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 …

Asus introduces to the European market its newest graphics card Asus GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU Mini (codename GTX760-DCMOC-2GD5) that is distinguished by compact dimensions. The model is based on a shortened PCB with PCI-e 3.0 x16 interface, featuring 170x120x40 mm dimensions. This provides for its employment in the cooperation with small-sized mini-ITX motherboards. The new-comer is equipped with a two-slot cooler, embracing a vapor chamber and a high-efficient CoolTech Fan of an original framework.



The heart of the adapter is GK104 GPU that contains 1152 CUDA cores, 32 ROPs, and 92 TMUs. The core is factory-overclocked to 1006 MHz (nominal index) frequency with the peak point at 1072 MHz on GPU Boost 2.0 activation. Memory subsystem is represented by GDDR5 modules with 256-bit interface; its overall capacity makes up 2 GB. The modules run at overclocked frequencies as well, reaching an effective point of 6008 MHz.


Rear video I/O panel boasts the availability of four …

Sapphire, the largest global retailer of graphics cards with AMD GPUs, comes out to the market with its own rendition of Radeon R7 260X adapter – the Radeon R7 260X iCafe Gaming OC. The new-comer features 215x105x35 mm dimensions and a purely black design. Its key differentiation is the integration of a two-slot aluminum cooler without heatpipes and a low-noise PWM fan. The nominal retail price makes up 124 EUR.



Sapphire Radeon R7 260X iCafe Gaming OC is based on AMD Bonaire XTX GPU (GCN 1.1) with 896 stream processors, 16 ROPs and 56 TMUs, running at 1050 MHz frequency. Its major ally – 2 GB GDDR5 memory with 128-bit interface – operates at 6000 MHz frequency. Power supply subsystem boasts 5+3-phase configuration, while connection to the PSU is realized by means of a single 6-pin socket.


To continue, I/O panel accommodates three video ports: DL DVI-I, HDMI, and DisplayPort 1.2. The list of supported standards and technologies includes DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, …