The Tech Report - PC Hardware Explored

"Okay, just one more mission..." That phrase usually preceded me going to bed far too late through most of last week. Yes, I was bitten by the Borderlands bug. For a total of around 20 hours across a few evenings, I shot, electrocuted, set on fire, disintegrated, and drove through... Read more...

33 comments —
Last by Legend at 2:05 PM on 11/07/09

Feature articles

Phenom II X4 965 slips into more modest thermal envelope
November 3, 2009
Some folks scoffed when AMD introduce the Phenom II X4 965 processor back in August with a 140W thermal design power. Now, some months later, AMD has introduced a revised version with a 125W TDP. Read more...

68 comments —
Last by MadManOriginal at 4:35 PM on 11/06/09
A quick look at Kanguru's e-Flash eSATA/USB thumb drive
October 29, 2009
A new hybrid eSATA/USB connector nicely marries the two standards to provide external storage devices with plenty of bandwidth and adequate power. We take a look at Kanguru's hybrid e-Flash drive to see if it's a worthwhile upgrade over standard USB thumb drives. Read more...

38 comments —
Last by d0g_p00p at 12:04 PM on 11/05/09
Western Digital's Caviar Black 2TB hard drive
October 26, 2009
Western Digital's Caviar Black 2TB finally spins the company's 500GB platters up to 7,200 RPM. The drive has a fancy dual-stage actuator and a beefy 64MB cache, too. Let's see what she can do. Read more...

70 comments —
Last by flip-mode at 8:11 AM on 11/07/09
The TR Podcast 53: Windows 7 arrives, tiny P55 boards, and Borderlands
October 25, 2009
In this technical potpourri of an episode, we cover the Windows 7 launch, the latest PC gaming tidbits, MicroATX Lynnfield motherboards, new DirectX 11 Radeons, and more. Read more...

26 comments —
Last by Freon at 11:52 AM on 11/01/09
Gigabyte's GA-P55M-UD4 and MSI's P55M-GD45 motherboards compared
October 22, 2009
The first wave of P55-based Lynnfield motherboards has included not just the usual ATX fare, but also number of interesting MicroATX models. We've rounded up a pair of micro boards from Gigabyte and MSI to see how they stack up against full-size competition. Read more...

30 comments —
Last by MadManOriginal at 1:20 PM on 10/26/09
TR's Windows 7 system guide
October 21, 2009
Windows 7 is upon us, as is a whole line of DirectX 11 graphics processors from AMD. Come see how we've updated our system guide to account for these new products and other changes in the hardware landscape. Read more...

176 comments —
Last by HallofFamer at 6:02 PM on 11/06/09
AMD's Radeon HD 5770 and 5750 graphics cards
October 15, 2009
In just a few short weeks, AMD's DirectX 11-class Radeon technology has migrated from the high-end 5800 series to the mid-range 5700 series. Now you can pick up a DX11 graphics card for $159 or less. Is this the right upgrade for you? We're on it. Read more...

111 comments —
Last by JoJoBoy at 12:24 AM on 10/30/09
Apple's aluminum keyboard
October 14, 2009
Can low-profile chiclet keys, sleek industrial design, and an Apple logo make a good desktop keyboard? And can such a device pry a fan of clicky keyboards away from the IBM Model M and its ilk? Read more...

69 comments —
Last by waffle911 at 7:12 PM on 10/26/09
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