As we move into the holiday season, many are looking to Intel's new Lynnfield Desktop Platform for an upgrade or new build. Not surprising, there's plenty of good hardware on the market to choose from. In this article, Benchmark Reviews looks at the P7P55D EVO motherboard from ASUS. As part of their P55 lineup, the ASUS P7P55D EVO provides full support the for the new Lynnfield platform, along with several unique features. We'll explore these features in detail and find out how the EVO stacks up against other mainstream platforms.

OCZ has earned the pole position in the race for Solid State Drive consumer supremacy. Most of the OCZ SSD product line is sold at retail to enthusiast end-users, but the EX-series offers SLC construction and delivers premier performance to the Enterprise sector and an affordable price. Corporate environments offer vast potential for SSD technology by offering drive performance faster than SAS-based storage, and dramatically reducing heat output. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the 60GB OCZ Agility EX SSD OCZSSD2-1AGTEX60G, and Indilinx-based SLC Solid State Drive.

Benchmark Reviews has put a plethora of storage enclosures and systems through their paces and all of the predecessors fell neatly into readily recognizable categories. The StarTech SATADOCK22UE is a horse of a slightly different color offering features that bridge the existing product categories it's neither a case nor storage array, but has the capacity to allow access to single data drives as well as two drives independently or as a RAID array. It's a niche product with stealth appeal for main stream users who think outside the box. The SataDock product line comes in 4 flavors: single drive USB only desktop bay (SATADOCKU2E), single drive USB & eSATA desktop bay (SATADOCKU2), 5.25" Bay Dual Drive eSATA (SATADOCK525) and the top of the line dual drive, dual eSATA desktop dock SATADOCK22UE which we will be reviewing. While no doubt the intended audience for the SataDock product line is mainly corporate or professional PC repair and maintenance organizations, this small wonder has the potential to simplify the lives of a much broader audience if they can related to it's less obvious uses.

It doesn't require a music-prodigy to appreciate good music on a nice set of speakers. But how can the average Joe distinguish a nice set of speakers from manufactured junk? Does the presence of a subwoofer, multiple speakers or a list of features guarantee a set will be high quality? Or can you be assured good performance by sticking to name-brands? At Benchmark Reviews we reviewed the Eagle Arion ET-AR504LR-BK 2.1 Soundstage Speakers using some objective, repeatable tests. These tests helped screen the important factors from the insignificant.

Stereo headsets are becoming an essential part of any modern PC and, like keyboard and mice before them, they are finally going wireless. The freedom that a wireless headset provides will appeal to anyone, but with so many 2.4GHz wireless devices in every home, can a wireless headset really match the performance, clarity and comfort of its wired counterparts? Benchmark Reviews examines an impressive entry, the Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless Headset 981-000068, and finds out.

Microsoft Windows 7 will deliver DirectX 11 visual quality like never seen before, and ATI has endowed gamers with an unparalleled graphics solution in the Radeon HD 5870. While the Radeon 5800-series is a monumental feat for AMD over the unprepared competition, not everyone can fit the absolute best video card available into their budget. Armed with 1440 shader cores, the 40nm Cypress GPU HD5850 is positioned to offer an excellent value for the upper mid-range and hits the sweet-spot for DirectX 11 gamers. In this article, Benchmark Reviews compares the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 video card, model 21162-00-50R, against a cross-section of modern graphics accelerators.

Along with AMD's launch of the Phenom II and Athlon II processor families this year, we've also witnessed a steady shift in focus from their AM2+/DDR2 platform to a full AM3/DDR3 platform. The good news is that these newer AM3 processors support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, allowing consumers to upgrade without replacing their whole system. Still, that leaves many wondering if they're missing out by not making the jump to DDR3 memory. To help answer that question, today Benchmark Reviews puts Gigabyte's DDR2-based MA790X-UD4P motherboard to the test.

The proliferation of multimedia audio and video formats, including Blu-Ray, and an increasing array of TV and web based services have made the home theatre personal computer (HTPC) a powerful convergence device. With the imminent release of Microsoft's Windows 7 Operating System, Benchmark Reviews explores the evolution of the Windows HTPC Platform. We will also examine the efforts of a global community of users and premium developers, who have used Microsoft's product to showcase their skills and highlight their passion to make the PC a core component of the home entertainment setup.