, I would just turn them away, and get them to try to come up with their own creations. At this point, you may be wondering what all this has to do with our G.SKILL F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS 2x2GB dual channel RAM kit in which we are reviewing today. Well, to be honest with you, it has nothing to do with it. The reason I am writing this is because, for once, I am also pretty uninspired about how to begin this review. Therefore I just wrote that wad of text just to fill up some room in meeting the challenge of writing the introduction. That said, without looking back -- what is the model of the G.SKILL RAM we are reviewing today? If you dont remember, repeat after me out loud: Gee-skill-eff-three-one-hundred-and-seventy-six-hundred-see-ell-seven-dee-four-gee-bee-pee-eye-ess-two-times-two-gigabyte.

Quote: The ATI Radeon HD 5450 graphics card that was launched last week bro ught full DirectX 11 support, ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology and ATI Stream technology support for ~$49. That is a hard combination to bea t for the price, but the Radeon HD 5450 graphics card wasnt that great i n gaming and some have said that it is too weak in compute performance. T he ATI Radeon HD 5570 that was introduced today has four times the comput e performance on paper and we were able to see nearly a two times perform ance difference in real world game testing. Not a bad increase for just a n extra $30, but gamers will be hard pressed to go with anything less tha n a Radeon HD 5670 as it does much better across the board when it comes to gaming...

*The results are in and the data has been checked and contrary to popular belief these statistics may shock you. According to our research 22 LCD monitors and video cards in the $75 to $125 dollar range are the most purchased parts in their categories for computer components. The Sapphire Radeon HD5570 is a budget mainstream video card with a price point under $100.00 USD. The Sapphire HD5570 offers DirectX 11 compatibility, 400 stream processors, a 650MHz core and 900MHz x2 memory. The Sapphire HD5570 is also Crossfire ready and at idle only consumes 10W with its Dynamic Power Management.//

It would be interesting to know the strategy behind ATI and their decision to release the HD 5400 series before the HD 5500. Considering the samples arrived only days apart, we doubt it was because one was ready and not the other. They couldve almost released both cards at the same time maybe they just wanted to spread it out a bit so they received more coverage instead of having one review / article on two models. Now they end up with two. The big question that needs to be answered today is whether or not the HD 5570 performs closer to the HD 5670 or closer to the HD 5450. For the simple fact that we like performance, we hope that it leans towards the HD 5670, but were really not sure. Before we find out just how it does perform, lets take a closer look at the package and the card itself.

Last week saw the entry-level ATI Radeon HD 5450 based on AMDs Cedar core, with the ATI Radeon HD 5670 introducing Redwood a couple of weeks prior to that. The HD 5570 slots in between the HD 5670 and the HD 5450 in terms of price, but not in terms of performance. The Redwood architecture is pruned to allow big features in small form factor (SFF) or Home Theater PC (HTPC). Join us as we take a look at AMDs latest video card, the HD 5570.

*Quote:* We all know who the big case manufacturers out there are an d we turn to them when its time to get a new case or purchase a case for a build. Not often a new company comes along and blows things out of the water. Well the case we are talking a look at today isnt from a new compa ny, but they are new to cases. Corsair introduces their first case the Ob sidian Series 800D. This case is one of the best cases Ive seen in a whil e featuring 4 hot-swappable bays, 3 isolated cooling zones, tool-free opt ical drive installation, and unique cable routing holes. Lets take a look at the 80 0D and see if Corsair has a winner in its first case.

Quote: For the rest of us, overclocking is where its at, and luckily in this regard, the 5570 doesnt disappoint. The overclocking potential is due to the GPU processor being built on a 40nm die that is easily cooled by the passive heatsink on the card. After some tweaking, I was able to adjust the core clock by 251MHz and the memory speeds were able to be increase by 200MHz. Once I reached these final overclocking speeds, the HD 5570 really started to perform better and in many instances it was equal to or just shy of its older (and more expensive) brother, the HD 5670.

This is like d=C3=A9j=C3=A0 vu all over again. That quote from the ever-s

Today we will be taking a look at Sapphires 5570 to see where the new GPU fits into the market in a selection of real world gaming tests, GPU computing tasks and high definition playback. In additi on to this we will also take a look back at two other products in the value area, the XFX 5670 and HIS 5450...

*Quote:* *With ATIs assault on the high and mid-range price segments nearly complete, their focus has now shifted to the lower end of the market .

Hopefully one day soon Solid State Drives will be standard equipment for new computer systems, but first SSDs must become available as an optional upgrade item for build-it-yourself orders. Plextor/LiteOn hopes to bring this service to tier-one OEMs, and computers from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Sony could soon offer lightning-fast SSD performance. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the LiteOn 32GB Strong-Page SSD, model LA-32M1S, built on the Marvell 88SS8014-BHP2 Da-Vinci controller.

*Quote:* *Even though both drives are based off the same technology, the firmware is a different and this may have the greatest impact on performance between the two units. Many users of the Patriot Torqx SSDs have noticed a performance decrease when using the 1819 firmware, but this firmware keeps the drives performance static on a TRIM-enabled OS - even after prolonged use. . .* If you feel that your readers would find this of interest, wed sure appreciate a post in your news section.

Today we are looking at the Jetway NC63-330-LF Mini-ITX motherboard.

Codenamed Clarkdale, the new LGA 1156 i3 / i5 chips are built on the Westmere 32nm process, joining the previous 45nm Bloomfield and Lynnfield releases in the Nehalem family. Another new idea Intel implemented in these chips is adding a GPU core directly on the processor alongside the CPU. Three new chipsets were also introduced that allow you to run one of these GPU-equipped processors without a discrete video card. Intel Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading make an appearance in the i5 series as well. All of this and more just ahead as we take a detailed look at the Intel Core i5 661 processor.

Mushkin sent us a sample of their new DDR3 memory kit. We got a sample of their Tri channel kit with 3x2GB Ram kits at 12800 speed and 7-9-7-24 timings. What can we do with this kit and our Core i7 920 Cpu? Lets have a closer look.

*Computer Ed* *interviews, Gene Chi of Powercolor. The focus is Green Computing, Ed and Gene Chi examine the PowerColor Go Green Radeon HD5750 Series Video Card. Find out how its done and why PowerColor Go Green is the only 5750 on the market that requires no additional power, no decrease in clock and memory speeds and is passively cooled. This interview is part of the Green Series of Live Radio interviews and articles Hi Tech Legion and The Computer Ed Radio Show will be featuring for the month of February 2010.//

The Antec Nine Hundred Two case is the perfect case for builders who are just getting started or those of us who have been building machin es for years. Antec makes the case incredibly versatile by allowing the u ser to practically customize the location for each storage device. Fan lo cations and controls are ideal and can be easily reached. All the fans ar e essentially quiet on their slowest settings, but this is more than enou gh to keep your rig cool. For hard-core enthusiasts, you can still crank the fans sacrificing noise comfort for airflow. Working with the Antec Ni ne Hundred Two was very easy...

Ultra, the company whos claim to fame is inventing the modular power supply, brings us another one of their X4 creations. Their last pow er supply got good marks in the lab, lets see if their more powerful vers ion can pull off the same.

Team Group made a solid name for themselves a couple of years ago when they started offering some of the fastest memory on the market at a price that made other memory makers red in the face. Since then Team has been a part of the enthusiast community worldwide and even expanded their product offerings to include among other things flash memory drives and even solid state drives. Today we are testing the new Team Group Xtreem-G1 solid state drive. The G1 is based on the Indilinx Barefoot controller and has a rated read speed of 260MB/s and a write speed of 180MB/s. The Barefoot controller is capable of using up to 64MB of high speed DRAM cache and Team stuffed the drive to the max with very fast cache memory.

Quote: Today for review Ive got a green accessory for your cell phone to make you life a bit easier maybe. If youre into using a speakerphone while driving then the Scosche solCHAT II might be right up your alley, its nicely made, loud and easy to use. It even talks to you in a sort of sexy female computer generated voice to guide you through pairing, usage and she can even let you know whos calling by name.

This is your chance to win a XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB graphics card with eTeknix.com and XFX.

SNIP: As the worlds patiently awaits NVIDIA Fermi which is aimed to challenge the ATI Radeon HD 5870, the graphics giant is not sitting idling. In fact, NVIDIA has been busying updating their existing lineup. NVIDIA has revamped the entire graphics line up to the 200 series.

Power supplies are important and often overlooked components. Ultra Products understands that case-proud PC enthusiasts do not overlook the PSU. In fact, hard-core hardware geeks demand not just performance, but style to complement not just their ass kicking hardware, but their beautifully lit cases. Thus, Ultra has released the new X4 Series in a range of wattages starting at 500 watts. The model we are taking to task in this review is the totally modular 1600-watt version. This block of power weighs a respectable 15 pounds, measures 240mm x 150mm X 87mm and features a 135mm fan. And, it is 80 Plus Certified. One note about the 1600-watt rating this PSU is rated at 1600 watts when connected to a 20-amp plug using the special 120 volt 20 AMP cable (included). When you use the included 120 volt 15 AMP cord to connect to a typical outlet, the PSU operates at 1200 watts.

Article Snippet: No longer will you have to worry about ghosting artifacts and you can watch any action movie or sports game and feel like you are really there. Although LCD models may try to mimic the fluid playback a plasma TV brings to the table, they cant hold a candle to plasma technology even today.

*Quote:* For 2010, Intel has introduced a new line of processors cod e named Clarkdale, and will be known as the Core i5 600 series. At this p oint there are four processors in this series, the 650, the 660, the 670, and the 661. Today I will be looking at the Intel Core i5 661, a dual co re LGA 1156 processor built in the 32nm process, with on-die video proces sing. This should make it a natural for HTPC and non-gaming rigs. How wil l the i5 661 fare with this geek who has had the honor of reviewing some of the most powerful video cards in the world? Read on to see!

Quote: The cooling solution that was on the ASUS ENGT240 did its job quite well - the highest that I saw the card get was 64=B0C during all the testing, which is not very high for a video card operating at 630MHz on the GPU and running through all these benchmarks back-to-back. I do like the fact that the ENGT240 does get all the power that it needs from the motherboards PCI-E slot - there are no extra power adapters that need to be plugged into the video card.

NVIDIA and ATI dominate the market for gaming-oriented video cards. But neither company sells video cards directly to the consumer rather, they produce reference designs that are manufactured by a number of partners. Most partners simply produce the reference design and slap an identifying sticker on the cards cooler although some might replace the reference design cooler with a quieter or more powerful solution, with few exceptions theres little to distinguish one partners version of a specific card from another partners version of the same card. EVGA breaks out of this rut with their EVGA GTX 275 CO-OP PhysX Edition, model 012-P3-1178-TR, which combines NVIDIA GTS250 and GTX275 GPUs on the same card, and Benchmark Reviews takes it around the block to see what its got.

Today we are looking at the Boogie Bug AimB.Pad Gaming Surface. This is a regular sized mousemat that is 275mm x 320mm and is aimed at gamers and users who need precision from their mouse.

*Quote:* *The card with the best performance from AMD from the previous generation, the ATI RADEON 4870X2 has a very noisy stock cooling cooling system.

Since 1999, we have been developing the BIOS Optimization Guide, affectionately known as the BOG. From a meagre beginning of a single page, it now covers over 400 BIOS options. As old BOG readers will know, we started offering two editions of the BOG since Revision 8.0 - a simplified edition and the complete edition.