NZXT Switch 810 full-tower case now available

NZXT rolled out the Switch 810, a new full-tower case with a MSRP of $169.99. Available in white and black, this new chassis supports up to ten 120/140mm fans, it has a hybrid fin system that you can close to minimize noise and dust and supports 280mm radiators.

Experience the pinnacle of chassis design! Switch 810 is an epic hybrid case built for the hardcore PC enthusiast. This full tower chassis introduces a first of its kind concept for more versatility and adaptability to any configuration. It can be modified for superior water cooling or superb airflow through seamless operation. The Switch 810 is the ultimate powerhouse suitable for any type of PC enthusiast � whether you are liquid cooling, silent performance, or extreme airflow. You will have full control to customize all the features of Switch 810 based upon your preference.

Some unique features that set Switch 810 apart is the adjustable Hybrid Fins that reduce sound up to 40-60% when closed or open passageways for maximum airflow. Keep dust out by simply shifting the Hybrid Fins closed. Switch 810 has a rear LED light for illuminating the I/O in the dark, removable HDD cages for bottom radiator installation, a stealth bay, ability to mount triple 120/140mm radiators with 90mm of space, and potential to install up to 7 HDDs. For the first time, NZXT is introducing advanced HDD cages equipped with two 140mm pivot fans for directing airflow to the VGA and CPU. Anything is achievable with this chassis. You can only explore the infinite possibilities of PC expansion with the Switch 810.

Features

Unique hybrid full tower chassis optimized for extreme liquid cooling, airflow, or silence

Supports high-end water cooling solutions up to three fans for push and pull configuration: 90mm of internal top space with top 360/420mm and bottom 140/240mm radiator support for unmatched liquid cooling

Four watercooling cutouts for easy liquid cooling management on the rear panel

Spacious CPU cutout for mounting high-end CPU coolers without removing the motherboard

Removable top 5.25� plates to accommodate wide radiators

Clever hybrid fin design allows the user to choose between maximum airflow or sound reduction

Innovative right-mounted HDDs for easy hard drive replacement

Removable HDD pull-out cages and large storage capacity for 7 hard drives

Equipped with two 140mm pivot fan slots for directing airflow at 15⁰ to the VGA and CPU

Rear white light for visibility in dark environments with a toggle switch

Dual high-speed USB 3.0, hard drive dock along with a SD card reader for transfer and quick access to multimedia

Nine expansion slots for installing EATX motherboards with Quad SLI or Triple Crossfire

Supreme cooling capacity with up to ten 140/120mm fans

Stress-free wire management and 23mm clearance in the rear allows for superb wire-tucks

Ten large specialized cutout holes for easy cable management

Easily removable bottom filters in the front and rear to prevent dust from entering

Tool-less 5.25� and 3.5�/2.5� SSD hard drive installation for convenience and ease of accessibility

Large acrylic window with a view to show off the interior of your rig

NZXT Switch 810 full-tower case now available - More news at DV Hardware

Alpenf�hn K2 processor cooler now available

Alpenf�hn's K2 is now available in Europe for 74.90EUR. This cooler weighs a whopping 1050g, it offers a nickel-plated copper base, eight nickel-plated copper heatpipes and two aluminium heatsinks that are cooled by up to three 120/140mm fans. Included with the cooler is a 120mm fan as well as a 140mm fan. The K2 is compatible with all contemporary desktop platforms from Intel and AMD.

Alpenf�hn is aiming at the performance crown under the CPU coolers with the K2. For this, Alpenf�hn is employing two cooling towers and ships the unit with two, potent Wing Boost fans. The middle fan with 140 mm is intended to keep the air flow at a maximum, while the smaller 120 mm unit in front is meant to offer maximal compatibility to modern mainboards, while still providing impressive air flow. Those wanting to go even further may install a third fan in the rear of the cooler. The Alpenf�hn K2 CPU cooler is available immediately at Caseking.

The cooler utilizes an incredible amount of materials with a massive weight of 1050 grams. Using more mass does not simply equate to greater performance, as only an intelligent use of such will make for a great cooler and this is something the Alpenf�hn engineers are certainly experts in. Eight heatpipes are embedded in a Copper, with both aspects featuring a high-quality Nickel plating. On top of that, all contact points between cooling fins, heatpipes and ground plate feature high-quality solder points to maximize the potential of the K2.

To dissipate the heat from the CPU, the fine and numerous Aluminum fins offer an incredibly large surface area and the ability to install up to three fans. Alpenf�hn ships the K2 with a 120 and larger 140 mm of the award winning Wing Boost cooling fans, which offer maximal air pressure in combination with an incredibly quiet operating noise. These fans feature a unique blade design and rubberized surface, virtually eliminating vibration at the source. While the Wing Boost series is available in black/blue and black/orange variants, Alpenf�hn is currently only shipping the black/white version with exclusively with the K2 cooler.

Both fans utilize PWM functionality, allowing for flexible adjustment of the rotation speed. As most mainboards only offer a single PWM connector for the CPU cooler, the included splitter enables to proper monitoring of both fans with a single such plug. At the slowest setting the 120 mm fan produces inaudible 8 dB(A) noise levels, while the 140 mm variant is just as quiet with 10 dB(A). But even at full throttle both manage to impress with an extremely quiet 25 dB(A) rating, while pushing 104m�/h and 108m�/h of air respectively.

On top of that, the Alpenf�hn K2 implements a modern fin design, which is not only great to look at. but also results in a clean air flow, further reducing the overall noise level. Besides the pair of fans, mounting systems for all modern sockets from AMD (AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1) and Intel (775, 1155, 1156, 1366) along with a backplate for a proper and worry-free installation, ship with the massive cooler.

The Alpenf�hn K2 CPU Cooler - 120/140mm is available immediately for a price of 74.90 Euro at www.caseking.de.

Alpenf�hn K2 processor cooler now available - More news at DV Hardware

PCMark 7 now available for download

Futuremark officially released PCMark 7, a benchmarking suite designed for testing Windows 7 PCs. You can download it over here.

PCMark� 7, a new Futuremark benchmark that offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7, was released today and is now available to download and purchase from http://www.pcmark.com/. PCMark 7 is available in 3 editions: the free Basic Edition that offers unlimited runs of the PCMark test suite without registration or expiry, the Advanced Edition which includes all 7 benchmark tests and the Professional Edition which unlocks all features and is licensed for commercial use. PCMark 7 is the latest benchmark from developer Futuremark and joins existing Windows PC tests PCMark05 for Windows XP and PCMark Vantage for Windows Vista.

PCMark 7 provides a set of 7 PC tests for measuring different aspects of PC performance with a high degree of accuracy. Overall system performance is measured by the PCMark test. The Lightweight test measures the capabilities of entry level systems and mobility platforms unable to run the full PCMark test. Common use performance is measured by the Entertainment, Creativity and Productivity tests. Component performance is measured by the Computation and Storage hardware tests. The Storage test is ideal for testing solid state drives (SSDs) and external hard drives in addition to the system drive.

PCMark 7 helps you choose the best component upgrades:

With the launch of PCMark 7 today, everyone can use this powerful PC test and its online services found at www.pcmark.com to compare the PCMark scores from thousands of systems. By comparing the increases gained by upgrading either the CPU, GPU, RAM or system storage device, then comparing the cost of each component, it's easy for PC users to see which upgrades deliver the biggest performance increase per dollar spent.

"A benchmark is a highly complex and sophisticated piece of software, yet PCMark 7 is easy to use and requires no specialist knowledge or set up," said Jani Joki, Director of PC Products and Services at Futuremark. "Better yet, PCMark 7 Basic Edition is available as a free download so all PC users can benefit from this industrial strength PC test."

PCMark 7 is designed for the full range of modern hardware:

The PC landscape is changing rapidly thanks to new hardware innovations like solid state drives (SSDs), CPUs with integrated graphics and computing capabilities and new form factors such as netbooks and tablets. PCMark 7 is the only benchmark that lets PC home users and business managers make valid performance comparisons across such a wide range of hardware and usage scenarios.

The video transcoding workloads, for example, use dedicated hardware acceleration if it is available. This allows for a better comparison between newer components which enable acceleration and older parts that rely on brute force calculation alone.

The storage workloads in PCMark 7 have been extensively developed to accurately and fairly compare systems with either SSD or HDD storage drives. An SSD may be ten times faster than an HDD, but upgrading will not make your PC ten times faster. Tests that use the storage workloads take this into account, and comparing the scores between systems with an SSD and without will give you an accurate estimate of the difference in performance for your complete system, not just that one isolated component.

PCMark 7's storage workloads use recordings of how real applications, including Microsoft Word, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, Windows Defender (Security Essentials) and even World of Warcraft, access and use the PC's storage device. These recordings are used in the benchmark to replicate how real applications behave without needing to install, run and measure each individual application.

PCMark 7 is available in a range of editions to suit different needs:

PCMARK 7 BASIC EDITION � Free download
- Free PC test offering unlimited runs of the main PCMark test
- Browse, search and compare results online
- Store one result online

PCMARK 7 ADVANCED EDITION - $39.95
- Includes all 7 PC tests with more than 25 individual workloads
- Browse, search and compare results online
- Unlimited online results storage
- Hide results from public view
- Offline result management
- Advert-free online service

PCMARK 7 PROFESSIONAL EDITION - $995.00
- Licensed for commercial PC system testing
- Includes all 7 PC tests with more than 25 individual workloads
- Command line automation
- Browse, search and compare results online
- Unlimited online results storage
- Hide results from public view
- Offline result management
- Advert-free online service
- Priority support

PCMark 7 now available for download - More news at DV Hardware

Lnx2Mac's Realtek Ethernet Driver - Public Beta Now Available

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For the past few weeks, Lnx2Mac has been developing a new Realtek ethernet driver for Mac OS X. His goal was to create a driver that provides support for the latest motherboards that use the Realtek RTL8111E controller. This new driver is called RealtekRTL81xx.kext and supports the following ethernet controllers:

• RTL8168, RTL8168B, RTL8168C
• RTL8111, RTL8111B, RTL8111C, RTL8111CP, RTL8111D(L), RTL8111DP, RTL8111E

It's based on the RealtekR1000SL.kext created by Chuck Fry in late 2009 with additions and fixes from the latest official Realtek Linux source. In addition the driver includes the following changes:

• 32/64 bit support
• Improved stability
• Improved performance
• Numerous bug fixes

Today the beta went public! Check out Lnx2Mac's Blog for further details and the download link.  Please leave all feedback and comments there and in the RTL81xx Beta Testing forum.

For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com! 

CustomBeast Now Available For X58 Motherboards

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CustomBeast is now available for Gigabyte X58 motherboards!  Supported specs now include any Gigabyte H55, P55, or X58 motherboard with NVIDIA graphics. 

CustomBeast Request Form

-tonymacx86 & MacMan

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CustomBeast Now Available for NVIDIA 4xx Graphics Cards + USB 3.0 Support

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CustomBeast is now available for NVIDIA 4xx graphics cards!  Supported specs now include any Gigabyte H55, P55, or X58 motherboard with any NVIDIA graphics card. 

In other news we have made some changes to CustomBeast.  During our testing we have found that the MacPro3,1 smbios.plist provides the best performance.  Because of this, we are removing the option for System Identification.  As an added bonus, we will now be including USB 3.0 drivers for supported motherboards.

CustomBeast Request Form

-tonymacx86 & MacMan

For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!