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The Griffin is just one of the many awesome cases of IN WIN’s Destiny Series.  This case is aptly named Griffin to convey a sense of the power and strength of the product. In Win has geared the Griffin towards users who want an aesthetically pleasing case along with functionality and decent airflow. They have also added tons of nice features at a great price

We reviewed our first SandForce-based solid state drive about a month ago and since then the SandForce drives we have checked out have either been 120 or 128GB drives.  While these are nice drives many people still cannot afford them.  Today we will be looking at a 60GB drive that is based on the SandForce controller.  The 60GB size is perfect for most systems as you can fit most of your programs and operating system on the drive then just use a regular SATA drive for all your media and other things.  The 60GB size is also great for upgrading your laptop’s hard drive.  Let’s check out the G.Skill Phoenix Pro 60GB Solid State Drive. Special thanks to G.Skill for providing us with the Phoenix Pro 60GB Solid State Drive to review.

At the end of last year week took a look at one of ASRock’s first nettop the ION 330HT , which was built around Intel’s Atom processor.  With the release of Intel’s Core processors ASRock rebuilt their nettop series around this new architecture.  These new nettops bring more processing power, full native 1080p playback, 7.1-channel HD audio, 802.11n wireless networking, and USB 3.0 support.  We will be looking at the Core 100HT today which features an Intel Core i3-330M processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive and a SuperMulti optical drive.  Let’s take a look and see if the Core 100HT is perfect for your home theater setup. Special thanks to ASRock for providing us with the Core 100HT Nettop to review. Specifications CPU – Intel ® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 Mobile Processor Family Chipset – Mobile Intel ® HM55 Express chipset *Due to Windows ® XP and PCH chipset (HM55) limitations, if you use Windows ® XP, please disable the BIOS option “USB2.0 Rate Matching Hub” to make USB devices work properly

It’s been just over 1.5 years since I reviewed my first Intel X58 motherboard.  I still consider the LGA 1366 Core i7 processor coupled with the X58 Express chipset an awesome combination, and just has to be that much better with the new six-core Core i7 980x Extreme.  I haven’t had the opportunity to try one of those yet, though the price has dropped to $1K, it is still a little out of my hardware budget.  Actually a lot out of my hardware budget. Though well equipped, including Asus’ TurboV, Asus Express gate, and Asus EPU6, among many other features, that first Asus X58 motherboard I had, the P6T, has become a little dated, especially compared to Asus’ newer motherboards.  The P6T had 8+2 phase voltage regulating, Asus has since improved on that with other boards.  And both USB3 and SATA 6Gb/s has been released since the P6T was released

Microsoft has opened up a beta test of Windows 7 SP1 , but only if you’re willing to sign on as an IT manager or professional. It’s not all that different from Microsoft’s normal course of action—corporate and IT go first, then consumers—but it’s actually a bit more open than normal, not requiring a TechNet subscription or the like. Microsoft goes out of its way to warn consumers off downloading the beta, as it “does not provide new end-user features.” At best, there might be some Wi-Fi and Bluetooth improvements, and maybe Bluetooth 3.0 inside, but if you’re really, truly eager to try out the service pack, before the anticipated public release later this month, you know where to look

Windows only: Bootloader tweaking utility EasyBCD makes dual booting between Windows, Linux, and even OS X an easy task, and the latest version updates with support for Windows 7 and newer Ubuntu versions with grub2. More

Looking for a budget case where the features out-number the specifications? Look no further, the Aerocool PGS Vs-9 Mid Tower Case is here to help. With a feature list to long to list some things included with this affordable case are a complete black paint job, both inside and out, support for more fans than you can imagine and support for longer video cards.

We announced that Oregon Slacker won our CyberPower and ThinkComputers System Giveaway a few weeks ago. He has been waiting for the system for about 3 weeks and yesterday the system finally arrived! He was nice enough to take some photos of the system and of course photos of himself with the new system! Check out all of the photos below and once again thanks to everyone that entered the contest and thanks to Oregon Slacker for taking the time to take photos for us!

Sometimes it’s the tiniest things that can bug you about a user interface like the color of your taskbar changing as your wallpaper cycles. This simple but clever hack will keep your Aero transparency on but your taskbar colors consistent

There are many different computer speaker systems out there, ranging from a 2.1 to a 5.1 setup.  That makes it hard to choose what is best for your individual needs. As a gamer, finding a decent surround setup with easy controls is pretty difficult and one that doesn’t take up your whole desk or room is even harder.  Problem solved! SoundBar setups is a new style of speakers, in which all of the speakers are built into a bar format that can be easily mounted or placed on stands or desks. In this review let’s see if the ASUS Cine5 is going to be your next speaker purchase