SilentiumPC, a comparatively ‘fresh’ player in the cooling market, has recently introduced a new CPU cooler for budget-oriented customers. Codenamed Fortis 2 XE1226, it features 130x95x155 mm dimensions and weighs 880 g. It is intended to support the majority of modern platforms, including Intel LGA 775/1366/2011/115x and AMD FM1/FM2/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+.



The model is all about two-section aluminum heatspreader with a copper polished base, six U-shape heatpipes (6 mm each), and a single 120 mm fan DF12025. The latter is based on a hydraulic bearing and supports PWM technology. It is able to alter speed from the minimal 500 RPM to the maximal 1500 RPM. Herein, the ultimate noise level does not go beyond 22 dBA.


The DF12025 fan requires 12V rail and 0.2A current to be powered via 4-pin PWM connector. On the maximal rotational speed it produces 65 CFM airflow. Besides, testing results prove that this fan is estimated for about 50.000 hours of fail-proof operation.


To …

Today we’ll have a glance at one of the ASUS Prime series motherboards. The model having A- index has all the necessary basic features, when nothing has yet been simplified, the power subsystem seems to be good enough and there are no additional controllers of any sort.


Technical characteristics

We can see that the PCI, and SATA-E interfaces are already renounced, and the M.2 is increasing its presence. All the other main characteristics are listed below:


• Chipset – Intel Z270 • Processor socket – Socket 1151 • Processors – Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium, Celeron (Skylake-S, Kaby Lake-S) • Memory – 4 DIMM DDR4 SDRAM 2133/2400*/2666*/2800*/3000*/3200*/3300*/3333*/ 3400*/3466*/3600*/3733*/3866* (OC), a maximum of 64 GB • PCI-E Slots – 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (x16 + x0, x8 + x8) 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (x4)4 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 • M.2 – 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x4 (Key M, 2242/2260/2280/22110) 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x4 (Key M, 2242/2260/2280) • …

The past several days were marked by the official presentation of a new motherboard from Asus company. The new product, codenamed ROG Maximus V Extreme, is based on Intel Z77 chip and supports Intel Core processors of the second and third generations. The major distinctive feature of the motherboard is the availability of the integrated Thunderbolt interface and a range of exclusive overclocking and monitoring attachments. ROG Maximus V Extreme is furnished with five PCI Express 3.0 slots and is able to support such graphics technologies as AMD CrossFire, LucidLogix Virtu MVP, and Nvidia SLI.



Asus designers have taken care about the multitask capabilities of their motherboards, so equipped their products with the controller of Thunderbolt interface. Its bandwidth capacity approximates 10 Gb/sec. This interface is predestinated to attach monitors and peripheral equipment to a single Thunderbolt port at full speed. The nominal delivery set embraces a supplementary OC Key device …