Up-to-date disk stations for home utilization usually employ from a single up to four hard drives of 3.5-inch form-factor. They are intended to offer sufficient storage capacity and an unmatched performance during operation. LinkStation Mini disk server from Buffalo manufacturers is a compact solution for all home-based data storage needs. Currently, the series is represented by four models: in black and white colors and with drives of 500 GB and 1 TB capacity. One should not confuse these models with those released by this manufacturer several years ago, as today's devices have got a completely new hardware platform.



Design


LinkStation Mini is notable for exceptionally compact dimensions (if considering rival disk stations) which equal to 40x135x82 mm. The casing is made of black glossy plastic and can be adjusted in two positions (vertical and horizontal) due to the availability of rubber feet on the two sides of the device. The frontal panel accommodates a …

Phanteks decided to amaze the public by releasing a new high-performance cooler PH-TC12DX that is able to cope with practically any up-to-date CPU from Intel or AMD. The sales campaign has started from the USA market where the model goes at $55-$60; the price depends on the color version: coolers with black fan impellers and heatsinks go at $55, while models with red, blue or write components cost $60.



Phanteks PH-TC12DX features tower-like framework. Its construction consists of two heatsink blocks, four U-shape heat pipes that pierce those blocks, and two voluminous 120 mm fans which are located on both sides of aluminum heatsink blocks. The latter are designed with an unusual shape of impellers, known as Maelstrom Vortex Booster (MVB). This cooler is equipped with PWM controller that monitors and regulates fan rotational speed; thus, the speed might be adjusted to the minimal 600 RPM and to the maximal 1800 RPM.


The implemented type of bearings provide for 150000 hours …

The company ASRock, as well as Gigabyte, appreciates the prospects of cutting-edge interface Thunderbolt, so much that it has supplied motherboard Z77 Extreme6/TB4 with four corresponding slots. The novelty is based on existing models with the prefix Extreme6, but its layout is slightly different from the original. In particular, the place of mini-PCIe slots and a pair of PCI slots are occupied with PCI-E x1, and PCI-E x4.



For those who don’t remember all specification, there is a reminder: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 uses a bunch of processor socket LGA1155 for two-and quad-core CPU Ivy Bridge (22 nm) and Sandy Bridge (32nm) chipset and overclocking Intel Z77 Express. The exact specifications of the new model are not listed. Its predecessor could work with three video adapters Radeon in 3-Way CrossFire (x8 + x4 + x4) or two GeForce in SLI (x8 + x8), DDR3 memory with a frequency of 2800 MHz and above, had a four-channel SATA 6 Gb / s and the same number of SATA 3 Gb / s and USB 3.0.
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