The requirements of customers towards contemporary power modules are quite tough. They should own good performance characteristics and high coefficient of efficiency level, as well as 80Plus marker. The latter speaks about quality and ability to satisfy the needs of any PC. However, all PSU are classified according to different criteria, so one can find appropriate product even without 80Plus standards. The compliance with those standards is realized on 115V and 230V conditions but there are a number of standards applied to 220V-240V. Power module Chieftec A80 650W doesn’t belong to the army of 80Plus products, though can boast outstanding performance and efficiency. It is primarily targeted at the segment of affordable PSU solutions.



Design and Framework


Chieftec A80 650W design is developed in a classical template common for the models with a solid frontal fan. The casing consists of a ventilation perforation, decorative grid with the brand logo, sockets for module …

Gigabyte has released the first motherboard form factor microATX, equipped with two ports Thunderbolt — GA-Z77MX-D3H TH. Taking into account the availability of the precursor (Z77MX-D3H), it’s interesting to compare the design and price of these models. First, about the cost of the product. The novelty is estimated at € 150, and its «little sister» — at € 108,50. If to subtract 10 euros from each of two amounts, there will be the minimum for which the cards will be available soon.



Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H TH


What causes the difference in more than 40 euros? In general, the presence of two ports Intel Thunderbolt 10 Gb / s, which are implemented by the controller Intel DSL3510L. A high-speed connection can simultaneously serve several drives and a monitor. Minor changes were made to the design of the CPU power supply subsystem, which, nevertheless, remained a 6-channel. One of the long PCI Express slots was replaced by the second PCI-E 2.0 x1.


By and large, …

Display expanders cannot be found in abundance on PC hardware market. In fact, not every user knows what the main purpose of those devices is. In the most general meaning, display expanders are splitters that allow the connection of two monitors towards a single output on a graphics card. However, their destination is not limited by this function only, since it might serve some other means as well. Sapphire introduces its own similar solution in the form of Vid-2X Display Expander model. The manufacturer assures that this splitter differs from traditional couplers in terms of functional and reliability.



Framework


Splitter Sapphire Vid-2X Display Expander is housed in a black plastic casing with gray side plates. The casing's cover is divided in two parts; the spacing between them serves ventilation and heat management means. The base accommodates rubber stands which provide for the framework steadiness. It should be mentioned that Sapphire delivers two models simultaneously …