News about the forthcoming release of the updated motherboard Sabertooth 990FX was voiced by Asus earlier this year. Nevertheless, the release of long-awaited motherboard has been delayed till mid August, and these days the product can be already found in the market. Primarily, Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 is notable for the availability of OS Windows 8 conformance certificate.



The updated motherboard is compatible with AM3 and AM3+ processors and boasts a bunch of advanced solutions. Among the most striking innovations implemented by Asus, the substitute of old-fashioned JMicron JMB362 controller by a more progressive controller from ASMedia added to the board's functionality. In addition, the manufacturer supplemented the layout with one more ASMedia ASM1042 controller that allowed to integrate USB 3.0 interface. The implemented in earlier version micro scheme Realtek RTL8111E has been also substituted by RTL8111F scheme; at the same time, IEEE 1394a interface has been totally …

Fractal Design, an outstanding Swedish PC cases developer, decided to update its mini-tower Core 1000 chassis model with the purpose to heighten its competitive power. Released in 2011, this case has not undergone major design renovations but its layout has been a bit modernized: the manufacturers integrated a single super-speed USB 3.0 port to provide for a better performance.



Codenamed Core 1000 USB 3.0, this chassis features 175x355x420 mm dimensions and supports mini-ITX/micro-ATX motherboards. It’s housed in a totally black, austere casing and has got a grid-like frontal panel with removable anti-dust filters. Internal layout is predestined to accommodate two 5.25-inch drive bays, two 3.5-inch HDD bays or three 2.5-inch SSD/HDD bays, four PCI expansion cards, CPU coolers of up to 148 mm in height, PSUs of up to 185 mm in length, as well as graphics cards of up to 350 mm in length (without HDD bay) or up to 210 mm in length with an installed HDD bay.


To continue, …

The requirements of customers towards contemporary power modules are quite tough. They should own good performance characteristics and high coefficient of efficiency level, as well as 80Plus marker. The latter speaks about quality and ability to satisfy the needs of any PC. However, all PSU are classified according to different criteria, so one can find appropriate product even without 80Plus standards. The compliance with those standards is realized on 115V and 230V conditions but there are a number of standards applied to 220V-240V. Power module Chieftec A80 650W doesn’t belong to the army of 80Plus products, though can boast outstanding performance and efficiency. It is primarily targeted at the segment of affordable PSU solutions.



Design and Framework


Chieftec A80 650W design is developed in a classical template common for the models with a solid frontal fan. The casing consists of a ventilation perforation, decorative grid with the brand logo, sockets for module …