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Reviews Tom's Hardware US (20 unread)

Battle At $140: Can An APU Beat An Intel CPU And Add-In Graphics?

Posted: February 29th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

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What can you get for $140? How about AMD's top-of-the-line A8-3870K APU with four CPU cores and an integrated Radeon HD 6550D? That's also enough for a Pentium G620 and discrete Radeon HD 6670. We benchmark both to uncover the best budget-oriented option.
Best SSDs For The Money: February 2012

Posted: February 28th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

After Valentine's Day, SSDs prices fell once again, and we updated our list to reflect those changes. This month, the best deals are found in the $200-300 range, and there's one bargain in our list for a 240 GB SSD that you simply will not want to miss.
Mobile World Congress 2012: Nokia, Asus, Intel, Samsung, And LG

Posted: February 28th, 2012, 11:00pm UTC

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Tom's Hardware spent its first day in Barcelona, Spain at this year's Mobile World Congress. After a long day of press conferences and private meetings, we wanted to share our experiences before hitting the show floor tomorrow.
Six $200-$260 LGA 2011 Motherboards, Reviewed

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

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We know that Intel's X79 Express platform hosts the fastest desktop processors in the company's portfolio. But can it be made more affordable? We round up the least-expensive $200-$260 motherboards to determine how much you have to give up for cheap X79.
Toshiba's $7000+ 400 GB SSD: SAS 6Gb/s, SLC Flash, And Big Endurance

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

Enclosure: [download]

Have you ever wondered what separates an enterprise SSD from a consumer-oriented drive? How about SLC and MLC flash (and a corresponding price gap)? We explore the differences with Toshiba's MK4001GRZB SSD, an obviously enterprise-oriented powerhouse.
AMD FX Vs. Intel Core i3: Exploring Game Performance With Cheap GPUs

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

Enclosure: [download]

Following our sub-$200 gaming CPU comparison, we put Intel's Core i3-2100 and AMD's FX-4100 under the microscope. This time, we test a number of different graphics cards from AMD to see how GPUs affect perceived processor bottlenecks.
Acer, Dell, LG, And Samsung: Four 23" LCD Monitors, Rounded-Up

Posted: February 22nd, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

In our first LCD round-up of the year, we put four monitors thorough our benchmark suite and find some surprising results. Even if you're an enthusiast with cash to spare, paying more doesn't guarantee a better display. Our tests explain why.
Web Browser Grand Prix 9: Chrome 17, Firefox 10, And Ubuntu

Posted: February 21st, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

Last month, we ran WBGP VIII on a MacBook Air, representing browser performance in a native Mac environment. Today we're returning to the PC. But the cross-platform comparison theme continues with a long-overdue rematch to WBGP 2: The Linux Circuit.
Overclocking: Can Sandy Bridge-E Be Made More Efficient?

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

Enclosure: [download]

Intel's six-core processors are fast, but enthusiasts almost always want to push unlocked multipliers harder. Core i7-3960X can easily exceed 4 GHz, but what happens to power efficiency when clock rates go up? Sandy Bridge-E demonstrates weaknesses there.
Big Air: 14 LGA 2011-Compatible Coolers For Core i7-3000, Reviewed

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

Enclosure: [download]

Do Intel’s Core i7-3000-series CPUs really need closed-loop liquid cooling? Today we're testing fourteen different LGA 2011-compatible air coolers on an overclocked Core i7-3960X in order to determine whose is the most effective.
AMD Radeon HD 7770 And 7750 Review: Familiar Speed, Less Power

Posted: February 15th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

These are the lowest-end cards built using AMD's new Graphics Core Next architecture. Is 28 nm manufacturing, a fresh design, and new functionality enough to warrant upgrading existing value-oriented champs like the Radeon HD 6850 and GeForce GTX 460?
Ubuntu 11.10 Review: Benchmarked Against Windows 7

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

Enclosure: [download]

Three months have passed since the latest version of Ubuntu launched. With its classic desktop gone, Oneiric Ocelot is all Unity. The training wheels are off; no turning back now. Is Ubuntu ready for touchscreens? And how does it compare to Windows 7?
Eight 5.1- And 7.1-Channel Gaming Headsets, Reviewed

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

Enclosure: [download]

Surround sound headsets are often more practical than a home theater system attached to your PC. We compare eight premium models from Arctic, Psyko, Cooler Master, Logitech, Creative, Thermaltake, Corsair, and Razer to figure out who sells the top option.
Momentus XT 750 GB Review: A Second-Gen Hybrid Hard Drive

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

Enclosure: [download]

When a little bit of flash memory is good, more must be better, right? Seagate's second-generation Momentus XT hybrid hard drive is out to compete with SSDs, even as it delivers capacities typical of laptop-oriented 2.5" mobile disks.
In Pictures: 14 LGA 2011 Coolers For Your Core i7-3000 CPU

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

Do LGA 2011-based processors really need to be matched up to closed-loop liquid coolers? Not at all. We collected 14 different high-end heat sink kits able to do the job with air. Keep an eye out for our upcoming performance write-up, too!
Intel SSD 520 Review: Taking Back The High-End With SandForce

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 11:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

If you thought that Intel had conceded the high-end SSD market to its competition, you were wrong. The company's new SSD 520 centers on SandForce's SF-2281 controller, incorporates top-bin IMFT NAND, and is protected by a five-year warranty.
In Pictures: 16 Of The PC Industry's Most Epic Failures

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

Enclosure: [download]

We've endured a great many annoyances in the 16 years since Tom's Hardware first appeared online. What follows is a list of 16 of them. Although it's by no means all-inclusive, it represents one seasoned reviewer's worst experiences in technology.
Live From AMD's Financial Analyst Day

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 12:00pm UTC

Enclosure: [download]

We've been waiting on AMD's Financial Analyst Day for more information on how the company plans to approach new and current businesses moving forward. Ahead of the big event, AMD pre-briefed us on the news.
OpenCL In Action: Post-Processing Apps, Accelerated

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

Enclosure: [download]

We've been bugging AMD for years now, literally: show us what GPU-accelerated software can do. Finally, the company is ready to put us in touch with ISVs in nine different segments to demonstrate how its hardware can benefit optimized applications.
Upgrade Advice: Does Your Fast SSD Really Need SATA 6Gb/s?

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 12:00am UTC

Enclosure: [download]

Are you mulling the potential benefit of an SSD upgrade on a system without 6 Gb/s SATA connectivity? We run the benchmarks on several different solid-state storage architectures in order to determine how much performance you give up on an older machine.