It's a well-known fact that nearly all consumers purchase their monitor based on size and price alone. Like everything we shop for, it is human instinct to get as much as possible for as little as possible. So why should we bother ourselves with the details, and what difference could it possibly make? Most people aren't even aware of the different construction processes used to produce the widescreen monitor that rests on their desks. Benchmark Reviews explores the various LCD monitor technologies used by manufacturers to produce computer monitors, and matches application to architecture for our readers.

Gamers might rely on NVIDIA's hardware for its superior graphical processing power and affordable price point, but it's their gaming technologies that have helped deliver complete market dominance. NVIDIA's "The Way It's Meant to be Played" is a trademarked slogan denoting a direct involvement in software development as much as they focus on hardware. When the Ageia PhysX software physics technology was purchased back in early 2008, that commitment sharpened NVIDIA growing double-edge sword. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will demonstrate how far PhysX technology has come using the recently-released Mafia II video game, which introduces NVIDIA APEX PhysX and GeForce 3D-Vision technology enhancements. While adding PhysX support to a video game is nothing new for NVIDIA, allowing APEX PhysX features to be computed by the computer's central processor is new territory. For this NVIDIA APEX PhysX: CPU vs GPU Efficiency demonstration, our tests compare GeForce and Radeon GPU's against the Intel Core i7 CPU.

By now, everyone with an interest in Solid State Drive technology has heard of SandForce. SandForce-driven SSDs have come in 2.5" form factor SATA drives, and also 4x PCI-Express packages. Thanks to Renice Technology, now they're also available in the 70mm Mini PCI-E package. Aside from the form factor, there's very little difference between the Renice-Tech Mini PCI-E 70mm SSD and the many other SandForce-driven products. This 70mm SandForce Mini-PCIe SSD was designed for the ASUS Eee PC platform, and offers maximum read and write speeds up to 260 MB/s.

While the path towards widespread 3D acceptance has been long and difficult, we've arrived at a market rich with 3D innovation. Cinema 3D movies are showing in theaters across America, major sporting events are broadcast in 3D, and now 3D-HDTVs are a sought-after item. Many would credit NVIDIA's 3D-Vision technology for being the catalyst that launched a new era of visual entertainment, and in this article Benchmark Reviews presents our NVIDIA 3D-Vision Multimedia Resource Guide. Video games are a primary part of this article, and we'll share tips on optimizing convergence settings to produce eye-popping out-of-screen 3D effects. NVIDIA's 3D-Vision kit is capable of much more than video games, which is why we also offer sections on 3D video multimedia, 3D Blu-ray Disc movies, 3D photos, and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Why do we overclock? It's really a very simple question, but one that has found new meaning over the years. It used to be that computer hardware enthusiasts had very few options when it came to choosing a processor, and building your own custom system was simply not possible. This was back in the day when computers featured a 'Turbo' button, overclocking from 33 to 66MHz was a click away. Back then, overclocking the CPU could push clock speeds past any production level. Today the market is different, and overclocking the processor could result in very little additional performance. With so many dual-, quad-, and hexa-core processors now sold on the open market, overclocking has transformed itself from a tool to help people work faster, into a hobby for enthusiasts. Enthusiast overclockers demand only the best performance from their computer hardware, which is why the aftermarket heatsink industry is thriving with fierce competition. Benchmark Reviews tests the latest Intel LGA1366 heatsinks in this Best CPU Cooler Performance Q2-2010 article.

Not much is able to be changed within an enclosure in order to make it innovative. Generic functionality such as more fans, a different design, and flashier lights seem to be added with the creation of every new case released. Thermaltake, however, has noticed this trend, and has opted to go away from the norm by including "the world's first SideClick EasySwap design" within their latest case, the Thermaltake Armor A60 (VM20001W2Z). Join Benchmark Reviews as we review Thermaltake's latest case.

Only a few years ago NVIDIA's SLI technology was a feature only the most elite gamers took advantage of, helping them to push the fastest graphics cards on the planet even faster. Often times a second GeForce video card could be combined into a SLI set and produce 33-50% more performance. Those days are gone, and Benchmark Reviews has learned that a set of GF106 GPUs can do a lot more than scale; they can multiply. Since a single $129 GeForce GTS 450 can outperform an AMD Radeon HD 5750 and match the 5770, what kind of performance do you get from two GTS 450's for $258? It seems like a pair of mainstream GTS 450's in SLI should compete nicely against AMD's $200 Radeon HD 5830, or maybe even their $270 Radeon HD 5850. As it turns out, two GTS 460's in SLI are good enough to threaten NVIDIA's top-end segment. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 SLI performance scaling.

Thermaltake is one of those companies that constantly pumps out fresh designs, if there is a hole in the market then Thermaltake will be there. The current market trend in gaming cases that I have observed lately is an extravagant exterior, a painted interior and a bottom mounted PSU. Thermaltake have Introduced the Armor A90 VL90001W2Z Mid Tower Case into the enthusiast segment priced competitively at $79.99 and if you do your shopping you can get a better deal still. Along with a great exterior design, a fully painted exterior and a bottom mounted PSU, the Thermaltake Armor A90 also gives you a place to mount your 2.5" SSD/HDD, tool free drive installation for three 5.25" drives and six 3.5" HDD's, a front door covering your optical drive bays, support for watercooling and an easily removable front panel with removable air intake filter. Benchmark reviews has the Armor A90 under the spotlight, to see whats good and whats not please read on...