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Reviews Tom's Hardware US (24 unread)

AMD Radeon HD 7950 Review: Up Against GeForce GTX 580

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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Is the Radeon HD 7970's $550 asking price too high? AMD now has a less expensive derivative based on the same GCN architecture. At its default clock rates, it's fast enough to outrun Nvidia's GeForce GTX 580 in many benchmarks. And it overclocks like mad.
Picking A Sub-$200 Gaming CPU: FX, An APU, Or A Pentium?

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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We really like to hunt down great values in the processor space. Since our last round-up of affordable CPUs, AMD released its Llano-based APUs and Bulldozer-based FX family. Also, Intel introduced a handful of Sandy Bridge-based Pentium chips.
What Does One Petabyte Of Storage (And $500K) Look Like?

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

We're big fans of big technology, and with more than 1 PB of capacity, Aberdeen's Petarack is sure something to marvel at. We take a look inside and figure out what it takes to deploy 1 000 terabytes of space in an enterprise environment, reliably.
Amazon Kindle Touch Review And Fourth-Gen Screen Quality Update

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 12:10am UTC

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Amazon Kindle Fire tablet received all of the glory. But the company also has a new e-book reader that features a touchscreen. How does the Kindle Touch stack up, and what's the real story on the display quality of Amazon's fourth-gen Kindles?
Install A Hard Drive Or SSD In Your Notebook's Optical Bay

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

You want a performance-oriented SSD in your notebook, but you also need the capacity of a hard drive. Why not just remove your optical drive, drop your hard drive into its bay, and load up a brand new SSD with Windows and your apps?
AMD's FX-8150 After Two Windows 7 Hotfixes And UEFI Updates

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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Introducing a new processor architecture takes a colossal effort. AMD's modular Bulldozer design ran into its share of resistance at launch. Can a handful of software updates turn the company's flagship FX-8150 into the powerhouse AMD promised?
Best SSDs For The Money: January 2012

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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Welcome to the year's first SSD recommendations. We updated our list to reflect recent price drops on second-gen SandForce-based hardware. There are several good deals in the $150-200 range. Prices are falling, so we're letting you know!
Radeon HD 6990M And GeForce GTX 580M: A Beautiful Lie

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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We’ve been more than outspoken about the naming AMD and Nvidia use for their mobile GPUs. Are they really trying to mislead buyers, though? We briefly examine their methodology and frame that against the limitations of high-end mobile computing.
In Pictures: The Girls Of CES 2012

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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CES 2012 was filled to the brim with new tablets and 3D display technology, but somehow exhibitors found a way to include booth models as part of their showcase. Take a peek through our picture story to see some of what we saw this year in Las Vegas.
Five Overclocked GeForce GTX 560 Cards, Rounded-Up

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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We were foiled in our quest to find the best vendor-provided GPU cooler for Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560. But out of the ashes sprung a round-up of cards armed with those very same solutions. Which of these five GF114-based boards is right for you?
Mobile: Intel Will Overtake Qualcomm In Three Years

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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We know Intel hasn't shipped any phones, while Qualcomm had over $4 billion in revenue last quarter. But when you're done reading, you'll agree with us. To do this, we'll perform a magic trick with all three acts, The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige.
In Pictures: Dear Developers, 15 Games Worthy Of A Sequel

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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Most of the time good games get sequels. However, there's always a select few that seem to fall through the cracks. Developers close shop or trademarks get held in limbo. Here are fifteen games that we feel deserve sequels.
Chris Angelini On Tom's Hardware In 2012

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 1:10pm UTC

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I just got back from CES 2012. And although I’ve attended a great many Consumer Electronics Shows, Computexes, and Comdexes (never a CeBIT), this year’s show was by far the most intense. It wasn’t that there were tons of really awesome products. In fact,
Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: January 2012

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

This month's update includes Intel's much anticipated Ivy Bridge-based processors, and how their introduction to the market affects our recommendations. In addition, AMD's new Trinity APU is discussed, and we consider its formidable graphics prowess.
Storage Performance In Entertainment And Content Creation

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

A number of metrics are used to quantify storage performance. If you're a content creator, you have to be wondering how such dry terminology can apply to your video projects. Rather than telling you, we're going to dissect several media-oriented tasks.
Seven $260-$320 X79 Express Motherboards, Reviewed

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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With 40 lanes of PCIe 3.0 connectivity to host all of our high-bandwidth devices, LGA 2011 certainly qualifies as a premium processor interface. Today we examine seven X79-based motherboards that offer high-end features at a more palatable price.
Power Supply Reference: Consumption, Savings, And More

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

In this final excerpt from Scott Mueller's Upgrading And Repairing PCs, 20th Edition, we examine a number of power supply usage factors including power consumption calculations, power savings, power protection systems, and troubleshooting.
In Pictures: The Best Graphics Card Values In History

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

A few months ago, we published a list of the fastest, most powerful graphics cards from their respective generations. This time around we honor the sub-$200 boards that brought great gaming performance to the folks on limited budgets.
Nokia Lumia 710 Review: Windows Phone 7 On A Budget

Posted: January 9th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

Nokia's Lumia 710 is designed to make Windows Phone 7 accessible to the masses. How does it fare under our test suite? You might be surprised. We're starting down the path of smartphone testing with a different take and a few exclusive benchmarks as well.
Web Browser Grand Prix VIII: Chrome 16, Firefox 9, And Mac OS X

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

Back in August, Mozilla took the WBGP crown with Firefox 7. Can Firefox 9 retain that title? And how are the top Web browsers doing in Mac OS X? We used a Hackintosh last time. This time, we're testing on the world's first Ultrabook, the MacBook Air.
60/64 GB SSD Shootout: Crucial, Samsung, And SandForce

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

It's easy to forget that lower-capacity SSDs are also usually slower. Today we're testing the most prolific 60/64 GB configurations to gauge where they fall in the big picture. We emerge at the other end with a recommendation based on our testing, too.
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: January 2012

Posted: January 4th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

This month we cover continued GeForce GTX 680 availability problems, compounded by a lack of GeForce GTX 690s, and other Kepler-derived products on the horizon. We also discuss some significant price drops, and call out a couple of special deals.
Eurocom Racer: Radeon HD 6990M In A Truly Mobile Form Factor

Posted: January 3rd, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

Sporting awesome gaming performance and low power draw, the only thing missing from our previous Radeon HD 6990M benchmarks was an efficient, portable package. Eurocom addresses that with its mid-sized Racer. But can the smaller notebook keep pace?
Samsung Series 7 11.6" Slate: Breathing New Life Into Tablet PCs

Posted: January 2nd, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

Tablet PCs are a dying breed, and Windows 8 is still at least a year away. Until we see what Microsoft's next operating system has to offer, one tablet PC shows us why this form factor is still a winner. Samsung's Series 7 11.6" Slate breaks the mold.