Micron equips the RealSSD C400 with the revised Marvell 88SS9174-BLD2 SSD processor. Marvell's 88SS9174 (aka "9174") controller is used in the following solid state drives: Micron RealSSD C400/Crucial m4, Strontium SSD Matrix, Intel SSD 510 (BKK2 revision), Corsair Performance 3 (BKK2 revision), and many more. This controller is based on the same processor that powered the C300, but its been tweaked to output 90,000 combined IOPS based on Micron's own Iometer tests. In this article, we examine just how much has changed 'under the hood' with the new Crucial m4/Micron RealSSD C400 series.

Just for a minute, we're going to stop looking for the biggest, baddest, most ferocious PC gaming case and look at something a little less hardcore. It's not even black, if you can imagine that..... Another thing that sets the Lian Li PC-A04 apart from the norm is that it's limited to micro-ATX motherboards. Two or three years ago, this would have been a showstopper, but in recent times there have been some excellent uATX boards hitting the market. There are even some offerings that forgo integrated graphics in favor of more performance-oriented chipsets. ASUS and MSI both make X58 boards for instance, and there are also several P67 choices available. So, don't feel that you have to reign in your performance expectations just because you want a smaller, more attractive box beside your desk. Benchmark Reviews took up the challenge of creating a full-aluminum mini tower build that's very different from your average "granny system".

Rules change and we need to be at the top of the technology to understand how new architectures work with our new components. Overclocking is a "sport" which has passed lots of different generations (people and platforms) and from time to time, the way you do it changes a lot. At Benchmark Reviews we put all our effort to bring you reviews and articles covering most of the new products as they arrive to the market, but we also focus a lot on enthusiasts who want to get the best out of their hardware without paying extra money; obviously by overclocking their PC components. With the launch of the new Sandy Bridge processors we feel the necessity to prepare an Overclocking analysis mainly because Intel completely changed the rules. Overclocking is now 99% limited to unlocked processors, and to mid-high platforms, while low-mid platforms and non-unlocked processors can't simply be overclocked more than some extra MHz. Follow us while we put into test both the Core i5 2500K and the Core i7 2600K paired with the P67 Express platform and discover how they work against voltage, heat and power consumption.

In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the Crucial m4 solid state drive against several of the fastest consumer storage devices available. Based on the Marvell 88SS9174-BLD2 SSD processor, this SATA 6Gb/s drive is claimed to provide 415 MB/s reads and 260 MB/s writes with up to 90,000 IOPS. We've tested the Crucial m4 SSD against its older sibling, the Crucial RealSSD C300, to measure comparative performance differences. The 256GB model CT256M4SSD2 Crucial m4 also competes with the latest SandForce and Indilinx-based solid state drives, and our SSD test results show which product leads the consumer storage market.

Not too long ago all custom computer builds where done using beige boxes. Unlike their mass-built cousins, these cases had very few externally defining features. In the last five years, this has changed with many cases having very useful features or being very showy. Sadly, this has come at price, and with each year the costs of computer enclosures have risen. Cooler Master has addressed these rising costs with the Elite series of cases and with its newest addition the Elite 371. Priced for only $49.99, Benchmark Reviews determines if the Elite 371 has everything that is needed in cases or if too many corners have been cut for the sake of cost.

Since Corsair popularized their version of Asetec's "LCLC" (low cost liquid cooling) system back in 2009, it seems that every time you look, another variation on the theme appears. All-in-one CPU water coolers have become popular and even mainstream, and for good reason: they're much cheaper than traditional liquid cooling systems, and offer a combination of good performance and generally low noise that makes them attractive alternatives to higher-end air coolers. The first generation of these coolers were virtually clones, with manufacturers doing little other than labeling Asetek's design, but we're starting to see some innovation in the area, and Antec's Kühler H20 620 steps into the market with its own unique take on the concept.

The OCZ Vertex 3 SSD is based on the second-generation SandForce's SF-2281 SATA 6Gb/s controller and maintains all of the original core technology introduced in the original SF-1200 series, but now improves SSD performance with 20% faster IOPS and 40% faster sequential read/write throughput. OCZ promises 60,000 IOPS at up to 550 MB/s transfer speeds with the Vertex 3 SSD, and Benchmark Reviews confirms that they're keeping this promise with tests of the new storage device on a B3-stepping Sandy Bridge platform against the Crucial RealSSD C400.

Stylish and router are two words that would not normally be put together in a sentence without a negative term preceding them somehow, but the tables are turning now as we look at the latest offering from ASUS. Today, Benchmark Reviews brings you the ASUS RT-N56U Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router. As you will see in the images that follow, the ASUS RT-N56U certainly has an air of class about it and is different in that way from 99% of routers on offer today. The RT-N56U has five built in antennae to allow simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals to run at up to 300Mb/s concurrently, this allows you to stream HD content to your media devices (5GHz) while you enjoy uninterrupted wireless internet (2.4GHz). On the box ASUS claim that the RT-N56U allows for true Gigabit WAN to LAN throughput (900Mb/s) but as with most claims this doesn't always come true, our testing threw out some good numbers but nowhere near ASUS' claims. The ASUS RT-N56U has two built in USB 2.0 ports that allow you to share printers and USB storage over LAN and WAN, and it also allows you to download to your USB connected storage device while your PC is turned off.