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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On a recent day, the Arctic Co. has broadened its CPU coolers range with the Freezer 12 and Freezer 12 CO (CO means “continuous operation”) samples under the ACFRE00027A and ACFRE00030A code names.



The heatsink is the same for both coolers; fans are different, though. The Freezer 12 fan is built on a hydrodynamic bearing, and Freezer 12 CO is based on a fan with a dual ball bearing, which operates extremely long comparing to the better part of models.


The heat dissipator is designed so, that U-shaped 6 mm copper heat pipes stay in touch with each other, thus enhancing the cooling system productivity. The aluminium pressure plate and 45 bent radiator fins also contribute to that.


Fans start to operate at the PWM signal with 40 % pulse width and ensure passive CPU cooling while completing trivial tasks. This lets coolers work silently during such periods. The ultimate noise rate is 22.5 dBA, and the max speed comes up to 2,000 rpm.


Both Arctic novelties support …

A new chassis product by Lian Li is called “the PC-O10 Dual-Compartment Mid Tower”. It’s a modern and improved mid tower case. Regarding the SFX/SFX-L PSU shape factor, this case is slim in comparison with PC-O8 and PC-O9.



An up-to-date half aluminum, half glass design by Lian Li fits to the conventional tower proportions. Powerful SFX-L PSUs, available at the moment, let users get rid of cumbersome customary ATX PSUs.


Though PC-O10 is slim, it still matches E-ATX, Full ATX and microATX motherboards. Possessing 7 expansion slots, it allows multi-GPU setup using 340 mm VGA cards, which gives lots of opportunities. The inbuilt CPU coolers can be 130 mm tall. The PSU case can store up to 4 3.5” and 2 2.5” drives, and the main glass compartment has an area for an additional 2.5” SSD. The PC-O10 construction hides unattractive elements, such as drives and cables, and brings only appealing components to the fore.


It is possible to mount two 120 mm or one 140 mm …