In spite of the commotion incited by the upcoming release of Intel Haswell processors and the growth of products compatible with their technical requirements, Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs will continue their existence in the market for some time more. For the nonce, ASRock has elaborated a new micro-ATX motherboard, codenamed H61M-VG4. The newly-designed product is based on Intel H61 Express chipset with Socket LGA1155, supporting Intel Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge processor lines. According to ASRock, all potential customers will be able to receive quite efficient system for a budget price.



ASRock H61M-VG4 is furnished with two DIMM slots which support two-channel DDR3 memory modules of up to 16 GB capacity, running at 1066 MHz, 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz frequencies. Expansion facilities are realized by means of a single PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot and a single PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot. The connection of optical, hard and solid-state drives becomes possible thanks to the availability of four SATA …

Evaluating the effectiveness of modern computer power supplies, the most attention is paid to their coefficient of performance (COP) at a given load — usually means of 20%, 50% and 100%. At the same time, not less important requirement, established by standard 80PLUS should be considered. That means — the preservation of this level of performance for all occurring in the world supply voltage variations, that is in the range of 100-240 V.



The standard rules of 80PLUS at different levels (Basic, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, etc.) are performed for two voltage 115 V and 230 V. In both cases, the normalized PS should show the efficiency of not less than specified for each category level. Not usual power supply CTG-650C model of the new A-80 series from the Chieftec company is interesting in that it has officially claimed efficiency of 85% or more, but only for nets 220-240 V.


As the advantages of such solution can immediately be noted a lower price, due to less stringent …

The market of external enclosures boasts a number of products from different companies. Nevertheless, Icy Dock decided to stand out against the background of others and introduced its HDD-box codenamed MB080U3S-1SB Blizzard. It seems that the manufacturer went beyond the realism and created a really futuristic dock for hard drives: instead of standard square shape Icy Dock made diamond-shaped detachable clipboard.



The dock is made of metal and plastic, and goes totally in black color. The clipboard covers 80 mm fan which is called to cool down even hot drives. This is unusual fan localization for the external enclosures but the manufacturers explain their move twofold. Firstly, this way the fan is able to dissipate cool airflow to all sides of HDD. This ensures the longevity of the cooling fan and increases the cooling system efficiency. Secondly, it promotes for hassle-free installation without any screws or other tools. The ejection of the clipboard is enabled due to the …