Biostar, has recently introduced a new Hi-Fi A85W 3D motherboard, intended to support APUs from AMD for Socket FM2 (Richland and Trinity generation APUs). The board is developed in ATX form-factor and features four DIMM slots for DDR3 memory modules. Expansion facilities are guaranteed by two PCI slots, two PCI Express x16 2.0 slots, and PCI Express x1 2.0 slots, while connectivity options are secured by eight SATA III ports with the support of various RAID configurations (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10). The model also boasts three video sockets (VGA, DVI and HDMI) and USB 3.0 ports.



Biostar Hi-Fi A85W 3D is able to offer customers a lot of useful features. Hence, it employs 24-bit sampling that ensures the production of utmost sounding via analogue interface, while connecting with home theaters, multi-channel acoustic systems and high-efficiency headphones. Multi-channel Calibration (MCC) technology allows for the adjusting of an optimal sound environment on different spacing. With the …

Last week Intel announced a new instrumentality for upgrading desktop PC, called Thunderbolt Ready. This tool will help in incorporating Thunderbolt interface into the motherboards which initially do not have the support for it. However, only the motherboards with ‘Thunderbolt Ready’ marking and an inbuilt General-purpose I/O (GPIO) socket might fall under the upgrade. In addition to this feature, the user will have to acquire a dedicated card to enable the interface.



This card is installed into an appropriate PCI Express slot and is then connected to GPIO, as well as DisplayPort socket of the integrated/discrete GPU controller, due to the cables that go in batch. After this, the customer needs to upload dedicated software in order to activate the Thunderbolt. According to Intel, there are currently more than 100 alike products with Thunderbolt support; the majority of them are certified for the usage with PCs on Windows or Mac OS X platforms.


To continue, Asus is one …

Corsair is renowned for the whole galaxy of products designed for contemporary PC platforms. Its PSUs, memory modules, SSDs, cooling solutions, peripherals, and cases are widely incorporated in desktop and mobile segments. The latter count a list of series, targeted various customers with various needs. The most peculiar one is Carbide series that currently consists of eight models. Carbide Air 540 differs from its comrades, in the first place, by its cubic framework and, in the second place, by its mini-tower height but midi-tower internal spacing. Those are not the only attractions of the model, since Corsair always offers more than it’s seen on the surface.



Design and Ergonomics


Corsair Carbide Air 540 features 458x322x419 mm dimensions and is distinguished by a rather strict design. Exterior and interior facets are totally painted black, except for ‘Corsair’ label and sockets with inscriptions. The case is made of thin steel but for the external plastic panels …