Prepare to be blown away,but not by the enemy. Cooler Master proves that it can be good at anything with their new 5.1 surround sound headset dubbed the CM Storm Sirus. This handy hardware is geared towards gamers and audiophiles alike. With 4 speakers per ear, an inline Tactical Mixing Console, and additional software it has the potential to be a phenomenal success. To see how the Sirus truly performs, Benchmark Reviews tested CM Storm model number SGH-6000-KK5R1 with a range of audio tests to gauge the technical performance and overall user experience.

Started in 1994 Mushkin Enhanced has been well received for years by enthusiasts for their RAM's overclocking ability and sharp aesthetics. Mushkin has many different lines ranging from their Essentials for budget conscious consumers all the way to their Redline series which utilizes the cream of the crop integrated circuits to get the fastest speed possible with tight timings. The Redline series has been well received by overclockers and building on this is Mushkin Enhanced's high performance memory for the Intel's P67 chipset. Rated at 2133Mhz with 9-11-10-28 timings this Redline kit also utilizes Mushkin's proprietary Frostbyte heat spreader. Benchmark Reviews will see if this kit is worth the extra money for its high speed or if users are better off going with a lower speed but less expensive kit.

Patriot Memory has been a long-time provider of system components for performance enthusiasts. It was a natural evolution for them to focus their efforts on SSDs to compliment the demand for high-end RAM. They were sucessful with their Inferno series, and now that SandForce has released their second-generation controller they're back with the Patriot Wildfire. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests performance on the 120GB Patriot Wildfire Solid State Drive, model PW120GS25SSDR, specified for up to 555 MB/s read and 520 MB/s write performance with 4K random write speeds as high as 80,000 IOPS in real world testing.

The time for monster CPU coolers may be drawing to a close: the latest generation of 32nm CPUs from Intel and AMD produce much less heat and thus require less cooling, even when heavily overclocked. Still, there are a lot of very power-hungry, heat producing CPUs out there, and if you have one or are contemplating buying one, then Thermaltake's new Frio OCK cooler may be of interest to you. Benchmark Reviews takes this new product through our test regimen and compares it to the best coolers available.

Not long ago Benchmark Reviews tested the OCZ RevoDrive and OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCI-Express solid state drive storage devices, both of which are based on SandForce SF-1200 SSD controllers and Silicon Image SiI3124 RAID chip. When SandForce launched their second-generation chip, featured in the OCZ RevoDrive3 X2, the four integrated SandForce SF-2200 SSD controllers used an undocumented OCZ SuperScale Storage Controller. In this article, Benchmark Reviews presents an OCZ Virtualized Controller Architecture 2.0 overview. Using information provided by OCZ, we offer a deeper understanding of OCZ VCA 2.0 technology and the SuperScale controller.

With the launch of every new motherboard platform, we expect to see a number of different designs from the major motherboard manufacturers. ASU, of course, was ready for the AMD Lynx platform launch with their own set of A55 and A75 socket FM1 motherboards. Here at Benchmark Reviews we used the ASUS F1A75-M Pro motherboard to test the new platform and the all new AMD desktop APU, the A8-3850. In this article, Benchmark Reviews is exploring the motherboard itself, bringing you all the details of the ASUS F1A75-M Pro socket FM1 motherboard.

If you're overclocking your CPU, you're going to need a better cooler than the one that shipped with your CPU. There are many aftermarket alternatives, but enthusiasts know that Thermalright's products should always be on their short list. The problem is the high-performance coolers can cost quite a lot, with prices of more than $75 for top-end air coolers and well over $100 for good all-in-one water coolers. Thermalright tries to address this problem with the Macho HR02 cooler, which they pitch as their "mainstream enthusiast" product. At an MSRP of $39.95, it comes in well under most high performance coolers, but will its performance match theirs? Benchmark Reviews puts this product to the test.

When AMD merged with ATI in 2006, they immediately began working on combining discrete level graphics onto the die with an x86 CPU, thus forming an Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). In 2009, AMD expanded on that effort by launching VISION with the intent of shaping the performance of a PC to fit the needs of the user. Five years after the merger, AMD's design has come to fruition in desktop form. In this article, Benchmark Reviews is taking a look at the AMD A-Series A8-3850 APU.