When to choose which Axagon (SSD) cooler? A little guide

Axagon’s SSD coolers are some of the best value on the market. They always have an extremely attractive price-performance ratio and, at the same time, clever technical implementation of design details. There are several options, or variants of coolers to choose from to suit different needs. For better orientation, we will now go through each model in turn and indicate for which situation which one may seem to be a suitable choice. Read more “When to choose which Axagon (SSD) cooler? A little guide” »

Intel Core i9-14900K: The most powerful for desktop

The top model of the 14th generation of Intel Core (Raptor Lake Refresh-S) processors has outperformed everything that has come out for desktop computers so far. In speed, but also in power draw. On the one hand, the 6 GHz metric for single-threaded applications has been reached and the clock speeds are very high even under all-core boost, the side effect is that the Core i9-14900K’s power draw can sometimes spike up to 400 W. Read more “Intel Core i9-14900K: The most powerful for desktop” »

Intel Core i7-14700K: Four extra E cores can work wonders

The Core i7-14700K processor is the only 125-watt model from the Intel Raptor Lake-S Refresh generation that has undergone a core configuration change between generations. With more “efficient” ones, this processor is halfway to the Core i9-(14900K/13900K), but at the price of a Core i7. The Ci7-14700K is thus significantly more powerful than the Ci7-13700K for the same money. Especially in heavy multi-threaded workloads. Read more “Intel Core i7-14700K: Four extra E cores can work wonders” »

300R Airflow case or the queen of the MSI MPG Gungnir family

The Gungnir gaming case series has a new top model, the 300R Airflow. This 60-litre midi-tower brings, among other things, features that facilitate the installation of components. All in all, we can probably talk about a user experience on a higher level. Whether it lives up to the selling price is up for consideration. The price is set quite high and the innovations that the MSI case brings may not be enough for everyone. Read more “300R Airflow case or the queen of the MSI MPG Gungnir family” »

Intel Core i5-14600K in tests against 30 processors

In the Raptor Lake Refresh generation, Intel has gone a bit harder and increased the clock speeds in the Core i5 class. This has led to higher application and gaming performance, but by pushing the manufacturing process to its limits, power draw has naturally increased, and with it comes poorer efficiency. The latter may not be that important for someone and the main thing is that the processor can be comfortably operated even with a “normal” cooler. Read more “Intel Core i5-14600K in tests against 30 processors” »

AI performance in “DaVinci”: NVIDIA can be 100× faster than iGPU

From the last article, you already know what tasks are acceleratable by powerful NVIDIA graphics cards in DaVinci Resolve Studio. Now we have a speed comparison for you against simpler, integrated GPUs. Specifically confronting the RTX 4090 and RTX 4060 with the solution that Intel’s latest Raptor Lake Refresh processors have. The difference in favor of GeForce graphics cards is immense. Read more “AI performance in “DaVinci”: NVIDIA can be 100× faster than iGPU” »

Enermax Liqmaxflo 360 – Hefty, silent and efficient

Enermax has recently introduced the new Liqmaxflo cooler model series. These coolers feature a hefty radiator, a fan above the pump to cool the area around the CPU socket, and their loop can even be refilled with liquid. Today’s review will focus on the 360mm variant, the middle of the range (240mm and 420mm variants are also available). I have pretty high expectations for this cooler, so hopefully it will be able to live up to them. Read more “Enermax Liqmaxflo 360 – Hefty, silent and efficient” »

BeQuiet! Dark Base Pro 901: Nearly flawless full-tower

The new flagship BeQuiet! case is on sale now. The improvements over its predecessor are obvious, but there was a lot to draw from for the new Dark Base Pro 901. The ability to rotate the motherboard remained, and we can already reveal that it has a positive effect on cooling. This also makes this case suitable for the most powerful builds, which are associated not only with a lot of waste heat, but also with large dimensions of components. Read more “BeQuiet! Dark Base Pro 901: Nearly flawless full-tower” »

Why want a GeForce RTX 4000? Nvidia DLSS 3.5 technology analysis

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the exclusive technologies that Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 generation graphics cards can provide. We are going to explain the most significant new features currently supported by the GeForce graphics card ecosystem and perform tests showing how they affect performance in Cyberpunk 2077 with the new Phantom Liberty expansion. And we’ll also take a look at what they’re doing to image quality. Read more “Why want a GeForce RTX 4000? Nvidia DLSS 3.5 technology analysis” »

Sapphire RX 7700 XT Pure: The fastest for around 500 euros

The cheaper of the pair of Radeons with the Navi 32 GPU is priced closest to the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. Although the RX 7700XT is a bit pricier, it often has a significant performance edge, even attacking the RTX 4070. In this comparison, the RX 7700 XT with ray-tracing is already noticeably behind, and its efficiency is a notch weaker, but the price-performance ratio is often still better. And this is also true for the Sapphire Pure version in white. Read more “Sapphire RX 7700 XT Pure: The fastest for around 500 euros” »

Blackview MP200: Complete (and cheap) miniature PC

The mini PC category is less represented in our country compared to laptops, but occasionally we get a piece from MSI or Gigabyte. When I received an email from Blackview and with it an opportunity to broaden my horizons, I didn’t hesitate and agreed to test their MP200 solution. The compact computer with an 11th generation Core i5 processor got both RAM and an SSD in the package, which is remarkable at a 400-euro price. Read more “Blackview MP200: Complete (and cheap) miniature PC” »

Gigabyte RTX 4060 Windforce OC 8G: Save both power and space

Catching up where we’re behind, we come to the GeForce RTX 4060. Across designs, these graphics cards represent not only the most efficient and lowest-power across the latest generation of Nvidia Ada Lovelace, but overall (i.e., even compared to the latest Radeons, including the competing RX 7600). The advantage of the tested (RTX 4060) Windforce OC 8G design is in its smaller size and extra compatibility. Read more “Gigabyte RTX 4060 Windforce OC 8G: Save both power and space” »

Endorfy Stratus 120 PWM: Efficient fan on a budget

Why spend as much money on one fan as you would on four or five Endorfy Stratus 120 PWMs? There is a clear answer to this, but it may not be interesting to everyone. Especially when the fans are meant to fit well into builds designed with the best possible price/performance ratio in mind. That’s when low-cost fans make sense, and the end-user often dismisses the “imperfections” of the Stratus 120 (PWM) with a wave of the hand. Read more “Endorfy Stratus 120 PWM: Efficient fan on a budget” »

Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+: Radeon can be quiet too

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all. Read more “Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+: Radeon can be quiet too” »

Valkyrie Vind SL125 – Interesting synergy of two fans

Last time we took a look at an interesting all-in-one cooler from Valkyrie and today we’ll loosely follow up on that theme with a review of the Vind SL125 air cooler, which is the only air cooler model Valkyrie has in its lineup so far. The Vind SL125 air cooler combines a single dense fin bundle with a pair of mirrored fans. So I’m curious to see how this interesting combination performs in our stress tests. Read more “Valkyrie Vind SL125 – Interesting synergy of two fans” »