As you enter Skyrim, the ambiance is developed with beautiful fidelity all around you with Logitech’s Z906 Surround Sound Speaker System. Logitech has created audiophile heaven for PC enthusiasts who are serious about their sound fidelity through speaker quality. Surround Sound was created to essentially bring the audio experience to life for enthusiasts for movies, and music/game technologies. Developers have flocked to the two main stables of audio compression technology: Dolby Digital and DTS, soon moving into the territory of uncompressed 96KHz/24 and 196/24Hz. For this generation, and most of the next generation, Dolby Digital and DTS are here to stay in the compressed audio realm as disks pick up more storage capacity. Regardless, consumer-quality ranges in the majority using compressed studio grade sound. The Logitech Z906 Surround Sound Speaker System delivers amazing bass frequencies with the THX logo certification (not easy to get) and a surround sound system that is simply beautiful when set up correctly.

The design and features of Logitech’s Z906 Surround Sound Speaker System are straightforward. The speakers themselves come simply packaged in a bi-sectional manner in the big box. Marveling at the design and construction quality, Logitech went far to ensure the components were of high build. The subwoofer is a ported side-firing 165W beast which has a great glosse matte finish around the speakers. Opening the bigger box reveals the 5 satellite 67W speakers.  The Ohm of these speakers is 4 Ohms with the included unbridged amplifier, which outputs more wattage. More wattage does not mean necessarily better sound quality but does increase the sound level. For PC users and even TV users, 67 watts is a very nice number for an enthusiast level of sound, despite the speakers not being 400W/channel which is a ridiculously big amount that comes close to cinema speaker baffle walls. For the audiophile home enthusiast, the impedance rating and power output are nothing to complain about.

Design and stability is one thing, but what is the most important rating aspect hinges on one thing: functionality with a dependable throughput. What will perhaps have most users of these enthusiast speaker systems confused is the way to get the most out of these Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS supported speakers. We will clarify it in terms of two categories that falls into most people’s user vantage: movies and most importantly video games. Video games themselves for the consoles come packed with the Dolby Digital / DTS audio in terms of DVD discs (being just Dolby Digital as the most popular) or Dolby True HD which is the Blu-Ray’s equivalent of uncompressed audio to output 196/24Hz audio.

These speakers focus solely on the compressed market of sound, so this is for what they will be reviewed.  Logitech’s Z906 Surround Sound Speaker System comes with the control panel which features the use of input, and the “stereo” sound effects. This is where people may be confused. Stereo sound effects are a type of DSP (digital signal processing) on these units. 3D Surround matrixes the center channel onto the rear channels to extract 5.1 from stereo. 4.1 mimics the stereo left and right onto the surround channels, and 2.1 only has the stereo speakers with the subwoofer enabled. The stereo DSP effects only activate if the user is using optical without Dolby Digital encoding or analog 5.1 (which is still the analog channels minus Dolby Digital encoding). One must enable ‘Dolby Digital Live’ with an optical connection as that is the only way to encode the analog 5.1 sound into the digital signals from video games and movies such as Blu-Ray files where the AC-3 sound is across 6 channels.

When Dolby Digital Live (DDL) is enabled to take the advantage of the speakers through the optical connection S/PDIF connection, it is important to note stereo is packed as 5.1 AC-3 with empty channels. A 2.0 stereo source is still 2.0 stereo with DDL as no sounds from the rear and center speakers work unless upmixed with Dolby Pro Logic. If Dolby Digital Live is used, any stereo source is not automatically switching to the 3D Surround DSP effect on the receiver, but this is not Logitech’s fault – it is just the way the technologies are designed. PC Users must ensure they also turn on Dolby Pro Logic but must be careful to take note that the ‘3D Surround’ is not Dolby Pro Logic technology but proprietary Logitech technology. 3D Surround from our tests sounds generally louder than the Pro Logic counterpart if using stereo sources, so sound satisfaction is up to the user. For a lot of our preferences, the editors preferred 3D Surround over Dolby Pro Logic. It is important to note that video games on the PC do not come packaged with the Dolby Digital track (they are not movies and require a Sound API) as they are packaged with Linear Pulse Code Module (LPCM) similar to Dolby True HD technology and the LPCM signal can be passed through optical with DDL 5.1 (taking the LPCM 5.1 into Digital 5.1), so a sound card is next to useless for most games anyways if using analog connections or HDMI (yes we said it but this receiver does not support HDMI).

The Logitech Z906 was benchmarked for audible noise which peaks at about an ambient level of 88dB on average / second on our test with a frequency of about 40Hz. It is noticeable at higher volumes with zero sound through the speakers but is not a deal breaker by any means. In PC games, we used the analog 5.1 and also stereo processing in Windows with 3D Sound considering there is no DD track in PC Games save very few. BioShock Infinite only has a stereo output and not even analog 5.1 mix, so on PC users they have no other options than to use their DAC on their PC hardware and use the DSP on the Logitech Z906 receiver. The 3D Surround does a terrific job of the upmixing, and frankly we prefer it way more than the Dolby Pro Logic. If DD Live is used, Dolby Pro Logic does no upmixing even from the stereo video game sound mix. For movies, if they have a DD track it will always take precedence over Dolby Pro Logic (which will do nothing) unless the source is stereo.

The Logitech Z906 Surround Sound Speaker System works wonders for audiophiles and PC Enthusiasts who want to immerse themselves in crystal clear sound and have the ambiance of their favorite PC game surround them in all directions with game audio technologies. For gamers it is time to live the world of Skyrim or for film lovers the time to turn up that favorite film – because with these speakers everything really is in the room with you.

Sony has not only become one of the biggest names in film entertainment, but also one of the biggest publishers in the current industry for entertainment in the evolving interactive video game medium. As of 2010, Sony set out on a mission along with many other like-minded companies such as Samsung, LG, Panasonic, etc to provide mainstream consumers with what we term as the “3D-Craze” in stereoscopic display blooms. WhatIfGaming  has been devoted to all thing 3D and unlike most other entertainment publications has been covering 3D for more than 10 years since 2000 from conventions to 3D technology industry events (3DFF, etc). This means those 1950s DVDs with the 3D glasses. Naturally, when Sony released this product November 10, 2011, it was essential to cover this highly enticing 3D TV set for any consumers for Christmas season and holidays, especially given what Sony claims to offer. We have conducted the most rigorous tests anyone can on this $499 MSRP 24” Sony PlayStation 3D TV bundle using our 2 sets in-office for reasons of control, quality, and multisampling. While the Sony PlayStation 3D TV is enticing for consumers who cannot necessarily pay more for a higher quality entry 3D-TV set, it comes with some noticeable problems in the testing rounds which should serve consumers to think three times before purchase. Colors are not saturated accurately, the reflective glare of the LCD coating is an abysmal problem, and the very notion that the 3D is even being utilized for all purposes is generally missing despite the “FULL-HD” moniker. Sony has made a 3D TV that is decent for a 24” TV set if it were priced at $199-299, but something which does not feel like it is even worth half of what more superior entry-sized 3D TVs offer at $499.

The Sony PlayStation 3D TV comes with a sleek black casing design that is similar to the stylish offering of a PlayStation 3 minus the substance. The PlayStation 3D TV does not come with a remote, but similar Sony branded remotes can work if you have a Bravia set laying around the house. The actual casing itself feels rather cheap, however, with a thermoplastic polymer alloy of polyvinyl, similar to earlier computer monitor casings but the outline of the housing does not matter too much in terms of functionality which the main importance of any review, especially a TV that offers a newly introduced mainstream technology that people just caught onto post-Avatar in their homes.

The Sony PlayStation 3D TV underwent few standard tests utilizing 2 screens and respectively 2 separate pairs of glasses. For this TV, we tested color saturation assay using Tripheynalmethane with direct capture off HDMI 1.4, accuracy of the frame-hertz and 3D imaging given various media tested from Avatar Panasonic 3D Blu-Ray, to Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.  To start off with, color saturation in the digital scope is something that most people, reviewers included, fail to grasp. Color pigmentation or contrast of colors is essentially the value of a crystal diode being emitted by the current LCD source through the backlight being emitted through the liquid crystal medium. It is impossible to accurately claim colors as “vibrant or rich” without establishing some set of method to test this directly. Human eye-sight can only perceive about 200:1 contrast. This means for every full on pixel there is at least 1 out of 201 that is less than ideally lit. Considering only WhatIfGaming has ever done this test, we feel we have a handle on things. We tested the actual backlight function on a piece of white paper covered with Tripheynalmethane (an expensive chemical). For the less science enthused, this is a common polymer used in medicine to test the relative wavelengths of light through a sample of light emissions. The higher the wavelength, the less accurate the backlight is even given lighting conditions change person to person. Testing the Sony Playstation 3D TV’s light emission using a direct source exposure reveals something surprising: the contrast ratio and the actual quality of the backlight is cheaper than the more expensive but non-1080p TV screens. Likely, at $499 they had to downgrade this aspect of the screen immensely, considering most 3D-entry TV’s at ~$1000 start at 4x the wavelength at 850nm. One thing has been established: the colors themselves and the backlight themselves are relatively cheap and undersaturated compared to even high end lower contrast models. This is one thing buyers have to be wary about and it is critical. Even if it offers 2000:1 contrast in theory, the TV can ever only put out any deep color variances in a very limited range.

This screen’s accuracy and sharpness of colors gets more degraded when the active-shutters are used and the immense glare LCD coat is put to the test. Active shutter glasses constantly cycle between two frames in a dimensional analysis cross in the hypothalamus of the brain, creating the 3D variance seen.  Sony claims a “FULL-1080p” experience, but realistically at 24” and considering most of the Sony 3D video game titles such as Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Resistance 3, and Killzone 3 are sub-3D. The utilization of the TV is just not there, which fuses with the other important critical point that the TV itself is not harnessing 3D accurately at 24” or even at all with sub-3D upscaling which somewhat falls on developer support itself and not the TV. This is not to say the 3D TV is not capable of actually outputting 1080P, but in terms of 3D 1080P per eye, the shutter cycling is a big problem.

In terms of actual 3D 240Hz quality, during testing we noticed a 3D Transmitter lag in the shutter frames, where there is apparent blacks appearing at high-action sequences. We further tested out the hertz of the frames using a physics imaging software and the cycles of hertz actually varies from 100-120Hz, which explains for the drop time to time. This actually counters the claim that the Sony PlayStation 3D TV is a full-120Hz constant shutter system.  As a TV itself or a PC monitor, the Sony PlayStation 3D TV is great for $499 and up-close 3D viewing of Blu-Ray films (where the 3D is just as incredible on full-sized 3D TVs minus the actual power of a bigger screen), but at $499 one can easily get a 50” standard LCD TV that is better in color, and quality.

Throughout testing, all the weaknesses of the Sony PlayStation 3D TV led to one question: Is getting a $499 TV with tax that offers little 3D use even worth buying for the holidays or at all given the the 3D itself is not technically “FULL-1080P” and downgraded by the monitor’s small size, shutter inaccuracy, and lastly weaker colors? The answer, while we fully can appreciate Sony’s push for 3D TVs in the low-cost markets, is simply: No. We cannot recommend this set even to people desperately wanting a cheaper 3D TV, as it is not worth its value in price. 3D projector displays that utilize shutter technology would be a better investment. This $500 can definitely be better spent elsewhere for consumers. If anyone is too desperate, then they may just want to go with a Samsung PN50C490B3D 768P 3D TV or the more superior 40”+ Sony Bravia 3D TV models that are much better priced in terms of quality and film entertainment use.  Sony continues to make strides in the higher-end 3D TV models when it comes to stereoscopic technology, but they should definitely stick to doing what they do best and price accordingly. This does not cut it.

The HD 6870 DiRT 3 edition is a beast. While we did not particularly love DiRT 3 as a game, a free copy is more than welcome for fans to experience the power of the AMD Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 DiRT 3 edition. While we already reviewed the HD 6870 base samples through AMD, and then add-in contact reviews including Sapphire’s 6870 line, this special OCed edition was worth a look for the people who have been e-mailing regarding Sapphire products on top of VisionTek lines.

First off, the packaging itself is beautiful. Sapphire at this point has shown us that they create packaging that is amazing in terms of their quality of build and the fan structure. We also popped it open for good measure, and loved the consistency of the thermal compound, which most video cards kind of skim (NVIDIA sometimes).

The OC comes at 920MHz which is 20MHz up on the default 900MHz HD 6870 clock while the clock rate of the RAM remains the same at 4200 QDR (DDR on 2 channel bits). Admittedly, there is not much to say about this card that has not necessarily been said. Is it worth the slight increase in price? This is really up to someone to decide. From a mathematical point of speaking, higher Hz means higher clock frequencies. 20Hz can make all the difference every second for every minute (1800Hz/min).  Should consumers want something that is quiet while being a little faster, this is definitely a step up from a normal 6870 even if not by a lot.

The Droid X2 design is marvelous, coming in at a slightly different shade of the original Droid X, with brushed metal chassis and all the working of a phone that is exquisite.  The back holds the custom logo of the Droid X2 in red, and boasts a smaller version of the phone with a maximum 4.3 inch qHD screen. At 155 grams with a size of 65.5 x 127.5 x 9.9 mm the Droid X2 is putting the Candy Bar form factor to a great spin. Typical of the Droid X series, the second series follows with the Corning Gorilla grade Glass, used by military production for increased screen durability. Adding a cover to the Droid X2 using the standard Verizon Wireless offerings is more vivid and celebrating of the features of the package as a whole.

The Droid X2 comes with the relatively translucent changes in its infrastructure including power and performance increases. With 1GHz dual core processors, the Droid X2 follows closely to the Samsung Galaxy S II processor series of smartphones, a released phone currently in Europe with 1.2GHz dual cores compared to the 1 GHz. While more GHz does not necessarily mean more stability, it does indicate increased processing power in terms of ALU and FLOPs. One of the most important things about phone media is media connectivity itself, and the Droid X2 supports AAC, H.263, H.264, MP3, MPEG-4, WAV, AAC+ Enhanced, WMA v10, MIDI, AAC+ codecs to truly create a phone that tests out well in each encoded file. WAV files were a bit on the rough side, but everything worked brilliantly. The 1540 mAh Li Ion battery is standard but also considered a high-end battery, providing a level of extensity to the phones usage. Camera quality is HD 720P, and the video quality is smooth and consistent with the usual HTC software preset effects. Google Mobile Services are all included: Gmail, Google Maps, Latitude, Navigation, Google Talk, and of course YouTube. Everything is available through the Froyo ROM customization including haptic feedback and dedicated keys for the essential functions, which are common to all smartphones rather than their oppositely and ironically named dumb-phones (our personal office joke). In terms of capacity, the Droid X2 has the 8GB microSD card and 8 GB on-board memory for a total of 16 GB, compared to the HTC Thunderbolt which is also a premiere phone that comes with 8 GB memory along with 32 GB microSD.  The Droid X2 performed perfectly on Quadrant, scoring a 2385, coming slightly under some phone models but not too casual of a speed either.

The only downside to the Droid X2 is the non-capability of the radio to support 4G. While Verizon’s 4G LTE network is up and running, this powerhouse phone does not utilize 4G, which some might undoubtedly see as a hindrance, but actual ideal speeds of attaining 4G through the air and getting them at given positions is slim, which is a fact many people hardly understand. 4G capability does not guarantee 4G regional quality.

The Motorola Droid X2 is one of many smartphones that offers something unique and completely extraordinary in its own way. It has the strength of military fortification, and the processing power of any other smartphone, rivaled by other HTC creations such as the EVO 3D, Thunderbolt, and also Samsung Galaxy S series. The Droid X2 is unsparingly a phone that is worth its value in price and is without caution one of the best smartphones in the world today.

The HTC Thunderbolt 4G gives one of the best performances of any smartphone currently available in 2011 and it seems as if the Thunderbolt has stricken the ground with an impacting force that will last well into 2012. The HTC developed Thunderbolt 4G premieres exclusively with the Verizon Wireless network, and is truly a premiere enthusiast phone that provides a lot of power and efficiency, despite being on the Android 2.2.1 base software. A 1GHz Snapdragon processor benchmarked with custom software for this phone above all others, especially the new Samsung Google Nexus S coming in close behind the Droid X2 of the same carrier through exclusive rights. The HTC Thunderbolt 4G has quality parts for a price that may be expensive for some, but parts which make the entire smartphone a shining example of true fidelity and marksmanship in the intracellular universe.

The HTC Thunderbolt 4G provides a design that is contour, with a lovely Google silver lining belt that holsters the back speaker and conference-style persona. The screen is 4.3” WVGA TFT capacitive touch screen, giving the sense of touch a non-smudging protection that is common to some of the best smartphones on the market today. The only negative thing to be said about this design is truly the lack of any good covers on the phone available with Verizon Wireless. The screen protectors barely fit the full viewable area (leaving out a bit of measurement when done from the edges) and the actual most expensive protector unit they sell as a proprietary partnership does not cover those silver lining edges people easily get scuff marks on, which is very apparent to any hardcore consumer that uses their phone, keeps it clean, but notices those tiny flawed details.

Providing a level of user interface with capable software, this phone easily establishes itself as a connoisseur of its kind.  Instead of focusing on the Froyo software, it becomes extremely pertinent to place focus on the CPU, the video ram, and simply these hardcore parts. In order to do this, we ran benchmarks using phone connectivity which locked the phone into place and ran applications of 3D bench-tools on the phone / Android market by the open source XDA community. Android has always been open source for the mere reason of sharing knowledge, programming, and finally furthering these Android phones leagues above iOS, the famed operating system infamous for its lack of user-front support with Apple and Apple SDK iPhone developer forums. The benchmarks revealed that the phone currently ranks to be one of the highest in the world, with Droid X2 following behind. We also ran a torture test on this phone, and the battery efficiency is easily 92%, meaning that confusing battery label of usage per kWh is actually accurate, which was a surprising reveal on its own unlike some other lines of phones we see from HTC itself. HTC truly put a lot of effort into the processing throughput of the HTC Thunderbolt 4G, truly making this phone revered by many others.

The HTC Thunderbolt 4G provides the base Android Froyo software, exceptional design albeit a few flaws, but easily and outstandingly delivers a phone where the processing power is in the numbers and moreover is taken to a level of torture for which it performs 92% of the time as a consequential unit. The HTC Thunderbolt is that phone for 2011 that is simply what any hardware technology enthusiast assays to attain.

Interesting Fact: A capacitive panel consists of an insulator such as glass (which responds to heat, usually of the finger), coated with a transparent conductor (for the potential difference in the touch basis of our fingers) like indium tin oxide to provide a level of sensing on the glass.

Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 orders one of the most uniquely created gadgets in the technology sector, combining a level of customizability with a lot of shocking dependability that leaves some in a level of reflection. Many creators of mouse products have different factors that converge on Dots Per Inch (dpi), macros, and functionality of button design, where Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 infuses a level of each of these into its own design while adding a very stable and gratifying experience to anyone that has had problems with former products depending on type. The Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 reveals itself as a true competitor in the wireless range market for anyone ready to have one of the best mice available.

The Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 emits a radiance of metallic glory contused in a level of military grade material that leaves nothing left to be desired for a mouse with strength, durability, and handling. The sleek layout of the mouse surface, combined with an iconic wing-shaped design with a white cyborg head logo in the left thumb rest serves as homage to a mouse that is designed not with just style but also class of design. One of the things which truly concern many people in terms of a mouse revolves around the issue of cheap parts. Usually, expensive mouse products make use of a balance factor or trade-off notion in some parts of their soft-touch finish structure: should the surface be impeccable, the cable is at fault as a notion of many RMAs. For wireless products in particular, this IR frequency lacks range and consistency with the interface signal to PCs. All the parts of the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 are truly exceptional, and the IR grade of the receiver on the wireless mouse remains to be seen in the performance of the mouse itself. Given the translucent design we have articulated by opening the mouse around the plated rest parts, it is apparent that the IR is not cheap by any means, indicating not just a small circle but a larger and firm placement of a receiver in the mouse integration itself. Providing customization options with hex wheels and weight alterations is definitely one of those things even a World Championship Gamer finds admirable, customizing the weights of the mouse using the hex wheel and retaining nut combinations. Providing a level of military-inspired customization and design, the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 gives PC enthusiasts an avenue to unleash their movement creativity in the form of a mouse.

The performance of the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 rivals some of the best products out there in the technology field. The zero latency was tested on the mouse with a device that calculates the driver signal input in the driver to the actual translation of the driver on the Operating System (in this case Windows 7 Ultimate). At 5600 DPI, the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 is accurate in terms of aiming and truly exhibits a fast response time of .54 seconds. Mouse sensitivity can also be adjusted with the ST Programming software for the “Precision Aim” mode, effectively slowing down movements for each person and especially hardcore gaming enthusiast. The addition three Cyborg modes give the instant-switch capability of changing over to customized and refined settings, giving users a level of quick-access commands.

The Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 is a mouse which simply does the simplicity of what a mouse is supposed to do: move around the pointer. In addition to this, the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 accentuates a level of precision, along with a lightweight metal-chassis sleek and stylish visual which gives meaning to control. The Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 is a mouse for any hardcore hardware/gaming enthusiast ready for one of the best products for its price.

The Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 Flex Edition 1GB is the best card to get for anyone looking for the flexibility of DualPort graphics and the integration of DVI standards for the TDMS streams capable to also transmit over HDMI. The Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 Flex Edition 1GB video card is affordable, runs incredibly well, and maintains a level of quality for future-oriented people who do not want to upgrade that is exceptional.

The Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 Flex Edition 1GB tested extremely well as the HD 6870, providing the same 900Mhz clock rate along with the 1GB of onboard video RAM to make for a terrific gaming experience. Benchmarks through FutureMark suite and PassMark revealed numbers that rivaled other cards comparing to the GTX 480 by performing a solid 10-15 fps higher in games such as RIFT and more.

To get straight to the point, for sake of brevity in repeating a 6870 review, the Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 Flex Edition 1GB offers a few different things. It gives gamers and hardcore graphics enthusiasts the 6000 feature set along with the support for the five monitors. The DisplayPorts allow for 2 monitors, while the HDMI and 2 DVI (Single-Link-D + Dual Link-I) gives consumers the flexibility for larger screens to manage their workflow. In terms of this angle, that is all the 6870 Flex does. It is certainly not a setup for gamers in any way that makes it more special than the 6870 normal editions, so if you are looking to game on 3-5 monitors, forget it. Sapphire has definitely established that they know what they are doing, and giving consumers flexibility not just in the home but also in the workplace. There is no need for dual single-core GPU’s or Quad-SLI for this setup. You can have it with AMD, on one card, at an incredible price.

The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router defines a new genre of maximum performance wireless capabilities ever seen in a Wireless-N Router all with the idiosyncrasies of class and elegance combined with ease and portability. The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router provides a stability that has been tested and delivers the most accurate performance rates of any router we have seen from manufacturers such as Belkin, D-Link, and more. With the capability of dual band technology, enthusiasts are able to double their network bandwidth with simultaneous dual-band N 2.4 and 5GHz spectrum, making sure to prevent interference from wireless phones, devices, and other connections utilizing the IEEE 802.11 wireless air interface standards of 2.4GHz. The LinkSys E4200 delivers on a lot of bandwidth ends brilliantly through Dual-Band, Wi-Fi Security, and furthermore UPnP USB capability with refinement.

The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router holds a level of plug and play capability that is simply astonishing in its setup and presentation. The sleekly designed black-shaded router with a silver lining shows the golden opportunities that wait in the dual-band module of IEEE 801.11n standardization sets. Along with the box, an Ethernet cable and a sleek blue CD packaging with customized software shows the very user-interface presentations that Cisco and LinkSys are known to provide. The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router is connected, and the setup screen detects the router without any hassles, providing a streamlined interface of installation and hassle-free connection most LinkSys users are familiar with. Immediately, from the inception of the connection, the LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router reveals a level of connectivity that articulates on its maximum performance not just in connectivity but in user-friendly connection and style.

The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router has a lot of incredible features and the ones to focus on include the Wi-Fi security and setup, Dual-Band Performance, and lastly the UPnP Media Server. To begin with, Wi-Fi Security comes in SPI firewall protection, or state packet inspection firewall. This is one of the highest-classes of firewalls available aside from the Microsoft firewall server routers with 10 encryption layers. This stateful firewall can carry massive parameters such as IP addresses, packet types and integrity checks, along with ports involved in query connections and the very packet numbers in a connection; all of these build up the state of the connection.  The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router performs security to a great extent, and this carries through to the setup of the Wi-Fi, making it concise and moreover easy to understand the settings of both a 2.4GHz access point versus the other protocol types.

Dual-Band has always seen a history of intermittent performance, subject to the lack of standardization between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz ranges. While some routers exist on the 3.6GHz spectrum, most utilize 2.4GHz, including the optimum premiere offering. Not to say some are worst than others, there is a type of interference which indeed takes place as one can see from devices that detect the Wi-Fi interference RF spectrum patterns. The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router served up an efficiency of 95% even, calculated through wireless tests done not subject to cell phones or devices, but pure receivers that take the raw signal and utilize it rather than trying to test phones or PC’s. With this device, we were able to gauge that out of 450 Mbps Wi-Fi, the LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router pulled an extraordinary ~422-427 Mbps capacity. This immediately validated the performance through a series of 4 more tests in real-world capability through our Fibre lines. The router performs these tasks of Wi-Fi transmission to an unbelievable level, which is something anyone paying the full $180 MSRP will be satisfied with. On top of all of this, the UPnP server is an additional delight, giving home network users the ability to link their media across various sources and share them with a built-in space or an external USB drive. The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router delivers dependability and surprise through its features, which becomes new and exciting for router technologies.

The LinkSys E4200 Wireless-N Router meets a level of standard and functionality that is rare to get for such a great package price of $180 MSRP, especially in this day and age. It offers that security for anyone seeking it, music and media for those wanting it, and finally workflow and dependability for everyone that needs it and always wants it.

The VisionTek 80PLUS 800W Power Supply Unit is one of the notable power supplies the company is currently putting out aside from its 1000W Gold, which is a step up in performance to the Gold PLUS certification which ranks higher efficiencies of power throughput with different load levels. The Visiontek 800W Power Supply supplies the perfect performance for a relatively great price for enthusiasts that are not only looking to get at least 85% efficiency for that SLI or Crossfire required setup,  but also stability through over-current, short-circuit, and over-voltage protection to make for a power supply unit no one can go wrong with. The testing phases reveal that the VisionTek 800W Power Supply truly lives up to the high VisionTek standard.

The VisionTek 800W Power Supply looks as great as it feels. The black plated sleek design is impressive, and the power supply itself comes with the necessary cables to make for any type of connection: including SATA, 2 6-pins, 1 8 pin along with a 4+4 connector as well to double up. Opening up the power supply reveals high component parts that are covered from any hazard, with sleek brown and blue wires running through a green-yellow MBR to capacitor design that is delightful to look at while this PSU is open. In terms of design concept, the Visiontek 800W Power Supply is sleek as the outside box appears, but it can be greater to see some red/black combinations for the VisionTek logo aspect to further the design concept.

Testing is the bulk of the performance, and this point-product testing that we conduct is extremely extensive, including Load Testing, Capacitive Testing, Ripple Testing, Transient Testing and Torture Testing.  The most important parts begin with the Load Testing which is performed at 25%, 50%, 80%, and finally 100% of the rated capacity. All of these reveal that the VisionTek handles the rated output like it says, and forgets to mention in its self-effacing state of the cooler temperatures that it exhibits at most loads. Well above the typical regulation for a 77% recommended efficiency, the unit scores a great 15% above the regulatory marks, creating more performance per watt per unit. Capacitive Testing reveals there is stability to the electric potential of the PSU board when it comes to the Capacitive Loads and often sudden loads in a real-world environment which are hard to emulate. Ripple Testing was marginally, however, revealing that the PSU cut it a bit too close to the max ripple noise when put through the maximum load – the unit’s combined 12v rails peaked at ~75mV which is above 3/4 of the ATX12v specification while the more active minor rail, the 3.3V rail, peaked at ~4.8mV. We would have liked to see less of the ripple peak for the higher maximum load but 75mV is decent well alone. Torture Tests is where the meat of the testing went, over 2 weeks for this one which is usually 2x the testing period of any other power supply. Why? Because this power supply performed amazingly well given the ambient temperatures on maximum of 38°C-40°C. Pushing this for over 4 days reveals there is enough juice in this power supply to last a long time and only makes us wonder how the 80PLUS Gold performs.

The VisionTek 800W Power Supply performs relatively well through all tests and is a great purchase for that moderate hardcore enthusiast in mind that is looking to step up their rig to a SLI/Crossfire performance, and even just a hardcore enthusiast that is looking into not spending too much money for a 1000W power supply when they can get the next best thing at near the offered efficiencies at the rated capacities.

The Razer Lachesis is adorned with a brushed surface, followed with a hard-line border surface for a smooth and sharp finish that is easy to hold for even those of ambidextrous proficiency. The central palm surface of the Razer Lachesis contains the sleek Razer logo, clear on first look. The wheel itself has comfortable ridges, maintaining a standard which is comfortable to the movement of the fingers against the wheel motion. The structure of the Razer Lachesis is truly admirable to a concept venue due to the overall feel of its architecture and curve appeal.

The technical strengths of the Razer Lachesis are definitely one of those found in the best mice today, which this most certainly entails. The provided Razer Lachesis software comes in an extremely easy to understand format, not overcomplicating the enormous amount of features included with the mouse. Assign buttons, adjust performance, manage profiles, macros, lighting and maintenance all add to the customization factor of a utility that the populace takes for granted.  Performance focuses on polling rates, the rate at which the mouse frequently responds to the movement of per pixels on the monitor. The Razer Lachesis comes with a genius multi-color LED system, which is something we feel all mice should have. The lighting and performance tab allows for up to 16 million RGB color code combinations, to virtually allow for any color in any possible pixel of any picture that you have. If you are looking for #8378C8, just simply enter this code into the software, and watch as the mouse changes.  The only issue we have with the mouse is the idea that it would have been better to make a multi-color system where the LED’s cycle throughout the colors, thereby giving the necessary freedom to not just be limited to 1 color throughout. Synapse makes all of this possible with the inherent 60KB Razer onboard memory. This onboard memory leads way to the Hyperesponse buttons, giving way to features for virtually all the surface buttons of the mouse in a convenient way.

The Razer Lachesis offers so much for a price of $79.99MSRP, and it is truly a mouse worthy of  the crimson touch of the iconic snake imprinted on its name.