About $100, has a 550W PSU and a red front mesh

Cooler Master has released a new chassis called the USP 100. Perhaps it has arrived just in time to hold some the new hardware Santa might be sending your way tomorrow.

Built with aluminum, the USP 100 is mostly black, but has a very red mesh front. It is a medium class of mid-tower, with four 5.25' drive bays, and six internal 3.5' drive bays. However there is enough room to fit up to a 11' video card comfortably (if you have something truly monstrous like a HD 5970, things might get a bit too tight, but for most cards you'll be okay). 

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the case is that it comes with a 550W PSU. Cooler Master makes solid PSU's so unlike some other cases with pre-installed power supplies, you can be certain that you'll be getting one that is reliable. The PSU is an Extreme Power Plus model, with 32A over two 12V rails, six SATA connectors, and two PCIE connectors.

As for cooling, for a case with a price tag of about $100 USD, the situation is a bit weak -- when compared to something like the NZXT Hades also released recently, for example. The case only comes with a 120mm front intake fan -- but there is room for a bottom, rear and side fan.

Part of the NZXT Crafted series, aimed at gamers

NZXT introduced a new gaming chassis today. The company is probably best known for their inexpensive to mid-range gaming cases, and the newest member of the family, today's Hades, seems a natural addition.

Let's go through the specs. For cooling, NZXT stepped up their game, and the Hades competes with the better gaming cases around with a grand total of 5 big fans (dual 200mm intake, 200 mm front fan, dual top 140mm fans, side 200mm fan, and rear 120mm exhaust). Note however though, that the top 140mm fan is optional (you'll have to buy yourself if you want it for your rig). On the front panel, a display shows three different temperature readings from inside the case. Beyond that, you have nine 5.25" bays, four of which can be used as 3.5" bays. As you might have guessed from that amount of bays, the Hades is a bigger than the average mid-tower case, with enough internal room for the likes of the latest huge video cards, such as the HD 5970.

The Hades has the right parts for up to two SSD drives, pre-drilled water cooling holes, and motherboard cable routing holes. A removable filter rests below the PSU for collecting (and cleaning) dust.

“Enthusiasts and gamers have a lot to be excited about with the advanced airflow and control options that Hades brings to the table” said Johnny Hou, Chief Designer at NZXT.  “With an array of options for limitless upgradeability, Hades has the performance and longevity that gamers desire.”

As for looks, personally speaking, I think the Hades has a good thing going. I'm a fan of the angular lines they went for -- though it may not be for everyone. The side panels look particularly well done with the small intake vents on the right-hand side of the protrusion. The wide mesh on the top of the case might be quite susceptible to dust build-up, however.

The recommended price of the Hades is $89.99, which seems very reasonable. 

Six long heatpipes, two banks of cooling

The cooling experts at Noctua showed a new high-end cooler in their arsenal this week at Computex.

The NH-D14 is about as hardcore as air coolers go. It has two big radiator heat fin banks, and six long heatpipes move the heat. It is designed for Socket LGA1366 (Core i7).

The cooler comes with two fans - a 120mm on the end, and a circular 140mm fan in the middle -- and has room for another optional one to be mounted.

The NH-D14 should be in stores within a month (read our NH-D14 review here). No price has been released.

Passive GPU cooler

New cooling company Prolimatech hasn't been around all that long -- they only started selling coolers in 2008 -- but they really have hit the ground running. In a recent 18 cooler round-up benchmark done by website Expreview, they found the Prolimatech Mega Shadow to offer the best cooling out of all the Socket 1156 coolers they tested.  

Now the Taiwan-based company is expanding their product line-up into GPU cooling.

The MK-13 weighs in at a hefty half-kilogram and comes in at the sizeable measurements of 205x43.5x99.87 (width / height / depth). Six 6mm copper heatpipes keep the heat moving from a nickel-plated copper base. On top of all these heat fins you can mount two 120 mm fans, making this a very, very hardcore GPU cooler. 

The MK-13 should fit almost all recent video cards by using a "Omni-Mount Retention" system developed by Prolimatech.

All this cooling won't come cheap though. The first site to offer this cooler had it listed for €50 (about $75 USD).

Free or paid guide explains the inner workings of Microsoft's OS, offers tips and tricks

Many tech junkies are aware of TweakGuides, a quality website dedicated to the tweaking of games, software and hardware. Though its owner Koroush Ghazi has sadly since given up guides as such for PC games (console ports, exhaustive efforts, and all that), he has just released one for Windows 7, which should be great for anyone with the new OS.

The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion, as it is called, is written in plain language, intended to be understood by and useful for the most amateur to the most advanced computer users. It covers everything from new features to what all that craziness in your BIOS actually means, and offers a variety of guidelines for getting every bit of performance out of the OS and your games you can, given your needs.

The guide comes in a 415 page free version, or a 578 page paid version with screenshots, illustrations and the like, priced at $4.50. Both will be updated regularly (free). We recommend everyone pick up a copy!

Check out this beast of a machine

NVIDIA teamed up the folks at Smooth Creations and a world-class case modder by the name of Richard “Darth Beavis” Surroz to build a hell of a gaming PC that is now for sale on eBay.

The idea came from NVIDIA employee, and former hardware editor guy, Paul Jastrzebski, who has had a friend of his recently diagnosed with a multiple myeloma -- a cancer of the blood. 100 percent of the proceeds of this sale will be going to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  And as you can see from the pictures, this system is pretty bad ass.

The case goes without saying; as for the rest of it: you get the best CPU out right now, the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition, watercooled, and dual GTX 295s are on graphics duty. Then you get 3D Vision (which we have a review of coming soon, by the way), and 12GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR3. Two 256GB SSD's in a Raid 0 setup will be storing the games, and two 1TB drives will take care of everything else. An Asus Rampage II Gene X58 motherboard gets the job done here.

So whatta-ya say? Want to place a bid? Right now the system is at $3,500 USD; NVIDIA probably hopes it sell for at least $10,000 USD. 

If your parents, wife, or whomever is not convinced that you need this computer, just tell them it is for charity.

New edition called the Tempest EVO

Case-maker (and mouse and PSU maker) NZXT revised their mid-range gamer case, the Tempest, today. The new version is called the Tempest EVO. We are guessing that EVO is short for evolution.

The old Tempest was a relatively popular gamer case that strove to deliver great air circulation for a case around the $100 mark. Neoseeker reviewed the case back in June.

Three areas where the Tempest recieved an upgrade has been in the cooling department, the expandability department, and the cable management department. The Tempest EVO supports dual 120mm intake fans, dual 140mm top exhaust fans, and a side and a rear 120mm. The case has been expanded a bit to better bit the massive video cards of the current generation and PSUs, in addition to fitting up to 8 HDs. Pre-drilled strategically located holes help for the cable management. 

This case will be selling for $99.99. Here is the product page. Unfortunately, as of yet, there isn't that much in the way of photos of this new case. Not that it looks vastly different than the regular Tempest though.

Six heatpipe, dual radiator design outperforms predecessor

The Noctua NH-U12P CPU cooler has been around for quite some time and garnered a lot of press attention and awards from review sites as a low-noise heatsink with good cooling abilities. Over the years the cooler has gotten updates in the form of additional mounting brackets to keep up with motherboard socket changes and has also gone from a single fan to a dual fan configuration.

So what do you do to further improve on an already successful design? Noctua went back to the drawing board and came up with the NH-D14 premium CPU cooler that uses a six heatpipe dual radiator design to improve both cooling performance and noise levels. Interestingly Noctua has eschewed the direct touch heatpipe design so common these days for a more traditional approach.

What isn't so traditional though is the dual radiator asymmetrical design that gives more clearance over the RAM slots while more surface area and greater heat distribution. The fins are cooled by supplied NF-P14 (140mm) and NF-P12 (120mm) fans rated at 19.6 and 19.8 dB(A) respectively.

"Our NH-U12P coolers are widely regarded as one of the best solutions on the market, so it makes us especially proud that we can offer a further substantial improvement in quiet cooling performance with the new NH-D14", explains Mag. Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO. "The NH-D14 in Ultra-Low-Noise mode actually outperforms the NH-U12P at full fan speed, so we're confident that this cooler will appeal to overclockers and silent enthusiasts alike."

The NH-D14 comes with the SecuFirm2 mounting system for use on LGA1366, LGA1156, LGA775, AM2, AM2+ and AM3 boards and should be available mid-November at a MSRP of EUR 74.90 / USD 84.90.

For both AMD and Intel parts

The PC cooling designers at Scythe have come up with a new refresh design of their inexpensive Katana CPU cooler.

The AMD Katana 3 cooler will keep your socket AMD 754, 939, 940, AM2 (+2) and AM3 chips cool, while the Intel Katana 3 will be at home sitting on top of socket LGA 775, 1156, 1366 processors. 

First shown off at Cebit back in March, the new design weighs in at just under half a kilogram, composed of a nickel-plater copper base, aluminum fins, and six copper heatpipes. A 92mm 300-2,500 RPM fan (included) keeps the air moving.

As far as CPU coolers go, the Katana 3 is a lower priced one, and should be selling for about $30 USD.

Aluminum mid-tower chassis with full system tool-less design

Lian Li has added to its stable of traditional clean cut style aluminum cases with the addition of the PC-7FN and PC-60FN. These siblings are fraternal twins in that they differ only in the front panel design; the PC-7FN has smooth rounded vent holes, while the PC-60FN has a more open bezel front face. Other than the minor cosmetic differences, both cases are designed to provide superior airflow using a low front intake and a high rear exhaust. Incoming cool air is drawn in by the front 140mm fan which is protected by a washable nylon air filter; exhaust duties are handled by the rear 120mm fan mounted at the top rear of the case to extract hot air from the CPU region.

Removable front, side and top panels provide for easy access to the interior of the case where you'll find traditional Lian Li attention to detail with rolled elements to eliminate sharp edges and a totally tool-less design. You'll also find four 3.5" drive bays with aniti-vibration rubber grommets, and eight PCI expansion slots to allow for for three-way SLI/CrossFireX configurations.

The removable motherboard tray supports ATX and mATX form factors and provides cutouts for access to the rear of the CPU bracket for easy CPU cooler change outs as well as cable routing for good wire management; the case also has provisions for water cooling with holes for water tubes which are secured by rubber stoppers. With the rear exhaust mounted high up, Lian Li has moved the PSU to the bottom rear of the case where it is mounted using a tool-less securing clasp with special insulation to prevent vibration; the PSU draws its cool air from a vent on the bottom of the case which is also protected by an air filter.

The PC-7FN and PF-60FN are expected to be available at local distributors at the beginning of October at a MSRP of $129US.

Enhanced airflow design using 120mm and 140mm fans

NZXT has just announced its Lexa S gaming chassis, a mid-tower case designed for enhanced airflow with five fan capability including 120mm fans on the front, side, and exhaust with a 140 mm fan on top (four fans are included with the case); the fans are rated at 43CFM, 23dB(A) and can be managed via the included fan controller that allows the intake and exhaust fans to be controlled independently.

From an aesthetics standpoint, the Lexa S features a black-on-black look with a smoked side window and all black interior with a stealthed 5.25" front bay. Inside, the case has a turned hard drive cage along with a mounting bracket for a pair of solid state drives; NZXT has kept an eye out for cable management with punched holes in the motherboard tray which also serve to allow quick CPU bracket removal. For those wanting to go with a water cooling setup, the Lexa S pre-drilled holes on the backplate and mounting holes for a dual radiator at the top of the case.

All of this is being offered at a suggested price of $69.99 with scheduled availability sometime in September.

Designed to extract heat from inside laptop

Laptops can become heat traps especially with today's more powerful processors and discrete graphics adapters. There are a number of cooling devices on the market designed to help lower notebook temperatures but most use some sort of active or passive pad that goes under the notebook and are designed to cool the external case; while these units have varying degrees of success in lowering temperatures, none address the problem of heat buildup inside the case itself and can be bulky and a chore to carry around.

Evercool takes a different approach with its FIT notebook cooler that is designed to extract heat from inside the case via the exhaust port found on the side of most laptop cases.

There's no installation involved as you simply place the small device next to the exhaust and plug in the included USB power cable. The FIT has a set of feet that slide under the notebook with a unique multi-angle adjustment design that makes it compatible with most 9"-18" laptops. The unit is very compact, measuring only 55 X 85.3 X 25mm and weighing around 60.5 grams; it comes with its own soft carrying pouch to hold the unit and the separate USB power cable. The fan runs at around 3500RPM yet is rated at less than 25dBA, so noise shouldn't be an issue with this unit.

Evercool has posted the unit on its Web site but hasn't yet released any information on pricing or availability.

Now supports Intel LGA1156 Core i5/Core i7 "Lynnfield" CPUs

Noctua has launched an updated version of its NH-U12P CPU cooler that includes support of Intel's soon to be released Core i5/i7 Lynnfield processors. Dubbed the NH-U12P SE2, the new heatsink adds support for the Intel LGA1156 socket while maintaining compatibility with LGA1366, LGA775 and AM3 processors. Users wishing to use their existing NH-U12P cooler on LGA1156 socket motherboards can upgrade with a free mounting kit from Noctua.

Like the predecessor SE1366 model, the NH-U12P SE2 comes packaged with Noctua's NT-H1 thermal compound and two NF-P12 120mm fans. The cooler utilizes Noctua's SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system that now supports a full range of existing AMD and Intel processors and continues the tradition of the NH-U12P cooler that has received more than 150 awards and recommendations from publications and web sites that began with the LGA 775 version.

The NH-U12P SE2 will be available in stores in mid September at a recommended retail price of EUR 56.90 / USD 64.90.

All aluminum cooling pad with dual 7cm fans

Titan offers a wide range of cooling products designed to keep keep your not only your CPU cool but other components including notebooks as well; the company has just launched the newest member of the notebook cooler family with the announcement of the the Titan TTC-G12TZ.

The G12T features all-aluminum construction and is designed to raise your notebook off the surface at an angle while providing active cooling through its dual 70mm fans. The aluminum body is not only rugged, it also acts as a heatsink to aid in heat dissipation.

The unit's fans provide 25CFM airflow while running virtually silent with a rated noise level of 16.9Dba; the fans' air intake and exhaust are adjustable to fit individual needs and the built in on/off switch makes it easy to power off the fans when not needed.

Designed to accommodate notebooks from 12-17", the G12T is small enough to allow it to be added to any road warrior's bag.

Titan did not provide any information on pricing or availability.

One of the more inventive, sexy -- and expensive -- computer cases

Many people will buy a complete computer for around $750 USD, over the next few months. But those computers won't look like anything like Thermaltake's Level 10 case (which costs around $750).

Receiving many ooo's and ah's when it was first uncovered at CeBIT this year, the Thermaltake Level 10 is certainly the biggest design departure for a production-model computer case seen in many years. Perhaps ever.

Some folks from BMW helped come up with the funky, asymmetric design of the chassis. Each component has its own little aluminum house in the Level 10. Thermaltake claims that much of the case acts as a natural heatsink. Especially the removable hard drive housings on the right. 

One thing you can't really tell from the pictures -- the case is a elephant, size-wise. It dwarfs most other cases, weighing in at almost 50 lbs., with the dimensions 614mm x 318 mm x  666 mm.

Thermaltake launched a suitable stylish website for the new case here.

The limited-edition Level 10 will be available in October. 

48-hour limited time offer

It's back to school time for a lot of you folks but you don't have to be a student to take advantage of Thermaltake's limited time offer of some serious savings on a few of its products. From August 22-23 only you can save 50% off Thermaltake Sword and Xaser VI cases and $60 off Toughpower 750W and 850W power supplies. All items also come with free shipping and all you have to do is shop online and use the posted coupon codes.

Okay, so the part numbers are a bit confusing, but all you have to do is check out the sale page to see which case/power supply goes with the item number; the end result is you can save some serious green if you act fast.

$111 worth of discounts, plus a few MIRs

Many manufacturers teamed up to offer customers a mega bundle deal on an AMD Dragon Platform computer, available on Newegg.com. It comprises eight, yes eight components. In other words, what you get is a complete PC. The only thing left to do is build it.

This computer sets you at a not too shabby $679.88 after MIRs, or $719.88 without. Moreover, you get free shipping on this large package. Buying each part separately would cost you $831.81 and most probably a somewhat steep shipping cost.

With the already awesome price/performance ratio of the dragon platform, this deal just make it even more attracting. Don't miss out on it!

Making it easy to upgrade to Core i5/i7 processors

One of the frustrating things about upgrading to a new Intel series processor is the inevitable socket change that accompanies it. Not only does it mean a new motherboard but it also means having to buy a new heatsink unless you purchased it recently enough for it to be compatible. A case in point is the upcoming Core i5 and Core i7 processors that use the LGA1156 socket because, along with that new P55 chipset motherboard, you're going to need a cooler that will work on the new socket arrangement.

Noctua, a manufacturer of CPU coolers and case fans, wants to make sure you can use any of its existing heatsinks with the new LGA1156 processors by offering a free mounting kit upgrade. The NM-I3 SecuFirm2 mounting kit will allow all Noctua CPU coolers manufactured since 2005 to be used for Core i5 and Core i7 processors on the new LGA1156 socket and is being offered free of charge through an online form on the company's web site. The only catch is you must provide proof of purchase but even that is not too much of an obstacle as they will accept a picture of your Noctua cooler that includes a photo id with your name clearly visible in the shot as proof. Noctua is also offering the mounting bracket for sale through retailers if you need to upgrade right away and don't want to wait.

Noctua has a history of standing behind its products as the company offered a similar upgrade offer for socket LGA1366 last year and have made mounting brackets available for retrofitting coolers for older AMD sockets as well. It's great to see a company supporting its customer base with free upgrades instead of forcing users to purchase all new hardware.

Classic Lian Li styled all-aluminum case at a reasonable price

Lian Li today announced the launch of the PC-8N, a mid-tower case Using 1.5mm thick aluminum panels with a brushed anodized finish. Don't let the classic styling fool you, the case is full of the small details and fit and finish for which Lian Li is known, including rolled edges in the case interior with protectors installed in the inside panels to protect users' hands; other nice features include easily removable top and front panels.

The PC-8N doesn't resort to exotic or fancy gimmicks for cooling as it mounts two 120mm fans - one intake and one exhaust. The intake fan draws air over the hard drives and on into the case where the exhaust fan is situated to pull cool air over the CPU area and out the back of the case; both fans turn at 1200RPM to keep noise levels to a minimum while still moving a large amount of air.

Lian Li has also included other niceties designed to minimize noise including anti-vibration clips and grommets on the chassis; these dampen noise generated by vibrating and spinning parts. The PC-8N also features a tool-less anti-vibration HDD cage and anti-vibration grommets to support the motherboard tray.

Lian Li expects the PC-8N to be arriving at distributors by the end of August with a MSRP of US$109+VAT which puts the case in reach of most builders.

Low-profile CPU cooler for SFF and HTPC applications

Titan has launched a pair of cooling solutions designed to cool two of the most critical components on your system's motherboard - the CPU and Northbridge chipset.

The aptly named Entertainer is a low-profile CPU cooler targeted for tighter quarters such as home theater PC and micro ATX cases. At only 6.6cm tall, the Entertainer features four 6mm direct contact heatpipes with a 10cm frame-less fan. Since quiet operation is paramount in a HTPC, the fan uses a unique suspension design to reduce fan rumble and a PWM intelligent fan controller that varies speed from 800~1500 RPM to keep noise at a minimum. Compatibility shouldn't be an issue as the cooler is designed to fit a full range of AMD and Intel sockets including the latest AM3 and LGA 1366/LGA 1156 boards.

The Iron Heart is a chipset cooler featuring iron heart-like fin design inspired by the movie Iron Man. The extruded aluminum fins are cooled by a low-noise 5cm fan designed for rapid cooling and efficient heat dissipation for increased stability and higher overclocking potential.

Titan hasn't released word on availability or pricing yet.

Promising new design for better air cooling potential

For many hardware enthusiasts, the Tuniq Tower 120 has a good reputation. It is one of those air-coolers that often finds it way to the top of benchmark charts for cooling performance. Fans of the Tuniq Tower 120 will now be happy to hear that an updated model will be arriving on store shelves sometime next month.

The most noticeable thing about the Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme is that heat fins have been rearranged into a staggered position -- 'waved', if you will. This seems like a great idea: this will feasibly improve the ability of the end of the aluminum heat fins to shed excess heat. It seems like one of those good ideas that will inevitably get copied, so remember that Tuniq brought out the design first!

The 120 in the name of the cooler comes from the 120mm fan removable fan in the center. It features a magnetic fluid dynamic bearing, which, according to Tuniq, results in less noise.

This cooler is designed for common sockets: LGA1366/775 and AM2/AM3 processors.

100% stack effect cooling and positive air pressure improves cooling, reduces dust

SilverStone has announced its new RAVEN RV02 computer case that improves on the company's previous RAVEN RV01 by using 100% stack effect cooling aided by three 180mm intake fans. To aid the stack effect cooling, the motherboard orientation has been rotated 90° so the card slots are now vertical allowing the hot air to naturally rise to the top. The array of fans at the bottom direct cooler air along the cards with a single 120mm exhaust fan positioned at the top. This maintains positive air pressure which SilverStone says, coupled with air filters on all the intakes, helps reduce dust inside the case. Even the power supply is mounted vertically so all air exhausts are pointed at the top of case.

The case also features eight drive bays, extensive wire management pathways and even comes with a 2.5" hard drive/SSD mounting slot. It also has eight expansion slots allowing the RV02 to support four 10.5" long dual-slot videocards. The case should arrive sometime in the middle August with no word yet on pricing.

Mid tower case with black interior

NZXT today announced its M59 gaming chassis designed to provide optimal airflow with the option of adding up to five case fans. The case includes an all-black interior and a smoked side windowed

NZXT has added a lot of nice touches including a night light over the 5.25" drives to give visibility in dark rooms or at LAN parties, a cutout in the motherboard tray to allow for easy mounting of CPU brackets without having to remove the motherboard and a bracket for mounting two solid state drives.

The M59 comes ready for a water cooling setup with pre-punched holes on the rear panel and the ability to mount an external dual radiator at the top of the chassis.

NZXT expects the case to begin shipping next month at a suggested price of $59.99US.

You don't have to build the case mod -- just come up with a cool idea

Like case mods? Think you might have what it takes to be the next Ben Heck?

Starting yesterday, Nvidia is running a case mod design contest. Not for regular desktops though -- for their ION platform: so think small.

There are a few rules. Mods must:

• Use the ZOTAC ION ITX 330 motherboard containing an
   NVIDIA ION GPU and an Intel Atom dual-core CPU
• Not exceed a $500 budget for components
• Be completed in 60 days
• Reflect key features enabled by ION: small, low-power
   PCs with surprisingly powerful graphics

The neat thing about this contest is that you don't actually have to build the mod -- the contest is just for cool ideas. The top 5 winning entries, as judged by 5 world-class expert modders, voting on overall design, creativity, compact size, and functionality, will have their design built. If you come in first place overall, you'll recieve your built case mod idea as a prize. The other 4 top winners will have their mods built (but will not recieve them as prizes), and they will get a Zotac ION motherboard, Sims 3, and 1400 battle funds for the game Battlefield Heroes. 30 runner-ups will win a subscription to CPU Magazine.

The contest ends on August 10th. You must be over 13 years old to enter. Contest details can be found here.

Be creative! Believe it or not, this is one unusual ION machine right here:

Keeping it cool with Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo Pro VGA cooler

Its no secret that some of today's more powerful video cards produce a lot of heat and the stock coolers on reference-design cards are loud and barely manage to keep temperatures in check.

Inno3D produces a line of videocards aimed squarely at enthusiasts and gamers who want top-notch performance and quieter cooling options. One of the ways the company does this is by incorporating aftermarket coolers from the likes of Arctic Cooling, Zalman and Zerotherm. Such is the case with the iChill GeForce GTS 250 that uses an Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo Pro cooler to provide excellent cooling at greatly reduced sound levels.

The unit mounts twin 92mm low-noise fans on the four-heatpipe cooler which offers over 80 percent greater cooling surface area when compared to the stock cooler. The advanced cooling solution on the iChill Accelero brings down temperatures 23C and reduces noise levels from 3.4 Sone to 0.4 Sone. The reduced temperatures also results in more stable performance and give you more headroom when overclocking the card.

Inno3D doesn't have the i-Chill GeForce GTS 250 posted on its web site yet and didn't provide pricing or availability information.