Introduction
Noctua is a company that while it originally hedged in obscurity, has become a name synonymous with extreme and quiet cooling.
Today I have the pleasure of checking out two of their offerings The 1200rpm and the 800rpm 120mm fans. Not only do these bad boys sport custom designed fins, and a very distinct color job, they are able to be made even quieter with the included adapter with the built in resistor.

Of course, the considerations that go into an HTPC are different than those governing an office or gaming system. The system should be quiet, so as not to disrupt the audio experience. As part of this it should be cool, so that limited fans are needed, and its looks should blend in with the typical entertainment center.

Most HTPC cases on the market today are built around the micro-ATX form factor. This is often because space can be limited around the TV, and any reduction in size of the PC is nice. There is a reasonable selection of micro boards on the market, so it’s definitely possible to satisfy most needs with this system. Of course, there are always some people who might not want to use a small board for whatever reason, be it expandability, available parts, or hardware space requirements (such as mounting a bunch of drives). For these people, CoolerMaster has made the full ATX CMmedia 282 case. Let’s take a look and see how it performs.

Construction and Hardware Installation
The case arrived in a fairly standard CoolerMaster box, with a picture of the Chassis, specifications, and the familiar decorations that CM is known for. Mine took a little beating from the delivery company, but the case was completely unharmed.

The case itself is very attractive, if somewhat bland. It’s a matte black, and the front panel is plastic with lots of doors hiding things away and giving it a clean look. There is also an intriguing LCD panel on the front, which I’ll go into later.

As you can probably tell from the last picture above, the motherboard mounting position, and therefore the side panel, are flipped from the standard ATX setup.

Depending on the layout of your motherboard, this might mean that the fans are closer to the hot components like the CPU and memory.

The case is very sturdy and well-constructed. All of the edges are rolled and blunt, so it’s going to be hard to get any cuts working in here. There are a lot of nice little details of workmanship that I appreciated as well; for instance if a screw needs to be accessed behind a rolled edge, there is a cutout so you could get the screwdriver in easily. These might be little things, but it shows that the company has put some thought into their product.

One of the great features about the CMmedia 282 is that it can be used in either a standard standing position, or laid down on its “side” into a more typical HTPC orientation. The case feet can be relocated easily (each is held in by a screw). The front LCD panel rotates by means of a set of tabs holding it into the front panel. Simply pop the tabs out, rotate the entire LCD/power/port panel, and snap it back in. It’s really a nice little option, and very well implemented.

So now that we’ve gotten a look at the case, let’s put some components in it! I installed two systems into this case (the specs are below). The case has plenty of room for hard drives, with a cage capable of holding 5. Each mounting point is protected by rubber grommets, to lessen the noise. Being a full ATX case, it’s quite roomy, and I had no trouble fitting my hardware in. I think that this case might even work well with a watercooling setup, for those wanting an ultra-quiet system.

Here are just a few shots of the HTPC components inside the case. Just one note: yes, that PSU is sleeved in electrical tape. We were all young and stupid once. There is a reason that this PSU is doing HTPC duty inside a case with no windows!

I do have several complaints about hardware installation. First of all, this is yet another case that prints the “toolless” claim on the outside of the box. I’ve griped before about how this is never true, but the CMmedia takes fudging the facts to a whole new level. The case didn’t even come with thumbscrews!! I guess what they mean is “no tools needed if you can use your fingernails as screwdrivers”. Secondly, the LCD panel was cracked down the middle when it arrived. I’m not sure if this was a result of the mishandling during shipping or not, but it does indicate that this piece may be fragile. CoolerMaster was great about shipping out a replacement unit. Installing the optical drive was a bit of a pain as well. You have to remove the front panel and slide the drive in. In my case, their were some protruding bits of metal that made it very hard to get the drive in or out. I almost had to break out the mallet. That front panel was also a pain in the butt to get back on the right way. It seemed like the tabs holding it to the case were just a bit too short. Finally, my DFI board has a Karajan audio module near the I/O ports on the motherboard. In the CMmedia, this module bumped with the single 120mm exhaust fan on the back. This meant that I had to move that fan to the bottom/side of the case (depending on the configuration). Also, the back fan mount can only accept 120mm fans, so I didn’t have the option of swapping it with something smaller. Another thing I noticed later while using the case is that there is a door which hides the optical drive. Well whenever I tried to close the drive, it got stuck on this door and I had to jiggle it loose.

It seemed like there were a lot of little annoyances, especially considering what I’ve come to expect from CoolerMaster. Regardless, all the parts made it where they belonged and it was time for some tests.

Thermal Testing Setup and Results
Temperature testing:

• Motherboard: DFI LanParty NF4-D
• Processor: AMD 3500+, stock speed
• Cooling: Thermaltake TM2 AG
• Memory: 1GB Corsair XMS DDR
• Video: Gigabyte 7600GT (passive cooling)
• Drives: 200GB Maxtor SATA, Lite-On DVD-RW SATA
• Other: Northbridge also has a passive cooler (Zalman ZM-NBF47)

Temperature measurements were made using the onboard thermal sensor, as reported by MotherboardMonitor 5. For idle measurements, the system was left alone for 1 hour. For load measurements, an instance of the Prime95 torture test was run for 1 hour. For comparison, I also took measurements from my current case, an Antec SLK2650BQE with a 90mm intake and a 120mm exhaust. I should note that because of the fan issue mentioned above, the CMmedia was in the “HTPC” orientation

The CMmedia was a few degrees warmer than the Antec in idle mode, but a few cooler under load. This is a little surprising, since the Antec has an extra fan. It might be worth noting that in this orientation and with this hardware, the CMmedia has three vents (one of which has the fan) right near the CPU and memory. This might allow the hardware to stay a bit cooler. Regardless, I think it’s clear that this case has what it takes to keep the components running, even in a cramped entertainment center.

HTPC hardware and testing:

• Motherboard: ASRock K7S8X
• Processor: AMD Palomino 1800+, stock speed
• Cooling: Stock
• Memory: 768 MB random DDR sticks
• Video: ATI 9200SE
• Drives: 200GB Seagate IDE, Sony DVD drive

To test out the case’s HTPC capabilities, I installed my utilitarian but functional hardware into the case, wiped the drive, and loaded it with a fresh copy of Windows and my media files. Finally I installed the software that came with the computer, two apps called iMedian and iMon. As far as I can tell, iMon is the remote control software, and iMedia is the actual HTPC app that you use to access your media files. That reminds me, I haven’t shown you the remote yet! It’s pretty no-frills, and a bit cheap-looking. Quite a few buttons, but not exactly the most ergonomic design I’ve seen. It seems to get the job done, although it’s very picky about having line-of sight on the sensor (near the LCD panel).

Populating the iMedian database with media files is a breeze. When you run the program for the first time, it asks you what folders have videos, pictures, and music, and automatically creates the databases for each. This actually took less time than I thought, maybe 5-10 minutes for my audio library with about 6000 tracks (and much less time for the smaller video and picture libraries). Once the database population is done, you’re ready to start using the system.

The software is pretty intuitive, with decent graphics, and ran pretty stable for me. I have to say that I didn’t expect much, considering this is software being produced by a hardware company. iMedian definitely exceeded my expectations. The remote has dedicated buttons for “My Movie”, “My Music”, etc, so navigation is quick. There are a few shortcomings to the software that I’ll mention. First of all, it needs one more edit to clean up some of the English. There isn’t anything that’s impossible to understand, but it just isn’t perfect, and it makes the product seem slightly less professional. The organization of the files is pretty much left as-is; however you have it stored on your drive is how you will access it in iMedian. This is OK for people who keep all of their media files nicely cataloged, but I am not one of those people. As far as I could tell, there was no way to search for a file, for instance by album, song, or artist name. You have to manually click through to find the file you want to play. On the whole, however, it’s a functional system. Just a few shots of the iMedian software and we can wrap this review up.

The LCD panel on the front of the case is nice as well. When the computer is off, this shows the clock. When the computer is on, the panel can show a news headline scroll, system information, or an equalizer. It’s easy to read from across the room. When running, the system is a bit on the loud side for me. The optical drive is most noticeable (it could really use some dampening), followed by the CPU cooler. Since my HTPC uses the stock cooler, I’m sure some noise reductions could be made in that area.

Conclusions
All in all, the CMMedia 282 is a well-rounded HTPC chassis. The larger ATX form factor allows for the installation of more components, as well as opens the door to more exotic cooling systems. The case looks nice and performs well, although there were some minor flaws. I think that when all is said and done, this is a fine case, although the price point is just a bit high. I’d like to see this at $125 or even $100, rather than the $150 or so it retails for.

The Good

• A full ATX HTPC case that looks good
• Very nice thermal performance, even with only one fan
• iMEDIAN software gets the job done

The Not Good

• Both construction and software need some polish
• Price is a little high

In conclusion, I give the Cooler Master CMmedia 282 a score of 7/10, and a HardwareHell Silver Award

Introduction
Today I have the pleasure of testing out the newest member of the Cooler Master Real Power Pro series of Power Supplies. This model (RS-C50-EMBA-D2) brings the wattage up to an amazing output capacity of 1250W with a peak capacity of 1375W. This thing might be able to start my car up and power my PC. Well maybe it can’t start my car, but it will definitely power up any PC made today and it should be future proof for those of tomorrow. Let’s get this review going, I really want to touch it and hook it up.

Features
The following Features are clearly listed on the box.
- World’s first six +12V rails for better power distribution in Quad-SLI and 2 way server system.
- High-quality components expand the product life, reliability and durability.
- Six 6 pin PCI-e / three 8 pin PCI-e connectors offer future upgradability.
- Eco-design for energy and money saving by Active PFC. (>0.99) / high efficiency (>85%)
- Ultra-silent operation with intelligent 135mm fan speed control (<16dBA)
- Five Year Warranty
After a quick visit to the Cooler Master web site, http://www.coolermaster.com, I found a few more advertised features that they left off of the packaging.
- Compliance with the newest Intel standard ATX 12V V 2.3
- Compliance with the newest SSI standard EPS 12V V2.92
- Compact size design for easy installation by High Power Density (150*180*86 mm)
- Power Failure Detector will light up when Over-Voltage, Under-Voltage,
Over-Temperature, Over-Current, Over-Loading, and Short circuit occur.

Specifications
The following Specifications are clearly listed on the box.

And another quick trip to the Cooler Master website reveiled that this power supply has a new specification left off of the packaging
Certification - SLI / 80 Plus

Test Setup
- Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (std. speed 2.66 GHz - overclock speed 3.0 GHz)
- EVGA 680i SLI mobo
- Corsair 2x 1GB XMS2 PC2 8500
- (2) XFX 8800 GTX
- (2) Western Digital 80GB sata @ Raid0
- (2) Maxtor 250GB sata @ Raid0
- Samsung 20x DVD Burner sata
- Sony NEC 16x DVD-ROM ide
- NEC FDD
- Cooler Master GeminII Heat Sink w/ (2) Silverstone FM121 120mm fans
- Cooler Master CM Stacker Full Tower Case
- (3) 120mm and (1) 80mm fans for case ventilation
- usb devices / Logitech MX 1000 mouse, MS Natural Keyboard, Logitech MOMO FF Steering Wheel, Kodak Camera, SansDisk 2GB Flash Drive (Ready Boost)
- Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
- Mastech MS8229 Digital Multimeter
- Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250W Power Supply.

Installation
This is a pretty straight forward procedure. All the components in your system need power and they all have a power connector. Just match them up. This Power Supply has all the connectors you’ll need for any present day PC and more. Notice all the PCI-e connectors, Quad-SLI (using 7950 GTX’s) or Triple-SLI with 8800GTX’s is possible.
- (1) 24 pin Motherboard connector
- (1) 4 pin +12V CPU connector
- (1) 8 pin +12V CPU connector
- (3) 8 pin PCI-e connector
- (6) 6 pin PCI-e connector
- (8) S-ATA connector
- (7) 4 pin Peripheral connector
- (2) 4 pin Floppy connector

That’s a lot of connectors, and that results in a whole bunch of cabling. A Modular Design would be handy with all of these cables, but that maybe will be a feature in a future design. As you can see all of the cables are fully sleeved all the way to the connectors. This is a nice touch that we don’t often see. The next thing to catch my attention is the hugh fan located on the top of the unit. It’s a 135mm fan with an approximate range of 800 ~ 2000 rpm and a max noise level of <16dBA.

And nowadays many consumers are just as impressed with looks as they are with the raw power. Cooler Master didn’t overlook this feature either. It has a beautiful crystal clear mirror finish in the color of Black.

The back of the unit has a mesh design for optimum ventilation, a diagonstic LED indicator (red=bad / green=good / white=no power) and a sticker covering the input power connector. The sticker is a warning for the proper power requirements, 125Vac @ 16A or 250Vac @ 10A.

And on the side we have a sticker showing us it’s outputs and safety certifications.

And while were looking lets take the cover off and look at the internals. Overall it’s pretty organized, the wires could be bundled together a little better, but it’s amazing that all of this power is contained in such a small enclosure.

The only problems I had with the installtion was with the shear size of all the cabling. I didn’t need to use all the connectors so there’s a lot of cabling to tuck out of the way. I also found that the 8 pin +12V CPU cable was just barely long enough for my setup. Considering I’m using a Cooler Master Stacker case with a Cooler Master GeminII Heat Sink and a Cooler Master Power Supply I would think that they would of made the cable longer to match up with their own products better. But it does reach so it’s time to power this PC up.

Test Results
I obtained all of these results running my system at the Default Settings and overclocked at 3.0 GHz with 1.3 Volts. All the fans in the system are set to run at 100%. For Load testing I ran (2) instances of SP2004 ORTHOS Edition http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm, jkDefrag http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/ , and 3DMark06. All the various outputs were measured from their individual rails. As you can see, none of the voltages dropped below their ratings, and the difference between the Load and Idle readings is negligible.

Conclusions
Well, this power supply has all the power anyone could need in this day and age and beyond. It has cabling for every option presently available and cabling for options not yet available. Does anyone need all of this, well probably not at the present time. But if we look back in time to just a couple of years ago no one needed more than 500Watts. Today a 500 Watt power supply is almost a minimum recommendation, by next year that number will be much higher and 1250 Watts won’t seem to be the overkill it is today.

Summary
Pros:
- 1250 Watts of Goodness
- Six 12V Rails
- High Efficiency and Power Rating
- Connectors for every option
- Quiet Operation
- Outstanding Cable Sleeving
- Mirrored Finished

Cons:
- Bulky Cabling. Needs a Modular Design
- 8 pin +12V CPU cable could be longer
- Expensive. I don’t know the price but it will be over $300
I would like to thank Cooler Master for sending me this Power Supply to test. It’s a Top of the Line Product with negligible faults. It can easily stand Tall on it’s own Merit. I give this product a Rating of 9 out of 10!

Product: Enzotech CNB-R1 Northbridge Heatsink

Manufacturer: Enzotech

Market: PC Enthusiasts and Overclockers

Cost: $19.99

Reviewed By: Walter Jane

Enzotech has been around for many years manufacturing heatsinks for computer cooling applications. They recently launched a series of products for northbridge heatsinks that can also be used on southbridge (if motherboard allows). Enzotech uses the process of forging with copper alloy 1100 in order to make all of their northbridge heatsinks.

The heatsink is perfectly flat on the base and comes polished to a mirror shine. The pins also come with an excellent finish on them as well. Enzotech takes pride in the quality of their products. The heatsink comes with mounts to fit a variety of motherboards. Unfortunately, it will not fit all motherboards. You need to verify that it will work on your particular motherboard. It will also fit the Intel chipsets that use the hooks. If you own one of these motherboards you know how much of a pain it is to install one of these heat sinks on the chipset.

Enzotech includes a rubber shim to install on the bottom of the heatsink to ensure that you won’t crush the core of your chipset or crack any of the corners off. They also provide a full tube of Artic Silver Ceramique which is great for use on north bridges and as well as gpus because it’s non conductive.

Test Setup: CPU: Pentium 4 650 Prescott Motherboard: DFI Infinity 965 Dark RAM: GEIL PC2–9600 PSU: BFG 650 watt OS: Windows Vista Ultimate

Testing was done in an air conditioned environment kept at 20C. Ambient temperature was taken by a calibrated UEI DT150 Digital Thermometer with a K Probe. Northbridge temperatures were read by the Smart Guardian software that came with the motherboard.

The stock chipset cooler under was giving temperatures around 41–43C under idle and load conditions. Even with the stock thermal paste replaced with Ceramique it still stayed in same range. The Enzotech dramatically reduced temperatures. The 965 isn’t known as a super hot chipset like 975× and 680i but it still does get warm. This cooler will be able to cool down those as well.

I was really surprised at how well the heatsink worked. With the Enzotech on it the northbridge idled at 26C and the load temperatures were 29C. It lowered the temps under load 12–14C without a fan blowing over it. I am sure that a fan blowing across it would reduce temperatures even more. The one issue I did have was the mounting on boards that have the hooks and loops. It does make it semi hard to mount. The other mounting options are make it a snap to install. Although it won’t fit all motherboards it should fit most. The finish on the base also impressed me. You might not be able to tell from the photos but the base is perfect.

Conclusion: In conclusion this was definitely the best 20 dollars I have ever spent on a computer. I give it 9 out of 10 only because of how hard it might be to mount. Enzotech definitely has a top quality product at a great price. They also have many other solutions such as low profile for southbridge as well. They have also started a line of water blocks. I can’t wait to test the rest of their products.

What exactly makes a usb drive different, or better than any other? Some people may say “its just a usb drive, what difference does it make what crap it comes with, and how it looks, so long as it works”.
That is a valid point, but there are plenty of usb drives that work well, so finding one that meets that criteria is not difficult, so from there, you can then broaden your search to extra stuff. I think there are several things that you need to consider.
One of the first things people look at is, well, their looks! I think that if you have something that you are going to carry around with you all day long, then it should be fairly attractive. Now, obviously, this is an area where people will vastly disagree, and that is fine, but there are some things out there that are simply ugly.
Another thing I think that comes into consideration is how sturdy it is made. If you pick it up, and parts seem to be rattling around, or you can bend or move some stuff with a great deal of ease, there is a good chance that one drop or two may jar something loose, and you risk losing your data.
Extraneous accessories are something else that can set a device apart from another. Sure, they will work without a lanyard, sure they will work without a usb extension cable, sure you don’t need a “busy” LED to tell you when its reading or writing, but those sort of things are nice to have.
Speed is a pretty common commodity we see on these devices anymore.. If they have usb2.0, and have readyboost, then you are pretty good to go.
Software that is included with the usb sticks sometimes can play a part in your decision… Some have device specific (proprietary), some have free open-source stuff, and some have nothing.

So, let’s check this bad boy out and see what all it beholds.

Introduction
At first glance, it was pretty to look at. It was black, had the nice OCZ and Rally2 Turbo on it, and was a nice flat black. I noticed it came with a lanyard, and a usb extension cable. Lanyards are really nice to have if you are a student or use these a lot at work, so you can hang it around your neck, or have it sticking out of your pocket for easy access. The usb extensions are nice for people who may not have a front/top/side usb port and dont want to crawl behind their desk every time you want to use it.

note: i realize these pictures are sideways.. i had to leave them that way because of the new way we are watermarking images… they may be changed later once we iron everything out

After opening it, the device seemed to be in sturdy shape. No jittery, shaking parts, and it didnt feel as though I could break it into a million pieces by just dropping it on the floor. So, I hooked up the lanyard (for whatever reason, the hole was not completely punched in the plastic, so a little help was needed). I noticed that the cap has a nice snug fit, which is a very good sign. There is nothing worse than losing the caps on these things. Speaking of caps, I have yet to decide whether I like the cap to be hooked to the lanyard, or the bottom. If you have the cap hooked to it, you can then just wear it around your neck, and pull it off when you need it, and not have to take it off your neck, but you risk someone stealing it, or it falling off. So, I don’t get why companies don’t make some sort of snap on cap that comes off with a simple button or something. Oh well.

Testing and Usage
Plugging it into my computer gave me the welcoming “da-DING”, and then I was greeted by the empty folder opening. This did not come with any software installed on it. Sometimes thats good, sometimes bad. Personally, I dont like some of the programs for thumbdrives. They feel too “eager” to help you out every time you plug it in, you have 15 windows flying all over. However, I do admit that I did end up installing the Portable Apps suite (and I’m using portable office to write this review).
There is an orange light on the top for power/busy status, and it is BRIGHT. If you are a nocturnal being like myself, you may dislike how well it can light up your room at night.

The performance was extremely good, I felt. I copied a few large files both individually, and then several at a time, and I timed some things just to get a reference.
I moved a 1.7gb file from my PC to USB in 1m06s, and moved that same file to my PC from the USB in 40s. I then took 4 files totaling 3.77gb and moved them to USB in 2m33s, and back to my PC in 2m:20s. Which shows that it does not seem to have any problem reading/writing large files, or involving several files read/write at the same time. Good news.
Just from general use, I literally have nothing negative to say about it. Maybe after a while, beating it to death, putting it in the freezer, leaving it out in the sun, washing it a few times, it may start to have degraded performance, but I am not going to do that, because (for the most part) people are careful enough to not put their usb sticks through that torture.

Conclusion
Pros:
Sleek design, nice looks
Good amount of accessories (lanyard, extension cable, status LED)
Good performance
Cons:
Really the only con I could think of is lack of software, but some may see that as a pro, so the choice is really yours.

I give the OCZ Rally2 Turbo 9.5 out of 10 stars.

I would like to thank OCZ (ocztechnology.com) for providing the review sample, as well as the staff at hwhell.com for providing the opportunity for this review.

Round 1: PSP Travel Cases

Hori Portable Pouch Style
Price: $24.95 USD (at time of writing)
Note: PSP and accessories sold separately

The Hori Portable Pouch Style (available in Ash Black or Sand Biege) offers trendy 3-way portability for your PSP. Its compact drawstring-fronted pocket plays host to your PSP, while the pouch’s rear accessory compartment is ideal for UMDs and Memory Sticks. The layered portability exists through an ample belt loop, sturdy carabineer, and a Velcro fastener that can attach to shoulder straps. Of the cases reviewed, it’s easily the most modern in terms of aesthetics, and also exudes a decent standard of quality. However, Hori’s Portable Pouch errs more on the side of style rather than substance, as the ‘slide in’ central compartment leaves the PSP partially uncovered. Good for the fashion conscious, but worryingly bad for the practical mobile gamer. Dropping the case could well damage the PSP considerably if it were to fall on the exposed end.

Pros:
• Good build quality throughout
• Soft and stylish PSP-friendly material and design
• Super-wide belt loop, carabineer, and Velcro shoulder strap attachment
• Spacious zipped compartment for 2 UMDs and 2 Memory Sticks

Cons:
• Exterior integral ‘slide-in’ drawstring pouch is fiddly and overly snug
• Odd prioritising with accessories protected but PSP somewhat exposed
• A relative disappointment considering the high price

Order direct from Lik-Sang.com at the Hori Portable Pouch Style product page.

• Rheobus with 4 0-12V controls
• Aluminum or Black finish
• A Molex Y-cable
• 2 3Pin to 4pin converters
• 1 3Pin to 2pin converter (perhaps for video/north bridge)

Features: Now one would expect a Rheobus to do just control fan voltages, however this Rheobus has some special features. First of all, we have 20w of power output per channel. This is impressive, because that is over 1.5 amp of output per channel. This translates into no problems for possibly 2 delta high output fans (screamers!) Secondly, the bi-color LED’s allow you to know exactly what how much voltage you’re giving your fans (as if your ears weren’t good enough). At 0-7v, the LED will be red; 8-12v the LED will be blue. But, if you decide that you’d like the colors the other way, simply pull the LED from its housing; flip the pins on the LED over. Insert the LED back into its housing and ‘tada’, you have reversed the colors. Again I mentioned I sleep in the same room as this PC and man, these LED’s are insanely bright. Another feature worth noting is the use of large heat sinks on the power transistors to help keep the unit from a big meltdown when you’ve got your array of Delta’s at full power while LAN’ing. But lets move on to installation. Installation: Installing this unit is quite simple. Hook up power, hook up your fans (and maybe dictate to yourself or make a note of which fan goes to what) and install into an unoccupied 5.25″ drive bay. On my YY cube, I must use rails in my 5.25″ bays. If you take a closer look, you’ll notice that my YY cube is a fat small little industrial microwave type-looking case.&nbsp;It creates a problem when it comes time to hook up the necessary connections as I have 2 hard drives below the Rheobus, and 2 CD-Roms right above it. Very tight quarters indeed, however, this did not cause any problems after I was done installing. Performance: I have my alpha pal8045’s stock delta 80mm running on channel one, my 120mm blowhole (some generic red led fan) running on channel two, a pair of boxer 120mm fans pushing air through the front of my case on the hard drive side running on channel three. And last, I have a 92mm sucking air front the bottom front on the motherboard side on channel four. This configuration allows me the best possible cooling/noise control I could ever dream of. My 2100+ Thoroughbred B core runs 2.3Ghz @ 1.75v no problem all day, but when it comes to gaming I need to keep everything else cool. The 120mm’s are nearly silent at 7v, so is the 92mm, but when I’m gaming I need that extra cooling, so I’ll kick up all the fans to 12v with the flick of my wrist. Temps will vary as much as 8C from having everything except the CPU fan running at 7v to 12v idle. Overall thoughts: I really do believe that for the price, you can’t do better than this Rheobus. If manual control over your numerous case fans is necessary, I highly recommend this cheap solution. The quality is bar-none and the features help reinforce the products highpoints. The only negative things I could say about the unit would probably be including some sort of extra long quick-disconnects with this product. For those of us with smaller cases, a 6″ long extension from the back of the Rheobus to a quick disconnect fitting would greatly improve any issues I had concerning cramped space issues. Perhaps I will just have to custom-make some sort of solution for this problem. Besides my small problem with space issues, the SunBeam Rheobus is quite possibly the best bang for your buck when investing in a fan control solution for your custom PC. Pros:

• 20W (over 1.5amp) of power per channel, amazing!
• Great looks
• Reversible LED’s look great and function well
• Included wiring makes easy, no-cut mod
• 0-12v fan control is amazing

Cons:

• Hard to connect the Rheobus in cramped spaces, possible wire extensions would make things easier!

Final Score: 8.6

Even though the numbers grow, technology is improving on efficiency. CPU and GPU dies are shrinking, DDR 4 is here, and power supplies are getting more efficient. The down fall, to all of this, is the added features that are needed for the added efficiency. CPU dies have more cache, GPU’s are more complex, and chipsets are getting more advanced. All of this is just detailing with the system and not including any added peripherals. True enthusiasts always want the most to push the limits on their systems. Improved cooling, extra monitoring, and even added lights add to the overall wattage demands. One company has honestly listened to the enthusiasts, not just the power users, but modders and casual users as well. Cooler Master has observed these comments and actually improved their products to the consumer’s needs and demands. Cooler Master’s flagship PSU the Real Power Pro 1000w unit is here to take a stand on the podium, is it worthy though? Let’s take a close look.
The Cooler Master Pro 1000w comes in a simple designed box that labels all of the certifications, details, and features.

Specifications:
• Model # RS-A00-EMBA
• Type ATX Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91
• Input Voltage 90~264V (Auto Range)
• Input Current 15A@ 115 Vac / 8A@ 230 Vac
• Input Frequency Range 47~63 Hz
• PFC Active PFC(0.99)
• Power Good Signal 100~500 ms
• Hold Up Time >17 ms
• Efficiency >85% Typically
• MTBF >100,000 hrs
• Protection OVP / OCP / OTP / OLP / Short / Full Protection
• Output Capacity 1000 Watts Continuous
• Max. Output Capacity 1,200 Watts
• Dimension (inches) 150(W) x 180(L) x 86(H) (mm)
• Operation Temperature 0~50?(Nominal Input Voltage)
• Safety CE / cUL / TUV / NEMKO / BSMI / FCC
• UPC Code 870423004691

Features:
1. World’s first six +12V rails for better power distribution in Quad-SLI and 2 ways server system
2. Four 6 pin PCI-e connectors offer great future upgradeability
3. Two 8 pin PCI-e connectors are compatible with future graphic card upgradeability
4. Compliance with the newest Intel standard ATX 12V V 2.2
5. Compliance with the newest SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91
6. Ultra-silent operation with intelligent 135mm fan speed control (< 16dBA)
7. Eco-design for energy and money saving by Active PFC.(>0.99)/ high efficiency(>85%)
8. Higher reliability (MTBF > 100,000 hours)
9. Power Failure Detector will light up when Over-Voltage, Under-Voltage, Over-Temperature, Over-Current, Over-Loading, and Short circuit occur.

Couple of things that caught my attention here were the efficiency rating of 80+ and the 6 12 volt rails. Rail technology has greatly improved since its induction and is still under debate if it’s even needed. With individual rails on a PSU you need to make sure the AMP rating on the rails can handle specific needs for the system.
Inside the Box:
Once opened one is greeted with a well packaged unit, user manual, and some goodies from Cooler Master. The unit is well protected for (worst case scenario) a drop off of a desk with multiple layers of foam.

The manual is in 9 languages from around the world, nothing fancy but I have found that all of CM’s manuals are clean and well printed for reading.

The goodies I mentioned before are here. The housing on the unit is a smoked chrome finish and these black screws accent it nicely. The power cord is very thick and well insulated, and case badge and a bottle opener/ key fob round out the goodies list.

This 1000 watt unit is large and heavy, both are things to consider. With a large unit like this, one has to make sure it can be mounted properly. While this unit is on the heavy side, we can deduce that this thing is packed with components. The finish is immaculate with the smoked chrome finish, but seems to attract finger prints. The wire harness is one of the largest I have seen to date.

The rear of this unit has a small hex mesh backing to provide optimal air flow. Below the plug in there is a LED to show if there is a simple problem. It doesn’t turn different colors for diagnostic trouble shooting, only red (there is a problem) and green (power on).
If you notice this unit is active PFC, note the missing input volt switch. Active PFC has really helped with improved efficiency on today’s PSU units. Efficiency is a key feature to a good power supply and keeping it stable under the worst of conditions.

The 12v rails are split up pretty evenly across the board with the exception of rails 3 and 4. These rails are dedicated to the more power hungry 8 pin (PCI Express 2.0 standard) GPU units now showing up. I have only seen these on the new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX cards.

Pulling off the cover and the 135mm fan one can see this unit is loaded. The first thing to catch my eye inside was the 2 large transformers and 1 smaller one. Traditionally the larger ones handle the 12v rails while the smaller one handles the 5v and 3v rails. The heatsinks are quality made and not cheap looking bent aluminum bars. There are 2 thermal sensors attached to the heatsink in two different areas to control the large 135mm fan.

The wire harness starts at a solder reinforced board. The macro shot shows little metal clips that support the wires soldered into the board. The harness then leaves out the housing via a rolled edge. This has been a proven method over the years to prevent any wires from chafing. Then we come to my first complaint. It is minor but the sleeving looks so much better when it is finished inside.

Did I mention that there are a lot of cables?

The cable listing is as follows:
• Mainboard power cable with a 20+4-pin connector
• CPU power cable with a 4-pin connector
• CPU power cable with an 8-pin connector
• Two graphics card cables with 6-pin connectors
• Two graphics card cables with one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector on each
• Two cables with three Molex connectors and one floppy mini-plug on each
• Two cables with four SATA power connectors on each

The cables are sleeved in black but I wanted to point out another fine touch in detail. The entire cable is sleeved, even in-between each connector. This has been a pet peeve of mine for years and I am glad someone was listening. It makes the whole job look cleaner, clean enough for me to over look the sleeving not coming out of the housing.

Installation:
My flagship system right now contains:
• EVGA nforce 680i 775
• Intel E6600
• Crucial Balistix DDR2 1066 (not pictured due to RMA)
• EVGA 8800 GTX
• 4 HDD 2 74 gig Raptors and 2 320 WD Caviar SE16
• Lite-On SOHW-1633S
• Antec 900 with 3 120mm fans and the 200mm monster
• Zalman 9700 CPU cooler
• Linksys wireless adapter

With this system I have been able to hit 3.6 OC but I chose not to leave it there for the daily grind. During normal runs with Prime 95 and OCCT the voltages never dropped below their idle ratings. Now with the OC and loaded, the voltages dipped ever so slightly, I don’t even see a need for a graph but some people like to have a visual. I monitored the voltages for a half hour after a 1 hour warm up period. Every ten minutes I logged the rail voltages and used the average. The voltages never went below their specified voltage. I was quite shocked to see this. The only other unit I have seen more solid would be a PCP&C unit.

Conclusion:
With today’s common PC, is a 1000 watt unit really needed? If you do the research you find that even the highest performing PC’s don’t quite need it…. yet. Maybe an AMD FX-74 Quad core (2×2 dual socket) loaded with 2 8800 Ultras in SLI or the new ATI 2900 XTX in crossfire. I can’t say that for this unit though, it is not Crossfire certified….yet. While checking though, I notice the lowest wattage certified was a 670 watt unit? At least this unit is ready for today’s hardware and has enough wattage to push on through for tomorrow’s power demands.
Cooler Master has done an outstanding job with the Real Power Pro 1000w. The finish adds a touch of class to any system it would be installed in. The small added features they don’t even list are a clear sign of the confidence Cooler Master has towards their products. The performance, the looks, and the style all have this unit labeled winner. My only comment to Cooler Master would be, to make this unit at least semi-modular, anything to help out with the bundle of cables. Even though this unit can be found for just over $300 with a 3 year warranty, it is competitively priced with other high end units of this quality.

The Good Stuff:
• Clean Finish
• Stable Power
• Complete sleeving job
• Quiet even under heavy load

The Bad Stuff:
• Large bundle of wires to tuck away

Thanks go out to Cooler Master for this review. This has shown they do listen to the end users. I would complain about the price but this unit for enthusiasts that need the power and stability. Cooler Master offers less wattage units at competitive prices for midrange applications. I enjoyed reviewing this unit and award it a solid 9 out of 10 and defiantly recommend the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000w to anyone looking for a good high end power supply. And can’t forget the coveted Gold medal award!

(note: the hard drive did not come with it.. it’s simply there for reference!)






(as you can see, its very attractive looking, and a fairly large size)



(that’s the included cleaning/buffing cloth and the mouse skates)

Specifications
Even though some of this has already been mentioned, I was sent a sheet with features, descriptions, and benefits on it, so I feel the need to repost that information. It came as a table, and reposting that table on our new CMS comes out a little goofy, but hopefully this makes sense to you.

Feature 1:

• Material: high quality aluminum
• Description: Polished aluminum provides extreme durability, giving you a mouse pad that you will be able to use years from now
• Benefit: SteelSeries SX is made of a special aluminum blend, developed to endure even the most hardcore gaming sessions. Wear usually means lost precision, but the SteelSeries SX’s aluminum blend means that precision will depend on the player and not the equipment.

Side Note: I *loved* this last statement.. it’s basically saying “even after getting this mouse pad, and you still suck, its your own damn fault!” haha. nice!

Feature 2:

• Surface: fiber polished and anodized aluminum
• Description: Low friction between the mouse pad and the mouse itself means that split-second movements are possible
• Benefit: With the anodized and fiber polished surface the SteelSeries SX is guaranteed to offer minimum friction between the mouse and the mouse pad. To complement this, a pair of SteelSeries Glide MS is included in the package, giving the use the smoothest glide possible.

Feature 3:

• Size: medium
• Description: The size of the SteelSeries SX was carefully determined, to make it practical, but still offer enough space for low sensitivity use.
• Benefits: With a size of 320mm*270mm (12.6in*10.6in) and a thickness of 2mm (.08in) the SteelSeries SX qualifies as a medium sized mouse pad. This means that it is suited for both low and high sensitivity users. And suitable for most desktops.

Feature 4:

• Compatibility: Gaming grade wired mice models.
• Description: SteelSeries SX is compatible with both optical and laser mice.
• Benefits: Extensive testing has ensured that SteelSeries SX is compatible with gaming grade laser and optical mice, ensuring that everyone will be able to use it, with their favorite gaming mouse.
  “The SteelSeries SX was developed as a special project, as a sort of experiment to see what could be achieved with a professional gaming surface today. We are fully aware that this mouse pad is more expensive than most, if not all other, mouse pads out there. We know that this will not be within the price range of everyone, but this not a product developed for “everyone”. This one is for hardcore gamers and users who want to experience something unique when they communicate with their computer through a mouse.”
  I do agree with this statement. As of this review being written, it lists for $59.99 USD, which does seem a bit much for a mouse pad. We will see whether or not it’s worth it!

Testing
Well, like I said before, I normally use my desktop with no mouse pad at all, but as it were, I have been using a regular ol’ foam mouse pad on and off for a couple weeks now, so I have a pretty good comparison. My desk is some sort of laminated wood type surface, and seems to do the job very well. The mouse that I am using is the Logitech mx518 gaming mouse (and I highly recommend it to anyone out there… I recommend it over the razors and copperheads, and all those mice, too!). Anyways, I am a fairly avid gamer… I play some MMOs, some FPS, some RTS, a little of everything, so ill be able to see how well it performs on quick-draw instances as well as slow, precise moments. Since my mouse comes with hard plastic “skates” I started out with just my vanilla mouse and the new pad (by that I mean no felt mouse feet) to get a comparison on them as well. Right off the bat, I could tell a difference in smoothness, and precision. The mouse never skipped or flickered, and it moved around like a plastic puck on an air hockey table (for those that have never played air hockey, that’s means it feels like it literally floats on air). And, the pad seems large enough that when I’m strafing around, or trying to side-scroll quickly on an RTS or something to that effect, I won’t run off the pad and get fragged. All in all, I definitely noticed an improvement in glide ease and precision, two very useful things to improve on as a gamer. After playing around that way for a while, I then moved on to try out the feet that came with it. There are 5 sticky-backed plastic feet that you can cut to size or shape depending on what situation you have on the bottom of your mouse. After sticking them on, I could also notice a difference in the way my mouse moved. It was a little slippery (in a good way) and easy to move, but since my mouse already has the hard plastic skates on it, it wasn’t a huge difference, but depending on your mouse, you may notice a big change. Mostly everything is the same, it does feel a little smoother (I am sure my stock mouse skates are a bit worn), so I will give them that.
As far as the other features of it, they are all great. The slick, thin metal is very attractive, weighs almost nothing, and looks great with my black keyboard/speakers/mouse/monitor! Also, the no-slip rubber grip on the back makes it next to impossible to slide the mouse pad across the desk, and that’s a great thing in my opinion.

(the rubber grip pad on the back)

(these are the skates I used, and what it looks like after a couple weeks of use… but that will polish right off with the included pad)

Conclusion
All in all, I must say I am pretty impressed. I was a little skeptical at first… and to answer “how much difference can a mouse pad really make” well, the answer is that it actually can. I do feel as though my cursor is more precise, and my movements are much smoother. The downside, however is the price. I do realize that they explain why it’s so expensive, and I don’t like make my marks based on price, because in a short time, it will be less expensive, but still the same product. However, this is a hardcore “enthusiast” product, and they tend to be a little (if not a lot) more pricier than most consumer items. I think it would make a good addition to any gamers’ arsenal if they already have the great PC, the great monitor, great mouse, and still feel like they could squeak a little more out of their game.
So, if it were not for the price, this would easily get a 10, but since the price is a little high (for now) I am only giving it a 9. I absolutely feel it is a great product, and absolutely look forward to seeing more from this company, and like they said, this is/was only an experiment… The experiment went well!