LaCie, a reputable French manufacturer of premium storage devices, has updated its award-winning NAS, codenamed LaCie 5big, filling it with a bunch of cutting-edge options. The greenhorn is targeting corporate field and intended at a problem-free data backup, 4K video editing, joint and remote access to data, etc. The storage is housed in a solid aluminum chassis and counts five drive bays. Nonetheless, it features 173x220x196 mm dimensions only, which makes it the most compact NAS with the largest storage capacity in the market.



LaCie 5big will be available in three versions with the maximal capacity of 10 TB, 20 TB and 30 TB. The most outstanding peculiarity pertained to the model is the support of high-speed Thunderbolt 2 interface, represented by two ports. Initially, the storage presupposes the integration of five 6 TB hard drives, designed by Seagate, with the 7200 RPM spindle operation.


All the drives might be joined into RAID 5 configuration for a better …

Ever-increasing popularity of mini-ITX mainboards is accounted for the augmentation of small-sized PC systems, work- and multimedia stations, as well as gaming platforms. The latter lay down specific demands towards hardware base, requiring the combination of high performance, durability and price-efficiency. MSI is ready to satisfy those demands, by offering ‘mini, but mighty’ Z97I Gaming AC system board. Being a part of Intel Z97 chipset family, this tiny tot owns all ‘Gaming’ series facilities, despite compact dimensions. Let’s check them out.



Specs Overview


MSI Z97I Gaming AC is based on Intel Z97 chipset targeting Haswell-based CPUs for Socket LGA1150 platform (Celeron, Pentium, Core i3/i5/i7 series). The implemented PCB accommodates a pair of DIMM slots for DDR3 SDRAM modules (16 GB volume) with the clock frequencies from 1333 MHz to 3300 MHz. Expansion facilities are introduced by a single PCI-e 3.0 x16 slot with no backup from PCI slots. The board comes …

The Taiwanese company introduced a bulky cooler SilverStone Heligon HE01, which is designed to cool down more or less all types of modern CPUs — from Intel LGA775 up to LGA2011 and from AMD AM2 to AMD AM3 + / FM2.



The construction does not weigh less than 1.1 kg, since in addition to two-part radiator (926 g) it is equipped with fan of 140x140x38 mm size. Linear dimensions of Heligon HE01 are 140 mm in width, 119 mm in length and 160 mm in height. Staples that hold the fan, take a few millimetres of space.


The thickness of a pair of «towers», joined by six nickel-plated copper heat pipes with a diameter of 6 mm, is uneven. The intense air flow passes successively through a thin array of aluminium fins, and then through the fan, afterwards through a larger section of the radiator. Copper base with nickel cover is protected with a film from scratches.


The manufacturer claims that Heligon HE01 will cope with the withdrawal of 300 watts of heating power.


Regular …