Reviews Tom's Hardware

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Review: Titan’s Baby Brother Is Born

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:02:01 GMT

At $1,000, GeForce GTX Titan only made sense for folks building small form factor PCs and multi-GPU powerhouses. Now there's another option with every bit of panache, a slightly de-tuned GPU, and a price tag $350 lower: meet Nvidia's GeForce GTX 780.

Our 20 Favorite Apps For Your Windows Phone 8 Device

Thu, 23 May 2013 03:26:00 GMT

Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 is picking up more support from the software development community. After trading in an iPhone for a Lumia 920, and then turning that in for an HTC Windows 8X, he compiled a list of the top apps installed on his phone.

In Pictures: Four More Sub-£100 Cases For Your 2013 Gaming Build

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

We continue our search for the ultimate sub-£100 gaming case with a photo spread of features from BitFenix's Shinobi, Enermax's Ostrog GT, Rosewill's R5, and Zalman's MS800 Plus. Stay tuned for the in-depth review of all four enclosures, coming soon!

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: May 2013

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:00:01 GMT

In this month's market analysis, we discuss Nvidia's new GeForce GTX Titan, PowerColor's Tahiti LE-based Radeon HD 7870, and a number of price fluctuations. If you've been holding off on an upgrade, now might be the best time to buy.

League Of Legends Performance, Benchmarked

Mon, 20 May 2013 04:02:00 GMT

Following up our Dota 2 performance analysis, we benchmark the most-played PC game in the world, League Of Legends, and find out just how much graphics and CPU performance it requires for high-resolution, high-detail play, even across three screens.

HP ZR2740w Versus Asus PB278Q: QHD 27" Monitors, Tested

Fri, 17 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Until cutting-edge UHD (3840×2160) displays hit the mainstream, most enthusiasts have to be content with QHD monitors at 2560x1440 pixels. In the lab today, we have two more 27-inch QHD screens: the ZR2740w from HP and the PB278Q from Asus.

Google Glass: Ergonomics, Performance, And Practicality, Tested

Wed, 15 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Google's Glass Explorer Edition kit showed up at my house late last week, and I've been living with it ever since. We have first impressions on ergonomics, etiquette, practicality, performance, and the future of Google's wearable computer.

One SSD Vs. Two In RAID: Which Is Better?

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

One SSD is good, right? So, two SSDs in RAID 0 must be better. That’s certainly the case when you're benchmarking sequential performance. But we're finding that, except in extreme examples, one SSD that's twice as large is often better.

Six Low-Voltage Dual-Channel 8 GB Memory Kits, Overclocked

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

We've abided by Intel's 1.55 V recommendation for two architectures and two die shrinks, yet most performance memory manufacturers ignore it. Recent problems with one of our builds raised the question, how far can we push RAM without killing CPUs?

A Free-To-Play MMO? Neverwinter Performance, Benchmarked

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:02:00 GMT

Neverwinter is a new free-to-play MMO in the Dungeons And Dragons universe, sporting an action RPG flavor. We benchmark it with a number of graphics cards and CPUs, uncovering a processor-oriented bottleneck along the way. Does your platform measure up?

Seagate 600 SSD 240 GB Review: LAMD And Toshiba, Together Again

Wed, 08 May 2013 04:12:00 GMT

Seagate is the world's largest purveyor of mechanical hard drives. As the company prepares for mortal combat in the consumer SSD space, are its wits, Toshiba's Toggle-mode NAND, and SK hynix memory solutions' 87800 controller enough to get by?

A Free-To-Play MMO? Neverwinter Performance, Benchmarked

Wed, 08 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Seagate 600 Pro-Series 200 GB SSD Review: For The Enterprise

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:02:00 GMT

After years of halfhearted attempts to join the solid-state storage market, Seagate is finally ready to reinvent itself with a new family of SSDs. The first one we're looking at is the enterprise-class 600 Pro. Does this 200 GB drive impress our team?

Intel Silvermont Architecture: Does This Atom Change It All?

Mon, 06 May 2013 17:02:01 GMT

We sat in on a Silvermont deep-dive, the architecture powering Intel's next-generation Atom processors. Manufactured at 22 nm, armed with an out-of-order execution engine, and optimized for power, will this be what buries the ARM-based competition?

Is This Even Fair? Budget Ivy Bridge Takes On Core 2 Duo And Quad

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Reader requests affect much of the work we do, and we constantly receive email asking for this one: compare Intel's older Wolfdale- and Yorkfield-based designs against today's budget-friendly Ivy Bridge-based processors. Well, you asked, and we deliver.

In Pictures: Tom's Hardware At NAB Show 2013

Sat, 04 May 2013 00:46:00 GMT

Tom's Hardware was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago for the 90th annual NAB Show. Join us as we review what we saw on the show floor, including cameras, lighting, drones, storage devices, sounds equipment, monitors, and accessories.

Four Sub-£100 Cases For Your 2013 Gaming Build, Reviewed

Thu, 02 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Last week we previewed the first four mainstream gaming cases in our 11-way sub-£100 round-up. Now we get to build four systems and test them. What other features will we uncover along the way, and how will they affect thermal and acoustic performance?

2013 Nissan GT-R Black Edition: The Gran Turismo Car

Wed, 01 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Nissan let us borrow its 2013 GT-R Black Edition press car for our trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. We were blown away by its performance, even if the car doesn't include much of the convenience-oriented tech we've grown accustomed to.

MSI GX60 Review: Radeon HD 7970M In A £900 Notebook!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:02:00 GMT

MSI's GX60-series notebook is in our lab today. Armed with Radeon HD 7970M graphics, a 15.6" display, and triple-screen output, this is truly a desktop replacement. But can its AMD A10-4600M APU keep pace with gaming platforms armed with Intel CPUs?

Dota 2 Performance, Benchmarked

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:02:00 GMT

Dota 2 is one of the most popular games around. And, it's free-to-play, so anyone can try it out. How much hardware do you need to enjoy this title at smooth frame rates? Not much, it turns out. We test a number of CPUs and GPUs at different settings.

In Pictures: Four Sub-£100 Cases For Your 2013 Gaming PC

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

We invited over two dozen of your favorite brands to participate in this month’s mainstream gaming case roundup. Today we examine a few of the features from the first four samples of the eleven we received.

Acer Iconia W510 Tablet: A Tale Of Intel Vs. ARM And Acer Vs. Apple

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:12:00 GMT

Some folks still say that the x86 ISA will never catch up to ARM when it comes to efficiency. Our granular power analysis demonstrates just how efficient x86-based CPUs can be, though. But how does Intel compete when we dig deeper into user experience?

SimCity, One Month Out: Still As Troubled As Day One?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Tom's Hardware's community manager, Joe Pishgar, eagerly anticipated the launch of SimCity. Now, a month later, he has something to say about EA's handling of the day-one issues and the continued problems plaguing a game he wanted to much to enjoy.

AMD Radeon HD 7990: Eight Games And A Beastly Card For $1,000

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:02:01 GMT

We've been waiting for this since 2011. AMD is ready to unveil its Radeon HD 7990, featuring a pair of Tahiti graphics processors. Can the dual-slot board capture our hearts with great compute and 3D performance, or does Nvidia walk away with this round?

Corsair Obsidian 900D Review: Making Room For High-End Gear

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:16:00 GMT

Corsair already offers a heavy tower case called the Obsidian 800D. Now, the company is one-upping itself with the Obsidian 900D. Is this a genuine high-end enclosure, a bomb shelter, or a mess of sheet metal? We put the case through our bevy of tests.