MSI should be well known to most of our readers, and today Benchmark Reviews checks out their new MSI Z77 MPOWER LGA1155 motherboard. This time around MSI is aiming at the performance enthusiast and overclocker: the MPOWER is an "OC Certified" motherboard. What, precisely, does "OC Certified" mean? Join us as we put this board through its paces and see if it can serve as the foundation of an overclocked system.

Noise cancelling headphones are almost a necessity for frequent travelers. Benchmark Reviews has just complete field trials of the JVC HA-NC250 noise cancelling headphones. These headphones provide solid all around performance for a very competitive price.

A great headset will change the way you think about sound. It all started when I upgraded to a Sapphire Radeon 7970. As it turns out, this dual-slot graphics card extended just enough to prevent the installation of my aftermarket sound card in the only remaining PCI slot. The Razer Carcharias headset I was using just didn't sound the same with onboard sound, so it was off to find another solution - so I returned the 7970 and all was good. HA! Like any of us here at Benchmark Reviews would miss out on a perfectly valid chance to upgrade... Truth be told, I still felt like something was missing in my computing experience, so I set out to find another headset that would enhance the audio I enjoy - a worthy compliment to the enhanced visuals afforded by the Radeon 7970. That brings us to the Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset - ladies and gentlemen, lend me your ears...

Are you looking for some slice & dice fun that doesn't require a large time commitment? Do you wish you were in the Lord of the Rings movies, killing orcs left and right? If you answered 'yes' to both of these questions, then Orcs Must Die! 2 is the action game for you. Featuring slick graphics and great use of sound, Orcs Must Die! 2 is the type of game you launch intending just to play a map or two, then look at the clock and find out hours have passed. Check out why you should give this budget-priced video game a chance in this review from Benchmark Reviews.

The latest chipset from Intel, the Z77, has been around for a little while now and has certainly spurred a lot of interest by aftermarket motherboard manufacturers. Little actually changed between the Z68 chipset and the Z77 chipset. Z77 added Smart connect to let you receive emails while your computer is asleep and Rapid Start to speed up boot times. With so little changing, it is up to the manufacturers to pack their motherboards so full of features that they stand out above the rest of the competition. That is exactly what Biostar has done with the Hi-Fi Z77X.

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX series traditionally offers enthusiast-level performance with features like multi-card SLI pairing and GPU Boost application-driven variable overclocking technology. The GeForce GTX 650 Ti graphics card keeps with tradition in terms of performance by offering the capable GK106 GPU with 768 CUDA cores, but skips past some of the top-end extras. Nevertheless, NVIDIA Kepler GPU architecture delivers additional proprietary features such as: 3D Vision, Adaptive Vertical Sync, multi-display Surround, PhysX, and TXAA antialiasing. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti graphics card with DirectX 11 video games.

Borderlands 2 is an exciting game that pulls you into a fantasy world that's been done a hundred times, but finds a way to give it to you like never before. While the game itself is a hybrid creation with familiar ingredients that taste of Eve Online, World of Warcraft, and Fallout, then seasoned with hints of Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty. Players assume the role of a "vault hunter" in one of four combat disciplines: Commando, Gunzerker, Assassin, and Siren. The character then fight bandits in first-person shooter format across a vast array of maps, but unlike most FPS-styled games, each level means better loot and tougher enemies. In this article Benchmark Reviews explains how to easily beat 'The Warrior' end boss within 'The Talon of God' final story mission, then we show you how to farm him for XP and legendary purple weapons over and over again.

Right on track, well after Ivy Bridge, AMD has released their second generation of Accelerated Processing Units in the form of the Trinity series A10-5800K and the A8-5600K. Last week, we brought you a preview of these two APUs just to give you a taste of their gaming performance and some of their specifications. Today, at Benchmark Reviews, we are going in detail for a full work-over of the A8-5600K APU.