Samsung ‘budget’ SSD review

Samsung’s new, cheaper, MLC-based SSDs – the rather unintelligible MMCRE64G5MPP – is under testing at Hardware.fr (64GB version to be precise). The new SSD measures very good Read performance compared to its SLC brethren (as is normal with MLC-based flash), and just a little lower write performance, which seems quite an achievement. It’s also fairly “cheap” (we use the term loosely) as it costs “only” €350. Hard to find, unfortunately. Ici pour Français. Here in Googlenglish.

Chile Hardware is testing the red hot HD 4830, and it’s come up with some interesting numbers on the card. Using a Q9300 and an ECS X48T-A Black Series mobo, they did some Crossfire tests together with single card overclocking. Oddly, CF was outgunned by the OC, and just scraped by better than an 8800GT. Not bad for a $110 card. You might want to find it a new cooler, though, as this one gets hot and noisy, just like the original 4850. Read it here in Spanish and here in Googlenglish.

Dell’s Studio Hybrid is quite unique in that it sticks a load of laptop components in a very stylish design. But is it worth it? That’s what Silent PC Review is trying to find out. Being that site that it is, Mike is looking at noise comfort and footprint as the main features, but amongst other things it’s poor performance and quirky humming give it a thumbs-down review. Read about it, here.

Tom’s Hardware is giving a second (or third) look at the 790GX chipset and its Sideport memory. In fact they’re questioning whether sideport is just marketing rubbish or not. Well, Sideport doesn’t really have any impact in synthetic benchmarks, or non-GPU related ones like system memory bandwidth or I/Os, but it does impact real world gaming. Still, you won’t be playing Crysis on this one...

Lee at PC Perps is testing Cooler Master’s V8 CPU Cooler. The automobile-inspired cooler sports 8 heat-pipes and embedded red LEDs that give it a very cool look in the dark. It cools well, generates little noise, but an imperfect base smudges the otherwise immaculate cooler. You can find the review, here.

Legion Hardware has been fiddling around with G.Skill’s latest and greatest kit: the very reasonably priced ($220) 3x2GB PC3-12800. Steven is looking at a fairly good out of the box experience that’ll let you set up your new Core i7 with a minor investment in memory... lousy overclocker, but good stock performance would sum it up. Get it here.

GTA IV has been ported off to the most powerful gaming machine on earth: the PC. So now you can slot it in your DVD drive and play to your heart’s content... or can you? Well, Ère Numérique is testing the limits of the game, both in GPU and CPU terms, and finds the game is murder on your PC. Find it here, in French or here in Googlenglish.