Production of a new model is positioned as a replacement for modern routers with features of sharing USB-carriers. IS308 — the budget class — single-disk storage is a good device for visiting friends for movies, or for backup. In general, it is used for tasks which are not mission-critical of data loss. The speed and functionality are secondary, the main thing — the price and design. At a price of 90 $, IconBIT IS308 offers the buyer an autonomous Torrent-downloader, a network drive, support for protocols Samba and FTP, gigabit network interface and USB 3.0 port.



The device has stylish black aluminium hull and comes with a stand for vertical installation. IconBIT iS308 looks more like a normal external hard drive rather than the NAS. And if for someone Synology design seems too plastic, and QNAP — too angular, the iconBIT iS308 looks modern, simple and stylish.


The next thing that catches an eye — is the lack of a fan. Finally, there is a NAS with passive cooling. …

About a month ago SilverStone announced the release of a new PC chassis codenamed Redline RL04. Today we can already find this product from a Taiwanese manufacturer in a retail trade at $52. The case has been designed in mid-tower form-factor and housed in a steel black casing with some plastic inclusions. Its overall dimensions equal to 523x220x480 mm.



The case is estimated for the installation of mini-ITX, ATX and micro-ATX motherboards, along with CPU coolers of up to 169 mm in height, power supply unit of ATX standard, and graphics cards up to 292 mm in length. The implemented PSU is located under the motherboard. The internal layout readily accommodates seven expansion cards, four drives of 5.25-inch format, and five HDD/SSD drives of 2.5/3.5-inch format. Moreover, SilverStone offers special attachments for screwless fixture of hard drives.


One of the advantageous facilities provided by the manufacturer is the availability of dedicated holes in the motherboard tray; …

The Internet community is energetically discussing unofficial info concerning the future Intel's Broadwell processors. According to the yet unacknowledged data, Intel will branch off from currently traditional LGA casings in favor to a more advanced BGA solution. At present all CPUs designed by Intel specifically for desktop platforms feature LGA (Land Grid Array) casings which allow the users to upgrade their systems without any hassle. On LGA implementation, the chip is housed within a socket and contacts with the motherboard. As a result, the user might change one chip to the other only with similar set of contacts.



The launch of Intel Broadwell processors, which is planned for 2014, might dramatically change the situation for customers. Most probably Intel will refuse from LGA casings and accommodate all new CPUs in BGA ones, marking the change of Haswell generation to the future Broadwell generation developed under 14 nm technological process. BGA (Ball Grid Array) …