Nowadays one can hardly trace the launch of chassis targeting different audiences. Products for gamers appear with enviable regularity, making thousands of potential buyers thrill from impatience to acquire a new creation. Unfortunately, the attribute 'gaming', defining the chassis, implies higher costs due to the integrated advanced design and technological options. Corsair perfectly understands that not all gamers can afford buying high-cost products and released gaming chassis, Corsair Carbide 300R, for middle-class customer audience. Despite the reduced cost, R300 demonstrates appropriate layout and framework facilities necessary for creation of an efficient gaming system.



Design and Layout


Corsair Carbide 300R goes with totally back casing and a single color version. The casing is made of steel, while the clipboard is made of dull plastic; this panel is fixed to the main framework by six latches with metallic inclusions. Overall design is characterized by strictness …

Developers from NZXT decided to revive a series of prime power supply units, codenamed HALE90, launched in 2010 by designing a new line of powerful units. The line has been entitled HALE90 V2 and includes three models of 850W, 1000W, and 1200W power. All three models are notable by the availability of 80Plus Gold certificate that verifies their high-performance and reliability.



Unlike the majority of similar products, HALE90 V2 are housed in casings of white color with black insertions that add some elegance to the overall design. The units are characterized by a totally modular cabling (including 24-pin ATX connector); this is called to dramatically simplify the accomplishment of individual wire sheath on modding. One of the peculiarities of this PSU line is rigid connection of the mainboard with the cable board, while the majority of rival PSUs employ flexible wires.


Voltage 12V generation is realized by means of a single rail. The platform is developed according to …

Arsenal Gaming is a specific lineup of motherboards in MSI’s portfolio. It embraces 7 different models, joined under military-style codenames. The units are targeting primarily gaming community, although the Z170A Tomahawk is a universal solution at an affordable price. As distinct from the comrades, it features a set of controllers & sockets which are considered to be remnants of the past. Let’s find out what kind of advantages this board offers.



CPU & Memory


Motherboard MSI Z170A Tomahawk is developed on Intel Z170 Express chipset. It supports LGA1151-compatible CPUs of the 6th generation (Skylake): Intel Celeron/Pentium/Core i3/Core i5/Core i7. The hardware rests on a 4-layer dark PCB (304x224 mm, ATX) with red PCI-e and RAM slots. The rear panel is differentiated by the availability of a backplate for the CPU socket. The integrated ISL95856 controller is accountable for the providing power to the CPU (3+5 VRM).


The board comes with four DIMM slots for the …