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Last year we took a look at ASUS’s first external Blu-ray combo drive, the SBC-04D1S-U .  It was the perfect external combo drive for a laptop or desktop and received a perfect 10 out of 10 score in our testing.  ASUS has updated the SBC-04D1S-U with faster Blu-ray read speeds and a few other features.  They are calling this new combo drive the SBC-06D1S-U.  Let’s see if ASUS can make this drive any better than the previous drive we tested! Special thanks to ASUS providing us with the SBC-06D1S-U External Slim Blu-ray Combo Drive to review Specifications Read Speed BD-R: 6 X BD-RE: 6 X BD-ROM: 6 X BD-R(DL): 4.8 x BD-RE(DL): 4.8 X BD-ROM(DL): 6 X DVD+R: 8 X DVD-R: 8 X DVD+RW: 8 X DVD-RW: 8 X DVD-ROM: 8 X DVD+R(DL): 6 X DVD-R(DL): 6 X DVD-ROM(DL): 8 X DVD-RAM: 5 X CD-R: 24 X CD-RW: 24 X CD-ROM: 24 X BDMV playback: 4 X DVD video playback: 4 X VCD playback: 10 X Audio CD Playback: 10 X Write Speed DVD+R ： 8X DVD-R ： 8X DVD+RW ： 8X DVD-RW ： 6X DVD+R(DL) ： 4X DVD-R (DL) ： 4X DVD-RAM ： 5X CD-R ： 24X CD-RW ： 24X,16X Writing Mode DVD+R & DVD+R (DL) ： Sequential Write DVD-R & DVD-R(DL) ： Incremental Recording DVD+RW ： Random Write DVD-RW ： DAO/Incremental Recording DVD-RAM: Random Write CD-R/RW ： DAO/TAO/SAO/Packet Write Access time BD: 240 ms DVD: 160 ms CD: 160 ms Packaging The SBC-06D1S-U comes in a very colorful retail package.  On the front there is a picture of the drive and a listing of read and write speeds.  On the back there is a list of features in many different languages. Opening the box up everything is nicely protected inside.  Getting everything out you have the SBC-06D1S-U drive, stand, USB cable, installation guide, and a software CD

The HTPC is growing increasingly popular as people discover the endless possibilities of the multimedia side of the PC. Yeah, I know, we enthusiasts have realized this for a long time, but keep in mind that the average PC user still primarily uses his/her rig for email and surfing the net. Well, add loading music into their iPOD, hanging out with their Facebook friends, and watching YouTube videos to that list

The HTPC is growing increasingly popular as people discover the endless possibilities of the multimedia side of the PC.

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

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.

ASUS Decided to start making sound cards since the soundcard market was being dominated by creative and their X-FI line. With the new ASUS line of PCI-E soundcards, it makes it a good market for ASUS to start to dominate in, since there is little competition. With the ASUS D2X is being marketed as a Home Theater sound card along with its gaming flavor

The ASUS vh232h is a 23″ LCD display with a 5ms response time, 20,000:1 contrast ratio, and a full 1080p 1920×1080 resolution.

Right after CES, the Intel Core i5 600 Series processors, with their 32nm construction and onboard graphics processing, entered the market with a fair amount of hype and hoopla.

When it comes to choosing an optical drive sometimes it can be hard. A lot of people just choose the cheapest drive, but that is not always the best route.

Intel has released some pretty radical stuff in the past 15 or so months. First came the LGA 1366 processors and the X58 chipset, sporting Intel’s first on-processor memory controller and triple-channel memory